The Tank Room

[alcibiades87]

So, I have been lurking around the forums here for a while.  Figured it is about time to start showing what I have been working on.  So briefly to start, my buddy got me to buy my first tank probably four months ago now and I have been seriously addicted since.

For starters my pics are all hosted on photobucket. My username is same a here. alcibiades87.  So just search that.  They are currently all in one album but I will organize them soon by tank.

So I pulled out the carpet in one of my spare bedrooms and put down some laminate flooring and this has become the room that houses most of my tanks.  I also have sixty five gallon saltwater reef that I am still working on stocking in my dining room but I will not cover that here obviously.  So here is the list and descriptions.

Fluval Spec
2.2 gallon
Substrate is Fluval Plant substrate with some gravel mixed in for some added color
Stock lighting and filter
Java ferns and some other plants I do not know the name, small rocks
3 CRS 3 Amano 1 snail and a bloodfin tetra
This is my first tank, it has been rescaped numerous times, I am finally happy with it. . I think lol

Boyu Half Moon
8 gallon
Fluval plant substrate and gravel, flourish tabs in the substrate
Stock lighting and filter
Java ferns, Xmas moss on a piece of wood, crypts, and wisteria
2 snails and 10 neon tetra

Fluval Chi
6.6 gallon model
Gravel and fluval plant substrate in the plant pot in the center
Stock LEDs and filter
Crown tail Betta, snails, and oto cat
Java fern
Kept this one very simple but I am pleased with the outcome

Aqueon Bow Front
26 gallon
Plain gravel
Stock lighting and filter
Had this tank planted but the lighting is currently not adequate. I may upgrade to a T5HO and plant again someday.  Currently has artificial plants.
12 harlequin rasboras, 2 otos, golden gourami, 2 calico platties, 3 black phantom tetra

40 gallon
Fluval plant substrate with gravel, flourish tabs
36" coralife T5HO with 10000K and actinic, 78 watts total
Biowheel filter
Java ferns, swords, crypts, Xmas moss, wisteria, moss balls
Driftwood and rocks
8 glowlight tetra and snails. Probably going to add cherry shrimp

Eheim aqua style
8 ish gallon
Fluval substrate and gravel, flourish tabs
Stock filter and LEDs, also Robot LEDs for the dymax IQ3
Driftwood and rocks
Java fern, Xmas moss, swords, crypts, wisteria, other unknown plants
Fluval CO2
5 Amano, 5 penguin tetra
My favorite scape so far

Anyways that is my setup so far. I have a 20 gallon I will set up and plant soon, Probably for CRS. This will sit on the stand underneath the 40 gallon. I use excel and big ALS plant fert.  I don't have a set schedule for dosing

Will update my photo bucket frequently.  Thanks for looking. I am open to any advice as I am still very new to this

[Peekay]

Adding the link, hope that's ok!
Looking good. 

http://s1195.photobucket.com/profile/alcibiades87/index

[alcibiades87]

Thanks a lot! I know I should have linked it in the first place lol.

[jshchrtn]

Pictures look good man keep them updated they should get even better as they grow in!

[touchofsky]

Must be a nice room to sit in and enjoy your tanks!

[alcibiades87]

Yeah it very relaxing, almost therapeutic.  Anyways, don't know if anyone is looking but I will frequently upload new pics to document the growth of each tank.  The eheim seems to be doing very well so far.

So I gave my 20 gallon that I had not set up yet and gave it to my llittle brother.  However I kept the coralife T5HO that I was gonna use for that and placed it on my bowfront (gave my brother another light, greedy I know but he is not going to do live plants ) anyhow, that means I can plant that tank again . I work the next three nights so I probably won't get to it til next week, but I will post the results as soon as I do.

[charlie]

Nice , keep the updates coming, thanks for sharing.

[alcibiades87]

So, I now have dual T5HO fixture on the 26 gallon bow front and have replanted it.  The fish seem to love.  Tons of new pics if you're interested!

[charlie]

So, I now have dual T5HO fixture on the 26 gallon bow front and have replanted it.  The fish seem to love.  Tons of new pics if you're interested!

Please do post pics.

[alcibiades87]

Oh they are already all up on my photobucket page that is linked by peekay in the second post. But I will post the better pics right in this thread when I get a chance to.

[jshchrtn]

New pics look good duder

[alcibiades87]

Well just to update, the boyu half moon is no more.  Yesterday while doing water changes I noticed a little puddle of water that just seemed weird, but since I was doing water changes I figured I just spilled it there.  So I dried it up and continued on.  Went back in couple hours later to a much larger puddle this time.  I'm not sure whether to try and find the leak and fix it or used it as a terrarium.

So the neon tetras went in my new (used, but new to me) 50 gallon along with ten new harlequin rasboras I picked up last night.

Also I gathered up all my crs from other tanks and put them in the spec, I found 7 total, also rearranged the plant.

The plants from the half moon are now in the 40 gallon.

So, I have to fill the spot where the half moon was.
I am thinking 10 or 20 gallon long, planted, for crs only.

[charlie]

Sorry to hear that, hope the water damage was minimum.
A nice lowmaintenancee shrimp tank is very enjoyable.
Regards

[Thunda]

Sorry to hear of the leak in the tank.  Could just remove the old silicone and replace it with new aquarium safe stuff and be back up and running.  Either way good luck and some great pictures

[alcibiades87]

Sorry to hear of the leak in the tank.  Could just remove the old silicone and replace it with new aquarium safe stuff and be back up and running.  Either way good luck and some great pictures

Yeah, I was able to figure out where the leak is.  Was not very difficult considering the shape of the tank.  And the water damage was pretty minimal as I caught the leak early,  just a few bubbles and some peeling of the mdf stand.  So I probably will attempt to reseal it as I really did like the look of this tank.

So right now I am debating between the 6 gallon fluval edge or a ten gallon long to set up as a shrimp habitat.

[jshchrtn]

Do both one for cherries and one for crystals lol do crystals in the edge! They'd look good under the LEDs!

[alcibiades87]

Do both one for cherries and one for crystals lol do crystals in the edge! They'd look good under the LEDs!

lol do you realize the amount of money I have spent on this hobby in only five months because of you

[jshchrtn]

Probably time for an update! lol

[alcibiades87]

Yes, finally time for an update...  I uploaded some new pics to my photobucket page last week, and there are some from tonight currently being uploaded.

So, where to start?

The Eheim is doing great.  It is the one with CO2 and the extra LEDs. There is one type of plant that I have to trim basically weekly.  The low plants in the foreground have essentially carpeted the entire surface area now as well.  I trimmed both of these today and put the trimmings in the 26G bowfront.  It is also doing very well.  The background plants came right up to the top so I trimmed them and used the trimmings to fill some gaps.  And as I was saying I put some trimmings from the eheim in here today, so I am hoping these will thrive and carpet the bowfront as well as they have in the Eheim. 

All my livestock are doing great.

I also recently collected all my CRS from the various tanks and put them alone in the Fluval Spec.  I played around with the plants in here as well to get a more satisfying look.  The plants in the Spec are also growing well and requiring regular trimmings. 

Ok, so it's not all good news.  The forty gallon tank really is not doing well.  Essentially all the plants, with the exception of the Java Ferns look terrible.  The swords did start to grow some new leaves but any growth seems to have stopped now.  Even the moss looks brownish and thin.  The leaves of the other plants are pale yellow-brown and dying.  Or the leaves will be very thin and transparent.  The water in this tank is brown, despite regular water changes.  This should not be due to the wood in the tank.  I had the pieces of wood in another tank before this one and they were not causing the water to be brown.

What I do not understand is that I am not doing anything differently with this tank.  Same lighting system as the bowfront, just a foot longer obviously.  Works out to about 2.2 watts / gallon.  So that should be okay.  Using same dosing schedule for fertilizers and Excel.  To be specific using Big Al's brand fertilizer which like I said seems to be working great for my other planted tanks (all of which seem to be thriving).  I am also using the Seachem Excel and Trace.  I dose after water changes, usually about 2 times per week, but at least once a week.  Also have the flourish tabs in the substrate.  Same substrate as my other planted tanks (mixture of Fluval plant stratum and just regular small river rocks/gravel).

Anyone have any thoughts?  The Wisteria in the background looks the worst.  From what I was reading this should be very undemanding and grow well in low-tech conditions.  Anyways, I am unsure of what to do or try, because what I am doing now is working so well for the other tanks.  The livestock that I have in the forty gallon seem to be just fine, it's just my plants.

Anyways, if anyone has any thoughts or ideas let me know, because I am truly stuck.  If I cannot find a solution the plan will probably be to buy some decorations for it (I think the Roman Pillar style stuff they have at Petsmart, because I already have one big piece sitting in my closet unused) and take mostly everything else out.  If the Java Ferns continue to do fine I will probably leave them in though.

Anyways pics of all the tanks are on my photobucket page as usual (link up near the top).

I can't remember if I mentioned this yet or not, but I also have a new (used, but new to me) 50 Gallon tank set up.  Nothing special, not planted just some red gravel the guy I bought it off was using and some decoration with airstones, etc.  Currently has 10 Neon Tetras and 10 Harlequin Rasboras in it, all doing great.  I will probably increase the size of the school of neons at some point though.

- Dave