# New 90 gallon bow front tank.



## Kirbo (Jan 8, 2007)

The dimensions of this new quarter cylinder bow front tank are 30" tall x 30"wide. The length of the front bow is 54". This is my second tank. I started with planted tanks this January 2007. I initially set up a 29 gallon tank to learn all I could back in February and that was a great idea as I learned a lot! I had to wait for this tank to be made so I learned some great lessons. One was that a sword plant can grow very large when given large doses of fertilizers and CO2. Who says an Ozealot sword only grows 16 inches tall! I had to pull one out of the 29 gallon tank that was huge and there was no let up in the production of large leaves that completely covered the surface of the tank. I had added extra Seachem subtrate fertilizer to EcoComplete, plus I was already adding macro fertilizers to the water. So when the new tank arrived I had some experience to fall back on. 

I had aquariums when I was younger and I had always planted them heavily as I like that look. We had mostly incandescent bulbs back then and plants grew very well with heavy fish loads. When I tried to grow plants later as an adult the tanks came with fuorescents and nothing grew under that dim light. Ignorantly, I blamed it on the water, etc. and lost interest in these dim and dead looking fishtanks. The PH in this New Hampshire water is somewhat high at 8.0 so that could have contributed to the failure of the plants to grow. 

Now, when I came back into the hobby this year I was elated to see all the new advances in aquarium keeping such as in lighting, subtrates, and CO2. Now I felt I had a chance to make a beautiful set up in a fish tank. I wanted a tank right in my TV room and I set out to learn all I could. Thanks to this forum and others I was fortunate to learn more than I thought possible. What follows on my picture site are some pictures of my new tank. My son helped me upload these picture to this site, so this is the way they can be viewed. I hope you enjoy the show!

Cheers!
John

http://picasaweb.google.com/blackwaterfishman/FISHTANKS


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

very nice. any close ups and details light ,filtrtion etc?


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## Kirbo (Jan 8, 2007)

Other pictures and info are available at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/blackwaterfishman/FISHTANKS


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

Excellent work. Nice and natural! And interesting to see in the room setting too. roud:


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## fishymatty (Feb 25, 2007)

It looks really nice but I have to tell you from experience a tank near a window especially one newly planted will be very difficult to control the algae. 
I have a relatively new 45g against the window in my bedroom. After a week everything was covered in algae, the green stuff, and the glass was covered in green spot algae. All I can say is it has been such a hassle trying to keep the tank clean. I've had and beat algae in both my other tanks but the one near a window is a pain. 
Good luck.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

saweet tank, one of the best bowfronts i have seen.


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## Lucky_13 (Apr 18, 2006)

it looks awesome, but geeze that is a very bulky looking stand and hood...makes the whole thing look very massive and hulking in the corner there.


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## Kirbo (Jan 8, 2007)

Betowess, Fishmatty, Dufus, and Lucky13, thank you for your input. I tried to make it natural looking as I try to do with all my outdoor gardens here in New Hampshire. In regard to the sun, I live in NH and we are lucky if we see the sun! All kidding aside, it is in a northeast window and only gets deflected sun for an hour or so in the very early morning. So far, so good, but thanks for the heads up. In regard to its size, it sure is big, it now is even bigger than all my speakers and audio set up as well as the widescreen TV! I even had to cut the hood in half and install a piano hinge so I can flip half the hood back over on top of the back half. I can work the whole tank without taking the hood off. Thank goodness, as my wife and I together could barely get it up there. It works great with the piano hinge and the fact that the hood is 15 inches high turned out to be a bonus because it is tall enough for me to access the tank. I do have to remember to turn the Metal Halide bulb off as when I was getting a haircut the girl who cuts my hair wanted to know what happened to some of my hair in the front. She said it looked like someone had cut off a big chunk of hair. I was mystified until I realized I had heard a slight burning sound and felt some heat when I stuck my head under the MH bulb! I leave the compact fluorescents on so I can see, though. The tank and stand fit the room pretty well as it has heavy leather furniture, black TV, black speakers, Black AV tower cabinet, and a lot of book cases.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

lol, i bet you could smell the hair sizzling though.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

stunning tank furniture, lushly planted, but that location between a high traffic doorway and bright open window will be a problem. regardless, good luck with it and thanks for sharing your hard work with us here in PTF.


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## Jessica (Mar 1, 2007)

Very nice! I love how you created a sense of depth with a tricky footprint to work with.

And yes... Ozelot swords will balloon to epic sizes when happy. Mine is currently massive with leaves at least 20'' long.


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Nice tank!


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## knuggs (Mar 5, 2007)

dufus said:


> saweet tank, one of the best bowfronts i have seen.


Ditto! Great work with the bowfront!


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## Jason Baliban (Mar 3, 2005)

I like this one too The full room shot definitely adds to the effect.

Sweet job

jB


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## Kirbo (Jan 8, 2007)

EdTheEdge, Knuggs, and Jason, thanks for your comments. It is amazing to me that less than two weeks have passed since I took those pictures and I already have had to cut back the bunch plants. Some of the jungle val leaves have also grown to three feet. The jungle val plants are leaning in on both sides and they are becoming a dominate feature of the aquarium along with the driftwood and the sword plant. The Kleiner Bar sword is still behaving and will not see any extra fertilizer unless it turns yellow! I don't dose macros anymore (not since set up.) and I occasionally dose micros at somewhat less than the recommended dose. (I'm cheap and I am using Dupla's Plant 24) I have been a devoted "land" gardener for over 40 years and I have learned to fertilize when necessary and to try to minimize maintenance. Let's see if I can do that underwater!


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