Wow what a fantastic tank.

Any tips for growing plants that cover the bottom of the tank using flouro lights, I can't afford metal halide ones, but would love to have more coverage over the gravel of my tank so I don't have to use a gravel vac.

Going well Mystic.

Discus are doing really well, there are 3 pairs doing the wild thing every week. All the pairs are getting their fry up to the point were they are feeding on there sides but lose them to the rosy tetras by the next day. It’s a bit of a shame really, I feel quite sorry for the parents.

I should really take some of the pairs out and let them raise some fry in a bare tank. But the thought of catching them is putting me off. Or I could get rid of the r/tetras, Im not to sure they were the best choice for this tank as they tend tobe a little over enthusiastic when im feeding (the water boils). Cardinals would have been a better choice. One thing I have enjoyed with the r/tetras is watching them breed.

Hi Me love fishy.

I never had much luck growing good ground cover until this tank and this being the first tank I have run M/Hs Im putting there rampant growth down to the extra light. It seams to me the m/hs have better penetration giving plenty of light at depth. You could try adding some more fluros.

Thanks Freshwest. I will definitely think about adding another fluoro, I get good growth from Java ferns and I have an amazon sword that enjoys the low light, but sadly any grass type plants seem to die.

do you have any more photos of your tank? would love to see them

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Nice river I mean tank you could put some Pacu in there

Awesome pics!! Your tank is probably the same size as my house!! I`m green with envy. Ah, one day...

Pixie.x

I`m green with envy. Ah, one day...

yes pixiejanet one day we'll go to his place knock him out and take over the tank muhhahahahaaaaaa.....

yes pixiejanet one day we'll go to his place knock him out and take over the tank muhhahahahaaaaaa.....

Luke notes being green with envy is better than being green with algae.

Freshwest you feel sorry for the parents...what about the FRY??!!?? They're the poor ones getting eaten. I'd definitely remove the tetras if you don't have enough space to house 3 pairs. I reckon the fry would grow quick enough to soon not be eaten by cardinal tetras.

Me Love Fishy, dwarf siggitaria seems to grow okay as a ground cover plant with good fluros (ideally less than 6-12 months old too). But if you really want a good cover you need MH.

One of the things we havent seen throughout this whole project is the sump, plumbing, pumps....

I would be quite interested to see a few pics of those things if possible freshwest

That would be awesome

Rogan

Fresh, can I ask what ferts you're using and if you're injecting CO2?

Still drooling over this masterpiece. My tank is coming along though. You definitely inspired me to take it up a few notches.

Would be dead keen to get some of that sword ground cover. Getting a bit tired of dwarf sag.

Sorry for the slow response to your questions.

Kim and Blue

The fert I use is PMDD. I had the trace elements mixed for me by a hydroponics outfit to the PMDD recipe. For macros, I add kno3; k2so4, mgso4, and p. As far as the amount I dose it’s a bit of an estimate based on plant colour and algae growth.

It would be too expensive to use commercial ferts like flourish.

With regards to CO2 I rent a BOC bottle and have it connected to a pH controller set at 7pH. The bubble rate is to fast to count. The co2 is diffused through two reactors at each end of the tank.

Evilknieval69.

Im sure there is some pics of the sump and plumbing some were in the thread. I think Ian got it in the video he did as well.

The sump is very basic. Consists of a 200 L drum (sump) with the overflow water passing through a 1 meter tall 150 mm pipe filled with filter wool and media which stands in the middle of the barrel. It works ok but tends to get blocked quite quickly. I plan to change to a more conventional sump soon. Im going to make it out of a couple of 3 foot tanks one to be the filter and the other to hold the return pump , heaters and co2 reactor . Should be much better .

o yip there is a shot of the back of the tank back in the thread that has the drum in it. just didnt realise it was the sump

Thanks for that.

Looking good by the way, got any recent pics?

Rogan

Took some pics of the tank last night. Unfortunately, the shot of the whole tank was crap, but I did get a pic of the lotus from the surface. As you can see, it has grown quite a bit. I will try again tonight to get some from the front.

The "Lotus" you refer to, is there any other name for it? Where can you buy it from, is it a pond plant?

I have a 600mm deep tank and want a "lilly pad" type plant.

It is tiger Lotus, not a pond plant. often hard to find.

Cant wait for the full tank pic(s)

petey- its not that common in shops (im told auckland prices for this plant is out of this world!!) but it is pretty common amoung hobbiests. i am unsure if it would handle a pond but it would be fine in your 600mm deep tank if you had sufficient lighting. those leaves dont always get like that, they are normally submerged and spotty, i believe they send those leaves to the tops when they want to send out runners or something like that :lol: it just depends whether you let them stay like that or chop em

it looks stunning

Cant wait for the full tank pic(s)

ditto

Banana plant (Nymphaeoides aquatica) will do a similar thing

Thanks Sharn, there is a plant similar to this in the Jansens pet store in Botany in Auckland, they have this huge ( and I mean huge ! ) tank with a curved front, it must be 6foot tall and 4 foot wide by about 4 foot deep.

I may have to ask them what their plant is?

This plant is really dominating the tank. Not sure why its gone to this form.

For the first few months it grew quite compact them gradually each new leaf grow a bit taller until every leaf now grows to the surface.

What Sharn said about if growing like this when they want to put out runner sounds right as it is producing quite a few new plants.

I think I paid around $20 each and I planted three.

Seeing the way this plant has grown has got me thinking about remodeling the tank in a few months.

My idea is to add more wood and have the lotus growing up through the brunches. This will mean little of no ground cover as the lotus leaves will cut out a lot of light. The plan will be to grow some Java fern on the wood to get some green into the aquascape. Im also thinking about taking the discus out and adding some Geophagus surinamensis, Satanoperca jurupari ,Uaras, a good size school of Peruvian angles and some cardinals.

The overall picture will be a quiet shady Amazonian backwater. It is a shame lotus and Java fern do not come from the amazon, as it would then be a biotope.

I would advise of caution if adding Jurapari or Surinesis to a planted tank as these "eartheaters" live up to their name and spend their lives sifting through the gravel and creating quite a cloud of debris in their wake.

The lotus can be encouraged to stay submersed if the taller growing leaves are regularly trimmed off (ie it starts trying to reach the surface again) and it then forms a thick submerse form which IMO looks very good.

It is a lily as is banana plant

Some good thoughts there Glen. I had be told you can prune the leaves to keep it compact. I have gone for a natural look for this tank so Im happy with the way it has developed without to much intervention from me.

If I decide to go for a new tank setup, I will be making sure the root zones of the plants are protected from the geos. It’s the Uaras Im worried about if they take a liking to a plant they can really do some damage.

Got a crappy pic of the tank last night. Its really hard to get a good shot mainly because I have to take it from quite a distance from the tank to fit it in. I also have a problem with the pics being over exposed were the M/H lights shine through in places. In addition, I have crappy camera.

Very nice photo despite the crappy camera

I bet we all wish our tanks looked that good!