First Timer Planted Journey.

[Meeresstille]

Oh, how exciting! 
The surgical tools are a great idea, I will have to ask my daughter if there is a way she can get me something like that through her work....stuff that would be thrown out....of course I'd ask her to sterilize it first!!!!
 
Regarding the wood, some say boil it, some say boiling it makes it degrade faster in your tank. What I've done during the soaking period is to pour boiling water over it, let it soak, brush the loose and unwanted stuff off, and now and then during the soaking period when I was changing the water I poured boiling water over it again. 

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Yeah I just couldn't bring myself to spend 65 dollars on real aquascaping tools lol, maybe if my tanks are doing good once I get them going Santa (aka hubby lol) will bring me a set for Christmas.

And about how many days did it take for your wood to be ready?

 

[Meeresstille]

Well, the last one did not take long at all, about 2 weeks!
 
the big one in my sig took a little longer, but I ended up using it in the tank weighing it down, so I'm not sure exactly how long it took. I had it in the bucket for 2 weeks though!

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Thank you again. Ill post some pics of the wild when I get it. I think I got a great deal on e bay. I got 3x 6-8" pieces and 5x 10-12" pieces for 29 bucks.

 

[Meeresstille]

Wow! That's awesome!

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

So I've been very busy all day, I ran the two ten gallons last night and checked all the stats 3 times since, everything was good so I moved all the guppies over so I could tear down the 27 gallon. Sounds so easy, but a cube definitely stinks when you have to net 14 really smart fry. I put all my males with the fry in one tank and all females in the other, once my main tank is ready the males will go in there. hopefully i'll be able to sex my fry before they get pregnant lol.
My Mopani wood never arrived today so im pretty bummed out about that but my flourish and excel did arrive so im pretty happy with that, here are some pics
View attachment 70939
 
here is a shot of all 3 tanks (notice my 5.5 on the windowsill in the background that wont fit on the rack)
 

 
here is my 27 gallon, very cloudy still and missing lots of plants and my Mopani wood but its a start.
 

 
fry tank temporarily housing males also
 

 
female tank
 

 
next thing i'm going to order are some led's and glass canopies for the 10 gallon tanks. I cant believe how much different they look side by side.

 

[Meeresstille]

Looking good! Too bad about the wood not arriving, Hopefully you don't have to wait too long!

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Thanks. And then I have to soak it. Ugh! Probably it will be here Monday.

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Thanks I appreciate that, but i still have a long way to go before it looks even a fraction as good as some of these tanks. You should give it a try. I'm having a lot of fun with it. Plus the plants make the fish very happy it seems.

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

So I totally forgot to mention I also ordered "wonder bulbs" (aponogeton) and stuck them in the substrate yesterday then I was reading up on them and it says not to plant them so I went to go dig them up and they already started to sprout leaves. That was really fast.

What exactly do these look like when they grow? I bought them because there was no picture and a really vague description so it made me curious. Like a surprise I guess lol

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

finally got my wood, soaking it now yaaayyyyy 

 
some more pics
 

 

[Meeresstille]

Wow....nice looking pieces! Can't wait what it will all look like when it's finished. And that onion plant will be a surprise for most of us I guess, lol!

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

Thanks. I had no idea what the wood looked like and I'm so pleased with the pieces I got. That bulb grew over an Inch already, I'm actually really shocked.

 

[MrsEspoNYC7]

what do you think so far ?
 
here is a piece of my wood with the java fern attached

 
and the FTS...

 
I love the cave here for my shrimp...

 

 
now u just want to fill in the empty space in the background, and possibly attach some moss to the very top of the wood.
 
eventually I'll take out the anacharis and put something a little more sophisticated.
 
so any comments, suggestions, critiques... all are welcome.
 
just keep in mind this is my very first planted tank

 

[Meeresstille]

All I got to say is some people are born with the gift, and you've got it, girl! Looks awesome!!!