Drew & Laura's Rimless 33G Mr Aqua. Manzanita out, Rocks in. New Scape!

[DrewWoodside]

Originally Posted by tonytrout2001@hotmail.com

I hijacked your phot as well Not the greatest rendition, but this is how I think it would look good, which is pretty much what you already said. I just wanted to play with Paint a little bit

Okay, so I've leveled out the sand. And actually tried adding some rocks to the left of the island. It didn't feel as tranquil as the current set up, i'm not sure if it's the shape/size of this tank or the rocks I had or that I don't have the right piece of wood to add to my current one...

I'm going to post more pictures of it now that it's filling in more with the current plants. It's continuing to look better as plants fill in. It's a little too bare and symmetrical, centered in the pics that are currently on here. I will take more and let ppl see. I purchased Christmas moss, Taiwan moss, needle lear java fern and narrow leaf java fern from Aquatic magic. It should be arriving one of these days and I think once it's in, I'll have a better picture of what I need to do next.

Other recent updates I should note on the progress of this tank are as follows:

- Lily Pipes arrived from [Ebay Link Removed] Upon receipt I promptly smashed the inflow lily against the side of the tank accidentally. The tank had hardly a blemish on it, but the inflow lily was destroyed. The outflow tube is 13mm and the outflow pipe is 17mm. I used super warm water and stretched the tubing as best I could. I could not get the tubing to fit around the 13mm. When I reconnected the spray bar I had actually busted holes where I was stretching. I conceded defeat to the outflow. What's unfortunate is the inflow would have been easy to connect had I been more careful. I will likely repurchase an inflow pipe as the giant green eheim inflow is beginning to bother me. The spray bar not as much since it's a bit more inconspicuous.

- My 3x24 watt catalina T5 arrived. Flip up mounting legs, dimmable moonlights, 7" deep, and fairly awesome so far. Currently running a 10k, 65k and a blue actinic. I have undemanding plants in terms of light so I may only end up running one daylight bulb and the blue actinic. I know the blue actinics aren't all that popular but I love how the tank looks with it(i'm a noob!) And once again, anubias, moss and java fern don't need much light and I have no immediate plans to get strong C02.

- My gf and I got our hands on a really nice Cannon camera with a telefoto lense. Bumping our picture taking abilites up hopefully. Still haven't taken the time to learn how to use it properly. Next photos should be from it.

Been lazy, will update this thread soon with nicer and more current pics. I will likely be giving the peninsula another shot soon. Thanks for the comments and advice everyone!

[DrewWoodside]

Added a pair of Discus. They are settling in fairly well. Although at times they tend to retreat to behind the manzanita. But when we approach the glass slowly, they come to greet us looking for food. They're the most beautiful fish I have ever owned. Purchased and picked out on a trip to Discus Madness in Union New Jersey:

http://s1131.photobucket.com/albums/m555/lkdaunis25/

[frrok]

i like where your going with this...

[2in10]

Your Discus are absolutely gorgeous, fantastic color

[DrewWoodside]

Originally Posted by 2in10

Your Discus are absolutely gorgeous, fantastic color

Here's a new pic of the tank. Hope everyone likes:

[frrok]

looks really good!

[DrewWoodside]

Originally Posted by frrok

looks really good!

Thanks!

[DrewWoodside]

Updated FTS. Removed Wood and moss as it was creating decaying plant matter and making siphoning below and behind it a problem. Here is my anubias sand iwagumi esc scape. The background has Sunset Hygrophilia and some other plant that is identical to the sunset but all green instead of with pink highlights.

[Uptown193]

IMO I like it better with the wood and moss.

[DrewWoodside]

Another NYC guy, I'm on the UES. Glad to see nyc has planted tank enthusiasts! Regarding the wood and moss, I liked it too. But with discus it made it very difficult to properly maintain the tank. So for now at least, I have to go the simplified route. I'm currently battling Blue Green Algae, as soon as I have everything under control. I'm going to add plants/decor to liven the scape. Thanks for the input!

[Uptown193]

Originally Posted by DrewWoodside

Another NYC guy, I'm on the UES. Glad to see nyc has planted tank enthusiasts! Regarding the wood and moss, I liked it too. But with discus it made it very difficult to properly maintain the tank. So for now at least, I have to go the simplified route. I'm currently battling Blue Green Algae, as soon as I have everything under control. I'm going to add plants/decor to liven the scape. Thanks for the input!

Yup we are alive and well. I am in the Bronx now. Probably not to many in the Bronx. You should get like 10 Japonica shrimps for you algae situation. They should help, they help me with algae a lot.

[frrok]

I liked it before also but I understand with Discus. Still looks cool tho.

[DrewWoodside]

Originally Posted by frrok

I liked it before also but I understand with Discus. Still looks cool tho.

Yeah, the wood/moss is super cropped in the before picture. But after even a week or two it would start growing in heavily and partially dying in areas and just creating deteriorating plant matter. It had also become a breeding ground for BGA unfortunately. Literally growing on the moss, then when a piece would die separating from the wood and spreading the BGA to other parts of the tank.

Had the discus not been in there, it wouldn't have mattered but discus are the way they are. I guess this is a step towards a bare bottom, however I will never go the whole way with that. I may let the sunset hygro grow in taller in the back to add a little depth and character. I'll figure out a way to spice the scape up. First order of business though, destroy BGA!

[DrewWoodside]

Edited using "Camera+" Clarity and Vignette filters.


I don't usually like when a fishes colors look edited in pictures. But I've had difficulty capturing the true color of these fish, and this really brings it out.