Getting back into planted tanks!!!

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

So I've been taking it easy for the last week, I was more concerned about my 2002 Dodge Durango R/T 5.9l V-8 because I thought the transmission was going out because I went out to get some McDonalds and on the way back she was having trouble shifting from 1st to 2nd and the check engine light came on...

Well I took her out today to hit Home Depot to get some hacksaw blades, the check engine light was still on but no trouble shifting gears, I hit 7-11 on the way back to pick up a can of Copenhagen and when I got back into the truck and started her up but I disengaged the over drive and the check engine light shut off lol.

So I'm thinking that because it was really cold outside when she had problems shifting gears it caused the transmission to sort of lock up in first gear. Because today it's alot warmer out and she didn't have any problems, so hopefully it's fixed!!!!

NOW BACK TO THE TANK!!!!!

I didn't know my hacksaw is missing a piece to lock in the blade, so needless to say I used it by hand to trim the driftwood pieces that were sticking out of the tank... I also took the glass tops aparts, and reset the to fit the tank right and close all the way!!!!

So now the tank is ready to be filled again!!! But first I need to clean the tank again because of the sawdust from trimming the driftwood, then I can move the filter from my 45 gallon tank back to this 30 gallon and finally get it filled back up and running!!!

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

So after browsing a whole lot of planted tanks on google I have decided that I'm not going to fill the tank, I plan to go through all of the driftwood I have and go with scape 2!!! I figure why set the tank up right now just to tear down again in the near future lol.

I know I have enough driftwood lying around that I could get a good scape out of them, so tomorrow the plan is to tear the tank back down in other words take out all of the flourite, and sift out the root tabs I had already laid out in the flourite. I'll pick up some egg crate, and play sand from Home Depot on Wednesday, and get started on the layout!!!

I have around 300 zip ties on hand that'll be used to tie down the driftwood to the egg crate, so back to the planning stage for this tank lol...

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

I finally picked up some plastic egg crate so I can get started on the hardscape, but I need to cut it down to size first lol... Also I couldn't help myself, I went to Petsmart to get some dog food and had to see what plants they just got in!!! I picked up a big Amazon Sword that already has a growth shoot on it, I picked up some Hygro corybosa, and a pack of plant bulbs that has a Tiger Lotus, Onion plant, and 4 Aponogeton bulbs...

Of course the plants will be left in the plastic tubes for a couple days while I work on the hardscape, but they'll be under the T5HO lighting so they'll stay healthy!!!

(Voice of UFC ppv dude) IT'S TIME!!!! To get started on the scape!!!

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

So I'm done with the hardscape for tonight, tomorrow I'll see what I think of it after taking some time away from the tank, and then if I think it needs some tweaking then I'll work on it until I like what I see. Tomorrow I plan to work on leveling out the stand so the tank is better situated, once I get the stand taken care of I can add root tabs around the bottom, and then layout the substrate.

Normally I seem to change one of my tanks every 3-6 months, but I want to finally build a planted tank that stays for a long time!!!

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

So the is back up, and running!!! Will take some pictures once the water clears up!!! I also moved about 15 Dwarf Water Lettuce plants from my 45 gallon which has a cheap generic LED light so the plants are nickle size and under, but under the T5HO lighting on this tank I can finally grow them out again. For some reason I love growing water lettuce, and once the top of the tank is completely covered I always give most of them away, and do it again.

With T5HO I was clearing out my 45 gallon tank every 1-2 months, and just giving them away to people on craigslist here in Denver. I plan to get a good amount of cryptocoryne wendtii green because I like how they look when bunched up!!! I also want to get a couple crypt. wendtii 'florida sunset' because they can get pretty big and take a good amount of space.

I'm thinking this will be my plant list...

1 - Amazon Sword
4-5 - Anubias nanna (to cover base of driftwood)
6 - Sagittaria Broadleaf
12 - Sagittaria Narrow leaf
6-10 - Jungle Val
2 big groups - Cabomba green
4 - Crypt. Wendtii Florida sunset
around 10 - Crypt. Wendtii green
4 - Crypt. Balansae
10 stalks - Hygro. Corybosa
and maybe a few others!

 

[Fat Homer]

Let see some pics Bro!!! This thread has too much text and not enough photos... even a dirty tank would be nice to look at...

Anyway, still learning names of a lot of plants in English, so from what i do know, sounds like it should be interesting, but still, i wanna see some pics

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

Ok, ok, as you can see the tank is still cloudy, hopefully tomorrow it'll clear up so I can take better pics...

 

[Fat Homer]

^ I like the way you set out the wood... can't wait to see how you decide to place the plants...

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

Thanks, I'm thinking of getting some play sand to cover flourite so it's less abrasive especially because I want to add a school of 5 Peppered Corydoras catfish. I would only put around a 1/4" of play sand, just enough that the cories can swim across it without any damage to their fins, but not deep enough to hinder planting of new plants because if the sand is 1/2" or deeper when you try to add new plants to the tank and push the plant into the substrate the sand gets drawn down with roots of the plant.

 

[Fat Homer]

^ yeah, i always wanted to add sand to my dirted tanks but didnt like the idea of it all mixing together over time, plus cleaning it out if you dont want it is a really big hassle...