[Wolf19]

Most Recent FTS (January 10, 2014)

Just moved to a new city, decommissioned the previous 75 gallon and just started up the new tank this past week.

Goal:
1. Hardscape only containing driftwood
2. Dutch style planting
3. Successfully grow HC on driftwood (inspired by 'Nature of Chaos' by James Findley from thegreenmachineonline.com)

Won't get cables confused this time around (lesson learnt from round 1):

Banking up the substrate. It is a 80 / 10 / 10 mix of ADA Amazonia, ADA Powersand and Black Flourite.

In goes the driftwood. Successfully completed goal #1

First fill! (Plants don't arrive until Nov 8, just cyling water until then)

Here is a glimpse at the plant order

List of equipment & material:
Eheim 600 (2217) Filter
Catalina Aquariums T5HO Light Fixture (bulbs are 2x Giesemann 54W Midday and 1x Giesemann Aquaflora)
Inline Hydor Heater
Inline Up Aqua CO2 Diffuser
Milwaukee pH Controller
Milwaukee CO2 Regulator w/ Solenoid
ADA Amazonia Soil
ADA Colorado Sand

More pictures next week as plants arrive. :smile:

 

[JEFF9922]

Realy digging the hard scape

 

[thelub]

Nice hardscape! Whats with the newspaper?

 

[aquacalm500]

I really like the dimensions of a 75 gal. Looking forward to seeing this project develop!

 

[Wolf19]

Thanks Jeff! I almost caved and put in some rocks, but some motivation to "keep to my vision" from the girlfriend helped it stay as driftwood only. :wink:

Aquacalm - thanks, I'll be sure to keep the journal updated with photos weekly

Nice hardscape! Whats with the newspaper?

thelub - The news paper is to help evenly displace the water when doing the first fill. Mostly so the sand/soil didn't mix. Saw this method used on a few youtube videos and figured it was worth the adventure.

 

[zetvi]

This is gonna be an awesome tank. Keep us update please!

 

[limz_777]

sweet , i thought of this sand layout too

btw the newspaper water top-up does work , i always use it

 

[freak]

Looking good so far.

 

[exv152]

Nice setup. I would look into increasing flow with another canister.

 

[Wolf19]

Nice setup. I would look into increasing flow with another canister.

I actually had an error in opening post. I'm using the Eheim 2217 (aka Classic 600). This gives me 264gph turning my tank over 3.5x per hour.

 

[Wolf19]

Bit of a odd update for the plants today .... Had a gut feeling this morning to check the tracking number for my plant order so I could have me or the girlfriend be home to avoid the plants sitting on the steps or be at the post office for too long ...

Long story short. I've moved in the past week and the seller by accident used my billing address (still my old address at the time of purchase) instead of the new shipping address.

Luckily I was able to contact the new owners of my old home to ship me the parcel as soon as they recieve it.

 

[SugarBear]

MAY DAY---- MAY DAY----

I accidentally left the lights on for a few days... Algae bloom!!!

oops...

 

[mihnata]

I love the scape! Interesting method of filling in the tank.

 

[carpalstunna]

MAY DAY---- MAY DAY----

I accidentally left the lights on for a few days... Algae bloom!!!

oops...

OH NO!! Black out time.

 

[Wolf19]

OH NO!! Black out time.

Sugarber = girlfriend. :icon_evil

I sense lies with the algae bloom ... I'll know tonight when I'm home

 

[exv152]

Sugarber = girlfriend. :icon_evil

I sense lies with the algae bloom ... I'll know tonight when I'm home

That's a first, an online TPT tiff between GF & BF. I like it, it adds drama to the tank journal.

 

[carpalstunna]

if sugarber provides a pic we may be able to help her clean it up some before you get back!!

 

[Wolf19]

Planting delayed until Tuesday. Between reshipping from the wrong house and Monday being a Canadian holiday I won't be getting my package until Thursday.

Crossing my fingers for plants to keep healthy. The seller mentioned he'd replace anything that wasn't in good condition due to the trouble.

 

[Wolf19]

Well I thought all the ramshorn snails from my previous tank would have passed away in the move (and cold temperatures of sitting in the garage for 3-4 days in substrate). Seems a few survived .... added some friends to take care of business.

 

[Wolf19]

Plants have been added. As a result of the late shipment all my red stem plants the Cabomba Pulcherrima and Rotala Wallichii were a brown mush. Going to pick up some red plants from LFS tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from the planting. Going to likely re-position the Pogostemon Erectus.

FTS:

Close up of the HC & Anubias barteri var. nana planted onto driftwood. Going to look forward to see how this turns out. I planted the HC like James Findley describes in 'Nature of Chaos'