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Ingo,

No. 1 to no. 3 also exist, but no. 4 is clearly a favourite.

Here's my list:
4. Well, you have a stand, and you have a tank. How long would it take to go through items 1&2 on your list? If you do that today, you can start washing the gravel and use the tank as your container. That will leave you even less to do until the d day.
4. What exactly do you want to test about the CO2 system, only that it works? Well, that can be done in a bucket as well. Connect everything, put the reactor in the bucket, turn it on, see bubbles, turn it off and place somewhere safe.
4. As for the plants, why not get them a day or two before and put them in your other tank? I think it's big enough to hold the plants for a day or two and you can clearly see what plant is what. I think that if it's only for a day or two, most of them (if not all) will also not suffer from being in plastic bags as long as there's little water in the bags to keep them moist. After all, that's how some of us ship plants and they don't suffer.

Or, in other words, you can make this project over a few days rather than at a certain day and take it easy. This is a big tank and I think that trying to finish all in one day might end up being a bit stressful and a race against the clock, especially if you have to do the two most time consuming tasks of washing the gravel and buying the plants on the same day.

There should be no problem putting clean rinsed substrate in a tank with no water movement for even weeks. The problem with no water movement is after you have fish in the tank and there is leftover food or fish waste in the substrate. With no oxygen the bacteria in the substrate becomes anaerobic and puts off toxic gases. With nothing for the bacteria to break down there should be no bacteria so having little to no oxygen or water movement should not cause anything to turn toxic. I'd get the substrate in there since it's one of the most important and most time consuming parts. It can also be useful to have a few days to let things settle and get the substrate all smoothed out and to the depth you want it.

Are you buying the type that you tape on or are you getting the self stick?

My Scapes

tetratech,

Thanks, fortunately I only forgot to add it to the list .

I will use the "Deep Ocean" theme as I like a dark blue better than simple black.

Ingo

Edit: You can see the color in My 29G.

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 19-Sep-2005 17:42

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

Didn't see a "apply background" on your list. I know it's not a major technical detail, but a well applied background does make the tank look really nice. Are you doing black and are you painting or buying?

Last edited by tetratech at 19-Sep-2005 17:10

My Scapes

Untitled,

Yeah, it is the worst case scenario, although I think I remember from a while ago (actually a long time ago) that water that just sits there will get bad and become poisonous.

Anyway, I went back to my original idea of ordering plants online. I most likely will use the guy that I recently purchased some Xmas moss from. He was nice and very accommodating. This change of plans was made possible by me finally giving up on the idea of finding all the desired plants from one store/dealer at the same time.

Not only that, I also did let go of the perfect driftwood idea, I will use rock instead. If you are interested, you can read about it [link=Here]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Aquascaping/64353.html?08151667" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link]. There is also a picture of it.

Thanks again,

Ingo

PS: Untitled, thanks - I promise I will (try to) take it easy, even if I am .

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Why do you think that the laterite might poisonous your water? Is there a logical explanation or just trying to think of the worst case scenario? I'd say that it's not very likely to make your water poisonous, and if it was, I would suggest you not to use it. Never used it myself, but it's widely used and I have never heard about it becoming poisonous.

As for the plants, I know that your other tank is occupied, but if it's just for one day, it can be overcrowded with plants without worrying. Or, as I said before, there the plastic bag option, or tetratech's option. It just seems like such a waste of time to get them on the same day, especially as I can see now how stressed you're going to be.

Untitled,

Yeah, see – this was part of my questions in the first post of this thread. Should I mix the Laterite already into the gravel when I lay it out and would the remaining water in it become poisonous?
CO2 system would be hooked up only to see if it works, that is correct.
Both other tanks (20 and 29) have already their own plants and fish in them (the 20 contains a load in quarantine for the 125).
Your points clearly show me see my greatest weakness – a lack of imagination.

tetratech,

I guess I could do that, thanks for the idea.
I added an entry to the [link=Other Thread]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Planted%20Aquaria/64187.html?06254269" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] as I have been at the store you mentioned.

Thanks again to both of you,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hey Littlefish. Instead of going through the effort of planting all the plants, can't you just float the plants in the tank after you have rinsed the gravel and added some water.

My Scapes

Gang,

As some of you know, I am in the process of setting up a 125G planted (although I am probably still 1 to 3 weeks away from actually doing it). I would like to share my thoughts on how the set up would be conducted and would like your opinion on its feasibility.

1) Make sure stand is leveled
2) Place tank on stand
3) Wash Laterite and gravel
4) Mix Laterite with gravel for bottom third of substrate and fill tank with it
5) Clean stones (for terraces etc.) and place in tank
6) Fill remaining gravel
7) Place driftwood and smaller rocks on gravel
8) Add hardware equipment (not turned on) like heaters, filter, CO2 system
9) Fill tank all the way with water
10) Place light on tank
11) Turn on hardware and light to check functionality (and for the fun of it )
12) Turn everything off
13) Drain water as much as possible
14) Go get plants
15) Plant the tank
16) Refill
17) Turn hardware and lights back on
18) Enjoy

Now a few questions:

a) I am planning to have about 3” of gravel in the front section and up to 6” in the back. Where do I place the layer with the Laterite mix in the back section? About 3” from the top?
b) How much time would be ok between the test run and the actual planting? I am concerned that I will not be able to get all the water back out and that it would somehow become poisonous.
c) Did I forget anything?
d) Is this a completely useless thing to do?
e) Any other comments?

Thanks in advance,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

sham,

I can tell that you understand my urge to get it going. It is sooooooo seductive to have all this equipment just sitting there and not doing what it is supposed to do .


Untitled ( where is No. 1 through 3? ),

Good idea about getting started rinsing the gravel beforehand, now I just have to find a container that holds 200 lbs of it .
Also, good idea to test the equipment in a bucket. Would you test the CO2 system in it as well?
A bucket would not be sufficient for the plants though, I once stored plants for just the 29G in a 5G bucket and it was rather hard to find the plant you want when putting them into the tank. Guess I would need another large container with a big footprint for that as well.

Thanks to both of you,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Little Fish,

As the tank setup d-day is two/three weeks from now, why not start washing the substrate now, so you have it read when you set up the tank? The equipment can also be tested beforehand, so you know now if it doesn't work and can get it replaced before the actual day. That can be done in a bucket full of water. The same bucket full of water (minus the filter) can house the plants for a day or two if you get them beforehand with no ill effect on the plants, and in any case, I don't see anywhere on the list that you're going to put any fish in straight away, so even if the filter doesn't work, it is not essential for the plants.

Last edited by Untitled No. 4 at 17-Sep-2005 02:22

For the 90g I had the substrate in it and the tank filled the day I got it. I didn't even have a filter or lights yet. Then I put on an extra 80w strip I had. Added some guppy fry a few days later along with an airstone and waited for my equipment. 2 weeks later I'd decided on and received my canister filter so I added the low light plants with it. Another week and I had my light so I added the higher light plants. By that time my tank had cycled but it wasn't much of a cycle anyway since I only had little guppy fry in a big tank. I moved the filters, remaining plants, co2, and fish from my 55g with no ammonia showing up. To add the plants I didn't drain more than 1/3rd of the tank except for when I finally managed to get the materials for my moss wall. I had to completely drain it for that.

Guys,

Thank you so much for your input, I really appreciate it. Let me respond to some of your entries:

The idea of filling the tank in the first place is to test the equipment. Imagine that I get it all ready to go, put all the plants in, turn the filter on, and nothing happens. If I run to the LFS and buy a new filter I will pay twice the online price; and if I return the filter that I bought online I will have to wait for over a week to get a replacement.

This is also the motivation behind the intention to get the plants after I know for sure that everything is running properly.

An additional reason why I want to get plants after the setup is that washing 3 large bags of Laterite and over 200 pounds of gravel will take quite a wile. What do I do with the plants (probably over 100) in the meantime?

Last but not least, there is one more reason I would like to set up the tank beforehand: I cannot stand it that I have all the equipment sitting here and have to wait for the right day to finally get the plants. I want to get going.

upikabu – “do you always make a list for everything?”

That is a hard question to answer, I would say:

a) It depends on the time that I have.
b) How “everything” is defined.
c) Are there any other hindering factors that would restrain me from doing so?



Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Little Fish

My concern is 14 "Go get plants" does this mean you have to go and buy them???

If so why wait so long to buy the plants?

The plants should be all prepared (washed and cleaned) ready for planting before you start all the work.

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=My Betta desk top tank]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

[link=Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.]http://www.fishprofiles.com" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]


Keith


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Ingo,

The last time I set up my planted tank, I did similar to your list, except:
3) I didn't wash the laterite! (I didn't know I was supposed to until a month later when I saw a post here about it; the bag didn't come with any instructions.)
9) I only filled it up 2/3 of the way
10) I only turned on the heater and let the tank sit overnight to let the substrate settle.
11) I put the plants in the 2/3-full tank (like matty, I prefer planting in water), filled the water up, and only then turned the filter & lights on. So I planted the day after initial setup.

e) Any other comments?

One: do you always make a list for everything?

Good luck!

-P

I like to plant with some(if not all or most) of the water in the tank. It may be a bit of a mess with the water, but I get a better feel for it with some water in there.

Why were you going to do the fill, drain, fill again routine? This seems like a waste of time to me. Besides you will most likely just stir up the gravel again and have to wait for the dust to settle.

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 15-Sep-2005 21:56

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients