55g new build - Pic update 06-28-12

[demonr6]

It is finally flooded after sitting here in my office staring at me collecting dust for a year.

06-12-12
The emperor HOB is temporary, I have two Sun Sun canisters on the way. A white background once the emperor is gone will take care of the back glass and hide cords and such. The right half has zeolite which I use in two other tanks and the left will be using Brightwell Aquatics Rio Escuro substrate. The main branch is placed pretty much in the only configuration that will ever work due to the sheer size of it. I will attach moss to the branches some anubias petite to the middle somewhere and at the base javas of some form. The smaller piece will get anubias as well partial coverage. Somewhere in the right middle will be a carpet plant of some sort. Behind and on the right I have a few stems of altenthera sp. I am attached to that I will plant for rear.

Right now its just a crap Lowe's 4 bulb T8, I will get something more fitting for it so time to unload a bunch of RCS I have to buy a light fixture or two huh? I knew they would come in handy.

Still up in the air and things can change.. Finally though I can say I started this thing.



06-21-12
The filters have arrived! I spent the day today figuring out what configuration I wanted to go with. Last night was spent disassembling and rinsing everything. It took me a few seconds to decide I was going to buy CVPC and replace all their tubes.. they are pretty cheap but my expectations were not high for $50/ea. I am going to run one spray bar high near the waterline and it will cover one half of the tank, that is the left side where the branch is. The other will be about mid tank and it will be behind the trunk of the manzanita on the left side. I painted it a darker green using Krylon which is the same technique I used on the 20L spray bar I made.





An updated FTS.. I received my Anubias petite a couple of days ago and attached them to the piece of wood that I wanted to cover. I am pretty sure that piece will stay in that area when the final layout is complete. There are a few more random plants from clippings I took out of the 20L which I threw in here so they would not stay in a tub dying slowly. They may end up in those same spots, still undecided though. The rest though are just in there for the sake of having something in the tank and to help it get started. Also the moss I bought arrived yesterday, I just have not had time to drain the tank, take out the large piece and tie it all off. With the arrival of the canisters that has taken more of my time which I am short of to begin with. I also have some stones on the way to replace the temporary rocks I was using to keep the wood in place. They have served their purpose. Still no word on the substrate.. I cannot back out since it was special order so now I am stuck waiting.

There is another random piece of wood in the middle, disregard that.. probably will move on to something else. I just needed to water log it.



06/27 update

Finally got around to adding the moss to the larger branch after a week of patiently waiting for some free time. Also received some stones that I wanted for the tank to replace the river stones. Last but not least is the SunSun canisters.

It took me a week to get things measured, cut, dry fit, painted and finally last night I took out the Emperor and got both canisters running. I have one spray bar at the water line and the second about 3/4 down. I may change it and run both from the top but not sure if there is a benefit to having the second down low. I know it creates a visual distraction but I don't care as much about that as I do getting good flow in the tank. These are the 264 gal/hr models so I do see good movement.

My substrate is on backorder so I think I will try something different that I can get sooner rather than wait it out. Once that is in place then all I have left is sorting the plant situation.

[GMYukonon24s]

That sounds like a good plan you have. The driftwood looks nice with all the bends to it.

[izabella87]

I see what youre doing, and I LIKE!

[demonr6]

I have had it sitting there for a year empty so no need to rush. I do have moss coming in next week and some of the anubias. Still have not found a good line on the javas for the base. Canisters will arrive next week as well so the emperor will go back into the box. I pray for patience waiting for that substrate to arrive but if I cannot then I will dump the rest of the Eco Complete I have in there but sooo not looking forward to that.

[demonr6]

Update in post #1

[demonr6]

Updated pics 06/27

[demonr6]

Updated pics..

Thanks to GLA my substrate arrived and is now in the tank. I called yesterday and here it was today. Great service!



and a rescape.. again.









Now its time for plants.. finally. Going to fill the right side in some front, mid and rear. On the left it would be a small carpet type plant but not too much. I want to keep that side more open.

[2in10]

Love the look of your scape

[demonr6]

Thanks! It's still cloudy after adding the Aqua Soil but I am really happy with it.. for now at least. I just have to find the right plants for this now then I can get to fauna. I did manage to get a line on the zebra otos I wanted so that piece is solved at least. I will keep posting as I work on it.

[Chyrol]

Looking good! I like those rocks quite a bit.

[BoxxerBoyDrew]

Like the look! The wood is very cool! The new rocks look better too!

Keep up the great work!
Drew

[demonr6]

Changes, changes and more changes. I received another set of stones from flowerfishs in his for sale thread.. *hint* check it out if you are looking for some nice stones/*hint* and after a good wash I decided to add them to the current scape as planned. I did move the larger piece that was in the separator between the soil and the zeolite over to the far right corner.

In a nutshell I have three areas with stones. This might not be the final layout but I think I may be 98% there. Come to think of it I just changed my mind so minor tweak.. brb.

So I made another minor change..

FTS


Middle


Right side (prior to tweak)


Right side (after tweak)


Middle


It's all fun and games until I get the plants but that is next on the agenda.

[Michiba54]

Looks good so far! How many lbs of stone is that?

The rock in the middle of the "right side (after tweak)" looks like a tortoise with its mouth open...

[bitFUUL]

Sweet! It's coming together nicely!
You'll love that aqua soil, I've made probably 3 more orders of it from GLA. Actually, I've been making about 1 order per week from GLA, next day shipping for $8-10 is unbeatable.
Can't wait to see what plants you got too. Are you using ferts on any of your tanks?

[catfishbi]

some how the first picture looks better if you have aqua solid on the left side.