100 gal planted tank journal (56k?)

[Wasserpest]

What better way to spend my tax refund than setting up a big tank?

$300 tank
$300 stand+top
$100 filter
$100 lights
$100 plants
$70 heater (cable)
$30 substrate
-------------------
... there it goes...

The spot for it was 71" (really!). So no way to get a standard 72" tank in there :evil: That left me with the next smaller size: 60x24x18.
Next decision was to buy a custom stand or diy. After calculating back and forth I diy'd, not because I would save any money, but after looking at the stands at the fish store I lost some confidence and did it myself.

[Wasserpest]

Ordered some plants to give the tank a good head start. This one looks funny... supposed to be a Wisteria, but I guess it got mixed up with something else.

[Wasserpest]

Just planted... still no real concept on how it should look like. In a few weeks the plants will need to be re-arranged.

[GulfCoastAquarian]

I like what you've got so far. Very natural, river bottom looking aquascape. It screams of Discus. What sort of fish are you planning?

[digger]

The mirror background makes the tank look huge.

[Wasserpest]

Discus... is a dream fish for me, maybe one day. My water is fairly hard, and I don't want to mess too much with chemistry (RO).
Once the tank is a little more stable, I would like some pearl gouramies, other dwarf gouramies, some dwarf cichlids, nothing fancy or complicated.
Right now the tank houses one ghost shrimp (just shed its skin last night) and a Flying Fox (nervous little guy). I will probably add some oto's to help cleaning up the brown algae.

[2la]

Your wisteria is fine; that's the appearance of the emersed growth. It will change once you get it acclimated to submersed life.

[Wasserpest]

Ooops... thanks 2la, I guess that is why they call it difformis.
Hopefully with the little light it will change to the fern shaped leaves. And the label says -- "true aquatic" they should add: field grown.

[Wasserpest]

Time for an update...

First, there were brown algae. For about two weeks they covered gravel, glass, and most of the plants. Then they all disappeared.

Now I am enjoying a different sight... green algae, and green water. The blue in the pic below is not there really... just increased the contrast a little to make the plants more visible in my pea soup. Just as the brownies, I hope this is part of the tank getting stable, so I am waiting with patience. I don't believe in fighting them with diatom and algae ex and whatnot, I think they will commit suicide by eating up their specific nutrient combination.

Most plants have grown satisfactory. Limnophila and Myriophyllum (center, hardly visible) have shown a tremendous growth. Had to cut the Wisteria into pieces, it is starting to lose its emerse leaf shape. Ceradopteris, Diandra & Rotala grow nicely. Crypts and Swords are growing okay, one sword (ruffled? bleheri?) new leaves are very yellow. I am adding iron and also recently a fertilizer tab to that sword and to the red rubin.

As expected, the Glosso does not like the low-light situation (about 150W for 100gal). Bolbitis and Java fern are not growing at all.

I added two Oto's to the Flying Fox and Ghost Shrimp. Looks like they enjoy their new home, swimming around like little sharks. Next week I will get two more of them.

Once this stabilizes a little more, I want to add Pearl Gouramies, and some Nannostomus (pencil fishes).

[digger]

Yep, looks just like my new 10 gallon. Full of pea soup.

[fishpoop]

I'm sorry about your green water
I love that photo of your gost shrimp
you are a skilled photographer
I want a camera that will take shots like that!

[Wasserpest]

Thanks fishpoop, I am sure the green water will clear up itself in a week or so, after that the tank will be immune...
Taking photos is one of my many hobbies, all I can say is it's not the camera that takes shots, but the person behind it but a good optics definitely help. I switched from SLR to digital cameras a year ago, and I absolutely love the ability to take 50 shots of the same subject and then pick out the two that came out nicely.

Last night I bought an African Butterfly Fish, I always thought they are amazing fellows. It ate already 2 big flies today, and I added a few bite-sized mosquito fishes to play with :lol: However, I hope it knows that my Oto's are not for lunch, and the shrimp neither...

[Wasserpest]

After 7 days of pea soup the tank has cleared up, as expected, all by itself. Slowly raising the water level to the full 23".
Still haven't done major landscaping, still trying out which plants behave how in this setup. Most plants grow nicely, with exceptions of R. wallichii and Glosso, probably because the light levels are not sufficient, or water too hard, or something else or a combination :mrgreen: Marcels Riccia is greening up too :up:

Inhabitants are now
1 Ghost Shrimp
1 Flying Fox
2 Oto's
1 African Butterfly Fish
1 pair Pearl Gouramies

I would like to get some dwarf cichlids, but I haven't seen any in the LFS around here. My wife wants something colorful, something that swims from one side to the other and then back... I like Neon Tetras, but the water temperature has been 86 recently (outside ~100, no air condition )

[Pooky125]

Amazing, can't wait to see it when it's done! Wish I could help you on the dwarf cichlids, I can get quite a variety around here, but wouldn't feel safe shipping them to you, or I would. I personally, have some lovely agasizzii, blue rams, kribs, and winkelfleck. Can also get ahold of caucatoides (sp?), and several of the other lesser known species. There's an amazing breeder who sells that the fish auctions. Huge variety, and they go for good prices. Anyways.. Tank looks awesome, don't know how you can get it to fill in so quickly, or afford to do something like that.. Not to mention the patience.. No wonder I stick with little tanks.. Sheesh. Looks great, can't wait to see it when its done!

[Wasserpest]

Pooky, thank you for your kind comments... It is interesting to compare the pic when it was planted first (and only half full water) to the most recent one, what a change in a little over 3 weeks...
Having fairly hard water I think some of the dwarf cichlids are out of reach for me... Perhaps a pair of Kribs should fit in well. Need to do some more reading. Still learning so much, especially here on this forum.