Planted tank pics.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I snapped a pic of my tank last night.
Have a boo and tell me what you think.

http://members.shaw.ca/spacemanspiff/66galstraighton3.jpghttp://members.shaw.ca/spacemanspiff/66galrightside.jpg

< br>The tank is 3 months old. I've retied the riccia to the driftwood. But as soon as I can get some glossistigma & hairgrass, I'm going to plant the left side of the tank.

So far so good.

 

[ronrca]

Beautiful! I wish that I could have a tank like that. What kind of plants do you have? And what is your maintenence and water parameters?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Here's the plant info:

Vesicularia dubyana, Riccia fluitans,Microsorum pteropus, Hygrophila polysperma, Hygrophila corymbosa “Siamensis”, Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Hemianthus micranthemoides, Cryptocoryne x willisii, Echinodorus tenellus, Bacopa caroliniana, Babys tears.

Maintence is roughly 2-3 hours a week including 50% water change and plant trimming.

Water parameters: PH 6.8, KH & GH ~3, temp 25 C, DIY co2 ~2-3 bubbles /sec. 160 watts diy light on 10 hours a day.

I'm going to add some red Rotala wallichii when I can find some. I'm also looking for some hairgrass and glossistigma for the left side of the tank.
Thanks for the comments.

 

[ronrca]

I just cant get over the beauty of a planted tank. Do you have flourite under the gravel or is there another way you are fertiziling the plants?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

The substrate is 20 kg of profile mixed with 7 kg of flourite. I was adding iron daily to the tank, but got an outbreak of black brush algae. I've since cut back on the iron.

I fertilize with tropica master grow at half strength since my water is so soft here. If I use it at full strength, the tank quickly becomes over run with green algae.

In my other tank I used laterite and regular gravel. I did use plant tabs next to the roots, but don't use that method any more. I found the plants grew very quickly initally and then started to die back. With the liquid fertilizer and the addition of iron, they grow naturally and stay healthy. No quick growth spurts and leggy plants.

 

[ronrca]

What is 'profile'? Is it like gravel or sand? Did you mix it all together or layer the profile and flourite? How thick is you substrate?

 

[Matt Nace]

Nice tank spiff.

Makes me want to redo mu 55 gallon, my 29 looks so cluttered.

Did you get a lot of your plants online? I can't find hardly any around here.

Profile is made from schultz. You can get it at your local walmart and stuff. I like it for the price, but it honestly is nothing like flourite. If you mix it , it is better than alone, cause it is very light.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thanks.

I obtained my 20kg of profile from the Canadain Tire Store surprisingly. I did mix it with 7 kg of flourite. Next time I would mix more flourite with it and also add a bad of regular gravel. I am pleased with the results of the plant growth, but the only thing is that the profile is a little light in weight.

No, all the plants were obtained from 4 different LFS. I am still on a mission to get the ones that I really want. This is just phase 1 of the tank.

 

[ronrca]

Cool! I found some pics of some tanks that I would love to 'copy'. I guess that will be a challenge.

http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2000.cgi?&op=showcase&category=0&vol=2&id=42


http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2000.cgi?&op=showcase&category=0&vol=2&id=85

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I've entered my tank in this years contest. Results are after November 10th.

 

[dattack]

Well good luck.  Once you have the foreground plants growing like glossisgt?  to cover, then you will definitely have a good chance of winning. ;D

 

[ronrca]

Cool! Good luck Spaceman! You sure do have a beautiful tank. I hope you do well. Im totally in awe with some tanks in the contests. I surely want to have a tank like that someday.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thanks for the encouragement. Hopefully I can obtain the hair grass and glossostigma soon. I spent an hour and a half the other day trimming the plants.

Why not create your own tank? It's not that difficult. I just takes some time and patience.

 

[ronrca]

Im going to try but I first have to keep the plants alive.