Posi's New 75g - Ancient Path

1468 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Positron, Mar 9, 2014

Positron

Discussion Starter · Feb 25, 2014 (Edited)

I'm upgrading my 40b to a 75. Found a good deal on the tank and just decided to do it.

Top to bottom:

Lights: 2x Diamond Workshop lights (2x T8 each)

Substrate: Dolomite (very soft water) and Laterite on the bottom glass. MGOPS mid layer. Capped with Eco complete.

Stand: Wrought Iron (or steel)

Filtration: 2x fluval 206 + powerhead for water circulation

CO2 injection

During the last two days I've been pondering my hardscape. I've put a white "river" of course sand snaking through the black substrate. I also have some zebra rock that I will be putting in there to provide nice black/white contrast between the white and black substrates.

This is what I have so far on the left side. Right side I haven't pondered yet. I should probably think about the tank as a whole, but just getting half of it looking good is hard.

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Let me know what you guys think so far. The white rag is to keep some Anubias wet that is attached to driftwood. I will be using what I have in the 40b and 20H on hand for flora. I think i'll use Ricca and tie it down to the white driftwood to make mini trees. We'll see. I wish there was more depth. Oh well :/

-Ludwigia var cuba
-Hygro deformis
-Hygro augustifolia
-DGH
-Heteranthera zosterifolia
-Ludwigia arcuata
-Riccia
-Rotala Indica
-Some Stau. Repens
-Lobelia Cardinalis
-Crypt "bronze"
-Crypt balanase
-Various anubias
-Micranthemum umbrosum
-Hydrocotyle "small" (japan, I don't know)
-Hydrocotyle
-Blxya (still recovering from being sent. Can't use for 4-6 weeks)
-Downoi (recovering)
-Synogonanthus belem (recovering)
-Eriocaulon Parkeri (recovering)

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zetvi

· #2 · Feb 25, 2014

Look like a solid start to me! That scape is a very common type of "everybody's been there" i believe. But i have not seen anybody that can keep up with it till it matured. For a few reasons, plants fill in and "the river" is being forgotten. Eventually it gets faded from the scape and then the tank gets re-scaped. That's what happened to me and i've seen an other couple of people had been through the same process. Anyway, i would suggest moving the small branches along the river. Have a low carpet at the front and around the river. What i'm trying to say is to keep the river as your focal point and everything around is supposed for popping it out. I understand that, once a dirt tank is set up, its very hard to move the substrate around. So a solid plan at the beginning is needed. All in all, what ever i've said above is just from my own experience and my own view. Hope it will give you some idea. And please don't complain about the 75's depth as i'm stuck with a 55 right now till the end of august so a 75's depth is now my every night dream lol

. Subscribed and can't wait to see what you going to do next, keep us updated!!!

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Positron

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 25, 2014

I was just thinking about moving the small branches along side the river.

I'll try to keep up on it and keep the sand clean. We'll see

Thanks!

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Positron

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 26, 2014 (Edited)

Alrighty. Over the last few days I've been working on the hardscape and getting things setup.

Last Night I moved most of the driftwood w/ anubias attached from my 40b to the new setup. I also used some of the large amounts of Ricca I have growing on my rocks in my 20H. I attached it to the little pieces of driftwood that line the path. The pieces will get smaller as they go down the path to create an illusion of things getting smaller the further one looks down the depth of the tank.

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After this I finely got around to planting everything from my 40b. I had more plants than I thought I did. I had tons of S. Repens in my 40b, but they were all growing clumped together so it didn't look like I had as much. The foreground consists of DHG to the left, on the right Crypt "bronze". I will be putting the crypt in the mid-ground next to the driftwood and moving the s.repens forward. Not sure what I was thinking last night at 1am. Haha.

I also have L. Cardenalis a in the mid ground. The driftwood bridge in the rear is covered with Hydrocotyle "small". There are also small pieces of downoi lining the path.

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The position of the driftwood lining the path will change, and will look better.

And she's filled!

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Positron

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 3, 2014 (Edited)

Here's a bit of an update on the new 75. Things are really doing quite well. I had some BBA transfer over on the driftwood from the 40b. It's all turning white and dying in this new setup. The co2 and temp are controlled by an apex system that is keeping the co2 within a pH threshold of 6.14 +/- .02. I'm using a drop checker calibrated to a kh of 4.8 to insure true green is over 30ppm.

The tank is organic potting soil capped with eco-complete. The shear difference already between this and my 40b is outstanding. The growth is not only steady, but it's fuller...greener.

These pics are taken with a low wattage LED unit (marineland 24" single bright). I'm using it as a suto moonlight.

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Positron

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 7, 2014 (Edited)

New pics! Things are starting to pic up big time now that I started dosing.

9ppm NO3 3x weekly
1.5ppm PO3 3x weekly
6 + 5 ppm K+ 3x weekly
.15ppm traces 3x weekly

co2: 30ppm+ (I'm pretty confident it is hehe)

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Rush3737

· #7 · Mar 7, 2014

It's cool to see how quickly and well you've executed what you're going for.

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Aquatic-Prodigy

· #8 · Mar 7, 2014

I think the only thing you need is a black background and boom just sick back and enjoy

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Rush3737

· #9 · Mar 9, 2014 (Edited)

Quick question. I too have 2x diamond plate lights. How high above the tank to you hang yours? Or do you typically sit them right on top?

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Positron

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 9, 2014

Both of mine are sitting right now top. It looks pretty bright, and because I have two of them there is a pretty good spread. I would estimate 40-60 PAR to the substrate. Just a guess, though.

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