Journey of a Dream Tank

[SnakeIce]

I don't know why I haven't taken advantage of the afternoon sunlight befor, but I got some rather nice photos with that extra light shining on the tank. I can show off the stand instead of haveing to crop it out since it normally apears black due to haveing all non tank lights off.



This shot is taken from roughly where you would first see it coming in the front door.




I tried to capture the cherry barbs a few times, and this is the best result. Still they managed to move halfway out of the frame befor the shot went off.

[tetramoon13]

very cool. I like your use of driftwood....are those java ferns? and what is that tall, pinkish looking plant in the middle-background? Nice setup

[SnakeIce]

I have java fern in two groups in this tank, a thick bunch just left of center and the peices along the tall driftwood going to the right. Rotala rotundifolia is the pinkish plant. I understand in more light it can be even more red, but this is how it does with the light I have.

[SnakeIce]

I just noticed a face in the last full tank shot I posted. It looks like the angel is investigateing it.




Two of the female cherry barbs were playing follow the leader and happened to be right over a couple leaves when I snapped the picture.

[reiverix]

Hehe I see the face!

IMVHO I've got to say this tank looks every bit as good as some of the showcase tanks I see in competitions. I love the layout and the flowing contours.

I have to ask though, are you going to put a background on there?

[SnakeIce]

I should put one on there, but I don't want one stuck to the tank. I was thinking of one I could sit on the back of the stand and lean back on the wall. Could give oportunity to play with light on the background as a way of changing the apearance of the tank.

I have not given much thought as to how I might construct that though.

[wesleydnunder]

Looks so awesome, Frederick. The face is a one in a million shot.

Mark

[SnakeIce]

I think I finally have this tank where I want as far as plant species. I may try other stem plants if I happen to see one I just can't resist but otherwise the tank just has grow time ahead of it. I just added A. barteri "coffeefolia" and did a trim of the stem plants so the tank looks a little ragged right now. So for now I am going to list the inhabitants and equipment. Later this evening I will test a couple of the water parameters and post the results.

Current plant list

Bacopa caroliniana
Crypt. balansae
Crypt. potederiifolia
Crypt. wentii
Rotala rotundifolia
java moss
java fern
Anubius barteri var. nana
Anubius barteri "coffefolia"
Glosso
hygrophila corymbosa.
E. tenellus chain sword
Pelia
Hemiathus micranthemoides
Round leaf Ludwigia


I have pond snails, ramshorns, malaysian trumpet snails, and just got 1 small brig with the coffeefolia that I put in the tank. The rest of the inhabitants are 1 Angelfish, 2 bolivian rams, 3 flag fish, 8 cherry barbs, and 1 otto.

Fluval 304, and penguin 550 provide filtration and circulation. 126 watts of regular flourescent light the tank, but I plan on changeing the lighting arangement some and adding CO2 when I can afford it.


It seems like the tank has really increased the nutrient uptake since the addition of the foreground plants. Perhaps it is just that this is just the figurative straw that broke the camel's back, but I have to pay more attention to getting the tank dosed.

[DirtyDawg10]

Very nice...That is a beautiful Angel you got there...

[Aussie_hippie_2]

That face scares me. Alot.

That's a monster angel. How big is he right now?

[SnakeIce]

Originally Posted by Aussie_hippie_2

That's a monster angel. How big is he right now?

She is actually not as big as she could be due to starvation stunting as a youngster that happened befor I got her. Her body length is about 2.5" and she is only 4.5" total length. She is about 9" top to bottom.

Potential for angelfish is 3" body 6" total length and up to 12" top to bottom.

Originally Posted by Aussie_hippie_2

That face scares me. Alot.

If it makes you feel any better it isn't in the tank now

[SnakeIce]

I finally have the algae on it's way out and just had to share how it has grown even through the problems. Also I have added a couple plants and have not had it looking good when I thought about taking pictures since then.

[DirtyDawg10]

Looks great!! I still love that angel.

[Corax]

Thank you so much. I've been planning and buying hardware for my upcoming 75g, but I've never really known what I direction I wanted it to take. Physically, you've captured the look I'm going for. I intend more, and different, fish, but that's the kind of playground I want them to have. Oh, and incase no one else has mentioned it yet, that angel is fantastic looking...

A few questions...

1 - Why no background?

2 - What would you do differently if you were starting over?

3 - What is your dosing regiment?

[SnakeIce]

I don't have a background because it slips my mind untill I post a picture and someone asks "why no background?". In the first setup I had all the cords run so they were not visible and the white wall behind the tank became the background.

I need to figure out something I can use as the tank sits for a background. I can't very well paint it, and I don't like the look of the ones that try to be up against the glass but end up rippling or getting water spots between them and the glass.


I wish I could have had all the plants to fill all needs. I didn't have any forground plants untill after I moved here and that made the tank less than what I had in mind. I have the plants now, they just need to fill in and make the front green. As far as going from the beginning I so envy your gathering all the equipment befor jumping in. I've shoe stringed this tank together and don't have the CO2 or quite the lighting I still plan to get.

I would also say that there is wisdom in getting more stem plants than you intend for the final look, just because they add the numbers of tips that drive total tank growth and the nutrient uptake that helps prevent algae. You can later remove those after you see the slower plants adjust and start growing.


I have been to erratic to really call it a regiment, and probably my results and growth would be better if I was more regular, but I'm working on that both on my tank and in my life (the tank reflects my life). I use a modified Estimative Index to dose my tank since true EI is based on high light with CO2.

I used aquaticplantcentral.com's fertilator to get the following dosage amounts and resulting in tank ppm.

KNO3 1.75 tsp 19.66 ppm
fleet enema P source .85 ml 2 ppm
K2SO4 .5 tsp 17.5 ppm total from both KNO3 and this
CaCO3 6 tsp 10.15 ppm
MgSO4 1.25 tsp 2.1 ppm
Flourish 1 ml daily .08 Fe cumulative over the week.

In the soft water I had befor the move I would dose all of that after a water change, and a day or two befor waterchange would need about half dose of KNO3 and fleet to carry it to the next dose.

Here I have hard water with lots of Ca, so I have to up my Mg and K doseing because the Ca inhibits those two untill a rough 2-1-1 Ca-Mg-K ratio is reached. That is not exact and probably not anywhere near optimum but would be somewhere to start if you have hard water with low Mg present.

So far my growth has been slower in part because of not having a good ratio of the above so I have not been doseing more of the other nutrients (have really dosed less in the last while) than I was in Walla Walla even with a little more light now. I'm getting back to a little more regular doseing though to beat this algae.

I understand that you get better results with smaller dosing amounts spread over the week with the total dosed per week being a little more than is used in a week, IE water change day sets the routine. NPK on WC day, micros on day 2, NPK day 3, micros day 4, NPK on day 5, micros day 6 and NPK on day 7, wash rinse repeat.

The EI amounts are a good starting point, you can always back the amounts off untill you see a negative impact and go from there.

[Corax]

A couple ideas on the background peeling issue. I've read that using cooking oil will make the background stick very securely. I'm going to give it a shot on my 75g. If that fails, my plan is to go get a big sheet of adhesive vinyl cut for it. I KNOW that will hold tight. It's not cheap though, so I'm gonna try the standard background first.

[SnakeIce]

I moved the coffefolia because it made the filter intake out of sight out of mind. I am working on the background issue, just not found anything cheap that would give me options.

[OrionGirl]

Very nice--are you pruning the crypts to keep them away from the front? Mine are sprawling, packing in all over!

[sarcare]

It looks fantastic!

Is your angel feeling better?

[SnakeIce]

OG- the Pontederifolia I have had to root out several runners that came to the front, but the others have either not expanded that way or are growing new plants so close to the old that it would be hard to just take some out.

The angel isn't any worse, but I can't say she is all that much better yet.