overhaul pics...hardscape and planting suggestions pls

[Zerileous]

well, today was the big day for my 10 gallon. Out went the pirates, fake plants, and inert gravel. In went 20lbs of eco complete and some driftwood.

I would also appreciate any criticisms on the photography. Im working on that still. Sorry for the dirty tank, I wasn't thinking ahead there:brow34:

FTS:
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Driftwood Closeup:
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Cave Closeup (IDK if the snails will destroy it, its not fixed in any way)
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the anubias nana is actually on a separate piece of driftwood that it came on. I am thinking I should move it to the top of the large piece because it would help to hdie equipment.

Its going to get a few random donor plants from my moms tank soon, and then im gonna go to the LFS. Their java fern didn't look so good so I might keep it to anachranis and such for now.

ps
any tips for preventing hitchiker snails? Also, is there much chance of reviving plants that look unhealthy at the LFS? They dont exactally do anything special for their plants.

[RobbieG]

The tank looks great - photos are good too.

The only photo trick I know is to turn off the flash and make sure that the tank light is the only light source in the room.

Snails are basicaly impossible to avoid but pretty easy to control. You can vaccuum them up when you clean or put some zucchini in a jar in the tank etc. I just ignore mine they are harmless.

[Drumachine09]

Heres a photography tip.

I find, that i get the best pictures without a flash, when it is totally dark in the room, except for the tanklight.


Its looking good!

[Zerileous]

good point, i might clean the glass off and snap a few more after the sun goes down.

[Drumachine09]

The tank looks great - photos are good too.

The only photo trick I know is to turn off the flash and make sure that the tank light is the only light source in the room.

Snails are basicaly impossible to avoid but pretty easy to control. You can vaccuum them up when you clean or put some zucchini in a jar in the tank etc. I just ignore mine they are harmless.



That was a total ninja post, but i agree on you photography methods ;)

[Bill M.]

The tank looks great! I like the driftwood....thumbs2:

[genitor]

Tank looks good!! Usually when I buy plants at my lfs they are not in good shape but when i put them in my tank they recover. Once the roots look white and healthy and not brownish they should be alright.

[RobbieG]

That was a total ninja post, but i agree on you photography methods ;)

I had one this morning where 5 people posted in between when I hit reply and when I hit submit. I REALLY looked like I wasn't paying attention with that one!

Excellent Photo Advice BTW!

[Zerileous]

thanks again guys. its just about dark enough to take another fts. I added a couple of plants from the 5g eclipse. I was bored so i got out the macro lens. Enjoy.

Still Hungry
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HAY WAT R U DOIN IN THERE!
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umm, it would be great if someone could confirm my fears, but is this a she and is she already preggers? If so I need to get her to the LFS pronto.
(all male tank, but missed a few fry when i was getting rid of most of em)


And some of the betta tank at feeding time. Recently the betta has taken a liking to algae wafers (to the chagrin of the corries)

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Ill have an FTS up within the hour.

[Rue]

Nice! Looks great!

[RobbieG]

That is a gorgeous betta

[xoolooxunny]

Plants are like fish in a sense when you purchase from a lfs. good care and a proper environment will help them along just fine. Just like your fish color up better when you bring them to their new and improved home.

[Zerileous]

thanks for all the comments and advice! The credit for the betta is all on my mom. Its her little eclipse system.

FTS as promised:
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And just for fun playing around in The Gimp (photoshop for linux if you will)
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The river stones were part of the old substrate, but unfortunately are really blown out in the picture; they are actually quite colorful. Im pretty new to photography and digital retouching but I did what I could.

I am thinking a whole bunch of anachranis in the back right corner behind the driftwood will be my next purchase. I might wait a week to see how these guys do though. I am worried about the cobomba, but I would really like to see it take off. Do you guys think the tank is planted heavily enough to warrant dosing with excell? I have a bottle of it but dont really know if I should use it.

Thanks
Zer

[Drumachine09]

Im really liking that last picture. Looks great!

[nanaglen2001]

The last pic is really cute.

Maybe you should look out for some Valisneria, and put them into the left corner. Then yourt tank would be an eyecatcher.

[salman]

Very nice tank. But dont tetra's die fast? I baught 40 and 20 dies the first day, 5 the next 3 the next, then 1 after 2 days. and 1 after a day. Then i took them out of my tank and put them in one of my familys tank, and i think there are 5 left now. Its week like 2 weeks. and 35 died.

[Drumachine09]

Very nice tank. But dont tetra's die fast? I baught 40 and 20 dies the first day, 5 the next 3 the next, then 1 after 2 days. and 1 after a day. Then i took them out of my tank and put them in one of my familys tank, and i think there are 5 left now. Its week like 2 weeks. and 35 died.


Did you cycle your tank?

[Zerileous]

lol, sorry to laugh but I dont even have tetras in the tank...
i guess dieing fish is not a laughing matter, but yeah what Drumachine said. There are some more technical aspects of fishkeeping that you should be aware of, so check out the free ebook. Its in the toolbar on the left, or you can forum search for "ebook" to find it.

and thanks for all the comments guys.

[salman]

Did you cycle your tank?


They were the only fish that died.

Yes i cycle it.

RIP

[SkarloeysMom]

umm, it would be great if someone could confirm my fears, but is this a she and is she already preggers? If so I need to get her to the LFS pronto.
(all male tank, but missed a few fry when i was getting rid of most of em)


That looks to me like a pg female guppy.

[zackish]

More Plants!!!!!!

[Zerileous]

ok, so i had to go to petsmart today and get a glass top. the plastick was killin meh :/. While I was there I saw a little oto, and I just had to get him because they are hard to find in this area for some reason. He is on the drip now, and I hope he makes it ok; they roughed him up pretty bad netting him and i almost chewed the guy out. *shakes fist in rage*

Unfortunately my HOB heater doesn't fit with the glass top, so I need a new heater. Marinelands are on sale at petsmart so no biggie. It needed replacement anyhow.

Anyhow, now that my suspicions on that preggers girl are confirmed, i have to go to my small LFS and get rid ofme her before she pops and all my work is ruined. While there ill get more plants!

Man i have my work cut out for me. myabe ill just get a heater at the small lfs.

Ill get a nice macro of the oto sometime before he goes into the tank.

[Zerileous]

just to update on the days progressions with PICS!

I got a hydor heater. Hopefully it works out ok because it seems a bit tweaky right now. I now have the fluval upside down on the back wall blowing forward over the heater (which is attatched to the side wall). Consiquently, its blowing right into my thermometer, which might be the cause of my problems in figuring the calibration of this thing out.

I also got some new plants. I got a crypt: Bronze Wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii v. 'Tropica') and some chain grasses. I intended to get all Narrow Leaf Chain Sword (Echinodorus tennellus) but somehow ended with one pot of that and one of Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis brassillensis). I only realized the error after planting both of them togather, because I thoght the micro sword were just younger chain swords. I dont think they will be compatable in the same area, so thats something to figure out. Maybe ill put the micro sword in front of the driftwood, but I honestly dont think I have enough light for the stuff :(.

Anyhow, on with the pics:

New FTS:
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New otto:
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A pic of the grassy area. I meant the chain sword to grow up behind the log and hide the equipment in that corner, and thats still the plan, but not sure what to do with the micro sword so its gonna stay there for the moment, Suggestions please!
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After this much change in three days, I figure I need to get the sword mixup taken care of and let the tank mature for a while before changing anything.

Thanks for all the guidance and support, i never would have made it past a hoard of guppies without you guys.

[zackish]

It's starting to look like a planted tank ahaha.
Anyways, good luck with your combamba, I got myself about 3 stems of it and for the first week it did good but now it's slowing down. THat was with a regular 18 watt light on a 29g, now I have a 65 watt and I am gunna order ferts so it should take off again even faster than before.
I am assuming you have a regular hood with a 15 watt light that came with the tank? The combamba might do alright seeing as though thats a little over 1 watt per gallon. That's still on the low side but hopefully it will just fill out nicely.

[Zerileous]

Well Zackish, i do have a reqular hood with two screw in sockets. Each is filled with a 10 watt compact flourescent. However, screw in compact florescents don't do a great job of getting their light into the hood, so who knows whats actually getting down there.

I am thinking about getting one of these 36w kits ]here ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.)