Ishar's 20GH Planted tank

[ishar]

I apologize in advance for the crappy pics- I was using my laptop's built in camera lol. I will get better ones later.

This one is a view from the right hand side. You see my betta swimming around, as well as my mix of plastic plants and cabomba.

These ones are the front. It is hard to make out, but the front left of my tank is Java Moss, and there is some Windelov on the back left corner as well as some thick little bunches of Windelov. There is also a tiny amount (three little leaves... most of it died but I am reviving the rest) of anubias nana in the front right corner. The rest you see is plastic.

 

[Big Vine]

Wow, the fake plants and live plants really mix well together in this setup...nice work! Everyone should take a closer look at that first pic you posted too---I never realized there was a betta there til' I clicked the photo and expanded it...even then it still took me a while to see him, lol. *thumbsups

BV

 

[ishar]

hahaha I know- he looks like gaps in the plants lol.

Thanks BV. I am trying to get to my LFS so I can grab some red crypts to get some more red in there to mix it up, but that could be a while unfortunately.

I guess I didn't mention that those are rocks in the bottom, and the ornament in the middle is a plastic log with some vinyl (maybe, not sure) plants on it.

 

[ishar]

well BV, I will have some better pictures (hopefully) on Tuesday when I remember to bring my camera to my student house instead of my laptop one . Hopefully then you'll be able to see the fish, the different plants (live and plastic) and if I am lucky a shot or two of the fry that might still be living.

 

[ishar]

Update: Oct 10, '07

Unfortunately my camera has been acting up as of late, so these are more pictures from my laptop. Hopefully you can make everything out enough to let me know what you think (good or bad).

As you can see, I added a bunch of Jungle Val. to my tank, and also removed the tall and medium height plastic plants (yay!). I only left two of the low, bright green plastic plants to help keep the two remaining fry safe for a week r two while they get big enough to be safe on their own. I moved the rocks around a wee bit to better suit the vals.

My future plans are to replace that plastic log with a real piece of driftwood, as well as to add some red crypt if I find the tank getting too green. I think so far I have a good mix of shades of green, so the red crypt may not be needed.

FTS

Right Side

Left Side

The anubias nana I am slowly reviving (from two to four leaves )- it is the little green spec in the bottom right corner hahaha

The Java moss I am using as bottom cover as well as fry cover

A shot of the cabomba and jungle vals to show colour variation as well as height variation (I will be keeping the cabomba rather low for mid ground height)

 

[Big Vine]

I think so far I have a good mix of shades of green

Yes! I love that about this tank...very nice mixture of plants.
It's nice to see you gradually moving in an 'all-natural' direction on this setup.

Good idea on keeping the shorter plastic plants in there (temporarily, anyway) for the fry. Nice pics too. Everything's coming along nicely. *SUNSMILE*

BV

 

[ishar]

It's nice to see you gradually moving in an 'all-natural' direction on this setup.

Thanks BV. My heart has always lied with natural looking/feeling tanks. The plastic plants had always been a temporary idea, I just didn't realize how temporary they would be .

Tonight I cleaned the glass cover on top of the tank so more light gets through as well as wrapped tinfoil behind the light- my light housing had no reflector, just white plastic. Figured some reflection was better than none *thumbsups

Aquascaping Plans: The jungle val. will be left to grow to the height of the water, then I will trim it to about 2/3-3/4 that. The cabomba will be kept at 1/2 the height of water. Once it reaches 1/2 height I will take it and then split the stem in half and replant it (so I will have two 1/4 height stems). The fern in the back left corner I will just be letting grow all of it's own accord (I don't know how tall it will get but I don't think it will get taller than my tank any time soon ). The anubias I will leave to take over the front right corner of the tank as well as the area the plastic plant is using (that will obviously be a while yet). Finally, the java moss will be kept trimmed to be just as it is plus the area that the plastic plant is using- meaning short and flat.

Note: that spot at the front in the middle will be left unplanted/undecorated in order to allow my fish to easily eat the odd sinking pellet I put in the tank.

Questions:
> Does my aquascaping plan sound good or do you think it will look bad or be too hard?
> Do I need any sort of cave or anything for my shrimp to molt if I have all these plants? I figured he would feel safe enough among the jungle vals, but should i still give him something better?

UPDATE: I removed the remaining plastic plants (all but the log are now gone). I saw that none of my fry were even using them as they are too big for the holes it provided, and when I removed them there as a TONNE of old food and poo and other detritus caught under them, so I did a little water change to suck some of it up and remove it. It was gross :S. So now I have an al planted tank except for on eplastic ornament which will be removed eventually.

 

[ishar]

anyone have any input?? Suggestions? Ideas?

 

[Lotus]

The aquascaping plan sound OK, but I guess the only way to find out is to do it

The shrimp should be fine as long as there are spaces behind/among the plants where they can hide.

 

[IDunnoWhy]

The tank looks very nice, such vibrant greens *thumbsups

I like the gravel too, nice natural coloring, it's definitely going to look even nicer as the live plants start growing in.

 

[ishar]

Update: Oct 26, '07

Time for an Update I think . I borrowed my housemate's digicam, which worked a lot better. I still got a lot of blurry pics (as everyone does). I did quite a bit of reorganizing and such since last post, and definitely since the first one lol.

So all things plastic are out of the tank other than the carpet type plastic plants I tied to the tank cover to give the fry some top cover. They are temporary and are only there when guppy fry are as well. I added 6 neon tetras today, and they love to school- which I love . Also, I moved the windelov around, and the anubias is flourishing, sprouting 3 leaves in the past two weeks!

Anyways, hare are some pictures. I hope you forgive any blurriness . There are also more pictures following these links but they are the crappy blurry ones for the most part . There are a lot of my colourful male guppy but all are blurry .

Here's a fairly decent FTS to start

Another FTS (oops flash ) You can see the fish better in this one, and can see my one assumed sick neon (the lonely one)

Right Half of the Tank

Left Half of the Tank

Through Left Pane (my bed side)

Through Right Pane (showing anubias nana and fishies)

Last but not Least a half decent shot of Cosmo, my betta.

So let me know what you guys think- good or bad, no worries. Thanks for havin' a look and for any input given.

 

[Big Vine]

Plants are looking really good.
If it were me I'd leave the floating plant in there...even though it's fake and all. Actually, if you want some live floating plants, hornwort might be your best bet. Just be prepared to do lots of trimming if you put some in there, lol.

BV

 

[ishar]

you think I should have some stuff floating eh? I have never been one to like that look, but I shall consider it. I believe Cabomba is actually a floating plant as well, so maybe next time I get some longish trimmings I will just float them instead of plant them. I can't wait for my plants to fill in more though .

 

[ishar]

does no one else like my tank?

 

[ishar]

Well BV I put some floating plants in there- a lily-looking plant. Not sure if it will last though- apparently they need a LOT of light. But we'll see.

 

[ishar]

Well not that I was really worried or anything, but I checked my water today for the first time and the results were as follows:
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 10ppm

Is the 10ppm too high? I think I read that 20ppm is the upper limit for nitrate right?

 

[ishar]

Update: I haven't changed my plants, but my cabomba is not fairing well- it has turned pale, and its stem is pretty pale too, and it seems to be losing leaves. No idea why- anyone have any suggestion?

Also, because my betta Cosmo died, I thought I woul dput in a new centerpiece, and settled with a Sunset Dwarf Gourami. I made that sound like it was a bad thing lol. I love him. He looks so cool . Here is a link for what he looks like, but it is not him obviously:
Dwarf gourami, Colisa lalia | Practical Fishkeeping magazine

Also, I have two fry that are over 1cm long and are swimming freely with the adults without fear of being eaten, and I have three other fry that seem to be hiding well and might grow up as well. I finally got the fry growing up like I wanted and have no room for any of them!! lol.

 

[Big Vine]

Sorry about the betta, but congrats on the gourami.
Oh...and congrats on those fry too. Sounds like at least some of them will make it through to adulthood, as you pointed out. I'm not too sure about why your cabomba isn't thriving. Perhaps someone in the plants section will have some ideas if you've posted about it there.

And of course you do realize that we're gonna need to see some more pics, right...
BV

 

[ishar]

hahaha of course BV- gotta keep you interested lol. I will get some soon enough- once Cosmo Mark II gets unstreased, settled in, and colourful .

 

[ishar]

Upate November 10, 2007

Well I am pretty happy with my tank. I did some rescaping of the gravel, adding a slope from the front up to the back. I also added some new plants and a shrimp. I added a flower shrimp, some bacopa caroliniana, and some Anubias Barteri- the normal kind I think. It looks killer!

Here are some laptop pics . They don't show much of the grade of the gravel, but the back left corner is high, as well as the rest of the back for the most part.