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tetratech,

LF. Hope you don't mind another log out there

Are you kidding me, I am excited to see your log. I think it is a wonderful addition to this site to have multiple logs that are roughly at the same stage of tank setup (as of today, we are at exactly the same point).

The phase in my live where I would have been angered by someone else doing something as nice as this at the same time as me is way over (but I confess that I had this phase in my “younger” years).

The thing about your background sounds interesting. I placed my tank far enough from the back wall that I can still squeeze in and change it, if I need to. I certainly didn’t need 2 hours to get it on there, but the wife had to help for a few minutes as well.

Are you planning on keeping the tank in the kitchen? Is the counter top stable enough for, hm, up to 1000lbs?

Anyway, this sounds like we will have a lot of fun,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

tetratech,

I was looking over the two complete shots of your tank and I cannot see too much difference in your plant arrangement. I guess by stretching it out a little to the right you will lose the island effect, which I think you should maintain.

I like your rocks, which I could have found any of the petrified wood. How much does that cost? I paid $30 for 135 lbs of my rocks, but I use only 1/2 of it in the tank.

Overall, you are right, we are certainly not in a competitive position here as our tanks are completely different . Yours seems to mimic the Amano style, while mine, well, doesn’t have a style (at least not one that has a name yet, maybe it will become the Ingo style ).

What are your current water parameters, like KH, GH, ph, temp?
How did you accustom the fish to the new tank? Did you put them in a bag and then add some water into it (like if just purchased from the LFS?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

An another closeup shot of the main rock piece. I really like this piece because it's got alot of crevices. You could see I tucked some java moss in (no string required)
You could also get a good view of the rotala behind it.



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Some more pics. Here's the guppies, breaking the place in.



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Day 3 Update:

Added some guppies from my son's 12 gallon guppy only tank and a few otos.

Small landscape changes. Started covering some of the petrified wood with java moss to soften all the rock. I also moved some of the wisteria. Now it's running from the middle of the tank down the hill to the right. Now I have only dwarf hairgrass in front of the main rock formations.

Here's a new pic:



tetratech attached this image:


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Thanks for the comments on tank. I could only imagine how busy you were considering your tank is 2 feet longer than mine.

This tank will feature one major grouping as you see and the rest I would like ground cover. I already have the hairgrass and some java moss, might go with gloss not sure yet. Since I am not heavily planting throughout the tank, my only concern at this point of course is algae, because I might not have the "suck power" of your tank in terms of nutrients, so I might go alittle lighter on ferts, but keep co2 high.

Another reason why I went black on black is too have large schools of fish really stick out as well. I'm really glad I upgraded the tank, definitely enjoying it.








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tetratech,

Your tank looks just lovely. I also love the black substrate – black background combination. It really makes the green of the plants stick out. Are you currently all done with planting?

Sorry I didn’t make an entry earlier, but I was way too busy on my tank setup , you know how that is.

I like how you arranged that focal group. Looking at the detail shot of your rotala made me realize that I had placed a bunch of them in the 20G for growth. I immediately moved some of my vals and added the rotala in the left corner, Bensaf says I don’t have enough plants (he will tell you the same ). I would have some star grass as well but it has some slime algae on it so I will not place it in the tank right now.

I will add more details to my thread, as most entries here should concern your tank and not mine .

BTW, in case you don’t know that already anyway, if you think planting hair grass is hard, wait until you try tiny pieces of glosso .

Keep it going,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

With your lights and CO2 you can get a ground cover that will contrast the dark gravel, namely Glosso or Hemianthus callitrichoides "Cuba". I think it would look nice to have those grow around your rock formation. Riccia will also contrast the dark gravel but I'm not a big fan of riccia due to the maintenance work it requires.

Untitled,

Thanks for the compliments on both tank and wife.

The only downside to the dark substrate is tha moss or other dark ground cover does'nt contrast, unless it's higher up on the rocks or driftwood.



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I must admit I think I'm a fan of the post-apocalyptic tank (and of your wife too, by the way!). I was already thinking about black gravel for my next tank but now I'm convinced as it's an amazing contrast between the substrate and the plants. I also like stargrass but I'm afraid that it didn't work in my tank as it was too big for my tank (100 L) and just took over all the other plants so it had to go, but it's definitely coming back whenever it is I'll be getting a new bigger tank.

It's fun having both logs at the same time and both are brilliant.

Here's another look of the main grouping closeup after 2 days. I think the plants are looking good. The stargrass and rotala are from aquariumplants.com.



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Here's a closer shot of the eco-complete. I really like the new stuff. Some of it looks like onxy sand and some is larger grain. Looks really natural. I tested all the new bags. P04 about 0.25





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Here's another pic with the plants and the tank filled.
Right now I have stargrass, rotala indicia, wisteria and dwarf hairgrass. I'm going for a more off centered main grouping and than prety much open space with foreground/low growing flora.



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Here's some more setup shots of my 72gallon bowfront.
below is a pic taken right after I put in the rock and wood scape materials. I really don't have the right driftwood (too thick) so I will be replacing. I have the same problem LITTLEFISH had couldn't find the right pieces.
My wife describes my tank at this point as Post-Apocalyptic.



tetratech attached this image:


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Bob,

That is an excellent idea and no it's not too late. I havent' filled the tank yet. I actually had thought about adding something underneath, to help "glide" it. I think they sell those little disks that enable you to move furniture easily.

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Tetra,

This may be a little late, but have you considered adding lockable wheels to the table? It may enable you to very carefully ease the table away from the wall.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

About the stick on foil – I think your concept might look better in the end as it will be snug against the glass while mine might create some gaps.

Well with your list of background plants I don't think you have anything to worry about.

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Do you have a Python?

Sure do…

I used it twice so far for the 20G that also resides in my basement. It works pretty well, except that the attachment to the sink is not a tight fit and some water quirts out on the side. Fortunately the sink is pretty big and it doesn’t run on the floor.

About the stick on foil – I think your concept might look better in the end as it will be snug against the glass while mine might create some gaps.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Are you kidding me, I am excited to see your log. I think it is a wonderful addition to this site to have multiple logs that are roughly at the same stage of tank setup (as of today, we are at exactly the same point).

Glad you feel that way, we should have alot of fun.

Are you planning on keeping the tank in the kitchen? Is the counter top stable enough for, hm, up to 1000lbs?

It's sitting on a really thick topped mica serving table. It held my 46 gallon without a problem, although this is approximately 30% heavier.

Yes, luckily I have a pretty big kitchen and the tank occupies it's own wall and area, so it fits in really well. Also it's really convienent having it there with sink, etc.

I placed my tank far enough from the back wall that I can still squeeze in and change it

I'm really envious of that. I can not get behind my tank without taking out alot of water and dangerously moving the entire table. After I started to work with the background I was mad I didn't just get the taped on one, because it was definitely a struggle.

P.S. Do you have a Python?



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All,

I picked up the tank the other day at Aquarium Adventure. Here is a 1st pic of just the tank and background.

LF. Hope you don't mind another log out there, I think we talked about this that it might be fun, so I decided to go ahead and do it. Also the reason I kept asking about the background for your tank is because I noticed that they sold self stick backgrounds at aquarium adventure and wanted to see if you ever tried them. Anyway I did purchase a self-stick for this tank (not exactly self-stick, you need to peel the back and then use a soapy solution to put it on. Then you have to squeezie out the air bubbles.) It took about 2 hours with the wifey helping me to put it on, but once it was on it formed a really tight seal. By the way it is removable with soap and water.

Tank Background
This will be a 72 gallon planted tank w/pressurized co2, 192 watts light. Heavily planted but with not a light of species of plants or fish, but large schools instead. By the way, my tank is located in my kitchen, this way the wife could really see how crazy I am.

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Last edited by tetratech at 22-Sep-2005 08:16[/font]

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