Something Different... d2's FRESHWATER PLANTED build!

[reefwiser]

P.S. - Can you find the lizard? lol


To the right of the masterflex.

 

[d2mini]

Wow! The water delivery system looks great!

Is the lizard a brown anole?

I believe so. Word on the street is they migrated in from Mexico and killed off most of the green ones we used to have.
These brown ones are EVERYWHERE!
BUILD THE WALL! ;Hilarious

P.S. - Can you find the lizard? lol


To the right of the masterflex.

Nothing gets past you, Ed!

 

[d2mini]

The tank is finally on the stand!

 

[DanConnor]

I'm in roughly the same place and have been researching plants a lot. Here's what I've boiled it down to, in case you are interested:

Stem plants:
rotala rotundafolia - h'ra, and green
Proserpinaca palustris

Epiphytes for on driftwood:
Hygrophila Pinatifida
Microsorum trident or other small size cultivar
Mini Bolbitis (Baby Leaf)
Anubias nana petite

Moss for on driftwood:
Riccardia chamedryfolia

Carpet plants:
Micranthemum - monte carlo
Staurogyne repens on edges

There's a lot of plant sellers but https://www.liquidcreations.co/ seems to have the best selection and gets good reviews. Same as Bartohog user on plantedtank.net

 

[d2mini]

Been quietly working on the hardscape. Once that's done I'll be able to start planting.
Here's where I'm at so far...

 

[d2mini]

Well... i think my hardscape is basically done!
Added a 6th bag of soil today. The sand went in last week, with a styrene plastic border wall.
I used the same stuff to create some substrate supports within the soil as well, especially on the right side.
The only thing I may add is some small gray rubble haphazardly along the substrate division.

I cut and screwed the long skinny branch into the main branch right where it seemed that an old branch used to be.
Stainless steel screw with a little wood filler to cover the head.
Hopefully with some plants covering that area it will look pretty natural.

Also started running the tubing from the canisters to the glassware.

And finally, the Auto Top-Off and Auto Water Change are both fully functional.
The AWC changes out equal amounts of water. I haven't officially timed it yet but I think it's moving around half a liter per 30 seconds.
That will run automatically many times per day. I have yet to calculate an approximate amount I want to change over the course of 24 hours.
ATO and AWC Input are on the right and AWC Output is on the left.

Here's the ATO and AWC input lines as I was connecting them to the lines coming in through the wall.

So it's just about time to start looking for plants!
I guess that's the next discussion and where I'm really going to need help.
And I do need to finish gathering Co2 gear.

 

[bubbaque]

Really nice build and love the scape.

 

[d2mini]

Really nice build and love the scape.

Thanks, dude!

 

[mrpizzaface]

Well... i think my hardscape is basically done!
Added a 6th bag of soil today. The sand went in last week, with a styrene plastic border wall.
I used the same stuff to create some substrate supports within the soil as well, especially on the right side.
The only thing I may add is some small gray rubble haphazardly along the substrate division.

I cut and screwed the long skinny branch into the main branch right where it seemed that an old branch used to be.
Stainless steel screw with a little wood filler to cover the head.
Hopefully with some plants covering that area it will look pretty natural.

Also started running the tubing from the canisters to the glassware.

And finally, the Auto Top-Off and Auto Water Change are both fully functional.
The AWC changes out equal amounts of water. I haven't officially timed it yet but I think it's moving around half a liter per 30 seconds.
That will run automatically many times per day. I have yet to calculate an approximate amount I want to change over the course of 24 hours.
ATO and AWC Input are on the right and AWC Output is on the left.

Here's the ATO and AWC input lines as I was connecting them to the lines coming in through the wall.

So it's just about time to start looking for plants!
I guess that's the next discussion and where I'm really going to need help.
And I do need to finish gathering Co2 gear.

Looking good!
Are you gonna use your DIY regulator for the CO2?
What will you use for a diffuser?

 

[LadyMac]

That scape is gorgeous!

 

[dbraun15]

I've followed your builds in the past and the attention to detail is amazing. I wish I had the patience to make things this clean. Looking forward to updates.

 

[d2mini]

Looking good!
Are you gonna use your DIY regulator for the CO2?
What will you use for a diffuser?

Thank you. I don't have my DIY any longer. I'll be picking up a GLA shortly.
And I have a Griggs style reactor.

That scape is gorgeous!

Thanks!

I've followed your builds in the past and the attention to detail is amazing. I wish I had the patience to make things this clean. Looking forward to updates.

Thank you, haha.

 

[bubbaque]

Any update Dennis?

 

[Jimbo662]

That's gonna be a gorgeous tank!

 

[d2mini]

Any update Dennis?

Yessir! Thank you for asking. It's finally planted (partly), filled and running!!! I will update this afternoon.

 

[d2mini]

ok, here we go. BIG UPDATE!

Here we are planting the ground cover. I went with Monte Carlo. I got a mix of submersed potted plants and some containers of tissue culture. I planted it all and then flooded the tank just enough to cover them.

Then a week later I got a bunch of other plants, fumbled my way through where to place them, and then finally filled the tank the rest of the way and started up the two canister filters.

I've since lost some leaves, lost some color, but that's all expected as the plants go through the shock of being moved, and into a brand new tank. I have a bunch more plants coming in later this week.
I also finally got some fish! 8 Ember Tetras, just to test things out. So far so good so I'm going to go back for 16 more.
I think for my main fish I'm going to go with various types of Rainbow Fish.

Here's the latest pics from this weekend...

 

[bubbaque]

I don’t know much about freshwater but I thought the norm was doing a “dry start” for plants. Any reason you didn’t go that route?

 

[d2mini]

I don’t know much about freshwater but I thought the norm was doing a “dry start” for plants. Any reason you didn’t go that route?

Dry Start is an option for carpeting plants. You don't have to worry about them floating out of the soil when filling the tank and decreases the shock (i think) when you do finally flood. But it takes too dang long and you have to be constantly misting the plants and keep the tank covered. I just didn't see the benefit being worth the hassle. And I had no issues with them floating. Everything stayed put.

 

[reefwiser]

Dry start is used if someone is not using Co2 injection. But since Dennis is using co2 there is no need. Not a fan of not using Co2 as it limits your plant choice an will slow plant growth. Which means lower uptake of phosphate which leads to hair algae issues.

 

[LadyMac]

Lovely!
I didn’t ever dry start plants even when I did co2. I prefer the easy low light plants, like the bucephelandras and crypts.