95 Litre (25 Gallon) Planted Community Tropical Freshwater Tank

[trickyproductions]

very well presented tank.

[ed959lion]

Do you use co2 to get the plants looking so good

[OrigamiMikiMeatball]

Beautiful! I wish I got good Angelfish like you!

[AwesomeAssassin1000]

is the sand anygood at growing plants 

[KiitCat]

could I ask what filter you use? Sorry if it's been asked already, also, I use sand in my tank, however i'm sure it's making the water cloudy as my filter is long and reaches close to the sand so I think it's sucking it up. How is your water so clear??

[Jallenbah]

@KiitCat I don't remember the specific filter, but its only about an inch from the sand. When you get sand, you need to clean it loads before you use it in the tank, or it makes the water disgusting and cloudy.

What I did was fill 1/3 of a bucket with sand, spray in water with the hose, stir it around a ton with my hands and pour away the gross water. I did that about 10 times for each bucket required. Even when cleaned, it stays cloudy for a few days after setting up the tank.

[KiitCat]

@Jallenbah thank you for your reply, sorry I have another question.. how is it you feed the loaches with the tigers around? I have to move my cory catfish to a different tank as the tiger barbs wouldn't let them eat, or do you not have this problem?

[Jallenbah]

@KiitCat I give them these little pellet things which sink to the bottom called "tetra wafer mix". It's like a complete food for bottom feeding tropical fish. I recommend it (if you search "kuhli loach feeding" on youtube then the top video is mine, it shows my loaches eating them)

[KiitCat]

@Jallenbah I gave the cories sinking food speacially made for bottom feeders too but the tigers would steal it, despite it being too big for them. Perhaps you just have some nicer fish.(: Thanks for replying, this tank is lovely.

[jarrod989]

25 is a weird size,i have one, are the demensions 13x 15x 12?

[Hectortuba155817]

??? why is one of the related videos in the strip in the right "Genital Wats & Other Effects (HPV #2)???

[apulia75]

Very impressive tank, great job! I love Vallisneria....

[monakimoon]

@TheAnimalEnthusiast

yes actually they do >> i bought a school of 25 fish for my 180 liters tank with 4 pairs of angels ... only 3 left !

[mafia720]

nice tank! are the plants difficult to take care of?

[EnglishMadMan1]

I love angel fish but find that they're too aggressive towards smaller fish...

[2596Z]

@TheAnimalEnthusiast they are not neons theyre cardinals and they are perfectly fine i have 12 black neons with my 2 fully grown mature angelfish and havnt lost a single soul so i think you will find they are fine with the angelfish

[hipstreet75]

wow I love your tank! It's amazing. How long did it take for the plants to get like that?

[greatorderofchaos]

beautiful tank, would look even better with a black background =)

[Bazil1869]

hi i have a 90L and am changing the setup does this sound alright? 3 kuhli loaches 6 tiger barbs 4 cardinals and a red tail black shark?

[MrJack8359]

could i put a oscar in there

[MrGman0909]

i have a 20 gallon with a fluval filter for a 40 gallon , what fish are barbs compatable with coz i want to get some and how big do they grow

[michaeljjackson]

i have question do u have to do anythink add anythink specail to keep the plants alive i was thinking of addind some java moss an the java moss that looks like little star forget wat its called but i unsure weather there anythink i have to do to keep plant alive

[sucktackular]

I have 3 koi angels with 4 neon tetra and they've never attacked the tetra. They do chase eachother around, though

[siwiki12]

some people say that angle fish cant be with neon or cardinal tetras but they can

[Lpanda87]

Awesome tank! I have just upgraded my tank to a 25 Gallon! It is a working progress..!

[the4blueturtles]

*Litres

[the4blueturtles]

95 litrs isn't 25 gallons

[Jallenbah]

@the4blueturtles US gallons are the more used measure of gallons, and 95L is 25.09 US gallons.

[the4blueturtles]

@Jallenbah true, but im english. nice angel btw.

[michaeljjackson]

@the4blueturtles thats what i was thinking lol, I have 95liters tank in my bedroom which is 20 uk gallons and 7.17 pt (UK) also a 28 liter red crab set up an 13 gallon blue lobster set up also i have 210 liter in living room an my daughter has 17 liter buy her bed with some tetra and rosebeau i think spelt right. It LOOKS well nice though

[bucketrobbert]

@the4blueturtles its OK thy get robbed when thy get gas for there cares instead of getting 4 and 1/2 lter like Brits do thy only get 4 lter

[thegeorgyboy411]

Hey awesome tank man i have one bigger but i was told that the angle fish are aggresive and will eat other fish how did you get yours to live together let me know put a comment on my channel thanks i would appreciate it.

[brodirt66]

nice angel, mine is smaller, but the dorsal fin and the upper body is all gold and orange with brown spots

[drkingslend]

nice tank, have you had any trouble using play sand and live plants?

[Razer1263]

hi, nice tank, i am thinking of getting one for my secondary hospital tank, but i can not find anywhere including on hagen's web site any details about its overall hight with the hood, please advise. thanks

[JonasValentine99]

not hobby?

[wolvid]

how much did your tank cost with filter heater and all without including your fishes and deco? and what is your equipment?

[Jallenbah]

@TheAnimalEnthusiast First of all, they aren't neons, they are cardinals. Secondly, things aren't as black and white as what it says in articles on the internet. This angel is still young and the cardinals are fully grown. There is no way that the angel would be able to eat one of these cardinals unless he persistently attacked one, and an angel wouldn't bother with that.

I've read countless times that you can't mix tiger barbs with angels too. Well I haven't had any problems with that either.

[tize79]

@Jallenbah neither have i :D my tiger barbs never upset my angels

[Hawkeye9901]

@Jallenbah When angelfish mature they MAY start to become aggressive. However when you let them grow up with the neons/cardinals/anything they have MAY not be aggressive. It all depends on the fish. The generalizations that are in articles aren't always right. =D

[michaeljjackson]

@Jallenbah at end day it depends on the actually fish itself i put 10 neon in my communty tank to come home one day find my agale eater had snapped them all up for lunch lol

[MrGman0909]

@Jallenbah i know right some idiot said that to me to and i have a guvanile angel fish some neons and glowlight tetras and other tetras and they are great

[LittleShinobi92]

@Jallenbah Amen my brother! xD

[gaqthsaswttpiu]

is that tank an elite 95? im going to get one and i would like to know what they are like. are they easy to clean etc?

[Jallenbah]

@gaqthsaswttpiu Well, I don't actually need to clean my tank but it's just like any other tank really. Nothing really separates it from other tanks but it's still doing fine.

So yeah, if you want a tank of that size it's a pretty normal choice.

[TheXavierjeff]

overstocked! but still the tank looks good and your fish should do fine with more water changes

[Jallenbah]

@TheXavierjeff General rule is that if it's heavily planted you can add quite a few more smaller fish due to the fact that it breaks the line of sight and processes nitrates very well. Where water changes usually remove nitrates produced from nitrites produced from ammonia in the fishes poop (via bacteria in the filter), that's not always so desireable in a planted tank. I water change about 20% every 2 weeks.

[hom3runchamp]

Well thats good, because i've seen angels die from stress from that type of incident. Its crazy one of my angels went as fast as possible straight into the side of the tank and killed itself. CRAZY!

Awesome tank!

[sewagedweller]

question for your substrate is it just sand or you put fertilizer under it for plants ?

[bennerix]

@sewagedweller silver sand is my choice its a substrat for the plants to root and also looks very nice with the right set up.. Eg: bogwood rocks and tall plants (:

[hom3runchamp]

You might be adding a lot of un needed stress in the tank by putting the tiger barbs in with the angels. The angels are aggressive as are the barbs, tension will be between the angels and barbs, and they will bite the fins of the angels until they look like crap. Just giving you some helpful tips.

Great tank though!

[Jallenbah]

@hom3runchamp My tiger barbs are relatively docile, I haven't really seen them nip anything strangely.

The angel is very protective of his personal space (will nip them if they get too close), but other than that he leaves the barbs alone. The angel never really gives chase, and the tigers generally are more agressive amongst themselves than they are with the angel. Likewise the angel is less aggressive to them than they are to each other.

I've read about problems but they seem pretty peaceful.

[backerj11]

I really like your tank, I have a twenty nine gallon, but my plants don't seem to do nearly as well as yours, You can take a look at them... Do you have any hints/tips? Thanks for your time

[Jallenbah]

@backerj11 First, experiment with different types of plants. I've found that Vallis and Crypts are best when it comes to doing well in my tank but it could be different in yours.

Secondly, make sure you have a sufficient amount of fish to produce the nitrates your plants want. I have more trouble with plant infestations than plant death.

Finally, research your plants requirements. Vallisneria should only have its roots burried, if you can't see the top of them then you've put it too deep.

[fishyfantastic]

try Flourish and flourish excel combined, they r seachem products work fantastic together just be carefull you do not overdose,contains carbon alot cheaper then co2 cartridges your plants will look fantastic

[94blundell]

thanks man. i'll put a vid off mine on soon

[94blundell]

hi i have the same tank as you. and i have sand and bogwood and have just put live plants but i think they will die cause i don't have a sunlight bulb. and could you give me advice on keeping them alive. thanks

[Jallenbah]

@94blundell As long as you have a light on for 10-12 hours a day, that's fine. It doesn't need to be a sunlight specific light.

[brechstylez]

i will post a vid wen i have planted the plant. thanks again for your help

[brechstylez]

play sand is awsome, cheaper and still goood enough!!!

one quaestion,

did you add any nutients for your plants under the play sand, what ydo you use for the plants to keep them all healthy.

[Jallenbah]

@brechstylez I used plants which grow well without any extra nutrients, so although I used to put some drops of plantamin in each week, I don't even do that any more and they still grow fine (I have quite a lot of fish, so I guess that helps keep the plants fed).

If you want plants which will grow no matter what, I recommend Vallisneria, Cryptocorynes, and Java ferns. These 3 plants are pretty much invincible.

[brechstylez]

@Jallenbah thanks man that really helps. the porblem is that I have some hygro plant here but I have bought King british plant food which is a water nutirents. do you think this will help the plants. thanks for your reply

[Jallenbah]

@brechstylez Yeah definitely. Hygrophila grows really fast, so it helps to have extra nutrients in the water so it doesn't suck them all up too quickly.

The only other thing to make sure of with hygros is that they get 10-12 hours of light per day, as usual with aquatic plants. Good luck :D

[mariogamecrazy]

so is the play sand better than gravel?

[Jallenbah]

@mariogamecrazy I'd never go back to gravel. Sand stays super clean. It's excellent.

[cleckioli]

nice tank



[cmanclan101]

probably not a good idea to put tiger barbs in with those neon tetras.. in a few months when theyre big enough, your tetras will get eaten

[Jallenbah]

@cmanclan101 Sorry, but to suggest that tiger barbs would eat neon tetras is ridiculous. Tiger barbs don't get anywhere NEAR big enough to eat a fully grown cardinal / neon tetras. As well as this, they aren't even neon tetras, they are cardinals.

[JmeJian90]

FOR EVERYONE - ADVICE PLEASE:

I have the same dimensons as your tank, atm my tanks on bricks with a bed sheet over it, I wanted to get a stand/cabinet. Did yours come with the tank or do you know any places where I can get them from?

[Jallenbah]

@JmeJian90 My stand came with the tank.

[sidewindersnake1210]

i have the same tank as you but ur lighting looks pretty good did u have to upgrade it  cos mine was so dim i had to upgrade to 2x25w or maybe it is just my gravel absorbing all the light cos its pure black

[Jallenbah]

@sidewindersnake1210 Lights have a property called colour temperature, the tube which comes with the tank is 4200K - very yellowish.

I have a 10,000K reflector now which is much more white / blue.

The blueishness is cancelled out by the tanins in the water from the wood, which makes it look quite clear.

[sidewindersnake1210]

@Jallenbah what bulbs do you use then if u dont mind me asking

[Jallenbah]

@sidewindersnake1210 I don't know what the bulb is, it doesn't really matter on make or whatever.

It's just a T8 10,000K w/ an internal reflector.

Bulbs have standard wattages based on their length and diameter, so if it's the right diameter (T5, T8, T12 etc.) and the right length, and it has your desired colour temperature, it will do.

[TheFabien4]

oui je parle francais mais en langage de jeune....lol alor sa ser a rien de traduir mai jador l'aquariophilie jai 25litre et 100l ++

[TheFabien4]

bel aquarium mai ton scalair subi une nanification car se 300l pr 5 scalair on voi car il a les nagoir coubee vere l'ariere grrrr

[Jallenbah]

@TheFabien4 I don't speak french.

[CrunchieDan]

How would I go about converting to sand from gravel? I have a 25 gallon tank with 3 tiger barbs, 1 green tiger barb, 1 red tail shark, 2 cory cats and a bristlenose pleco. I really don't wanna tear down the whole tank. Could I just remove the fish and ornaments, turn off the filter, scoop the gravel out and replace it with sand?

[Jallenbah]

You could try, but the chances are that the water would be so mucky afterwards that putting your fish in it could be considered murder. If it doesn't work then you can always drain it and fill it though I guess. Just make sure that the fish are kept at an acceptable tropical temperature.

[CrunchieDan]

Well I would wash it first, etc. And let it settle. If I drained the tank and added the sand, wouldn't that just stir up the sand, adding the water to it?

[Jallenbah]

The sand isn't the problem, if washed properly then it should cause very little cloudyness at all. The gravel which you are removing will have loads of poop which has sunk down into it over the months no matter how well you gravel vacc'd. the water will go a disgusting brown and loads of brown slime will sink to the bottom. Not nice at all lol. As for pouring in the water after the sand, you should put an upturned bowl in the tank and pour onto that, it stops the sand from being too disturbed.

[CrunchieDan]

I see. So would it be fair to remove the ornaments, etc. drain it and wash the sand, fill the tank with clean water and put the sand in, let it settle again then the fish?

[Jallenbah]

Yep, that's exactly how I did it and it all worked out fine :)

Just try to do it fairly quickly (1 hour should be fine if your room temperature is like 21C) to avoid the temperature in the bucket you are keeping the fish in from dropping too low.

You could use the heater in the bucket but I didn't. I'm not sure it's save to do so in such a small volume of water.

Good luck :) it's worth it, sand stays so clean and looks great.

[Jallenbah]

Oh, I forgot. Wash the sand before you go anywhere near the tank. Depending on the sand you have and the amount you have to wash it could take 30 minutes+

The way I did it was to fill a bucket 1/3 with sand, spray in water with a jet extension on the hose, then drain the water repeating this about 5 times per 1/3 bucket of sand.

[CrunchieDan]

Yeah well I would think that goes without saying. But the whole thing might be to much work to replace gravel in a already built tank, but we'll see. Thanks for all your help.

[MicromashMovies]

kuhli loach :)

[Terryhodges08]

hi ive had tropical tanks for some time now but i am starting to like the look of sand in the bottom of the tank , How do you go about water changes etc ? cause at the moment i just use a gravel hoover but i reckon that would just suck the sand straight up

[Jallenbah]

I use a gravel vac with sand, it doesnt suck it up unless you push it against the sand. Keep it 1-2cm away and its fine.

Sand won'd let any muck through either, so stirring it up won't make your water gross.

[amzzlou23]

amazing tank set up!:D. love the fish you have. im thinking of a 25 or 29 gallon fish tank and would like some advice on caring for angelfish. can you please MAIL me or REPLY 2 COMMENT!! Only difference is is id like 2 angelfish and some cardinals and a few harlequin rosberas? any other suggestions. thanks for your advice :-D

[Jallenbah]

Angel fish are great, they are interesting and they grow fast :D One thing I would recommend though is that you get the angel fish last. Mine was added first and was territorial because of that. Any new fish added to the tank would get bullied for a few minutes. Don't even think about guppies with angel fish, they will get torn to shreds. As for Harlequins and Cardinals, they will be fine to start but beware that an angel fish will eat anything that will fit in its mouth.

[amzzlou23]

yeahs i know when i was little my gran had one:)! aww i see. thanks for your help:D. yeah i thought that because ive herd tht they can fit into there mouths or something. mabe i should wait till when i have harlequins cardinals eg that they are fully grown so they hopefully wont fit in. thanks for your help, very much appreciated :-D!!! ps still LOVE your tank haha :P!

[dahargreaves]

how much you buy your tank for ??

[amzzlou23]

yeah how much cus id like a 25 gallon fish tank too and wld be helpfel to know :-D

[Jallenbah]

See my reply to dahargreaves.

[Jallenbah]

I got it with the stand, filter, thermometer, hood, light tubes and heater for £100. On top of that I spent about £5 on the sand and £20 total on plants and wood. Then there's the fish which probably cost about £30 in total.

Not at all bad for what it is if you ask me.

[AlexTubed]

I'm curious have you ever had any problems with the Angels attacking the Cardinals?

[Jallenbah]

No not really. The angel fish isn't big enough to fit a cardinal in its mouth so it never really went for them.

[BenSow95]

Hello, I am just wondering how old is this setup already?

[Jallenbah]

Here it was about 1 month old.

Now it's about 4 or 5 months old. Not had any problems with any plants but I rescaped it a bit.

[Superbat150]

How often do you use the PlantaMin? Do you use solid ferts?

[Jallenbah]

1. Every week, 1ml for every 14 litres; In my case thats 7ml.

2. No. Tank is heavily stocked, the poop on its own does the job of feeding the roots. All aquatic plants can feed readily from the water collumn.

[merkak134]

you should get some discus

[Jallenbah]

No I shouldn't.

1. This tank is already fully stocked.

2. Discus grow up to 10 inches in diameter, you need a very large tank to humanely keep discus.

3. Discuss are extremely picky about water and require frequent large water changes.

[merkak134]

yea i agree about the tank size but i have discus and i change the water once every 7-10 days and they are fine i use a uv sterilizer that probaly keeps my water clean i have a 55g tank with 4 discus and like 20 other fish im going to make a video

[Someth1ngF1shy]

i heard if you get a school of like 6 or more tiger barbs they won't nip at tankmates fin... do u know if this is true?

[Jallenbah]

It reduces it but doesnt completely eliminate it. So I'd recommend keeping them in groups of 5 or more, but still don't mix them with guppies or bettas.

[Saracen1988]

U got a top looking tank don't the tiger barbs nip on the angels fins?

[Jallenbah]

No, my angel fish is extremely aggressive and chases the tiger barbs if they go his end of the tank.

[BenSow95]

One way if you have no time to change water so frequently is by getting elodea and brazillian pennywort I heard that they suck up nitrate very well... NIce tank

[domanater480]

how do u get the water so clear also what kind of sand is it and where did u get it.

[Jallenbah]

It's playsand from B&Q, you just need to wash it very well.

My water stays clear because of a few things:

1. I only feed once a day and give the fish the amount of flake food they will eat in 2 minutes.

2. I do 20% water changes every week.

3. I keep the lights on for no more than 10 hours a day.

If you don't do regular water changes then not only will your water end up gross, but your fish will die young from being poisoned by increasing levels of nitrates.

[domanater480]

also what kind of filter are you running

[Jallenbah]

It's an Elite Jet-flo 100, but I see you have a 55g so you would need a bigger filter.

[domanater480]

do u have msn or something like that to discuss fish and stuff

[vauno]

hey nice setup how u get ur sand clean?

cant get my 210litre tank to be clear

[ggdelgado]

very nice, question, i read that angelfish will try to eat or bite small tetras; do you have a problem with your fish?

[Jallenbah]

He doesn't go for the cardinals, however if a fish will fit in its mouth it will probably try to eat it. He bites the tiger barbs tails occasionally since they are both territorial fish and he will kill guppies, but with fast swimming fish with no long tails he's been fine.

[blownable]

I have 6 glass bloodfins. The littlest guy seems to get chased around a lot. Is that a natural pecking order?

[Jallenbah]

My glass bloodfins are always chasing each other but they are all about the same size. To be honest I wouldn't worry about it much.

[coronapeacock]

looks good

[BigTrev5]

nice