# 36 planted bowfront



## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

well I decided today on an impulse to go and get a new tank, I figured 30+ fish and shrimp, and plants was a whole lot to be happening in a little 20 gal.. so I purchased this 36g bowfront and stand. I pulled most of the plants from my 20g and transplanted them, but got rid of some as well because after months of trial and error I decided they were just to high maintanence to keep. I scooped all my substrate from my old tank, and then capped it withblack sand..

stand








tank








time for some plants








planted and filled








now just waiting for the water to clear up


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## jamezgt (Feb 17, 2009)

Looks great, good job


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

Thanks.. I'm brainstorming on what plants to add.... I'd like to see some red in there.... And trim down the moss tree... ive been afraid to because that's where the shrimp hide


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

the water has cleared up nicely and the fish seem happy in their new home...


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## default (May 28, 2011)

I'm guessing your other thread was for this tank. Your light intensity might not be strong enough to reach that depth - you might have enough light when judged through rule of thumb but you won't be getting that much down near the bottom, the plants you get will most likely turn red when it grows taller - however, my gfs brother grows the rotala rotundifolia I gave him in a 49 gallon with one strip of 36" t8 with no co2 and it is orange and really red... So you might get similar results as well.
Also that co2 unit the fluval 88g is it? It will not last you long with your tank, and those refills aren't cheap... Just a heads up.
Nice looking setup btw


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

Thanks for the input... And ya- that other thread was for this tank... I am considering converting the fluval 88 to a paintgun co2 canister, if not a 10 pound cylinder is in the near future.. as for the light intensity, I have a quad t4, and have 1 bank unplugged and as soon as I get the 2nd cord unpacked (i just moved), ill be running all 4 bulbs. what is the benifit of root tabs? I am currently dozing flourish twice a week.. not too sure if that is too much or too little...


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

here are a couple pix after everything has had a chance to settle in to the new tank... I also added a few ludwiga plants...

















I have noticed tho that when I try and plant a tank, then sit down and look at it... it looks to me as tho everything was just thrown in at random- and I don't like it. lol. can anyone offer any suggestions as to how I can make this tank look a little better with what I have? I would like to change it around soon before the roots have a chance to get growing so it doesnt make a huge mess of the tank bed. any suggestions/ comments are welcome. thanks


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## default (May 28, 2011)

Root tabs are just more fertilization. I like them cause it helps provide ferts even when I'm off the fert routine for a bit due to work. But a lot of plants are better fert absorbers through their roots, you have plants like that. I've seen massive growth using tropica nutrition+ capsules, I have banana plants taking over a tank killing everything with 5-6" wide leaves.. When do you see leaves that big on a banana?
Also it will usually look crumby and random for a bit. Once the plants get used to the surroundings they will grow according to your light and eventually fill in. Also personally I would cut stem plants before planting - the shorter the stems at initial planting will grow into a much nicer looking plant and they would lose less leaves, ex; I cut my ludwigia repens down to 2-3 inches before planting and once they get comfortable they take off. and instead of waiting for 5-6 stems to grow before topping, there were like 20-30 different stems filling in the area around them. They fill in nicer too.
And when i said light intensity, I mean your tank is really deep but short as well? I'm guessing you have a 24" light? (forgot specs lol) you have "enough" light for maybe the upper portion of your tank, but your bulbs might not have enough intensity to reach the bottom, just not enough penetration with the bulbs, read a lot of forums about light intensity and most people hate tall tanks due to issues like these. However this won't pose as a problem, just your plants will grow taller than usual and be more green than red.

P.s that filter is going to break your bank 
Losing a lot of co2 with that waterfall of yours.


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

Ya I have to go 3 bps to keep the drop checker in the green... I'm looking to get a canister filter in the near future.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

fly4awhiteguy said:


> Ya I have to go 3 bps to keep the drop checker in the green... I'm looking to get a canister filter in the near future.


I found that misting is even more effective. I use a koralia to circulate the mist and plants grow amazingly, and these are difficult to keep plants.


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

rookie question... what is misting? i want a koralia, but first need to aquire a canister filter. I did have my diffuser right under the hob intake, but but I have read that running the c02 through the impeller causes a lot of wear and tear to it and shortens the life of the filter..


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

I went out yesterday and got a few more rocks and another bag of black sand, and changed things around slightly...








before
















after
I decided to pull out the sword plants because an unknown culprit in the tank was feasting on them and destroying them, now I just gotta wait for the ludwiga to fill out and the hornwort


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## default (May 28, 2011)

Looking good. And for the swords You can always cut the leaves and new ones will grow in.
And misting is just making a fine mist with co2, I use a koralia to force the bubbles out of a diffuser, not so nice looking, but works very well - do some googling and you'll find tons of forums on it, especially by Tom Barr.
And I see you cut the ludwigias, good stuff, just make sure you give them space in between! They grow side shoots and grow quite big in every way. Mine started looking like trees with so many shoots. And if you cluster too close, you'll start losing leaves due to being shaded.


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

well, it turns out that you were very right about the lighting... I am having a massive outbrake of BBA.. is there any suggestions you can offer as to lighting solutions? right now I am running a 24" quad t5, with 4 6500k daylight bulbs. are there any stronger bulbs that I can get? or do I need a whole new fixture? if I do need a new fixture, do u have any recomendations? I was just looking at lighting systems, and see how it could be very easy to do overkill and buy a 500 dollar setup when it is totally not needed. thanks


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## default (May 28, 2011)

you have too much light and unstable co2 levels - happened to me right now too. i took off 2 bulbs and the growth halted. where are the BBA growing? bottom or closer to the top of the tank?
to treat them, find the source of the problem - and to get rid of what you have, SAEs are suppose to eat them, and flourish excel kills them on contact as well, you can use a small eye dropper or turkey baster and target treat the algae, theyll turn white and die off after a while.


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

The bba is groing on the crypts close to the bottom, this is good.. I don't need to buy a new light..  ill turn off the 2nd bank and spot treat with flourish... Thanks for all the advice.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

fly4awhiteguy said:


> The bba is groing on the crypts close to the bottom, this is good.. I don't need to buy a new light..  ill turn off the 2nd bank and spot treat with flourish... Thanks for all the advice.


Yea sounds good. let us know how it goes.


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

Update-
All the BBA has cleared up and everything has been growing good in the tank- including the plecos.. they decimated my moss tree. everything else is growing amazing. the tiger lotus has pretty much tripled in size. I have lost a few fish between an Ick outbrake and the heatwave this summer.
presently the stock is:
3 platys
1 guppy
3 rams- 2x german blue 1x electric blue
2 plecos 1 common 1 gold spot
1 synodontis petricola
2 rasboras
10-15 assorted ghost/amano shrimp
I also finally added a canister to this tank, it is a fluval 205








I would like to add some tall plants around and behind the driftwood, but haven't decided yet what to use.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

hey very nice growth! really filling in.
shame that you lost that tree though, looked real nice.


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## fly4awhiteguy (Dec 27, 2011)

I had mixed feelings about the moss.. it looked nice, but ripping apart my filter intake twice a week to pull it all out was starting to get old fast....


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