Greetings from PORTUGAL

This is my new aquarium

Working with the hardscape

Flora:
Eleocharis Acicularis
Eleocharis Parvulus
Glossostigma Elatinoides
Ludwigia Arcuata
Echinodorus Paleofolius
Rotala Rotundifolia
Blyxa Aubertii

Elos Material

elos terrazero

Elos bottom mineral

Elos terra S

Today:

Added 15 Microrasboras erythromicron

Changed water today and dosed 5ml of Excel and 0,5ml of Potassium

Present the Bosco……

45l 50×30x30
1 pll 24w and 1 pll 32w
Co2 external reactor
Fauna:
Microrasbora erythromicron
Neocaridina heteropada
Flora:
Riccardia chamedrypholia
Taxiphylum sp.
Proserfinaca palustrus
Eusteralis stellata
Cryptocoryne sp.

Regards.

P.D.
More info here

Hi ,

here is a new harscape , the tank is 240L , 120*45*45cm ,the plantation has just been finished so it’s gonna need a bit of time .
i’m not really satisfied with the hardscape it seems to be a bit unbalanced , the right part seems to be too low compared to the left part , i’ll have to see how it looks with the complete plantation but there will certainly be some changes , the stem part should be heavy in the right and light in the left to help to balance the hardscape , the background will mainly be in myrio matogrossense , with a bit of red (rotala indica and arcuata narrow leaf) .Stones are only here for the wood not to float , i’ll remove them as soon as possible .

plantation is , glossostigma , eleocharis bellem , eleocharis parvula , eleocharis acicularis , crypto parva , crypto wendtii green , tenellus , fantanalis sp , vesicularia sp , microcrosorum narrow , bolbitis , myrio matogrossense , rotala indica , ludwigia arcuata narrow leaf , eleocharis vivipara , hygrophilia sp and maybe some vallisneria nana .

specs:240L , 120*45*45cm , lights 144W , co2 pressurized , eheim 2028 ,2078 all in biological filtration , aquasoil (+power sand+tourmalineBC etc…),fets step 1 , brighty K .

i’ll update soon , hope you like it

90g Cameroon Biotope

Plants:
Anubias barteri v. nana
Bolbitis heudelotii
Crinum natans

Fish:
10x Norman’s Lampeyes
2x pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus
5x Microsynodontis sp.

Light:
2x 250w Metal Halide 5hrs/day

This was an experiment and have since changed lights. I wouldn’t recommend doing this. Although there was very little algae maintaining proper nutrition for the plants was almost impossible, especially Iron. Some of the more exposed or higher up plants went chlorotic quickly or were otherwise harmed by the intensity of the light. Prior to switching to PC lighting I was supplimenting a tablespoon (3tsp) of KNO3, 1/2 tsp KH2PO4, 1 tsp CaSO4, 1 tsp K2SO4, 3 tbsp Epsom Salts, and 1/4 tsp CSM+B every other day.

Substrate:
Quartz sand (Paver Base from Home Depot)
Flourite in spots underneath the sand in the rear for the Crinum
Stream pebbles

Left oblique

FTS

Lower Right Side

One of my females feeling brave

Hi y’all and welcome to check out my paludarium project.

Specs:
Aquarium is 240 cm (8 ft) x 40 cm (16 in) footprint and 30 cm (1 ft) tall. That adds up to 300 liters or 75 gallons. The background takes some of that.
On top of it is a box about 35 cm (14 in) high that will hold some dry planting.

Hardscaping is self-made, including the fake stone and tree trunks.

For filtering I’m using a 20 g sump

The "stream"-factor is made with a one-way flow accomplished by one Tunze Stream 6060 pump rigged to the end of the tank, pushing water through a channel in the background. It is pre-filtered with a foam matt:

(The above two pics taken when the tank was just an aquarium, not a paludarium)

A shot of the background in the aqua-part

Background above the waterline being made:

Tree trunks being made:

The front of the tank (above surface) is open and shall remain so. I dislike all kinds of frames and stuff blocking the view.

So this is where I’m at, going to start planting the tank. I joined APC to get some help with deciding how to go with it. I have a lot of confidence on you guys to be smarter than me on the trick.

My goal is to get the tank planted sparingly, or to leave at least some of the hardscaping to be seen. The lighting is going to be 6 x 54W T5 tubes and perhaps some 20W halogens to give a bit of shimmer with the surface agitation.

There’s going to be a Nepenthes or two, Tillanzias and mosses. And some vines and whatever I come up with.
I’m undecisive on what’s going to go in the water, vegetationwise.

The flow is strongish and the fishes are going to be hillstreams, other loaches and maybe some Loricariids.

So hi, everyone. Looking forward to using your imagination and expertice on this.
And thanks for a fine forum!

/Hx

Hi there,

I’ve some pictures to share with you
Last Friday I changed my old aquarium for something bigger! I know that it is more 10cm on each side but it gives me more 110lt.
So I decided to change a bit and make something different from my last layouts.

I hope that you enjoy it

DIY Aquarium 130×50x60

Setup the aquarium ‘ Step by step

Next day after setup:

4 days after, the first breeding!

And it’s all!

Take care,

Filipe Oliveira

After introducing myself in the welcome forum I promised to make some pics of my tank as it is now. So I just took the camera to make these:

It is a 200G (80 x 24 x 24 inches) tank with 4 rows of 2 x 39watts T5 Osrams controlled by electronic dimmer.
Filtration is done by 1 Eheim 2180 Pro III with included heating (Biological) and 1 Eheim 2017 mechanical filter.
PH controlled CO2, Fertilisation EasyLife Profito, EasyLife Ferro and additional KNO3 and KH2PO4.
Just plain fine swimming pool filtersand as substrate.

400l "Natural Dutch" by Raymond Sowden (wearsbunnyslippers)

Introduction and background

My name is Raymond Sowden and I am from Cape Town, South Africa. I am 31 and have been keeping fish tanks for more than half my life. I got interested in planted tanks about 2 years ago
as a low maintenance way of keeping my tanks, with little or no water changes, potting soil substrate etc. I later found out this was the Diane Walstad method. The addiction grew and
soon it was more about the plants than the fish. I have always been an avid gardener so I guess the transition was pretty natural. My wife jokes that the fish are just fertilizer factories
and that if wasn’t called a "fish tank" I wouldn’t even keep fish anymore. Little did I know this would turn out to be much more maintenance than regular fish tanks, but also much more rewarding.

I had never seen a true planted tank before, so I started researching and became a lurker on APC, doing as much reading as I could, learning about CO2 and EI, substrates and T5’s, low-tech, high-tech, nature style, jungle, Dutch, so much information to absorb. The tanks that really drew my attention though, were the colorful densely planted Dutch style tanks, especially the ones like
Fluo’s and ShayF’s. This is the kind of tank I aspired to, and am still trying to achieve.

Inspiration

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f…624&original=1

http://us4.pixagogo.com/S58UTKI1w3i7…2/IMG_7001.JPG

I had already converted my 100l into a planted tank, my discus were fast outgrowing it and so I decided I needed to get a bigger tank.

So I rushed out and bought a medium tech 200l tank, upgraded to T5’s with reflectors, pressurized CO2 and flourite - the only manufactured plant substrate I could get my hands on at the time, and started EI dosing.

It was a steep learning curve and I quickly went through all the usual newly setup tank woes, diatoms, algae, green water, nutrient deficiencies etc., so more reading and more learning, and more time spent on APC.

About a year later that tank sprang a leak, and I was faced with a decision, either get a new tank or quit the hobby, guess which way I went. Seen as I was buying a new tank now anyway, I decided

I needed an even bigger one. Bigger tanks are easier to look after in my opinion, up to a point.

That brings me to my current tank, it is a Juwel Rio 400, 100G. It came with 2 T5’s built in and a built in filter. I upgraded the lighting and took out the filter, preferring to use an
external canister filter.

Setup

Lighting with reflectors

Different light Kelvin ratings

1 week after setup

1 month

2 months

3 months

Final Pics

Left

Middle

Right

Side View

The addition of the rocks was frowned upon by some of the Dutch purists, but I prefer a more natural looking layout, the super neat streets and perfectly pruned bushes are a little too unnatural for my tastes, and I think the rocks added some nice contrast. Don’t get me wrong, I find Dutch style tanks absolutely stunning, but not for me personally.

It is quite difficult to source decent plants in South Africa, we have an extremely long species banned list, but I would’ve replaced the rocks with some smaller plants as they became available eventually anyway.

Tank specifications

Volume: 400 Liters
Measurements: 151 x 51 x 62 cm

Lighting:

1 x 59w Juwel High-Lite® Day T5
1 x 59w Juwel High-Lite® Nature T5
4 x 59w Arcadia Plant Por T5’s
8 hrs per day with a timer

Substrate: Flourite

Filtration: Eheim Pro II 2026

CO2: Saga Regulator, power head diffusion, 2 bps. Comes on 2 hours before the lights, goes off with the lights.

Flora

1. Hygrophila polysperma ‘Sunset’
2. Cryptocoryne sp.
3. Alternanthera reineckii
4. Rotala rotundifolia
5. Hygrophila difformis ‘Variegated’
6. Rotala macrandra
7. Hygrophila corymbosa
8. Pogostemon stellatus ‘Narrow Leaf’
9. Mayaca fluviatilis
10. Hygrophila corymbosa ‘angustifolia’
11. Rotala sp.
12. Echinodorus tenellus
13. Lobelia cardinalis
14. Nymphaea lotus ‘Red’

Fauna

Discus, Cardinal Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora, Rummynose Tetra, Corydoras, Baryancistrus sp. (L177)

Maintenance

Sunday - day1: prune, preen, clean glass inside, 25% or more water change, 1/2 tsp kno3, 1/8 ish tsp kh2po4, 1/2 tsp equilibrium, 1/2 tsp dolomite and clean glass on outside
Monday - day2: 5ml Trace
Tuesday - day3: 1/2 tsp kno3, 1/8 ish tsp kh2po4, 1/2 tsp equilibrium, 1/2 tsp dolomite
Wednesday - day5: 5ml Trace
Thursday - day5: 1/2 tsp kno3, 1/8 ish tsp kh2po4, 1/2 tsp equilibrium, 1/2 tsp dolomite
Friday - day6: 5ml Trace
Saturday - day7: Rest and enjoy
Daily Flourish Excel

Challenges

I have fought cyano in this tank from the beginning, never managing to eradicate it 100%, I was almost at the point of dosing erythromycin.

Keeping the stem plants nicely shaped and evenly trimmed takes a lot of pruning, sometimes twice a week on the fast growers, but it is very satisfying and part of the enjoyment of the hobby.

The Eheim 2026 was spec’ed for the 200l and it was not coping with the filtration so I have upgraded it to a Fluval FX5.

Final thoughts

This tank has been broken down and setup again do to me relocating from Johannesburg to Cape Town so it no longer looks like the pictures. I look forward to scaping a new layout and trying some new plants, I am keeping my journal up to date.

I won’t be satisfied that my tank is "done" until I consider my tank in the same league as Fluo’s and Shay’s…

I would like to thank all the guys on our local forum APSA for all their support and helping to source some of the "rarer" plants, and a huge thanks to APC for all their inspiration!

Kind Regards,
Raymond

(For additional "Q&A" or information, please visit this thread. )

To post your contest entries, please visit the Contest Entry Forum. Simply start a new thread to enter your tank. (You will only be able to see your own entry until after judging.)

Aquatic Plant Central is pleased to announce the first annual Tank of the Year Aquascaping Contest 2010, inspired by our ever popular Tank of the Month feature. This is a great opportunity to hone your aquascaping skills, share them with the APC community and have them critiqued by an expert panel of judges.

Categories:
This will be a general aquascaping contest open to the Aquatic Plant Central membership. Any style, size, or tank shape can be entered.

Prizes:
We would like to thank our new owners, Crowd Gather, for generously offering to donate the prize money for the winners.

First Place: $350.00 USD
Second Place: $150.00 USD
Third Place: $50.00 USD

Deadline:
January 31, 2010

Contest Rules:
1. All entrants must be registered members of Aquatic Plant Central.
2. Only one entry per person.
3. All photographs submitted must have been taken between August 1st, 2009 and January 31, 2010.
4. APC requests right of first publication. Your work should not be published elsewhere or submitted to another contest before the close of the contest period.
5. APC retains the right to display submitted photographs for contest purposes, on APC’s website, or for promotional merchandise.

Photo Requirements:
You may not post-process your entry to include elements of multiple images, multiple exposures, clip art, computer-rendered images, or elements from other photographs (even those taken during the contest). Entries submitted to previous contests, even those not administrated by APC will not be accepted. Duplicate photos will be disqualified.

Contestants are required to submit one full tank shot of the front of the aquascape. This photograph should be submitted in jpeg format and is limited to 72 dpi and 1100 x 800 pixels maximum.

Though not required for participation, contestants are highly encouraged to submit up to 3 additional images. These might showcase specific design elements, unusual features, progression of the tank over time, or a map of the particular plant species within the aquascape. These photographs should be submitted in jpeg format and are limited to 72 dpi and 600 x 400 pixels maximum.

Titles, dates, the name of the entrant, and other text must not appear in the images.

APC reserves the right to disqualify any entrant for content or behavior deemed to be offensive, inappropriate, or untrue to the spirit of advancing the hobby.

Photo Editing Rules:
* Selective Editing: Adjustments can be made selectively to your photo. Cloning, dodging, burning, etc. to improve your photo or remove imperfections or minor distracting elements is acceptable. However, using editing tools to duplicate, create, or move major elements of your photograph is not permitted.

* Layers: You may use layers, layer masks and alternative layer modes to assist in your selective editing.

* Filters: At your discretion, you may apply filters to your photo, in whole or part. Be aware that extensively altering the "look" of your photograph with an "effects" filter is often not well received by voters.

* Borders: It is suggested that if you decide to use a border, you should only use one or two solid colors around the outside of your photo. However, alternative borders are allowed, as long as they do not contain any text, clip art, photographs, or other artwork.

Any modification done inside the digital camera itself is considered acceptable for challenge submission.

You are highly encouraged to list all of your post-shot editing steps in the "Description" section or as a comment when submitting your photo.

Contest Judging:
• The winners will be determined by an impartial panel of qualified judges. These will be experienced aquascapers outside of APC’s staff. The selected panel will be announced before the close of the contest period. They will base their review on the following criteria.
25 points for Originality. How original and creative is the aquascape?
25 points for Cleanliness. Do the plants and animals appear healthy? How clear is the water? Is there any algae present? Is there equipment showing in the photograph?
25 points for Composition. How well are the plants and hardscape composed? Are the fish an appropriate choice for the aquascape? Do all of the elements of the aquascape work well together?
25 points for Difficulty. How challenging was it to achieve the aquascape? How easy is the aquascape to maintain in the condition it is in?
• A popular vote will also be determined by the APC membership. The top ten popular entries will receive from 1 to 10 bonus points, according to their popular rank.
• All entries will be assigned a random number to keep them anonymous from the judges.

For additional "Q&A" or information, please visit this thread.

To post your contest entries, please visit the Contest Entry Forum.

-Dave

I just received the electronic version of Tropical Fish Hobbyist for the month of October. For the last three months they’ve been featuring a new column titled the "Plant of the Month". The APC staff have been supplying the text and photos. I think this represents a significant step forward for the hobby and for APC in particular. The featured plant for October is Cryptocryne cripulata var. "balansae" on page 43. I’d like to congratulate Dave Manthei (davemonkey) for the text and Drinda Jacobson (Tex Gal) for the great photo.

I encourage everyone to get a subscription and take a look. TFH has demonstrated a solid commitment to planted aquaria and the now feature at least three plant articles every month.

Also take a look at our advertisement on page 42. This contains elements from our recent T-shirt contest.

Stay tuned. Starting in November we’ll be advertising for the upcoming "Tank of the Year" contest.