Natalie's Crystal Red/Black Sanctuary 29G (HD Video - 2/17/12; Shrimpeez - 2/23/12)

[keilatan]

Hi, Everybody!

Update - 4/17/12 - Lots of trimmings done. Plants are very dense and I have baby apple snails growing in the tank. Still finding planaria and leeches after months of no fish/shrimp for them to eat, feeling like I may never get to put fish in the tank.



YouTube HD Video Here! 2/17/12

Shrimpeez!

Latest Photo (As of 2/19/12)



(Last Updated 1/23/2012)
Tank - 29 Gallons (30W x 12D x 18H)
Lighting - Odyssea 24" T5HO (12000K in the Front, 6500K Ultra Sun in the Back)
Substrate - New Amazonia
Filter - Fluval 305
CO2 - Aquatek CO2 Regulator with Cool Touch Solenoid using a 5lbs tank
Flora - Contortion Val, Dwarf Hairgrass, Dwarf Sag, Amazon Sword, Hydrocotyle Tripartita, Hottonia Palustris, Erio sp. type 2, Blyxa japonica, Amazon frogbit floater, Downoi, Lagenandra thwaitesii, Hygroryza aristata
Dosing - NPK, Prime

After years of wanting I'm finally moving forward with actually doing. I currently only have one tank, a 35 gallon hexagon with fish and java moss, so I consider myself not an expert by far. I've always been unsuccessful in keeping plants in that tank because I'm fairly uneducated about plant keeping, so instead of risk my fish's lives with my experiments I'm devoting a 29 gallon I bought at a garage sale for $10 to my endeavor.



There it is as of Saturday, leafy and dirty with the yard sale sticker and thermometer still attached. I got down to business later on that afternoon and cleaned out the tank, razor blading what needed razor blading and such and ended up with this...



It's a huge improvement and gave me the motivation I needed to begin. I searched Craigslist for a stand. I didn't want metal (I don't know why, I just don't like it) and found the Walmart brand wooden stand for $30. I drove 45 minutes to pick it up, and, though it's in rough shape it's what I needed.



My boyfriend insists that we leave the "cherry" color on the stand alone, but I would much rather see it black and am debating with myself if it's too cold to take the stand into my garage and spray paint it a few coats.
I want a black background for the tank... So wondering if that should be painted on and how (a search doesn't yield the best results except for one guy saying he would never do it again), and if not a black background I've thought about sculpting my own using either styrofoam or Apoxie Sculpt, but I need to find out the affects it would have on my fish if I were to end up putting any in the tank.

It sits in the northwest corner in the living room of my 660 square foot apartment (I'm sure that's important since winter winds push cold, cold air through that wall each year) and I'm not rich by any means, so I'm doing this on a budget (as in, "purchase one bag of substrate this week, purchase a second bag in two weeks, purchase a third in four weeks" kind of budget) so cost is important, however if it's something that I need to spend a bit more on to do it right, I'll make it a point to set aside some cash.

I look forward to cataloging my experience with everyone and being such a n00b I welcome all assistance and criticism. I want to do this right, even if it takes me a year to acquire the necessary parts/plants!

Also, you can follow my blog at AquariumBuildBlog.com.

[keilatan]

Looking for driftwood north of Omaha yesterday morning where the Missouri River flooded. Didn't find much in the way of anything trendy.

The sand bars the flood created on the sides of the roads up there are beautiful, though. Almost considering using that as a partial substrate in addition to Amazonia or CaribSea.



This is the best this piece of driftwood looks, but odds are I'm not going to keep it.

[keilatan]

I picked up some driftwood and black paint yesterday morning. Here's how it's looking so far.

[diwu13]

Great job cleaning and painting the tank. Looks really good so far. And I'm glad you and your boyfriend both enjoy keeping fish tanks. I need to convince my girlfriend to contribute instead of just commenting on how it looks haha :]. Where did you end up getting your DW from?

[wpgfish]

i wish i could find wood even close to that around here but no such luck, anyways good looking start

[keilatan]

The New Amazonia has been ordered! That's my Christmas present for the year I'm getting excited!

In the meantime my light and timer have come in. Here's what it looks like right now. I'm running two T5HOs, one is a Actinic Lamp (whoops, oh well) and the other is a 12000K Lamp.

[keilatan]

Originally Posted by diwu13

Great job cleaning and painting the tank. Looks really good so far. And I'm glad you and your boyfriend both enjoy keeping fish tanks. I need to convince my girlfriend to contribute instead of just commenting on how it looks haha :]. Where did you end up getting your DW from?

The driftwood came from a local store in Omaha, Nebraska Aquatic Supply. The wood on the left came from a guy in Texas off eBay, I can't think of his username at the moment, though.

[diwu13]

Seems with that lighting you'll be getting "high" light. Are you planning on dosing ferts?

[keilatan]

Originally Posted by diwu13

Seems with that lighting you'll be getting "high" light. Are you planning on dosing ferts?

I'll be running CO2 on it. The tank is 18" deep and I plan on a carpet of Dwarf Hair Grass and Baby Tears. I'm not sure about dosing, yet. Is this something I'll need to do with this tank?

[diwu13]

Well, you're talking about Aquasoil Amazonia

Pros-Includes Key Plant Nutrients, Uniform Size, Holds Slopes Well Compared To Other Substrates, Durability as it looks great for years, Lowers PH And Water hardness
Cons-Cost, Leaches ammonia into the water for a couple of weeks or so, and needs big water changes, often, to get rid of the ammonia initially., Can be messy while rescaping

So it seems to already have a lot of key nutrients. And your CO2 will provide more than enough organic carbon. I guess you'll just have to wait and see if your plant growth starts slowing down as the nutrients in the soil gets used up. Then you can decide if you want to dose ferts or not. However, if you do dose ferts off the start your substrate will last longer.

[keilatan]

I have a hardscape!





(The boyfriend stole my driftwood, and I like this without the wood in it, anyways)

$3.00 for the rocks at a local landscaping store.

[matty26]

You'll want to change your bulbs or at least your acitinic one. That will look sweet though! I think it would look a little better if you had one back corner be the highest slope and have the rocks come down from that.

[keilatan]

Definitely going to get rid of the actinic bulb, it sucks (it came with the fixture).

[keilatan]

And now it has some dwarf hairgrass started and the diffuser came in today!

[pagemee]

Looks like you're going all out, any fish you're in love with that you'll be adding? I have a journal too http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...ed-pretty.html, I wasn't as patient as you and needed it to happen in a day.