OK don't laugh...
- Thread starter colinsk
- Start date
Ohhh! I like your tank!!
Thank you for all the nice comments. I decided to plant it after it had cycled and planting was a lot harder than I had expected. I moved plants a lot to find room for them to grow. It did not leave them in the best places visually. Often moving one plant dug up other plants. I also had no idea what the plants would look like when grown so I had to do some guessing.
The grass in the center grows an inch or so a day.
The grass in the center grows an inch or so a day.
I have no idea. It is 18 inches now and the top 3 inches in folding over at the top of the water. The bases of the plants are quite healthy and sending out runners. I expect to have to catch runners to keep the grass from taking over the whole aquarium. It seems to be a variety of Vallisneria. I kind of like it taller than the water but if it gets too long I'll have to take out the long leaves.
first of all are you being sarcastic about 'dont laugh?' I hope so because the tank looks pretty well scaped. I think you need to post this in the planted tank forum because its nice. Is this low light and no co2? Im about to do a high light/co2 driven tank 29 gallon.
Thank you for the nice compliment I guess I am just shy about my aquarium. 
When I see the great work here I feel like a newbie. If I could do 20 or so aquariums I would start to understand aqua-scaping. I have Amano's books and Walstad's book and their level of work is out of my league. I am simply a newbie.
The tank is 29 gallons, 20 watts of substrate heating and 55 watts of light with a very nice reflector. It is one of these kits and I am very happy with it:
http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm
I am using a Jungle CO2 system. It is little fizz tabs to fill a reservoir that you can see in the back of the tank. Here is a link:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=6318
When I run out of fizz tabs I am either going to make my own tabs or bring a CO2 bottle home from work. I am not willing to buy a pH dosing system. I like the idea of making my own CO2. Even though I keep yeast at work and a yeast based system would be easy for me but it would remind my of work. (My day job is a brewer in a brewery.) I could keep the little reservoir and just fill it in the mornings from the bottle. Once the reservoir is full it lasts for about 4 hours. This is much like the CO2 levels in a lake. They are usually depleted by noon.
So I would call this DIY CO2 and medium light. I have checked the pH and I have very little CO2 most of the time. I strive very hard to have rapid plant growth as I think it is the best defense against algae. So for (knock on wood) no problems. I do have an apple snail and 2 zebra nerites in there on clean up patrol. I try to leave old leaves around for the apple snail. If there aren't any I add canned spinach. "Gary" loves the canned spinach.
I need to make some changes to my filter (Whisper 30) and then I want to get some Amano shrimp. I have some in my 10 gallon but I had to ditch the filter as I kept finding their bodies in there. Now my 10 gallon is running filter-less with a little power head to move the water. No shrimp casualties since.
One think I really learned from all of this is CFLs are not as efficient as a tube with a good reflector. My 10 gallon has 26 watts of CFL and the lights are much closer to the substrate. When I move most plants to the 10 gallon their growth slows. Some are a little faster but most have slowed. I have been planting the 10 gallon with cuttings from the 29 gallon.
And plant red plants in the brightest places in the tank. They need more light. I love red plants though.
Also, find an old copy of "The Optimum Aquarium". I found a used one for $8 on Amazon. It has some good tips. Although the writing style is a little pretentious for me. Or perhaps pedantic is a better word. Or really both apply.
When I see the great work here I feel like a newbie. If I could do 20 or so aquariums I would start to understand aqua-scaping. I have Amano's books and Walstad's book and their level of work is out of my league. I am simply a newbie.The tank is 29 gallons, 20 watts of substrate heating and 55 watts of light with a very nice reflector. It is one of these kits and I am very happy with it:
http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm
I am using a Jungle CO2 system. It is little fizz tabs to fill a reservoir that you can see in the back of the tank. Here is a link:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=6318
When I run out of fizz tabs I am either going to make my own tabs or bring a CO2 bottle home from work. I am not willing to buy a pH dosing system. I like the idea of making my own CO2. Even though I keep yeast at work and a yeast based system would be easy for me but it would remind my of work. (My day job is a brewer in a brewery.) I could keep the little reservoir and just fill it in the mornings from the bottle. Once the reservoir is full it lasts for about 4 hours. This is much like the CO2 levels in a lake. They are usually depleted by noon.
So I would call this DIY CO2 and medium light. I have checked the pH and I have very little CO2 most of the time. I strive very hard to have rapid plant growth as I think it is the best defense against algae. So for (knock on wood) no problems. I do have an apple snail and 2 zebra nerites in there on clean up patrol. I try to leave old leaves around for the apple snail. If there aren't any I add canned spinach. "Gary" loves the canned spinach.
I need to make some changes to my filter (Whisper 30) and then I want to get some Amano shrimp. I have some in my 10 gallon but I had to ditch the filter as I kept finding their bodies in there. Now my 10 gallon is running filter-less with a little power head to move the water. No shrimp casualties since.
One think I really learned from all of this is CFLs are not as efficient as a tube with a good reflector. My 10 gallon has 26 watts of CFL and the lights are much closer to the substrate. When I move most plants to the 10 gallon their growth slows. Some are a little faster but most have slowed. I have been planting the 10 gallon with cuttings from the 29 gallon.
And plant red plants in the brightest places in the tank. They need more light. I love red plants though.
Also, find an old copy of "The Optimum Aquarium". I found a used one for $8 on Amazon. It has some good tips. Although the writing style is a little pretentious for me. Or perhaps pedantic is a better word. Or really both apply.
looks like a nice tank- If you decide you need a little more Co2 without changing your set up you can always pick up some flourish excel to supplement
