Alex's Tank From The Beginning To Present

[AlexAndCarmen]

Hi everyone, In January this year i made the decision to move to planted tank side. I've had reasonable success and failures. I've read and done a fair bit of research on the Internet, some of the best advice offered right here on the TFF.
Budget was my biggest problem, isn't it always the case. The tank is 4ft 55gal so any extra lights, substrates etc cost a fortune. So I've done quite a bit of DIY and experimenting.
Now as a few of you might know we breed a few fish and we keep a breeding group of Corie's and Otto's in this 4ft tank. So i have to be careful with water chemistry. Most aquascapist's would be shaking there heads already by this point. So the challenge was to create a successful planted tank with a large fish load.

My tank in January 2006. The cabinet I build last year as a dresser which i converted to tank stand. The tank sits on 2" ply wood with a pine plinth to finish it and the lid is the same pine with two sliding lids. And yes most of the plants in this pic are silk/plastic.

The minimalist look in February 2006. No more plastic

The introduction of CO2 Diy and a few new plant editions. In April 2006

July 2006 added few more plants

Up to date pics. One of these days I'll get round to painting the back ground black.

Our "Little Angels"

So.. what do you all think so far?

 

[Mr. Convict]

I think thats a lovely transition from plastic to real plants..

Its nice to see where you've reached since the 'minimalist' stage lol

Good job.. and GREAT looking tank.. keep it up, and hope to see more in the future from you

 

[netcode]

thats a beautiful tank! real impressive going from plastic over to real plants.

I am interested in the dimensions of your tank.. it looks real long. nice tank and stand too.

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Thanks for the compliments. The tank is 48"x15"x18".

 

[mikster]

Love the tank, looks great, cardinals always look great in a planted tank.

 

[tetras4me]

yeah its good that yuor useing real plants now

 

[Bloo]

OMG Alex and Carmen - you guys have such a stuuuuuuuning tank
no wonder all your fish are reproducing like there is no tomorrow.

Just awesome

Ps: I want to steal your L260 (that's what it looks like anyway).

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Thanks All. Would you believe theres actually two L260 Queen Arabesque in there,Bloo. Carmen will post a few new pics of them eyeing out there new cave on the members aquarium section sometime soon, hopeing for a spawning.

 

[RadaR]

Love your tank.

 

[Baffoon]

great tank m8

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Here's a bit of my CO2 diy.

I tried the old silicone a tube in the lid but I felt there has to be a better way.

The solution!!

The stopper has a perfect size hole in it for a bit of rigid 4mm pipe, then just push some airline on and your done. The stoppers are re-usable and seal perfectly every time.

I use two 2 litre pop bottles and a Hydor Ario 1 diffuser, that i bought with no instructions. So I'm unsure I've set it up right. It works great giving me 20-30ppm CO2 in a 55gal. The pic is not the best as i had to reach round the back of the tank to get pic.

 

[julia298]

Thats a gorgeous looking tank. I do like the sand look. Have you got some other substrate under the sand?

 

[-=Joel=-]

great looking tank. What kind of lighting have you got over it ?

Joel

 

[Themuleous]

Tanks looking great you going to add anything along the front? I really liked it back in July 2006 that was a great scape Looks a bit disjointed in your latest scape and perhaps a big leggy?

Sam

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

Thanks all for the input.

Julia298- I added 1/2" flourite before putting 2 1/2" sand. It worked well until i had to uproot stem plants which wrecked my beautiful sandy beach look. Next time I'll use some sort of net bag to put flourite/additional substrate in.

Joel- At the moment I have two 40w Arcadia T8 Freshwater tubes with Deflectors. That only gives me 1.6W per gallon. I've bought another set of tubes etc to go in, I'm just going to modify lid.

Themuleous- the pic in July was taken a few days after major clip and clean. I got to admit I haven't been very good at keeping up with the growth spurts,Damn Hygro. Polysperma, thinking about what to replace it with. I also changed the one tube an Interpet Triplus for an Arcadia freshwater since the July 2006 and all the new pics I take don't have that lovely red tinge. As i was saying to Joel I'm busy installing two more lights to bring me up to 3 watts per gal and they're Interpet Triplus's so I should get that red tinge back. I like the beach look so i'm steering clear of foreground carpet look. Maybe small Anubias or a small....I don't know any ideas?

Alex