Crazydaz's Square 200G RIPARIUM Strikes Back! NEW PICS 4/19-4/21!!!

[Fishies_in_Philly]

Oh, i should also have a pair of persicaria 'sao paulo' if that strikes your fancy....lol

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

Is this high tech?

[crazydaz]

Yes, TGWTF, it is high tech.

Some good news.....I think that I am pretty much set for Seriyu stone. Received a few really nice pieces today in the mail, so I think that my peninsulas are pretty much done being built up. Probably need one last nice-size stone, and maybe a dozen or so small cobbles to polish it off a bit. The buce's, java ferns, anubias, and so on are doing pretty well at binding everything together, so it's coming along and making nice progress.

I have a few more Manzy branches coming next week, mainly for support purposes than anything. I also threw my Korelias back in there as well to get better flow for a while as I was getting some hair algae formation. Minor set back...I'll try to get some more nerites when I get back from Thanksgiving.

Still trying to scratch my head over what to do about hiding the perfectly cut branch ends.....point a tillandsia there of any kind would make it look obvious that I am trying to hide something, and it would make it look too "Dr. Seuss-ish" for me. I open to ideas!

Some pre-"Tanksgiving" pics:







Left Side--






Thank you all for looking and, as always, feel free to comment!

[@marko@]

what is that wooden box with the grass in the back?

[Fishies_in_Philly]

Don, you're right, just sticking a plant there would look, contrived, for lack of a better word. a suggestion? my not just take a small pair of pliers or side cutters and break off little pieces to make them look broken, instead of cut. you don't need to take much off of them to acheive the desired look. just remember to cover the tank or you'll be fishing manzy chips out of the tank for weeks.....LOL

[SpecGrrl]

Originally Posted by Fishies_in_Philly

Don, you're right, just sticking a plant there would look, contrived, for lack of a better word. a suggestion? my not just take a small pair of pliers or side cutters and break off little pieces to make them look broken, instead of cut. you don't need to take much off of them to acheive the desired look. just remember to cover the tank or you'll be fishing manzy chips out of the tank for weeks.....LOL

Great minds think alike! I was thinking this too!

[Fishies_in_Philly]

he's probably doing that right now.......LOL

[crazydaz]

Well, that's not a bad idea......I will try it when I get back from Michigan. The pieces should float, btw. It would be a simple matter of netting them off the surface. Thanks for the help, Bill!

And SpecGrrl.

[crazydaz]

Marko---that is oat and wheat grass growing for the cats. Forgot to remove it for the pictures.

[Learner]

its genius crazydayz, the tank is absolutely awesome. The depth of the scape is insane

[crazydaz]

Thank you Learner!!

Some pretty cool news! My wife and I just got some furniture to help get us closer to "completing" the Sitting Room, or "Fish Tank Room"! It's our first "Big Boy" purchase for our house. We bought two matching chairs to view the tank from, and two matching dark, dark, dark brown bookcases to go on either side of the tank. Looks better than I thought it would, and I'm pretty pleased!:





Bookcases:


I purposely lightened the picture to show the bookcases a bit better:


View from one chair:


......and the view from the other:


Tank update....well, going through a hair algae phase right now. I have tried cutting back on my photoperiod, but it really hasn't seemed to help, and with my crypts taking off, I dare not dose Excel. To be honest, I'm not really concerned about it anyhow. I'm starting to get some BBA, which in my experience means that the algae is starting to lose the battle. Algae problems always happen during a new set up.....the trick is to not lose your head about it. Keep doing what your doing, in terms of dosing, keep the lighting about the same, and just increase your plant mass. I'm adding more stems by topping and re-planting stems until my crypts, buces, anubia, and java fern have significantly grown and multiplied. It will take some time, but I already knew it, and admitted it. So, the algae really isn't shocking, and it is of no real concern. It will go away.

I did lose 24 horned nerites that I paid for, which annoyed me. I received the shipment in from a supplier on Aquabid, and when it arrived, the box was damp. I opened it up, and the bag was open and leaking. He rubber-banded the top closed, but didnt' tie it. So, the rubber band snapped, and the bag leak, and the snails didn't make it. Guess I won't be ordering from him again!

I have the last of my rock arriving tomorrow (I think), and have additional plants and critters on the way. Mainly Olive nerites and Amano shrimp. More branches are coming in as well as some more Staurogyne repens to help fill in the foreground a bit more. I ALSO GOT TWO NEW LIGHTING FIXTURES! Two 8x54watt HO T5's TEK Elite systems, for a total of 16 bulbs. I LOVE the lights that I have, but it looks too homemade, and it's time to upgrade. New Geisemann bulbs are on the way, and I will probably try to get two Red Sun bulbs before I leave for Christmas vacation.

Anyhow, click to enlarge the pics, as always. Feel free to comment, and thank you for looking!

Front:


Just the tank:


Just the top:


If you look at the bigger view, you can see the crypts are becoming finger-lickin'!:


Probably my favorite shot of the pics I took....water is clean, and the Seiriyu stone "peninsulas" are really getting the look that I sent out to get. It only took 400lbs+ to get it:


Top view looking down:

[AaronT]

Looking better and better man. Are you dosing this tank in addition to the mineralized soil?

Man, 16 bulbs is going to be insane. How many are you running now?

[toksyn]

Perhaps you already mentioned this, but what is that blood red plant on the far right side? I absolutely must know!

Everything is looking fantastic!

[thefisherman]

i love your tank don. i'm glad to see it new and improved!


- thefisherman

[marioman72]

i know amano shrimp did a huge number on my hair algae, def a beneficial addition to a tank