Je55*e

This is my second and largest tank yet (yes, I'm relatively new, see my sig). I'll be moving the guys from the 6g in here once it's ready, along with a few more.
Today I added 2 red ludwigia plants, 2 assorted sword plants (not sure of their real name, feel free to tell me if you know), and 1 green cabomba plant. I also rearranged the decor; turns out I bought too many ornaments and had to take some out to make room for the plants. :P
I'll update as the fish are added.





Sorry the quality's not fabulous; I'm not the best at taking aquarium photos.
What do you think?

Oh, and, is it possible/wise to tape a background to the outside of the tank? I am such a clutter-bug, and the poor fish will have to stare at all my stuff back there without one. :P

agabr123

absolutely on the background, i use plain black backgrounds on all of my tanks and it makes everything look so much nicer! hides all of the cords and filter intakes and heater and everything (they're all black). i'll try to get some new pics of my tanks with the backgrounds, the pics i have up now don't have them but it looks a lot better!!!

Je55*e

Thanks for the tip. =)

agabr123

no problem!

your tank looks great by the way!

mjordan

intresting
i hope your not going for the heavily planted look.
but it does look good now. im not shure bout the decor.
the fake plants dont compliment the real ones. the pink to be specific.
i also like the cave behind wat looks like cambona.
try a mos like christmas moss tide to a piece of driftwood.
if u buy driftwood then i would take the cave out.


overall i give it 4 stars
sorry bout that star thing got a little to caught up with myself....
it looks great

agabr123

oh! i just noticed this but watch out for that decoration, the one with the barrels. read this thread....

Gourami Accident

DPmom26

I love the tank it looks great.... I like the brightly colored deco it gives it a splash of color

Mike19

nice tank

Je55*e

Thanks, everyone. I like lots of color. :P

agabr: I put that cave in there because it was in my older tank, and I wanted to help the new one mature. Also, my otos really love hanging out in there. If I notice any hint of problems with it in the future, I'll remove it. Thanks for the warning.

mjordan: thanks for the input. I didn't want to go too heavily planted, no. Why?
I was thinking about putting real moss over the fake moss on the logs behind the Cabomba. Hope that'll stick.

allwet1

Your tanks look great. I had a question, Where did you get the clear legs for the Coralife light fixture and are they secure? I ordered some black ones for mine and the wobble and move around. Thanks

Je55*e

I got them at bigalsonline.com. I can't seem to find a link for the life of me, though, sorry. XP

They are made for my particular light fixture (coralife) and are only plastic, but they are nice and sturdy. =)

Je55*e

The other day I bought what I think is a really gorgeous background. It really improves the overall look of the tank. I hope you all agree!





Forgive the glare from the window and camera flash.

pinky93

i love it...it would look good with a background
Hey!i have that same barrels LOL

Je55*e

Pinky: neat and thank you!

shellbell4ever

Very Nice Set Up Looks Much Better with the Background

Je55*e

Thank you very much =)
That's a gorgeous betta in your avatar, by the way.

Je55*e

Got new plants delivered today. =D

Dwarf lily (still quite small yet. I have another planted on the opposite end of the tank):



Riccia Fluitans moss tied to the large cave in the center and Purple Cabomba with flowers in the background:



Full picture of the tank:



This is a better picture of the Ludwigia I already had in there (plus one bunch added since):

Je55*e

p.s.: in the last shot, is that plastic air stone good for the plants? It only gives off a small line of bubbles from the top of it. I heard it was good for planted aquariums, to diffuse the O2. Yes, no?

mjordan

actualy the plants use the carbon dioxide or co2 to grow and give of o2 as i biproduct that the fish can use.

i have co2 in one of my 4 tanks and love it but i also have air pums for all of my tanks and add o2 trough air stone.

make a long story short using an airstone is benificial to fish and doesnt realy help plants but is a good thing to have

Regal

I have heard that its better for plants if you avoid breaking the surface of the water because this would allow the co2 to escape. I'm definitely not a co2 expert, just though I'd mention it. Your tank looks great btw. That looks like some serious lighting you have there.

Je55*e

^Thanks for the information. And thank you for the compliment! =) Yes, it's 65w coralife, pretty serious stuff, haha.

mjordan: thanks for that information as well. =)

Regal

Wow! you should be able to grow any plant you want with 3.5 WPG. I'm jealous

mjordan

33.5 wats per gallon is to much for alot of those low light plants unless they get the indirect light underneath other plants.

also you will prob start having algae problems with excess nutrients.
you could start doing ferts like florish or plant tablets or u could use a plant substrate like florite.

u could also combined that with co2.

wat i would do is instead of getting expensive liquid ferts go with a plant substrate and co2. trust me it makes a difference fast


i guess u always could just let the fish eat it. i think u said u had a pleco? mabey not but if u dont thats an posibility if the algae gets out of control.

Je55*e

So far (tank's been running for about a month now) everyone's looking healthy and lively, and no algae has developed yet. The light is placed on the front end of the tank, and the plants are in the back. Most of them have red coloring, which requires more lighting, anyway.
I use flourish excel and flourish iron and they are in the sand substrate packed with laterite around their roots.

timrellis

Really for plated tanks you need to have a higher CO2 content which the plants use then give of oxygen. You can buy a cheap CO2 diffuser or i've seen instructions online on how to build them yourself. Try looking for directions on how to build one on instructables.com.

Je55*e

^Thanks for the tip.

Je55*e

timrellis: if I were to buy it, this is a good system, yes?
http://www.bigalsonline.com/StoreCat...Type=0&offset=

timrellis

You might want to post a different thread for this question cause i have almost no experience w/ planted tanks I just know that they need the CO2 lol! If you can't get some ones opinion I always just go read all the reviews on a product from several different sites. This gives you a general idea if people were satisfied with that product. It's also a good idea to do anyways.

mjordan

i use a DIY setup comenly found in the DIY section of this forum and i can find u a link if necisary.


i also got my diffuser which is seramic from drfostersmith.com
and if you intresed i can easily get a link for that to.



my most resent post o said 33.5 wpg but i meant 3.5

Je55*e

^I am interested in the link to that diffuser, if you don't mind. =)