AlexTal

Well, here it goes. I'm about to start my first attempt at aquascaping and at maintaining a planted aquarium.

Tank size = 90 gallon
Lighting = Coralife 4x65W
Substrate = Soilmaster Select Charcoal
Pressurized CO2 with a MA957 regulator and pH controller. DIY CO2 reactor.
Hydor ETH inline 300W heater
Filters = fluval 403 and rena xp3
Dry Ferts from Greg Watson
Malaysian Driftwood

ummm not too sure what other information people want, but ask and I'll let you know!

Sorry for the blurriness in some pictures.

1st - Set up with peat and SS charcoal





2nd - Set up with just SS charcoal



3rd - layout of rock and driftwood.



or maybe this way ...



The difference is how close the second and smaller piece of driftwood to the right is set.

The plants I plant on purchasing (so far) are:

Anubias nana
Cyperus helferi
Micro sword-lilaeopsis
Dwarf spoon leaf Sag
Ludwigia repens
Moneywort
Rotala indica
Red Temple

I'm gonna purchase the plants from aquabotanic probably on monday or tuesday, hopefully perfect for a friday set up date.

I want to stock with SAEs, ottos initially. Add about 15 neon or cardinal tetras and ultimately end up with about 7 angels. I like the wild type coloration for the angels the most but any of them are great.

I chose many of the plants, like the brazilian micro sword and the cyperus helferi and the sag to repeat the stripes of the angels.

Let me know your ideas, comments, or criticism. Anything's welcome. It's my first time though so be gentle!

Oh yeah, ignore the tubing in the back, that'll be cleaned up appropriately when I actually set it up.

John N.

I really do like the look of the soilmaster. I think you got a great start up going right now. I'm not all that thrilled with the pair of the driftwood and rocks. I think it may be a good idea to stick with one particular hardscape and focus on that as the accent pieces to the plants. If you do decide to stick with the wood only, try arrange the wood to create some one shape/contour as described in

The substrate is a little flat and level, and may need some movement in terms of deeper in the back and sloped to the front.

-John N.

Jdinh04

Hmm... starting of great, haven't heard of someone who started with SS Charcoal before but i'm assuming it safe? Anyways, I think you should deinately put some more effort into the hardscape. It looks like as if you just threw everything in, coordination of where the pieces of driftwood and rocks will go will definately improve the look and outcome of your tank. Keep working on it and keep us updated, we'll be glad to help!

skinns

New setups are awesome to see. Gets me excited everytime. Was wondering bout the spraybar placements. Are you keeping them vertical or horizontal? I actually ran my Ehiem 2213 spraybar horizontal on the side glass after I cut 3 inches off. Works great.

AlexTal

I actually did fill up my tank with water when there was nothing in it, no substrate or anything to see how much surface movement the spraybar would cause exactly where it was. So, vertically, it did not have much if any surface movement. I plan on keeping it basically the same way it is, unless someone has good reason otherwise.

Trimming down the spraybar to a shorter length is a good idea.

Question though, when you have your spraybar horizontal, does it cause much surface movement when you aim the holes kinda downward? I imagine putting the bar this way would move the surface and also kinda screw with the taller plants.

AlexTal

Removing the rocks and ordered a ton of malaysian driftwood of all sizes today. I really like the big one I have so whatever I don't use, I figure I can sell. More updates when I get them in.

ranmasatome

hi Alex.. would it be possible to include smaller pics the next update.. i'm having difficulty visualising..haha.. perhaps maybe if you can. Thanks..

skinns

What I have noticed bout the spraybar being horizontal is that it allows the water to be pushed across the whole tank, instead it being shoved to the glass and then dismersed. Only type of surface breakage i get is a hint of moving water. Whats interesting with this position is you can place the spraybar at different levels on the side glass and rotate the bar so the water exits at different angles.

AlexTal

There, I fixed the pictures. Lemme know if people are still having trouble with them being too large. Sorry about that! I'll fix em before posting them in the future!

John N.

Ah, much better Alex! Thanks for resizing those images. Quick question,

If you trim the spray bar, will that mean that the flow in more powerful coming out a smaller number of holes? Do we lose a bit on the flow rate? I was never good with physics. If you do trim that spraybar let use know what you experience.

-John N.