65 gallon low tech FL inspired

[jaidexl]

Inspired by various aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in FL, pine scrubs, brackish mangrove hammocks, hardwood hammocks, and the swamps in particular. Plants are not all regional.



Juncus repens
Vallisneria nana
Microsorum pteropus
Fissidens fontanus
Ludwigia arcuata
Eriocaulon type II
Hygrophila sp. ‘Porto Velho’ (‘Roraima’)
Hydrocotyle verticillata
Cryptocoryne wendtii "red"
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis

*added...
Potamogeton pectinatus
Cryptocoryne parva?

XP3
Maxi-jet 400
78w T5HO 6700k @ 8.5hrs
Excel
3dKH 4dGH
SMS + Eco Complete / sand

1 Angelfish
9 Pristella Tetras
4 Corydoras Trilineatus and one albino Cory (deceased)
1 Apistogramma sp. "Masken" (removed due to aggression)
1 SAE (added 5 more juviniles)

Thanks for looking -J

[migueli]

very nice

[gtriever]

[Canoe2Can]

Nice optical lines.

[yikesjason]

I like the open space and balance with the angel

[jaidexl]

Thanks for the comments!

[Katydid]

beautiful, and nice choice of fish to compliment the planting! lots of drama there.

[organic sideburns]

i love this tank, the angel fits perfectly and i love the sand etc. more pics??

[chadly]

that looks cool! It should fill in beautifully!

[jaidexl]

Thanks, everyone!

Chadly, this tank is filling in so slowly it's driving me nuts, this is only my second low tech tank, not what I'm used to, lol. But it's nice to have a tank to relax with, for once.

Organic sideburns, do you want angles and close ups, or progress shots? Because the tank pretty much looks the same now as it did in post 1, that was 3 days after rescaping. Going very slooowww. For now I have this shot from before the final scape, when I was acclimating and propagating, sorting out placement, and fighting off GDA...

2/09 (pre-scape) http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/554...wtechstep1.jpg

[organic sideburns]

awesome! how did u place the wood in there? just shove in into the substrate? and is that plant in the left back of the tank Vallisneria nana? that plant i thought needed high tech. id love it in my 46 gal low tech tho!

[Yassmeena]

Very nice!

I see you moved the java... I thought it looked more artistic with that spot empty.

[jaidexl]

Yassmeenam, that's an old shot, the current scape is in post one. The java rock was kept on the right until the other plants settled in. I might have to remove that image to avoid confusion. Thanks for the compliment.

Organic sideburns, the sub is about 4" deep in the middle so the sticks just held on their own after shoving them in, they did eventually sag a bit, though. I stuck them like that to keep them off the plants till they were settled. Was experimenting a bit too, I guess, not natural enough for what I wanted to create here.

Yes, that's V. nana. As far as I know, any Val will grow in low tech. The above specs have been in place for over two months now and it's still spreading runners, but not nearly as fast as with CO2/ high light. It does tend to propagate more BBA on the upper blade now (famous Val problem), but my SAE takes care of that.

[Vladdy]

I live in Florida. If you want Floridian fish, get some ghost shrimp and some guppies or platys. Those fish live in Florida. I've seen them here in the wild. Some plants I see in ponds here are salvinia, hornwort, pheonix moss, and anacharis.

[jaidexl]

This isn't meant to be a Florida biotope. Just "inspired by FL" as in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, probably more of the latter. A scaled down interpretation similar to what the nature aquarium guys are doing.

If I were to do a FL biotope, it would be an introduced/ invasive tank, as well as local, minimal planted species. There would be lots of guppies and ghosties... to feed the group of Belonesox. That's what I'm temped to do with my 110, not sure yet, I think the tall tank would be better suited for "tall" fish.