20 gallon long diary

[jonnythan]

I mixed 15 pounds of Flourite Black Sand with 10 lbs of a river pebbles mix. I poured the water in and the pebbles made their way to the top of the mix. I'm going to add a bit more black and mix it back up so the substrate is mostly black with some flecks of lighter colors.

So this is my first attempt at aquascaping or doing planted tanks at all. I have a big piece of driftwood sitting in that bucket and will be rock hunting this weekend. I've made some doodles about the kind of look I'm going for.

I think I'll be adding a black background to the tank.

I'll keep this thread updated with new pics as they come.

 

[jonnythan]

I am quite the artist.

 

[Jnam]

Nice start. May I suggest using fabric for the black background it work great for me on my 55

 

[jonnythan]

Wow, that never even occurred to me. That's a great idea. Thanks.

 

[Jnam]

PS attatch it with velcro for easy removal. just buy the kind made be 3M or whomever that is graded for fabric use. I sewed mine to the fabric and stuck it to the black trim on the tank... Keeps the nasty bubble from forming and you dont have to use Veggie or Mineral oil to attatch it and make it look good.

 

[jonnythan]

Spent last night hardscaping.

 

[Jnam]

sweet nice peice of DW I like how you hid your heater behind the DW. the hardscape is looking fantastic. I really like the contrast of your substrate. What do you plan on planting? And plan for lighting? Personaly i would like to see what it looks like with out the slate in the middle foreground. Say back toward the back ground and a little more to the left or right of center. Or maybe gone completely just an opinion. And believe me my opinions usually carry very little weight, at least thats what my wife tell me!!

 

[jonnythan]

I have a Coralife 2x18 watt T5 fixture. It has one 6700K bulb and one sorta odd "Colormax" bulb that has a pinkish hue. I'm not that crazy about it, but I'm hoping I'll change my mind once I have fish and plants in there.

I just picked up a piece of black fabric that has a little hint of crushed velvet texture to it. Looks great. I'll get that mounted up then take more pics when I put some plants in.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Lookin' good.

 

[jonnythan]

Put in some plants and fish today.

Java fern up front on the left. Corkscrew vallisneria in the back left. Ludwigia repens (I think) back right. Not sure what that is up front on the right.

I think I'm going to move the corkscrew val over to the right between the red and white rocks, and put something more.. volumous, like anachris or red myrio and/or wysteria over there. And I'd like to get several more of the little plants in the front. I'm hoping the ludwigia grows a good bit bigger.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Looks great man!

 

[jonnythan]

Thanks!

This is my first planted tank, and the first tank I'm putting a lot of effort into.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well it sure looks like it's worth it

 

[jonnythan]

One more for good measure:

 

[Jnam]

I like it, looks like its comming along well
So what did you decide on the pink lights?
The small plants up front look like crypts cant tell the variety maybe a better shot?

 

[jonnythan]

The water's cleared up a bit, but I just shoved my hands in there to rearrange some stuff and ungroup the ludwigia. I'll take a few more pics and put them up.

 

[jonnythan]

 

[jonnythan]

Crypt Wendtii?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

That's deff not C. Wendtii, Wendtii is not that tall and there leaves are normally darker, more narrow, and longer. What my bet is that it is C. ciliata.

How much lighting you got?

 

[jonnythan]

Tall?

The whole plant is maybe 3" tall. Plus, cialita seems to have much smoother edges than the ripply ones I have here.

I have 2x18 watt T5 bulbs. One Coralife Colormax and the other 6700K full spectrum.