" ATHENRY"- 40B UPDATE with pic 12-4-11 (post 40)

[Nate McFin]

Points are well taken.

The reason behind the Rotala is the scape is based loosely on this tank. My idea was to use the HC path as a focus rather than the large rocks which are the focus in this tank. The large rocks in his midground would be replaced by midground plants like Blyxa and staurogyne. etc. I am imagining less pink or red (though I do want highlights) hence the Rotala Sp. green. with highlights of Colorata.
I have always loved the very trimmed look he has in this tank and in my 20G my Rotala has always looked lanky and lacked any shape. Its one of my aquascaping goals to learn the fine art of trimming.
Do you think I have enough room front to back to pull off the look I am after here? Thanks or the advice I will take all the help I can get!

[Nate McFin]

UPDATE~

Well I finished the Grigg style reactor and got all the plumbing hooked up yesterday. It was just in time as the Blyxa arrived just as I was wrapping up. (Thanks CL!)
Got it all planted and filled the tank. Drop checker is a nice greenish yellow! I have some Rotala on the way to go behind the Blyxa. If it doesnt look like I imagined I will pull it out and stick it in my other tank. Hopefully I wont have to.
Here is a few pics! (Pardon the bacteria bloom, I guess the cycle is started. LOL)



Thanks for looking!
Nate

[Holokai]

Looking good!

[Gatekeeper]

Looks very good.

[CL]

Nice blyxa
That thing should look ridiculously amazing in no time when that blyxa puffs up

[nemosreef]

Tank is realy making progress and look great.

[Nate McFin]

Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone! So far so good, now if the algae will honor our agreement not to bother each other.

[mgdmirage]

Looks great

[Nate McFin]

Well, I finally got some time this week to hang the lights. I used a shelf bracket and mounted the light mounted to it. I can raise or lower the light by either using the bolt and nut hangers or by raising and lowering the shelf itself. It turned out more secure than I was hoping for. The wall will fall before the light does!
Alot more light spills into the room which is annoying but hopefully I will avoid the algae issues. I used Hoppys PAR/ Distance thread for reference where to hang them.



The bolt goes through the shelf and has washer and nut on top.



and finally a shot with the Rotala planted. It has been in for 2 weeks and is will be trimmed heavily this weekend to start the hedge/bush process. Had some melting issues with the Blyxa and it has thinned out alot Hopefully it has stopped now. It has definately slowed down.

[chilled_fire]

the tanks looking really good, i didnt go throu all coments and I dont know if anybody mentioned tis but Rotala grows like crazy , needs trimming almost every week in my tank.
But even with out Rotala tank looked really nice !

[speedie408]

Lookin good Nate. Keep it up man.

[Nate McFin]

Thanks for the replies and compliments!

@Speedie- I just got the thing set up and I already want to dump it for a 120P THANKS!!!!$$$!!!!! LOL

[DDA]

look good

[Nate McFin]

Ok the HC is driving me nuts! Everyday I come home to find the HC floating and clogging the filter. I trimmed last week thinking that was what was causing the problem but still the problem persists.
The filter flow doesnt appear to be too strong( I was actually considering adding a powerhead to hit a few areas with less flow)
Maybe the Flourite is just too course??
I like the look of the HC but I am ready to rip it out!

So 2 questions-
1.) Is it possible to add sand at this point to give the HC something denser to root in? Would this even be a benefit at this point?

2.) If getting this stuff to stay put wont happen, I would love some ideas for foreground plants that would do well in Flourite black. Something that isnt going to uproot all the time and would look good with the Blyxa and the rest of the plan. Tropica 049 maybe?
Thanks for any input!!!

[Nate McFin]

Time for an update.
We moved across town somewhat unexpectedly and though I was a little nervous to move it things went well. The plants didn't seem to even notice.
I lost some of the HC due to uprooting but now it seems to stay in place as it is held down by some string algae. Win some you lose some. lol
I planted some Staurogyne in the foreground. Eventually I may end up just taking out the HC as it just sucks to maintain it. It does add some nice contrasting texture though so I dunno.
Other than that things have looked great. No other algae at all and the plants are pearling like crazy. The Rotala is due for a haircut and a good shaping this week.
Just got some 5 Sterbai cory and 6 Oto's in QT getting ready to go in as well.
Thanks for looking!

The tropica 049