Tale Of Two Tanks

[Ryan12]

Hello all! I've been on the forums for about a year now. I post sometimes on here but i spend most of my time in the chat. One of my favorite sections of the forums to check out regularly is the planted journals, so I got to thinking, why don't I produce a Journal myself? I have two 30 gallon tanks (I acquired both throughout my year+ as a fishkeepeer). I thought it would be fairly unique to put the two tanks right next to each other and 'scape them like they were one tank rather than two. It provides me with an interesting challenge, without all the fun of a 60 gallon tank . One of the tanks I had with me down at University and was taken care of for the most part, the other I left at home under the care for my mother and was not taken care of very well. The latter tank I recently took out the gravel and added eco-complete and threw in a couple of plants before i could get a formal re-scaping done. I recently got around to doing the re-scape on my tanks and took some pictures of the process so I thought i would share with you all.

Before the re-scape:

After:

Specs:
Tank - 2x 30 gallon tanks (i'm pretty sure they're cheapy ones, im not sure as they were second-hand tanks)
Lighting - x 13w 6500K CFL bulbs (total of 1.73 WPG)[Picture Below]
Ferts and CO2 - None
Filtration - Penguin Biowheel 150B (left tank), AquaClear20 and Topfin20 (right tank)
Substrate - Eco-Complete in both
Plants:
Left tank - Java moss, Subwasertang, Java Fern ("taiwan" moss mixed in),crinum calamistratum, Heteranthera zosterifolia, Hygrophilia Polysperma, Ludwigia palustris, Cryptocoryne wendtii "red" and "green", Anubias barteri var. "nana"(not pictured).
Right tank - Java moss, Java Fern ("taiwan" moss mixed in), Heteranthera zosterifolia, Hygrophilia Polysperma, Ludwigia palustris, Cryptocoryne wendtii "red" and "green", Hygrophila corymbosa 'Kompakt', Anubias barteri var. "nana"(not pictured)
Livestock:
Left tank - 12 Zebra Danios (I bred them ),and some cherry Shrimp
Right tank - 11 Boraras urophthalmoides, 15 corydora habrosus,and 3 Sparkling Gouramis (at least 1 male and 1 female)

For the lighting to make things more clear I took a picture. I followed a friend of mine's guide to making a custom lighting unit.

As for this Journal I would like to learn some things and hopefully get much better as a planted tank wizard hobbyist. That being said I welcome lots of constructive criticisms (I hope someone out there will give me some complements too though lol). Before I leave I wanted to leave some pictures that I took throughout the whole re-scaping process. I know I love to look at pictures of other people's tanks so I hope some of you out there do too.

Enjoy!

The right tank after pulling out all the plants (got a little cloudy).

The Plants outside the tank:

Grouping of Java Fern, Ludwiga, and the Crinium

Stargrass, Hygro 'kompact', and dwarf hygro

Subwasertang on some Manzanita wood

Crypts

Java Moss (and some Taiwan Moss mixed in)

The java ferns split up into more manageable sizes

Drained the tanks

The Staging of the driftwood (collected from my backyard)

Some of the wood with the attached plants

The wood w/ plants attached back in the half-filled tanks (Almost done!)

All done!


Here are some extra pictures i took of the plants.

Some of my danios zippin' about

 

[clay]

that is way cool . if i was still running freshwater i would try it. but still awesome tank

 

[coldcazzie]

I really like it! They looked good sat next to each other before but the after pictures are really good! Will look wonderful once it's grown in some

 

[ian]

looks great Ryan, have seen this kind of thing done before, and you seem to have nailed it! Well done mate!

keep us updated.

 

[Trod]

What a brilliant idea, I love it

 

[hensonc4098]

Really like the way you've cut(?) the bogwood in the middle so that it looks like half is in one tank and half is in the other

 

[Ryan12]

Thanks for the words of encouragement so far!

Really like the way you've cut(?) the bogwood in the middle so that it looks like half is in one tank and half is in the other

When I was envisioning what i wanted to do with my predicament (the two tanks right next to each other), I thought the best thing to do was do a piece of driftwood between the two tanks. Ian, I'm a little disappointed to hear that I wasn't the first one to do it this way, but thank you for the kind words. Are there any journals or pics you can come across of what other people have done with the two tanks that you know of?

A tank update though, the right tank has some pretty dark tannins. I'm not too worried about it, the boraras in there are supposed to be well-suited, if not better-off, with the tea-colored water. Im a little upset that the tea-color is so profound in the right tank and non-existant in the left tank, but o-well, that's the hobby for ya . I'll have pictures later today, the tank lights haven't come on just yet.

 

[ian]

I'll link the journal from another forum, as we don't have it on here (which keeps me within the rules)

'actually i cannot find it/them at the min...'

There is this though, they are called a 'composition scapes'

 

[Ryan12]

cool! Thanks for the vid Ian. If i'm not mistaken some of those tanks are George Farmer's right?

 

[Ryan12]

Tannins:

Also in the last few days i picked up some anubias

A little shrimp eating off of some Java Moss

And now a real question. So I was in the TFF chat trying to figure out what kinda stocking i should add to the left tank and I was unable to come to a decision. In that tank I have cherry shrimp and Zebra Danios. Any non-cichlid, non-livebearer suggestions?

 

[lljdma06]

Hmmmm...

rasboras, barbs, gouramis... I think you should keep the species SE Asian, though, like the other tank.

I like this very much. Very fun to see a scape like this here. Brilliant with the wood!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Awesome

 

[Ryan12]

Tank update!

It's been awhile, some changes have happened. Besides one piece of driftwood, they are all sinking to the bottom now. Basically that means no unsightly rocks holding them down. However, i still have the unsightly rocks in the tank on the left but thats primarily because i haven't thought too much as to the actual placement of them.

Another major change is the stocking on the left tank. Nothing was added but the Danios are now gone, I sold them to a friend. So now i'm mulling over new stocking ideas, and suggestions are welcome. Cherry shrimp still reside in that tank.

But without further ado, here are some tank shots from today:

A Little shrimp:

Dwarf hygro in both tanks:
Right Tank:

Left Tank:

I'm slightly concerned that the hydro specifically is growing long and leggy in the tank on the right (i've already had to trim it once), whereas the dwarf hygro in the left is staying mostly compact. Does this indicate some sort of deficiency in nutrients or something in the tank on the right?

 

[Ryan12]

Im think i decided on the new inhabitants, apisto cacatuoides and a school/shoal of threadfin rainbows. What do you all think about thee choices?