[fastfreddie]

I started a new tank Thursday 9/3/09. Let me know what you think!!

I still need a lot of help with the scape (particularly the left side.) Any suggestions would be appreciated. Right now I'm only using one bulb in the Coralife fixture, but I may add the second 14w 6700K bulb as I add some stem plants. I have Alternanthera Reinecki on hand but I'm not sure how it will look in the tank. I'm dosing with EI method currently at about the same rate I dosed my ten gallon tank.

Here are the specs so far:
I put a price beside everything I had to purchase. Most everything was already on hand. I've spent about $90.00 so far.

Equipment
15 gallon Aqueon $35
Rena XP 1
Hydor in-line heater
24" Coralife T5 NO - 1x14W 6700k (for now)
Milwaukee MA957 @ 1 bps via GLA diffuser

Hard Scape
Pea gravel $19.10
Slate-like rocks - free from Steak and Shake parking lot (in the area beside the building where the bushes are. They passed the vinegar test)

Plants ($35 so far)
Anubias Nana
Anubias Nana Petite
Java Fern
Needle Leaf Java Fern
Java Fern Trident (one plant)
Cryptocoryne moehlmannii
Crypt- unknown
Hygro- also unknown exact ID

Where's Waldo?

 

[hbosman]

Very nice! I like it alot.

 

[Old Salt]

Good looking tank.

 

[Coltonorr]

Fred...
Wow, that looks sweet!!
When that fills in, its going to look great!roud:

 

[fastfreddie]

Very nice! I like it alot.

Good looking tank.

Thanks guys! It still needs a lot of work, but I'm happy with the start.

Fred...
Wow, that looks sweet!!
When that fills in, its going to look great!roud:

Thanks a lot man! I can't wait to tighten up the scape a little more.

FYI everyone: 85% of the plants in this tank came from Coltonorr here. He grows some awesome plants and it was his low tech 29 that got me wanting to do this tank. He was generous enough to answer about 50 pm's of questions and ship me an awesome plant package! :icon_lol:

 

[sewingalot]

What a transformation. This is totally different from your other scapes. I like the triangle shape.

 

[oldpunk78]

dude! that's an awesome start. the only thing i can think of for the left side is maybe some wood sticking out of the stems (and more stems).

 

[fastfreddie]

What a transformation. This is totally different from your other scapes. I like the triangle shape.

Thanks! The triangle was kind of an accident. The view of the tank is mainly from the left side. It's in a corner of our guest room, so I usually pass by in the hallway. I wanted to keep the left side kind of open, but it's way too bare right now.

dude! that's an awesome start. the only thing i can think of for the left side is maybe some wood sticking out of the stems (and more stems).

I'm between adding wood to the left or building another terrace on the left with more rocks. What do you guys think? And is alternanthera going to be too red in there? I'm afraid it will look totally out of place. I guess the only way to find out is to try.

 

[sewingalot]

Rocks! I love rocks and I can't use them successfully. Live for me! I am thinking yes, the alternanthera may be too much. Then again, it could be a nice contrast. Move it over and snap some pics.

 

[vtkid]

low-tech huh, lookin good.

 

[hydrophyte]

Steak & Shake called, they want their rocks back.

I do like those rocks they are a nice contrast with the Java fern.

I wonder about using a finer gravel(?).

 

[monkeyruler90]

very nice man, i like the scape! definitely looks great!

 

[monkeyruler90]

and dang, where did you get all the petite?

 

[Dollface]

This post inspired me to clean out my 15g long. I'm surprised there arn't more of these on the forums, the dimensions are awesome.

 

[Coltonorr]

Hey Fred,
I think the other plant I sent you was C. wendtii 'florida sunset' but the only way to really find out is to grow it emersed.

 

[crimsonbull57]

Nice scape :thumbsup:
I really like the shape of that tank
I would suggest a black backround though

 

[fastfreddie]

Rocks! I love rocks and I can't use them successfully. Live for me! I am thinking yes, the alternanthera may be too much. Then again, it could be a nice contrast. Move it over and snap some pics.

More rocks it is! Will update.

low-tech huh, lookin good.

Well, sort of......ferts and pressurized Co2 kind of knock me out of low-tech, but it is low light.

Steak & Shake called, they want their rocks back.

I do like those rocks they are a nice contrast with the Java fern.

I wonder about using a finer gravel(?).

lol! I made sure every time I took rocks from Steak and Shake, I went in and bought a full meal and a milkshake for me and my wife.

As far as the gravel, I hope it's not too obtrusive. I love the color of it. I've been using that color since I was about 10 years old in most tanks. My plan was dose the water column, and to only use plants and mosses that can be tied to rocks, or plants that I know can do fine in the pea gravel. While some don't recommend vaccuming the substrate for fear of ammonia spikes, it's really nice every few months to be able to really plunge that gravel vac to the bottom without sucking up substrate when you want to rescape or when things have gotten out of hand in the tank (not that it ever happens to me :icon_roll...lol) I think there is still plenty of good bacteria in the plants and canister filter not to lose fish or jack the ammonia out of control... but that is up for debate.

I also like the way java fern will take to the pea gravel, creating a perfect little anchor over time. It's easy to just pull the plants out, cleanup, drop them back in and rescape.

very nice man, i like the scape! definitely looks great!

Thanks dude!

and dang, where did you get all the petite?

All the petite came from an anonymous member (named Coltonorr)

This post inspired me to clean out my 15g long. I'm surprised there arn't more of these on the forums, the dimensions are awesome.

Awesome. They are great tanks. This one is 24x12x12

Hey Fred,
I think the other plant I sent you was C. wendtii 'florida sunset' but the only way to really find out is to grow it emersed.

Man it has done great. I was afraid of melting, but every crypt you gave me has at least one new leaf opened up.

Well gang, more rocks and plants to come soon. I'llll keep you all posted. I'm so happy to actually have a handful of comments on my thread. I guess that means I'm doing a little better at this.

 

[fastfreddie]

Nice scape :thumbsup:
I really like the shape of that tank
I would suggest a black backround though

Thanks crimsonbull. I wish I had painted the background now too. I wanted to try the backlight thing (like in the first pic), but it really only looks good on rimless tanks. Maybe it will look cool after I get more plants in there.

 

[ryan_p]

Nice tank, I love those black rocks in your tank , the water is crystal clear, I like it .

 

[fastfreddie]

Nice tank, I love those black rocks in your tank , the water is crystal clear, I like it .

Thanks dude. Your tank is coming along really well!