New tank setup

[vinz]

I tore down this tank some months ago and just re-setup on Saturday.

[img]

[img]

Tank size: 100cm x 45cm x 45cm
Lights: 2x36W PL (approx 1.4 WPG) Planning to change to 3x30W FLs, but I'll see how the current setup works out.
Flora:
- Various Anubias sp.
- Bolbitis heudelotii (currently too small to be seen)
- Cryptocoryne albida
- Cryptocoryne wendtii
- Lobelia cardinalis (testing if the lights is enough for them)
- Marselia crenata
- Pteropus microsorum "Tropica"
Fauna (current):
- Betta splendas, fighting fish x 1
- Crossocheilus siamensis, SAE x 1
- Nannostomus eques, rocket pencilfish x 4
- Otocinculus affinis(?) x 2

Comments welcomed.

[juggler]

Waa... nice, man! Make me itch to re-scape my tank.
So the substrate remain intact when you tore down the previous setup?
I believe the Lobelia will require more light. Keep us updated.

[mordrake]

excellent, well done! []
apistos for this tank maybe?

[juggler]

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On 9/30/2003 2:05:48 PM

excellent, well done! []
apistos for this tank maybe?
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A school of Harlequin Rasbora will be stunning as well.

[Georgeer]

Cool!! The driftwood layout looks really nice with the Java fern.

[vinz]

Thanks.

KF, nope, I redid the whole tank. The substrate is brand new.

The planned fauna for this tank will be mainly pencil fishes and a few others... the likely candidates are Red Coral Pencils (too expensive for a significant school though) and a few Puntius denisonii (also too expensive). []

[FC]

Well done, Vinz.

[anarchy]

looks great with apistos.

[chua]

Seems to me that you want a low maintance tank.
It is because there is no stem plants so less trimming will be required.

Very nice.

How about adding some moss on your rock.

[sherchoo]

A thing to note about Marsilea crenata is that with lower lighting, they tend to grow taller and bigger leaves. You may not like that effect.

Personally I like you idea for this new setup. Low maintenance theme. Do keep us updated.

[Fei Miao]

Great setup! I see the Dennerle device behind,
I guess tank of this dimension is custom made...?

[bttay]

How much is it to get a driftwood so big?
Where to get?

[Kingfisher]

Can use some brightly coloured fishes.

[BFG]

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On 9/30/2003 2:29:01 PM

Thanks.

KF, nope, I redid the whole tank. The substrate is brand new.

The planned fauna for this tank will be mainly pencil fishes and a few others... the likely candidates are Red Coral Pencils (too expensive for a significant school though) and a few Puntius denisonii (also too expensive). []
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Add a few zebra otto here and there.

[checkerboard]

I think after all the praises, I cant say very much more.

Maybe a few small points, the might make the set-up more interesting in the longer run.

1) I think Lobelia in front of the anubias has quite similar leave shape (though different size) and perhaps changing it to other plants can give more variation. Personally, i would choose hairgrass or blyxa japonica, allowed to grow tall will look quite natural there. (hairgrass with marselia looks great together) I do not believe hairgrass need a lot of light, IME.

2)The Tropica Java Fern will eventually grow pretty big and dense and cover the plants at the back. It may increase depth now, but may become a bit messy later.

3) some small anubias on the other protruding driftwood will look nice when their roots start hanging down.

just my opinions!

[lorba]

Everything is nice, but I think lobelia might not be a good choice. Since the spoony leaves of marsilea can get bigger, why not replace the lobelia with nanas then mini nanas? The transition from big to small similiar leaf shape should look nice when they cover up the area.

The background can be littered with hairgrass, so that when they spread out, it is not so dense and helps to increase the wilderness feeling.

Moss or not, I think not very important in this case. Some bare part of the wood will look nicer and give more variation of SEA colors.

Anyway, I would prefer baboras, rasboras, chocolate gourami and some small sized barbs (pentazona? etc) rather than characins. They seems to fit in this setting better.


How come no crypts

[vinz]

Thanks all again for the kind comments.

Yes, it's meant to be low maintainance.

Fei Miao, yes, it's custom made.

bttay, I got the wood from Teo's. It was purchased together with a lot of plants so I don't remember the exact price. I think it's in the range of $20 to $30, but I could be way off as I got a discount for mass purchase, so don't quote me on it. Btw, there's 2 pieces of wood there. You can try Loring Halus Ah Pek's farm too.

Thanks for all the suggestions too. My original plan had Java moss covered rocks but I couldn't find the right rocks. I'd probably add them later. I'm considering sags or E. Tennelus instead of hair grass. Right now I have C. albida (Lorba, who said no crypts! See again) littered here and there in the background... just too short to be seen.

[hwchoy]

I strongly recommend not to mix fishes of different geographical origin. So pencil with barb would be rather jarring, at least to me as it would be so "unnatural".

In fact looks like there is significant swimming space, a school of silvery asian rasbora might be good, a school of cheapo Rasbora sumatrana or R. elegans might be nicely understated?

[Georgeer]

Ah Pek's farm driftwood are all left in gaeny sacks on the floor. You can simply open them and start choosing for the best selection.

Besides, it is quite cheap there as there is no price tag on the driftwood so the price is "run run lai" one. Get a small one and a big one and the sales girl cannot give you a correct pricing liaoz.