Tank Envy.

I just got a new piece of driftwood.

 

You, too? Show me a picture!

 

Its for my 29G.
Since its a tall tank I needed something tall to take up some space up there.
The top looks so empty lol.

 

Ohh, that is SICK! Man, we are about to have some majorly kickbutt tanks!

 

I agree lol.
Saw another one I absolutely loved BUT, it wasn't tall enough.
It had so much detail to it.

 

Why not get both? Put the tall one behind the short one....

 

I really didnt wana spend an extra $15 lol.

 

In three days you will succumb to the temptation.

 

well olde if you want I can send you a picture to show you how I have almost my identical piece. its like the one piece of driftwood used for spawning by my Bn plecos xD. Now it is a 75 so I don't know if it will fit with your lay out but this is how it is for me. I like it but mine has a hole in the middle of it which is fun for the yoyo's cories and plecos

 

Mister Fry, that is a beautiful setup. Your piece of mopanI is far larger than mine. I am a big jealous, which is what all of us tank-keepers Really want to hear!

Your dark substrate looks really good. I also see how you've put the wood in the mid-ground, cloaking the bases of the taller plants in the back. I like that. I will have to employ a similar methodology with my layout, to be sure.

Oh, oh, and tell mister Tropical that he's going to go back and get that other chunk of driftwood in three days, won't you? XD

 

I most likely will lol.
Heres my tank as is for now.
You can see how the top is so empty.
Also I can't get live plants cause my crayfish likes to destroy them. Into a million tiny little pieces lol.

 

so good news guys I have on layby a brand new aquarium 3 foot comes with warrenty and even a light omg am I excited its going to cost me 400 but comes with a heater a stand two large ornaments has anyone had experience with overhanging filters ive always been a little wary of them and stayed clear of them but it comes included in the bundle with my aquariums an boy do I think this is a bargain can't wait to get it it my presesnt for myself for christmas and shhh I know its a little early but I don't care hahahah

 

that's only half of it . I still have to get the solid black background and wait for all those plants to grow :/

 

so just realised my new tank is going to be a 40 gal that's another 10 gal I didnt have before soo keen to get the new tank paid and set up ill have to send photos

 

Black backgrounds look nice.
Only thing I don't like about HOBs are they don't circulate the water and theyre loud.

 

I would add some foreground plants. My Cories LOVE dwarf sags and they carpet really easily.

It helps create a blend between substrate/hardscape/background plants.

I'd also tie some moss to the wood and cave, again to help achieve that natural blend.

I'd go black sand instead of black gravel to give the cories a little area of to sift through.

I don't think your tank needs anything. It looks great... But we're never happy with our tanks!!xx

 

Black backgrounds look nice.
Only thing I don't like about HOBs are they don't circulate the water and theyre loud.

I have my bubbler set up right where the two currents meet and it achieves a nice little circulation it works pretty well because I have directly below my heaters so it circulates that heat a lot better

 

With the canister filters and my other internal filter I can clearly see the water circulating perfectly from one end to the other.

When I had a HOB I couldnt see it at all. And not much surface agitation besides wherre it broke the surface.

Maybe I just had a bad quality one.

 

Ill be placing a power head directly inder the intake to help with the curculation as I heard this could be a problem with the and I will also to add ak extra filtration I may add a sexond dilterarion being an internal filter too help add a sexond current too keep my fish active and healthy as they love a small amount of current

 

I have a lot of plants in my tank that were disrupting the flow of my canister filter so I also just today added a small powerhead that I got for $7.

 

Demontay1 As I do not have a huge tank, I love my HOB. I love it so much that I would be keen on trying it if I ever get a larger one. Tetra brand may get a bum rap, but the HOB filter I have is a GEM!!!! It is super quiet and does a fantastic job. It is also very easy to clean, which is a plus if you have arthritis.
Tropical Tanks, your crayfish is a jerk. He would have liked my mystery snails.
hollie1505 I am thinking about Java moss, in particular. It looks really good. I just hope I can work out this light issue.
OnTheFry When you get your black background, I will be spazzy with jealousy. Woo!

Also, I am glad this thread is attracting more people! Soon, it will be hard to keep up with it all!!!!

 

Yeah he is lol. He will also eat yoursnails.
He ate 2 of mine.

 

He wouldn't eat Ladybug, the nerite. The LFS had them in the same tank with some crabs. The crabs would harass them, but they couldn't get at the snails. Go go, Ladybug! Luckily, Ladybug has no such threats in this tank.

 

Haha. Well he would certianly try.
He left them alone for a few months.
Then he got them somehow.

My golden dojos in my other tank also enjoy snails.
The ate 2 out of 3.
The final survivor is getting a bit to big for them lol.

 

Ill gove the hob a go an if it works ill never use internal filters again as thts all ive ever used haha an if cleaning is better with arthritis be easy for me too clean after surgery

 

For a HOB I would suggest Aquaclear as ive heard nothing but great things about them.
Fairly cheap but very good filtration and pretty quiet.
I also heard they get quieter after a week or so.

 

I'm getting a h20 pro 600 hob filter do any of you know anything about this brand

 

When I Googled H20 Pro, all I got were whole-house water purification systems.

 

Opps h20pro 600 hob




I'm guessing they must be a bee brand on the market or an australian brand cause when I google I get a store in melbourne

 

I have adjusted my tank layout, today.. just a bit. My new mopanI has soaked for a week, with twice daily water changes. I boiled it six times, this morning, each with a new batch of water. Then, I soaked it again in cold water.

While it was soaking, I went and snagged some Java moss to go with my Java fern. Low light plants for victory! ..at least that's the idea. I was delighted to finally discover a water plant that would NATURALLY SINK. I tied the moss to the mopani, and it seemed to hold well. However, I would first have to reorganize the existing decor.

Zoidberg and Little Butt are annoyed I've stolen the glowing ceramic cave. Bring it back, thief!!!!

I tied some moss to my fake mangrove root. The lower bunches I did not tie. I just sort of wedged wads of moss in there. I hope it grabs hold. I moved the remnants of my Staurogyne repens to the front left....

....and my strangely balanced pygmy chain sword. It's root system isn't much, but it keeps sending out runners with new leaves, which my snail keeps uprooting. To be honest, Zoidberg likes to wedge himself in the sword forest and feel like he's stealthy, too.

So, here's the mopanI with Java moss tied to it. I have some Java fern behind it, tied to a rock. There is another wee fern, nestled in the mopani's alcove. I have a few bits of aquarium gravel weighing it down. The rhizome is exposed, of course. I put smooth river rocks in front of it to keep the critters from being able to uproot it.

My wisteria and Java ferns intertwine a bit, making a nice shrimp highway. Too bad you can't see them.

The Amazon sword is growing phenomenally. He will get a tasty new root tab, next month. You can see a bit of dark green veining on the leaves, so I bought API Leaf Zone to supplement the tank's nutrients. I am using it at 20% strength, so as not to anger my critters.

The King of All Ghost Shrimp has found some of the moss. He has approved.

The large Amano shrimp and Zoidberg are enjoying the mossy mopani.

I like this picture. Phbbt.

So, here's the whole thing, now.

And here's another angle.

Ladybug, the nerite snail I got last Saturday has done such a phenomenal job of cleaning my fake mangrove root of brown algae that it stands out. The shrimp (and Ladybug) like it so much that I'm loathed to remove it. Plus, it hides my filter intake. Ladybug DID have at my Crinum natans a bit, but prefers the resin mangrove. I am glad he cleaned my little palm-tree-lookin' baby. I was afraid to scrape it with my thumbnail. Darn brown algae, anyway.

Man, EVERYONE needs a nerite. The Amano shrimp didn't do much but carefully farm the little green algae that I had. That's all gone, now, thanks to Ladybug. The Amano is not pleased.

I should add that when purchasing Amano, get one that is of a medium size. I discovered that one of my three had his face eaten off. I am SURE it's the fault of the bad-tempered Alpha black-skirt tetra.

I also found one of my ghost shrimp wedged in a corner behind a rock, not far from where I discovered a fresh molt two days prior. The poor critter was dead.. I suspect Alpha had at it right after it molted. It was missing bits, but in a location where Alpha could not have gotten at it. It must have drifted over after he had a go.

I am only slightly concerned. My large Amano generally hides in the shade of the fake mangrove root, watching everybody with his little eyes. The other Amano, who is actually rather small, but that I got at the same time as the larger one, is so adept at hiding that I only see him once every few days. My ghost shrimp are ALL OVER the place, apparently not worried about the presence of the tetras. They do spend a great deal of time on the mangrove, and bouncing around in the wisteria. Only the King of All Ghost Shrimp dares go wherever he pleases, which includes chasing the tetras when he gets bored.

I think that, when my last two Wal-Tetras have lived out their lives, I will get a more peaceful and SMALLER schooling fish. I think I might try endlers. My LFS seems to have a particularly small variety of them, only reaching a length of 0.75". I may be mistaken on the breed, but they're predominately blue and white, and just awesome.

I will also get a bamboo shrimp or two, at that point.

 

Looking good!

Wal-tetras made me laugh a little too much!

I recently 'discovered' Endlers and I love them. They're such lively little lads and lasses!

I would love to see the blue and whites! Even if they're not Endlers, they sound sweet!

You could try leaning the mopanI against the tank wall a little to give Zoidberg and co a replacement cave area. They may use it though which, is great for them not so much for headcounts!

I love the pebbles on the gravel, looks lovely and natural.

 

Thanks hollie1505! I do not want to make another cave, since they used to hole up under the fake mangrove. I got the cave as a hold-over for the shrimp, since I removed 90% of the failing anacharis. (I have the remaining healthy shoots looped to the top of the tank.) Well, the cories chased the shrimp right out of the cave! I may put it back in, though I don't like the way it looks. It's just too bright.

I like my natural pebbles. They are smooth, so they don't upset the cories' barbells. I scoped out some black pebbles to mix in with my existing substrate, but they all have a nasty coating! COLORED PEBBLES ARE PAINTED, Y'ALL!!!! That which I looked at stated it had a whole, whopping 30% plant base for the paint. Well YUCK! What's the other 70% made out of????

This also makes me distrust black sand.

I've used colored gravel, before. Eventually, the coloring chipped off. This is not acceptable.

I have found colored GLASS PEBBLES by Aquaculture. They are intriguing, perfectly smooth, and gorgeous. I am a bit concerned about them eventually cracking and chipping, especially when agitated during gravel vacs. Hmmmmm.... a new search begins!

 

looking reall good sorry guys I still haven't got my tank yet only got $130 left to pay on it than ill be able to post pics hehe but seriously had the week from my computer wnt up **** creek had it replaced by another computer than that one **** itself too so all my savings I had to get my tank went to a new computer

 

DANG! Well, everything seems to be in working order, now, right? I wonder if this isn't the Universe telling you to contrust a non-traditional tank. I know! Get a large kiddie pool and make an indoor koi pond! Well, maybe without the koi, but you get the idea. You could build a sort of bucket-sump, put some potted plants around it to hide it, put up a beach chair next to the pool, and have yourself a tropical getaway, RIGHT in the MIDDLE of your living-room! (I wanna do this, so bad!)

So, in the interest of more tank-envying, I wanna say that wisteria needs more light than an Amazon sword. Also, the new growth at the top of my wisteria has reverted to non-submerged leaves, which is weird, because the whole plant is submerged. I am hugely confused.

The thin, parsley-lookin' leaves are the water-leaves, right?

 

Haha god thr sounds like an amazing idea haha but the kids woukd track sand and water throughout the house bahaha

 

Nuuuuuuuuup, no sand. XD

 

Haha hmm does sound wuite relaxing

 

Great now my dogs run away from home I feel like the worst owner in the world can't keep my fish or my dog all I have left is my cat I swear I have been cursed an I do t know any reversal spells or rituals

 

Bad luck comes in threes, as me ol' father used to say.

 

I'm so sorry Demontay.

You are most certainly not the worst owner in the world. Don't beat yourself up too much. Feel better.xx