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Okay, I just finished planting (with what plants I currently have) my new 45 gallon tank. Dimensions are 48" x 12" x 18". This is a low light tank setup with 80 watts of 6500K lighting or about 1.8 wpg. There will be no CO2 so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all will survive & grow. I have only planted what is supposedly low light plants. I currently have a Red Tiger Lotus bulb that is in the rear right corner and will take a while to sprout and hopefully fill that corner.

Well I thought I was going to post a picture, but I have to figure that out. Will do so shortly.

Jim




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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Another shot


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Left side of tank

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Center of Tank.

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Center of Tank

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Right Side

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Right Side of Tank

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

thats an overall great aquascape
the choice of plants and their position are perfect for this tank.
What kind of fish are going int othis beautiful tank?

-Vincent

Nice aquascaping & driftwood!

And such a long tank! That's nice!

Beautiful tank. Has the simplicity of nature, not the sophistication of a mown lawn thats what I like most about it.
Can u tell me a bit about the driftwood in the last photo? I have almost an identical piece but it never sinks no mater how long I keep it underwater or how hard I boil it.

thats an overall great aquascape
the choice of plants and their position are perfect for this tank.
What kind of fish are going int othis beautiful tank?

Thanks, Vincent. I'm not entirely positive as to what all the fish will be, however it will have a school of 12-15 panda cory's. Probably a pair of apisto's and then a couple of schools of tetra's of some sort.

Thanks for the comments fish patty.

Can u tell me a bit about the driftwood in the last photo? I have almost an identical piece but it never sinks no mater how long I keep it underwater or how hard I boil it.

Thanks for the positive comments Mughal. As far as the exact type of driftwood am not positive any longer. I purchased it off of EBay and that was a couple of years ago. I believe it was some type of African driftwood though. It is very heavy and sank immediately upon placing in water.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Jim,

looking pretty good there

A few comments, if you don't mind:

- About your choice of fish: Maybe less schools with more fish per school would be better. Your current listing implies at least 3 tetra (or the like) schools, meaning with each having at least 6 fish, so overall you would have over 30 fish in there. That is pretty full. I would rather have only one tetra (or rasbora) school of maybe 10 and then see how another type would fit in.
- What are the plants on the left driftwood? Nana or Nana petite? Looks pretty nice, and will be a nice effect once the roots hang down from the wood, but regular Nanas may grow too big up there.
- Currently, the tank looks like it is two distinct halves. On the left you have the vals as a side and back cover, the right on the other hand is bare. The left has a dark driftwood, the right a lighter colored one. The left has crypts with longish leaves, the right (besides the fern) has plants with more roundish leaves (and so will the lilly).

But you know, I am a nitpicker

It really looks nice, just add more plants (or let's hope that the tenellus - or are they dwarf sags? - grow fast and fill in).

Have fun,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for jumping in here, Ingo. Like I said all comments are greatly appreciated as I'm new at the plant thing.

About your choice of fish: Maybe less schools with more fish per school would be better. Your current listing implies at least 3 tetra (or the like) schools, meaning with each having at least 6 fish, so overall you would have over 30 fish in there. That is pretty full. I would rather have only one tetra (or rasbora) school of maybe 10 and then see how another type would fit in.

Sounds good, I'm actually leaning towards only 2 schools, but will be taking it slowly and adding one type at a time and it may end up only being one school of a single species. No firm decisions have been made in this area.

What are the plants on the left driftwood? Nana or Nana petite? Looks pretty nice, and will be a nice effect once the roots hang down from the wood, but regular Nanas may grow too big up there.

They are Nana petite. I have several more plants of them that I'm planning on putting in, but my tying skills are not the greatest yet so I'll post another picture once I add them.

Currently, the tank looks like it is two distinct halves. On the left you have the vals as a side and back cover, the right on the other hand is bare. The left has a dark driftwood, the right a lighter colored one. The left has crypts with longish leaves, the right (besides the fern) has plants with more roundish leaves (and so will the lilly).

It does look like two tanks, doesn't it? I have some additional darker driftwood, but will need to soak it as it has been out of a tank for a while and thus dryed out and doesn't sink at this point. It is a bit smaller, but not as much bulk so may look better anyways in this setup.

Would you suggest more vals and spread them across the entire back? And would interspersing the Anubias throughout the tank be better? Or do you have any other low light plant suggestions to fill in the other corner? Also I kind of just stuck the fern there as a last minute thing and have several other starts that will probably look better on the other driftwood that I have.

or are they dwarf sags?

Yes, they are dwarf sags and I'm hoping that they fill in quickly also, but without CO2 not sure how fast they'll grow.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Hey OldTimer, do you mind telling me what sort of substrate you are using as I have had a few too many problems with layered substrates clouding the water. I have been told in the past that plants dont really like growing in gravel as it doesn't hold on to nutrients.
Thanks,

cappa

do you mind telling me what sort of substrate you are using

It's Eco-Complete. Here's a link that will provide you with some info on it.

http://www.carib-sea.com/pages/products/fresh/freshplanted.html

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Jim,

Don't worry too much about the two distinct halves, my 125 didn't come together for quite a long time either .

Eventually, you can do small changes and start moving things around a little, but there is no need to rush it, let the plants settle first.

I think the darf sags will settle rather quickly, and at some point you will actually have to start weeding them out as they tend to spread in all directions.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hey OldTimer,

Nice start there. Get ready to start trimming those Val runners!

Actually, that may be the solution to your "two halves" probelm - once the Vals start shooting off runner, clip them off and move them to the right side to create some balance.

And as LF said, more plants - even some floating stem plants would help the tank settle in.

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks again for the inputs.

And as LF said, more plants - even some floating stem plants would help the tank settle in

What would your suggestions be as far as types. Remember they need to be low light and no CO2.

My other question is since this tank has no CO2 injection should I be dosing with something like Flourish Excel? I have regular Flourish which I added when I planted and had planned on dosing weekly with it, but wasn't sure if I should also be adding Excel.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Jim,

I would suggest that you add more fast growers to the tank, not for good but only to help it get settled. Cheap and easy to find plants would be Wisteria and Water Sprite, where I would prefer the Wisteria (prettier). I would only add some floating plants if you feel that still enough light would hit the other plants in the tank. If you have some surface current (aka plants would float all over the surface rather than staying in one spot and shading all underneath) then I would suggest you could try some Water Lettuce, a good nutrient sucker.

About the Excel: I am adding Excel to my low light (low tech) tanks once a week. I am not certain if it helps with something, but it for sure cannot harm, as long as you don't overdose. It may actually help in destroing some forms of algae (BBA) before it could settle.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Quick question Little Fish,

Do you know of a good online store that sells wisteria for a decent price?

†Aquapickle†

Sorry Jim for the quick hijack,

aquapickle27 - not in particular. Given that a bunch (like 4 to 5 stems) of Wisteria goes for $5, I usually buy mine locally. It is not worth the shipping cost.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ok, Thanks. I was just wondering, cause my LFS doesn't carry wisteria that often.

†Aquapickle†

Cheap and easy to find plants would be Wisteria and Water Sprite,

Thanks, I'll see if I can locate some, but also like waterpickle the stores around here don't have much of any choice of plants, but I'll keep my eye out for them. And by the way, you can take this post for a short ride anytime you want, just as long as it's returned in good shape.

I'll give the Excel a try and see how it works out also.


Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain