40G Breeder Planted (56K)

[JSmith]

This is not my first planted tank, but the first I have decided to make a journal of...
Anyways the specs are:
40G breeder 36x18x17
Solid wood stand(had found a guy in town that could build them)
GLA Primo CO2 System(love it!)
Hagen Glo T5HO 36" 2x39w
2X Hagen LifeGlo 39W
Rena XP3 (bout 2yrs old, no repairs, running strong)
^^Using the spraybar
Dosing Dry Ferts(Estimative Index) Courtesy of GLA
Eco-Complete 5 Bags

Plants:
Rotala sp. 'Araguaia'
Polygonum sp. 'Kawagoneum'
Tonina fluviatilis
Bacopa caroliniana
Rotala sp. 'Vietnam'
Anubias Barteri (May not keep)
Anubias Barteri 'coffeefolia' (May not keep)
Glossotigma Elatinoides
Nesaea pedicellata 'Golden
Hemianthus Micranthemoides
Glossotigma Elatinoides

Stand:



Tank and Lighting



Primo CO2 System:



Filling up:


After a few weeks of cycling:




Heater will be gone within the next week...Water temp stays around 77F.
I did have some Malaysian driftwood in there, but it took away from the plants, so I took it out. Waiting to figure out more of an Aquascape when I get some more Plants in tomorrow. I def want this to be an all Plants Fish tank as I cannot find any good Driftwood for sale in my area(I just dont want to ship wood :P) I just realize the plastic on the Lights is still on there , heh gotta take it off... And I am going to blackout the back, just showing whats been done so far....Comment/Suggestions always welcome!


-Jacob Smith

[JSmith]

Some more pics...



Hmm stems seem to be leaning, they should probably straighten up with the the tank parameters as I just got these today. Well...most of them..

[cah925]

Tank is looking good. The leaning plants may be caused by the flow of water from the filter.

[beginerplanted]

id give any thing to make my 55gal 16in deep (front to back) not the constrictive 12in its like they make them like this just so you will shoot your self in the face

[FSM]

The tank looks good, the plants are most likely leaning because of the current though lol.

Originally Posted by beginerplanted

id give any thing to make my 55gal 16in deep (front to back) not the constrictive 12in its like they make them like this just so you will shoot your self in the face

That's why I will most likely never buy a 55. They suck for large fish and apparently for aquascaping too.

[chonhzilla]

Gotta love that space of a 40 breeder.

[beginerplanted]

well i went crazy today while trying to plant some new plants in my tankand decided to make a DIY tamk with the dimensions 36x19x20
and use 2x4s and rebar to hold it up and just use barnwood for the siding (free for me cause up here in the boondocks thats what my job is during the summer but we usually make most of it into funiture)

[monkeyruler90]

wow, that tank looks nice. i love the r.vietnam! when it pearls it looks great!

[JSmith]

Well I did alot of changes as soon as I received the plants from monkeyruler90 and rich815! Mostly slopes, mixing of the HM and Glosso and rearrangement of the stem plants, oh and applied the black background. Will post pictures as soon as I take some good pics... Stay tuned!

[JSmith]

New scape:



Im hoping to bring in the middle frontwards more and leaving the slopes left and right visible, so the shape i am going for is a [ V ] where V are the stem plants...Thoughts?

[JSmith]

Been a few days now with EI fert dosing and I have not been able to get the tank to pearl, so, I am cranking the CO2 this weekend and monitoring it...Drop checker located on the other side of the tank has maintained a darkish green color...Looking for more lime..

[monkeyruler90]

wow, the plants look nice. hopefully they'll fill in nicely for you

[JSmith]

just an update, Still no pearling running at 3 bps, took out the drop checker to see if it turns darker if not I will replace the fluid, you guys think the Hagen GLO 36" T5HO 2X39W is sufficient enough for this tank?

[JSmith]

Update: I took the DC out and sure enough after about an hour it turned blue, so I placed it back in the tank and few hours later, Lime Green....def must have been placing it to low(now at about 3" from bottom)... Now there is pearling Tank is almost 3 weeks now starting to get established...HM and Glosso filling in wonderfully, actually I feel I may have to choose one over the other soon as I had mixed them together, maybe bad idea?...Atleast if I pull up the glosso now it will not be as established as if I would let it become a problem...I will post some pics tomorrow

[hissytri]

If you do decide to pull up the glosso, I know someone who would want it.

looks to me like it is coming along nicely. Don't you just hate having too many choices - almost as bad as too few decision wise