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36 Gal. "Second Life"

19K views 132 replies 23 participants last post by  Noahma 
#1 ·
Well, After spending a bit of time learning, and staring at my tank, I have decided to Re-scape the tank.

Here are the specifics as the tank sits now.

36 gal. bowfront tank.
Fluval 205 Canister filter
Some sort of pain in the butt powerhead.

The tank consists plant wise of

Wistera (that resembles the blob at times.)
Two Lotus plants
Madagascar lace
Val. Americanas
Anacharis
Java Moss
Creeping Jenny
Belive it or not, There is a Red Rubin sword. (going to get a better position in the re-scape
Another HUGE sword, that will stay as it sits.
A couple Amazon swords. A small clump of remaining Marsiella Minuetta (will be replaced with Quadrifolia or Hirsuta (tons of it)
Red Ludwiga
Creeping Jenny.

The wisteria has taken over the tank lol. It will be minimized and put in the very rear of the tank, with other plants taking the stage as I get things going.

I purchased a very nice twisty piece of Driftwood from DSDrifter, which should be here by Friday (wahoo) After I submerge it for a few days, the rescape will commence.

My plan.

As you can see from the pic below of the existing tank. There is a HUGE ugly mass of stuff on the right of the tank. It started out as a fake log decoration, that has been consumed by Java Moss, and lived in by shy amano shrimp. This is going to be removed. I am doing that because I feel that my top level fish deserve the full length of the tank to swim. And it is a pain during tank work. The Red Rubin is behind this monstrosity, it is only surviving, and needs more space to grow. I also have a very small piece of driftwood on the left corner of the tank, this too has been taken by java moss, and has become the Cherry Shrimp headquarters. This may stay in its position, with the Anacharis finally being removed from the tank permanently.
There is also a fake rock decoration on the left side that is going to be removed as well.

As far as plants being added. I am going to add a couple of other plants into the mix, to help fill in a bit. And I will remove others that may not be doing as well.
The plants being added

Red Tiger Lotus (I have wanted one forever!)
Bacopa carolina
Brazilian Pennywort
Cardamine (Cardamine lyrata)

I know some of these require more light than I seem to have, but I have had a few plants in the past that did quite well regardless of the "lighting requirements"

The tank will stay CO2 less, although sometime in the future it might get reworked again with co2 and T5HO lighting.

This scape is going to take quite a while, I would have an extremely hard time removing the thousands of Cherry's and my quarantine tank will hold all of these fish for any length of time. So the tank will be rescaped over a period of weeks doing small movements and then large water changes.

Here are the pics of the driftwood (that is on the way) and the tank as it currently stands.




And the Driftwood.

 
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#4 ·
lol yea I asked my wife to turn off the tv for a min. and she got mad lol. And I did the post a couple hours later, and before bed haha. I do love the Creeping Jenny, it is a great hardy plant. In my 5.5 gal. it is growing out of the top of the tank, and up the wall.

I should have the driftwood tomorrow. UPS states that it is on time for delivery. It should not take long to sink, so the re-scape should start either end of week next week, or the beginning of the following week. I am going to go hit up Aqua imports tomorrow and see what they have, It is the delivery day for plants. If they do not have much, then I will place my online order for the stuff sitting in the checkout cart.
 
#11 ·
Looking forward to the updates. Love the driftwood...maybe it will actually be visible in the new set-up.

I just ordered that same fixture (based in part on your input) for my 36G tank....hopefully it shows up before this next weekend so I can start getting mine set-up too.
 
#12 ·
Well, there was one problem with the driftwood, the wrong item number was sent to me, I am not upset about it though, the one he sent was the same price, roughly the same size, and just as cool looking (will post pics later) it will change the overall scape a bit, but just as fun. The original incarnation was set up as my second planted tank, kind of a random see how it grows type thing. This new scape is a purposeful and planned scape, so I plan to see the driftwood lol
I really like this light fixture, it works great for most types of plant I have tried
 
#13 ·
Well. Here is the driftwood that was sent. The colors are not as vibrant as it is when fully submerged, and with light on it. There are tones of light brown, dark brown. I also has rocks stuck into the side of it, which must have happened as the root grew. It is AWESOME.

Here is the wood, so far it is on day 4 of being submerged in a 30 gal Tupperware container with the hottest water my tap can produce.


 
#15 ·
I was hoping it would have sank already, but.... its still floating very well lol. This afternoon I am going to drill several small holes in the cut area at the back and then re-soak it for a few days, and if it does not sink then, I will put some stainless steel screws in the bottom and wait. The rocks appear to be safe, and the largest one is around the size of a half dollar, the others are all much smaller. So right now, the only thing I am waiting on is the wood, then it is full steam ahead.
 
#18 ·
Trust me, I am that exact way too lol But the wood being so dry has sort of forced me to be patient. I have a HUGE plant order in a shopping cart at a plant website just waiting for me to get the initial scape done and see which plants I really want.
 
#19 ·
Maybe put the wood in your bath tub, and boils pots of water and pour it in the tub with the wood in it!! Just rinse your tub before that way in case the soap residue from your soap and shampoo will go away. And it shouldn't be too hard to clean after it. But then again that is me and I'm not too concerned about germs and stuff.

Or pour the boiling water into the plastic container, but I'm not sure if it'll melt or someting
 
#23 ·
Well, the rescape starts tomorrow, my first objective is to hack away at the water wisteria, I plan on keeping some in the back right of the tank. All of my Val will stay where they are, and allow to fill in a bit back there. The three lotus plants are going to be placed with the tallest behind the wood, the mid tangled within the wood, and the small very low one in front of the wood. The lobela is going to be placed somewhere in the front. I am getting some Sunset hydro that will be placed mid tank in the back. I have a VERY large sword in the back that will stay put as well as two crypt. wendtii's. The Amazon swords will be brought forward to mid tank far left. With the Madagascar lace being put front left, with larger leaves being trimmed. I have an order I just need to submit for more dwarf 4 leaf clover that will be spread around the front of the tank. The Red Ludwiga I have will be used somewhere in the background as well. My Anubias Nana will be glued to the wood somewhere. I plan to attach some of the java moss on the new lace rock that will be in the tank as well.
 
#24 ·
Well, the tank re-scape went very well. I ended up not really moving a whole lot of plant around. I pulled the big fake log out of the right side, moved my ludwiga to the back, pulled a red rubin sword to the front right to let it grow a bit. Moved one (the lowest) lily in front of the wood, moved a small crypt. and my c. parva to a new location, and really just left everything else alone. I have plenty of room for some other stems coming hopefully tomorrow. I am very happy, the fish seem to be happy with the increased swimming room. The shrimp are enthusiastically exploring the wood.

Here are a couple of finished pics. If you see anything that would help, feel free to add a comment :)

The pics are not the greatest, I used my iphone.
I also used a new app to take the pics, I will try to get some better ones up in the next few hours.



 
#25 ·
Looks great!

Couple questions...

What is the light green plant in the very front right? I need more small foreground type stuff and that one seems nice.

What is your photoperiod? We have the same size tanks and the same light fixture so I'd like to cheat from you at least as a starting point. :)
 
#27 ·
hehe, no probs. The plant in the foreground on the far right is a chain sword. I was not expecting it to survive in the tank due to the lighting requirements I had been finding online. But it is growing GREAT. I use a 12 hour photo period, the light turns on at 11am, and off at 11pm followed by about 1/2-3/4 hour of my DIY moon light. The light fixture is a GREAT one, I have had no problems growing any plants I have wanted to with the exception of high light plants.

Now all I need to do is figure out why my dwarf gourami recently decided that chasing my male Dwarf Neon Ranbows is such fun. They do not seem to like it much.
 
#30 ·
Ohh I see. Mine was Narrow Leaf Chainsword was supposed to be no taller than 6" , but it got to 13" xD. Ohh yea, did this tank have shrimp in it? Did you catch them all.

When I did my 10g, I trapped some of them, but it was big PITA so I just redid the tank with most of them in there. Hopefully not to many got buried or squished.
 
#31 ·
I left the fish and shrimp in the tank while doing the rescape. I was careful to vacuum the areas where the plants were pulled up to grab all the nastys. I also fanned the substrate at the areas I put the plants to scare any shrimp off. I don't think I squished any. at the end I did a 50% water change, and I will be doing another 50% water change just to make sure I do not have any problems. I did not disturb too much though, most of the plants with the exception of the stems were where I wanted them already.
 
#33 ·
Awesome, it looks great in the tank. And a benefit was my daughter going absolutely nuts because of the pink in the leaves lol. The other plant you gave me too is a very nice plant. I have it floating just above my Java moss and Anachrais side of the tank.
 
#35 ·
lol, no you cant. The sunset hydro. is now planted in its location. I cannot wait for the roots to form, and it to start getting taller. I am very happy with the re-scape, it came together better than I could have imagined. I will try to get some pics up, and possibly a video when I get a chance.
 
#37 ·
It really has not started to grow much yet, I think it is still workin at getting the roots in play. I will post some pics as soon as I get a bit more growth out of it.

I did however add a Crypt. Undulata today! It is a pretty darn nice plant, Got it from of all places Petsmart
 
#39 ·
Lets see.

(1)dwarf Gourami
(6)dwarf Neon rainbowfish
(7)Zebra Danio's
(3) Threadfin
(6)Glowlight Tetras
(4)Neon Tetras
(5)Celestial Pearl Danios
(4)Amano Shrimp
(3)Tracked Nerite Snails
(300+)Red Cherry Shrimp.


It is a heavy stocking level. I keep an eye on the levels quite often, and things are very stable. There is no aggression between any of the fish with the exception of my Dwarf Gourami deciding that she does not particularly like my male Dwarf neon Rainbow's
She is not bothered by the females, just the males. They are faster than her, so no damage or deaths have occurred. They usually swim into the plants, where she does not go, and she looses interest.
 
#42 · (Edited)
Sort of lol, I do put ferts In every other week, mostly iron and flouish comprehensive. I have a few redish plants.

Wow thats a lot of fish! Cool lol
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Lol I know, they live in peace, and seem quite happy. The water quality is always on my mind, and it is stable and good
 
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