Aqueon 15 g Column Tank

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

So picked up an Aqueon 15 g column tank package regular price $149 got it for $89 at Petco by buying online. 
I have my fireball platys that have been in my plant rearing tank needing a new home l. My wife also got tired of having to go out to the garage to watch them. She’s secretly into the hobby just funny about how she shows it sometimes. 
I bought a bag of black aquarium soils and a bag of Fluval Stratum. Base substrate will be lava rock and some crushed coral. I have plenty of wood and rocks - local manzanita and obsidian.  
My question is does anyone have experience with this tank? I’ve watched Prime Time Aquatics and she’s done a couple videos on this tank. I watched a few others mostly just cinematic videos showing the tank not the build. I am certainly going to do what I can to build height yet give the fish some room to swim. 
All thoughts appreciated. I’ll document the build as I go. 

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

Whatchu gonna plant in there? Some dwarf sag?

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Here’s a pic I’m using for inspiration- I don’t want to deal with moss and trimming so I won’t be doing this but I do like the height and depth they’ve created. 

I think there will be a focal point piece of wood - I have a piece of mopani that could work or I could do manzanita kind of that upside down wood look with the “trunk” toward the water surface and the thin stems towards the substrate on those pieces of wood will be various types of Buce and anubias. In the foreground I’m thinking of doing crypts - wendtii red, brown, green, green gecko, nurii maiden and tropica and in the background stems and corkscrew Val. I’ve thought about a sword as well as the tank is 25” high but it’s only 13” wide so I’m worried that it’ll out compete my other background plants. I may start with stems and vals and if I feel it could use a sword I’ll pull the trigger. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Beardedbillygoat1975
Picture

[Guppysnail]

I’m an anacharis elodea lover. Even though it’s fake in the ad photo it does look neat in the corner. 

[HH Morant]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:36 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m an anacharis elodea lover. Even though it’s fake in the ad photo it does look neat in the corner. 

And it will get as tall as you want!

[Patrick_G]

I love odd shaped tanks, I’ve been thinking this model would be great for a school of Pea Puffers. 

It sounds like you have a good good plan for the scape. They only issue would be getting light to the base of the stems since they’ll shade themselves and there won’t be much light from the sides. Another option to get some background height would be Val or Crypt Balansae. 

[CT_]

89$ seems expensive.  Why don't you just buy a regular 15g and put it on its side 😛

[StevesFishTanks]

On 8/7/2021 at 1:35 AM, CT_ said:

89$ seems expensive.  Why don't you just buy a regular 15g and put it on its side 😛

The regular 15 is pricey too. its never part of the dollar per gallon sales. They are proud of that size it seems.

 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

In terms of cost it came with a heater, a filter, a light + hood, so about $40 worth of stuff, then the tank is an odd size and I’m actually happy with the silicone along the seams, for an Aqueon it’s the least sloppy I’ve seen. I was hoping to get it for $75-85 and I almost got there with no sales tax in Oregon.

@Patrick_Ggood idea on the crypt balansae. Other option would be aponogeton ulvaceus. Oh the opportunities to spend money on plants.In terms of lighting I’m going to add some strip lights to the hood green and white to help out with better coverage. We’ll see if I can pull it off.

 @Guppysnaili do like anacharis just not sure I want a Forrest of it in this scape. I’ve actually been thinking about it for next years pond project and my tubs in the garage though.  I feel like I’m becoming a plant snob with all my fancy crypts. I remember when it was a big deal to have a sword in your tank now I get my swords to flower and breed. 

We have house guests this weekend so aquarists have been told to put the tweezers down and be a good lad fetch the lemonade and all that. Hopefully when they leave Sunday I can get cracking. 

[GameCzar]

On 8/7/2021 at 1:29 AM, s1_ said:

The regular 15 is pricey too. its never part of the dollar per gallon sales. They are proud of that size it seems.

 

We nabbed their 14g frameless cube for 39.99.   Its back up to 79.99 now!   Jeesh!

[Swred5]

I was going to adopt 3 pea puffers from a friend and bought the tank, the stand and upgraded fluval clear hob filter, paid full price for all because it was a dream tank for me. She brought the pea puffers over after I had it fully cycled and, man they're a lot bigger than I had seen, but they were 3 years old right? Well they ended up being 2 green spotted puffers that required a 55 gallon. Husband wasn't thrilled,  but you adopt an animal you have to properly care for them. Just looked back at the pic of the couple weeks they were in that tank and it's been my favorite. As it was just my second tank, it needed more of the cholla.

[Patrick_G]

On 8/7/2021 at 5:23 AM, Swred5 said:

I was going to adopt 3 pea puffers from a friend and bought the tank, the stand and upgraded fluval clear hob filter, paid full price for all because it was a dream tank for me. She brought the pea puffers over after I had it fully cycled and, man they're a lot bigger than I had seen, but they were 3 years old right? Well they ended up being 2 green spotted puffers that required a 55 gallon. Husband wasn't thrilled,  but you adopt an animal you have to properly care for them. Just looked back at the pic of the couple weeks they were in that tank and it's been my favorite. As it was just my second tank, it needed more of the cholla.

Nice looking scape! How are the GSPs getting along in their 55? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Well I did the thing last night - I’d started prepping substrate a couple days ago and pulling together the plants, filtration etc. 

First down was some lava rock - packed the back to create elevation and a good layer to build up beneficial bacteria. On top of that was a thin layer of laterite and then some crushed coral. On top of that was a mix of stratum and black generic Aquarium gravel. Used some local obsidian and a piece of mopani from my main display.  Planting- in the foreground are some crypts - tropica, nurii maiden, and bronze with some dwarf chain sword. Then there’s a baby Amazon sword (can’t believe my baby’s all growns up!), some cabomba, mermaid weed, and baby’s tears (not dwarf). Background ive got corkscrew Val. On the wood are some Java fern regular and windelov as well as anubias. 

Used the filter that can me with it but as a prefilter I used a small coop sponge filter that was cycled. 

I like the look.

 

[Swred5]

On 8/7/2021 at 8:07 AM, Patrick_G said:

Nice looking scape! How are the GSPs getting along in their 55? 

They grew like weeds!  The one that is more food motivated looks like a blimp, haven't figured out how to feed without him going hog.  He went from about 2.5" to 4", the other is about 3.5". They love to swim through the bubble bar I have. I'd love to have the larger tank for community fish, but they're quite the characters. 

[Guppysnail]

That rock looks really awesome behind the wood!

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@GuppysnailOur local obsidian.