46G Bowfront.....NEW PICS! (updated 11/11/06)

[maxwell1295]

Finally! This thing is up and running. After moving at home and moving my office at work, it took me a while to get everything situated. This tank was originally a 30gal long (see my 30G thread) and was set up that way until I lucked up and found this 46gal bowfront w/stand, light, and a glass top on Craigslist for $100.

I moved everything (lighting, plants, fish, driftwood) over from the 30gal but with a little bit of a twist. I liked the 3M ColorQuartz substrate so much that I decided to scrap the PFS I had in the 30gal and use the 3M stuff here too. I think this move really compliments the colors of the fish and the plants as well. Believe it or not, there are fish in this tank.....they just weren't in the mood for pics last night.

While I moved everything over from the 30gal tank, I also need to thank Jchillin (hygro) and rich311K (stargrass, christmas moss) for sending me some additional plants to work with. It really helped in filling out the height of this tank. Thanks guys!

I also have to give at least 75% of the credit to my GF. She did ALL of the aquascaping by herself with very little interference from me. My only contribution was insisting that she used the driftwood cave in the left front of the tank. I had to invoke my "Man of the House" rules to get that done. She originally wanted to leave it out because she didn't want the driftwood to overpower the tank, but the fish love it.....especially the plecos.

My job is to do the maintenance and keep the ferts in order, something I haven't quite mastered yet. I'm getting some algae that I think is BBA, but I'm not sure. Hopefully somebody could help me out here. I'm using Flourish, Flourish Trace, Nu-Salt for K, a KNO3 solution, and DIY CO2. No need to dose phosphate since I have 2ppm in my tap. I try to keep NO3 in the 20ppm range. I used to never have to dose NO3, but adding all these plants and more lighting really sucks it up quickly. I have been dosing about 2-3 times a week to keep up.

I feel kinda stupid in that I have no idea what most of these species are. Hopefully someone here can help me out with that. The Hygro, Stargrass, Anubias, Water Sprite, Crypts, and Wisteria are the obvious ones. I also have some Alternera reinickii (sp?) in there somewhere too.

Here are the specs:

Tank: 46 Gallon AGA Bowfront tank w/matching black stand
Lighting: Odyssea 96W PC 12,000K bulb, AGA 50W Dual Fluorescent (2x25W)
Filtration: Rena XP2 canister, Penguin 350B HOB
CO2 Injection: DIY yeast mix with 2-1gal juice bottles
Heater: 200W VisiTherm Stealth
Substrate: 3M ColorQuartz Black (S-grade)
Decorations: 3 pieces of Malaysian Driftwood
Plants: See above
Stock list: 2 Bolivian Rams, 6 Neon Tetras, 6 Bloodfin Tetras, 4 Corydoras trilineatus, 3 Clown Plecos, 6 Otos

The tank actually looked better before pruning, but I need to fill things out a bit. Once it grows back in, it'll be nice and bushy. The height of this tank (as opposed to the 30g) requires a lot more high growth before it has that full look to it. Once I set up the pressurized CO2 system, and upgrade the lighting, I should see even better growth than I'm getting now. As for the lighting, my plan is to replace the current setup with 2x96W (192W total) of PC lighting. I should be able to grow just about anything I want with 4wpg.

Sorry to be so longwinded with the description...here are the pics:

Full tank shot


Left side (What are those large leaf plants on the far left?)


Right side


Some close-ups











Driftwood cave with algae that has recently sprung up.....BBA?



My favorite pic....I call it my "poster shot"

[JustOneMore20]

Wow that is a beautiful tank! Very nice job! Your GF is a great aquascaper.

[rich311k]

Looks great Max. If it helps you in the ID process I also sent you Brazilian Pennywort. Asian Ambulia, and a cutting or two of Rotala rotundifolia.

The tank really does look great. My compliments to your GF as well.

[GlitcH]

You guys did a great job there...........that looks real nice.
I really like that substrate too.......how many bags did you use there and how deep is it?

Those large leaf plants on the left..........dunno but i'd guess that they are not aquatic plants. Did ya get them at the LFS?

[maxwell1295]

Thanks Rich...that helps a lot! And thanks again for your gracious donation!

GlitcH: I bought a total of (3) 50lb bags of the ColorQuartz (it's about $25 a bag). I was able to put about 2" in this tank and about 2.5 to 3" in my 55G mbuna tank. I have enough left over to add some more here and put about 1.5 to 2" in my 7G MiniBow, which is my next project.

I'm pretty sure I got those plants from eBay. I'm also pretty sure they are aquatic plants. I had them in my 29G for a while.....in fact I still have some leftover in the 29G. I've been burned before buying Green Hedge, Aluminum Plants, etc. at the LFS before so I tend to avoid them unless I know exactly what I'm getting. I get plants from eBay or AquaBid. She moved them over to help fill out the 46. They are growing nicely and very quickly too.

[JustOneMore20]

Are the big leaved plants stem plants? Or do they have a rhizome? To me it looks like some type of Anubias maybe? I'm not certain though.

[maxwell1295]

They are stem plants. I may have to go back and look at my previous eBay purchases to see exactly which plant it is. Doing some quick research leads me to believe that it may be a Broad Leaf Giant Hygro (Hygrophila corymbosa v. 'siamensis Broadleaf').

Here's a link to a pic: http://www.zoon.lt/augalai/hygrophil...sa_stricta.jpg

[Purrbox]

Definately BBA in that second to last pic. Once you get switched over to pressurized CO2 you should be able to get rid of it fairly easily. Some spot treatments of Flourish Excel should also help to usher it out of the tank. I think that the amount of driftwood in the tank is quite nice, once the plants fill in some more it will blend in with the tank a bit better.

Awesome scaping by the GF, she's definately a keeper.

[JustOneMore20]

They are stem plants. I may have to go back and look at my previous eBay purchases to see exactly which plant it is. Doing some quick research leads me to believe that it may be a Broad Leaf Giant Hygro (Hygrophila corymbosa v. 'siamensis Broadleaf').

Giant Hygro was going to be my guess for a stem plant. I didn't know if there was a broad leaf type though. It looks nice!

[Peyton]

Looks great!

I second the motion that its giant hygro. Got some in my 40gal and it looks just like that.