50G planted tank setup journal

Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
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Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
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Finally picked up the Co2 kit yesterday, and then decided to redo the whole layout to make it look more natural if you will... now just gotta decide what type of plants to grow :naughty:

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Naos1984

Jack Dempsey
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Sep 9, 2012
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Very interesting! How do you subscribe to this thread? I have only started with plants last week so I have a long way to go. I will certainly try my hand at this after the Chinese New Year. Which one will you replicate? I like picture #2 in your list though #1 is also cool. Whatever you choose, I will certainly read through.
 

Fat Homer

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^ Thanks for the compliment :)

I only got serious with high-tech planted tanks a few months back myself so i've still got a lot to learn too, although i'm also quite lucky to know one of the guys who won 1st place at one of the ADA contests a few years back for tips ;)

As for the direction, i'm going to be basing it sort of off the 1st pic, but using a HC carpet instead and then maybe some dwarf hair grass along with maybe a few other types of carpet plants which havent quite decided on yet...


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Naos1984

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 9, 2012
712
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Pasig, Philippines
^ Thanks for the compliment :)

I only got serious with high-tech planted tanks a few months back myself so i've still got a lot to learn too, although i'm also quite lucky to know one of the guys who won 1st place at one of the ADA contests a few years back for tips ;)

As for the direction, i'm going to be basing it sort of off the 1st pic, but using a HC carpet instead and then maybe some dwarf hair grass along with maybe a few other types of carpet plants which havent quite decided on yet...


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I have been reading alot about the carpeting. I plan on having a custom 50 or 100 gallon myself for a planted tank next year. Reading on equipment, plant profiles and all about aquascaping in general. So far my cichlid tank trial and few small planted tanks are working. When you said dollars, are you referring to HKD or USD? It sounds too cheap to be HKD but if it were, I will go shopping now. Hahaha! Also, where are you buying your supplies?

Back to your planted tank... I was supposed to propose a riparium which I saw here the other day. What fish are you planning to add when the aquascaping is done?
 

Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
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^ I wish it were HK prices, but nah, i converted it to USD for this site to make life easier...

But right now i've been buying pretty much everything from 3 stores which i know the owners of to help support them, although the tank and lights i bought else where since they didnt have the sizes i need...

As far as stocking, this tank will start off as a strictly crystal red shrimp only tank... Thinking of spulrging on a maybe 4 higher grade CRS and starting a colony from that, the. Later on may add some algae eaters although still debating that since to get a CRS colony going may take a while :)


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Fat Homer

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Since all the equipment was all organized, i went out and picked up some plants today for the carpets (HC and Hair grass) along with 2 other plants i don't know the english name of :p

Some pics of the whole setup process which included a back breaking 8 hours planting due to the fact of picking the HC apart :swear: and then individually planting the pieces back in the tank :screwy: , but at least i think the result should hopefully be worth it...

To try and control the grow of the carpets a bit and make my life a little easier, i decided to break up the tank into sections where i wanted divide the two carpets for a more distinct look ...
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This time i decided if i was going to go high tech, might as well go all the way so went with the ADA iron bottom and multi bottom nutrient sticks to really kick start the plant growth...
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After having divided everything and setting up the ferts i started to fill the bottom of the tank up first to make sure the soil wouldn't run while planting...
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After planting all the HC along with the rest of the plants here is a shot from when it was half full... since i forgot to take a pic when it was just the HC...
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And finally, the tank filled up and now running... all i gotta do now is wait for the water to clear and then wait to add some shrimp at a later time :naughty:
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As always, thoughts, comments are more than welcome...

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Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
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Woke up to a little bit of a disaster... Seems the filter is a little too strong and moved a whole load of dirt into a mound and messed up my scape... So going to have to try and work put how to solve this problem...


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Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
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cool. Thanks for converting those prices to the USD for us 'mericans lol, i really like planted tanks.
No worries, glad someone found it interesting :)

And finally the last parts the of the list;

Co2 kit: $100
Fert sticks $47
Plants: $390

Brining the whole setup total to: USD $645.7

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