Magpie's Tank

55 gallon, built into my bookshelf unit. Yeah, it's a bit sparse, but the fishy's seem happy.

 

Looks nice! Are those live plants, or artificial?

I was looking at a tree stump thing like you have today; I might get it for my new 56g.

 

Half the plants are real, half are plastic. Actually cruising eBay right now for some fakes, since I've never had much luck keeping live aquarium plants alive. Which drives me crazy since I do so well with land plants.

 

I would recommend the fake plants made from silk...they are easier on fins, and look more realistic

 

I've found the Tetra plastic plants are really well made, too, and look pretty realistic in the tank. That's what I've used in my 10 gallon (pictures lower in this forum).

 

all of our plants are tetra water wonders.

 

all of our plants are tetra water wonders.

Thanks for the heads up on that and for helping me eat up some of my mad money. ;D Replaced the two algae lined plastic onion plants with a 6" Cardinal, a 9" Temple and a 14" Mermaid Weed this morning. Looks soo much better. If my WendtiI I bought on Friday suffers the same fate of most of my other live plants, I'll be going with the water wonders...

Pic of new plants



Mr. Jones approves of the new Decor'

 

I like that little barrel -- where'd you find it? Haven't seen any like that around here.

 

I actually bought that for my 20T tank back when I was in the service in the eighties. Got it as some LFS in Pearl City, Hawaii. It's at least 20 years old...

 

Probably why I haven't seen any around now.

 

Had a mild ich outbreak, started with the Bala's (they're fine now) and has hit the Serpae's very hard. Yeah,yeah, I know, I need a quarantine tank.

Anyhow, now that everything's starting to settle back down I decided to do an overhaul of the decor. Yanked the barrel, the tacky little signs, and the last obviously plastic plant. Went with a few more of the Tetra Water Wonders and made room for some more live plants in the near future. Also added some field stones that I soaked in bleach, boiled in clear water, scrubbed and then soaked for 48 hours. Seems the Serpae's and the Pristella appreciate the rearranged plants and hang out in the opening under the three fake and one real plant on the left, and the Sharks can't seem to stay away from the little reef in the center. Next will be some potted plants next time Elmer's throws them on sale. Those will probably go behind the ceramic stump and in front of the right side powerhead tube.













I couldn't get a clean shot of the tetras in their hideout, my hands shake too much and they wouldn't stay still.

Whattayathink?

 

looks really good, I think the live plants will make it look a lot better than it did in the beginning

 

looks great! ;D

 

Just when I though I was happy with the layout, my Dad hands me a 27" long piece of nicely shaped driftwood...
Back to the drawing board.

 

if you don't want it, we'll take it.. cool

Just when I though I was happy with the layout, my Dad hands me a 27" long piece of nicely shaped driftwood...
Back to the drawing board.

 

LOL nope, I'll agonize over a new layout once it's desalinated. The look on SWMBO's face was priceless when she came down and saw a log in her pasta pot on the stove ;D All I said was "Fish tank", she rolled her eyes, said "Whatever" and walked away.

 

lol... yea, I love that reaction.

 

I get that all the time from my parents and sisters...they just don't understand

 

same here.. i'm glad we found the colorado aquarium society so we can have some people to talk to here in denver that understand how great fish are.

 

I got fed up with the driftwood and it's buoyancy, ended up pulling it out until I can find a good slate to screw the blasted thing down with. I wanted it to come up out of the substrate at a very low angle, short of tying it off to the undergravel filter, that wasn't happening. So I bought a Red WendetiI and rearranged the rocks yet again. Critiques of the layout welcomed (Unless you're going to be as brutal as the Lady from the AGA contest... She's got a wonderful eye for detail, but comes across rather rough)



L-R Two fake plants alongside rock, two cuttings of some anubus in front of the rock. Fake plant, Green Wendtii, driftwood root, 2 Java ferns (growing like weeds,) stacked stones with pebble spacers to provide shelter for the ghost shrimp, fake plant, more shoots from the anubus, red Wendtii, and a fake Cardinal Plant (going away soon, the roots are NoxICH stained and won't come clean) Never mind the reflection of my monitor in the upper left...


Shot from the right end

Fauna has been updated since the first post in this thread as well
In addition to the pleco, two cories, three red eyes, three Serpaes, a single Pristella and the two Bala's, I have added about a dozen Ghost shrimp, four Cherry Barbs, and a few more Pristella's. I'm about as full as I'm willing to take it now. I was hoping to aquire a 120 gallon setup, but that fell through, so I'm socking my pennies away for a larger tank in the future.

 

looks good!

 

Finally get off of my duff and set up my 20 high tank. It was bought a while back for use as a quarantine tank, but as many MTS suffers know, it didn't quite work out that way. I put in a one inch thick layer of mixed flourite and eco-complete I had left over from the overhaul of my 55 gallon tank, and since that was a bit thin, added 10 ponds of smooth natural brown gravel on top of that.

I used a foam from my large Aquaclear HOB, just trimming it down to fit in the smaller one I got with the 20. Figured it was a month old, it should be well loaded with good bugs from the larger tank. Also filled it with 15 gallons of the water from the 55, instead of dumping it down the drain, I just poured it in the new tank. Topped off with 5 fresh and new. Guessing I should be cycled fairly quick, as long as I stay on top of things with small frequent changes and small feedings of the tank.

The goal is to decorate it with one of the artificial roots I'm going to trade Mudhog my Java Fern babies once the weather warms up enough to ship them, a spare fieldstone I cleaned for my 55 but ran out of room for, and a small peice of Malaysian driftwood. I want to plant it with the WendtiI shoots and any future Java fern babies. Since it will be a much slower current than the 55, the majority of my java moss will move over as well, maybe the blasted stuff will stay put here. If not, it's going in the trash, I've had it with plucking it out of my dwarf hairgrass and the filter inlet.

Anywho, I need to replace the light, looking at a 24" Coralife 36w fixture and a glass top to replace the 18w T8 and black plastic hood. Once that happens and the plants get somewhat stable, I will finally return to the Betta fold. I had a nice Royal Blue Veil-tail when I had my first 20H way back when, I miss him. Also, I may have a line on some Corydoras Stenocephalus for the bottom

 

Half the plants are real, half are plastic. Actually cruising eBay right now for some fakes, since I've never had much luck keeping live aquarium plants alive. Which drives me crazy since I do so well with land plants.

You and me both! I am a master gardener! certified by the state! and have troubles with plants in my tank. May I suggest it looks like if you put a hood on there with more watts of lighting it might help. Also, you could research CO2 addition there is something in the DIY section that describes how to build a unit...

Your tank is lovely though the way it is. Did you raise your temp above 82 for your ick outbreak?

 

You and me both! I am a master gardener! certified by the state!

Ah, so you know everything about growing lichens...
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Okay, so the Alaska joke has probably set in by now.

Anyway, tank looks good. However, my design training kicked in, and everything looks a bit too level in the tank, particularly on the left side. WIth the plants you've got, it will probably "fix" itself, though, as some will grow longer or fuller than others.