So It Begins

[Akasha72]

have I converted this right ... it's about 340 litres? If so you've load of room! I've got more than 20 cories of various types in my 240 litre. I've got 6 peppered, 5 bronze, 6 panda, 3 melini and 3 smudge spots. I'd add more too if I wasn't on a list to move soon

 

[jag51186]

I think it's 285 liters if Google is to be believed lol

 

[Akasha72]

my googling said 340 lol ... google is not being our friend lol
 
Either way you have loads of room

 

[jag51186]

 
New pic again, added a bunch more plants!

Lined the back with italian Val, got some big Ozelot Swords, some more Anubias for the driftwood, and put some Java Moss on the left piece of wood, which you can't really see yet.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Meh... I would go with a different type of sand, honestly. I choose play sand for my 55 gallon annnnd.... Meh, that's all I got to say. I really don't really mind it too much? It just doesn't look too pretty, that's all. I would recommend pool sand. It's finer, but extremely white, maybe you'd want to go with a darker substrate? I don't know... It's your tank dude, go with what you think would look nice.
But back to the play sand, I bought fine from a... "Chain store that specializes in home improvements", and I saw some out of the bag and it looked nice, i thought my cories would like it, it wasn't rough and it had different colored sand, I thought it would make things look natural. But I kind of regret choosing play sand. But on the other side my 55 gallon isn't really meant to be a aquascaped masterpiece. It's really just meant as a jungle-like garden of plants and some fish.

 

[Akasha72]

looking lovely Jag, nice and natural looking and very healthy looking too. You're obviously doing something right
 
I need to pull myself together this weekend and do something with my own tank. One of my filters has slowed to a virtual stop (gonna put the laptop down in a mo and clean it out!) and my swords are covered in diatom algae where the oto's can't  get at it. My glass wants a clean too. I really am letting things slip just lately but my angels are thinking about breeding and I don't want to disturb them too much. I tried to clean my glass the other night and the female went nuts biting the handle of the scraper ... she's super aggressive right now!
 
Keep up the good work!

 

[jag51186]

Might as well throw up another update pic since this tank never stays the same for long! lol
 

 

[Byron]

Still looking very nice, indeed.  I would just get a few floating plants.

 

[jag51186]

Still looking very nice, indeed.  I would just get a few floating plants.

 
I actually moved my frogbit to a different tank because the plants that were shaded by it were growing more algae and not doing quite as well. The fish don't seem to mind to my eye, they tend to get plenty of shade from the giant sword plant in the center.

 

[jag51186]

It's officially been a year since I started this thread! Not quite a year for the tank yet, but getting pretty close. So, I figured I would celebrate by letting you all see another picture of it's current iteration.
 

 
So far, I like this a lot. I am planning on getting some Anubias or Bucephalandra to put on the flat piece of driftwood. I have some Java Fern in another tank, so I may put some of that in there as well.

 

[HarpyFishLover]

That is so pretty!

 

[jag51186]

That is so pretty!

 
Thank you! I'm not sure how I feel about the bunched Sword plants. But, I'm liking the right a lot!

 

[Akasha72]

oh wow ... I'm liking that a lot. I like the piece of wood standing upright