Finally! Take 3 (pg15 or 16)!

[Tabatha]

Geeze, guess I was lucky, I rinsed it with a fine mesh strainer, probably for flower, and the water cleared within 2 or 3 hours. I rinsed till the water ran clear. Mind you, this was for a 8 gallon tank, not 30!

[skabooya]

BAH everyone keeps calling me so now im still on the first bag, i need to start dinner soon and i STILL HAVE 3 MORE BAGS TO GO!

[skabooya]

just to show how dirty this stuff is AND my modified method of washing this mud.



excuese my hairy arms, Im pure bred portuguese born in Canada and I take after my dad

[Tabatha]

Keep rinsing girl, you'll get there! Good job

[skabooya]

Okay well finished cleaning the flourite and put it all in the tank. Filled up the tank and put in a real piece of wood and a fake log that I got as a present. Its not that pretty but meh it will make my family happy .
Stole the AC filter off my 20gal and threw it on my 32 with some filter floss aka polyester stuffing for pillows to help clear my water. Also threw in the dirty sponge from the AC to help seed the tank.
Put in some aqua plus water conditioner turned on the heater (which is a flippin pain) I have no idea how im going to make it stay put in the water. The suction cups dont work and just letting the chord hang over the tank doesnt work either so im currently balancing it on some wood so the water doesnt go over the max water line.
The new tubing for my fluval was a pain in the a**. My husband came up to help me set the thing up and the stupid thing didnt want to fit under my cabinet. With a few choice words and some acrobatics we finally managed to make it fit and without any kinks in the tubing. YAY! Taking a break from it though I bet my heart is ready to explode from the frustration with that filter. I probably wont fill it and hook it up until tomorrow. I will just let the AC and stuffing do its work for tonight.
The lfs had NO low light plants in. What they did have were high light expenisve plants. There is no way i am going to pay 13.99 for each plant. Ill see what i can get from the BC forum and ordering online.

[skabooya]

Oh forgot. Couldnt find background either and posterboard and foam board was too short booo. Ill just keep looking.

[swylie]

Originally Posted by skabooya

Put in some aqua plus water conditioner turned on the heater (which is a flippin pain) I have no idea how im going to make it stay put in the water. The suction cups dont work and just letting the chord hang over the tank doesnt work either so im currently balancing it on some wood so the water doesnt go over the max water line.

What heater do you have that's not submersible? I've seen some that aren't officially submersible in, say, the US market, but are rated as submersible when sold in Europe. Also, just get some better suction cups. The ones that are made of black rubber seem to work better than the ones that feel plastic-y.

[skabooya]

I have the black rubber ones and yes its not subemersiable. It even says so right on the heater in two languages. Its hard and bothers me because the rim of the hood is what is making it near to impossible. Ill figure something out.

New turn of events. I tried to hook up my fluval 404 (its about 5 years old) and the impeller kept getting stuck. It has never done that before, it usually rattles until the water gets going good and then it stops and everything is fine. This time Water went everywhere, rattling, then the whole thing just shuts down and there is a hum noise and the head of the filter gets extremely HOT!
So i did some troubleshooting and I find out Time to get a new one! great. I cant get a new filter until maybe saturday if im lucky. Also found out average lifespan is 3-5 years. Now why on earth would anyone pay $300 for something that may only last 3 years. Its nuts! (i got mine second hand with another tank)

Now what should i get. another canister or an HOB?

[skabooya]

decided on the HOB. Now im looking for some plants. Anyone out there live in BC and is willing to ship?

[skabooya]

I need Help! Im wracking my brain trying to figure out the planting design for this tank. Can anyone help me?
Im trying to balance colour/shapes/height etc as well as trying to find good niches to place these plants.

Tank dimensions are 31.5"L x 14"W x 17.5"H not including canopy with lights.

The plants I want to work with are (These will also be ordered within the next few weeks from aquariumplants.com):

3 Cryptocoryne wendtii Red
1 " " " Green
1 " " " Bronze
2 Anubias barteri v. 'Nana'
1 Tiger Lotus, Red
1 Dwarf Sag (10 plants per order)
1 Crypto Balansae
1 Four Leaf Clover

The plants I currently have thrown in there are for the sake of having something in there.
1 Bananna plant
2 sunset hygro
1 rotala indica
2 baby tears
1 umbrousum?
1 Brazilian pennywort

This is the tank.




What Im thinking so far is; The bananna plant will be replaced with the tiger lotus Red (keep it trimmed so its low and bushy).
The space between the two pieces of wood will be planted with the clover.
Over the fake wood trailing down in front of it I would love to grow some taiwan moss (I already have it).
The back wall will be planted with the dwarf sag (I want a nice and tall grassy background)
I dont know which back corner i will put the crypt balansae
On the sides of the tanks on the hills I want to plant the crypt windetii's but i dont know what combo on each side.
I have no idea where I can put the anubias nana
I would love to keep the sunset hygro for some added colour and interest but i have no idea where to put it.
Also the niche in the real wood I would like something short as well, maybe more four leaf clover?
I also want to keep the brazilian pennywort but i dont know where it should go.
The banana plant needs to be somewhere in there too, its a sentimental plant but it doesnt need a special place in the tank.

I need help with this big time. Feel free to add plants or change the plants on the order list.

I want a nice full lush feel with lots of colour. My fish will be amazonian so a slightly darker jungle look will suit them i think.

Please please please help me out with this. I need ideas and opinions to make this tank look awsome.

[skabooya]

This is what Im wondering so far. But Im having a really hard time finding vals nana.
Let me know what you think and what i should change if anything. There is a plant im thinking of putting in the pink circle but I cant think of the name right now and notice there is no anubias nana. I cant figure out where to put them.

[SheriffBooth]

Looks great so far - nice job. One suggestion - if you're planning to put Rams in there, you might want to add a small flower pot or fake cave for them to use; they like having a place to feel safe. Also, you might want to think about have more than two unless you can buy a pair that's already mated. With an unmated pair, one will bully the other.

[skabooya]

That grey fake log thingie is completely hollow inside and there are 4 ways to get out of it so i guess that can be their 'cave'.

I asked on this site, apistogramma.com and bcaquaria (all good sites) about german rams and the general concencus was max of 2, 3 may work but I should have another tank ready if it gets picked on and 4+ is out of the question with the size tank i have.
Thats why I decided on 2

[SheriffBooth]

Originally Posted by skabooya

That grey fake log thingie is completely hollow inside and there are 4 ways to get out of it so i guess that can be their 'cave'.

I asked on this site, apistogramma.com and bcaquaria (all good sites) about german rams and the general concencus was max of 2, 3 may work but I should have another tank ready if it gets picked on and 4+ is out of the question with the size tank i have.
Thats why I decided on 2

Yeah, with a 32g you could start with 5 or 6 young ones to see if you can get them to pair off. And then you'd pull out the extras once you had a pair. But with the hollow log in that amount of space, and with plants, 2 should do okay even if they aren't man and wife. But 4 or 5 and some dither fish would be pretty maxed out at 32 so unless you want a single species tank you're on the right track. cichlid-forum.com's another pretty great place for ram care.

[skabooya]

Alright this is going to be the plant order unless anyone can suggest anything else for this tank or its design.

Wendtii Red -----------------------3
Wendtii Green ---------------------1
Wendtii Bronze --------------------1
Anubias barteri v. 'nana' -----------2
Microsorium pteropus v. 'windelov'---2
Nymphaea zenkeri (tiger lotus red)---1
Marsilea quadrifolia (four leaf clover)--1
Sagittaria subulata (dwarf sag)-------1
Cryptocoryne crispatula (balansae) --1
Cryptocoryne spiralis----------------1

I still cant find vals nana anywhere otherwise it would def be on the list.
Any thoughts or suggestions?