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.