[misterdom]

Hello everyone!

About 3 months ago we decided to let go of our 55g fancy goldfish tank and go with a larger tank. My daughter has been keeping a few betta tanks in her room with low tech plants. As for me I'm a complete noob at planted high tech tanks and learning as I go. The Planted Tank has been an amazing resource for information and inspiration! I appreciate any and all constructive criticism or tips. :nerd: This has been a fun start to the journey of aquascaping and we are enjoying the ride so far.

The trip starts with a 92g Red Sea Reefer 450xl tank that we found on craigslist. The tank needed quite a bit of work and I should have done more research before pulling the trigger. Kind of an expensive lesson to learn but hey, life is short and this won't be our last tank. :smile2: I had to order all new o-rings and a couple of the pipes broke when we were loading the tank into our car. I didn't realize what a beast it would be to move. :surprise: Sadly, we also managed to chip a corner when we got it home but it has held water and the break is not near the seal. With its first bump out of the way it was off to procure the rest of the equipment. We'll be running the stock sump tank for filtration.

Ingredients List
Twinstar 1200sp pendant light
S2 Pro dimmer
UNS light bars
Hydor 1600D pump
Nilocg rexx griggs reactor
10lb co2 tank
Custom regulator from bettatail
flowmeter instead of bubble counter
Tunze osmolator ATO
Auqa Gadget 5g reservoir
glass drop checker
HMA titanium 300 watt heater and analog controller
3" Poret foam in 10/20/30 ppi
ADA Amazonia reg x 5 bags
ADA Amazonia powder x 1 bag
Seiryu stones
spider wood

Bettatail's work

We really fell in love with this wood and stone at the LFS

Jumped the gun a little bit on plants, luckily the light came in and we kept some of them alive while we worked on the hardscape.

Here was our first try at layout.

We decided to flip the wood and felt good about the final layout.

Eggcrate and pipe to raise the wood

We decided on dry start and at the last minute decided to not utilize the sand and just go with all carpeting plants instead. Fingers crossed and now we wait!

Plant list so far

Eleocharis acicularis mini
Pogostemon helferi
Cuba (Dwarf baby tears)
Sagittaria
Erio

We will be ordering some more plants this week, such as taller background grasses and perhaps some buce. The dimmer will also arrive and I'll get that setup along with all the plumbing over the next month. I'm also thinking of purchasing a PH sensor/controller as another measuring device to help dial in the co2.

 

[Hector_Hinojosa]

Beautiful build.. Can’t seem to find that rock anywhere here in San Diego for some reason. If you don’t mind me asking where did you purchase the rock from?

Following along can’t wait to see more on this beauty!


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[misterdom]

Hi Hector thank you! We purchased most of the stones from Aqua Forest Aquaria in San Francisco, and a few small stones from Aqua Lab Aquaria in San Jose. I’m fortunate to live fairly close to both stores and purchased most of the stones in person. I did order a bag of extra small stones from AFA for fill and pathways but ended up not using much of them.

If you are up here it’s definitely worth a stop at both shops, AFA having nicer display tanks however with covid you can only view from a distance, as no customers are allowed inside the store.

 

[Hector_Hinojosa]

Hi Hector thank you! We purchased most of the stones from Aqua Forest Aquaria in San Francisco, and a few small stones from Aqua Lab Aquaria in San Jose. I’m fortunate to live fairly close to both stores and purchased most of the stones in person. I did order a bag of extra small stones from AFA for fill and pathways but ended up not using much of them.

If you are up here it’s definitely worth a stop at both shops, AFA having nicer display tanks however with covid you can only view from a distance, as no customers are allowed inside the store.

Thanks for the quick reply!

As Aqua forest goes the store I did place an order for Ryuoh Stone 10lbs in there website. I received one stone about “6 inches and a bunch of small ones. Maybe I should place another order for 20lbs and tell them I need one one large 20lb stone? Since I need my next Ryuoh Stone to be at least 8 to 10 inches to go with my other stone. Unfortunately I can’t see what they send me. This stones are going in a ADA 60P tank. But thanks I’ll definitely check out AFA once this Covid crap ends. Driving me crazy.. Have a good one see you on the forums. Take care.


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