40 Gallon Layout

[zig]

G'day folks, first time to do a journal on this forum, the reason I have not up to now is because I know I will not keep it up to date, anyway I will do my best!!

This hopefully will be an entrant for the PFK competition all going well but like a lot of my aquascapes this may change as I go along, but im pretty happy overall with the hardscape so far, just really have to decide on the final planting mainly for the foreground the rest I have a good idea of where this is going.

The spec

160l tank approx 40 US gallons
Size 30x18x18 DIY tank made to fit in an alcove
Eheim 2215
2x55W ASL PCs about 2.8WPG
Substrate-Gravel
DIY external CO2 reactor
5kg CO2 fire extinguisher

Plants so far

Narrow leaf Java fern
Bolbitis heudelotii
Pogostemon helferi
Java moss

More plants will be added at the end of this week, just waiting for a plant shipment in my local lfs, have some on order.

ok with the boring stuff out of the way onto the pics, everyone only wants to see the pics and here they are

First shot is my humble abode with the temp work surface setup and selection of driftwood which I collected at a lake recently on my travels, all nicely dried out ready for aquascaping.

Hardscape, shortened the main branch jutting out on top for the other pics, may shorten it some more, p helferi in the pic was growing from the previous setup.

mmmmm bolbitis yummy

Moss and bolbitis tied onto driftwood, lots of moss in this scape

The main event, all tied up and planted for now.

Thats it for now everyone will update later.

Thanks for lookin

 

[zig]

oh yeah I forgot, the interesting thing about this setup for some of you may be that I will be dosing PPS PRO, no EI on this tank, it will be dosed with minimal ferts >1ppm KNO3 daily and 1ppm PO4 weekly CO2 @ 15ppm throughout the light period, lighting will be 2.8WPG at 9 hours per day, no weekly water changes until the water or glass become dirty and then I will do a 50% water change.

Should be interesting, will post more details later.

 

[lljdma06]

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This should be good to see develop as you are doing something interesting. I would have used a lot less light and replaced the P. helferi with E. tenellus. But I also would have started my tank last year for it to be ready for PFK. Bolbitis is a great plant to work with. Mine is a weed in my 36g. It loves being near current.

The layout is lovely. Can't wait to see this in August/September.

llj

 

[George Farmer]

I know this is gonna be sweet already. Superb hardscape choice and composition.

 

[nry]

I love the fern, I have seen it in pictures, but not photographs!

 

[lljdma06]

What's the fauna of choice? Lone platy isn't doing it for me right now.

llj

 

[zig]

Hey whats wrong with my pet platy, I love my pet platy, his name is Conor thats his home, I love my platy, did I mention that already.........

Thanks for the comments folks (except that one about my pet platy )

 

[Liam]

Its got a real wow factor already, looking forward to seeing how it develops.

 

[lljdma06]

Hey whats wrong with my pet platy, I love my pet platy, his name is Conor thats his home, I love my platy, did I mention that already.........

Thanks for the comments folks (except that one about my pet platy )

Conor needs some women-folk to keep him happy.

 

[ICEEGRL]

What kind of sticks are those? Where did you find them? They are really cool looking.

 

[afroturf]

Love the look of the tank, great to see some more low tech type planting/scapes. Whats your plan for the forground are you just gonna let the HC grow where it wants to?

How did you get your sticks to sink i've got some like yours and they've been soaking for weeks now and they still float.

 

[zig]

llj.......yeah right, been there done that, Conor is the last Mohican if I can use a metaphor of the platy tribe that once existed in my tanks, wont do that again, I do like him though, nearly three years old now. No plans for fish atm, this is more a scaping tank than a fish tank, if I add any it will be very few of the same species probably.

ICEEGRL, found the driftwood beside a river that flowed into a lake, this area has Oak forests so its possibly Oak, may not be though cant be sure it feels kind of heavy though even when dried out.

afroturf, the wood is held down mainly by its own weight and held in position using cable ties, the main body of wood the braches jut out from is a large piece of bogwood which I have covered/hidden from view, the branched pieces are all cabled onto that.

Im actually going to have this as a high tech tank, I need to have higher light for the foreground plants to grow, I plan to add some glosso mixed with e.tenellus and H.verticillata and a few others as well, I find my ferns always grow better in higher light as well, the HC was just being farmed in this tank for a different setup I have going atm.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

 

[Dave Spencer]

It`s nice to see a tank that reads from right to left for once. I always seem to build up my scapes starting from the left.

Dave.

 

[Themuleous]

Looking good Peter can I ask a very newbie question...whats PPS PRO?

Sam

 

[Dave Spencer]

Looking good Peter can I ask a very newbie question...whats PPS PRO?

Sam

Enjoy!!!!!

http/www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumap...on-systems.html

Seems like a bit of an unnecessary complication to me, but it could be worth a try.

Dave.