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the evolution of my tank! any advice or tips welcome!

Joined
21 Feb 2009
Messages
333
Location
stroud, glos
hi all,
this is my first proper tank, after many weeks of reading a few hours a day i thought i was ready to go for it! this is one week in!
tbh, as i have no exp what so ever i have just choosen a random selection of mostly easy plants to give myself an idea of how things will look and grow etc, with a view to evolving the tank as my expieience grows!

its a 240 rio with 4x54w T5 (using 2 tubes with a 2 hour "burst" of all four, 8hours/day)
pressurized CO2,
eco complete substrate topped with plain black gravel,
ehiem 2126 filter (i'm guessing i need another simular filter or a power head thingy to increase flow??)
will be using EI method, altho not to sure about the final dosing amounts etc (i left it late to read up on this aspect!!! :0/ )
tap water:-
ph7.8
gh11
kh8
nitrates 12-30 ??
phos 3-4

any thoughts, advice or critisisms would be gladly recieved!!!! ;0)


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Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

Great start....I may have had the wood the other way around so it looks like branches rather than roots...but each to their own ;)


Read the forum here about the Ferts and ammounts required...this forum can answer just about everythink you will ever need to know
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

It`s a good looking start BVB! Once you are happy with growth, you could try cutting and replanting the plants you like most, and possibly start to move out the ones you like least. Keeping plants in large groups together will give the tank a more structured and scaped feel.

Have you got a crypt tied to some slate? You may want to plant it in the substrate.

Whether you have a flow issue or not will m anifest itself in poor plant health and algae in certain areas. If all is well, I would hold back on buying increased flow just for the sake of it. Time will tell.

I`m not too keen on that wall thingy, personally.

Dave.
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

no there is a wall/boarder in front of the swords
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

A great start, congratulations!

If you haven't got your dosing organised yet (calculated and bought) then consider using an all in one like Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus, or similar, until you've got your final dosing schedule sorted. You don't want algae to get a hold at this early stage! As a guide, people seem to have success dosing 1ml of TPN+ per 20l of tank volume per day. And keep up with the water changes!

This looks like a great first tank, keep taking the photos as it develops, we'll look forward to them!

Mark
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

mfcphil said:
no there is a wall/boarder in front of the swords

Thats the jewel terrace bits. I figured it'd add more "depth" to the tank if it had a raised portion, as it is quite a long tank, but only 18inches from front to back!
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

Dave Spencer said:
It`s a good looking start BVB! Once you are happy with growth, you could try cutting and replanting the plants you like most, and possibly start to move out the ones you like least. Keeping plants in large groups together will give the tank a more structured and scaped feel.

Thank you. :) thats the plan. Altho it's prob the area i'll lack most in, the artistic side! :-/.

Dave Spencer said:
Have you got a crypt tied to some slate? You may want to plant it in the substrate.

Nope, it an anubias lanceolata!

Dave Spencer said:
Whether you have a flow issue or not will m anifest itself in poor plant health and algae in certain areas. If all is well, I would hold back on buying increased flow just for the sake of it. Time will tell.

I`m not too keen on that wall thingy, personally.

Dave.

Ok, thanks for advice, i'm lookin at external co2 reactor things as i want as much out of the tank as i can, so a new pump will happen next month i think! :)
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

vauxhallmark said:
A great start, congratulations!

Thanks.
vauxhallmark said:
If you haven't got your dosing organised yet (calculated and bought) then consider using an all in one like Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus, or similar, until you've got your final dosing schedule sorted. You don't want algae to get a hold at this early stage! As a guide, people seem to have success dosing 1ml of TPN+ per 20l of tank volume per day. And keep up with the water changes!

This looks like a great first tank, keep taking the photos as it develops, we'll look forward to them!

Mark

I have some "shop bought" micros and gh booster and have powdered phosphates, and potasium nitrates, i think i should've bought potasium on its own too tho as i will prob not need to add too much phos/nitrates cos my tap water is fairly high in both!
I'm doin 50% water changes twice weekly untill cycled then will but back to once weekly.
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

ok,
so a little update of how my tank is evolving!

added an Ehiem 2028 and aquamedic external co2 reactor with 2kg FE and also t8 tube at the front of the tank, now dosing with dry ferts also.

before last trim
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after last trim
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a couple of random pics!
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Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

Wow, you've got a massive and very beautiful tank there, nice one!
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

rawr said:
Wow, you've got a massive and very beautiful tank there, nice one!

thanks, i must say i've enjoyed doing all this a great deal so far, its nice to have finally found a hobby i can be passionate about.
i also now have a new found respect for the "proper" aquascapes and the artistic talent that many of the guys on this and other sites have.
 
Re: my first "proper" tank! any advice or tips welcome!

a couple more upto date pics.

i feel the tank still lacks "structure" but probably always will.
it obviously doesn't fit into any specific "style" category.
i'm still mainly trying out different plants and learning how to trim and propagate them etc.

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any thoughts/opinions on how i could improve this or take it further as always, are most welcome!

oh yeah, i know all my pics are not great, they are all taken using my phone! :?
 
Vito said:
Hey Bubba, I really like your tank, the plants look great and I love the cardinals... maybe get a few show fish, you have the space.
keep it up.

there is a fair bit more in there!

40 cardinals
3 SAE
5 ottos
6 dwarf/chain loaches
6 pigmy cories
pair of dwarf goramies
a plec
an upsidedown catfish (from old tank)
 
aaronnorth said:
very nice, i would be tempted to add some anubias or microsrum pteropus under the wood, either of those plants would fill the space nicely.

thnx dude!

i had been wandering what low light plants i could be putting there! :0)
currently have some flame moss on a couple of small stones, waiting to see what will happen with that!

i did start with a few java fern in the tank at start up, removed the last of it a couple of weeks ago, it was growing a few leaves a week and then they were getting too big! :0/

also at a loss as what to use to smooth the transition between the fore ground and back ground on the left of centre!
somthing that wouldnt grow too big and could deal with being shadowed by the limnophilia, i guess as you suggested anubias of some sort would suit?
 
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