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The leaves of Lorien

Delta_Raven

Delta_Raven

Member
Joined
17 May 2013
Messages
38
So this is my first attempt at a planted tank, I have had a fish tank before whenI was younger but some how even managed to kill my plastic plants! :confused:
So after doing a little research I decided to give it a go and try doing things properly this time round, who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks...
So here begins my warts and all account of "the leaves of Lorien"
Wish me luck...:thumbup:
 
So day one, the tank gets deliverd I am really excited. It's a Fluval Roma 90 and came with a cabinet and everything I needed;
Fluval Heater
Fluval U2 internal filter
Lighting system with 2 bulbs (never knew tanks needed this much light)
generic Gravel.
So super excited I build the cabinet in a flash and put the tank on top of it, but I decided to stop there and do research before I went any futher. This was hard to do as I wanted to add fish and everything straight away...

to be continued....
 
to be honest I don't have a main idea, I just want a beautiful tank!
will be posting pictures soon.
 
Day three...
After a couple of days of research and tracking down my closest local fish store I took a trip down to get some supplies. I had decided I needed some fine gravel and some nutriet type underlayer stuff.
When I arrived my wife spotted a gorgeous piece of bogwood and a trip for essentials quickly became more expensive than intended.
I also had been doing a lot of research on the plants I wanted and had decided on ;
Echinodorus Bleheri (Background)
Juncus Repens (Midground)
Staurogyne Repens (Foreground)
So I ordered these for collection on the following week.
This also leads me to my first planted tank lesson...
:pompus: Lesson 1:
Know how big your tank is before you spend a ton of cash on a piece of bogwood!
(to cut a long story short I had to cut my bogwood short):oops:
 
Day 7...
My plants had finally arrived and I had set the tank up the previous night so I planted straight away.
Here is a picture of my very first planted tank attempt.
(for those of you who have been reading closely you may notice 2 plants in the tank wich were'nt on the previous list, see if you can spot them)

vKfektP.jpg
 
Woah....that's a piece of wood.
Crypt Wendtii & a Red Lotus?
What do i win ?
Nice start BTW.Needs more plant mass IMO, but nice start.
 
stu_ said:
Woah....that's a piece of wood.
Crypt Wendtii & a Red Lotus?
What do i win ?
Nice start BTW.Needs more plant mass IMO, but nice start.
Click to expand...

Good eyes Stu, its actually C.Walkeri Legroi, but a crypt is a crypt.
Plant mass is a good idea.
As for points you get 10 000 000 UKAPS points, not sure what you can do with them though ;)
 
A really great first planted layout - much, much better than I ever achieved for years! That's a lovely looking piece of bogwood. How about some java fern placed on that to highlight it and give some height? And yes, more plant mass will help to cycle the tank. Keep us posted.
 
Manrock said:
A really great first planted layout - much, much better than I ever achieved for years! That's a lovely looking piece of bogwood. How about some java fern placed on that to highlight it and give some height? And yes, more plant mass will help to cycle the tank. Keep us posted.
Click to expand...

I was leaning towards some anubias barteri var nana, a nice dark green tied to the top point to cap it off? Plus I hear there's a chance it can flower.
 
Day 9...Disaster...
:pompus:Lesson 2... Bogwood floats.
I was busy doing a water change and seeing as how I don't want to disturb my substrate I am pouring water onto the bogwood to help disperse it. All of a sudden it takes off like a champagne cork, who knew a piece of wood that big can move that quickly.
So as it was shooting up it moved the substate and lifted up some of the plants... Looks like I am going to have to come up with another idea. For now all I have in the tank are a handful of plants disturbed substrate and water :(
 
Got any rock to weigh down the wood if you put it back in?
As far as pouring water back in, i'm fortunate that i can place a bucket higher than the water level of the tank, and so can use lengths of air line to syphon new water back in.
Failing that i've used a sieve or my hand, to break the flow of water from a jug/hose
 
Ok so I ordered some suction cups online. Have drilled pilot holes into the bogwood and have prepared myself to start over.
Here it is...

Step one;
Uproot all the plants and rearrange the gravel, insert the bogwood using the newly attached suction cups!

Ccr7zxL.jpg



Step two;
Upgrade the plants mass. Went down to my local and picked up some more plants to increase the mass.
Planted some Hygrophillia Difformis in the background.
9gqzEXJ.jpg


Step three;
Replant the rest of the layout and admire the finished result.
All comments welcome!

equzVNX.jpg
 
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