hP's 90g Planted

[homemadepopcorn]

And so it begins.





Ask, and you shall receive. Pics that is.

[Lolita]

Excuse me as I live vicariously through you. :3

[homemadepopcorn]

Hahaha, I'll try not to let us down.

[Gogi]

Oh yea. Let the party begin!!!

[jeffs99dime]

Subscribed

[homemadepopcorn]

Well, I suppose now's a good time for the story

Bought the 90g last Sunday and tortured myself by having it delivered today. Funny enough, I'm less than a mile away from the LFS, but you can't exactly lug around a tank like this in the city with any kind of ease.

Its going to be a low pH, high temp tank as the stocking (which I'll get to in just a minute) is known to do best in this setup. That means driftwood, peat in the filter, and probably a 300W Hydor inline (I think Cliff will be happy with this one).

Driftwood will probably be something I find upstate New York if I get the chance to get up there. I know a small pond supplied by natural springs with a peat bottom. Might have to nab that stuff while I'm up there too! Looking for a big piece, nice and branchy. If I can't make the trip, its gonna be a sad day at the LFS shelling out cash for their Malaysian pieces although they are really really nice.

Substrate is going to be an apprehensive mix of Activ-Flora Floracor and Eco-complete. Bought four bags of the former for only $6!! Couldn't pass up that deal so its going in the tank. Unfortunately, looks like I'm going to be paying full price for the Eco-complete and depending on the number of bags, I'm looking at $60-80... ergh. Hobbies.

Underneath the substrate there will be a healthy sprinkling of Osmocote plus. This stuff dates back to the 50s I believe. Its a long-term release fertilizer which supposedly lasts 4 months so I'll be good for a while before its time to re-fertilize. I've read only good things about using it in aquaria, but I guess we'll all be the judge of that.

Lets talk lighting. Big dilemma on this one... Long term solution is a DIY LED fixture. I've planned it all out and the only thing prohibiting this project is a whopping bill and time. Being a full time student doesn't exactly leave tons of time to get projects finished (but I do like projects ). For the short term, I'll probably pick up a 4 bulb T5HO fixture totaling 216W. The tank itself is 25" tall so its going to present some problems getting light all the way down to the substrate, but I'm confident that that much light will put me into high if not very high light (this is where the algae problem comes in).

What's all that light isn't good for anything if I don't have any plants right? Right. So here's a list of what I've got in the 'packed to the rim' 29g right now:

Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Water Sprite, Limnophila aromatica, Echinodorus angustifolia vesuvisus (a pretty plant), Ludwigia repens x arcuata, Hemianthus micranthemoides, Ludwigia repens, Ludwigia sp. (not really sure, thin leafed variety of repens I suppose), Rotala Macrandra, Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java Moss), Amazon swords, Elodea sp (Anacharis) and a whole lot of Cabomba Furcata.

Please correct me anything that you see is blazingly wrong in spelling.

All of those guys are going to be cut, split up and replanted into the 90g for a ~2 weeks before any of the stocking goes in. Speaking of stocking...

I've always wanted a species tank... always... you're able to tailor your tank precisely to a single species needs and observe them in a habitat which resembles their own (except that its much prettier... have you seen the mud they pull these guys out of?). Unfortunately, I'm way to indecisive to go for a single species in this tank so I'm doing a big school of Harlequin Rasboras and the infamous German Blue Ram.

I'm anticipating a stocking of 50-60 Harleys (12 of them look great in the 29, can't imagine what 60 will look like in the 90) and 10 GBRs with a 4m/6f split (thank you ScottishFish). That number might change depending on how things settle in and how much space is going to divided up into territories. Seeing as the footprint of a 90 and a 75 are identical, and 8 GBRs is a max in a 75, I'm thinking that's where I'll end up. Let's find out! Last but not least is the pleco, Royal of course... she (?) is only 3 inches right now and will eventually outgrow this tank which means a rehome or a bigger tank (it never ends does it).

Filtration is key for the species I'm going for so its two Eheim 2217s for me... should give enough filtration and space for the peat. I'm a little worried about flow so a small powerhead, maybe 200gph, will be necessary, but the GBRs aren't all about the flow. Harleys don't mind it.

Stand is going to be DIY... still nervous about this one... lets hope I remember enough from woodshop to take care of ~900lbs of stuff.

And I think that's about everything.

Questions, comments, concerns, overly aggressive requests for pics?

[Cliff]

I'm looking forward to seeing this set-up evolve as well as more pics ***hint, hint***.

BTW, good choice in heater

In all seriousness, I am going to be following your thread with interest.

[homemadepopcorn]

I appreciate your interest Cliff! I'm gonna need you around when the 29 goes salty.

[Lolita]

Uuugh I can't wait to see this!! 10 GBR, omg that is going to be a gorgeous sight to be hold!

:) I can't wait to see the pictures! Our tank is going to be so pretty!

[homemadepopcorn]

Haha, hopefully will have it running with the plants within 10 days!