C.Anderson

You're very welcome, and thank YOU for showing interest! Here I was thinking I was the only one that thought my tank had spots that didn't mesh lol. To be honest, a tank this large is a little overwhelming, and I'm kind of just feeling my way along as I go. There's a couple of top notch forums (indluding this one!) with some incredibly helpful people without whom I certainly wouldn't have the knowledge nor the means to even attempt to plant this thing lol.

But if you really want someone to blame...talk to Tex Gal =). That big plant (Apon Ulvaecus) of hers just about single handedly changed my plans for this tank lol. I can't say thanks enough. BK828 and FordTrannyMan have both been hugely helpful as well, and without their plant packages the thing would still be a wasteland with like 9 plants! (Instead of a barren plain with 40 lol!)

Seriously though...I hope it gets better, and I hope the slate walls and my planned fert/Co2/lighting plan work out for what I'm hoping to do. The only thing left to really change on the hardscape is to do the three terraces with the slate walls. Due to how short the center driftwood is, I think I'll raise it up an extra 2" compared to the outsides...not sure though...it might be that everthing sloping downwards to the offset 'center' will look nicest. Guess we'll know once I'm in the middle of it lol.

Anyways, thanks again =). I'll try to get some more detailed shots of this driftwood and the plant choices around it once I get it replanted tonight (thanks to my vandal pleco's =/...). Depending on how cooperative the wifes camera is anyhow.

Cris

C.Anderson

Ha!! I don't know about pure skill lol...more like...set the hardscape, then pick a plant, poke it into the substrate...pick another, poke it somewhere else (or maybe on top of the one I just poked, depending on how adventurous I'm feeling!), rinse and repeat till I run out of plants...make a couple adjustments...then complain to the wife for an hour or six how badly it sucks lol.

I will say, I think I did pretty well on the hardscape. Other than that I mostly just concentrated on dividing the plants up relatively evenly by three, then utilizing the extras to 'unbalance it' from the center three points of interest. After that it was sort of a 'ok this is too tall...where can I put it?' thing. Best part is you should have heard me cussing when I had the whole thing done beautifully (took about 2hrs), got down...told the wife to stand up and turn around (couch is on the back side of the tank) and take a look. Her response? 'Why are all the plants on your side of the tank??

Yep, I'd completely spaced, in my 'zen planting' state lol, to realize I needed to do both sides! I mean, I knew, and there were a couple on the other side...but subconsciously I was putting everything on the side I could see when I got down off the scaffold to 'check things out'.

So about 3hrs later (my back was killing me lol...) I ended up with what you see. Wife loved it, I hated it (it's still sort of 'unbalanced' front to back)...but now it's sorta grown on me some and I'm satisfied with it for a first stage lol =). The kid I traded the Fluval 405 to came over to pay me the extra for the scratched tank and he was like 'Wow...', and a buddy of mine that keeps larger fish (I had no idea until last week lol, he'd never even mentioned it!) seemed suitably impressed too. I chalk it up to the fact that there's roughly a ton of water and fish crap hanging in my living room nearly 5' off the ground lol.

Anyways, thanks again guys...without you and this site this thing wouldn't even be as close to decent as it is!

Cris

Tex Gal

Hey Cris! Everytime I see your tank I just think "That is one HUGE tank!" Even with all the plants you have put in there it still looks bare! I can't believe how it dwarfs you driftwood!

I think you have a great start with your plants! It's gonna be nice as things grow in. One thing that kinda hits me in the face is the light rocks you have in there. They are so stark. Perhaps as they age they will darken a bit and blend in. Also do you think it might be a bit more interesting to turn either the middle or the right driftwood at a different angle? They seem too look just like each other from a distance. (Maybe they look different close up.)

Your plecos are big guys! I bet they love the tank! They'll love the drift wood too. I have 6 plecos, all small variety. They are some of my favorite fishes. How do they fare with your crayfish?

Thanks for the kind words about the apon. I'm so excited that someone likes it as much as I did. It's just a beautiful plant that needs a lot of room. I love how it gets a red blush on near the top of the leaves.

C.Anderson

Definitely on the driftwood! I'd noticed that as well. When I ordered them I thought the right hand driftwood (near the apon) would have more 'slope' to it, but it turned out that it was a big hollow stump lol (which is cool, just not what I expected!). The way they are the center looks like a mini mirror image of the left!! I think rotating it 180* , and possibly shifting it a few inches towards the apon side of the tank would be perfect. On the rocks...the camera just seems to bleach them of all color lol. The whitish one IS some form of opaque quartz, but it's actually covered with a light sheen of algae or something, not to mention black and orangish striations through it. It actually doesn't appear so stark in person. I wish there was a form of very low lying moss (maybe a half inch or LESS. you know...the kind that grows emersed on trees and rocks?) that I could foster onto it...it has such a nice shape but in pictures it is ALWAYS blinding white.

On the pleco's and crays...when I kept them both before I never had issues. They just sort of left each other alone. I haven't introduced any new crays into this tank yet, but I don't think there will be any issues. The pleco's usually hang out higher than the crays can reach, and if anything even touches them they bolt. I don't think the two crays would have much of a chance of catching them. I am however considering trading my vandalistic 11" common pleco and the larger of the two albino's into the fish store for credit towards something else. I really wish I had my old Zebra =/. I bought him for $13 from Petco and he was amazingly colored...maybe he wasn't even a zebra but that's the closest I've seen. Now I see them going everywhere for $125!! He would have been a nice offset for my royal.

Now, on a side note, I've got a question of opinion for you guys. I have this rock cave sort of thing...I think it's man made but it's actually surprisingly natural looking. I was planning on getting rid of it, because it didn't match the slate setup well and it's sort of large at 12" x 6" or so. Here's a few pictures:




It's very open and visible inside, but gives shy fish some security. My red tail shark loves to play in it, turning totally sideways to get inside and back out again. What I was thinking of was putting it on the right side of the tank sort of lodged inside the 'stump' of driftwood. It turns out that piece is almost completely hollow. Here's some pictures of that:


In the tank.

This is what you'd see if you looked down through the tank towards the piece.

Anyhow, I don't know if there's a type of moss other than Java moss (too prolific and grows waaaay too long) that would make the piece look more natural there, or if I'd be sort of stuck with it as/is. Just a small dilemma. I don't really want to get rid of it...the thing has to house a ton of bacteria by being so porous lol...but unless I can fit it in that stump somehow I have nowhere for it =).

Cris

foofooree

wow, that is an amazingly huge tank! makes me want a larger tank more and more!

C.Anderson

Yeah, know what sucks though?? I've gotten used to it...which basically means other tanks just look small =/. This thing has almost destroyed my wonder at the sizing of other fish tanks lol. We have a local fish store that maintains a couple 800-1500 gallon tanks...and I go there to put mine back into perspective =p.

One good thing though is that a nicely planted tank, in any size...still impresses me, regardless of how big mine is at home lol. Thankfully =).

Cris

Chamilitary

can I give some advice? I am just a newbie when it comes to live plants, but I just want to give some advice on the hardscape.

For a tank THIS sized, it would be VERY hard to plant it like you would with a smaller tank. Why don't you try to do something people with small tanks cannot do?

If it was me, I would DEFINATELY use a HUGE stump of some sort, possibly sticking out of the water too on a 45 degree angle. It would look VERY impressive, and get the feel that small driftwoods cannot give you on this beast.

If not, I think a tank with some open space in the middle would look nice because the tank can be viewed on both sides, I'm thinking of 2 "island" in the tank, similar to this:

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.or...=0&vol=3&id=41

Oh and instead of having a tank with alot of species, I would stick to a few only. Something like 200ish Cardinals and 20ish Torpedo Barbs would look stunning along with a school of Otos to take care of the algae would be great. but thats just me.

Something like this http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.or...=0&vol=3&id=55

Anyway, good luck on it, I can only dream of having a tank this big

C.Anderson

This is kinda tough...I definitely considered your ideas...but there's some limiting factors to this tank that sort of won't allow it...I'll try to explain in bold.

Thank you very much!! Your advice is more than appreciated and is just what I'm looking for in responses. I don't know enough about this hobby to make well enough informed decisions on my own lol. People like you giving me their opinions is what is helping me determine what to do and how! I really love your ideas, and if I had the money I think I would definitely pursue them...the reason I say 'if I had the money' is because...while the ADA style tanks are absolutely STUNNING...they are very...limited? I don't think that's the right word...more, specific? Each one elicits a specific emotion/feeling, in a different way than any other. One of the things I am going for with my tank (and hope that the finished product produces) is that the plantings/aquascape will seem to be the focus...but as you look closer all of the different fish (and shrimp, and snails, and crayfish, and crabs lol) and details will draw you in to the point you don't realize you've spent an hour looking at it. I know this will be hard to achieve, but it's the goal. This would be hard to accomplish with one tank this large with an ADA style layout...I think. I would need 10!! For my goals (and budget!), getting the tank planted completely to the limit I think is the best first step. Maybe then I can cull out the aspects/plants/ideas I don't like, and refine what I do like and need to do in order to move forward? I don't know, I'm just learning lol, but I don't see another way to gain the experience I need to make better decisions with this.

Anyhow, thanks again for taking the time to post your opinions! It is very, very appreciated.

Cris

Bert H

I like the way your tank is coming along, Cris. About the driftwood, you can put some petite nanas on it. It would be real easy to do anywhere you have any cracks. Low maintenance, and imo, looks real nice. Of course, I don't know if your plecos would allow their bare wood to be covered.

Tex Gal

I think your fake rock is fine. It looks realistic enough, almost exactly like my lace rock. You could put riccia on it. It would have to be trimmed regularly though. You could also use flame moss, but trim also. You could use a fissidens moss. They grow much slower and would not need to be trimmed nearly as often. They are more expensive and harder to find. You would need a quite a bit to cover your rock (tie or net in on). It would look nice.

About your plecos - I have some really gorgeous ones. Look here http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...take-look.html
They are all small ones, with my largest at 7". I got most of them at http://www.exoticfinds.net/index.html. They have great plecos. They have always arrived healthy and happy. They have a great selection and are very helpful. You can get the "zebra" look in the King tiger without the zebra prices. I love my polka dot ones too! Take a look at their plecos - you'll be in love!