90 gallon planted high-tech tank

[Jeff1192]

So I started up my tank in October 2007 as a low-tech planted set up. I added CO2 and more lights in August 2008. The tank has been pretty much unchanged since then (other than changing up plant type or placement).

I decided a few months ago that I wanted to significantly change up the look of my tank. I started looking at layouts on-line and in a number of books. I also searched high and low for some rock to add to the tank.

Tonight I finally got to re-aquascape the tank. I added some more fluourite so that I could add a hill effect. I also added some branchy pieces of driftwood and some pieces of petrified wood for rocks. I also cut back a bit on the number of types of plants in the tank. As soon as the water clears up (it's pretty cloudy right now with all the stirring up that went on) I will post some photos of the new set-up. For now I'll post a few shots showing how the tank has progressed over the last couple of years.

On the technical side of things the tank has black fluourite for a substrate, 260 watts of T5-HO lighting, an Eheim Pro II and an Eheim 2215 filter and pressurized CO2.

Jeff

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[sas]

Wonderful pics of your tank Jeff!
I really like the dense planted types.
How deep is your 90g?

[Jeff1192]

The tank is 48" across, 18" wide and 24" deep.

The water seems to have cleared up quite a bit....I'll know for sure when the lights come on later. So hopefully I'll be able to get a couple photos of my new layout today.

Jeff

[cichlidicted]

i like the last layout , loooks natural ... just wondering what is the  plant tied to the big driftwoood in the 2nd pic?! ... my lighting is the t5 tekk light....
what fish do you have in there ?!

[Jeff1192]

The plant on the driftwood is java moss (tons of it!) At the time I probably had about 50 cherry shrimp living in it. In terms of fish right now I have 4 electric blue rams, 3 regular blue rams, an angelfish, rummynose tetras, harlequin rasboras, 2 farlowella, a leopard frog pleco, 2 L-002 plecos, arcuatus cories, some ottos, a few amano shrimp and a few swordtails.

How many watts of lighting do you have over your set-up? I noticed that your blyxa grows really well...I didn't have as much luck with it. I'm wondering if it's the amount of light I have or the fact that my water is a little on the hard side.

Jeff

[Jeff1192]

So things cleared up quite nicely today. I'm not much of a photographer (that's my wife's area of expertise) but here's what I was able to snap real quick tonight.

Now to sit back and wait for things to fill in a bit. I'm really hoping that my pogostemon helferi makes a comeback. I went on holidays for 2 weeks and during that time they got shaded out by other plants and I lost most of them. I also want to add something along the lines of hairgrass or dwarf chain sword or something similar to the front on the left. I might see what I can find at the garage sale.

Jeff

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[Brent Shaver]

Great looking tank Jeff, looking forward to the updates as it grows in...

Keep up the great work...

[dan2x38]

Awesome as usual Jeff thanks for sharing. Since I got rid of all planted setups I live vicariously through tanks like yours and others... 

Hey any CPDs left?

[White Lightning]

Very nice tank Jeff! It's set ups like these that make me really want to try my hand at a planted tank.

[cichlidicted]

java moss never looked bright in my tank lol ... i guess its the lightning ... I have 4 x 54 watts on mine..

[fischkopp]

Nice setup, well done! The electric blue rams make a great addition. They are in great condition too! Where did you find them?

I noticed that your blyxa grows really well...I didn't have as much luck with it. I'm wondering if it's the amount of light I have or the fact that my water is a little on the hard side.

I find that blyxa somewhat requires harder water, especially calcium and additionally lots of nitrates. Light isn't as critical as long as it doesn't grow in the shade.

[Jeff1192]

Awesome as usual Jeff thanks for sharing. Since I got rid of all planted setups I live vicariously through tanks like yours and others... 

Hey any CPDs left?

No unforturnately none left. Besides if I did have any left now they'd be eaten by my angel.....he's not a very friendly fellow! 

Nice setup, well done! The electric blue rams make a great addition. They are in great condition too! Where did you find them?

I find that blyxa somewhat requires harder water, especially calcium and additionally lots of nitrates. Light isn't as critical as long as it doesn't grow in the shade.

I got the rams at Big Als East a couple of weeks ago. They had a great price on them ($30). The only other time I had seen them in a store was Nature Pet in Pointe Claire and I think they were $80. They are far more colourful than they were in the store. It took them about a week and a half before they fully coloured up at home. 

Interesting about the blyxa.....I wonder why I was having problems with it? It grew but barely.

Jeff

[Jitters]

Awesome tank!!! Very beautiful! Maybe someday this rookie will be able to have something like that.   Very nice indeed!