56 Gallon Column Tank

This tank will be Sub-tropical (No Heater).  The plants in the back are from a local store (Tideline Aquatics):  Amazon Sword, Crypts Spirals, and Hygrophila Angustifolia.  Along with my Val and java moss from my other tanks.

The plants are in the back with some peat moss, muck dirt and plant gravel from an old tank.  I topped that off with a layer of gravel.  The front section is sand.  The hardscape separating the two sections is a large rock and some mesh plastic sheets. 

As far as stocking, I am targeting my three Gold Dojo loaches and White Cloud Moutain Minnows. 

Room temperature should work fine for these species.  I really love how the Dojo Loaches interact with their environments.  White clouds were bred in my outdoor tubs this summer. 

I added  a school of the White Clouds on 11/7/23.  The corner filter on the left came from another tank.  The sponge filter on the right was made from an old HMF 125 gal filter.  I am using a tube from the Swiss Tropicals system with the sponge (4"x12").  The filter system is using air only in this tank: one corner box filter and one sponge filter.  The lighting for this tank utilizes two  30" LED lights

Below are the pictures from 2 months later (1/22/2024) and the aquarium is fully stocked with fish and plants.  I will say, the loaches do spend a lot of time shifting through the sand.  I have removed most of the black rocks from the sand as they all disappeared with the loach activity.  The white cloud mountain minnows are a good dither fish and will school when the loaches are swimming about the tank.

The two filters are working well together: one box type from Jhemco.com and the sponge filter from Swiss Tropicals.  Both are keeping the tank balanced.

 55 Gallon Sub Tropical Aquarium

One of my 55 gal tanks required a stand build and then setup for a power head and HMF (Hamburg Matten Filter).  The HMF with plumbing under the gravel will provide great filtration and quiet operations.  Easy and inexpensive to replace.  This project began October 2023.

Building the stand:

I used 2x3s for all support.  I had 3/4” plywood on each end and some back pieces to add to the support.

The Front was a 1/2” sheet of maple plywood.

Now the Filter system.  I have used HMF filters for many years and wanted to keep the one for this tank.  I researched some river tanks that used power heads but none integrated the HMF filter.  I flipped the filter that had the air tube at the top and put that on the bottom of the tank.  This allowed the plumbing to be on the bottom.  Using the shape for the most stability, I put the PVC pipes together.  

NOTE: I built a wall out of acrylic and some plastic mesh so cleaning the HMF filter would not disturb the gravel.  Usually when you pull the filter out the gravel caves back into the empty cavity, making a big mess.

Since I have a black background, I painted the PVC black. Power heads are usually black as well.

Added Gravel, hard scape, plants, cover and a light:

Plants are all from my summer Tubs.  The dwarf Sag and Valisneria can take the cooler temperatures.   Thinking about the fish now.

In a week or 2, I will update with the fish being added.  The fish have been brought in from the tubs and are all out in the garage now so will choose later.  

Here is the tank as of 1/22/2024:

Barbs are doing well.  Most of the gold barbs were bred in the outdoor tubs.  I put three mature gold barbs in this tank to give me a total of 11.  The Odessa Barbs (6) came from Select Aquatics and are beginning to color up nicely.  There are also 5 albino cory cats in the tank.  No heater, one box filter and the HMF filter are doing a great job keeping the tank stable.