My Planted Tank

[phoenix44]

Don't really post on this forum very often, but I figured I may as well cause I always get a lot of help when I need ID's on my plecos.... Took some pics a couple of nights ago, and since then I've done some minor trimming on the plants, mainly the L. Arcuata, H. Polysperma and Ploysperma Rosanvig.

Funnily enough there are fish in this tank, one of them even took the liberty of coming out just after I took these pics. 4 Discus and a LOT of plecos. Fancy plecos is what this tank was set up for initially.

I'v attempted to take pictures of the tank to show all its plants - though that is not possible as many many crypts and swords (at least 100+ plants) are hidden.

There is some L. Arcuata in this tank that I farm every week or so so I can reinvest in my tank

Volume -

200L

Lighting -

4 x 54W T5 HO Hagen @ 18000K powerglo
1x 6800K plant pro T8
1x actinic blue (flowering response) T8

DIY CO2 with pollen glass diffusers.

Water -

pH 7.0 natural
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrate / Nitrite 0.0
Phosphate ? - will update

Filtration -

2 x Fluval® 405, one with modded eheim expansion set.
1 x eheim® pro II 2028 with complete expansion set.

Flora -
Too many to name

Fauna -
Won't bother, but there are LOADS of fish in there somewhere.

Other -

7 pieces of medium/large sized driftwood about 30 - 40 cm each (yes you can come over and count them if you don't believe me)
1 large piece of schist to ensure plants do not grow there. This acts as a grazing ground for my plecos, cories, synos and discus.
Loads of salt.
Background - Black Vinyl from Spotlight® (store in New Zealand that sells weird embroidery stuff)

Heating -

1x Jager 300W @ 29.5C

Water Change Regime -

2-4, 30%-40% cold water changes per week. Mainly for the plants and discus, although they strictly speaking don't need that much. Still good fish keeping practice to take care of the water.

Treatments -

Seachem Prime
Stress Coat
Cycle
Flourish Comprehensive
NitraBan - only if I leave home for extended periods.
In filter - Phoszorb, Nitrazorb - was used to battle staghorn algae a while ago. No more algae now.

Pictures -






(This pic is stored in png format and the colours went a bit wonky. Least it looks like that on my screen).

Will switch to Hi-Tech CO2 relatively soon.


The foreground plant is s. microfolia. it is interesting to see how some has grow tall and some short. same batch of plants, same conditions. All were chopped to the roots and put in the tank so new leaves could grow.

Guess which side of the tank gets CO2, even if it's just DIY stuff with white sugar and yeast.

Newest additions (2/May/2010) - No regrets with this purchase. Will add more over the coming weeks.

[2wheelsx2]

That's an amazing tank given you're doing DIY CO2. Wait until you get the pressurized CO2 going. No more mixing batches of yeast. I tried DIY CO2 for 3 months before I gave in and got pressurized. Everything is just sooo much easier. Sounds like you're not dosing macros. What kind of substrate are you using? You might want to look at some dosing schemes before you get the pressurized.

[Richard B]

tremendous planted tank set-up

[phoenix44]

I just use a simple gravel substrate with pebbles as well. Helps the plants dig in well whilst having no impacting problems.

I only just added the CO2 and its effects have still to be seen properly.
The swords have some JBL balls in the substrate, so that helps some of the plants. I don't do gravel vacs in this tank. well... maybe once every 3-4 months or so.
Flourish comprehensive once in a while, and the plants are thrilled haha

This tank went through various phases, that's for sure.

first phase -

second -

[phoenix44]

A few pics of some of the fish either presently in the tank, or recently removed.

[nj2tou]

Awesome tank and gorgeous fish! Wow!

[corybrummie2010]

Wow! what a stunning looking tank and the fish looks absolutely gorgeous too

[andywoolloo]

incredible. just visually stunning.

[phoenix44]

Thanks!

I have a planted puffer tank too. plants are just about maturing in there

[phoenix44]

rio ucyali?

[glenny]

B E A U T I F U L !!!

[phoenix44]

Thanks!
I've changed a few things around with the tank - mainly pruning and stuff.

Updates -

Tank before prune -


and after -




my favourite whiptail -


and the discus that are still very young spawned for the first time -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtTwS-SPQAE[/youtube]



and i got another L66 with one more coming my way. That should hopefully make it 3f and 1m

[phoenix44]

err.. I tried posting that link above and it vanishes in the post when i use the youtube bb code.

[Mod edit: Added youtube tags - you only need the youtube id itself in the youtube tags, not the whole http://www.youtube.com thingy --Mats]

[Richard B]

I gotta say the cats look in tip top condition

[phoenix44]

Thanks so much! I love my catfish to bits
The other 'swimmy' fish in there are merely dither fish as far as I am concerned

[crkinney]

Any not impressed with that tank is eather blind or dead
very nice

[phoenix44]

Any not impressed with that tank is eather blind or dead
very nice

Thank you so much!

just took a few more pics tonight.

[2wheelsx2]

Which species is the first pic? Very interesting looking.

[phoenix44]

Which species is the first pic? Very interesting looking.

She is just an oddball L066

[Bahri48]

Loved your tank as well as discus. Do you think it is possible to remove that balck pigment problem or is it just gonna stay there permanently ?

What do you feed your discus with ?

Please update us with few more pictures or videos.

Have brilliant day and thank for the post.