180 Litre (Pic Heavy)

[Llegmore]

Went a little crazy yesterday and completely planted my new tank. I'm sure there'll be loads of adjustments over the coming weeks. But...

From the front:

Details:

Side View:

Half of the back: (it sticks out a little)

I've been very helpfully informed in the ID section that the plants are:
Myriophyllum aquaticum
Bacopa caroliniana
Vallisneria asiatica
Pogostemon helferi
Pogostemon erectus

For substrate I used a JBL manado base covered in playsand. The cave driftwood is oak and the smaller piece is regular bogwood.

I got the rocks from my garden.

Any comments are appreciated.

 

[Andy Vox]

That's going to look great once it's grown in.
Are you using CO2 and fertiliser? Might be something to consider depending on what you are looking to achieve.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Really nice!

 

[Llegmore]

That's going to look great once it's grown in.
Are you using CO2 and fertiliser? Might be something to consider depending on what you are looking to achieve.

I'm looking to install some kind of co2 system over the weeks - just doing my research and pricing up at the moment. I think most of my plants can survive that long without it.

Planning on using liquid ferts - hopefully getting them tomorrow. It was quite a hasty thing really. I wasn't planning on planting on Saturday and I'd done absolutely no preparation. I have a feeling I'm going to regret it.

 

[Andy Vox]

You won't regret it! It makes things twice as fun! And twice as annoying might I add.
Easycarbo gives good results in liquid form or if you are thinking of using pressurised CO2 then a fire extinguisher set-up is the easiest and cheapest way to go about it, there are a few different posts about it at the moment.

There are a lot of different ways to go about dosing. Best to do your homework otherwise you can end up paying a fortune for it especially in a large aquarium. I use stuff from here Aquarium plant food
Works out much cheaper than buying from LFS, you add water to the dry mix and hey presto!

 

[Llegmore]

Awesome. I'm thinking liquid carbon for now - looking at a pressurized system when i have the money, time and diy skills to do it. Although I have been reading up on the Co2 systems section for a while now, I think it'll be about a month before I'll be brave enough to have a cannister of gas in my bedroom

My parents have always discouraged me from planting my tanks because they failed at it when they did it - so now I'm determined to succeed. Aquariums are so much more beautiful when everything is natural.

 

[Andy Vox]

Agreed. Plant keeping brings a whole new perspective to things, its the only thing that reignited my interest in keeping fish.

 

[Llegmore]

Been ill =S hence the lack of updates. Plants seem to have taken well. I have new growth everywhere and even some buds Have been dosing liquid carbon for the last three days.

Ammonia is high. No fishies for me yet.

 

[Llegmore]

So...several things! Finally I'm getting better, got my fishies and all my plants are happy Ah, life is good when things go well in fish-tank land! A week ago, things were looking like this:

Since then I've had to take out the larger piece of bogwood because I can't stand the white fungi that was developing. Some scrubbing is due. Today, the tank looks like this:

I bought a beautiful pair of Koi angelfish who are very much in love and will hopefully provide me with lots of beautiful babies. (so much for all the African oddball plans *sigh*) They're mature - 4.5 inches from top fin to bottom.

Romeo and Juliet:

Romeo's a bit less shy:

As for the plants, my Myriophyllum has almost doubled in size

and the pogostemon erectus is now hitting the surface.

After an initial fall-back, the bacopa is also looking good.

Unfortunately the carpeting pogostemon decided to melt I've seen some new growth on it though.
The vallis is pretty much the same as it was to begin with.

My salvinia natans (purchased with African butterfly fish in mind) has now spread entirely across the surface. Which is great, but it does make cleaning a little irritating as my arm gets completely covered in the stuff.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with the way things are going even though I know I've got a lot of maintenance to do.

Any comments are really greatly massively appreciated.

 

[richpowell1989]

i love ur tank!!! is there any other fish in there other than the angels??

i no what u mean with gettin ur arms covered in natans it drives me mad and for some reason they are like glue to ur skin lol

 

[Llegmore]

i love ur tank!!! is there any other fish in there other than the angels??

i no what u mean with gettin ur arms covered in natans it drives me mad and for some reason they are like glue to ur skin lol

Thanks! I think it's because they have really thick little roots. I got six julii cories yesterday to stir up the sand but I think I'm going to draw the line there as I'm hoping Romeo and Juliet will spawn and I'll want to keep the fry in the tank.

 

[Llegmore]

Romeo and Juliet have spawned. I hope the poor eggs will last a while.

 

[jojouk]

Awesome!

 

[ghettofarmulous]

Nice tank dude. Would you consider a small powerhead in there to create more flow. Your plants will appreciate it

 

[Llegmore]

Nice tank dude. Would you consider a small powerhead in there to create more flow. Your plants will appreciate it

Thanks! I'll look into it and see what I can get when I have some cash to spare. This whole tank was sort of an experiment. Which I can't believe is succeeding.