First attempt at a planted tank (pic heavy)

[Zdoda]

So, after being envious of all the nicely planted tanks i keep seeing thought i would give it a shot and start to learn more about how to keep plants alive firstly, then worry with aquascaping the tank. and after my disastrous start with the massive algae outbreak, finally got it sorted and thought i would post some pics of the tank. Sorry about the pics quality, but i really suck at taking photos ! any tips ? :slfg:

Fish specs:

120 Neon Tetra's going to be aiming for 200 of them.

2 Veil Tail Rams

2 Loaches

1 Scarlet Badis

1 Agassiz double red

2 Brown Bristle nose

1 Gold Bristle nose

2 Red stripped killies

Tank Spec:

375ltr

Black gravel flourite mixed with normal gravel stone

JBL balls

JBL AquaBasis Plus

2 x 54w Arcadia Lights

DIY Co2. (hopefully one day pressure Co2)

Filteration:

2 x Fluval internals

1 x Sunsun external

1 x Eheim 2075 Prof 3

let me know what you think, open to all comments good or bad

[Zev]

Looking good, I like that you have a large shoal of the same fish rather than a whole bunch of different types.

[Zdoda]

Looking good, I like that you have a large shoal of the same fish rather than a whole bunch of different types.

Thanks, yeah i myself prefer a large shoal of the same type than to mix 3 - 5 different types of shoaling fish, find it distracts from the main shoaling school.

I am thinking about adding Discus down the track, but unsure as to how to feed them cause by then i would have 200 neon's darting like mad around the tank, :slfg:

[AquaLife]

I have always love planted tank but never get to do them properly. Very frankly, I'm hopeless with plants haha. Had googled a few utube video only yesterday and was blown away at their beauty. Same here, would love to do one up with discus, plus some schooling and bottom dwellers

[doddle69]

i think you need a bit more wood in there

[supasi]

Hi

Do you have a full tank shot?

What are the dimensions of the tank?

What sort of lighting? T5, T5HO or T8?

[Sophia]

good layout and a nice selection of plants Shaun. They will grow like crazy with the Co2 and fill in the gaps pretty quick

[b16a2]

nice setup and good choice with the agazizi

[Caryl]

It will be fun to see the updates as everything grows.

[Zdoda]

@ doddle69 - yeah fully agree, its just trying to find a good looking driftwood piece, that's the hard part. i got a small piece in there just for the bristlenoses to enjoy at present.

@ Supasi - will try and get a full shot of the tank, tmrw going to borrow a decent camera from sister.

tank size is 1500 L x 500W x 500H - whoops just calcd that it makes it 375 ltrs. not 450ltrs. :sml2:

lights atm are 54watt T5HO x 2 - Arcadia Plant Pro, ( i had 2 other lights as well on the tank that were 2 x t5HO 54w Life Glo - 6700k) but with the algae breakout i had i stopped using those lights and haven't set them back up yet as a bit reluctant incase the lighting was to much, but if anyone has suggestions or recommendations on this be greatly appreciated.

@ Sophia - Thanks, yeah i am hoping with even the DIY Co2 it will be sufficient. I grabbed 3 Hagen co2 bottles today off b16a2 :thup: abit of a chore to keep it going, but till i can find a decent priced co2 system for around $300 - 350 mark. I would love to have glosso in my tank for covering.

@b16a2 - Thanks man, and again shot for the 3 hagen canisters and hope your algae problem is fixed soon!

@ Caryl - Thanks, yeah will keep either a weekly or every 2 week photo + diary of the tank, that way i can gauge what is working and if anything goes wrong, give me a clearer understanding what may have gone wrong.

[peet]

Go for it Shaun.. wait till you see the growth with CO2... it's like steroids for plants. Keep trimming those hydrocotyle so they stay low to the ground. If I remember correctly you can stick the cut off piece with the leaf back into the substrate and it will re-root. That will give you a nice compact carpeting look

[ryanjury]

Tank is looking good mate Can't wait to see what it looks like in a month or 2 (unless you get that nasty algae back that is..).

[Zdoda]

So again HFF albany is the best, :thup: couldn't help myself and went in again today (pretty sure i could live there) and bought another 45 neons to the collection, so up to 120 Neons now.

Go for it Shaun.. wait till you see the growth with CO2... it's like steroids for plants. Keep trimming those hydrocotyle so they stay low to the ground. If I remember correctly you can stick the cut off piece with the leaf back into the substrate and it will re-root. That will give you a nice compact carpeting look

Thanks, cool will do - will give that a shot this week, do some trimming and cleaning of the plants.

@ Ryan, cheers man, yeah i hope it doesn't come back, but pretty sure with all the plants taken so good now any nutrients are being quickly taken by the plants so no food for the algae (fingers cross).