pics of Paula's tanks. The good bad and ugly

I went to my NJAGC (New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club) meeting this last weekend and went home with a vengeance to clean house and rescape...

I cant say enough about local clubs- there is something wonderful about real interaction

First, the debacle that was my 55 BBA farm- the ugly, then after 7 hours of bleaching peroxiding and rescaping.

then some other little tanks I shot while I was fooling around

I honestly cant believe how good the "trees" turned out. its been something Ive wanted to try for a really long time on a larger scale and I have some neat driftwood pieces ready for it, I just dont have enough moss to make it happen. I had a huge clump of beautiful flame moss that died when my heater malfunctioned ;(

This tank is only 3 gallons, dimensions are just shy of 6"x7"x18"

When I re-scaped the 55 I had to break off some of the tips of the branches to get the driftwood to fit where I wanted- two of them had a V at one end so I tought maybe it would work. I cut them down to proper height and grabbed some fissidens fontanalis (Sp?) and shoved it in the little crease where the wood branched. It was really just stuff I pulled from my "garbage bucket" - I cant believe how well it turned out and it gave me an even better idea that might work to really make WOW trees in this teeny tiny space. I'll post photos when I try it.

JON! WASSUP! yup- that algae disaster in the first photo was the 55 you sold me. Who knew I could possibly make it a million times WORSE than when you neglected it, lol. looks good now though- hopefully I'll improve it as I get more motivated. Considering I got it resacaped with on-hand materials and the anubias from Hank I think it was an amazing job.

Where you been?

The pH probe (and controller) is mine, from my 90 that I gave to a new member at NJAGC- it was in a bad spot and sometimes stuff just has to go now. Im sure I tossed your probe, but I'm thinking of getting a new one and setting up CO2 on the 29 in my bedroom- the third photo. Its actually my favorite tank, but it has a 250w MH pendant dead center so it photographs horrendously because of the huge differences between light at the top center and dark at the ends. I've got a 10lb CO2 tank and regulator sitting by, but I keep thinking if it aint broke don't fix it.

BTW- 250w pendant that illuminates about 1sq ft of a 29 gallon tank, no CO2, no dosing, no timer- so I often leave the light on for 16 hours a day, turning it on when I wake up in the AM and turning it off when I go to bed, about 600 guppies and not a stitch of algae- go figure.