Tropical Fish Forums

[Caton]

Whoa... That is all.
_________________

[katienaha]

Eew I know what you mean, I made the mistake of just tossing in my driftwood into my tank without soaking or boiling and I regret it, dealing with all the tannins. But I am doing a tear-down in 6 days when I move.. I might take that thing out and boil it now to get more tannin out of it and try to keep the problem to a minimum. My plants are suffering because of it.
_________________
Let the current take you where you may not always want to go.

[Fusion2002]

I got the Amazon Sword Planted. I also planted Dwarf Hairgrass in the front, and I have some Java Fern behind the rocks. I have not tied them down yet because I'm waiting for the drift wood to finish soaking. Any suggestions on the general layout would be appreciated. Once the drift wood is in I have a feeling things will start really shaping up.

I also have my Co2 system in place. I got a power head and ran the outlet into it. I'm running about 1-2 drops per second at the moment.

Planting kicked up a ton of dust.

[UncleWillie]

As far as layout goes, go with what pleases you. I used to think that bowfronts had to be set up perfectly symmetrical around the center. Sure, they look good like that, but over the last 7 months I have been experimenting with having the focal point being off-center. I have this point with large tall pieces of driftwood with java fern attached, and then having plants sloping downwards from either side of the drift wood (an off-centered mound). Look up 'art of aquascaping' or something like that and you can get some pretty nice results.

[Fusion2002]

I have the driftwood in the tank now. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the positioning but I think it's an OK start. Currently my Water parameters are pH 7.4 KH 11 Ammonia 0 Nitrites 0. I'm going to keep an eye on things to see if the driftwood affects my pH at all. I'd really like to see my pH down to about 6.5 to match the natural conditions of my stocking list. I do have a R/O unit I can use so I might slowly bring down the pH by using filtered water. It seems that seeding my filter with the media from my 10 gallon plus the abundance of plants have done well at keeping down the Ammonia and Nitrites. Otherwise Its time to let the plants settle a bit and then I'll start adding some fish. One thing that I am amazed at, is the rate that the plants are growing with this Co2 system. They all pearl like crazy, and I can see new shoots all over the place.

Here is my planned stocking list as of right now. I plan on introducing them slowly over the next few months.

6 Otto's
6-12 Lemon Tetras
15-30 Cardinal Tetras
6-10 Rasbora's (I know they aren't Amazon but my wife loves them! Plus they match water parameters very well)
2 Gold Rams (not for a long time)

[Fusion2002]

Here is an update from 7 days of growth for the plants. The lighting is messed up because of my phone, but my Cabomba is kinda turning yellow, but I have a feeling this is shock from being replanted. The tips are a bright green, and they have been pearling a lot. As you can see the pygmy chain sword is growing a lot. The Dwarf hairgrass is starting to send up new shoots as well. I picked up 6 lemon Tetras, and 3 Otto's a few days ago. They all seem to be doing very well.

1 Platty
1 Cherry Barb
4 Otto's
6 Lemon Tetra

[rales12]

Lookin' good!!! Its amazing how quickly those plants seem to grow.

I really like your piece of driftwood.

[Caton]

Great! Please keep us updated!
_________________

[Fusion2002]

Another update, 25 days after the last picture. The Cabomba really has died off on the left side of the tank, some is thriving but I'm not sure why it never took root very well. Madagascar Lace Leaf is going crazy, as well as my Amazon Sword. The pygmy chain sword is taking off as well in the left foreground.

[rales12]

Wow!!! That's a lot of growth! Except the Cabomba... it really doesn't look so good. >_<

Are the plants on the right side of your tank going to fill in some more? It seems a bit... drab over there.

Overall, its lookin' great! You are inspiring me to get started on planting a tank here soon!