New 60g Planted Journal

[greenmumma141]

The day is finally here; I picked up my new 60 Gallon tank today. It's brand-spanking new. And it looks even better in my house Bare with me, it's going to be a process and I'm sure I will make many newbie mistakes along the way, but there will be plenty of photos to prove it and you can tease me as much as you want. Here's the fist couple, not too interesting, but they're a start....

New tank beside the current (and much smaller/shorter one) muahahaha....

some new supplies... had to get the monster net to catch my sailfin pleco for rehoming....that's a thread in itself

Been soaking all the new driftwood pieces (about 4 days now, still wicked buoyant) that I scavenged from a lake

Tomorrow I will be washing and washing and washing sand, and attempting the crazy/magic landscape I have in my head, will post pics even if it's a disaster

As usual, and input/advice/constructive criticism/just plain fun is welcome! Cheers!!!!!

 

[mike455555]

looks like a really nice tank cant wait to see it planted

 

[greenmumma141]

I'm going to start with dosing ferts every other day. The lights are 2 Daylight F15/t8 18 inch bulbs. Guessing that means they are only 15 watts each? I'll be replacing them with something a bit stronger, I want to be somewhere within 40-90 watts so 30 just won't cut it plus my tank seems tall (23 inches) so I'll def. be replacing tomorrow when I pick up my sand.

 

[epic154]

looking forward to seeing this

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Are you going to replace the whole lot with T5's or stronger T8's? Nice tank btw.

 

[greenmumma141]

Are you going to replace the whole lot with T5's or stronger T8's? Nice tank btw.

Im going to replace both bulbs today. I was going to shoot for 60 or 80 watts all together. If i leave my lights on for 8-9 hours a day, would 80 watts be too much?

 

[greenmumma141]

Looking for plants online (aquabid and ebay) and I noticed that one seller that has a lot of the plants I want, cuts all the leaves off of the plant before they ship, so you're just getting a "healthy stump" lol is this normal

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Never had people do that before, yeah that's enough wattage.

 

[greenmumma141]

Thanks steveo

 

[greenmumma141]

Are you going to replace the whole lot with T5's or stronger T8's? Nice tank btw.

Okay okay... so Im a doofus and I guess I didnt quite understand how fluorescent bulbs work hehe. So mine are "Natural Daylight" F15 T8/18 bulbs. I have two. Everything I found at the hardware store that was still a T8 were only 15 W still. Can't seem to find how many lumens or the kelvin rating of a natural daylight bulb to see if I can do better, and I can't afford a new hood right now, so is there a cheap alternative that I can do (without rewiring) ??? I really don't want to spend all the money on plants to not have enough light to grow them lol.

 

[greenmumma141]

Okay, so instead of getting the entire landscape done yesterday (sunday) I took the kids sledding lol. I've been working on it for a good part of the morning and I have some updates. (pics to follow)

Still haven't solved the lighting issue (lack of sufficient wattage), still workin on it.

I'll be ordering my plants today

Im shooting for the whole setup to be complete and fish in by this Saturday afternoon (fingers crossed)

"Let's do this!!!"

1/3 bucket cleaned. Took a good 5 minutes, needs improving for sure!

New gravel cleaning system, went much faster from here.

Used tupperware that I cut to size (rough i know) to reinforce the structure of the landscape so it doesn't sag when I add water.


I added some more gravel to finish it off, couldn't use the pic as I noticed once it was uploaded, you could see the reflection of a half naked 3 yr old running around hahaha I also did the same to the right side of the tank, Ill take another pic later.

Now to wash the sand.........

P.s. don't mind the flooring in any of these shots, we're renovating

 

[greenmumma141]

Ordered my plants last night and they will be here friday (at the latest) none of my plans ever stick to the timeline so this is exciting! Gives me some time to really work with the scape itself too, which I will need. Almost had a little creative meltdown last night haha. It's hard to find a balance between what my tank inspiration was and a tank that will realistically work for the fish I plan on having. (lots and lots of hiding holes) Just have to keep working on it..... off to wash more sand

 

[greenmumma141]

Here is a small update:

Here is the gravel stage complete (without naked child in the reflection lol)
I might take the gravel to the right out and just go with the one big slope to the left, dunno yet)

used the tupperware lids too for additional support

adding sand with supports in (am I over-thinking this? lol)

view from the top

well deserved

This was all from last night, I did finish covering the big slope with sand but I will wait til all the sand is done to take a pic.

Plant update:
I have Java ferns, 5 dif types of anubias, italian vallis, and hydrocotyle japan on their way

pretty excited!

 

[mike455555]

this is looking good, cant wait to see more, i love seeing tanks evolve

 

[greenmumma141]

Thanks! I'm having a lot of fun, despite washing bucket after bucket of sand, but Im starting to find a rhythm to it haha