[Buckster]

Hi all, here is my somewhat newbie journal. I haven't really pusued freshwater tanks in over a decade, but let's give it a go shall we??

After deciding to scale back my saltwater reef a bit to free up some money and time, I transferred my salty lil friends to the 45 gallon and moved the freshies into larger diggs in the 90 gallon. For about a month and a half, I just tossed everthing in and watched to see what would grow, how fast, and what didn't do to good. I was a bit surprised at my success. I had 2 inch a day growth on one stem plant. (sorry still learning names!) Here's a pic of what tank looked like up till this morning.

So now I desided to get serious, I drained the tank cut out the overflow and hard plumbed the canister to the bulk heads. I thought some valves might just be a good idea :tongue:

because I also modified the intank plumbing. (Sorry bout the dirty glass)

OK now it's time to put in the hardscape! Had some driftwood soaking in a tote for a while now. Not quite sinky, but not fully floaty! Gotta love rocks and zap straps!

And now we're waiting on the water to fill. Will post when I get some planting done. Opps! just checked! time to plant, darn tank is near full. Guess I'll be up to my armpits on this one!

 

[Buckster]

OK time to sit back and let the dust settle. I'm already seeing a few things that need moving but comments and suggestions are more than welcome at this point. Here is where it sits. Should be clear enough in morning to tweak it up a bit.

 

[Buckster]

Well it's a bit clearer this morning and I moved a few things around. All in all I can't say I'm overly happy with this aquascape. A little sit back and think time might be in order. Not to mention a better camera. I can't get a good pic for the life of me.

 

[Moody636]

This should look pretty cool when it fills in. Good job!

 

[RipariumGuy]

That is great! I love the hardscape, very natural looking! Keep us uptaded!

 

[Buckster]

Since ripping out the overflow, I've been battling low O2 levels. Poor fish have been gasping at the surface once or twice now. I've since put in a small powerhead to agitate the surface a bit. This keeps the fish happy, but I wonder how this will affect my plant growth.

I stopped off at a semi local LFS and it seems my eyes were bigger than my tank when I thought a nice giant amazon sword would nicely fill in one back corner. I ended up splitting it in 2 and now I have a pair of sword dominated back corners. Nice bookend effect I guess. Also added a giant hygro a few smaller plants. Had some riccia and java moss hitchhike their way into the tank as well. I think the tank definately looks fuller but I'm sure some more repositioning will be in order.

My chore today will be to plumb in my new in line heater. A nice little score to help keep equiptment out of the tank in my opinion.

 

[seds]

Lookin' mighty fine!

Really, I overlooked it at it's beginning, but now it is pretty pretty.

 

[AkCrimson]

I think it looks gorgeous! I really like the 'bookend' looks the swords give you =)

 

[Buckster]

It's been a couple weeks since the reaquascape and the plants seem to be establishing themselves very well. I thought I was going to get lucky and avoid the algae outbreak usually accompanied by a complete reno, but it came. Luckily only a mild one the algae eaters dealt with. Domo arigato Mr. Otto!
I think I'll leave the plants to establish and grow a bit more before i start trimming for shape. It looks a bit "junglish" but I can live with that.
Notice the pic below is a bit better than the previous? Guess what I got for Christmas LOL!!! Just gotta learn how to use it now.