Y0uH0's 100 Gal <warning 56K>

[Y0uH0]

Hey guys, recently i have decided to restart my 5ft planted tank,this thread will document the entire process,all comments are welcomed..enjoy=)

This is a shot of the tank prior to restart. notice how awkward the shape of the tank is,makes planting kinda challenging because there are 2 extra views of the tank.


A rough overview of the tank and it's components:

1)The tank is 5' X 2' X 1 1/2' containing approx 100gal of water

2)For filtration, i am using 2 x Eheim 2028 external filters of which the input of one of them is connected to a surface skimmer.

3)For aquarium cooling,i will be using a Teco TR15 aquarium chiller

4)CO2 system consists of a 5 litre pressurized canister,solenoid,bubble counter and a turbo jet reactor.

5)For lighting,the entire set up is homemade consisting of ballasts and i am currently running on 4 X 8000K tubes 1 X 9000K tube.(which i think may not be sufficient?)

6)For the new tank layout,i will be using ADA's amazonia soil as well as JBL's aqua basis plus for the base fertilizer.

More pictures will come along as i progress in my setting up. As of now,the tank will remain as it is. I will be tearing it down on the 15th as the plants that i had pre-ordered will be arriving on the 17th so in the mean time,there is no point in destroying the existing layout and giving my fishes unwanted stress.

[Y0uH0]

This is a rough sketch of the new intended layout. I have not yet decided on what type of Echinodorous species to get yet as such i have left the name of the plants simply as Echinodorous.I will also be placing some branches tied with christmas moss within the pellia and riccia carpet. On top of that i will also place some christmas moss covered rocks between the dao noi and HC carpet to serve as a seperator between the 2 plant species.


The main idea of this set up is to allow the tank to be viewed from 2 sides,namely from the front and from the right side. I hope that i would be able to create an aquascape that slopes down in height from the left to the right.

[sNApple]

post some closer pics

[fresh_lynny]

we will be watching...I have a good feeling!

[Y0uH0]

Originally Posted by sNApple

post some closer pics

closer pics as in the old layout or the new? the old one is in a bad shape now,only 2days away from being torn down. It is currently suffering from a snail and algae outbreak but no harm letting you guys take a look at it,sorry for the poor photo quality..here goes nothing...

My Bolbitis badly overcomed with BBA


A picture of the old scape. The small dots you see in the picture are actually algae covering the glass. I have given up trying to battle them.


closer pics of the new set up will be coming in within the next few days,i do hope everything will go smoothly. It will be a waste if all the effort and money spent just goes down the drain.My apologies if the pictures do not turn out that well. The best camera i have at home is a Fujifilm Finepix A340

Originally Posted by fresh_newbie

we will be watching...I have a good feeling!

Thanx,i really appreciate that,now all i am hoping is that everything will fall into place nicely. I am not hoping to be as good as some of the others,afterall,this is my first actual journal and the most serious aquascaping project i am in. i have never really focused on issues like water parameters and lighting etc until i joined this forum so a many great thanks to everyone in this wonderful forum,i have learnt alot from all of you. now is the application stage. Wish me luck~!

[Architect1]

Beautiful tank. Nice to see it all layed out to. Its also nice to see some discus. in the tank. Nice work.

[Y0uH0]

Originally Posted by Architect1

Beautiful tank. Nice to see it all layed out to. Its also nice to see some discus. in the tank. Nice work.

Thanx,unfortunately,this is the old layout and everything has to go. I really love my discus but their colour doesn't seem to fully appear yet. Perhaps it has something to do with the water quality or maybe because they are only about 7mths old.

[Livebearer101]

The plan looks excellent, the only word of caution i can give is that it may be hard keep the polysperma to such a small space as it grows and spreads like wildfire. Hope it goes well.

[Betowess]

That is a really interesting shaped tank. We don't see the likes of that often in the all rectangle USA. Is it two feet deep? Very sweet to 'scape if it is. I look forward to seeing your work on this tank. Your old intro tank pic looked very nice too, albeit a bit soft in focus. You probably have grown swords before and know how big they can get unless one root and top trims them. Good luck with the re-launch!

[Y0uH0]

Originally Posted by Livebearer101

The plan looks excellent, the only word of caution i can give is that it may be hard keep the polysperma to such a small space as it grows and spreads like wildfire. Hope it goes well.

Thanx for that word of caution,i will be sure to heed your advice and avoid making that area too cramped. Don't want to let it overpower the whole aquascape.

Originally Posted by Betowess

That is a really interesting shaped tank. We don't see the likes of that often in the all rectangle USA. Is it two feet deep? Very sweet to 'scape if it is. I look forward to seeing your work on this tank. Your old intro tank pic looked very nice too, albeit a bit soft in focus. You probably have grown swords before and know how big they can get unless one root and top trims them. Good luck with the re-launch!

Thanks for your nice comments,you are right,this tank is indeed interestingly shaped. It was originally an arowana tank until i started aquascaping as a hobby about 5yrs ago.The tank was bought by my parents when i was away at camp,didn't have a chance to participate in the decision making then or i would have opted for the conventional rectangular shaped tank instead. The 2 added views of the tank make it really hard to scape in that area so as usual it will be a big challenge to me.
The tank is 1 1/2 feet deep and there were times when i really hoped that it was 2 feet deep. Nicer to see the pearling effect that way. I will try to get better focused shots of the tank as i progress along but it will be hard considering the type of camera i have.
As for growing swords,you are right that i have had my fair share of experiences with them. They can get really huge and in no time dominate the whole scape. Their growth rates are very fast too and another point to note is how they can send their roots in all directions so uprooting them would actually mean uprooting the entire substrate as well.
Once again,thanx for the well wishes,we shall all see how things progress along the way.

[Y0uH0]

15/06/06:
After 2 days of labouring,i have accomplished the following:
1)Catch out all the fish and shrimps that were in the tank
2)Remove all the plants and the old substrate
3)Scrape off all the algae from the glass.

I shall be working on the hardscape tomorrow and more pics will be posted then.

[jeffboyarrdee]

thats a pretty BIG TANK! harscaping huh! i cant wait to do that...maybe in a couple days!

[ianmoede]

Interestingly shaped tank man, keep the updates coming

[fresh_lynny]

What is the plan for the new scape? Looking forward to it.

[Y0uH0]

Originally Posted by jeffboyarrdee

thats a pretty BIG TANK! harscaping huh! i cant wait to do that...maybe in a couple days!

yeah,it really is one big tank,at least to me because all the washing and clearing of the old substrate really drained the energy out of me. from the way you put it,looks like you are also working on a tank of yourself,i will be looking out for it=)

Originally Posted by fresh_newby

What is the plan for the new scape? Looking forward to it.

the plan can be found earlier up in this journal of mine but i believe there may be some changes because i am now trying to apply the golden triangle ratio to the new scape.