[ghengis]

Hi all. Thi here is my first foray into a planted tank. I've been in the fish hobby for a couple of years, and I've had tanks with plants before, but my GF and I have started a concerted effort to acheiving something more visually appealing.

The tank in quetion is 600x300x350mm for 70L. Light is an online cheapie 15W, 10,000K fluro. Filter is a modified 500lph Internal. Non-fancy substrate and DIY CO2 are also used. Fish are four RedEye tetra's, one plant demolishing Flame Gourami, and a platinum female Betta.

This was the setup four weeks ago:

...and today.

You may notice the DIY "Bell" in the rear corner for diffusion. This will be replaced soon with a proper glass diffusor, once it arrives. Cheers for lookin, any tips welcome

 

[trenac]

Very nice first attemp. I really like the twisted peice of driftwood.

What are your plans for a foreground plant?

 

[Kermit]

Hi,

First attempt - You and Me both.

I like it - keep it up.

 

[inareverie85]

Hi. That's a lovely piece of driftwood Very nice, especially for a first try. I'm still struggling to make my first tank work out so well.

 

[Tex Gal]

Love what you've done with the place!

 

[ghengis]

Very nice first attemp. I really like the twisted peice of driftwood.

What are your plans for a foreground plant?

*cough*Foreground??*cough*
Yeah, well...see that little clump of something, sitting front and centre? That was meant to be the beginnings of some sort of ground cover. The combination of low light and a ravenous Gourami put paid to that idea, though... (the Gourami is going to an LFS, tomorrow. I'm tired of him hassling my betta girl...) Once I get my hands on a stronger light (maybe 40w-ish), I'll try for that again.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! Any other suggestions?

 

[Shurik]

My congratulations on your first attempt.
I am two month into this hobby so I know what you are going through right now. Keep it up, it looks great, and it is going to look even better soon!
Cheers!

 

[AaronT]

Dwarf Saggitaria is a great foreground plant to start out with.

I think your new setup is heads and tails better than the old one. My only qualm is that I think you need less variety of species. I'm guilty of this myself more often than not so it's easy for me to recognize.

 

[foofooree]

you should take the airstone out of the tank, it outgasses your co2, but other than that, looks good

 

[xspy]

looks great. Twisted driftwood is very nice. hehe your first attempt looks better than my 4th attempt =)

 

[Logan's Daddy]

I second foofooree, take out the airstone, it pretty much defeats the purpose of having the co2 at all.

Scape looks awesome and I would like to cast another vote for the awesome piece of driftwood!

Looks like it may be time to trim those stems that are reaching the top by the way.

 

[ghengis]

I was advised by a trusted LFS salesman and aquascaper extraordinaire that running an airbubbler at night was the way to go, because it diffuses the CO2 content in the tank whilst the plants are not absorbing it. I do run it during the day, but only very lightly and purely for fear of suffocating my fishies (yeah, I know, I should just HTFU!).
Is this not a good idea?

The driftwood was the find of the century. We (GF and I) had been on the lookout for literally years for "just the right piece", having collected and tossed many possible candidates. We were "just browsing" an LFS when this piece jumped out. Yes, it is a pretty sweet piece...really like it

Got my glass diffusor(s), today! Can't wait to get home and rip out the crappy DIY unit

 

[Tex Gal]

All your fish but the 4 red eyes are labyrinth fish so they can go up to the top and get air. Just give up and stick your airstone on a timer. Your fish will be fine. If you use a drop checker you can make sure you don't get too much CO2. I do DIY CO2 on 2 tanks with fish and shrimp and even when the yeast is new my tanks have been fine. I even keep it hooked up at night with no airstone. I have lots of plants in there and they pearl giving back the O2. Keep it on at night if you must but not during the day. IMHO

 

[ghengis]

Looks like it may be time to trim those stems that are reaching the top by the way.

Yeah, I been looking at that... Two weeks ago, that (whatever it is? I have no idea about plant names...) was half that height. Grows pretty quick! The plan for that is to move it to the male Betta tank, once I get it sorted, so it's really just in this tank to be kept alive, atm. Not too sure what to do about the Anubia, though. We were to be moving that to the betta tank also, but at this rate, that will be overcrowded, too... Hmmm.

TexGal, I now only have one labrynth fish in the tank. The Flame Gourami went to a petstore today, leaving the Betta (and my plants!) in peace