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My 25 gallon Planting Project. :D UPDATED 12/07/2009

6K views 32 replies 15 participants last post by  Do0dLENo0dLE 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm deciding to strip down my 25gal tank and start from scratch. This time I'm going to plant it :icon_bigg
This is my first time planting a tank, so I'm always open to advice from those who know more or see that I'm doing something incorrectly.

The stats of my tank are as follows:

My Fish
1x X-Ray Tetra
1x Neon Tetra
1x Zebra Danio
1x Khuli Loach
1x Pleco (not sure what type)
1x Silver Danio

Equipment
Internal Dolphin F1200 Filter
Normal Fluorescent lighting
Thermometer
Magnetic wall cleaner

What's in the Tank
2x Large driftwood pieces
1x small driftwood piece
1x large orange rock
1x small rock
Weird moss on wood

I plan on purchasing a more powerful light soon, and I'm in the process of making a DIY CO2 unit.

Tank so far:



CO2 Unit of awesomeness


Im busy mineralizing my soil. Here's the topsoil i used in a bucket:

And here it is with water. I'm going to let it soak for about a day and a half
 
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#8 ·
Well, I'm following AaronT's guide on minerilized soil, but I'm leaving out potash and dolomite because I cant find any. Instead im replacing it with some form of substrate my local fish shop has, just for the added nutrient boost. I'm going to place pool filter sand over the mineralized soil.

Thats the plan anyway, haha. I hope it works out

i LOVE the driftwood placement - looks very natural.
Haha, thanks! I'm going to definitely keep the driftwood in the tank even when its re-done

looks like the driftwood tanins are doing work on your water.


I completely agree with this, you should ad some dark green plants like java fern and anubias to finish off the natural look:icon_cool
Yup, them tannins are a pest, but hopefully I'll sort them out soon enough. Well, the plants that go into my tank at first are going to be whatever my local fish shop has, which usually isn't such a great selection....I'm probably going to have to resort to buying the plants I want online.
 
#17 ·
haha, but they'll be jealous when they see my awesome tank.

A bit of an update: my second dry cycle is almost complete, I'm not sure I'f I'll even do a third because my soil came from the earth so it was already pretty mineralized apparently. Then again, I'm only going to start aquascaping my tank when exams are over, so I may as well do another one
 
#19 ·
Unfortunately not... all depends on what's available to me, but I'm thinking of perhaps creating a moss-wall for the back. I'll need to grow more moss though, I dont have enough for the whole of the back of my tank.:confused1:

UPDATE

My soil is finished mineralizing! YAY :)


Its amazing how much work i put into.....a bucket of dirt.

The picture doesn't give justice to how light and fluffy the soil is
 
#20 ·
UPDATE

Yay, with exams finished I got cracking on my tank!

I went out to the shop to buy some supplies:
>Extra light fitting
>2x 25wat bulbs
>time switch (last one broke)
>Clay
>Coral Grit
>3x plants
>Pool filter sand (not in pic)
>Fertilizer


PLANTS
Amazon Sword:

Java Fern:

Some plant..cant remember its name:


Preparing my little fish housing tank:


Emptying my main tank. the othertank has all those light around it because the temperature was a bit too low. I dont have a heater because I like in an area that doesnt get very cold..usually. Moving fish from one tank to another is quite a challenge...


In the mean time I added the clay to my soil, and cleaned my pool filter sand (that looks exactly the same as gravel........was expecting actual sand.. oh well)



Then I emptied and cleaned my tank pretty well:



Here came the fun part!:
I made a border of PFS so you cant see the different substrate levels

Thin layer of coral grit

Added the soil over that

Then the covering layer of PFS. I tried to slope it..emphasis on tried


The substrate was done, so I added my driftwood and rock in a slightly different position:

I started to slowly fill the tank up with water. Uh oh, it got really cloudy. I dont think I washed my PFS enough

Started to plant the plants. I took them out of their pots and spongey things. Unfortunately this separated a lot of my stems, so I planted them separately.


So, i finished adding the water and connecting up my new lights.... this was the result....ew


I left it for the night, and this morning I did a 70% water change. This is what it currently looks like:


I might do a further water change later. I dont know. :eek5:
 
#25 ·
AND IM BACK!

I spent the whole day today working on the tank. It came back from repairs awhile ago. I checked for leaks, etc and finished setting it up...again. Hopefully no more problems.

The amount of substrate in the tank is less then before. Hope it will still be fine. and I hope it doesnt crack again!

I arranged the plants better this time IMO. I'll post pics eventually
 
#26 ·
UPDATE TIME

Its sure been awhile huh? I haven't updated since the accident, but I though it was time to show you what's going down in the tank. :biggrin:

This is a pic of the tank the day after it was re-set up:


This is a pic of the tank today:


As you can see, Ive added some mondo grass....I didnt know it was mondo grass until much later..what a waste. oh well.
There is significant java moss growth, but not a lot of growth in the other plants :icon_mad: only a bit.

Here is the growth difference of my water hyssop (I think) since i re-did the tank:


I added 5 new fish into the tank awhile ago. 2 angels and 3 pearly danio's
Heres a pic of the angels:


My tank now consists of these fish:
1x X-Ray Tetra
1x Neon Tetra
1x Zebra Danio
3x Pearly Danio
1x Khuli Loach
1x Sailfin Pleco

I wasn't going to re-introduce the pleco to the tank because I hear they are destructive...but its kinda awesome so I'll keep him in until he starts to do damage.
My silver dollar has no place in this tank anymore, he's in a seperate tank and I think I am going to take him back to the store :icon_frow
 
#30 ·
Thanks! and yeah, when i get more plants and my tank looks more busy I'll probably dump the rock.

I just came back from a 3 day long holiday...leaving my dad in-charge of my tank was not a good idea. The java moss near the surface of the tank was covered with algae. i attempted to get rid of it...taking away a lot of the moss along the way :(

anyway, it appears as if little particles have spread all over..what do I do? I dont want the algae to spread..
 
#32 ·
I like your wood scape - looks really good.

1x X-Ray Tetra
1x Neon Tetra
1x Zebra Danio
3x Pearly Danio
1x Khuli Loach
All these fish need to be kept in schools of 5 or more. Below that number, the fish will not be happy and not show you their full spectrum of behavior and beauty. Your tank is large enough to support a healthy number of fish, but you should consider returning the zebra danio; these guys may stress out your other fish due to their liveliness.
 
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