Pic: my first planted tank!

[purple_drazi]

Here's a pic of my very first planted tank, I'm so proud!

please excuse the horrible background, I only just noticed it doesn't cling to the glass anymore so it looks weird.

I found out as much as I could about each type of plant and tried to place them according to how they grow. They got a little beaten up what with the in & out, being moved around and trying to get them to STAY DOWN!

We always collect rocks when we go on vacation and these ones were all collected from lakes in Ontario (except for the fake lfs lava rock trying to hide the heater in the back on the left that is!) I boiled them & tested them for calcium, and they're all ok. There is quartz (the black & pink in the front, it shows up better than in the picture), granite (the big & little ones in the middle) and puddingstone (two in the back, one in front). The red & brown colour in the puddingstone is natural, it comes from jasper pebbles mixed with pebbles of white quartz, all cemented together by white quartzite.

There's a path that bends between the big rock and the puddingstone and leads past the ambulia in the back but you can't really see it in the picture. It's mysterious and adds depth. right? I understand that the ambulia can grow like crazy so I've tucked a little bit just behind the lava rock as well, hopefully it will eventually mask the heater.

Next step is to let it settle, test the water again and see how the bacteria is doing.

Suggestions welcome! If there's anything that I've completely blown or if there's any tweeking that would improve it let me know, but be kind please, it's my baby!

 

[cometcattle]

It looks beautiful! Great job, purple drazi!

I love the black and pink granite.

 

[snowyangel]

You sure did a good job at raising those plants drazi. It definitely paid off in the end.
PS: Are those swordtails apart of your background or actually in your tank?

 

[nino]

i love it!! we've been wanting to get our 55 more heavily planted but haven't gotten around to it, but you may hav emotivated me some

 

[Blacky]

just watch the plant does touch your heater i will kill the heater or the plant the can get real hot

I had something touching my heater and it made the glass warped a bit on one side still works fine but it almost killed it

looks real great ive got to make a CO2 setup and ill get my plants happing again too

 

[purple_drazi]

thanks for the encouragement guys!

snowyangel: the swordtails are part of the background, I've got to make sure I'm cycled before I put anybody in there. I'm looking forward to getting some cardinal tetras, I hope they're going to look really sharp with the black gravel!

Blacky: thanks for the heads up about the heater! (ack!) I'll be sure to keep a *really* close eye on it. I hadn't thought of that!

 

[Dubby]

beautifully done the background just blends in.

 

[Nisha]

Looks lovely. If I were a fish I'd want to live in there!
I love the stones you've collected too.

 

[clutterydrawer]

wow nice work! cardinals will look ace in there. what else are you thinking of having?

 

[purple_drazi]

I dunno!! Hadn't got that far yet! Any suggestions?

 

[clutterydrawer]

hmm...I would go for some ottos cos they'll love grazing around the plants - they don't eat the actual plants, just any algae on them - and some kind of colourful gourami eg sparkling or honey. or maybe a shoal of fish to constrat with the colours of the cardinals, like harlequin rasboras.

 

[purple_drazi]

Noted! thanks for the ideas!

 

[Da_Oz]

Looks good.