New 75 Gallon

[Plantbrain]

Them weeds are growing, Glen, you seem to be drawn to the Dutch style.
I would suggest you look up some web sites on this and look at the species and general layouts.

This will tighten up your designs more and give you some new insight.
As one goal is achieved, you must set new ones?

Wood, rock etc can be added to give a since of structure as the weeds grow up 2-6" a week also. Choosing plants that are easier to work with and do not over grow so much can also help maintain a design over time better.

http://www.nbat.nl/

Click on "KEURINGEN"
BTW "gezelschapsaquaria" means planted aquarium and click on it and you will get some point's listing for some aquariums.

The points system they use is the oldest in existence as well as the oldest planted tank contest going back to the 1940's, and yes, they tanks looked great back then even.

They do tend to use much less light than the folks in the USA do, so do most of the folks outside of the USA for that matter, even ADA, Amano only uses the higher light for 3 hours, then the rest of the time, about 1.5 w/gal(uses 150 HQI for 3-4 hours at most then the T5's for 10-11 hours etc).

More is not better.
It's just more work.

Regards,
Tom Barr


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Jchillin]

I think I said enough in your other thread...now that you have a 75, I have to...do...something...to gahhhh.

 

[Glenc]

Thanks for the kind comments guys, so far this tank has been pretty easy to maintain, keeping a few smaller tanks has taught me alot, especially my 20. And of course, I learned most everything from all of you.
I do love the dutch style, I am starting to get a feel for where this tank will go, thanks for the link and advice Tom. Your knowledge, patience and passion for this hobby is greatly appreciated.
Hey A nt-iasg,those bushy plants on the right side are Hygrophilia Corymbosa "compact"
They can be seperated and re-planted, they catch pretty easy. They are a slow grower, takes a little while to bush up. I started with two small pots, I have them in every tank now. I would gladly send you some but they do not ship well. I learned that the hard way. Thanks again guys, keep you all posted

 

[rkilling1]

Very nicely done Glen.

 

[Glenc]

Couple of new pics, I switched out the 2 5000k bulbs for 2 10,000k. I got 3 5000k cf bulbs for 18 bucks each, thought I'd give them a try. Was running 130wts 5000k with 130wts 6700k. A little to yellow for me. Looks alot more blue now, really shows off the crystal clear water. Running 130wts 6700k + 130wts 10,000k. I like this colour combo the best, finally sprung for the 10,000k bulbs. You can't see them in these pics, but I have a school of 40 Neon tetras in here. LFS had them on for a buck each, couldn't resist. Very pretty, need a better camera! Tank is kind of messy looking. Still experimenting to see what will grow for me in this tank. Need to trim, remove some stuff and refine the look. It's getting there

 

[czcz]

Man, this is exciting. Congrats on the new place and tank, Glen!

 

[Glenc]

Thanks czcz, so far the new place has worked out very well. I have the best wife in the world, she is letting me not hook up the water softener as she knows it will mess with my tanks, though she wants the soft water real bad. Great to hear from you, missed ya!!

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Ok Glen, so how do I get 120 Gal of your water to my house? I'll deal with the liquid rock..

 

[Glenc]

Couple of new shots, tank is under construction, some plants are gone, background is a little bare. I have tons of Rotala Mac planted in the gaps, hope it grows in for me. You can see the algea growing on the back glass exactly at the level of my water changes. I'm going to leave it for now as it is slowly disapearing and the sae's love to munch on it. Just getting the hang of my new camera, guess my wife got tired of me cursing my old one! She got me a Canon Powershot A530. Cool little camera.

 

[blazeyreef]

Hey I have the canon a530! isnt it amazing!!! I have figgured out almost all the secrets to that little camera, I suggest standing back, and sooming in all the way (x16) and use flash, thats how I get my best pictures, or get right up against the tank and have no zoom, and press the macro (flower) button, that also works pretty well!
tank looks awesome btw!

 

[Glenc]

Thanks blazeyreef! The camera is awesome, thanks for the tips. I'm just starting to figure it out. It blows the doors off my old Sony Cybershot.The Sony is five years old, way outdated. Though I did get a few nice pics out of it. Just no good for close ups. Lots more pics to come!

 

[hashbaz]

I know that I am a little out of date on this thread... but I just wanted to say I love the difference made by the new lights.

 

[Glenc]

I love the new lights as well. It's the combo I like best in all my tanks, 10,000k mixed with 6700k. I was getting a lot of brown algea on all my plants, especially the S valerandi. It was choking it. It's a lovely benefit of my rock water and high light. I added 8 small otto's to the tank and cut the light in half, running 130wts at the moment. been about 2 weeks now. The brown crap is almost gone, plant growth and colour are still good, even the glosso. I'm going to up the lights again once it's all gone and see what happens. If the brown crap returns, this high light junkie my be cured. If I can get nice colour and good growth without running 260wts, those lights will be off for good. I don't care about the work, I work tiredlessly on my tanks and love it. I just want good results. Healthy fish and beautiful plants, minimal algea. It is said bigger tanks can do very well with less light. Going to find out for myself. We'll see.

 

[Glenc]

I was doing my weekly water change and and decided to remove some stuff and move a few things around. You can see the Rotala Mac I just picked up in the back right side. It is hanging on and growing, but dosn't look great. A bit pale, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Removed the H. corymbosa compact from the right front, put the Lobelia cardinalis there instead. Removed all the E tennellis from the right foreground, it was smothered in algea, just not doing well for me. Going to let the glosso take over the right side. Finally, I removed all the Rotala indica from the back center. I trimmed the Althernanthera and planted the tops all along the back. Going to try the all red background with the Althernanthera and Rotala Mac. Should look nice once it all grows back

 

[black hills tj]

nice colors...gorgeous!

 

[Glenc]

Hello all, small update. Still running 130wts on this tank, growth is a little slower but still good. I have a forest of Althernanthera lilacina on the back left side, nice colour. Foreground is filling in nice as well. It's bare in the back right as I had to pull all the R Macrandra. It was a straggly mess, just can't get that plant to grow for long, even with the reduced light. Going to fill the gap with more Althernanthera, trying the all red background again. It's coming along

 

[triazole]

wow!
that forest looks amazing.

 

[rkilling1]

Very nice Glenn.

IMO you have too much red bunched together. It looks like one big blob of red. Throwing in a different leaf shape would be nice in the background.

 

[Glenc]

Too much red? No such thing I love red plants, but you are correct, there is to much in there at the moment. I mainly posted the pic to show the growth, not so much the scape. That's never done! I'm letting it grow out as Im going to transfer some of the A. lilacina to a couple more tanks. I still kinda like it, it looks better in person. Can't really see the leaf detail in the pic.

 

[travis simonson]

Wow Glen, I just got caught up on this thread. The plant growth and health looks great. And don't listen to the "red" naysayers; there is no such thing as too much red

I'm with you on R. macrandra. I've never been able to keep the lower stems from getting all scraggly as the plant grows. The tops always look good, but the rest of the plant is gnarly.

I applaud you for going to less light when algae got tough. It's hard not to use those wicked new lights just because something is going on with the plants. I'm also a big 50% 6700K / 50% 10000K fan. They seem to balance the color spectrum nicely (this coming from a hopelessly red-green colorblind person ).

I'm anxious to see where you go with this tank. You've got the skills to grow anything so the sky is limit. And I love Dutch aquascapes. Check out Frode Roe's 1st place (and Best of Show) and 2nd place tanks in the 2000 AGA competition if you haven't seen them already. They are some of my very favorite aquascapes. Here are the links:

1st Place

2nd Place

Keep updating us with pics