New World 90gal Low Tech- a Pictoral Journey!! 11/13 Replanting Begins

[lauraleellbp]

Sea- if you go to your User Profile you can change your setting to view more posts on one page; sure makes reading long threads faster!

James- good thing she's got bad aim? lol

Buck- I'm quite happy with the bees OUTSIDE, lol

Dekstr- The tank is a standard 90gal AGA; 48"L x 18"W x 25"H I'm nervous about the Clowns loaches, as well... they'll probably go in last, after the plants have had plenty of time to root and establish. I'm hoping they just play in the gravel "river" that won't be planted?

[lauraleellbp]

Layering down the substrate:

I poured in a small bucket of established tank mulm mixed with a few handfulls of Sphagnum moss (peat)



Next I put down a layer of Colorquartz to hold all the mulm and peat in place so I could lay the rest of the substrate without the mulm mixture all getting pushed into one corner of the tank (it worked really well!) I used a garden trowel to lay down one trowelfull at a time. Used about 1/2 the Colorquartz (25 lbs)



Next I sprinkled over just a few more handfulls of peat:


Then I laid down my gravel "river"



Then I laid down the rest of the CQ mixed in with the Fluorite black sand:


And finally capped the planted area with the regular Fluorite black:


And here's a FTS with the stand and light fixture:


SOOO tomorrow I get to design my Manzanita 'scape, figure out how to fill this beast with water, and hopefully start planting what plants I have!!

[fishman9809]

where'd u get ur driftwood?

[BiscuitSlayer]

Laura Lee -

That is one of the most detailed substrate executions that I have ever seen.

One thing I would be highly interested in is someone snapping a picture of you putting some plants in there. I have been torn between a 75 and a 90, but I don't have too much perspective on how much more difficult it would be to plant and maintain a 90.

I am interested to see how your tank starts and progresses. Its looking good so far.

[lauraleellbp]

Fish- the Manzanita is from Badcopno.. in the S&S here on the forum

Biscuit- I definitely have to use a stepladder and do some serious stretching to reach the bottom of this tank with my little 5'4" self! LOL My 6"1" husband doesn't have any problem, though. For me, it's jus another reason I really hope this tank is low-maintenance.

With mostly swords in the long run (I anticipate I'll eventually only keep one stem plant once everything gets established) I'm hoping my hands won't need to go in there all that often? I'll have to see if I can twist my hubby's arm more to take some pics of me planting

[James From Cali]

Laura Lee, I like the division of the substrates because it looks like its bleding in. Now get that wood in and more pics

[SeaSerpant]

I love how you did the substrates. i think the way you set it up will be great.

[@marko@]

flourite sand!?
you are just asking for cloudy water. like really cloudy, and every time a fish swims by.

[SeaSerpant]

I hope my 120g will look half as good as yours

[lauraleellbp]

INITIAL PLANTING BEGINS:



The plan:

Echinodorus tenellus will surround the driftwood. A carpet of E. tenellus 'narrow' will be planted along the front and run up to the "river."

Twisty E. angustifolius 'vesuvius' will grow up among the driftwood, just in front of "regular" E. angustifolius, which will be in the back right corner of the tank. A total of three E. africanus will be planted to either side of the "stump."

Bacopa caroliniana will be a backdrop across the other 1/2 of the tank (where the Cabomba is currently) and Blood stargrass (Didiplis diandra) and Stargrass (Heteranthera zosterifolia) will go in front (eventually the one stem that does best will probably become the only stem plant in the tank; I'm guessing this will be Bacopa?)

A specimen Echinodorus 'Kleiner bar' will go in front of the "broken limb" and become the focal point of the tank. The "riverbank" will probably be lined with either E. parviflorus 'Tropica' or Hydrocotyle?

Current plants (too bad my photography skills are so lousy! My apologies!): Cabomba furcata, Echinodorus tenellus, E. angustifolius 'vesuvius'







These shots were taken IMMEDIATELY after planting- NO CLOUDY WATER! (All I did was scrape the bubbles off the tank walls.) Drying the substrate before putting it in the tank makes a BIG difference- I didn't cloud the water at all throughout filling the tank or planting!

[lauraleellbp]

Hmmm looking at the FTS I'm not sure I like the placement of that "broken limb;" the piece sticking up is to centered in the tank? I might play with that some tomorrow... it doesn't look quite so prominent in real life, though.

[James From Cali]

The combomba looks really out of place to me. It just doesnt belong. Nice shots though.

[SeaSerpant]

Looks great. i do think the one branch in the middle is kind of an eye sore but it's your call. and combomba?

[lauraleellbp]

Yep the Cabomba furcata will either end up a floating plant or go away all together... it's there now just to be a nutrient hog, and it's planted to make sure it gets some light and keep it out of my way. I still need to set up the filter LOL

I'm going to throw in some MTS, and I'm debating which fish from my other tanks to move over tonight to keep the cycle going...

[SeaSerpant]

so the sickly looking plant on the left? can't wait to see when it clears up a bit.