Bunny13's Planted Tank Journal....many pictures...consider yourself warned

[Hurley]

I love photo journals (they are my favorite types of post) so I thought I would create one of my 20 gallon tank. I have complied pictures of my tank, about one a month, since February 2006. It’s been less then a year but there have been huge changes in my tank!


Here’s the first picture of my tank. I had just set up my tank again after being on winter break for a month. It looks so bare compared to what it is now!

2/24/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_2.jpg

3/17/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_3.jpg

4/10/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_4.jpg

4/15/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_4-1.jpg

4/25/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_4-2.jpg

4/30/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_4-3.jpg

5/22/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_5.jpg

[Hurley]

This is the tank set up at home for summer break. I added pressurized CO2. I also have a very good selection of live plants back home so I was able to try some different plants.

7/12/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_7.jpg


The tank was too warm for the Limnophila aquatica in the back right corner which is why it was so stemy. Once I lowered the heat it became much more bushy. Of course I also thought it was Cabomba for awhile which may have been the problem!

7/18/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_7-2.jpg



7/21/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_7-3.jpg


The Leopard Val in the front right gets really tall so it is now in the back of my tank but since I was heading back to school soon I left it where it was until I set my tank up again at school.
8/1/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_8.jpg


Oh boy...this was a mess. This was after I got home from a one week vacation. Took me awhile to clean it up. I had some plants that had grown more then 3-4 feet long in that week...crazy!!!
8/12/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_8-1.jpg

[Hurley]

These following pictures are of my most recent set-ups. The first one is from the day I arrived at school. I've reset up the tank once between 8/15/06 and 9/19/06 but I didn't take a picture. On 9/19 I rearranged it again becuase I felt the set up I had at the time was unbalanced and it was driving me insane to look at it! I personally think I have too many types of plants in my tank right now but I just can't bring myself to throw them out!!!


8/15/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/81506_20Gallon.jpg

9/19/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_9.jpg

9/21/06:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_9-2.jpg


I will continue to add to this as the tank grows and changes. Let me know what you think, I am always looking for ways to improve!!!!

[Mgamer20o0]

i love these type of posts also. its one thing to see the tank. its another to be able to see the growth. keep the pics coming.

[naps]

Yep!! Nice tank!!! :D

[plah831]

beautiful tanks, Bunny. I've always been jealous of your plants, they look so lush and green.

By the way, how are your baby otos doing? did any of them survive to juvenile stage?

[Hurley]

Thanks guys! Plah, I haven't seen any more so I don't think they made it. One of my female ottos was getting really fat and I noticed the other day that she wasn't looking so plump anymore. I will have to keep an eye out for any new babies!!!

[starrystarstarr]

beautiful tank and plants:D

[plah831]

Plah, I haven't seen any more so I don't think they made it.
:( Aw, that's too bad. It would have been cool to claim you bred otos. At least you have some pics to prove it. They were so cute, too, tiny guys sticking to the glass.

[Swiftwind]

You've done an amazing job with your tank, it looks like an underwater jungle! I've enjoyed seeing it's progression, it's very interesting to see.

[boofish2]

nice tank!! I love the progression!!!

[Hurley]

10.6.06

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_10-1.jpg


I realized I had a big gap between September and January so I did some digging around and I found this picture taken in the beginning of October. I don't remember much about this photo or what was going on with the tank at this time but I can see that it definitely looks like a jungle!!! School got really busy last semester which might have something to do with the over grown look but I do like a tank with a lot of plants so maybe thats why I let it go! Also, that strange looking green mass to the right of the tank is snail food.



1.18.07

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20Gallon_1.jpg


I had to break it down to go home for winter break and this is how I set it up when I got back to school. When this picture had been taken, the tank had been set up for approx. 2 1/2 weeks. It was off balance, mainly the crypt in the middle, but it was really bothering me. Plus I had a test coming up that I needed to study for so it was the perfect time to re-scape it!



1.20.07

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20Gallon_1-2.jpg

This is how the tank looks after I rearranged it. I switched the stargrass and the unknown swords(there are two there now, I always have had three but the one got way too big for the tank so I left it at home in the thirty gallon) and I moved the crypt behind the driftwood. I am thinking of adding some java fern (long leaf variety) to the right of the tall part of the driftwood. There is a low part of the driftwood back there and I can't plant anything there because of it. Right now I only have one lower low watt bulb on the tank instead of the higher watt bulbs because I am waiting for a new CO2 diffuser to arrive. To try and stall growth and growth of algae I am not dosing as much as I usually do and I am not running CO2. I am hoping the part arrives soon so I can start everything back up to normal. However, growth has slowed considerably as I haven't trimmed anything in about 3 weeks.

I considerably cut back the clover in the front and I am waiting for it to grow in but because there is no CO2, less light, and less ferts it is taking longer.

When I came back to school I left some of my bigger plants at home which include one of the big swords, my largest tiger lotus(the ones I have now are all off-shoots of that one), and the Radican Sword.

Currently the residents are 1 zig-zag eel, 5 plump otos, 2 killifish, and a plethora of snails.

Thanks for checking out my tanks! Please leave a comment and any suggestions you have.

Bunny13

[fish_freak]

Looks good bunny. I like that fluffy looking plant on the right side of the tank. Very cool looking.

[jm1212]

looks great. do you have any fish in the tank?

[Ghost_knife]

nice tank!

[crabguy]

very nice planted tanks.

[KingOfTheDeep]

wow, great job with the aquascapeing! :thm:

that tank has come a looong way

[Rbishop]

Very Nice!

[Hurley]

3.14.07

Here is the latest shot of the tank. My Co2 diffuser finally showed up so I could start injecting Co2 again! Yay! The only thing that I have added to the tank for this picture is some baby tears provided by TwoTankAmin but you can't really see them from this shot. They are located between the java moss covered log and the driftwood with the java fern on it. The rest, which you can't see from the picture because I took it out for the shot, floats around the tank and usually sits above the anubias to shade it from the lights and it gives my killifish cover which they seem to like. I just received some pennywort today from JinxXx0085 but I don't have pictures of that in yet! I need to let the plants grow up a little more so they cover the filters but that comes with time. Thanks for looking!


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_3-1.jpg

[Rbishop]

Absolutely great!

[Germanman]

nice tank i love it

[Gotcha38]

What an awesome tank! What kind of fish do you have in there?

[Hurley]

The tank is really growing now. This was taken right after a pretty large pruning.(It's finals time again!) You can see that the pennywort has grown it a bunch and while you can't see it very well I have added some sunset hygro and some regular java fern to help fill in some gaps.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/20G_5_10_07.jpg

Here is a shot of my male killifish. He has spawned with the female in the tank and I now have 2 fry that are about 3 months old and about half the size of the adults. Their colors are beautiful though and they are both male so they wont be able to stay much longer. :(

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/Killi-Fancy2.jpg

Here is a shot of one of the babies. This one only has white on its fins while the other one has yellow too.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/Baby6_53007.jpg

[mee-mee]

Major difference from a year ago to today....looks just amazing Bunny...keep up the great work....wish I could keep underwater plants...I would be afraid they weren't getting enough water........and that is why I don't water (hubby does) our variegated ivies or our clinging vines........:(

But yours looks totally coolllllllll............:clap:

ohh i almost forgot cute fishie tooooooooooo......

[J double R]

wow.. simply amazing. so im assuming that co2 ladder works well? i've never really used anything like that. is that a Hagen?

[H3D]

:eek: Awesome pics!

[Hurley]

Thanks everyone! J2R, I am actually using a bell diffuser now because, while the ladder did work, it wasn't as efficient as I wanted, it took up a lot of room, and my plants and snails kept managing to block the bubble path. The bell works great now and I don't think I would go back.

[Hurley]

Sorry about the missing pictures up there, I rearranged my photobucket.

Anyway, I thought I would update. I have moved everything to a 30Gallon tank. I moved into a dorm room with the same dimensions as a sheet of paper so there was no room for my tank. So, its being housed at my boyfriend's apartment. As a result I haven't been there to take care of it and it shows. I am, temporarily, not running co2 and I am rarely dosing ferts to slow the plant growth down. Also, there is only one light on, over the tank, because I haven't had a chance to order another on. Algae is over taking the tank but I'm not going to worry about it too much because I am leave for austrailia in a little over a month and it is going to be a real mess when I get back so I will just deal with it then and maybe actually take the time to take a quality picture.


11.18.07

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/IMG_4106.jpg

[Reefscape]

Its a lovely looking tank and the way its shown to grow is a great idea..Great work

Niko

[Coler]

i love coming in here and checking back through the tank pics - that is a real beaut; great job!

[the fox]

awe

[Hurley]

So...ummm...yeah, its been awhile since I've updated. Since my last update I moved into the same apt. as the tank but didn't really do much with it because I was moving again in 3 months. May rolled around and I graduated college...woot woot... and moved into a new apartment..yay! no more smelly messy roomies (I lived with all guys). I set the tank up again, in generally the same layout with a couple changes. I'm not happy with it right now but I'm just letting it set and grow in a bit. I got rid of the leopard vals because they were just too big for my tank and out of control! I replaced them with Sagittaria subulata and dwarf sagittaria so hopefully they won't take over as much as the val did. Right now they are very small but growing a little more every day. I'm back on a regular co2 and fert schedule and growth is really starting to take off again. At the previous apt. I really let the tank go with only occasional pruning, ferts, and no co2 and the plants were not what I would call happy. Plus, when I moved I got a tank with a stand and I moved everything over to the new tank. Unfortunately, the tank's dimensions were just a little off from my previous tank and the custom hood I made didn't fit right. So, the plants went without proper/any lighting for about 2 weeks. Want to know a sure fire way to really upset your plants...thats it! I am letting the crypts grow in, in the back left corner, so that is why there's just kind of a space there. I also bought 2 other types of crypts, whose names escape me at the moment but they are in the middle of the tank and beginning to grow in nicely too.

So, now that you've read all that here are the pictures (they aren't great because I did them fast and I still have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to the camera)...


6.18.2008

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/30G_61808.jpg

The reason the one side of the picture is much darker then the other is because I am stubborn and don't want to give up/move my low light plants. So, I bought a piece of glass and some auto window tint and am filter the light to that side of the tank. It seems to be working well. I took the glass out for the next pictures.

6.26.2008

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/30G_62708.jpg

Night Shot Under Blue LEDs

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/30G_62608_NightShot.jpg


Thanks for looking!

[rich311k]

Lovely tankl

[Redneck Woman]

Very pretty!

[Rbishop]

Great work and progress!

[Blueiz]

Very nice!

[Blueiz]

Very nice!

[zeb123]

Great work! U did a great job.. Congrats

[Bk718]

wow thats alot of growth in just 2 weeks time
Your tank looks great

[ibr3ak]

That's like green green, when it's not blue blue.

[Hurley]

That's like green green, when it's not blue blue.

yeah...its doesn't look that yellow/green in person. I think it has more to do with my novice ability with my camera. I have 2 6700K bulbs over the tank but I think I'm going to go for a slightly bluer look next time.


Edit: Nevermind...I just went and checked my bulbs and they are 7100 and 7100/8000. So, I'm going to chalk up the yellow/greeness of the tank to my poor photo ability. :p

[Hurley]

Time for an update. Not really happy with it but I just have to be patient so the plants can grow in. My reddish crypt melted over the weekend so I just removed it. I also am giving up on my low light plants in this tank. I removed one piece of driftwood with all my anubias and lots of java ferns on it and it is now in my low light 20gallon tank. The plan is to also remove the other driftwood depending on how the java fern does under the higher light. Either way it needs to be moved because it leads the eye right out of the tank. I added some what I think is some type of bacopa (ID Anyone???) in the back left corner and next to that I added some Limnophila aromatica which looks really funny right now because it is adjusting to my tank. We have a lot of iron in the water around here so I am hoping it turns bright red/purple for me. I am also working on getting my plants to bush out more. I use to take each stem out, cut off the bottom and stick it back in the gravel. It was very time consuming and a pain. The stargrass is really doing well with this type of trimming and the sunset hygro is starting to adjust too. The others, not so much. I will keep at it and give them time to send out side shoots. It just looks so messy! In the front is some Sagittaria subulata and dwarf sagittaria and they are soooooo slow right now. I added them awhile ago as a replacement for my leopard vals which were just too big for my tank and I am hoping they take off soon.

8.5.08

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/DSCF0777.jpg

Thanks for looking!

[Bk718]

aww sorry to hear about the crypts melting.. I had my red wendtii melt completely as well.
The back left corner looks like green hedge and not bacopa. Try and take a closer photo. If it is in fact green hedge then take it out since its non aquatic. if its actually bacopa ignore my jibber jabber

As far as trimming, taking out each stem at a time sure is time consuming and really pointless. If you want your plants to be bushy do the first trim when the stem is around 8" tall, cut it in half (while in tank) and replant the top. The 4" bottom will then sprout 2+ new stems. Once those get 6-8" cut it about 2" from the bottom. Then those previous new stems will each sprout new stems.. In the end you get a nice BUSH..

Well good luck, tank is looking great and im sure you will be making it even greater once the plants kick up

[Hurley]

BK - I think you are right. I was reading ciaobella's thread about her planted tank and she has the same one as me which you ID it as Green Hedge. It doesn't surprise me. It doesn't feel like an aquatic plant. It has too much support. Oh well, at least it wasn't expensive.

[SchizotypalVamp]

bunny, your tanks are amazing. Great job.

[Bk718]

BK - I think you are right. I was reading ciaobella's thread about her planted tank and she has the same one as me which you ID it as Green Hedge. It doesn't surprise me. It doesn't feel like an aquatic plant. It has too much support. Oh well, at least it wasn't expensive.

dont worry i made the same mistake with the same plant when i just started.. Person told me it was some form of a ludwigia.
Whats even more sad is that a lfs by me only stocks up on this plant and lots of it.. And they actually know the name, only if they knew the conditions its kept under.. ehh

Either way once again good luck. Try experimenting with green crypts, i noticed they are less sensitive than the red wendtii

[Hurley]

Thanks!



Try experimenting with green crypts, i noticed they are less sensitive than the red wendtii

I've got some type of green crypt in the front. It is small right now and I am hoping it stays fairly small. I am going to try and see how it does under the higher lights. I will try and post a better pick so maybe I can get an ID on it.

[Hurley]

Here is what my tank looks like a couple days ago:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/IMG_4599.jpg

Here is my vision for what I hope for once it all grows in. Do you think the open space in the tank is too much? Should I fill it in? The tank doesn't have any hardscape at the moment. Any suggestions? The pictures a little rough because all I had was paint to work with.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/Plantedtankgoal.jpg

[Bk718]

wow i think that would look great. But the hard part will be keeping the plants that color and most of all making sure that the broader leaf plants dont block the light of others..

and that space on the left side is just fine.

[Po.Verse]

Your tank Gives me inspiration for my newly acquired 10G.

Shame pet smart doesnt have nice plants :(

[ciaobella7122]

Gorgeous tank! You're right that plant is a green hedge... mine is still in the tank :screwy:lol... It's doing well so I figure until something happens to it, it can just chill out. Thank won't hurt my tank will it? My param's have always been stable, so far it doesn't seem to be affecting anything...

[Mgamer20o0]

looking grand....

[jpappy789]

wow bunny, the tank is looking amazing!!!

[DrNo]

These "nano" smaller planted tanks look like tiny Edens.... Awesome Bunny!!! Talk about a green thumb.

[SchizotypalVamp]

Bunny, it's beautiful

[WaywardSon]

Looking very nice!

[Rbishop]

Outstanding layout!

[Bk718]

any updates?

[Hurley]

8.26.08

The plants are starting to fill in. I just keep pruning and planting the tops. Some things are starting to fill in. I'm still not happy with the Limnophlia aquatica but the plan is to stick with it for awhile longer. If it doesn't improve I'm just going to go back to pruning and planting just the tops. The Sagittaria subulata and dwarf sagittaria are throwing out runners but the Alternanthera reineckii isn't doing much. Its put out side roots but I really haven't seen any new growth. The BBA is starting to clear up on its own which is good. I increased the co2 concentration in the tank and that seems to have done the trick. Now I just need to deal with the hair algae that plagues me...especially on the limnophila aquatica.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/30%20Gallon%20Planted/30_Gallon_82608.jpg



9.25.08
It's been a month since my last update and I've been trying not to play with the tank too much and just let it grow in and take form. I am almost happy with it, its starting to look like somewhat nice again! The stargrass was starting to turn black around the edges which I think was from lack of light, so I thinned that out a bit. This picture was taken in the morning so some of the leaves are not unfolded all the way yet. I stopped trimming the limnophilia aquatica from the top because I was getting bad algae growth on the older growth. The Alternanthera reineckii is beginning to show some new growth with some deep red leaves. I have been plucking off the older leaves which became infested with bba and since doing that the plants have been sending up some new growth! The Sagittaria subulata and dwarf sagittaria have taken off but they are not gaining much height. I was hoping they would be a bit taller but I will wait a little bit longer before I start searching for a replacement. Til next time...


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c303/Bunny1113/My%20Fish/30%20Gallon%20Planted/30_Gallon92508.jpg

[rich311k]

Lovely tank!

[Slappy*McFish]

Very nice, Bunny

[Reddog80p]

Very Nice!!! :thumbsup: Wish I had a underwater green thumb !!