First planted tank ever :)

[jack-rythm]

Hi everyone,

Very new to this site and although my interest with planted aquariums has been quite huge for some time I never had the confidence to go ahead and build one... until now. I would like to show you how my tank started and where I am up to now. Unfortunately I have only just decided to do a journal 2 months in but do have photos so I will just blitz through until I reach a current point 🙂

Please enjoy 🙂

Specs:

Tank: 90x38x38cm (I built this tank myself using 6mm safety glass)
Lighting: 2x 21w white t5's and 1x21w blue marine t5
Substrate: ADA Aquasoil, Play sand & ADA Gravel
Filter: Fluval 305
Fertilizers: EI 0.5ml a day
Decor: Garden scape Stone
Plants: Pogostemon erectus, Riccia Flutians, Short hair grass - Eleocharis parvula, Java Moss - Vesicularia dubyana, Hornwort plant - Ceratophyllum
Living things!: Rummy Nose Tetra - Hemigrammus bleheri, Peppered corry - Corrydorus paleatus, Cherry Red Shrimp - Neocaridina Heteropoda, Zebra Danionin & Leapard Danionin,

I Will be doing weekly updates on the progress and growth so please do keep intouch...

Below is where I began. After collecting my substrate and stone I began to arrange my scape...

Once my scape was arranged I then began to think about planting. I always thought I wanted a short hairgrass carpet so began that, as time went on I decided to mix riccia with hairgrass and have two successful carpets running throughout...

I thought now was the time to change my filtration pipes to lilys, I also changed my tubing to clear piping...

Now deciding where to arrange the riccia was my let down, I should of had this all ready and arranged but me being me I jumped into it and started to just do... First off I tied some riccia down with some mesh to a stone I had, I also created a path like grow of riccia to the front of the tank like this... At this point I also had my rummy nose tetra in there...

After a few few weeks playing and arranging I had come up with my scape, Planting the hairgrass and riccia was stressful as a first time aquascapist but I think i did ok. I removed the java fern from the back and replaced it with 2 different plants. (if anyone could tell me what the long dark green plant is to the left of the middle it would be appreciated!) you will see changes I have made as we progress and fish critters added...

After dosing this with fertz, feeding with 7 hours light I decided my riccia needed a boost. So I went out and bought a hell of a lot more. now Im beginning to shape and create a theme to my riccia with out it becoming un-natural. I have also removed the riccia rock and decided to replace it with some more scape. You can see I used metal mesh plates with green mesh sheeting to tie the riccia down. I had to cut and shape the sheets which was time consuming but im hoping it pays off 🙂 (I have a vision of a white gravel path coming between the hairgrass and the new scaped stone on the far right to cause a beach affect...
(I just wanna say the photos really are not giving it any justice 🙁)

Ok... So now im up to date and I will try and keep a journal every week of the progress and growth of my tank. I will also post up problems for all you solvers to address!!

Just took a side shot of my tank set up. Pleased with the clarity of the water. I have also added 40 leopard and zebra danios and they work so well, so happy with that choice 🙂 My cat Ezio was intrigued...

I managed to get a photo of my leopard and zebra danios clustering together. I think I have about 40-50 danios and they look stunning in such a great number 🙂

Today I have decided to make the surface area a little more busier.. I have a lot of riccia left over and a few dried sticks so threw them into the tank to see what outcome they would have.. to my surprise I actually really do like the affect and my cherries and fry love to hide underneath 🙂

what do you think?

 

[AndyVox]

Welcome!
That looks really promising so far, keen to see the rest of the progress during the two months.

Some info on how you made the tank would be good too, that's something I've been considering for a while, but never really had the guts to give it a go.

 

[jack-rythm]

Welcome!
That looks really promising so far, keen to see the rest of the progress during the two months.

Some info on how you made the tank would be good too, that's something I've been considering for a while, but never really had the guts to give it a go.

Thanks!you commented as I was editing my page so hopefully much more is up now 🙂

 

[leemonk]

Looking good!

And that is quite some setup for a first tank too....

Keep posting...... there are some terrifically helpful people on these forums, so keep posting with updates and any issues that arise and help is just around the corner 🙂

I wouldn't worry about lack of planning or just jumping in, you only have to read some threads from posters on these forums to know that even with tons of planning, things can go awry or.... which seems to be very common here... they tear down their scape after a few months and start over 🙂

 

[jack-rythm]

Looking good!

And that is quite some setup for a first tank too....

Keep posting...... there are some terrifically helpful people on these forums, so keep posting with updates and any issues that arise and help is just around the corner 🙂

I wouldn't worry about lack of planning or just jumping in, you only have to read some threads from posters on these forums to know that even with tons of planning, things can go awry or.... which seems to be very common here... they tear down their scape after a few months and start over 🙂

Ideed your very right! I have already got hold of a 2ft tank and a 1ft tank so will be posting individual journals of those too! but first I wanna get this one sorted! thanks 🙂

 

[Danny]

Looks really good, how is your ph? Looks like we are using the same slate and it has buffed my ph from 7.4 to 8.4!

 

[jack-rythm]

Looks really good, how is your ph? Looks like we are using the same slate and it has buffed my ph from 7.4 to 8.4!

Im not too sure to be honest, I have not done a reading yet! I need to get hold of a cheap kit from eBay i think 🙂 but its definitely not slate in there, its stone, I cant remember the name of the stone, I picked it up from just outside a garden shop in endsliegh near plymouth 🙂

 

[Danny]

The two big pieces on the back left and middle are defo slate and the same as I am using looks like one other as well the 3rd back piece, the front 3 are stone though, got mine from a rock merchant. have a look at the rock pics in my journal and you will see.

 

[jack-rythm]

The two big pieces on the back left and middle are defo slate and the same as I am using looks like one other as well the 3rd back piece, the front 3 are stone though, got mine from a rock merchant. have a look at the rock pics in my journal and you will see.

ok mate, cool. what sort of problems you having with the slate?? anything severe?

 

[Danny]

Only that it has buffed the ph so much which is a pain in pita as I wanted to keep it as it was ( 7.4 from the tap ) because of certain plants and shrimp I am hoping to get.

Those nice crystal looking bits are a main factor I think in showing how much mineral is in them.......

 

[jack-rythm]

Yeah maybe your right, its been up and running for about 2 months now and no issues what soever, my shrimp are bright healthy red and are breeding fine and fish also appear fine and Im keeping a close eye on my plants and they seem bright and healthy. I do need a ph kit though just to check now and again. I think the amount of greenery and live critters in there are helping to keep my tank to a nice comfortable level. As of today thought there is no real issue apart from algae, but I put that down to not having enough or the correct co2 set up. Now I have installed this within the past 3 weeks im hoping things balance out. 🙂

 

[SmallestFrog]

How is the tank doing now? Looks excellent to me.

 

[jack-rythm]

I came to a sad end with this tank. I had issues with my slate so bad to rescape.. only whilst rescaping I decided to sell my tank and build 3 optiwhite nano tanks to use for my current project. This tank was my first ever tank so saw it as a practice area a for my mistakes. The more I learn the less I was happy with it. Guess that just happens! Check out my new triptych project 🙂

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jack-rythm]

Hello everyone,

I thought I would just drop in and say hi to all that have contributed to my threads. I'm sad to see all my pics are gone so I apologies if now these threads are not much use for people to see! I cannot seem to find any pics that I can even update these with so that is a shame, i think I had removed my flickr account without thinking in advance..

I have had a fair few months out of the planted tank world as you may know, but can finally say I am looking to set up my next tank soon! which I am very excited to say!

Thanks guys, look forward to speaking soon 🙂