K's High tech 55 gallon Journey

[Mr.Desert_scape]

This is going to be a fairly detailed recap so bare with me.

So here it goes Started this tank a little more than a year ago with not even the knowledge of planted tanks. The first picture shows what it looked like exactly how I bought it. It came with a Tetra HOB filter, UGF, a broken heater (found when I came home to my room being a cool and humid 90 degrees), some t8 florecents, some plastic decorations, a crappy background, and brown gravel. Sorry for the side shot.



After that I replaced the T8 bulbs with 18k bulbs purple and blue bulbs(I know not the best choice), kept the HOB filter, switched to black gravel, black back ground and some fake plants. Again sorry for the side shot.



After a while I switched to the Marine Land HOB bio filter which was alright in my opinion. Still had the t8's but started looking into planted aquariums and thought i would attempt it even though it was a bit overwhelming but got off to an embarrassing start as you can see. Bought some plants from Petco. Also still had the fake plants as well.



Not satisfied with my lighting situation I noobishly got talked into some Marineland single bright LED's especially because of the power consumption. I liked the look of them but found they were not that great for what I wanted to do so I had them for only about 2-3 weeks. started to add a few more plants and started dosing excel and a name brand liquid fert.



Then I decided to step it up and got an Aquatop Cf-300 canister filter, and an Aquaticlife dual t5 fresh water fixture and started doing some DIY co2 which I was dispersing with a powerhead. Also started to phase out the fake plants. First picture shows my canister filter seeding with my HOB running still, so it was kind of a cluttered mess.



Organized the equipment a bit better. Finally got some real plants off some members here and also a LFS. Started some pressurized co2, still being diffused out of a powerhead and then later switched to an inline reactor. I also started to attempt using dry ferts which has gone pretty well so far. Still using plain gravel.



Still being a bit unhappy with how the tank was turning out and a bunch of scratches along the top from trying to remove some bad calcium in the beginning I decided to do a total rescape, replace the gravel, remove some equipment, and change out the tank. Also added a glass drop checker. So this is the tank as it stands now. About to add some Malaysian drift wood as a center piece to fill up space(soaking) and some more plants. The hills are a bit bigger and more curvy in person.



Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, I will be getting some nicer pictures with my DSLR when I get the chance. Let me know what you think or opinions or anything.

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Here is an update =) pictures are only 6 days after the last ones and I had some amazing growth. Also threw in the driftwood and getting a bunch more plants in thanks to scream-aim-fire, Joraan, and orchidman. Mostly all current plants were from nvladik which came in looking great. Thanks a lot guys. Will post new pics when I get all the new plants in the tank.



Should be getting my better pictures posted up soon... I broke my CF card reader. :l

[dasob85]

plants look nice with good growth! If I may make a comment however, the driftwood seems slightly too centered.

[furnfins]

Love the wood, your tank looks good to me. I like the rolling hill effect, and your plants look great I'm cycling a 40b with black background and substrate, love the look of it.
Keep up the good work!

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Originally Posted by dasob85

plants look nice with good growth! If I may make a comment however, the driftwood seems slightly too centered.

You think it would be better to the right or left more?

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Originally Posted by furnfins

Love the wood, your tank looks good to me. I like the rolling hill effect, and your plants look great I'm cycling a 40b with black background and substrate, love the look of it.
Keep up the good work!

Thanks! Yeah I love the all black look. It really makes the plants pop. They are growing so fast! I can't even believe it.

[dasob85]

Honestly, i have no idea if the right or the left looks better. try both and see. try to mark the tank into 1/3's and put the driftwood where the 1/3 mark is.

if you put it on the right, the wood itself looks like a kraken head though

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Originally Posted by dasob85

Honestly, i have no idea if the right or the left looks better. try both and see. try to mark the tank into 1/3's and put the driftwood where the 1/3 mark is.

if you put it on the right, the wood itself looks like a kraken head though

Cool, I will definitely take your advice and mess around with it tonight. hahaha It kind of does now that you mention it! I was actually leaning towards the right, so maybe i'll just go with the dead kraken look.

[Mr.Desert_scape]

It's the krrrrraken! (Irish accent)

[acitydweller]

Originally Posted by dasob85

Honestly, i have no idea if the right or the left looks better. try both and see. try to mark the tank into 1/3's and put the driftwood where the 1/3 mark is.

if you put it on the right, the wood itself looks like a kraken head though

Can you try moving it 6 or 8 inches to the left and rotate it 45 degrees so it doesn't point straight up but rather towards the center of the tank 3 feet above? That will help draw an observers focal point while using the law od thirds, used in photography... Just a suggestion. Ive done a combination of this and stacking to pieces of driftwood to create a visual 3 dimensional effect.

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Originally Posted by acitydweller

Can you try moving it 6 or 8 inches to the left and rotate it 45 degrees so it doesn't point straight up but rather towards the center of the tank 3 feet above? That will help draw an observers focal point while using the law od thirds, used in photography... Just a suggestion. Ive done a combination of this and stacking to pieces of driftwood to create a visual 3 dimensional effect.

I kind of wanted to keep the hill on the left so I tried scooting it to the left a bit but some of my plants were in the way so I couldn't move it to far so moving it around might have to wait till I rescape at some point. =/ As far as rotating it it only has about 2 or three positions in which it is really stable because of its shape unfortunately...

But I did manage to move it a few inches away from the center so it's not so centered... I think. lol

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Update =) Got a bunch of new plants in this past week and had a pretty good amount of growth as well. It's actually starting to fill out a little. Also got two little angels to add to the fish collection.

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Update =) Got a bunch of new plants in this past week and had a pretty good amount of growth as well. It's actually starting to fill out a little. Also got two little angels to add to the fish collection.

[Mr.Desert_scape]

Picture update from last week. Added some nerite/ ramshorn snails and otos and they are great! Great growth as well.

[skywhitney]

Hey where did you get your DW?