# my 46 gallon bowfront :New Pics 1-20-15 last page



## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

TO SEE THE UPDATED PICTURES OF THIS TANK GO TO THE LAST POST

Hi TPT members. This is my first real aquascaped tank. Ive had planted tanks before and have three currently but this is the one I would like your opinions on. I used glass bowl planters for the ozelot swords and have a piece of driftwood on front left. I tried to keep the reds in the center rear and leave the center front for foreground plants such as dwarf sag and two rare centerpiece crypts which are doing great but only currently have 3 or 4 leaves. Thoughts?? Tank has injected co2, mix of regular gravel, first layer laterite and eco complete substrate, marineland aquatic plant led system lighting, and I dose potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and iron. I have ottos and amano shrimp for algae control as well as one bn pleco. Other fish include glowlight tetras, black skirt tetras, hatchetfish, turquoise rainbows, pair of GBRs, 2 hifin variatus platys, 4 endler guppies. Am planning on adding 2 or 3 more rainbow fish, maybe the red or longfinned ones. Sorry about the glare, its a window across the room. 










I call it my jungle community tank.

Thanks for the feedback!


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Looks nice and healthy! I'd suggest maybe adding a nice big branchy piece of manzanita in there to break things up a bit. Taller plants behind the branch with shorter ones in front of it.


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## Fish from Philly (May 28, 2013)

Looks very nice and healthy! I actually like the red plants in the front but matter of preference I suppose. I think your right side needs something large to cover up the equipment. A tall piece of wood with branches overhanging the center path would look cool. I think once your background plants grow in, the tank will look like it has more depth. You could add more jungle vals to the back or continue stem plants. Rotala magenta would compliment nicely


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## Idrankwhat (Mar 20, 2013)

I like it. I learned from my first planted tank to start off with less mid and background plants. The clutter I ended up with about choked the scape and made for a lot of upkeep to keep it from looking too messy. Yours looks good. Can't wait to see it grow in.


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## driftingchick101 (Oct 15, 2013)

Idrankwhat said:


> I like it. I learned from my first planted tank to start off with less mid and background plants. The clutter I ended up with about choked the scape and made for a lot of upkeep to keep it from looking too messy. Yours looks good. Can't wait to see it grow in.


This is really good advice


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## dasmall1 (Oct 14, 2013)

You may try moving your crypt from the front right back a little bit farther (even though you want to appreciate his beauty!). When he finally does get more leaves, it will start subtracting from the depth of the tank. And try giving him his own root tab! Eco-complete is OK, but still lacks some of the stuff that heavy root feeders need.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

dasmall1 said:


> You may try moving your crypt from the front right back a little bit farther (even though you want to appreciate his beauty!). When he finally does get more leaves, it will start subtracting from the depth of the tank. And try giving him his own root tab! Eco-complete is OK, but still lacks some of the stuff that heavy root feeders need.


which crypt in the front right are you talking about? the crypt spiralis??


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

Here are some updated pictures of this tank that I took this morning 10/18. These pictures are just 9 days after the first picture in this thread.


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## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

Your plants look great!

Maybe some more hardscape would be nice... a little stump, or piece of manzanita.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

a long overdue update on my 46 gallon bowfront. this is still by far my favorite tank. I have had it up and running for almost one year now. I have noticed that my taste for stem plants has changed and I slightly prefer crypts, swords, dwarf sag and hygro corymbosa. I still have some stem plants in here buy the crypt is beginning to become the star of this tank. Hopefully in another year it will be a crytpocoryne only tank. I dose only nitrogen, phosphorus, iron and excel once a week or after water changes, potassium twice a week. Root tabs (O+) once a month.

fish/inverts:
2 blue turquoise rainbows, 10 glowlight tetras, 5 black skirted tetras long and short fin, 2german blue rams that spawn regularly, 4 silver hatchets, 3 gold barbs, 4 endler guppies, 2 ottos, 2 nerite snails, 10 or 11 amano shrimp, one albino bn pleco, 

favorite fish are GBR's by far, they are the friendliest and the prettiest second to them are the turquoise rainbows which are now probably 5 or 6 years old and are the biggest in the tank

plant list:
crypt wendtii bronze and green gecko, crypt nurii, crypt fla sunset, crypt spiralis, hygro corymbosa compack, one amazon sword, one ozelot sword, l. aromatica, cuphea anagalloidea, jungle val, rotala butterfly, lobelia cardinalis, dwarf sag, staurogene repens, micro sword, elodea and dwl floating, lindernia rotundifolia (quickly becoming one of my favorites), hygro sunset, and one unknown crypt plant, oh and a tiger lotus that im trying, is still very small.

here are a few pictures from today. I have seen such profound growth in the crypt since I started this tank, they have gone from foreground to mid and rear plants. the rotala butterfly and cuphea have a ways to go but I thought it needed more red so I recently added them. I also have a nice branchy piece of manzi that I am considering putting in there to give a focal point but am not sure yet.

FTS:









CLOSE UP OF NURII AND FLA SUNSET IN THEIR OWN BOWL WITH MOSS BALLS:









CLOSE UP OF WENDTII GREEN THAT WAS LESS THAN ONE INCH HIGH ABOUT 6 MONTHS AGO:









any thoughts?? again this is a jungle, no specific scape just a showcase of my favorite plants.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

quick picture update from this morning. Plants have grown and filled in a lot. I am letting the crypts take over and will eventually devote this to a crypt only tank with the exception of the lindernia rotundifolia in the back and the jungle val. the lindernia is quickly becoming a favorite plant of mine. it is spreading nicely along the back glass. Removed the limnophila aromatica from the rear and there is an ozelot sword in its place that hasn't grown up yet. also I managed to save a fry and put it in the net at the top, don't know what it is yet but its just one lonely survivor, im hoping its a GBR but not sure yet, could also be a turquoise rainbow as I have a male female combo that dance around a lot. could be a glowlight tetra also, im hoping its not a guppy.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

it has been a little over a month since ive posted new pictures of this tank. I got a new phone and therefore needed to take some new shots. in doing this I realized that this 46 gallon bowfront has changed a lot since February
















female gbr her male died yesterday so her coloring is not great but she is my favorite
































bowl of nurii, Pahang, and fla sunset








close up of the hygro sunset


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

I have the itch to totally redo this tank. I have a pretty dense population of lindernia rotundifolia in the back that I want to highlight more, and I have a new piece of manzanita in a tank soaking in the basement with some anubias stuck to it. am wanting to get rid of the various hygro plants and just have it as a crypt/sword/lindernia/dwarf sag tank 
not sure yet am just getting sick of it like this 

thoughts??


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Nice looking tank, it has progressed very well.

Edit: I love it as is, but understandably we get tired of the same thing after a while, no matter how great it looks. The building is as much fun as the having! Your new idea sounds great too.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

burr740 said:


> Nice looking tank, it has progressed very well.
> 
> Edit: I love it as is, but understandably we get tired of the same thing after a while, no matter how great it looks. The building is as much fun as the having! Your new idea sounds great too.


burr740, thanks for the comments, no one comments on this thread so I appreciate you. Im glad to hear that its not just me that has to do a total tank redo every so often, I have 5 tanks and it seems like every couple months I need to rearrange something in at least one of them.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Looks good. Lindernia is one of those plants that are nice to look through


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

BruceF said:


> Looks good. Lindernia is one of those plants that are nice to look through


I agree completely.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

April update: this tank is in for a major rescape this Friday. the plants are taking over plus im ready for something new. ive had a piece of manzanita soaking in the basement for over a month now, plan to use it somehow. here are some update pictures and some pearling I caught this morning at lights on.


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## CherryRed (Feb 6, 2014)

This tank is beautiful! The new camera helped show the colors a lot. I love that it is a collection of beautiful plants that are just flourishing. It does not look overly planned and there are so many details to look at!


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## MiamiArt (Aug 27, 2010)

Hi,

Congrats on the healthy plants!

Your scape is what I would call a jungle style layout. That's perfectly fine if that is the look you want. Is it?

Here are some examples of aquascaping layout styles. Do any appeal to you? If yes, then keep that in mind when you re-scape.

Good luck!


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Looking good, can't wait to see the rescape!


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

CherryRed said:


> This tank is beautiful! The new camera helped show the colors a lot. I love that it is a collection of beautiful plants that are just flourishing. It does not look overly planned and there are so many details to look at!


Thanks so much CherryRed, you are right there are so many details to look at, I will go into this room to watch tv and end up staring at this tank more than the tv. Your comment has made me rethink rescaping it. I do like that its just a collection of plants, no real scape in mind other than junglemania! Thanks for the kind words.


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## Arron schofield (Apr 8, 2014)

Nice tank plants look very good condition. Know What you mean when you say have an urge to rescape I get them lol keep up the good work thumbup 

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

June Update: I still have this awesome piece of manzanita in the basement soaking ready to use in a rescape of this tank but I cant bring myself to doing it. I love how many different views this tank has. The plants have taken over, I have to trim them sometimes twice a week. The fish are really happy and I rarely check the parameters that they aren't spot on even with only a 30% weekly water change. I have little babies every week don't know what they are and they rarely survive. I did remove a big ozelot sword in the back right and rehome it to another tank I have. I have also thinned the dwarf sag and used that in trades recently.

Now to the pictures.


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## NCSteve (Dec 17, 2012)

The tank looks happy and healthy! If it ain't broke, don't fix it


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

It looks GREAT!!! It's stable , I wouldn't mess with it unless something really goes wrong.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

thanks Steve and OldGuy! I wish I could leave it alone, its just I have this big urge to change it because its been this for so long now. I don't know if I can fight it.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

Well I finally did I. I have had an amazing piece of manzanita in my basement for 3 months now and finally did the rescape. I took everything out, did a huge gravel vac, then put the wood in and placed the plants. the plants for this tank are only three types, swords (amazon and dwarf chain,) crypts (wentdii bronze and green, nurii, undulata and pondertifolia) and dwarf sag. Also there are 4 moss balls. No stem plants anymore, no more hygro sunset or corymbosa. It took about 5 hours all together but wine was involved so it could have gone much faster. overall im happy with it. hopefully the wood wont get too much of the bacteria ive had it in water for months now and have scraped as much of the bacteria off as possible. on to the pictures

before:









during:

















after:


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

imo you need to bury that dw or build up gravel around the dw right now it looks like its floating in mid air


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## NCSteve (Dec 17, 2012)

Good job on the rescape. That piece of wood would look awesome covered in moss!


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

du3ce said:


> imo you need to bury that dw or build up gravel around the dw right now it looks like its floating in mid air


it is buried, there are about 5 legs of it buried that you cant even see in the pictures. I agree moss on there but what moss likes high lighting and co2??


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

jmf3460 said:


> it is buried, there are about 5 legs of it buried that you cant even see in the pictures. I agree moss on there but what moss likes high lighting and co2??


Moss actually LOVES high lighting and co2. When something is called low-light it just means it can grow in low-light. Given high-light and co2 it will grow that much quicker, assuming it has the ferts it needs.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

couple shots from today now that it has cleared


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Looks nice, gonna be interesting to watch it fill in. I love that piece of wood, think the sword is great right there.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

Picture update for this one, it has only been 3-4 weeks since I did the total rescape, so far I can see extreme growth on the "dwarf" sag, which I am starting to think isn't so dwarf anymore. Its weird how it stayed shorter in the old scape for over a year and is now growing weirdly high in the same tank with same lighting and same ferts/co2 just in a different location. Ive added some new guinea rainbows that are coloring up nicely and two more turquoise rainbows which are my favorite rainbow so far. starting to really like this scape, I wish the crypts on the left would grow faster.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

Tank a little more than one month into the new scape. Dwarf sag is growing like a weed and has had to be trimmed back already. I am considering pulling it all up and going with a different dwarf plant on the right, possibly some crypts, downoi, and starogene repens?? I also am considering attaching a bunch of anubias to the wood and letting the water lettuce fill in to help provide shade. Tank had just had a water change so excuse the cloud.


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## NCSteve (Dec 17, 2012)

Tank is looking very nice. That is some healthy looking dwarf sag!


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

NCSteve said:


> Tank is looking very nice. That is some healthy looking dwarf sag!


thanks steve, and thank you for commenting, no one ever comments.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

added some anubias to the stump this weekend. also thinned the dwarf sag out a lot and added in some crypt willisii. will post more pics of the crypt willisii as it grows in...pics of anubias.


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## SupaTanks (Apr 11, 2013)

Like the nature look, cant wait to see pix of the dwarf sag taking over :]


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

dwaft sag is taking over, ive thinned it twice already. time to remove completely and go another route for the right hand side of this tank, im thinking downoi/crypt wissili carpeting. the tank has had this slight haze for over a week now that I cannot figure out...its not a cycle or it would have gone away by now, all parameters are good and co2 is good. idk if its the food im feeding now.
























also battling a little BBA as I just got a solenoid for the co2 so it should go away soon. anyone have any thoughts on the haziness??


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

ripped up all the dwarf sag and planted s repens in hopes of it carpeting. the dwarf sag had taken over and got out of control.....as expected.


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## NCSteve (Dec 17, 2012)

Did the haze that you had clear up? It's looking really good from the pics. I'm loving that huge sword back there! The repens should spread out nicely, let it grow, trim and fill in bare spots.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

yes steve the haze did clear up I used about 3ml of API's algaefix and within about a half hour it was completely clear. I read another thread about trying the algaefix and so I tried it. the huge sword in the back is actually 2 sword plants. I have honestly had that sword for about 3 years now and have divided it several times as well as gotten baby plantlets off it. she's a beast.


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## Sajeev (Mar 24, 2010)

one of those plants, the one with the green/pink leaves and white/pink lines is classified as a noxious weed. Its banned for sale across states by the USDA

http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious

Bump: the jungle look was better


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

Sajeev said:


> one of those plants, the one with the green/pink leaves and white/pink lines is classified as a noxious weed. Its banned for sale across states by the USDA
> 
> http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious
> 
> Bump: the jungle look was better


 yep that was hygro sunset, you're right it is illegal to sell across state lines. I usually ROAK it to NC people or replant it in other tanks. I loved the jungle look, it just got too unmanageable.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

this tank has changed a lot, ive removed quite a bit of hardscape and rescaped the tank removing a huge plant load. the fish list is also quite different and is now:
6 chocolate barred gourami
7 hatchets (silver/marbled)
11 glowlight tetras
2 german blue rams
1 bn pleco
9 bronze/green corydoras
a few pics:








right side








left side








big guy


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## Dead2fall (Jun 4, 2014)

I like this iteration the best so far. The "beach" looks great! The piles of pebbles give it a very realistic look! 

Hey what light fixture do you run on that tank? I'm about to start a 46 myself looking for input.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

Dead2Fall, Thanks so much for the kind words. The pebbles just kind of work themselves to the top of the sand. Its actually the eco complete under the sand that the corydoras wind up digging up over time. I run a marineland aquatic plant led as my lighting. I took the black strip off the glass top (its 2 pieces not but I don't care) so that it doesn't block lighting. Great light with a built in timer.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

some updates here, and some pics of tank inhabitants. Not much change to this tank except I have started to add excel to try and battle some bba. Not sure why I am getting bba because it has injected co2 and the drop checker stays green all the time. I think the light is too close I need to raise it about 5 inches...anyway here are some pictures of the inhabitants...
glowlight tetra there is a school of 18








taeniacara candidi (there is a unsexed pair in here)















some pearling on the underside of a sword









thank you for reading, please feel free to comment I love comments.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Both your tanks are looking clean and sharp. I like what you have done here with the sword plant.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

BruceF said:


> Both your tanks are looking clean and sharp. I like what you have done here with the sword plant.


Thank you BruceF the sword plant in this tank is probably 6 years old at this point, and has split into two plants and has been shuffled around form tank to tank more than I can remember.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

couple new fts shots after a big water change on sunday, a huge water change...








FTS, I really like the crypt pondtederiifolia coming up in the middle of the tank, there is another plant towards the left which hasn't come up as much








left side thick planted








right side beach








from the side of the tank


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## ErtyJr (Jun 21, 2014)

Seeing your 46 bowfront made me want to share mine with you! Here is my 46 bowfront, it's about 1 month old. You can see the fish in my avatar sitting right out front!


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