Jennifer Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 As many of you saw this tank in progress when you were down at conference, I thought I would post some pics now that I have started planting and populating it. It is still in the early stages and some aspects are still in progress. The right hand side is largely just a placeholder until the rest gets established and the new plants are ready. Dimensions: 1830mm long x 500mm high x 500mm deep Volume: approx 400L Glass: 10mm all sides, European bracing Heating: Jager 300w x 2 Filtration: FX5, heavy on biological filtration; Fluval 405, mechanical filtration Lighting: 4 strips T5 Powerglow (two strips on a 5 hour photoperiod for two weeks to allow the plants to adjust) Co2: Injected and pH controlled Substrate: Dalton's propagating sand + JBL root balls under crypts and swords Other fertilisation: NPK and Flourish comprehensive 4x weekly, 50% weekly water change Fish (so far): Red rainbows x 2 (more to be added) Boesman rainbows x 2 (more to be added) Praecox rainbows x 6 Green fire tetras x 40 Spotted hatchetfish x 6 Red whiptails x 2 Gold bristlenose ancistrus x 2 Siamese algae eaters x 2 Gold zebra loaches x 6 Striata loaches x 6 Plants (so far, some will stay and some will go): Anubias barteri v. barteri Anubias barteri v. 'nana' (Anubias barteri v. 'nana golden') Anubias barteri v. nana 'petite' Anubias barteri 'marble' Bolbitis heudelotti Cryptocoryne wendtii v. “Brown” Cryptocoryne wendtii de witt "Red" Cryptocoryne lutea Cryptocoryne crispatula v. “Balansae Green” Cryptocoryne affinis Echinodorus x. “Rubin” Ludwigia arcuata Ludwigia repens Microsorum pteropus v.'Windeløv' Microsorum pteropus v. 'narrow leaf' Nymphaea lotus 'Zenkeri' Vesicularia montagnei Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Wow what a good looking tank, looks like it will be awesome when everything starts growing Good work! Nice combos of fish there too.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Nice! I like the Boesmanis rainbows the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 very cool Jennifer I like those red rainbows too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gagaforfish Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 its so pretty!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Looks awesome! I love the colours of the rainbows - they look cool against the green plants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 very nice, stunning to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Needs some red sword plants such as barthii, red special, horamanii red. Leave a bit of room in the front for horizontalis and parviflorus tropica. Looking good so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nymox Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Its looking great Jen, and I love the rainbows too, they look very nice in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Hi Jennifer, your tank is gorgeous and I just love those rainbows. Did you get them in ChCh? I'm from Dunedin and we never see lovely fish like that down here. One of our shops has "Bosman Rainbows", but it is basically a dull white colour. Would love to know where you can get those colours from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted June 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 They are Boesmani, Reds and Praecox rainbows. I bought them locally, most shops can get them in for you. You can buy them young but they don't colour up until they are mature and it is the males that will have the best colour although the red rainbows have females that look very nice as well. They are easiest to sex when they are a bit older too. I feed them a wide variety of foods, including live foods and that really helps develop good colour. The males will also display better colour if they have a female to display to (although males will display to each other too). There are some nice young ones here in town (although they are young), and I go down to Dunedin a lot so I can bring some down if you end up not being able to source them there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diver21 Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 wow thats really nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted June 24, 2010 Report Share Posted June 24, 2010 Nice work Jen. All it needs now is a fancy plec or two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishplants Posted June 25, 2010 Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 Looks brilliant Jennifer! What size are the T5 tubes? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted June 25, 2010 Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 Wow Jennifer that is just fantastic! Simply amazing. How deep is the substrate? Is that dark stuff on top of the Dalton's seperate type of substrate? The warehouse here has HEAPS of 20 liter bags of Dalton's Propagating sand, and I was thinking about getting some for my tank, but it is rather pale and I'm not too sure about it. I like the look of Burnt Sienna from Petstuff101 because its not too fine and its rather dark, but it's quite expensive, plus I'd have to get it shipped to me, which will cost extra money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted June 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 There are 4 double balasts and each holds two 3 foot tubes. I will try to post a pic a bit later. Joe, it is all Daltons (60 litres of it in total, about 4 inches deep). Daltons has a mixture of sand as well as the same type of sifted pebbles that were in the planted tank that you liked. The fine sand settles to the bottom, which the plants appreciate, and leaves the pebbles at the surface. Best of all it looks natural and only cost $4 a bag! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishplants Posted June 25, 2010 Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 There are 4 double balasts and each holds two 3 foot tubes. I will try to post a pic a bit later. So 4 ballast x 2 tubes equals 8 x 849mm tubes in total? (I did that without a calculator too!) Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted June 25, 2010 Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 The fine sand settles to the bottom, which the plants appreciate, and leaves the pebbles at the surface. Interesting. I've always heard that the plants prefer fine gravel like the Sienna, so I want your opinion on something - is Dalton's better that Burnt Sienna, or would Sienna be better than Dalton's? I want to make sure that my plants are getting the best substrate possible. I don't know as much about plants as you, and I'm kind of new to plants, because I used to just be interested in the fish. But I'm pleased that I'm into plants now, because I've found that properly planted aquariums are very pleasing, but I've never really had a lot of success with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 25, 2010 Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 DAltons costs $12 a bag up here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted June 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2010 DAltons costs $12 a bag up here Actually, it is $8 a bag here (at the red shed) but they are going out of the Daltons range so all products are discounted. I wonder if they are discontinuing Daltons at other locations around the country? ... is Dalton's better that Burnt Sienna... I wouldn't worry too much about which is "better," it won't matter unless you have very fussy plants in which case you need to know what acidity and nutrient levels of soil that they prefer. Just go with what you like. I am tending to like the natural look these days and I liked Daltons because it has a lot of that fine greywacke that I like so much in my other tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted June 26, 2010 Report Share Posted June 26, 2010 I think I'll go for the Burnt Sienna, but it is very expensive. But I suppose since the Dalton's has that fine gravel stuff in it, then I might be able to sift it. I'll have a think. But first I have to sell my tank and get one rebuilt to the size that I like, and then I can worry about substrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trav Posted June 26, 2010 Report Share Posted June 26, 2010 do u wana come and set up my tanks???? yours is amzing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted July 5, 2010 Report Share Posted July 5, 2010 Niiiiice, trade still on offer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracytrout Posted July 6, 2010 Report Share Posted July 6, 2010 Your tank is absolutely beeeeeautiful .....wish I hadn't sold my Boesemani's now :roll: , the males are stunning when they get their adult colours . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deepsound Posted July 6, 2010 Report Share Posted July 6, 2010 Very nice setup ! I love the effect of the driftwood and the cryptocoryne crispatula. Well done ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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