moogoo's new tank! (5-18-2009 UPDATE) (56K)

[moogoo]

rountreesj. thanks for the advice. i intend to grow everything emersed first (at least the ones that can be grown emersed) and then I'll fill in the water. Right now my UG is growing emersed in a seedling container with a greenhouse dome under my old light fixture. THere is nothing in the tank right now and it will stay that way until I get more rocks.

I do intend to take it slow with the photo period and only start off with 4-5 hours with a pre-grown emersed grown plant mass. I will keep ya posted.

[moogoo]

It's about time I updated this thread. Exams are over and all I have to worry about now is work, which really is a huge weight off my shoulders.

So, I finally got around to putting in the substrate and doing a hardscape. You saw in the first couple posts, the rocks that I'm using. My goal, once again, was to create a scape that could be enjoyed from all three sides. After much deliberation, I decided my best bet would be to go with a mountain-like scape. So, I washed 4 bags of flourite black sand and dumped it in the tank and arranged the rocks. After a few tries, and friendly comments, I came up this:

Front View


Right Side View


Left Side View


Full Tank Shot


As you can see in the right and left side views, I made some caves for the cichlids that I intend to get (GBRs and Apistos). Above the cave openings, I have some peacock moss that I hope will grow over the openings to make them more natural looking. I also have some sprigs of UG spread about (I don't have much at all) and hopefully that will grow and spread quickly into a thick lawn. So, so far the only two plants are peacock moss and UG but I intend to add more once I decide what I want to use and what can be grown immersed.

For now, the tank is set up to be immersed on a 12 hour photoperiod. I've got an acrylic sheet as the lid to hold in the moisture and some NPK water in a spray bottle for occasional misting.

The pictures make the rocks look too small for the tank, perhaps it's a lens distortion, because it doesn't feel that way in person. Even so, I don't intend to get more rocks as the budget for this bad boy has already gone over. I will make do with what I've got and let the fish enjoy the extra swimming space.

Thanks for looking. I'll try to update once a week.

[travis.808]

Hey the setup looks good! Did you mean emmersed or immersed? also you may want to entertain theidea of adding more plants to start with less algae risk and plants will spread faster. Anyway, the tank is looking great. Keep up the good work.

[moogoo]

Thanks for the comment Travis. I would add more plants, but that's all the peacock moss and UG that I have at the moment. I don't have any stem plants or other mosses that can grow emersed (this is what i meant). So, for now it's a waiting game.

[jaidexl]

Very nice! I love that stand, and those are the coolest pagodas I've ever seen. They don't look too small to me, hopefully they don't settle in too much.

[moogoo]

Thanks jaidexl! Your words are very encouraging.

It's been almost a month since I set it up and while the moss has grown some, the UG has only started to take hold. I just got some UG from the lovely dollface and have filled up a good area of the substrate, so hopefully the new batch will also take hold and I create a lawn much faster.

Again, it's still a waiting game. I'm getting tired of staring at an empty tank though but I'm rationalizing that the longer I wait, the more money I save by not buying fish. We shall see.

[vtkid]

whoa! cool mountain hardscape

[moogoo]

Originally Posted by vtkid

whoa! cool mountain hardscape

Thanks man! hope it looks even better once everything is planted and fills in

[Voozle]

I don't think I've seen a scape like this one before; super original, and it looks great! The caves are especially impressive, they're so big and yet even without plant cover they're quite discreet. I'd better not let my kribs see, they'll abandon me and head for your tank.

[moogoo]

thanks man! yea i haven't seen many mountain scapes except in the AGA aquascaping contest where there were a few. Main reason it's a mountain scape is so i can enjoy it from all three sides.

You're too kind about the caves. They are still very visible to me, but maybe that's cause i know how i did them. Hopefully the moss will overgrow and hide them well.