Newman's 40 Gallon Planted Tank

What do you think of the tank as a whole?

  • "I don't really understand what youre doing here...it looks weird"

    Votes: 5 12.2%
  • "The idea is half decent, but could use some improvements"

    Votes: 9 22.0%
  • "Overall it looks natural and good"

    Votes: 16 39.0%
  • "Awsome habitat for the fish and looks outstanding"

    Votes: 19 46.3%

  • Total voters
    41

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
Hey you two, I have been ok lately. still excited to move out, but its not happening for another few months...have to save up more money lol.
I decided not to take the tank down entirely, but i did scrap the whole planted concept because i will be leaving the tank running with fish for my parent when I'm gone. planted would just be too demanding for them to care for so i loaded it with easy fish and a simple scape with driftwood and such...
I'll post up an updated FTS one of these days to show how much it has changed from its planted days....
For now here is a video of the tank right before i took all the plants and planted tank-friendly fish out and sold them...
40 Gallon Final Update - YouTube
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
Thank you. I needed to make the tank more simple for the owner to take care of it. Since it is not my tank to begin with, the person who owns it (my parent) will be the one to maintain it once I'm gone.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
"Well i suppose its time to update the thread. recently added a large piece of DW, I think it looks nice. finally sold off all of my pleco fry.
just keeping a few albinos and the breeder pair for now. might sell in the future and try a rarer pleco.





"

post taken from another forum. yes this is what it looks like right now. lots of changes. switched to sand. put in two red rubin swords and used osmocote tabs to fertilize. works well. but once i released pleco fry into the tank, they and a bunch of snails decided to eat the swords in between feedings. swords should now recover since i thinned the snails, and sold most plecos. its almost time to re-fertilize them as osmocote lasts for 6 months, and it has been 8 months.

Lighting switched to 3 LEDs which i put together myself. aimed them at the swords' spot. the lighting caused them to go from this:

to the more compact form in the current FTS.
it's only 9watts of light but the swords do get some red color, compared to just green when i first got them. now if only snails would stop munching on them...I've considered loaches but those will cause my tank to be overstocked.
 

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Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
Update pics! These guys grow much slower than my albino BN juvies. my BNs are about 2"+ a piece and these L260 are still around 1.5" each. i hope they are eating and growing! pics taken at night so that i could catch them out and about on the DW. the fishes' color can appear washed out at night as we all know. RSCN4652.jpg RSCN4653.jpg
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
thanks! i had to gut the fixture and put in some LEDs on a dimmable driver. i can dim it really well for when i want to. but i mostly keep it on maximum during the day for the plants. i keep the left side dark for my plecos and the overall theme is Amazon fish (minus the platy that lives here) so the tank looks nicer when it's dim :)