# First Planted Tank [Updated 4/22]



## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

Shoddy quick cell pic, heh.

So this is how you plant a tank, right guys? ...right...?

Hahaha. I am waiting on my late substrate, but my tank arrived early and I had to do _something_! After checking out a couple stores, I still haven't found that perfect bit o' driftwood that really "speaks to me", either.

Maybe I'll put some golden ratio marks on it and deeply ponder the potential zen of my hardscape. Or refresh myself on the pump tube mod that makes the heater efficient.

Hopefully I'll have something modest shareable in a little while. There's just so much inspiration on these forums, truly amazing stuff, y'all make it look easy even knowing otherwise!


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## Iwagumist (Jan 4, 2016)

Is that the Fluval V EVO meant for a reef? I have never thought of using it for plants... If so, where did you buy it?


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

It's a start ... and something else to look at when you are on the computer!


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

Iwagumist said:


> Is that the Fluval V EVO meant for a reef? I have never thought of using it for plants... If so, where did you buy it?


It's actually a Spec V. I think they may be changing the design, like Overgrown documented in their Spec III thread. I didn't know about the EVO, but yes, it does look like that! I got it from Amazon but there wasn't any indication I'd be getting this box. From a quick glance at the EVO specifications, the only difference I see is that EVO is 11000K temp light and 759 lumens while this one is 7000k and 821 lm (via Evo website and my Spec manual). With the design, maybe they are consolidating parts to make it cheaper for them?

Here is a picture of the box:












touch of sky said:


> It's a start ... and something else to look at when you are on the computer!


I always wanted a customized, realistic aquatic screensaver, hehe.


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

Iwagumist said:


> Is that the Fluval V EVO meant for a reef? I have never thought of using it for plants... If so, where did you buy it?


Hmm, I made a more detailed post that I think is stuck in the mod queue for a picture link. The gist is that the tank is actually a Spec V that appears newly "updated".


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## C-Cat (Mar 9, 2015)

Hahaha... nice. A very unique layout.
And +10 for having plantedtank.net up, in the photo.


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

touch of sky said:


> It's a start ... and something else to look at when you are on the computer!


I always wanted a customized, aquatic screen saver, hehe.

Thanks for the 'points' C-Cat.. I'm sure I'll have plantedtank.net open a lot more often!

A little update to my tank, it's really planted now! So glad to get started and setting everything up was super fun. Even the trips to 4 stores to get the right rocks and driftwood... I should have known beforehand the chains wouldn't have anything useful.

Then I found a super cool LFS and they gave me a great deal on the hardscape, great sales tactic because I'm going back there for my fishies when it's time, too!


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

It looks fantastic! You did a great job arranging the branches. It has quite a mysterious look to it and I like the white area in the middle, it really leads your eye into the tank. What sort of fish are you planning to put in?


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

Thank you, Touch of Sky! I am quite chuffed about it. I'm not completely decided on fish yet. The general idea is some shrimp, one nirite snail and either ember tetras or chili rasboras, maybe a different rasbora depending on what I can find in my LFS.


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## zenquarium (Aug 27, 2015)

The light seem really blue or really cool white? It does not look mines 7000k light. I feel its more like 8000k-10000k

I like the layout too.


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

zenquarium said:


> The light seem really blue or really cool white? It does not look mines 7000k light. I feel its more like 8000k-10000k
> 
> I like the layout too.


Thanks. It definitely does look very blue, doesn't it? It is listed as 7000k on the box and in the tech specs.

It's pure speculation, but I wonder if that's the temp of the white LEDs themselves, and the blue moonlight leds that also come on are throwing it differently. Hopefully someone with more testing equipment can figure it out.

I am already wistfully eyeing a Satellite Freshwater LED+...


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

I tried tying some of my middling Java moss to the branches. It looks nice, if a bit yellow, I'm not sure it will last. Not a big deal if it doesn't, just practice. It was fun!

I also found what looked like a baby pond snail crawling around on my glass. I removed it, but now am left wondering if there's more hiding about. I certainly hope not.

Luckily, the package I ordered showed up today, so I added a "biologically active" filter sponge that claims to speed up or eliminate the need for cycling. Seems a bit too good to be true but hopefully it shaves some time off!


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

Here's a little update. I removed the dying hornwort (that makes such a mess! I'm still cleaning up bits from it) and tomorrow I'll have to cut the rest of the java moss off. I am so mad that the plants I ordered online arrived in such a poor state. I'm never ordering from that site again.

The marimo balls are slowly recovering, they arrived brown and dark green and are now showing patches of the healthy green I see in photos (and in the ones at my LFS and even petco).

I added some water sprite and a crypt from a LFS yesterday. I was going to pick up some four leaf clover, too, as suggested by a salesperson, but they had sold out for the week.

I wonder what the micro sword is trying to do with the long tendril. It looks a bit shorter in the pics because I nestled the roots further into the substrate. Those long tweezers are so handy.

Two more pond snails removed so far.. can't wait til my cycling finishes.


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## ArchimedesTheDog (Apr 9, 2012)

Mewski said:


> Here's a little update. I removed the dying hornwort (that makes such a mess! I'm still cleaning up bits from it) and tomorrow I'll have to cut the rest of the java moss off. I am so mad that the plants I ordered online arrived in such a poor state. I'm never ordering from that site again.
> 
> The marimo balls are slowly recovering, they arrived brown and dark green and are now showing patches of the healthy green I see in photos (and in the ones at my LFS and even petco).
> 
> ...


I really like this scape. So many ways to make the Spec V look good, I feel a bit paralyzed with mine at the moment with all these great examples around. I'm buying plants tonight and going for it, though, ha. 

It always is terrible to wait for cycling.


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

ArchimedesTheDog said:


> I really like this scape. So many ways to make the Spec V look good, I feel a bit paralyzed with mine at the moment with all these great examples around. I'm buying plants tonight and going for it, though, ha.
> 
> It always is terrible to wait for cycling.


Thank you! Yes, the best thing to do is just go for it.  Not like you can't make changes later! I hope you get nice plants.

In other news, I found _another_ pond snail sliding around and some algae growing, so I did a big dose of excel and reduced the lights by an hour. I also tested.. 0 ammo.. and 0 nitrites! ~25ppm nitrates! Eee! Almost ready?! I dosed ammo back to 4ppm and will check tomorrow.. if it's good I'm getting my ember tetras too! 

Happy St. Patrick's day everyone~


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## ArchimedesTheDog (Apr 9, 2012)

Mewski said:


> Thank you! Yes, the best thing to do is just go for it.  Not like you can't make changes later! I hope you get nice plants.
> 
> In other news, I found _another_ pond snail sliding around and some algae growing, so I did a big dose of excel and reduced the lights by an hour. I also tested.. 0 ammo.. and 0 nitrites! ~25ppm nitrates! Eee! Almost ready?! I dosed ammo back to 4ppm and will check tomorrow.. if it's good I'm getting my ember tetras too!
> 
> Happy St. Patrick's day everyone~


Maybe wait a bit after a big dose of excel, no?


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

ArchimedesTheDog said:


> Maybe wait a bit after a big dose of excel, no?


I was of the understanding that it breaks down after 24 hours so it should be alright? I'm going to have to do a PWC anyway.


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## ArchimedesTheDog (Apr 9, 2012)

I'm probably just a nervous nellie.


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## Seetide (Feb 25, 2016)

Tank looks great, nice job!


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

ArchimedesTheDog said:


> I'm probably just a nervous nellie.


Thank you for bringing it up, I do appreciate the perspective! It pushed me to research a bit more and make sure it will be fine for my fishies. 



Seetide said:


> Tank looks great, nice job!


Thanks, it's very fun!

I'm already seeing new growth on the water sprite and I have 7 ember tetras and 2 tiny horned nerite snails acclimating in a separate tub.  They have a clump of vibrant, fresh java moss to hide under. It's a bit funny, I actually asked/paid for eight, but the little guys are so fast and squiggly I think the nice LFS guy miscounted. I'm debating whether I should bring that up... I do have pics of the unopened bag. Either way, they are adorable shoaling about. Right now they are starting to explore their temporary tub more as individuals and pairs, so I hope that means they're relaxing.

One of the snails is going into my fiance's little Spec III soon. Certainly didn't take long for MTS to strike here, haha.


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

Fishies moved in! For the first ten minutes, they all hid under some moss and in the fern leaves. The littlest ones would explore a bit, then snap back to the group.

Suddenly, they all seemed to decide this place was All Right and started confidently exploring everywhere. They're hanging out in the middle mostly, just as I hoped. They also have a grand old time swimming up into the filter stream and bouncing off the java moss.

It was a bit concerning to see how pale they got during transit, but in the tank they look very vibrant now.




























I'm really trying to squeeze some quality out of my old point n shoot, though there's only so much it can do with this lighting and the zippiness.










Oliver has been surprisingly chill with the fish, content to watch them. We'll see how long before I have to seriously catproof...


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## Mewski (Mar 6, 2016)

I have an update for you guys! Finally got some shrimp for my birthday from Joe's Aqua, they are SO CUTE! The Spec III has five golden backs and the Spec V has blue bolts, shadow mosura and bkk pandas.

My betta, Aether, thinks the shrimp are very interesting and investigates them, but seems pretty peaceful. He flared only when one was in his cherished bubble nest, which is pretty understandable. He flares at snails near his nest, too. The tetras couldn't care less, of course.

I had to pull the rocks from the big tank because of leeching issues. I hope to get the monte carlo to carpet over there, it struggled when first planted but there's new leaves now.

Over all, I'm really happy with my tanks!


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