[jeepguy]

So, I have never done a tank journal before but I am excited about this. Picked up a 65gallon off CL. 36"x18"x21". I thought I would use all that height and make a forest but I wanted to use some rocks in there too to make some caves for the rams. This is where I started.

I resealed the tank. ( I noticed it had been resealed already but not correctly)
Reversed the stand so I had the larger opening in front and cut out two new doors. Painted the stand and tank with Krylon Brown Leather. A lot better then it was IMO.

Next was setting up the hard scape. 6 tall trees covered in Xmas moss and the rocks and fallen tree using fissidens.

Then came a river rock layer to help with preventing anaerobic pockets in the deeper areas.

Side view with MGOPM.

Pool filter sand cap and some blyxa on the left.
Now the fun part that will keep me up all night.

The plan includes some rotala colorata, ludwigia arcunata, possibly some alt. reinecki, and maybe some ludwigia Rubin. Trying to keep it simple with plenty of swimming space. I plan on trimming the trees to look like evergreens.
Equipment;
Sunsun 303b
Powerhead driven diy co2 with 4 bottles
2 t5 6700
2 t8 ?
Maybe LEDs for xmas(fingers crossed)
PPS-pro

 

[trailsnale]

i really like mossy tanks. looking forward to seeing it fill in.

sharp idea on getting trees to stand!

thanks,

 

[CPD]

Great starting point! Looking forward to see how it turns out.

 

[jeepguy]

Thanks. Would like more trees but I don't want them to block light to the hc carpet which I stayed up until 2:30 last planting individual stems/strands. Flooded it last night too without disturbing too much of the dirt. Although I don't really care if there is a little dirt on top because the plan is for a full carpet. We will see how it goes.:icon_smil

 

[jeepguy]

2 week update. The Xmas moss is starting to show new growth and the rotala colorata is going nuts. Stared ei last week and the growth has been fantastic. I counted at least 47 baby stems. See the pictures. The arcuata is growing pretty well also, but still no growth on the hc. It's not dying, but I know I need to give it time. I'm up to 7x2 liter bottles for the diy co2. And All the fissidens is showing nice green tips of growth. Overall I am pretty happy.

Guess I will be doing a rotala RAOK soon.

New moss growth

Currently alternating 3 bags of purigen to take out the abundance of tannins. Ugh. I also moved the tree in front of the rocks to the right.
Right now I am trying to decide what led to buy for Christmas, just waiting to see the finnex planted plus.
Thanks for looking.

 

[jeepguy]

2 1/2 month update.
The moss is filling in pretty well. I am battling hair algae and am considering going low tech. I know the hc is going to die, I would probably just cut it out and do dhg. I have dhg in my 2g w/o co2 and it's doing great. No algae whatsoever.

Current plant list is rotala colorata, fissidens, blyxa japonica, ludwigia brown, alt. reinecki, Xmas moss trees

Current stocking
6 Boesemani
15 neon tetras(1 is a cardinal)
1 gbr
1 honey gourami
3 Otos,
6 Cories, 3 emerald, 3 Julie, ( have lost 1 of each originally 4 of each)
1 angelfish(the wife liked it so how could I say no)

Here is a pic of my sons 10g I just redid to get rid of snails.

Plants
Dwarf sag
Blyxa japonica
Rotala colorata
Jungle val
Anarchis
Ludwigia red Rubin(I think)
Xmas moss

1 male veil tale
4 black bar endler males
Rcs(the betta has gotten a taste for them)

MGOPM capped with a mix of black sand and flourite

 

[Michael T]

Looks awesome !! Love the trees.

What kind of wood did you use for them?

 

[jeepguy]

Sticks I collected from local lakes. Think they r oak or maple. There were mainly those trees around the lake. Probably also why I m dealing with so much tannins.
Thanks

 

[jeepguy]

My Escape

It has been a long time and I thought maybe an update is due. I have gotten rid of the trees as you can see and moved some plants around. Added a Finnex planted plus and switched to a big school of cardinal tetras. Moved some plants around, found some other interesting branches/roots. Been selling the blyxa japonica, rotala colorata, and fissidens cause they grow too fast and I have way too much. Otherwise everything going good. I love the planted plus, and I am now proud of how my tank is looking. Also got rid of co2.

 

[KWDavy]

Really like the rescape - and great photo too! Nice composition and balance. I wish I had a bigger tank that could accommodate rainbows. All the tanks I've seen with schools of rainbows are just so wonderfully visually pleasing. Something to place on the "when I've got a bigger place" to do list I suppose.

 

[jeepguy]

Update: 5/30/14
Full Tank Shot

Close up of Root System

Random Shots

 

[jeepguy]

Not a big change and I m normally a fan of plain black or white backgrounds but I thought I would give this one a try cause it does closely resemble the theme I m going for.

 

[jeepguy]

Also found this this little piece. Have it soaking and trying to grow out some more moss to cover it. Everything is a waiting game. Can't decide whether to break it and shape it a certain way or use it as is. Guess you will have to wait and see.

 

[jeepguy]

Update time:
Added some more local branches and got some Xmas moss from Hans. Best moss I have ever received. Even looks better then my other Xmas moss I have had in the tank for awhile 1 month later. Figured I would update one last time as I am starting a planted back wall. Got a bunch of black mesh from micheals craft store and trying to locate a bunch of anubias and fern. Will be using a bunch of moss too in there. Probably just more Xmas and fissedens as I don't think my flame moss will work well in a wall. Will update as the wall fills in.
On the plus side my algae issues have almost all gone away. Except for a few small spots of bba the full cover of duckweed and water lettuce have helped with all of the hair algae and other bba problems I was having.

 

[The Dude]

I think it looks great. It looks natural and isn't overcrowded

 

[jeepguy]

I think it looks great. It looks natural and isn't overcrowded

Appreciate it. I have added a lot of crypts to the tank recently. I have a few green wendtii that are nice and full and they are amazing. Current crypt list from what they were listed ismost Will be spelled wrong)
Wendtii Green
Wendtii Dewitt Red
Balansee
Balassi
Ponderfolia
Undulata
A terrible iPad picture but here is crypt corner. It will take a while but cant wait for it to fill out.

 

[jeepguy]

Update:
Got the mesh installed for the back wall and was able to attach a good amount of different anubias variations but mainly nana, but with all that wood I couldn't help but attach a lot of nanas all over the place. The piece coming from the front right corner is going to be draped in anubias nana's the full length down on both branches as can be seen in the pictures but of course it will take time. I was also able to attach some Xmas moss and fissidens on the back wall. Gonna be interesting to see how long this wall will take to fill in and look like something but I m sure it will be worth it in the end.
FTs

On an angle

My ottos love chillin behind the wall. I can always find at least 2 back there.

Where this plant wall is starting from.

Hopefully I will be updating soon with good growth.

 

[jeepguy]

Day Time/Night Time

.

 

[jeepguy]

River Root

So I was getting bored and the tank's scape was starting to annoy me. So I have been changing everything.
Behind the scenes I have changed to a river type flow where it is unidirectional. I have a powerhead piped to opposite side of the tank and holes enlarged on output bar to reduce turbulence, same was done for sump intake and return spray bar. I plan on splitting these to further reduce turbulence and get that much closer to unidirectional flow.
I added a sump and initially tried an overflow over the back type but found it was too loud so I added a siphon style drain as well with a gate valve and the sump drains operate near silently(very important as this is in my living room)
As you can see I have changed my hard scale arrangement, but I think I may do it again by switching the root section to the opposite side. It may just be me but I feel the current arrangement looks to unnatural. Additionally it is the wrong angle from my seat.
Any advice?
Maybe I just need to get more wood and build another root system.

 

[jeepguy]

Well, I ended up moving the wood around and I am happy. Will have to stare at it awhile but the wood feels chaotic, in a good natural way. The tank does look barren where the wood used to be so will have to get some more crypts in there. I planted two Amazon swords I got from a member here last night as well as the water sprite. Now just more waiting, clping more moss and glueing it to the background.
Front shot

Close up on the new "roots"

A view from my seat

Kinda sad from this perspective, but I can always change that. 😀
All pictures taken with my Nokia phone so not the best.