[Reckon]

My 50 gal's first inception can be seen here: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank-journals-16/start-recks-journey-into-planted-tanks-aug-2012-aug-2014-a-30994/index5.html

It looked terrible after my 3 week trip in May. I'm still fighting some BBA though thankfully it has stopped spreading now. Some plants in the far left corner started to melt. I think I need to add more water movement so they get CO2, nutrients and all that stuff in that corner.

Still running on:
4 bulb Sunlight Supply Tek Light
Eheim 2075 and Eheim Ecco 2236 (being used as a reactor - not doing a great job at it)
Injected CO2 - Milwaukee Reg
Eheim 75W heater

Fish:
~x30 Cardinals
x2 Rummynose
x2 Apistogramma Viejita
x5 Crossocheilus Latisu
Several Silvertip BNP
Several Otos
Several various Corydoras

Hardscape:
Spiderwood from IPU

Plants:
Tropica Anubias Barteri Nanas Petite
Micranthemum Umbrosum 'Monte Carlo'
Eriocaulon Parkeri
Various Ludwigias
Various Alternantheras
Various Rotalas
Ammania Bonsai
Hygrophila Araguaia
Bacopa Salzmannii
Proserpinaca Palustris
Polygonum Kawagoeanum
Polygonum sp. 'Sao Paulo'
Staurogyne Repens
Staurogyne sp Porto Velho
Syngonanthus sp. Madeira
Tonina Fluvitalis

Special thanks to: Algaebeater, Sameer, Jiinx, jkhcjris, kacairns, randylahey, Fantasy Aquatics, Canadian Aquatics, and J&L Aquatics for your help on plants, fauna, and equipment.
Also, special thanks to all the guys who supported this tank by buying my trimmings.

 

[opt-e]

Looks great!! Was worth the wait

PS: more pics please.

 

[Niku]

I will support this tank until I run out of tanks to grow your trimmings ... Then I will get more tanks!

Looks great, such a beautiful tank, pretty much my inspiration for my 90 since the first time I saw it in person

 

[Reckon]

Updated pics:

 

[opt-e]

Always a pleasure to see this tank. Is that ammania sp bonsai in the middle foreground?

 

[Reckon]

Always a pleasure to see this tank. Is that ammania sp bonsai in the middle foreground?

Yessir indeed that is

 

[shift]

Your tank looks stunning

 

[Bien Lim]

Nice tank man

 

[jbyoung00008]

looking good Lawson!

 

[CRS Fan]

Well executed tank with nice hard scape and good contrast. Much better than anything I've ever done.

Best regards,

Stuart

 

[jhj0112]

THE best planted tank I've ever seen in person! Very nice!

 

[jkhcjris]

Tank looks great Lawson.

 

[Reckon]

Thanks everyone for all your positive feedback!
It's sure gonna to tear everything down in a couple weeks for the upgrade.

Also, don't feel shy about commenting on areas I gotta work on too Or offering suggestions.

Well executed tank with nice hard scape and good contrast. Much better than anything I've ever done.

Best regards,

Stuart

I find the dutch layout to be quite a challenge. Varying texture and color is tough but finding the plants with the appropriate growth pattern for a particular spot is hard too.

For example, I LOVE Ludwigia sp. Red but it doesn't really develop into a nice dense bush. Attempting to clump numerous stems together to achieve that look usually results in the shaded bottoms melting.

I wanted to keep Ludwigia Lacustris as a midground plant since it can be trimmed into a nice hedge but it doesn't attain its bright orange color unless it's close to the surface so it needs to be a background plant.
I've had to learn to be patient in finding the right plants for the layout.

Also, dutch helps with my collectoritis but I've had to trim down my species list so it doesn't get to messy in there.

 

[opt-e]

What are you upgrading to??

 

[Reckon]

Oceanic 57gal rimless - 36x18x21

 

[Reckon]

Totally got sidetracked with my upgrade since I had a few people drop into town on my free weekends.
I'm still hoping to find sometime get that done before the end of the month.
In the mean time I've tried to streamline the 50gal a bit more. Here are some updated pictures.

I back to using an atomizer temporarily and I gotta say I really miss the reactor. I bought a vertex UF15 to modify and apply as a CO2 reactor but accidentally dropped it and broke off the outflow. I feel really terrible about such a dumb mistake. If anyone has a spare top or another uf15 for sale please let me know.

 

[Niku]

if your in a pinch i can fix the broken top for u, im sure it will last until you find something better to replace it.

 

[Reckon]

Well. I've been super busy and haven't had a chance to fully break down this current 50gal and upgrade to the 57 Oceanic.
Here's the tank today - several changes to the dutch.

I'm now running this tank on two Eheim 2075 filters so I switched out the needle wheel pump for reactor (ala converted Vertex media reactor). Either way you go, whether reactor or needle wheel pump - I strongly recommend them over the atomizer.

Special thanks to those who helped me with this tank since the last update: Niku, Denis, April, Algae Beater, Fantasy Aquatics, Canadian Aquatics, JL Aquatics

 

[UnderseaGal]

This tank looks incredible! A true work of art.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[mysticalnet]

Beautiful beautiful plants! The cardinal tetras compliment the plants very well, since there are no blue plants!