# My new 38g Planted Tank



## MarkSchnell (Nov 7, 2011)

Well, I took the plunge and started the planted tank about a month ago. I got a little more serious a few days ago and got more plants and rocks. 

You can see how the plants perked up from the first photo on March 3 to the second one on March 7. I also added flame moss to both pieces of driftwood. My bacopa came loose and needs to be replanted. 

Still to come: I'm picking up a bunch of dwarf sag on Friday for the foreground. I also plan to get a nice school of neon or cardinal tetras for color. 

All my plants and moss have come from the most helpful people EVER, that are all on this forum.  I got most of eco-complete from James on this forum too. 

Here's the really cool thing. My wife loves this hobby too. Now she doesn't want to put her arms in the tank and help me rescape or anything, but she really enjoys the tank, even more so since it is planted with the real mccoy and not plastic.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Mark, this is a great jump into planted tanks. That's so great to have your wife interested. Now you can go on dates to the LFS


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## MarkSchnell (Nov 7, 2011)

One of the keys to happiness is to pick a hobby the spouse appreciates. And we've already made several trips to LFS's and she's driven all over with me as I have met people to buy plants and stuff.


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## MarkSchnell (Nov 7, 2011)

MarkSchnell said:


> And we've already made several trips to LFS's and she's driven all over with me as I have met people to buy plants and stuff.


Speaking of that, yesterday I met Anthony (Screen name: Archop) downtown yesterday and bought a generous portion of very healthy flame moss. Here we are standing on the street in broad daylight. I handed him some money and he hands me a paper bag. I pulled out the moss and was holding it up. I thought, "Man, this looks bad. I'm holding up a plastic bag of a bright green plant material that I just gave a man money for."

Needless to say, I got in the car and left pretty quickly after that!


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Ahahahah. I've had that thought a few times. On the street corner. Or going into someones home where the whole homes windows are lit up by glowing fishtanks and coming out with ziplocks. Never done it in Downtown Toronto though!


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## MarkSchnell (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah, I might rethink that next time. I know it would probably be easy to clear up but it would be a pain in the butt though. "Yeah officer, I'm going to take this moss and put it on a piece of driftwood. Then I'll tie it on with some cotton thread. Then I'll..."


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## Canadianbettas (Oct 18, 2009)

Crystal Clear tank... is the dwarf sag gonna go in there? It iwll look nice


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## MarkSchnell (Nov 7, 2011)

Canadianbettas said:


> Crystal Clear tank... is the dwarf sag gonna go in there? It iwll look nice


Yes it is. I'm thinking it's gonna look great all along the front and between the driftwood in the left center.

Can't wait to get it in there! I see North York BA's has their neon tetras on sale for 2 for 1.99 this week. Hmmm.


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

looking good man
i'm actually closing down my planted tank and going over to the salty side lol
so pretty much everything in my tank is available


glad u put all those plants to good use
keep it up


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## MarkSchnell (Nov 7, 2011)

rubadub said:


> looking good man
> i'm actually closing down my planted tank and going over to the salty side lol
> so pretty much everything in my tank is available
> 
> ...


Thanks Danny, your plants got me started and most of them are in there. Except for the java moss. Didn't want to be that high maintenance. The rest of the plants are in another tank waiting till I post them on here to share with someone else.

I commented on your tank photo thread. I'm interested in your c02 stuff and your filter.


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

heh

javamoss was the least of my worries lol
that hygro polysperma grows wikkid fast
i was trimming it once or twice a week before


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## MarkSchnell (Nov 7, 2011)

Yeah, the hygro is growing like the weed that it is.


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