80 Gallon, Lightly Planted

[Circus]

I spent way too much money this paycheck getting this tank set up, but it is worth it so far. I have been running the filter on an established tank for over a month now and placed it on the tank yesterday, after adding my sand.
I ordered some Seiryu stones and those have been placed, along with a couple of interesting ones from my collection, and a small piece of spider wood. I got a bag of floating plants from my lfs and glued some ferns and rocks together. A couple stems of watersprite have been left floating.
Currently stocked with 2 Firemouth Cichlid and 1 Blue Acara. I placed 4 of my many, many mystery snails in the tank.
I used generic black aquarium sand and a length of black fabric is stuck to the back with velcro. Running a Quietflow 75 (FYI, not very quiet). I have 2 200 watt heaters, and my two cheap "planted tank" lights I picked up from petco. No lid yet, but I placed a piece of heavy acrylic across the top.

 

[Neleono]

That's looking awesome!

 

[Circus]

I got super glue all over my hands trying to get the smaller rocks together, and the ferns on them. Almost glued my hand to the rocks a couple of times.

 

[Neleono]

I got super glue all over my hands trying to get the smaller rocks together, and the ferns on them. Almost glued my hand to the rocks a couple of times.

Haha! I had the exact same problem when I was putting together my 10g planted. I had tons of Java moss, a few Java ferns, and an anubias, along with some pieces of wood and I got so much glue on my hands that I was scared it might leave some sort of scar! Then I got even more on my hands when adding some new plants to my 29g! THEN I got some on my hands while working on some rock structures and making a long tube on my gravel cleaner to make an auto water change system (kind of). Worst part is, trying to wash it off just makes it cure and become dry! It's a good thing that stuff comes off skin after a few hours!

 

[Circus]

Haha! I had the exact same problem when I was putting together my 10g planted. I had tons of Java moss, a few Java ferns, and an anubias, along with some pieces of wood and I got so much glue on my hands that I was scared it might leave some sort of scar! Then I got even more on my hands when adding some new plants to my 29g! THEN I got some on my hands while working on some rock structures and making a long tube on my gravel cleaner to make an auto water change system (kind of). Worst part is, trying to wash it off just makes it cure and become dry! It's a good thing that stuff comes off skin after a few hours!

Dawn and hot water to get the top layer off, then a short soak in lemon juice to help peel off the rest. Pain in the butt, though!

I really like the rocks, and I think I want to use dragonstone in my next tank. Do a low-tech heavy planted 10 gallon maybe. I saw a cool video where they used rocks to make an underwater cave kind of thing. Super cool. Make the water harder, and I can add some ender males maybe. Or maybe put in my ember tetra and some blue dream shrimp. Idk yet.

Use actual soil and a really good light, see if I can't get a good carpet plant going. Dwarf hair grass, tall hair grass in the back, maybe some red root floaters?

In this 80 gallon I was going to do some potted plants in those suction cup holders on the back wall. Any suggestions? I know substrate plants won't do super well because Blue Acara like to dig in the sand.

 

[Circus]

Got a good pic of my Blue Acara! He already is showing some personality and is curious whenever I come up to the tank.

 

[Circus]

I also got my bubbler today. I might look for a little airstone statue or something. My brother got one for me that looks like baby Groot (it is in my 55g).

I am absolutely in love with this air pump, though. It has an adjustable dial on the side and two ports and came with a 3 way connector. Which means if it is not powerful enough on full blast, I can make it stronger by connecting the two lines into one. It works plenty well for my needs, though, and cost much less than I thought it would. I changed out the tubing it came with, though. Not a big fan of that.

 

[Circus]

So I was at the fish store today... and I got a Rainbow Cichlid at the recommendation of @Wills , since nobody has pink convicts. I also have 7 green tiger barbs.

I also ended up with a bunch of plants, the star of which is an anubias attached to a rock. The rock is pretty small, but the plant is more than a foot across, I think. I paid $49.99 for it (more than worth it, IMO). Got a huge slab of rock too, and I made a little overhang with it. Paid another $40 for that. Here are some pics!

 

[Circus]

Full tank shot, and close ups of The Plant and The Rock.

 

[Wills]

Ah cool looking really good love that you have got a lot of height in the scape really looks suited to cichlids. Give the rainbow a bit of time and they will soon colour up.

 

[Circus]

The store didn't have a taller rock to prop the slab up higher (I dug through bins for well over an hour). They had a really cool chunk of wood that was hug, and would be perfect for a larg anubias plant, but wanted $125 for it, which wasn't in the budget.

 

[Circus]

So my Semi-Final stocking lis:
14 Green Tiger barbs
3 Orange Chromide
2 Firemouth Cichlid
1 Blue Acara
1 Rainbow Cichlid
1 Bristlenose Pleco
And here is a Tank Shot!

I added a baffle (made out of a water jug) to keep the floating plants from being dunked by the filter as much.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Color is definitely starting to fill in on that rainbow.

Tank looks good. I suggest you make a DIY floating plant separator. They can be made super cheap using 2 suction cups and fishing line/airline tubing.

 

[Circus]

Color is definitely starting to fill in on that rainbow.

Tank looks good. I suggest you make a DIY floating plant separator. They can be made super cheap using 2 suction cups and fishing line/airline tubing.

I keep meaning to get those feeding rings things for my floaters, but never get around to it. To amazon!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Amazon is my savior for fish tank supplies.