Hey this is my planted tank, it is about 2 months old and going strong. Here is what i have posted in other forums.

06/04/05
i finally have my 187 gallon tank up and running. Since i have had fish tanks i have wanted the biggest tank i can and for it to be fully planted, this why i save a alot of money and got my 187 gallon tank with all the gear to make it a planted tank. This is only the beginning of it and this is m journal so you can enjoy the highs and lows of it, and before i even got water into the tank there was a lot of lows lol.

The other idea of this tank is to breed dwarf cichlids. Mainly rams and apistos. Im going to try and breed peppermint bristlenoses aswell.

Tank specs.
72 x 24 x 25 standard custom made tank with centre weir incase i want to go saltwater later on. 10 mm thick glass. If not sure why it is 25 inch. wide just like them when i picked it up.

Filtration
I have two fluval 404s with peat fibre in them

Lighting
2 x 150 watt aquamedic oceanlights with 10000K rating
2 x 36 watt planted tubes 6500K rating (but arent installed yet)
Soon to get some computer fans to put into my hood for cooling

CO2
I have a pressurized system with the milwaukee regulator, bubble counter, needle value and electric solenoid, which runs into the aquamedic reactor 1000 which is inline with the filters .I also have the sms122 ph controller unit.

UVC unit
Pondmaster 36 watt UVC unit connected in line with the filters.

Subtrate
I uses 8 bags of JBL's Aqua basics. I was going to get Eco complete from the States but it would of cost me about $500 AUD just for gravel and the LFS had this on special so i went for it instead, just had to get some extra bags of standard gravel to go on top.

Plants
8 bunches of Ludwigia
5 bunches of Wisteria
2 pots of Echin cant remember the rest of its name
4 bunches of Blue stricta
4 Bunches of Zosterfolia
2 Bunches of Ambulia
2 Bunches of violet
2 Amazon Swords
And so bits of driftwood with Anubias nana on it.

I have got these casue most of them go big and bushie so then i can work in front of them with other plants.

But one bad thing about the plants is that they came with snail eggs in them and i didnt know until today when i found about 20 tiny snails around the tank, but they will make nice food for the peppermints when they come.

week 1

system

Im trying to get some better pictures but its a bit hard with a big tank and a very small bedroom that have. Im going to get some SAE and some ottos so start to eat some of the algae that has started to grow and im going to sydney on the 24th of this month to get the peppermints in sydney and might try the LFS down there for some dwarfs

07/04/05

The UVC unit blow up today. The seal around the top came off and water was able to get into the light part ( quatza sleeve i think its called) but is on warrenty so they are getiing me a new one in, just puts back when im going to add some fish. I was going to get some SAE and ottos on the weekend

10/04/05

my cleaner crew
2 very tiny bristlenose
2 suckermouth catfish
2 Flying foxes
im getting the new uv unit on tuesday and i might get some more fish to put in to speed up the algae eating. So ill post a pictures then, but the plants have grow so much, im loving the start besides the problems

13/04/05

They sent out the uvc unit but no globe so that should be here on friday so ill update on the weekend i hope

[URL=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y160/AussieStar/aCopyofDSC00945.jpg]
Week 2[/URL]

Bed view

18/04/05

Globe still isnt here,so i rang and they said they have sent it maybe a hold up so hopefully anyday. While the over filter is out the tank has started to cloudy up a bit but wont take long to be clear again and it wouldnt be as bad if i didnt clean all the left over algae on the glass. I left one patch for my new peppermints im getting on friday, cant wait

The SMS122 controller is finally up and running and its great, dont even have to do a thing . I have had to set the pH on 7.25 casue in my other tank my older male (about 10cm) was picking on the new young female (about 5cm) i got about 3 months ago and her boyfriend about the same size of his female mate, was trying to help out so i moved them into the planted tank until my dad upgrades from a 75 to a 180, just has to wait for some extra money to come in he reckons. So they are in the 187 and loving it, dont think they wanna leave but i got some bad news.

I also went to the LFS and i was in there in at the right time. THey just got over 200 pieces of driftwood in, Lovin it. So i was there for about 2 hours finding the right pieces for my tank. With 12 bits and $200 later i walk out and it is now soaking in my bath tub.( dont worry it hasnt been used for about 8 years now and i cleaned it fully before i put it

Week 3

25/04/05

The Zosterfolia has been flowering about 150 flowers in total from the two batches of it in the tank, here is a picture

Flowers
I also got some peppermint bristlenose about 2 inches long
Peppermints

Week 4

03/05/05
Here is the picture i took on sunday an hour after everything was put back in the tank. I took everything out so i could put the wood in

Week 5

After every thing was ok i got these
Picture 1

Full tank

In the bottom right corner is the recovery spot. It is what is left of the Ambulia after being cover over by the Zosterfolia. But i havent clear all of the bits and pieces of plants yet, bit shack

Bed Shot

and i also got some of the fish that are in there

E. Yellow

E. Yellow female in here spot


SAE's

9/5/05

K just got a couple of pictures. I got some new plants aswell. Got:
Some glosso to start to fill in the front
Some Didiplis Diandra for mid ground and maybe back when i move some stuff around are it grows, casue is tiny at the moment. I also got a mini garden, well its a pices of driftwood about a foot long with heaps of anubias and cyrpts on it, really nice.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4
Any comments would be great, trying to kept it updated every monday or when i have something to say

god damn, someones been busy!

Exceptional write up and the pictures were right behind it too. Awesome tank! Your going to have to show this one off more often!!!

Great set up!

--Dan

Dude, that is sweeeeettttt....Kepp up the nice work mate! Make one of these in the members profiles! jay

so ya went with labs?
are ya gonna get dwarves in the future?

awesome set up B)

DD

tank of the year man

nar the labs are in temporary in there casue there were getting picked on and i had nothin to look at. I getting another 180 for all my africans and when the tank is establish, prob at 6 months i will get my apistos rams and some gudjeons

Thanxs for the comments all my hard work is paying off and i cant wait to see it with the front filled in and alot more different plants

Clean setup B) I like it. Im guessing your from OZ too? What part?

BTW update us on how this tank comes along!

im from newcastle nsw. yea i try to get it updated as much i can

how much for your whole system tank included? im guessing 1200$??

i wish, It cost me a arm and a leg but i went for this stuff so its good some planted setup or marine. it cost me about 3 grand before fish. but i sold 3 of my 4ft setups so i cost about 1000 really but 3 grand over all. And it wouldnt have been better if i live in england or usa where aquarium market is alot bigger and prices are cheaper, but it is well worth it

hey, i have spent some money over the weekend. Visited a few LFS down sydney way and got my 2 pairs of german blue rams,( i know yellows and rams wont mix but they are fine together and the yellows are only there for a short time) and also got some ricca to try, but the yellows keep pulling it out, so ill keep trying with it. I also add my fisrt ram i ever got from my 4ft tank, he is lovin life. Glosso is going strong aswell

Blue rams

Poor full tank shot

I just commented on TFF too, but why not here as well! I love those rams! They are beauts! You gonna breed them?

Lovin the tank mate! :)

Man! That is awesome~ Your hardwork really has paid off with that tank! :rockon:

Any updates?

yes

i went to his house the other day and released a giant Severum in the tank. It destroyed all the plants in less then an hour and turned savage on the fish. I then put in a RD which finished off the sev and then put a beani to finish off the RD then put a dovi in to finished them both out.
Then threw rocks at the tank wich cracked the tank and wet the carpet.

Then i left



the end







:P

seriously now, any updates?

:crazy:

well i have been away at war with my tank. I have had a massive hair algae outbreak and have been searching the WWW ( world wide web) for answers and dont have answers to help but im trying new things to fight. I may be uping the wpg and starting to add ferts, thinks they are the 2 problems. ill try to get another picture of it asap.

Ps thanxs for the good news on winning aquarium of the month might be the start and a jounrey to wing the AGA Planted tank award ,
thanxs guys

recent photo here is my newest pic, took most of plants out casue of the green hair algae but they r in another tank.

i have got a shot from before the the clean out here is is

NICE setup and nice tank xD I was wondering how much did the tank cost?

i've read True Chinese Algae Eaters eat teh hair algae, but they are seasonal fish i think and hard to come by :banghead:

ok, im bak and have done alot with my tank since the last time. Since last post i swapped room with my brother so tank got resetup and different look
in the past couple of months has gone from this

then..

then..

then..

then to how is stands as of 29/11/05
.

Have added alot of plants cant remeber them all but mostly crypts, swords, anubias and some red and green lotus.

Have added mopre bristlenose, rams, saes, cory's, ottos, discus and loaches aswell. Tank besdies the algae is going very well and i cant wait for it to start to all grow a bit with time, ?I plan to leave it as it for a while, opr until i get sick of it lol

some of my fish
loach


bristlenose


cory


discus





and otto

Wow! Your tank is absolutely stunning! Amazingly done.....please keep putting up pics.

Nice tank, Wish I could afford one like that. :drool1:

Your tank is STUNNING.

Your photography of your fish is beaut, too. :)

that is 1 wild set up dude!!! looks fantastic... i like the wood :) the way it kinda spirals thru the tank!

the price is in one of the above posts jay
but i love the tank
those are sweet growing plants
what trace elements do u put in???
u have inspired me to do that to my tank
slowly...
i dont think itl work though
i have no co2 injection =(

here is my lastest pic, about 2 weeks ago. I havent done a lot with it for a long time, just let it go. The only thing i add is some flourish every 3 days.

But i have some other bad news
I am going to have to down size this tank to a smaller 4x2 for space and heat reasons. I am putting the new tank into my wardrobe to create a in wall effect and i will have alot more space in my room. and the heat problem will be taing care with adding some extractor fans in the wardrobe. So im planning on starting work on that soon and will add photos as i go. I have everything for it ie tank, fans etc, but no time to do it lol, but hopefully wont be too long away

Awsome AussieStar. This tank has always looked awsome, so im sure it wont be long till you get another awsome inspiraton up! ;)

:congrats:

Your tank has made it into our Hall Of Fame!

thank you for the kind words, i have worked hard for it and it has almost turned out how i wanted it. and im greatful for being accpted into the hall of fame

wow thats an awsome planted tank!!

Do you have any advise for a noob planted tanker?? :asskiss:

yer alot, research and research, u can find heaps of cheap stuff like diy mhs lighst for like 1/4 the price and the more reasearch on plantes tanks the better heaps u understand it alot more

lol yeah i'm cramming at the moment :laugh:

I'm trying to learn quick cause i want to keeps making them!

dunno how my miss's will take the increasing population of tanks over time :laugh:

Well today i started the jorney of downsizing my tank and building it into my wardorbe. I only have 2 shirts that i normally hang in there and all my other crap, which pretty much got put in the rubbish bin.
Ready to start to build


Frame finished, it is bolted into the studs through the pasterboard stuff and has leg supports aswell. All timber is 90x45 Rad. pine. plus a sheet of MDF


Using the MDF to sit on top on the frame, doors with finish flush underneath it and kinda same on top but different lol.


Tank sitting on top, just needs the doors, Electrical work and finishing touches done, hopfully next weekend

its gunna look cool! :drunk: