My first planted tank 46g bow

[Linsanity]

After many years of fish keeping, I finally going to start my first planted tank, so excited!
I bought the tank from Petland and the stand from Petco, it's the lowest price combination I could find. The quality can't compare to those rimless tank and custom made stand for sure, but it's acceptable and I only spent total of $285 so I'm happy with that, LOL.



I read a lot threads on substrates, there are mix opinions on all substrates, the more I read the more I didn't know what should I get. Till one day Petco had eco-complete for $16 a bag, I bought that so I don't have to keep thinking. I have some cories and I know they like sand so I decided to make river/beach for the cories. I wanted to use rocks to separate the sand and substrate, the rocks are lot more expensive than I thought at the LFS, luckily I found the rocks at my last stop of LFS for a pretty low price. I'm just hoping these rocks wouldn't change the PH.


So I finally started fishless cycle after the tank sat there for more than 2 weeks and here it is the river, I might make the back more narrow to give it a little more depth of view.

For the light which is I think it's the most important part of a planted tank, I really want to use LED but I don't have skill/time/space to do it so I'm waiting for the Marineland LED for plants. If doesn't come out next month or it's over my budget then I will just go for clam lamps.

I didn't do much of readings on plants, I want to use Hemianthus Golomeratus as foreground plant. I might decide what other plants I will get after I got the light.
Any thoughts, comments and suggestion are welcome!
Thanks for checking out.

DIY LED light






5/27 transferred filter and fish

[JMex]

If your not sure about a rock changing ph just put a drop of vinegar on it and if it bubbles then it does. This looks like a good start so far. I don't know much about plants either but when I was setting up my tank I got an idea of what kind of look in nature I wanted to recreate and went looking for plants that would match that look at my LFS. I would probably put some more hardscape on the sides of the river too so that the plants have something to work with.

[dasob85]

It looks nice, I wish I had a stand.

[Linsanity]

Thanks.
I'll take a rock out and test it tonight. I have a driftwood in my old tank, once this one is ready I will transfer it over. I think I will put it on top of the river.
Got to start study on the plants now, so by the time the tank is ready I can have the plants ready too.

[carpalstunna]

if you want a good led light and dont want to wait on the marineland one check out aquaray grobeam 500, Ive had one for two years now and I love it. Also I considered the ecoxotic stunner led strips. I cant imagine the marineland plant light will be priced much lower.

[Linsanity]

I will wait at least a couple more weeks since I have to wait for the tank cycling anyway but aquaray grobeam 500 I'll take a look at it, didn't see anyone mention this light before but if you used for two years and it's working well for you then I believe it's good.

[Linsanity]

Finally I got myself a DIY LED light for my tank.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/di...ml#post1859326
Got some java jerns from a friend bought some plants here, there are some guppy fries in the tank but I haven't transferred my fishes from old tank. I want to let the plants grow a little bit or add some more before the transfer.
Also Ph in the new tank is 7.6, I think it's the stones increase the Ph but I tested them with vinegar and didn't see reaction. My old tank Ph is 6.5 and I like to lower the new tank below 7 without removing the stones.

[2in10]

Looking good

[Linsanity]

I thought the tank looked empty so I went out to the LFS and got a few more plants. It looks better now

[JMex]

This is looking good. The new plants definitely fill it out more

[Linsanity]

Thanks J! I think I will leave them as is and see how they grow for a couple weeks.
I transferred 2 guppies over, they were extremely stressed in the new tank which I was totally unexpected. You can actually see them hiding on the top right corner. They seem to be doing better last night, I saw them swam to the plants, hope they will be more comfortable by tonight.

[hakishimiei]

this look really nice. i like the way you made a road with the white substrate

[Linsanity]

Thank you
My wife loves cories and cories love sand so i reserved a spot for the cories.

Bought a new plant yesterday and in 24 hours more than 10 leafs fell already, hope it will recover...

[Overgrowth]

If you have enough light you should put dwarf hairgrass (Eleocharis parvula) in the foreground

[Linsanity]

I don't really know how much light I have, LOL
I will take it step by step, want to see how these plants do for a couple weeks first.