I decided to setup another larger tank in order to satisfy my collectoritis.

Setup details:
Tank - 48" x 13" x 18" AGA 55gallon tank
Pressurized CO2 with glass diffuser
27 L new Amazonia Aquasoil
CFS 500 canister from AquaTraders
Bacter 100
Finnex Ray 2 48" LEDhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008K3...sr=8-1&pi=SL75

I've been doing a water change every other day at this point. Ill get on with the photos.

A lot of the ditches in the Jackson, Mississippi area have lost the variety of aquarium plants they used to have because they have been taken over by either a Polygonum species or Alternanthera philoxeroides Alligator weed. We have had several years with below normal rainfall which may have contributed to the loss of other species, or the species that used to be there (Ludwigia, Micranthemum etc.) are pioneer species that get replaced in a process of succession. So, I was glad to run across a new ditch that was created about a year and a half ago that has already acquired an interesting variety of plants. It was created when a bicycle path was put in last fall and the path blocked water flow from a woods creating standing water about 6 inches deep along the path. Ludwigia palustris showed up early this spring and grew with astonishing rapidity. At first I thought that Ludwigia was the only plant, but closer examination showed a number of other species. had also made it there in only one season. I found Ludwigia glandulosa, Bacopa routundifolia, Lindernia dubia, an Ammannia species, Ditch stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides), a possible Mimulus species and some Polygonium. Photos, below show all but the Polygonum.



This photo shows the extensive growth of Ludwigia palustris. There is a Ludwigia glandulosa plant in the lower right corner that I did not recognize when I took the picture.

Background: A few years back (2003?) I dove headfirst into planted tanks and over the years put together a few scapes. Loved it, but but interupted too many times with sequential job moves, after graduation.
A few months ago, the wife more or less said "I want you to start up a planted tank. I miss them"...who am I to say no?!

The idea : Longevity. Current trends in competition are for the moment of the photo. Most tanks aren't designed for the time before or after the photo (this could be a huge rant/debate thread, so maybe I'll bring that up elsewhere). I'm after a tank for my house and for me, not for a photo. This means planting a tank that will last, and not require constant pruning/replanting to keep it looking like a jungle. So, I'm staying away from very high light. Staying away from stems. Staying away from super fast growers. I'm also employing MTS for substrate. First time using it, and sounds like a good idea for the eventual heavy root feeding crypts.

hardware: I'm re-purposing my old Elos 70 for this tank. The elos sump isn't good for FW, so that is being replaced with a Proflex Model 1. Still working out CO2, but it will be there. Return will probably use the Eheim 1250 instead of 1260 (too much flow?). ATO will be with the original elos osmocontroller and an external tank of water (US Plastics). For lighting, I have available, a pair of Kessil Amazon Sun, but I'm going to see how a single will do. This will be med to med-low on light levels. There will be some extra shadowing with a single point source, but I'm ok with that. I had a pair of 14K kessils over the same tank before when it was a reef.

hardscape materials: Rock, sand and gravel were all collected locally. It took a good amount of rinsing to get rid of most of the organics/silt. I was first thinking of using more contrasting sand-rock, but this is truer to reality since the sand/gravel was originally the rock before weathering/time took hold. The wood is 3 pieces of manzanita, glued to a base rock with IC-Gel.

plants: I don't have any yet :P I'm currently sourcing some and should have it sorted this week. On the list are things like...
Foreground: marselia minuta, parva, petite nana,??
For-mid: wendtii green gecko, petchii, willisii (nervelii?), lucens, ??
Mid: mid-back: affinis, nurii, ??
Back: retro spiralis, spiralis, crispatula, ??
All of this is dependent on what I can come across and what I get inspired by.



(I live in NM, and if I only added a few sparse plants, and a few tumble weeds, then we have ourself a local NA style tank :P)

(1) clean out most of the old reef junk (note, parts of overlow are removed. There won't be a big hole for fish to get sucked into!). Single Kessil mounted. Wire needs routing and painting for SAF. (Note to others making their own kessil mount... the Kessil Goosneck has M10x1 threading). I could have attached the kessel+gooseneck directly to the tank, but I wanted more height. The back alcove (I forget what it is actually called) will probably have other plants that don't need a lot of attention.


(2) Sand/gravel perimeter, with dolomite/murate of potash base in center


(3) Add MTS and cover with sand/gravel. The MTS was higher in organics than I like and didn't hold the clay (the red in the liquid on top) super well. We'll see how it goes. I personally think the soil is only half way through the mineralization process. Probably just means more water changes at first, but not as bad as if I went the classic Walstad topsoil method.


(4) Here is the joining of the wood on a rock base (which sits on the rock shown in the earlier photos). The rock is to also keep things from floating up.


(5) Dump in base sand/gravel to fully cover MTS


(6) figure out what rocks I want to use (I collected way more than I needed. Better to have options. This is not a rockscape, so I wanted to use rocks that add to the overall feel and not overly dominate.



(7) rocks/rubble added.






(8 ) this is it for now. I'll post more when I have plants

I've been gathering info on this forum for a long time and wanted to share one of my tanks with you.

It is mentioned as a planted Vietnamese biotope on a budget resembling a Vietnamese river stream. I've a 100 gallon planted community tank and used this 10 gallon as a breeding tank for my angelfish. I sold my angelfish and wanted to turn it over cheap. I took out the corner filter and used the pump only with a sponge. Took out the broken 15W ballast and replaced it with a 36W and added another 15W t8 (see pictures), one 3.000K and one 14.000K old but still grows plants and algae Painted the inside white to save on reflectors and added a free 95gram co2 set which I later replaced with the 500gram spare bottle of my big tank.

There is no heater because I the room won't come below 18 degree celcius and the tank is usual a few degree warmer thanks to the lighting.

Flora & fauna:
25 x Tanichthys micagemmae
4 x Sewellia lineolata
10 x Paracaridina sp. Princess bee (lost a few)

Rotala sp. 'vietnam'
Ultricularia graminifolia
Limnophila aromatica
Riccardia chamedryfolia
(Blyxa japonica)


All fish and plants are from Vietnam but the Blyxa japonica didn't do very well. I will try again later because I've enough in my big tank.

As you can see in the pictures I had some trouble with snails (there number decreases a lot) and also cyano bacter, staghorn algae and some other algae (morning sun on the tank). The algae on the stones is intended as food for the sewellia's.


Modified hood:



The setup:



Growth:




Details:





The tank isn't finished jet but getting better more bushy and healthier every week so I was even thinking about entering the iaplc contest. (Although it will be hard to get the UG good with the Sewellia's in the tank) Was wondering whether you think I need to clean the stones before a final picture or not. And also all comments regarding layout are welcome!

Yo-han

Just wanted to share some of my recent progress in the way of flowers with everybody:

Limnophila sp. 'Vietnam'
Buds:


Bloom:


Side View:


Staurogyne sp. 'Bihar'
The whole plant:


Flower:


and Fruit!

(tried to use the backlighting to candle the pod, so we can see a bit of what's inside...)

Will post more as things continue to bloom.

Tank : 60x40x36 OptiWhite

Light : HQI 70W Philips 6500K next week ADA HQI 150W Green

Substrate : 2xADA Amazonia New, 2L Power Sand S, Bacter 100, Tourmaline BC, Clear super, Penac W, Penac P zakupy w NAShop.pl

Filtering : Eheim 2217 + ADA Bio Rio + ADA NA Carbon + ADA Palm Net

Stone : 20-25kg Gray Stone

Fertilization : Co2, all ADA

Flora : Hemiantus callitricoides cuba, Staurogyne Respan, Eleocharis parvula, Utricularia gramminifolia, Hydrocotyle Sp. Japan

Fauna : comming soon























Now we just have to wait until the increase in mass of a plant that is 4-8 weeks. And when it comes to dry off, I will try to express why I decided to explain. Low weight of plants, algae-rich substrate = 100% and so peacefully without algae and surprises start
sorry my english is bad

Just finished up with the move from old rental property to new home. Life sure has been hectic lately!

So, the Journal starts over, and as much as I hated to tear down the tank from this:


and this:


To THIS:


and this:


.....but it had to be done. To re-set and try to go with the same aesthetic would have been uncreative and boorish. Everything was sold or given away. Many thanks to Tlyons01 who spent a "fun" afternoon tearing the tank down with me. It only took about 7 hours.

Prior to that, the outside of the stand/pedestal was removed. It was made of 2x4's: very solid construction, but the outside was made of pressboard. A terrible choice, in retrospect, for obvious reasons. It had been warped and bubbled, and was a total eyesore. So, I stripped it down and threw it out.

Here are a few pics of the new pedestal:




That is red oak stained with walnut with iron hinges and knobs. We're going for more of a "rustic" old-fashioned look for the sitting room, and I thought that this would look nice. Eventually, the pendant above the tank will be redone either in black, or it will be done to match the pedestal. Probably happen in January. In the new design, I added side doors in order to make accessing the equipment in the back easier to do. It has been triple coated in poly on all sides to ensure water resistance, and almost "water proofing."

The day following the drain and dis-assembly, we moved the tank, lighting, and new pedestal to the new house. This was all done within two hours, which was faster than I had anticipated. The move went flawlessly, and I was ready to re-start the scape. So....

IN went custom made Manzanita branches that came from hydrophyte (from TPT), plain kitty litter (about 30lbs), and that was topped by MTS made by DogFish2.0. The Manzy branches are semi-poseable that will allow me to move the "joints" as needed in order to access equipment with relative ease, or to alter the hardscape as desired. You will notice screws in some of the future pictures; these are the "joints" I refer to....just a simple screw and nut assembly. Hydrophyte did do a marvelous job cutting the ends of the branches into simple fittings through which the screw passes through and is held on the other side by the nut.

DogFish sent six large Flat Rate boxes of MTS to me months ago, and makes about a two inch layer in my tank. Wonderful stuff!:





Sprinkled on the potash, pressed it into the MTS, and then topped that with some of my old tank's substrate. Added the Seriyu stone and other stone into the tank, and now this is how it looked:





Three rock "peninsulas" are featured in this set up for bucephelandra, anubia, and java fern species; the substrate will feature mostly crypts.

More pictures tomorrow!!

I'd like to get some feedback and some planting ideas for my first rock layout. I have always avoided rock scapes, but figured I'd give one a try for somethign new and different. I like the way it looks, but now I'm concerned that by the time I plant it most of the rocks will be hidden.

Any advice or plant recommendations are appreciated.

-Dave



A view from the top:

It has been awhile since I have visted the site and thought I would share my new adventure. Back in January of this year, I decided to scrap my 90G corner bowfront and get the tank I have always wanted...a 125 gallon, 72"L x 18"W x 23"H. I had alot of work ahead of me because I wanted to build it into the wall in my basement and have the back of it accessible to my fish room. If you want to view the complete build Click HERE to go to my journal on TPT. Here are some pics of the build...

The start..


Fish room


Cleaned out ready for new floor paint


Paint applied


The tear down


The start of remodel






My little girl checking my work


Base in


View from fish room


Soffit in


Drywalled and ready for paint


Ready for tank


Tank in


Testing hardscape


Starting to fill


Filter wall in fish room


Planting started




Filters setup






Almost done..just have to build the front cover


Thanks for looking!