New 60g Planted Journal

[mike455555]

use 2 buckets it takes half the time while ones filling you can be letting the other settle...

 

[greenmumma141]

use 2 buckets it takes half the time while ones filling you can be letting the other settle...

sometimes it's the simple things....sigh.

 

[greenmumma141]

100 lbs of sand in the tank now. And it's just not quite enough.....

But on a better note, the shape is coming together and now I know where I'm going. Here's a picture update (if you can't tell by now I love picture updates haha) Don't judge the scape just yet, I have to re-work the slope on the left a big and move some things around, but it's a start......

an angle of the smaller slope to the right with a hidey hole

larger slope to the left. Going to add more sand and move the hidey holes around a bit.

Boy is this work. Zzzzzz....... lol not really, more like this guy.....

 

[mike455555]

i love the idea of the hidy hole's burryed, i might have to try something like that in the future

 

[daizeUK]

The sand looks very deep. It looks great but I've heard so many bad things about deep sand, if it's more than about 2 inches deep.

 

[mike455555]

The sand looks very deep. It looks great but I've heard so many bad things about deep sand, if it's more than about 2 inches deep.

what stuff have you heard? iv never heard anything about deep sand...

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I've heard about it trapping bad gas pockets but depends how your plants go I think.

 

[daizeUK]

Yep deep sand will compact and exclude oxygen, so you get anaerobic bacteria which produce nasty hydrogen sulphide gas. At least that's what I've read. Some people have blamed fish deaths on it, I don't know but I'd play on the safe side.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I'd make sure to shove a chop stick in it once a week just to release any tiny amounts that build up before a huge bubble appears.

 

[greenmumma141]

Yikes, will def. put that on my maintenance to-do list. I've been using a wooden skewer to get the bubbles out so it looks better up against the glass, so I will just have to keep at it for the rest of my life... poisonous gas doesn't sound good at all

. The sand itself is packed up, but under the slopes are a good 4-5 inches of gravel too, so I'm very glad i did that now.

 

[greenmumma141]

3rd day of washing sand and I've resorted to child slave labor. My 3 yr old son is now the official "sand agitator". Pretty sure there's a couple slivers of terra cotta left over in my finger

This sure isn't for the weak of heart feels good to be on the last stretch of sand washing though!!!

 

[NickBFC]

Looking good

 

[Questions?]

looks great.
also you can try trumpet snails since they would break up any air pockets before they get nasty

 

[greenmumma141]

Well, my house is a mess, the laundry has piled up, and I need to grocery shop but my tank is done. PHEW! I rearranged the sand quite a bit, same idea though. It's a good thing I thought to do a "test-run" with the just sand phase, bc it settled and settled. It held up well though and actually made it look much more natural and easier to place my bigger rocks on. The driftwood was much harder than I expected! I didn't realize that I should have just went with much skinnier pieces than a lot of "medium chunky pieces" lol can't do too much with those. But in the end I really like it. I finished my planting today, very fun, and that went actually pretty fast and the funnest part for me. I was heavy handed with the super glue. I kinda wish I took a pic right before planting, bc the before and after would be great, couldn't believe the difference. When I filled it the first time, all of my driftwood came out of the substrate

and I had to drain it bc I made a sand mess and couldn't see what I was doing.sigh. So I had to fix em up and helped hold them down with some left over garden rocks of mine (had to dig through a couple feet of snow to find those suckers) and in the process most of the vallis came loose and a piece of bogwood. I had switched my heater over so I had to hurry bc I had both tanks at the same temp! I took a couple pics, but will take some more tomorrow, not that happy with the lighting in my living room at night. I will also be getting a background extremely soon, the wires are already bothering me. But here they are none the less.


side note- replaced the stock light with new fixture; 64 watts now

couldn't believe how happy my cories were, I have somewhere along the way become a total fish nerd bc I completely lost it watching them dig through the sand for the first time haha

Bottom on the slope towards the middle of the tank, you can see the updated version of my hidehole. (took the others out of the slope bc I just completely, totally, all the way had to go with the big rocks

Right side of the tank with my big gold angel and my barbs, and my pictus was showing off for one of the first times. Everyone was very excited, Im sure tomorrow morning he'll be his snarky self once again.you can also see my three, new, baby, marble, angels

towards the back.

the new led moonlight. Hard to get a clear pic of this, but I really like the effect. i was worried it would be way too bright, but you just get a soft blue outline, and it casts fish shadows on my floor

Ill take a better pic of the forest

tomorrow and also get a good shot of the baby angels that really shows how small they are.

 

[mike455555]

wow, this looks great!
i think a little OTT on the sand though, anymore and there wont be any water in the tank :L
what type of background are you thinking of?