55 Gallon Blyxa Japonica and drift wood build [now w/ discus!]

[The_Finglonger]

I'm planning a glosso and drift wood only planted tank. I will be looking to add a vine-like climber that wraps around my drift wood if such a thing exists.

I bought this setup a week ago...

Here's the tank filled up with water and filter sand as the substrate (planning to add discus when water is cycled in 4-5 weeks)



The bozo who I bought the setup from burned me by selling me a broken filter with the setup. I'm expecting my new filter to come in tomorrow. I ordered a H.O.T. Magnum Canister Filter - up to 55 Gallon and will replace the carbon with ceramic rings.

I will be adding a few tetras this weekend to start the cycle.

I ordered some glosso from Aquariumplants.com and here they are...



Here's the glosso in the water


Things are not coming together as planned but I guess I just gotta roll with it...

I ordered a fishneedit t5ho fixture and it was suppose to arrive today but it got damaged and got shipped back. Now I have to wait another week for the vendor to send me another one. Such a pain!

I also got some drift wood I picked up from a fellow planted tank user, tharsis.

Here's a pic of the drift wood pieces floating in my tank, I hope they sink soon!! Great pieces in there, I can't wait to plant them in the sand.



FTS of my setup so far.

[tharsis]

The pics are not showing up.

[The_Finglonger]

ahh, sorry, i had them in a private album, it should be fixed now.

[tharsis]

cool! glosso-y goodness. I really like the sandy substrate. Is that the wood I sent you? Just an FYI the wood will probably get waterlogged faster if you weight it down. Put a big rock on top of it to keep it submerged and it will cut the time down.

[The_Finglonger]

Yep, that's the wood you sent me. Right now I have it tucked under the center brace. I'm hesitant to put anything in the water that may alter the water chemistry like a large rock. I first tried gluing the pieces to small slates of marble but that failed miserably.

From your experience, how long does it typically take for the wood to get waterlogged? I'm anxious to plant the glosso in the sand.

Yep, it's pool filter sand. It was highly recommended by discus keepers on simplydiscus. They say detritus has a hard time penetrating it, thus making it easy to clean.

[tharsis]

When I use the wood, I always either screwed it to a piece of slate or weigh it down with rocks, so to be honest I am not sure how long it will take.

I think that if you were to weigh it down at the bottom of the tank, the over pressure will help to get it waterlogged. There is much more pressure pushing down on the wood when it is 1.5 feet below water as opposed to a couple inches. The pressure will help the water penetrate into the pores of the wood ( I could possibly be totally full of it though..it just seems that that should be the case). I wouldn't worry about a rock changing the chemistry too much. There is not much limestone around where you live, mostly igneous and metamorphic rocks which won't alter the chemistry much over the time frame that you would have it in there (if at all).

I used playsand in a 55 gallon, the detritus is certainly easy to clean up, it is also VERY easy to see if you don't keep on top of it.

[The_Finglonger]

Good to know, how long did it take for you using your method?

[Jester206]

I think you will be waiting a LONG TIME for that driftwood to sink. I had some driftwood soaking for more then 6 months and none of it sank. Some of the smaller pieces stared to float less but none actually sank to the bottom. I would recommend going to a hardware store or a landscaping place and getting some slate tiles or shingles, a masonry drill bit and some stainless steel screws. just break the tiles with a hammer to an appropriate size, drill a hole in them , screw the wood too it and Bob's your uncle. It shouldn't change your water chemistry and it takes WAY less time then waiting for the wood to sink under it's own power.

[tharsis]

^+1

This is the easiest way, and then you just lay your substrate over the slate and it looks like you have wood coming out of the sand.

[The_Finglonger]

I found a couple of large pieces of slate around the neighborhood. The drift wood are now completely submerged at the bottom of the tank. Thanks for the tips!

[Quesenek]

Originally Posted by Jester206

I think you will be waiting a LONG TIME for that driftwood to sink. I had some driftwood soaking for more then 6 months and none of it sank. Some of the smaller pieces stared to float less but none actually sank to the bottom. I would recommend going to a hardware store or a landscaping place and getting some slate tiles or shingles, a masonry drill bit and some stainless steel screws. just break the tiles with a hammer to an appropriate size, drill a hole in them , screw the wood too it and Bob's your uncle. It shouldn't change your water chemistry and it takes WAY less time then waiting for the wood to sink under it's own power.

So true back a few years ago before I moved and broke down all my tanks I had a small piece I found in a creek and despite being in water already it took close to four years to get completely waterlogged.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[The_Finglonger]

I found a couple of large pieces of slate around my house and hammered one of those pieces into bits and used them to anchor the centerpiece of drift wood(s)...



I still have a few other pieces that are under the other piece of slate on the left.



My filter finally came in this morning, hopefully my water starts to get clearer.

As you can see, I jumped on the opportunity to unbunch the glosso and plant them in the sand. I was really just waiting for the center pieces of drift wood to come together for that. I hope they survive!

[tharsis]

sweet! the centrepiece looks great! I can't wait to see how the others pieces turn out. The glosso mound will look really cool when it fills in.

Good job!

[The_Finglonger]

I grew impatient and hammered into pieces the other large rock I had and did the sides. Not that happy with the right side, but it'll do for now until those pieces become waterlogged. I am however really happy with the left side.



I also added a few zebra danios and an algae cleaner.

[dj2005]

I can't wait to see it fully planted. Have you decided on what other plants you will be using?

BTW, are you a fellow Futurama fan?