Work in progress (long) , updated 09/10/07

[rkilling1]

I wanted to let everyone see what i have been upto with my tanks. I have been into aquatics for over 3 years. It all started when my wife brought home 2 gold fish in a 2 1/2 gal hex. soon after they went into a 10 gal because I couldn't stand seeing them in that little tank. She then got a 28 gal bowfront from her sister for free and we put those gold fish in that tank. The Wife decided to add some more goldfish to the tank from walmart one day and introduced Ick into the tank aswell. After all the fish had died, I found this site. I learned a lot since then.

The Wife no longer wanted anything to do with fish so the tank became mine.

the 28 gal bowfront had 15 watts of t-8, so I started with some Anacharis. That kept me happy for some time, but looking at all of those great looking tanks started to get to me. I was chomping at the bit to buy a bigger tank with more lighting to really jump into the planted realm. so i finally talked the wife into letting me buy a 75 gal tank with stand. I also talked the petsmart manager into upgrading the light to a two bulb t-10 instead of the single bulb that was standard. So now I am at 1 wpg not to shabby for a newcomer. Started off with some more anacharis and then added some java moss, java ferns, and some lace java ferns. That did it for awhile. You know how it goes, the more you read the more you want to spend.

I was reading someones post about ODNO lighting and thought that would be a cheaper way of getting some more light out of my setup. so I went ahead and did that. I added another ballast to my two T-10 light so I have them running at 2 x ODNO approx 140 watts. that puts me in the 2 wpg ballpark. no CO2 yet

now onto the 28 gal. reading LWB post with the walmart CF bulbs on his 10 gal tank, I thought that would be a great way to save some money and get a fairly decent amount of light into my 28 gal tank. so i ordered a 24" strip and bought two 25 watt CF 6500 K bulbs. Combine those bulbs with the original t-8 and that puts the 28 gal at approx 2.5 WPG.

now comes all the CO2 fun. of coarse now that I have the lighting I need the CO2. I knew what I needed to do after reading post after post about CO2, but pressurized is out of the question atm due to christmas being so close. I read a post about the best method of CO2 defussion in which Tom Barr suggested using a PH and a viewtainer and thats what I did. I went to petsmart and picked up some PH's and made some reactors, not quite what Tom had made, but simular. one CO2 bottle for the 28 gal and 2 for the 75 gal. the levels where 30 PPM CO2 in the 28 gal and 25 PPM in the 75 gal. not to bad if you ask me. I got pearling in the 28 gal right away put not in the 75 gal. I was peeved. I WANT PEARLING. LOL. I rushed to homedepot and picked up a shoplight (LOL) and two t-8's at 6700K (approx 3 wpg) and it sits perfect behind my duel strip. Now I have pearling!!!!
The CO2 has remained constant for over a week. I am pretty happy about that. The plants are growing like crazy. I owe many thanks to everyone who posts in the planted section of this site and that is why I am posting this. I mostly troll. IE I have learned a lot from everyone. Again Thanks, Randy.

PS here are some recent pics (work in progress)



current plants:

Egeria densa
asian ambulia
Bacopa caroliniana
ludwigia repens
Bacopa monnieri
ROTALA rotundifolia
Microsorum pteropus
Vesicularia dubyana
Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv'
Hygrophila difformis
Heteranthera zosterifolia
CRYPTOCORYNE wendtii
Najas guadalupensis
Aponogeton crispus
Vallisneria americana

PSS. Special thanks to evercl92, shawnryan1977, and Hara for the plants.

[GlitcH]

Very nice RK.......my favorite is the 28G........what kind of driftwood is that?

[Jchillin]

The tanks look great, you've done a fine job. Your post is testament to why the Planted Aquascaping forum was created.

[Glenc]

Very nice work

[rich311k]

Tanks look great. Nicely done.

[rkilling1]

GlitcH, the center peice is fake.

thank you guys for the comments. I can't wait for it to fill in. all I need is some more color.

BTW, the greg watson ferts are on their way.

[An t-iasg]

Wow! Both tanks are excellent. I like how the fish decided to pose in the 75 gallon!

[GlitcH]

Originally Posted by rkilling1

GlitcH, the center peice is fake.

LOL........fooled me!

[czcz]

Nice tanks. My favorite is the Rainbow tank. It's too nice for that background!

[rkilling1]

Originally Posted by czcz

Nice tanks. My favorite is the Rainbow tank. It's too nice for that background!

Thanks, and i hear ya. I converted the 28 gal over to black and now i have to do the same to the 75. it's just a lot more work.