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Gang,

Of course I cannot simply set up any new tank without raising a bunch of questions. If you need more information on the tank I selected and the vision and hardware involved, please skim through This Thread.

So, here was the original plan:

Get everything together (means get all parts) and fill in the Eco. Form my hills with the rocks (I bough them at the LI fish store, tetratech, don't ask what I payed ) and the driftwood, and then plant the heck out of it with fast grower clippings from the 125G, in particular the Star Grass and the Hygro angustifolia. The visuals are not important, settlement of the tank beats everything. Later, I will go and start to replace areas with more permanent plants.

Well, so far so good, and I have all equipment together, except for tank and stand which are supposed to arrive at the LFS today or tomorrow, and the CO2 bottle that I can buy on Saturday morning. Oh, I actually may buy a 10l bottle, if it is not too high, and hang it onto the 125G and use that 5l bottle on this tank.

Now, wouldn't it be nice if all could go as planned? As usual, I have driftwood issues . Jeff Senske is not yet able to send me wood, I am waiting daily on his email about which pieces he selected for me. In all fairness, he apologized twice so far, he had a major presentation in his shop over the weekend and the visitors bought all the wood in the store and he has to go to the storage place to get what I need (which he says he is doing every day anyways). Long story short, all is here but the wood .

Now, I could hold off for a week, if it wouldn't be for the plant vision. My Star Grass in the 125 will need its trimming this weekend or it endangers the light for all other plants in its area. This means that if I don't set up the tank now I will have to wait at least 2, maybe even 3 weeks for the Star Grass to grow back and create enough volume to split it between the 2 tanks without risking not having enough left in the big tank.

Questions: Waiting is better, right? Any other input?

Thanks in advance,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

Yes, I agree that waiting until all is there is better. It'll allow you to look at the hardscape when dry and maneuverable, so you can make changes and adjustments as necessary without making a mess of the water and substrate. Remember what we're going for here -stability from the get go. Get it right once and don't mess with it.

As for the stargrass - couldn't you just do your trimming as normal and let the clippings float in one of your other tanks? For a week or so they should be fine with the Excel dosing...

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Back in the saddle!

I second the waiting, but I can sympathise with you. I would find it very hard not to play with the new tank and just let it sit.

It will be much easier to set up the tank with the wood already in there. Could you not trim the star grass back as far? Maybe half of what you would normally trim this way you don't have to wait so long for it to grow back.


Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

Thanks NowherMan6 and Rick,

Yeah - seems to be the only, or the right, possibility - WAITING

I cannot add the clippings to another tank for weeks as they would shade the inhabitants there, and they need all the light that is available to their tanks.

Rick - Star Grass trimming means removing the bottoms as they do not receive any light and rot away. Once trimmed the plants are so short that if I divide them further I may end up with insufficient mass in the big tank, a fact that I cannot afford right now (algae). Growth of this plant has in the last week greatly improved again, I guess upping my CO2 did the trick.

Thanks again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well,

I went to pick up the tank last night. The conclusion from that event was that, even if I wanted to, I would not have been able to set up the tank this weekend anyways. Unfortunately, the wrong glass top had been ordered, the 50G, which has the same foot print, has a center brace and as such requires two small tops, and that's the ones that came. The 40G, on the other hand, needs only one long one.

The new top is supposedly here on Tuesday, but again, plant growth in the 125G will dictate when I can set this one up. Oh, and of course the fact that the driftwood has to be here as well (not yet ordered as I still wait to hear back from Jeff).

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Sorry to hear about your troubles, LF

But hopefully you can put the extra time to good use, and continue to plan. There's really no need to rush, and with the star grass you'll now have, what, an extra 2 weeks on your hands? Maybe give jeff call on Monday if he doesnt get back to you by then about the driftwood - it really would make it easier to move forward if you knew what the hardscape was going to look like...

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Back in the saddle!

Sorry to hear about your troubles, LF

Thanks NowherMan6.

And the troubles continue

Jeff had been sick for a few days and by now the options he has available in storage are sub-par . That even surprised him as he planned to use some wood himself.

I asked him when he would receive another shipment, but haven't received an answer yet. I can imagine that it will take quite a while until a new order has been created and shipped from Japan.

Now what do I do? I get $$$ of stuff just sitting in the basement

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Sorry to hear of the frustrations to your plans. But anything good is worth waiting for. All will come together in the end. Keep smiling

Cheers
TW

Jeff had been sick for a few days and by now the options he has available in storage are sub-par

This is what happens when you go to the other Jeff for advice

This is what I would do. You have everything other than the DW to go in the tank. Well actually you just trimmed and I'm assuming you ditched everything. In any event the next time the plants are ready I would setup the tank as you have planned. I would stick something else in the place where you have the DW planned to be. Maybe some small PVC tubing, whatever and then when the DW comes in swap it out. In those mounds of eco it should be easy to do that, especially with a branchy piece. This way the tank get's going, etc.


My Scapes

Yeah tetratech,

Thanks for the input. I am slowly coming to a similar conclusion. As you assumed right, most trimmings have been thrown out, so I will have to wait about two weeks no matter what (at least). Well, this gives me some time to think it over.

Thanks again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I would stick something else in the place where you have the DW planned to be. Maybe some small PVC tubing, whatever and then when the DW comes in swap it out. In those mounds of eco it should be easy to do that, especially with a branchy piece

I guess my concern would be - you set up the tank and plant everything, and you leave place holders for the driftwood. Fine and good for now. Then you get the driftwood and it doesn't fit those spots exactly, so you have to pull up all the plants, pulling up substrate stuff into the WC.. I guess you see where I'm going Persoanlly, I wouldn't rush into it. Then again you may be better off listening to the guy who has a NICE tank

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Back in the saddle!

NowherMan6,

The point you list is exactly the reason why I am glad to have at least 2 weeks to think about it.

The plants that I will add to the tank in the beginning will not stay in this tank for a long time though, they will be gradually replaced with the perminent species.

Another reason to set up this tank rather sooner than later is that I would really like to lower the fish load of the 125G by, let's say, at least 20 Espei. I know, I know, I am driving this tank up to contain many fish then as well, but I am a sucker for fish.

A reason that is in line with NOT setting it up until I have the wood is that it is close to impossible to "make up" the final version of wood as its shape and size are unknown. In addition, the wood will be "surrounded" by rocks that then also would have to be removed to place the real wood in the tank. These rocks though are intended to serve as barriers for the hills, avoiding a sliding of the substrate. If I pull them back out I will lose the hill structure all together.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Then again you may be better off listening to the guy who has a NICE tank

Yeah, but you got five stars!

From your diagram the wood look rather narrow so it seemed like it would be easy to poke them thru the substrate when they arrived. If it's a large thicker piece than it would be more difficult.



My Scapes

Well Gang,

Thinks are not going to well for this tank. Besides me being distracted by yet another fracture of my daughter's arm (last time was the elbow, this time the wrist), Jeff is not even responding to my emails anymore. What have I done to deserve this? EDIT: Just got off the phone with Jeff, he will shoot me anther email tomorrow with a possible better setup, so hopefully I would be ready to order the wood soon. He was under the impression that my email indicated that I am not very interested in the wood, but it is ok and me being an ok scaper it seems to fit its new master (). Jeff is a very nice person to talk to.

Also, I finally got the "right" glas top. Right in quotes as it is the worst top you can imagine. Besides the plastic strip for the one side, the glass plates on each side of the hinge are of equal width. This means that the dark hinge is pretty much in the middle of the tank, right where the light is supposed to be. I cannot use the top. I assume that I have no other choice than to get a custom top made by a local glass company.

Any hints or tips on what to look for? Meaning is that some special kind of glass or something?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Any hints or tips on what to look for? Meaning is that some special kind of glass or something?

Don't know much in this area, but the glass place would probably have a good idea of what you need in terms of usage (heat source close by / opening and closing, etc.

I actually considered looking for a custom glass as well, because the black hinge strip blocks some light on my tank so I'll be interested to see what you find out - Good Luck!



My Scapes

Hey Little_Fish, have you considered selling your cuttings on Aquabid or something? You have a lot of great plants in there, and I know that stargrass would probably get bought up fairly quickly. Hell, I'd probably buy some... Just a little way you can help fund the ongoing aquaria projects.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Hi Ingo

Being in Aus can't suggest an actual place in particular, but do any of your LFS custom make tanks. If so, they could do it for you. One day I plan to convert my package deal community tank to a glass top with with separate light. I mentioned this to LFS where I get my C02 gas from. He said that if I do a template of the dimensions of my tank, he would make me a glass top. I'd thought of going to a glazier, but I think it would be better made by a LFS, with experience in what works & doesn't work best in a tank's top. The price was really cheap too. Would your LFS do the same? But I'm sure you've thought of this anyway. Then you could have the hinges wherever you want.

Cheers
TW

(I bough them at the LI fish store, tetratech, don't ask what I payed )

What did you pay?

Chris

Any hints or tips on what to look for? Meaning is that some special kind of glass or something?

Why bother with a top at all. Be a good European - go topless.

All my tanks are open top. Wouldn't have it any other way. Apart from being better looking it makes working on the tank so much easier.

Jumping fish aren't a major issue. In 3 years I've only had 2 or 3 fish "suicides".

Evapaoration is greater but that's easy to deal with.

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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.