75 gal low-tech gravel-capped dirt tank... it's gonna be awesome!!

[ilovelucy]

MGOCPM capped with small grade aquarium gravel ($35 for 100 lbs....awesome!)
48" T5HO 2x54W, hanging 9" above the top of the tank
I hung the light fixture from a shelf placed on the wall a couple feet up from the top of the tank. I plan to heavily plant and in a few weeks add some nice gentle fish that won't eat up all my hard work. I'm hoping to have it fully planted this weekend.... more interesting pics to come!

[VW_Factor]

I love your idea for hanging the light!

[ilovelucy]

Thanks! It went up quite quickly! I'm excited.....

[ENAL5]

Subscribed! Thanks for the lighting idea! You solved my problem of a cord hanging from the ceiling. AND added storage.

[ilovelucy]

A friend of mine inclined to interior decorating suggested that I put framed photos up on the shelf. I will be surprised if it doesn't become a catch-all shelf for whatever tank supplies I can't find space for elsewhere.

[Daximus]

Off to a very nice start!

[nonconductive]

nice start!

[Marconis]

Well, if it's "gonna be awesome", I'm definitely excited. I like what you did with the light.

[oscarsx]

I'm going to steal your idea for that light hanger

so cool!

[ilovelucy]

I received 2 of my 4 plant packages today and I'm realizing now that I probably don't have enough plants.... Oy! My plan is to plant everything tomorrow so I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet, go to my LFS and buy up most of their low-light plants. It hurts my penny-pinching soul to think of it, but maybe they will give me a deal... I can only hope.

Anyway, how about a plant list??

crypt wendtii 'tropica red'
crypt wendtii 'brown'
bacopa monnieri
cabomba
ludwigia repens
mixed moss
jungle val
hygrophilia carymbosa
heteranthera zosterifolia
rotala rotundifolia
ludwigia repens x arcuata
myriophyllum mattogrosense
hygro ceylon
hygro angustifolid
nymphoides sp. taiwan
green tiger lotus
red tiger lotus
........and whatever I can pick up locally.....

I have also decided that I will purchase a small powerhead with a sponge filter as my only filtration.

Besides wishing I had purchased more plants, I am really kicking myself for not buying any manzanita. I'm pretty sure I can't buy it locally so I'm probably SOL on that, since I'm planting tomorrow. Sometimes being a cheapskate is a debilitating disability.

[ilovelucy]

Alright!! I got the bad boy planted and filled... I didn't use many of my swords and the swords I did use(and everything else, pretty much) needs to grow in quite a bit. I also have a very nice piece of manzanita on it's way from CA, which will make the tank look much more full. I kept referencing a pic of the wood while I planted and I also sketched a top-view of the tank and blocked out the areas that I guessed would either have wood sitting on it, or where a shadow would be heavily cast. I have a large chunk of subwassertang on its way as well. I'm excited that it's done. I knew it wouldn't be an instant "in all it's glory" type of thing.... I really look forward to seeing some growth. To ensure that I see growth(I'm an instant gratification sort of girl) I put some anacharis in there as well.

[ilovelucy]

This is the wood that I am so impatiently waiting on...
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...9_resize_2.jpg

[BoxxerBoyDrew]

AWESOME piece of wood Ya picked out!

I can't wait to see it in the tank!

Best of luck with the dirt setup, I too will be switching over to dirt as soon as I can get a stand built for my 40b that has been sitting on the kitchen floor empty for 6 months! LOL

Drew

[ilovelucy]

It's day 3... the water in the tank has taken on a slight cloudy/greenish tinge. I have yet to test parameters. I think some of the plants are growing.... nothing too noticeable yet. I plan to update pics weekly. I'm hoping to find some sort of floating plant to add in... red root floaters, frogbit, or something similar. Duckweed wouldn't even be too awful. I could pick some up from my LFS but there's quite a bit of algae going on there. I prefer to only buy plants from there that I can bleach dip.

[ilovelucy]

This is it now... one week after planting. Ammonia reading was .25 last night. It looks less green in the pic. I'm still waiting on my wood delivery... any day now I guess.