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Gang,

The day has finally come; I am starting the log of my 125G.

Preface
Before I go into any details, I wish to express my gratitude to the many members of FP that helped me to get to this point. I think there was not one area of tank related topics that I didn’t have a question about (well, except topics from the dark side) and I always found someone here to give me an answer or to guide me in the right direction. I don’t want to mention any particular members in fear of forgetting someone, but if you read my other posts you will quickly know who these wonderful people are.

About the log
I would like to structure this log on entries that I have seen from mattyboombatty, Dr. Bonke, trystianity, and the like. This means that I will provide updates of the status of my tank, with pictures if possible. I am very open to comments and suggestions and don’t mind having discussions within the log, as long as they are focused on this tank and don’t develop a life of their own. Nevertheless, there is one thing that I don’t want to see here:

“You should have done this instead”

What is done is done, even if it was false to do. I have no problems with suggestions on how to change things in the future, but a lecture on what I did wrong is not helpful. I hope this doesn’t sound too harsh.

The Goal
The focus of this tank is neither to win an aquascaping contest nor to win a fish contest. I would like to create an environment where I can play with lots of plants and enjoy the various fish that it will house as I believe this concept will give me the most pleasure for the buck.

The Tank
All pieces of this setup are currently stacked in the basement and will be set up within the next 4 days (which is when my plants will arrive). The tank itself is an AGA 125G (72x18x22) that will sit on a black pine stand on my basement’s concrete (and carpeted) floor. I have 386W of Power Compacts which will give me a little over 3WPG. It will be filtered by an Eheim Pro II (Model 2028), Heated by 2x300W Visi-Therms, and CO2 powered by injection with tank, regulator, and power reactor. In addition, I currently have about 200lbs of gravel, 135lbs of rocks, 3 boxes of Laterite, and one lousy piece of driftwood sitting in the basement. Plus all the other minor things that are needed, but we will come to this when it will be used for the tank.

Conclusion
I hope this will become an exciting thread that shows all the ups and downs one has to go through when setting up a tank and its evolution during the first couple of months in its existence. I promise I will be honest and state all my mistakes (maybe someone would like to learn from them) and I ask you to forgive me if I once in a while write good things in the style of a little boy (which I am on the inside). And, sorry for this long introduction.

Welcome to the world of LITTLE_FISH,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Have added this post to my favourites! I shall be checking in a lot, I shall never have a tank this big but shall have the experience through the thread and pick up tips since you have really sparked me to "redo" my tanks....

Good Luck Little Fish am sure it will be great!

GFG

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Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

By the way LF, I think I might do the same as per your suggestion with my log. I believe we are taking two totally different approaches to the planted tank so it should be very interesting.





My Scapes

Looking forward to it Ingo.

You're other tanks have shown that you have quite the eye for Aquascaping, interested in seeing how this one turns out.

You have the right approach - at the end of the day you'll be the one looking and living with the tank every day, do whatever pleases you esthetically.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

...and one lousy piece of driftwood sitting in the basement

Well I hope you do find some nice driftwood. I'ts never too late to change some things around (I still am ). I'll definitely be looking in on how things progress - I can't wait for some pics!

This has inspired me to try and update my log, hopefully with a picture. *runs out to see if batteries are charged yet*

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Ok,

Thank you all for your encouraging words. Now here is the first “real” entry with picture.

Last night I have been able to set the tank on the stand.

- First, I had to use a few wooden shims (very thin) to correct some uneven spots of the concrete floor under the carpet. You can still see the ends sticking out at the sides (and the levels in the front).
- Next, I placed the background on the tank; it is the “Deep Ocean” foil that you secure with a few strips of tape. In reality it is much darker, but the flash makes it look a light blue.
- Then I used a 1” Styrene insulation sheet and placed it on the inside of the frame. In one of my earlier posts we were discussing if it should go on top or inside and I concluded that the best way for me to use it is on the inside, solemnly for insulation purposes. One main reason to do so was the concern that the top of my tank will get to high to comfortably reach into the tank.
- Finally, the tank was placed on the stand and that is where I am right now. The next steps (gravel washing) will be done tonight.

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Gang,

This evening I spend 3 hours washing 160lbs of gravel and cleaning 165oz of Pure Laterite. My fingers are all wrinkly .

Once I place the first layer of gravel in the tank (about 1” high, or 60lbs) I mixed it up with the Laterite. Then I placed the remaining gravel on top in a way that the back is about 1 to 2 inches higher than the front.

Next, I used a nailbrush to clean my rocks and placed them in the tank, hoping that you can identify that I tried to apply the “golden rule” of placing the focus point 1.6 from the left (= 45 inches).

After that, I couldn’t resist and had to set up the light on top of the tank. I love it.

Please be so kind and provide me with your thoughts about this layout as I only will have time until Saturday morning to perform major changes (then the plants come).

Thank you so much,

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And a shot from the left...

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

...and the right

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

ohhhh...very nice, i love those rocks, i personaly would leave it how it is, but im not very good at aquascaping so i dont know.
i cant wait to see it with plants

its me sk8freak20...i need to get premie so i can change my name back

LF,

I really like the rocks, but I think that one piece of driftwood competes with the rocks and distracts from the main focal area, but the rocks are beautiful.



My Scapes

They are nice rocks.

On the layout of the rocks, I'm not too keen on the two "fingers" pointing at one another. Bit like a partly raised suspension bridge, or a mirror reflection.

How about one pointing more upwards or out towards the front. Or maybe not have them kinda a parallel, one group pushed a bit more to the back or one pushed more to the front. The rocks are pretty much arranged in a straight line running across the middle. Breaking that line and having some more forward or some further back will heighten the perception of depth. Something you will find important when it comes to planting a relatively narrow tank.

One "trick" that's often used is too place the biggest rock in a central position relative to the others. Then the other rocks around this one are arranged in such a way that they all "point" to the central rock. This gives a more natural aged "been there forever" look.

This is an ideal opportunity to play with the location. Try different things with the placement step back study for a while, re-arrange etc. You won't be able to do much when the tank is set up and planted so try to get the best arrangement now.

Try different things. Have fun

Last edited by bensaf at 23-Sep-2005 03:02

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Today, I added all the hardware to the tank and, based on input from the members above, I change the aquascape around a little.

Setting up the Eheim 2028 and my CO2 system was easier than anticipated. On the other hand, this doesn’t come as a surprise as I bugged various members of FP about these thing for quite a while and all info could be utilized here.

I even included the info that Tom Barr posted yesterday with regards of filter intake, spraybar, and reactor positioning (although he talks about a venturi thing that I don’t have).

Last but not least, I got all messed up over some last minute fertilizer info that I could not comprehend. You can see [link=The Details]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Planted%20Aquaria/64553.html?200509232200" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] in this thread.

Ingo

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And a detail view of the rocks ...

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

... and some parts of the in-the-tank hardware.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

Looking good, I think the tank now has a more defined central focus.

Just so I understand that is your return spray bar to the left of the reactor. It's in a vertical position to help spread the c02 thru the water column as per Mr Barr's suggestion. Interesting, my first reaction to that would have been it will create to much water movement, but I guess it's deep so the gas isn't escaping to the surface but being infused.

I'm sure you quite busy today with the tank. Look forward to new pics.



My Scapes

Gang,

Just a quick update. Yesterday (Saturday) my plants came in, but not until 4PM. A few plants on my list have not been available, so I got a refund. Unfortunately, only 1 out of 4 Hair Grasses and 1 out of 4 Amano Pearl Grasses arrived. The biggest downer was the fact that ALL the Wisteria has been replaced with Water Sprite. During the setup I found some unknown plants that I added to the tank as well.

Well, I started planting right away and it took me 8 hours until the last plant entered the tank. At midnight I fired up the heaters and filter, added 3 tsp of Baking Soda, and went to sleep.

I AM SOOOOO TIRED

I don’t have a pictured ready to show you yet, but be pre-warned -> I don’t think it looks all that great. But it isn’t ugly either.

In an hour I will hook up the CO2, but not until I made measurements of ph and KH.

I will keep you posted, the next time I hope to add a picture.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a pic after I added the foreground plants and mosses.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Next, the 3/4 filled tank from the left...

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

... and the right.

LITTLE_FISH attached this image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club