37g 1221 Piedras Parkway

[bsmith]

This is a journal of my 37g. It is not new but I wanted somewhere it keep track of it since I cant seem to keep my hands out of it.

This tank first started as a 29g in my dad's apartment 9 yrs ago. I had a "No fishing sign and some sort of ceramic bridge. The substrate was blue and black epoxy resin rocks. I think there was a green terror and a texis chiclid in there, too long ago.

Now it is a pretty high tech 37g with 130w of pc lighting and 36w of no t5 light. Currently there is a White diamond discus and one Cardinal Tetra. Im no longer interested in the discus they have breed for me and have lived longer then I could have imagined.

Plants are the main point now. Maybe in a few years when I can get a noce 120 or 180 Discus will come back into the picture. Im just tired of the fish disrupting the AS and causing it to settle on the plant leaves eventually killing them.

Below will be as far back as I can find poctoraly. The good the bad and the ugly!

This was in Oct. 2006. Check out that substrate. I cant believe my wife let me put this in the living room.


Then, I learned about co2 and put a 65w coralife light on it. (still a 29g)


Some of the earlier mentiond reproduction.


About 6 months later, one of my favorite DIY CO2 and sterile substrate scapes.


This is what happens when your bulbs go bad and you cant figure out what the problem is!

[bsmith]

I was very proud of my Angustifolious.


Never could get that lobelia to grow right.


Never was a big fan of legs either.




Hello Loach. Finnaly got some AS but no full tank shot.


1/2 of a FTS.


The blurry FTS.

[bsmith]

Not quite so blurry.


Goog growth with the DIY.


Yes finally the glorious introduction of pressurized CO2. By this time I havd the 37g and also upgraded my light to a 2x65w coralife fixture.


The addition of a Coralife 36w no t5 strip light.

[bsmith]

Now, where I sit today. Dont mind the cloudyness as I said earlier I CANT KEEP MY HAND OUT OF IT!!!

[Phoenix-cry]

Very nice! I love seeing the changes!

[bsmith]

Thank you.

I really am just happy that I can actually see a finished product right now. Half of the plants are not even growing properly because I move them too much. I like wgere it's at now and cat wait till I trim a few times and things thicken up!

[bsmith]

Hopefully this pic helps illustrate where im wanting to go with this tank.

[ZooTycoonMaster]

Oooh I see the pretty purple bamboo

For some reason, the intake tube of the Eheim looks smaller than normal Oh well

What's the current water parameters?

[bsmith]

I really like the bamboo. I am planning on letting it grow to the surface and see what that looks like.

The Eheim intake just looks small because it's next to the beastly rena intake! It is a 2222 and the diameter is 1/2" I recently got some 1/2" vinyl tubing from lowes to replace the ugle green tubing and am happy with it (waiting for it to get nasty).

You know I really dont test too often as long as my plants are looking good I see no need. But, the last time I checked they were somewhere around...

temp-84
nitrate-15
nitrite-0
dkh-13
dgh-3

Originally Posted by ZooTycoonMaster

Oooh I see the pretty purple bamboo

For some reason, the intake tube of the Eheim looks smaller than normal Oh well

What's the current water parameters?

[Tex Gal]

Boy your tank has really gone through some changes. I see that your plant difficulty level has also increased!

The purple bamboo will just keep growing straight up and out on the water. The emersed growth is almost the same as the submerged except that it looses it's purple color. The plant is better kept in the back ground or trimmed in the midground. It's a fast grower!

[bsmith]

One of the more exciting things about keeping planted tanks for me (and most others im sure) is upping the difficulty of the species I keep. It's gratifying.

This was actually the tank your pink tenellus came from!

Originally Posted by Tex Gal

Boy your tank has really gone through some changes. I see that your plant difficulty level has also increased!

The purple bamboo will just keep growing straight up and out on the water. The emersed growth is almost the same as the submerged except that it looses it's purple color. The plant is better kept in the back ground or trimmed in the midground. It's a fast grower!

[Tex Gal]

Well thanks for the pink tennellus. I love it. It's beautiful.

[bsmith]

Im glad to see it worked out well for you.

[mickitaz]

rofl.. I can't keep my hands out of my tank either. I keep rearranging things. I long for the day when I am happy with the way things look and leave well enough alone.


Nice job so far on the tank

[bsmith]

Thank you.

I think my problem with this tank has been that there was really no goal in the beginning (as the pics illustrate), I was just trying to grow some plants and in my excitement (about co2, higher lighting, and ADA AS) I just threw a bunch of plants in the tank and watched them grow.

Now I know what i can grow and how it looks (thank goodness collectoritus has been subdued) so I feel I can piece together a nice scape.

Originally Posted by mickitaz

rofl.. I can't keep my hands out of my tank either. I keep rearranging things. I long for the day when I am happy with the way things look and leave well enough alone.


Nice job so far on the tank