# My first 34g planted tank journal thingy...



## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

my 34g tank, new to the aquarium world... please do comment on it so that way i know what i did wrong


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

play around with the setting...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added some lava rocks to help hold the slope better...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)




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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added some aquasoil on both sides


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added white/yellow-ish sand in the middle


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added more sand and soil


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added some water... aka making some chocolatemilk...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added some plants, a driftwood and more water, hook up the ehiem ecco filter


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

few hours later, water still bad looking, play around with the light setting and opps, realized the incoming and outgoing tube wasn't hooked up to the tank.. still in a bucket


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

hook the tubes up and added more water then check on it again in few hours only to find out forgot to load the media basket which was in the kitchen sink...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

play with the light again, water is a tid bit better.. or maybe its because the 50/50 light that came with the tank... will be gone til after wed. afternoon, hope the water will clear up by then.
order some spraybar, hagen co2 and a sponge filter last week.. hope i get it by end of the week


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

i know i'll probly need new lights... it has 2 sets of lights... one is one of those 50-50 65watts in a corallife light stand the other is a smaller stand with a 18watts 30inch true actinic 03 blue lamp.... whatever its for... what kind of lights should i be getting? most of the plants i plan to keep are low lights to med. lights and i plan on running it 8 - 10 hrs a day...


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## leelee (Dec 26, 2006)

you most likely can get away with the lighting you have. It's better to have moderate light versus too much! Trust me on this, you dont want to deal with algae! the general rule is 2wpg with stock lights, t8 bulbs with a poor reflector or no reflector. 1 to 1.5wpg with a good reflector. I personally use 1wpg but I have a very good reflector that I paid a pretty peny for. I dont get algae and my plants grow well. I think its better to have an algae free tank and have the plants grow healthy than try to tweak the wattage for max growth.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

i change out one of the blue light back to its org. light.. coralife t5 10,000k... i am thinking about keeping that 65watts 50-50... and was thinking about running that 10k light for 6 hrs... then run the 50-50 for 4 - 6 hrs...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

4 days later...








jacked some crystal from parents place that was laying around the house, during the vacation...








added some plants that was on sale, only 1.45 a plant @ lfs...








30 mins later


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

more pics of the crystals


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

looking from the side








yeah, i know the center piece wood likes like crap.. it was jacked from my turtle tank...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

been looking at wood from lfs... its either all crap or super over charged... most wants over 100 for a med. sized maybe 12 by 12... sigh... 
saw some nice wood at ebay for good price... either getting http://cgi.ebay.com/257-Aquarium-MA...hZ009QQcategoryZ66790QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
or http://cgi.ebay.com/232-Aquarium-MA...hZ009QQcategoryZ66790QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

got some plants from oblongshrimp in the mail today


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

did a 50% water change, added those plants, a java moss wall and a taiwan moss wall


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## ValorG (Dec 27, 2003)

This is gonna look sweet!


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

thanks.. i hope so... woke up this morning to find those plants that is on the upper right corner half dead, its like turning to a green clear color and some of them won't stay in the soil, so had to clip off the bad ones, relocated them, only got maybe less then a 3rd left now.. ah well
heading to walmart pretty soon to pick up some yeast, sugar and jello to make some co2 and then maybe head out to lfs to pick up something to replace it


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

from this morning








added some more plants from lfs


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

changed the 50-50 lights to a 10k light... 36 watts, so total watts is at 54, still a bit low, that makes it 1.5wpg, running it 10 hrs a day, also running on ehiem ecco 2234 (order some spraybar and a better intake and tubing from petsmart but its taking forever to arrive), diy co2 (should recieve my order of hagen co2 system by wed)
as for fert. i got flourish fundamentals pack, its got flourish, flourish iron and flourish excel. and testing kits i got ph, nh3, nh4, no2, no3 and fe. i think thats all the stuff i need, am i missing anything? 
how do determine how much fert. is needed?


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## colinthebassist (Nov 30, 2007)

For dosing flourish stuff follow the instructions on the bottle or get a dosing guide from their site.

Edit: Don't bother testing Fe, no test kit will give accurate results. Just dose it every few days. You should also get a phosphate test kit.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

i'll look for the po4 kit when i get the chance.. will i be needing a kh test kit as well?


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## hughitt1 (Jun 19, 2006)

I'd be careful with buying driftwood on ebay. You can get some really great deals, but I had trouble getting mine to stay submerged, even after soaking for 5-6 months. I didn't try boiling though which is the next step. Hopefully that will make them stay down


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## susankat (Oct 14, 2007)

Try this place for driftwood, great prices and sinks as soon as you put it in.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/11370/cid/2928


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Just get a piece of Malaysian Driftwood. It sinks like a rock with no soaking. Its a bit pricy but worth it in my eyes. 

Good start on the tank. :thumbsup:


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## susankat (Oct 14, 2007)

Its not pricey at the link I just posted. Large piece is $8 -$9


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

so what do you guys think? should i just keep the one i got or get a new one? i had my eyes set on a "V" shaped and a "Y" shaped one from a lfs before i setup the tank (thats why my moss wall background is like that empty v shaped center...i forgot to check the price when i first lay my eyes on it, then i went back again the morning i setup the tank and found out they want 100 for it, it was only 22inches tall forgot how wide >_>


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

i posted the wrong watts spec, its 65watts 10k 4 pin bulb and a t5 18watts so total is rounded up to 2.5 wpg


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

replanted the tank, i found out one of the bag of the aquasoil i got was mostly crushed, so everytime i move something around, the whole tank turns into mud water, had to stir the water everyday and do a 70% water change for the past 5 days or so, then used the python to clean up the rest, got rid of the hair grass, was told that 2.5 wpg, specily a tall tank won't grow it at all, just killing it slowly, that also explain why day by day each grass is turning a bit yellow, and some will start to melt right in the center... oh yeah fish gallery in houston is selling java moss for really really cheap, about 2 1/2 softball size for 5 bucks, too bad they didn't take good care of it, about 2 golfball size is bad but overall not too bad
also hook the diy co2 to a internal mini elite filter that cost around 8 bucks from petco








did water test the result was
PH = 7.0 - 7.2
KH = 6 - 7
FE = 0
NH3 = .5 ppm
NO2 = .2 ppm
NO3 = 5 ppm
CO2 = no idea how many ppm, just got one of those redsea co2 indicator, its slowly turning green, still a bit blueish now
isn't nh and no2 suppost to be zero at all time? or when its fully cycled, i been adding 3 - 4 piece of sinking fish food every 3 days or so...
water temp is at 78 - 80


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added 35 rcs, 2 bamboo shrimp and 15 ghost shrimp
filter parts finnly came in, the hagen co2 as well... 
will take a picture tomorrow night when the water clears up from all the moving around


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

4 weeks later...


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Very nice, your off to a great start..


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

thanks... the banana plant is doing very well, they have long roots now, do they ever take root at all? as of now, i just let them float and sink to where ever they like, besides on the micro swords, with each water change, they always change spot... should i pick a good final resting spot for them?


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## pdc2104 (Jan 1, 2008)

Very nice! It was fun watching your tank progress. Personally, I love the wood you have in there. 

Can you tell me what that red plant is called, and how many wpg it needs?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

thanks, the red plant is Alternanthera reineckii, i was told that my setup of 2.5wpg with co2 will do just fine. I decided to keep driftwood at the end... running low on money (us sushi chef just don't make that much anymore), so i decided to save those money for some shrimp, the only problem now is the placement of the center piece... i wanted the driftwood to be the center piece, but the alternanthera reineckii is standing out a lot, i don't know how to explain it, but it just doesn't look right, so right now i am looking for either pellia or flame moss or anyother kind of moss-like plant to grow/attach onto the driftwood, so it won't stand out so much, and the a. reineckii will be my center piece i guess, but now comes the next problem, the driftwood has sunk down into the sand/aquasoil/rocks really good now, if i were to move it. it will mix all those up in the back area, and the plants on the two sides might sink into the middle... i really don't want to take that risk, what should i do?


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## pdc2104 (Jan 1, 2008)

> but the alternanthera reineckii is standing out a lot, i don't know how to explain it,


I see what you mean. The eye goes to it immediately and it does stand out a bit too much in the sea of green. Can you divide it, or pinch the top off, and place a piece elsewhere to balance out the scape?

I"m a total aquascape newbie, but in trying to think how to move the wood and plant without destroying everything - it seems it you have a few flat pieces of plastic or plexiglass around, you could sort of put up a "fence" around the driftwood (pushing the plastic pieces right down to the tank floor) then lift out the driftwood without disturbing anything...?

Does that make any sense?:redface:


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

yeah it does, the problem is its a mix of sand and little rocks towards the center back area, the reason i did that was if it were plain sand, it will move around a lot, theres no way to set anything on it, and the back part is around 4 inches deep so i might have to drain half the water out then tie on the moss or whatever, it will be pain in the ( Y ) but less risk of back part falling apart or whatever...
as for the a. reineckii, its 3 different stem, the back one is a huge one, theres one thats about half the size right infront of it, then theres one very small one, with like 4 - 7 leafs on it towards the left side, i did try to plant the smaller one some where else, but when you spread out the red too much, it looks very ugly... maybe in half year or so other plants will grow bigger, so it will bounce out a bit...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

took some pics of the rcs late last night, i stay up pretty much the whole night trying to figure out how to take good close up shots and waiting of them to come out from hiding, first few pics isn't that great, but it gets better i think...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

bamboo shrimp...


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## workshopper (Jan 18, 2007)

Nice tank and shrimps.
Is it lilaeopsis brasilensis in the right corner?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

its micro swords
its growing very very slow, i guess due to the fact its a tall tank and the light isn't strong enough to penetrate that low...


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Nice work.. It is coming along great..


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## workshopper (Jan 18, 2007)

mahoro said:


> its micro swords
> its growing very very slow, i guess due to the fact its a tall tank and the light isn't strong enough to penetrate that low...


Micro Sword Latin name is Lilaeopsis Brasilensis.

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/plants/RosettePlants/MicroSword.php

I try to grow them in 40 gallon tank, about 2.25 wpg+co2+ferts. Tank is new, so I cant tell yet if it grows well.


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## rasetsu (Oct 11, 2007)

Starting to come along nicely...you should ditch the crystals though. They look out of place and a little tacky.

I found great looking Malaysian driftwood pieces from Petco. The go on sale every now and then. Get a couple of small pieces you can tie together to get some more dimension in the tank. Boil or soak them first though as they will leach lots of tannis. Petsmart only has Malawi driftwood which isn't as attractive IMO.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

i should of done more research first, for the most part i have no idea what my plants r nor their scientific name, besides the few i got from people from this site, pretty much all the lfs here don't have any clue either, they just want money... sigh...
anyways.. anyone have any idea what the left back side plant is call? theres 3 different ones, all i know is one of them is java fern, theres a spiky leaf one then theres the long stem with big leaf... that one isn't doing too well, the lfs told me its a low light plant, i am starting to think its not... its losing its leaf every other day, from yellow to rot


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

hmm.. the crystals... what if i place them all in the sand? will it look better? or i should just ditch them all together...?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

some pics of the ghost shrimps...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

more pics of the rcs, i started with 35, lost 2 monday while doing water change >_> should of watch where i siphon...


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## rasetsu (Oct 11, 2007)

mahoro said:


> hmm.. the crystals... what if i place them all in the sand? will it look better? or i should just ditch them all together...?


 
I would just ditch them. Right now, they remind me of those little Chinese water fountains with the bamboo in it and clash with the natural theme you have going on already. Stuff might start growing in the fizzures of the crystals and they may not be good for water quality anyways. They may look okay in a goldfish tank, but have no place in a planted shrimp tank, IMHO.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

okay, with the next water change, i'll fish them out and put them into my bamboo vase...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

5th week later








everything seen to be doing okay now, been using the flourish set and plant gro once a week after a 40% w/c, only problem i've seen is most plant isn't growing stright up, but kind of lean in a weird way, anyways will have more pics monday, the empty spot in the front left will be filled with star grass whenever i get them, going to add some pellia onto those small stones, and then flame moss onto the driftwood...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

while doing water change sunday, i noticed a lot not so good looking plants towards the back of the tank, some r turning yellow, some r shrinking up and some r dead, so i end up moving some plants around, give them some space








it ended up looking messy, oh well, i'll wait til when the star grass, flame moss and the pellia comes in and then decide the final look and hopefuly i won't have to move anything around anymore


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## aquabear (Jan 10, 2008)

dont rush yanking things out too soon if they are stressed, or even look dead.

some plants just seem to take a while to get used to new surroundings. i have even had an apon that suddenly came back tolife after 7 months sitting in the corner. no changes except that my bamboo shrimp decided to build his house beside it. strange 

your tank is really shaping up beautifully. I like the way that the wood that at one point you thought looked like crap, is starting to fit in to your over all plan. trust yourself.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

yeah, its just too bad my turtle is probly mad by now, it used to be his/hers, he/she loved to rest on that while sun bathing...heehee so i guess i will stop moving stuff around then, and just plant the star grass in the front left, some flame moss on the driftwood if i ever get my hands on it, then some pellia on those stones...
speaking of bamboo shrimp, i noticed once in a while couple piece of my micro swords will became lose, i know bamboo shirmp will dig around if there isn't much food around, but do they have enough power to dig out those plants while searching for food?


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## aquabear (Jan 10, 2008)

not in my experience. He just runs around picking up all of the biggest dead leaves, snail shells, shrimp molts and stacks them neatly in a corner


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

oh thats pretty cool, i never knew that... maybe in few weeks i'll see it my self... speaking of the molts, i was starting to wonder what to do with it,


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

so its 2am, checking out the tank and shrimp before heading to the bed, i noticed the stupid driftwood that for the past 2 weeks i try to unroot from the sand somehow unrooted it self and fall over, crushing some plants and unroot some as well, just great, what else can go wrong? after playing with it for half hr, the tank is dirty, the sand has a lot of the AS mixed into it now, probly will have to take out a good deal of sand with next water change and replace with new, good thing i got a big bucket of it and still have over 70% left... there was a lot of dead plants, leaf and such and couple shrimp behind the driftwood, bamboo shrimp home maybe? its all over the tank now making it look even worst so i might have to do another water change either tomorrow morning before work or do it after i get off... the question is will muti-water change in a week be bad for the shrimp?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

okay, got the stargrass in today, and only thing left is pellia, which i am getting it next week, i think i will skip the flame moss since its looking pretty heavy planted already, i am going to leave everything alone and let it grow wild for a year and see what happens


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

The 6 week...


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## aquabear (Jan 10, 2008)

as for the molts...leave them in and they will add to the calcium (a tiny bit) or take them out and dry them. I had a pretty cool stack of them for the first 2-3 months then i got real bored with that. Now they just sit till eaten or degraded. 

As for the other posts...you are off to a great start. soon this will be a tank to boast about.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

I dont think you quite realize what a year means to a planted tank. 

Those "banana plants" (_Nymphoides_ sp.) will go nuts.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

hmm.. banana nuts... heehee... maybe i'll add in some 'sea monkey' to take care of it.. heehee
enough of stupidness... like the title says.. this is my first planted tank, and i am a total noob so everything in this tank is trial and error, i want to see how they grow... i started on a 2nd planted tank, its easy and simple and small... i'll start another post i guess....


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

oh yeah, speaking of those banana plants... every once in a while i notice they will lose a banana or two, i think some of them grow couple as well... is that normal?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

added pellia today...


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## mugirl08 (Nov 15, 2005)

I like this tank  Your plants look healthy and I agree that the wood looks fine. This will look great as it continues to grow in. Good luck!
Rachel


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

the 7th week, starting to have those green spot algae, i think, its kind of hard to get it off, took me a while to clean it off, but its worth it, nice and clean tank...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

hey mugirl08, what kind of puffer is that in ur avatar? green spotted? i been lookin all over in town for some 100% fresh water puffer to maybe add into my new tank, but most of them isn't too healthy looking, they look like pickles.. some of them looks like dried pickles >_>


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

the current moon light (blue) came in the mail today, took apart and drilled couple holes on my 30" corallife light fixture, it fit just fine inside, i'll need to add more, maybe 2...


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## tom91970 (Dec 31, 2007)

Your tank looks great!


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## aquabear (Jan 10, 2008)

really coming along. the peila was a nice addition. i cant wait to get my new tank loaded, but i will live vicariously through you for now. only a couple of weeks to go


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

the 8th week, the snail is starting to eat some of my plants, i think, some of them has holes on it, so i guess its time to put more food in


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

water test result:
ph = 7.2
kh = 120 ppm
gh = 75 ppm
nh3 = 0
no2 = 0
no3 = 5ppm
co2 = green/blueish on redsea co2 indicator
water temp = 75
zero chlorine


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

the 9th week, did some chopping and replanting...


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## bra_van_drakh (Feb 11, 2008)

it's a good thing u only leave 1 of those banana lilies, because they dont just grow like crazy, more than that, they're insane. . .if not, u'll have to prepare to pick one leaf each 3 days. . .they'll cover ur surface area, thus giving ur other plants no light. . .but i do enjoy keeping 4 of them n my 20gal. ..^^

owh yeah .. .dont u think the more food the more snails will appear ??? what kind of snails actually u're experiening ???


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

yeah, i heard that from someone else, so i throw the rest into my other tank... and as for the snail.. thats the problem i found.. i have ramshorn, pond snail and this white snail with black strip on it... think of it as candycain with black and white color, and its shape is like apple snail... i found out that was the snail that was snacking on my plants, ever since i feed more food, they stop eating my plants... but the pond snail has almost double now...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

10th week...








a different view...


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

try moving the banana plant over to one side (the left strikes me more, i dont know why), its right down the center and contradicts the rule of thirds (its a compositional rule).


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

like completely to the other side?


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

like to the very border of the sand so it is touching the carpet plant.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

ah, how about the back left edge, right against the dwiftwood? i might be replacing that banana plant with a smaller banana from my other tank, my parents likes the one i had in the tank, so i am taking it up to dallas over the week and giving it to them...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

10th week...


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

nice!!


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## Sakmeht (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi Mahoro... I'm a newb and just picked up an unlabeled plant. I notice you have it in your tank.... origionally it was on the right side of your tank then you moved it to the left... Your first post with pic on 2-24, the picture is labeled "10th week"... the plant is pretty prominent in the left background. Tall straight green stem with oval shaped leaves coming off it? Can you tell me the name? Thanks!


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## rasetsu (Oct 11, 2007)

Looks good! Pond snails are out of control in my tank too. I crush as many as I see for my rainbows to eat and my amano shrimp finish off the ones that fall to the substrate. I have a lot of tiny trap door snails too.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

rasetsu: i been staying up til 3 am everyday, waiting for all the snail to come out/up and then crush them one by one, at less 15 - 20 a nite, and i still haven't put a dent in their pop. yet, sigh... and who ever said snail were slow, they were wrong, as soon as i crush the first snail, they all go back to their hiding spot, and some of them is making fun of me by riding on the underside of the duckweed... sigh... and as for sakmeht: that makes 2 of us, i am just getting the hang out how all the plant grow and such... and as for the plant, u mean this guy here?








if so, its Bacopa monnieri
and this link is to all the plants to my tank other then the moss http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/plants/59037-help-naming-my-plants-please-tons.html


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## wearsbunnyslippers (Dec 6, 2007)

i see you have collectoritis like me 

you should try to prune your plants to keep them from reaching the surface.

you are getting some fantastic growth, but the plants in the front are overgrowing the plants behind them. the 8th week pic was my favourite.

also maybe think about getting a dark background to contrast the plants a bit better.

really nice tank dood!


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

yeah, i might be moving sometime during may, so i am thinking about painting the back black and the stargrass is overtaking everything, i am going to trim it next week, was suppost to trim it this weekend, but was in a bad car wrack wed. nite, car was sandwiched by some drunk/crack-head lady that was on her way to pick up her son, so instead of that she gets to stay in jail...


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2008)

Man sorry to hear that - that's no fun. 

Hey where did you end up putting your spraybar?

I don't see the spray bar in your set up. I'm trying to get my tank going. I'm on week 3 things are going well. I've enjoyed your journal.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

intake is on left back corner and spray bar is on right top side, flow going from right to left...


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## Sakmeht (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi Mahoro, 

Thanks for the ID on the plant. I jotted it down, and I think from your pics I was able to identify the other plant I have. It was similar to the myriophyllum sp. I hope you're all right after your accident. Any serious injuries?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

neck is starting to hurt a bit today due to rainy weather... should of gone to the hosptal last nite... as for the car... its almsot 2 years old sigh...someone backed up into it last sept. and was fixed back then... and now the front is all crushed... so looks like no setting up a new tank for a long time now, and i was so looking foward to setup a 20l fowlr tank... had everything pretty much picked out too, as for that lady, saw her at the car storage/pound today, still look she is really high on something, can't even speak right, so i guess the cop didn't lock her up, i felt sorry for her kid that was in her car...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

11 week, did some trimming, i like how the right side of the tank... might have to re-do the left side, stuck going to chiropractor for the next 3 weeks or so, probly will get some new plants after that...


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## Guest (Mar 11, 2008)

Man it's looking great!


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

12th week... replanted the micro grass... had a huge patch of it, 4" X 1' or so, put some in my smaller tank, got rid of all the not so good looking ones, hope it will grow back into a carpet soon...


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## aquagirl (Aug 15, 2007)

Hello Mahoro,

I've just read your posts from the beginning to the end. What a fascinating journey for me. Your tank looks awesome, you did a great job. I feel like I've had an aquascaping 101 course :icon_lol: which I really need. My tanks look like poop. The creative genes must have been given to one of the other offspring my parents produced :icon_roll. 

Thanks so much for sharing :thumbsup: I hope you feel better soon.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

thanks... i've read people is having so much problem with duckweed overgrowing/taking over their tank, i been having problem with them growing, let alone take over, i had them over a month now and its getting less and less everyweek... same thing with my 10g...


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Replace the cabomba with hemianthus micranthemoides or stargrass...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

that was kinda out of no where...


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

nice tank dude. The left side need pruning though.


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

13th week, trying out no co2 and see what happens... after a week, the Alternanthera reineckii started to lose its leaf and a bit of its color


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

14th week, 2week no co2


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

15th week, 3 week no co2, Alternanthera reineckii is starting to come back from dead a bit...


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## SHAMEEK (Feb 9, 2008)

just show the clear view of ur tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nice starting!!!!!!!!!!!
go ahead


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## ununknown (Mar 26, 2008)

has your moss wall grown at all? Has it even filled in on other spots of the wall?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

been slacking off, haven't clean the filter in a while, will do so in the near future, as for the moss wall, i didn't have enough moss to cover the whole wall when i first started, i been waiting for it to grow out a bit so i can re-do it in the near future as well, probly will wait til next week


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Looking good! I like the Jungle look


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

16th week


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

ununknown said:


> has your moss wall grown at all? Has it even filled in on other spots of the wall?


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## Digital (Apr 4, 2008)

Looks real nice man, I think you have the same tank as I do. In the store they sell it as a 37G, but I think it does equate to be 34G in actuality.

I really like the journal you took the time to create. As for the aquascape, I'd personally like to see the plants with more color more in plain view, as apposed to being hidden. Especially that red one, that's a great looking plant.

So you have the corellife 65x2 dual setup running @ 130watts? That's the one I got. I haven't chosen plants yet, I'm just using my tank now to grow out my amazon sword plantlets.

The more I read, the more I understand that choosing the right plants are very important.

Great work! Keep it up!


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

yeah, its something like that, i seen it in store where they sell it as bigger tank, but its really a 35g, don't know why they do that... anyways, i am runnin on a single coralife 65 watts and a coralife t5 at 18watts.. and as for the red plant, it started out as 2 big plants and 2 smaller plants, but i had problem with something eating it away, now its just whole bunch smaller plants, its going to take a while for it to grow back, i stop using co2 'aka too lazy to make new batch of diy co2' and everything seens to work out fine, its just all the ricca died out and the growth seen to be more slower, but its fine by me...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

17th week


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

18th week, changed out the micro swords with blyxa japonica, traded Alternanthera reineckii for some computer stuff, life is a mess, finding new apt, car is still in the shop, etc etc...


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

you may want to trim the stuff on the rigth soon, it looks like a giant wall in the center of your tank.


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## sea-horsea (Apr 4, 2008)

sorry but whats the dimension of the tank? how do you make the "river" do you use anything to separate the 2 diff. substrate?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

sea-horsea said:


> sorry but whats the dimension of the tank? how do you make the "river" do you use anything to separate the 2 diff. substrate?


30 x 23 x 12 1/2
the so called 'river' which my inten. wasn't to make a river but a feeding ground/area that can be cleaned off "IF" theres anything left over, was just sand, i use rocks, if you start from the beg. of my journal, it will show you, it was a lot bigger when i first started, i just take some out with every w/c and replace with more AS...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

19 week


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

20th week


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

21st week


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

The right side of the tank on page 8 looks stunning!!! 

Personally, I'd lose the moss wall and rethink the left side.

Nice and RED cherries!

what are the dimensions of that tank? 20x18x24?


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

yeah, i am thinking about painting the back black when i move to the townhome, and theres really 2 walls, i am thinking about putting those into my future 10g and 5g tanks... as for the left side i need some ideas... i was suppost to tear it down and replant it with something else, but the the car acc. and such... i didn't really have the time...


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

30 x 23 x 12 1/2
34g tank...


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

Week 19 ~ That is an amazing amount of very red shirmp!


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## mahoro (Dec 18, 2007)

ya, the week after that, for some mystery reason, i had over 50 deaths, some of the adult super reds just died and lots of baby, but they are all fine now, i figure it was the water temp, differance when i did the w/c, i forgot to turn on the heater, after the heater was on, everything went fine, and they are repducing like roach now, i ahve some what over 300...all the pic was taking a few seconds after i feed them, week 19 was 10 mins later...


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