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Hello folks!
This is my first journal on the forum though I've been active on TPT and some other venues online for a few years now. Having just found this place, it's the perfect time to post a journal on a tank I am just starting up!
I recently decided to consolidate 5 smaller tanks into one large tank. This gives me significantly more real estate to aquascape while simultaneously lowering my maintenance routine. I frankly much rather do one water change on a big tank then 5 much smaller water changes on different tanks, even if they are all in the same room.
When it came time to decide on which tank to use exactly, I was of two minds. On the one hand, a regular 75 gallon tank would likely do the trick, but the 'perfect' tank would be a 150cm tank as it would fit the available space. But a 150 cm tank would cost a lot more..... in the end The Wife gave a green light and I contacted "Aquarium and Terrarium Builder" of Yorktown Virginia, my only 'local' custom tank builder. The builder only works with acrylic, but for reasons that will be explained, that's not a bad thing.
Since this was a custom tank, I was not limited to standard dimensions and asked for a tank that would be 150cm x 50cm x 45cm. Or roughly 60 inches x 20 inches x 18 inches. Or roughly 90 gallons. Why these dimensions? Well the 150 for the length fit the available room. 20 inches wide because any wider and my short arms have trouble reaching the back wall, and 18 inches high in part for the same access issues and in part because I already had a tank 45 cm high and I knew the newts did fine in that depth of water.
The builder quoted me 1000 dollars for the tank and I would pick it up.
The first thing I needed to do after ordering the tank was build a stand so I would have somewhere to put the darn thing
At this point I don't remember what got me started on extruded aluminum, but I got a bug for making the stand out of the stuff. For those who are not aware, extruded aluminum is aluminum tubing with 't'-slots cut into it. It looks like this:
The advantage of this stuff is that you can use the t-slots to attach things, it's strong, it looks slick, and its waterproof. Even after building it, I still prefer a proper stand made of hardwood. BUT, an extruded aluminum stand is pretty easy to make better looking then a 2x4 stand. And significantly faster to build then a hardwood stand. So there is that.
Anyway, like all my bits of furniture, I make, the first step was making a 3d drawing in sketchup so I would know how to put the thing together. That looked like this:
The wood panels are meant to be doors in this picture.
I definitely did not invent this design as there are companies that offer to sell you precut and drilled extruded aluminum stands. The only reason I didn't go with them is expense. I wanted to try and save myself some money by buying the extruded aluminum and then cutting, tapping, and drilling it myself. I did this, and did save some money, just not as much as I was hoping. I thought I could do it all for around 300 dollars, but sadly the actual price of the stand all-in is closer to 700. That's still a lot cheaper then the 1500 to 2500 that various companies wanted, but not quite as good as I thought I was going to get for all the effort I put into tapping this darn critter.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the stand being built:
Not pictured here are the magnetic clasps the side panels are held onto. They are not pictured because I forgot to add them until after it was built. One of the downsides to extruded aluminum is that in order to access those t-slots where 'everything' is attached, is you need an exposed end. If you build the darn thing and forgot to add something in....like a magnetic clasp... then you get the joy of taking it apart before you can add it back on.
So that was fun. And because I forgot to add a few things I got the joy of taking it apart and putting it back together like 5 times...
Anyway, after a few weeks the builder contacted me letting me know the tank was ready!
There was much excitement.
There was also much driving. While this is my only 'local' builder, that didn't make him super close. It was 3.5 hours each way to get from my house in Maryland to the builder. That made for a long day of driving, but it was totally worth it.
One of the nice things about acrylic is that its significantly lighter then glass. This 5 foot long tank probably only weighs around 90 lbs. With a hand truck I was easily able to get the tank into my basement by myself. Here is how it looked when first arrived:
And here are what those magnetic clasps looked like on the stand:
And finally what the tank looked like unwrapped and in place:
The white board under the tank are two pieces of pvc trim-board. I wanted to use pvc because its completely waterproof. It's two pieces because I couldn't fit a 4x8 sheet in my car and home depot no longer cuts the stuff with their panel saw. I am still only mostly bitter on that discovery.
After that I started the process of taking down my multiple smaller tanks. In order to significantly shorten my cycle, I reused the substrate (all pool filter sand) and added it into the new tank. I also drilled 4 holes in the euro bracing so I could use 2 canister filters with lily pipes. Here is what that looked like:
Before I could slide the tank into place I needed to put on the background. I really like privacy window film for tank backgrounds. It's cheap, it looks good, it's easy to apply and to remove, and it's easy to get online. For this tank I decided on frosted white. This stuff goes on with just water and a squeegee. Here is how it looked:
After that I slid the tank into place, filled it and started working on the filters and plumbing. It's not very complicated but I wanted to make sure it would be in good shape for the foreseeable future. The canister filters are stainless steel filters with dc pumps. I love this type of filter because the steel filter itself is built like a tank, and the only part that can break is the pump which is entirely modular and easily replaced. DC pumps are ultra quiet, like you need to touch them to feel a vibration to even know they are on kind of quiet. I already owned both filters and they were in active use on the tanks I took down, so again, more reasons to believe the cycle would be quick.
I also took this time and began to play with aquascapes. Because I had so much room, I really wanted to use some big pieces of hardscape to show off the length of the tank. That ended up taking the form of two large pieces of wood that would stretch the length. Initial scape looked like this:
However, after a day I decided I didn't like the right hand side because it just didn't photograph well So I switched it up and settled on this:
I like the look of the 'broken' log in no small part because it reminded me of several scenes I have seen when out walking in parks. All the rock work will allow lots of places to add epiphytes as well.
All the plants in the tank are all from the existing tanks I took down so, so far I haven't spent anything on this except for the tank itself and the stand (and the light... to be talked about later).
The plant list for this tank is currently: Cryptocoryne spiralis, eriocaulon vietnam, amazon sword compacta, Cryptocoryne parva, tiger lily, anubias nana petite, and some species of fern like moss, and some species of plant I was told was 'like buce' but not, and that I totally forgot the name of. But its variegated which is cool for a completely submersed plant. Still to add is Marsilea Angustifolia for a carpet, Helvola Pygmy water lilies, and mayaca fluviatilis. Those are all in my 30 gallon tank with all my newts. I will be taking that tank down shortly and adding the newts once I'm sure the cycle is done (this will be soon, as the cycle is likely already completed as of the writing of this post).
Regarding the background, I didn't choose it entirely because I like the color white for this tank. I chose it because I planned to add some LED mood lighting to the tank
For a couple of years now I have admired the LED backgrounds you can buy for tanks, but I've not wanted to spend the money they cost (typically a few hundred dollars for even a small tank). So I decided to make my own. With an LED strip light adhered to the back top of the stand I got some nice effects! You can kind of notice the blue in the full tank shots near the bottom back of the tank. It's a little more noticeable in person. Here is a picture with the other lights off in the room which really makes it clear what it's doing:
Meanwhile I also started working on the lights for this tank. Well more specifically the light hanging system which is just 1/2" conduit attached to the wall:
That ended up definitely being the easiest light stand I've made so far. As for what will be going there? Well I went ahead and ordered a Twinstar V 1200S which I'm pretty excited about! I've been a twinstar fanboy for years, so when I figured out that there are very very very few 150cm lights... I decided my best bet was just buying a twinstar and hanging it up a bit higher then normal. Sadly it's not here yet. Happily it 'should' arrive on Wednesday.
AND.. that brings me to current. This is a LONG first post because I decided to combine several previous journal posts elsewhere to get me to where I'm at right now. Next time I will post more about the newts and my thoughts on acrylic tanks. Hopefully those that actually read to this point have enjoyed it so far
This is my first journal on the forum though I've been active on TPT and some other venues online for a few years now. Having just found this place, it's the perfect time to post a journal on a tank I am just starting up!
I recently decided to consolidate 5 smaller tanks into one large tank. This gives me significantly more real estate to aquascape while simultaneously lowering my maintenance routine. I frankly much rather do one water change on a big tank then 5 much smaller water changes on different tanks, even if they are all in the same room.
When it came time to decide on which tank to use exactly, I was of two minds. On the one hand, a regular 75 gallon tank would likely do the trick, but the 'perfect' tank would be a 150cm tank as it would fit the available space. But a 150 cm tank would cost a lot more..... in the end The Wife gave a green light and I contacted "Aquarium and Terrarium Builder" of Yorktown Virginia, my only 'local' custom tank builder. The builder only works with acrylic, but for reasons that will be explained, that's not a bad thing.
Since this was a custom tank, I was not limited to standard dimensions and asked for a tank that would be 150cm x 50cm x 45cm. Or roughly 60 inches x 20 inches x 18 inches. Or roughly 90 gallons. Why these dimensions? Well the 150 for the length fit the available room. 20 inches wide because any wider and my short arms have trouble reaching the back wall, and 18 inches high in part for the same access issues and in part because I already had a tank 45 cm high and I knew the newts did fine in that depth of water.
The builder quoted me 1000 dollars for the tank and I would pick it up.
The first thing I needed to do after ordering the tank was build a stand so I would have somewhere to put the darn thing
At this point I don't remember what got me started on extruded aluminum, but I got a bug for making the stand out of the stuff. For those who are not aware, extruded aluminum is aluminum tubing with 't'-slots cut into it. It looks like this:
The advantage of this stuff is that you can use the t-slots to attach things, it's strong, it looks slick, and its waterproof. Even after building it, I still prefer a proper stand made of hardwood. BUT, an extruded aluminum stand is pretty easy to make better looking then a 2x4 stand. And significantly faster to build then a hardwood stand. So there is that.
Anyway, like all my bits of furniture, I make, the first step was making a 3d drawing in sketchup so I would know how to put the thing together. That looked like this:
The wood panels are meant to be doors in this picture.
I definitely did not invent this design as there are companies that offer to sell you precut and drilled extruded aluminum stands. The only reason I didn't go with them is expense. I wanted to try and save myself some money by buying the extruded aluminum and then cutting, tapping, and drilling it myself. I did this, and did save some money, just not as much as I was hoping. I thought I could do it all for around 300 dollars, but sadly the actual price of the stand all-in is closer to 700. That's still a lot cheaper then the 1500 to 2500 that various companies wanted, but not quite as good as I thought I was going to get for all the effort I put into tapping this darn critter.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the stand being built:
Not pictured here are the magnetic clasps the side panels are held onto. They are not pictured because I forgot to add them until after it was built. One of the downsides to extruded aluminum is that in order to access those t-slots where 'everything' is attached, is you need an exposed end. If you build the darn thing and forgot to add something in....like a magnetic clasp... then you get the joy of taking it apart before you can add it back on.
So that was fun. And because I forgot to add a few things I got the joy of taking it apart and putting it back together like 5 times...
Anyway, after a few weeks the builder contacted me letting me know the tank was ready!
There was much excitement.
There was also much driving. While this is my only 'local' builder, that didn't make him super close. It was 3.5 hours each way to get from my house in Maryland to the builder. That made for a long day of driving, but it was totally worth it.
One of the nice things about acrylic is that its significantly lighter then glass. This 5 foot long tank probably only weighs around 90 lbs. With a hand truck I was easily able to get the tank into my basement by myself. Here is how it looked when first arrived:
And here are what those magnetic clasps looked like on the stand:
And finally what the tank looked like unwrapped and in place:
The white board under the tank are two pieces of pvc trim-board. I wanted to use pvc because its completely waterproof. It's two pieces because I couldn't fit a 4x8 sheet in my car and home depot no longer cuts the stuff with their panel saw. I am still only mostly bitter on that discovery.
After that I started the process of taking down my multiple smaller tanks. In order to significantly shorten my cycle, I reused the substrate (all pool filter sand) and added it into the new tank. I also drilled 4 holes in the euro bracing so I could use 2 canister filters with lily pipes. Here is what that looked like:
Before I could slide the tank into place I needed to put on the background. I really like privacy window film for tank backgrounds. It's cheap, it looks good, it's easy to apply and to remove, and it's easy to get online. For this tank I decided on frosted white. This stuff goes on with just water and a squeegee. Here is how it looked:
After that I slid the tank into place, filled it and started working on the filters and plumbing. It's not very complicated but I wanted to make sure it would be in good shape for the foreseeable future. The canister filters are stainless steel filters with dc pumps. I love this type of filter because the steel filter itself is built like a tank, and the only part that can break is the pump which is entirely modular and easily replaced. DC pumps are ultra quiet, like you need to touch them to feel a vibration to even know they are on kind of quiet. I already owned both filters and they were in active use on the tanks I took down, so again, more reasons to believe the cycle would be quick.
I also took this time and began to play with aquascapes. Because I had so much room, I really wanted to use some big pieces of hardscape to show off the length of the tank. That ended up taking the form of two large pieces of wood that would stretch the length. Initial scape looked like this:
However, after a day I decided I didn't like the right hand side because it just didn't photograph well
So I switched it up and settled on this:
I like the look of the 'broken' log in no small part because it reminded me of several scenes I have seen when out walking in parks. All the rock work will allow lots of places to add epiphytes as well.
All the plants in the tank are all from the existing tanks I took down so, so far I haven't spent anything on this except for the tank itself and the stand (and the light... to be talked about later).
The plant list for this tank is currently: Cryptocoryne spiralis, eriocaulon vietnam, amazon sword compacta, Cryptocoryne parva, tiger lily, anubias nana petite, and some species of fern like moss, and some species of plant I was told was 'like buce' but not, and that I totally forgot the name of. But its variegated which is cool for a completely submersed plant. Still to add is Marsilea Angustifolia for a carpet, Helvola Pygmy water lilies, and mayaca fluviatilis. Those are all in my 30 gallon tank with all my newts. I will be taking that tank down shortly and adding the newts once I'm sure the cycle is done (this will be soon, as the cycle is likely already completed as of the writing of this post).
Regarding the background, I didn't choose it entirely because I like the color white for this tank. I chose it because I planned to add some LED mood lighting to the tank
For a couple of years now I have admired the LED backgrounds you can buy for tanks, but I've not wanted to spend the money they cost (typically a few hundred dollars for even a small tank). So I decided to make my own. With an LED strip light adhered to the back top of the stand I got some nice effects! You can kind of notice the blue in the full tank shots near the bottom back of the tank. It's a little more noticeable in person. Here is a picture with the other lights off in the room which really makes it clear what it's doing:
Meanwhile I also started working on the lights for this tank. Well more specifically the light hanging system which is just 1/2" conduit attached to the wall:
That ended up definitely being the easiest light stand I've made so far. As for what will be going there? Well I went ahead and ordered a Twinstar V 1200S which I'm pretty excited about! I've been a twinstar fanboy for years, so when I figured out that there are very very very few 150cm lights... I decided my best bet was just buying a twinstar and hanging it up a bit higher then normal. Sadly it's not here yet. Happily it 'should' arrive on Wednesday.
AND.. that brings me to current. This is a LONG first post because I decided to combine several previous journal posts elsewhere to get me to where I'm at right now. Next time I will post more about the newts and my thoughts on acrylic tanks. Hopefully those that actually read to this point have enjoyed it so far
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Supporting
I Donated 2026
Rockstar
Article Contributor
Hi all,
I'm looking for the largest stem plants in the hobby.
We're talking Limnophila aquatica:
We're talking Ammania gracilis:
See what I mean?
Others I can think of are Hygrophila siamensis/corymbosa...
I'm curious if anyone has information or experience with BIG plants, both wide and tall.
Pogostemon kimberly? Pogostemon stellatus? Limnophila hippurpoides? Anyone use these or know of any other large stems?
I'm looking for the largest stem plants in the hobby.
We're talking Limnophila aquatica:
We're talking Ammania gracilis:
See what I mean?
Others I can think of are Hygrophila siamensis/corymbosa...
I'm curious if anyone has information or experience with BIG plants, both wide and tall.
Pogostemon kimberly? Pogostemon stellatus? Limnophila hippurpoides? Anyone use these or know of any other large stems?
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Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
Hello Welcome, catalina garcia
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @catalina garcia!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
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Hi, not new to aquariums but I’ve been having some ideas that I’d like to discuss but I’m not sure where to put them.
I live in Barbados, which is a beautiful country built on limestone. My tap water chemistry has a high ph (8.6 - 9) and tds (300+). To get around the tds, I use collected rainwater and ac water, (tds 0 - 15). I am now wondering about reducing my ph. I wondered if I could add plain white vinegar to my stored water to bring the ph down to 7 or 7.5. I wonder if this could or would be detrimental to the livestock and how it would affect plant growth?
Any feedback would be appreciated.
I live in Barbados, which is a beautiful country built on limestone. My tap water chemistry has a high ph (8.6 - 9) and tds (300+). To get around the tds, I use collected rainwater and ac water, (tds 0 - 15). I am now wondering about reducing my ph. I wondered if I could add plain white vinegar to my stored water to bring the ph down to 7 or 7.5. I wonder if this could or would be detrimental to the livestock and how it would affect plant growth?
Any feedback would be appreciated.
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·
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I Donated 2026
I wanted to share my experience so far with a cheap flow meter from Aliexpress.
I am generally a “you get what you pay for” aquarist, but I have taken a gamble due to circumstances. It is still early days, but it feels like it may have paid off.
Looking to add a flow meter to help tune my CO2 in a newly set up 130L tank, I searched far and wide for the different options. They were few and far between, most were for far larger flows than I needed and those that were appropriate were ridiculously expensive to get to Australia. So I went searching on the various Chinese discount sites and came across the LZB-3WB flow meters. They are cheap… real cheap. Less than $30 Australian landed, which made me nervous, but felt it was worth a shot at that price.
Not knowing what flow ranges I would need I ordered a 6-60ml/minute model.
After installing it, it was clearly too high of a range for my tank, but it did allow for some visibility while adjusting CO2. It was certainly better than a bubble counter.
Here is a picture of it action:
As you can see, the reading is below the scale of the meter, but with a marker I could at least set a starting point as I adjusted my CO2 higher. Also the adjustment valve was useless, a tiny turn would shut the flow off or open it to max out the meter.
I ordered the below as a replacement:
2.5-25ml/minute seems like a good range for my tank.
As a bonus the valve is better than most standard regulator needle valves. I can adjust the flow in increments of about 1ml/minute.
Below is the valve in action:
They have been in service for 2 months total now, 1 month each, so still an early review. It has been a solid upgrade though and was an easy install. They come with big 8mm barbed fittings but they can be unscrewed to reveal 1/8 female threads that standard needle valves for aquariums fit. I have also got some 1/8 to push fit fittings that I am yet to install as I am heading away on holiday for 2 weeks soon and don’t want to make any changes for the house-sitters to potentially have to fix!
Pros: adjusting my CO2 was made so much easier by being able to see exactly how much of an increase I was making with each adjustment. Monitoring that the valve isn’t drifting has been easy also, a quick check of the meter tells me it is steady.
Cons: I doubt that the reading is accurate. This means little to me, as I am not using it for a calculation or comparison between tanks. As long as the reading is consistent, even if it is wrong, I am fine with that. Also, the max pressure is listed as 40psi. I am unsure if that is a failure or accuracy maximum. Again, it doesn’t affect me as I run a low regulator pressure due to using a reactor. If I were using a diffuser that needed a high pressure, it may make me nervous.
As always, with any cheap gear, your mileage may vary. But, I thought it was worth sharing as it may help those with limited access to flow meters of appropriate sizes. So far it is proving to be the second best $25 I have spent on this tank, second only to the super red bristlenose I have in the tank.
I am generally a “you get what you pay for” aquarist, but I have taken a gamble due to circumstances. It is still early days, but it feels like it may have paid off.
Looking to add a flow meter to help tune my CO2 in a newly set up 130L tank, I searched far and wide for the different options. They were few and far between, most were for far larger flows than I needed and those that were appropriate were ridiculously expensive to get to Australia. So I went searching on the various Chinese discount sites and came across the LZB-3WB flow meters. They are cheap… real cheap. Less than $30 Australian landed, which made me nervous, but felt it was worth a shot at that price.
Not knowing what flow ranges I would need I ordered a 6-60ml/minute model.
After installing it, it was clearly too high of a range for my tank, but it did allow for some visibility while adjusting CO2. It was certainly better than a bubble counter.
Here is a picture of it action:
As you can see, the reading is below the scale of the meter, but with a marker I could at least set a starting point as I adjusted my CO2 higher. Also the adjustment valve was useless, a tiny turn would shut the flow off or open it to max out the meter.
I ordered the below as a replacement:
2.5-25ml/minute seems like a good range for my tank.
As a bonus the valve is better than most standard regulator needle valves. I can adjust the flow in increments of about 1ml/minute.
Below is the valve in action:
They have been in service for 2 months total now, 1 month each, so still an early review. It has been a solid upgrade though and was an easy install. They come with big 8mm barbed fittings but they can be unscrewed to reveal 1/8 female threads that standard needle valves for aquariums fit. I have also got some 1/8 to push fit fittings that I am yet to install as I am heading away on holiday for 2 weeks soon and don’t want to make any changes for the house-sitters to potentially have to fix!
Pros: adjusting my CO2 was made so much easier by being able to see exactly how much of an increase I was making with each adjustment. Monitoring that the valve isn’t drifting has been easy also, a quick check of the meter tells me it is steady.
Cons: I doubt that the reading is accurate. This means little to me, as I am not using it for a calculation or comparison between tanks. As long as the reading is consistent, even if it is wrong, I am fine with that. Also, the max pressure is listed as 40psi. I am unsure if that is a failure or accuracy maximum. Again, it doesn’t affect me as I run a low regulator pressure due to using a reactor. If I were using a diffuser that needed a high pressure, it may make me nervous.
As always, with any cheap gear, your mileage may vary. But, I thought it was worth sharing as it may help those with limited access to flow meters of appropriate sizes. So far it is proving to be the second best $25 I have spent on this tank, second only to the super red bristlenose I have in the tank.
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I Donated 2026
Rockstar
Journal Attempting a True Dutch
This tank was a Dutch-ish tank before we moved 2 months ago. This was one of its last pictures, very overgrown I know.
This time I want to make it a true Dutch, so anyone can chime in and help me.
After we moved, it ran low-tech with just a few tissue cultures until this week when I finally had time and materials to finish setting it up. This is what it looks like now:
I know there’s some bubbles showing in the vinyl cling. I’m having trouble reaching back there to smooth it out. I’ll have to think about how to fix that, although when the plants grow in it may not be visible anyway. I did read that you can have 1 rock in a Dutch scape, so I kept one. I may put Monte Carlo on it again, I haven’t decided.
So, details…
Tank: UNS 90U, 68 gallons
Light: Week Aqua P900 Pro, current settings R 40%, G 51%, B 20%, UV 0, Fan 100, Power 51%.
8 hours of light with 30 min ramp up/down
Par—no idea
Filtration: Fluval Fx4, currently running at 75%. Any higher blows the fish around. I expect to be able to increase it when the plants are grown in.
CO2: Yugang stainless steel reactor, 370 mm long, working really well. I had to turn down the CO2 a bit today because the drop was more than I expected (from degassed 7.4 to 5.9). I’ve already changed the end cap to the medium setting, but I think I’m just going to make further adjustments with the regulator. Call it laziness, but since there aren’t any double taps available for the Fx4 tubing that’s going to be easier for me. Anyway, I really like it. It’s completely silent and does its job well.
Substrate: Aqua Natural Galaxy sand, with a few Aquarium Coop root tabs.
Other: Oase CrystalSkim 350 skimmer, Kactoily 6-in-1 water quality monitor
Fertilizer: Until today I’ve just been using Easy Green. Today I installed the Chihiro’s dosing system with PPS-Pro, 6 ml macros and 3 ml micros daily. On water change day, I’ll add another 2 ml macros. I’m currently changing 20% of the water once a week. I’ll increase if necessary.
Parameters: Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 ppm, gH 6, kH 2, TDS 222, 70-74 F
Plants (mostly from @Burr740 thanks!):
Leopard Val
Echinodorus Aflame
Hydrocotyle Tripartita (coming)
Penthorum Sedioides
Crypt Wendtii Sindoor
Lobelia cardinalis mini
Bacopa colorata
Rotala (? back left corner)
Limnophila wilsonii
Nymphae Peru Puerto Maldonade
Rotala macrandra Kochi
Nymphoides Taiwan
I’m not sure I like the Leopard Val in there. Should I put it in my 125 gallon instead, and move the Limnophila wilsonii to that spot?
Fish:
1 Honey Flame Gourami
4 Ember tetras
8 Otos
2 Pygmy sunfish
4 Red neon blue-eyed rainbowfish
9 Pygmy Cory catfish
9 male Lime Green Endlers
1 Leopard Danio (last of a group)
A few random Amano and Neocaridina shrimp and snails
The fish list will change as I get more tanks set up. I would like to end up with just the gourami, Otos, Rainbowfish (but more of them), and Pygmy Cories.
Well, that’s a start. Thanks for reading!
This time I want to make it a true Dutch, so anyone can chime in and help me.
After we moved, it ran low-tech with just a few tissue cultures until this week when I finally had time and materials to finish setting it up. This is what it looks like now:
I know there’s some bubbles showing in the vinyl cling. I’m having trouble reaching back there to smooth it out. I’ll have to think about how to fix that, although when the plants grow in it may not be visible anyway. I did read that you can have 1 rock in a Dutch scape, so I kept one. I may put Monte Carlo on it again, I haven’t decided.
So, details…
Tank: UNS 90U, 68 gallons
Light: Week Aqua P900 Pro, current settings R 40%, G 51%, B 20%, UV 0, Fan 100, Power 51%.
8 hours of light with 30 min ramp up/down
Par—no idea
Filtration: Fluval Fx4, currently running at 75%. Any higher blows the fish around. I expect to be able to increase it when the plants are grown in.
CO2: Yugang stainless steel reactor, 370 mm long, working really well. I had to turn down the CO2 a bit today because the drop was more than I expected (from degassed 7.4 to 5.9). I’ve already changed the end cap to the medium setting, but I think I’m just going to make further adjustments with the regulator. Call it laziness, but since there aren’t any double taps available for the Fx4 tubing that’s going to be easier for me. Anyway, I really like it. It’s completely silent and does its job well.
Substrate: Aqua Natural Galaxy sand, with a few Aquarium Coop root tabs.
Other: Oase CrystalSkim 350 skimmer, Kactoily 6-in-1 water quality monitor
Fertilizer: Until today I’ve just been using Easy Green. Today I installed the Chihiro’s dosing system with PPS-Pro, 6 ml macros and 3 ml micros daily. On water change day, I’ll add another 2 ml macros. I’m currently changing 20% of the water once a week. I’ll increase if necessary.
Parameters: Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 ppm, gH 6, kH 2, TDS 222, 70-74 F
Plants (mostly from @Burr740 thanks!):
Leopard Val
Echinodorus Aflame
Hydrocotyle Tripartita (coming)
Penthorum Sedioides
Crypt Wendtii Sindoor
Lobelia cardinalis mini
Bacopa colorata
Rotala (? back left corner)
Limnophila wilsonii
Nymphae Peru Puerto Maldonade
Rotala macrandra Kochi
Nymphoides Taiwan
I’m not sure I like the Leopard Val in there. Should I put it in my 125 gallon instead, and move the Limnophila wilsonii to that spot?
Fish:
1 Honey Flame Gourami
4 Ember tetras
8 Otos
2 Pygmy sunfish
4 Red neon blue-eyed rainbowfish
9 Pygmy Cory catfish
9 male Lime Green Endlers
1 Leopard Danio (last of a group)
A few random Amano and Neocaridina shrimp and snails
The fish list will change as I get more tanks set up. I would like to end up with just the gourami, Otos, Rainbowfish (but more of them), and Pygmy Cories.
Well, that’s a start. Thanks for reading!
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I’m fairly nEw to aquascaping, but have had planted aquariums for about 7 years. I’m moving in a few days. I have four small and one larger aquarium to move, but it’s the heavily planted 75 g that I need some quick advice about. The fluval stratum, in mesh bags and capped with sand, has been in place for about 18 months. I’m not sure what to expect, but our aquarium moving/mntnce guy said it might be a sludge now.
My question is what is the best way to rebuild, without harming my 30 ish nano fish? Do I add fluval stratum and go through all the water changes and monitoring for two weeks until the ammonia issues settle, or use seachem fluorite and add root tabs moving forward? Does fluorite absorb and hold fertilizers and have a cation exchange capacity. I’ve only come across conflicting views.
Advice would be greatly appreciated. Anyone with long term experience and comparisons on each planted tank substrates would be very helpful. We’re moving Wednesday.
My question is what is the best way to rebuild, without harming my 30 ish nano fish? Do I add fluval stratum and go through all the water changes and monitoring for two weeks until the ammonia issues settle, or use seachem fluorite and add root tabs moving forward? Does fluorite absorb and hold fertilizers and have a cation exchange capacity. I’ve only come across conflicting views.
Advice would be greatly appreciated. Anyone with long term experience and comparisons on each planted tank substrates would be very helpful. We’re moving Wednesday.
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I Donated 2026
Since these are starting, here's a thread.
Starbond, the makers of Cyanocrylate Adhesives, has a few items on sale. Black Friday Starts Early 2026 | Starbond. I'm a fan of their Clog Prevention Stoppers. There are some sanding discs on sale for the woodworkers in the crowd too.
Starbond, the makers of Cyanocrylate Adhesives, has a few items on sale. Black Friday Starts Early 2026 | Starbond. I'm a fan of their Clog Prevention Stoppers. There are some sanding discs on sale for the woodworkers in the crowd too.
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I Donated 2026
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This is the future home for the announcements when someone obtains an achievement badge. Let the games begin!
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Hello everyone! Today I am starting a new little forum on the new tissue cultures in the United States; Sreepadma GroWoW! tissue cultures. For starters, these tissue cultures were introduced into the United States in August of 2024. Although there was some excitement for them, there was some wondering if these new plants, such as Rotala macrandra 'Mini Gold' or Cryptocoryne spiralis 'Jwala' was an actual new plant or was just some random name the company put on the plant, such as ADA doing Cryptocoryne 'Pink Panther'.
Thus, here is my tank, using all the new (current) tissue culture plants from their GroWoW product line.
Tank Specifications
- UNS 90U
- Oase Biomaster 600
- Oase Skimmer
- Neo Flow Lily Pipes 16/22
- Week Aqua P900
- Mastersoil and UNS Controsoil mix (may plan to try this again using APT aquasoil when it releases)
- RO water
- co2art regulator with 5lb tank ( I want to upgrade later)
Dosing and Regime
- 50% water change every week, same day
- 3:1 Mg Ca when water changed
- 3x pumps of NilocG Thrive+
- turns on 1950 and turns off 0450
- CO2 blasted to the max pretty much
Day Zero (0)
I'm going to be honest, I did not take a good picture on the first day. I only took this photo to send to my friends. I will add in future photos the species to each plant.
I did not have enough of the tissue cultures (different sp.) to plant them all around. Therefore, there was a huge space near the front for the first few weeks.
Week One(1)
For the first week, I was worried. Although some plants looked nice and were starting to color up, some others appeared to be struggling.
The one plant that did seem most promising was the Cryptocoryne spiralis 'Jwala'. It had been starting to color up the most out of all plants.
Cryptocoryne spiralis 'Jwala' starting to get a little coloration.
Here, this Rotala sp. was looking great. Starting to color up, but a few pieces were looking a little sad.
As for this Rotala sp., it appears to be pretty sad and doesn't seem to have much to grow of. I was getting worried these plants were not thriving.
Thus, here is my tank, using all the new (current) tissue culture plants from their GroWoW product line.
Tank Specifications
- UNS 90U
- Oase Biomaster 600
- Oase Skimmer
- Neo Flow Lily Pipes 16/22
- Week Aqua P900
- Mastersoil and UNS Controsoil mix (may plan to try this again using APT aquasoil when it releases)
- RO water
- co2art regulator with 5lb tank ( I want to upgrade later)
Dosing and Regime
- 50% water change every week, same day
- 3:1 Mg Ca when water changed
- 3x pumps of NilocG Thrive+
- turns on 1950 and turns off 0450
- CO2 blasted to the max pretty much
Day Zero (0)
I'm going to be honest, I did not take a good picture on the first day. I only took this photo to send to my friends. I will add in future photos the species to each plant.
I did not have enough of the tissue cultures (different sp.) to plant them all around. Therefore, there was a huge space near the front for the first few weeks.
Week One(1)
For the first week, I was worried. Although some plants looked nice and were starting to color up, some others appeared to be struggling.
The one plant that did seem most promising was the Cryptocoryne spiralis 'Jwala'. It had been starting to color up the most out of all plants.
Cryptocoryne spiralis 'Jwala' starting to get a little coloration.
Here, this Rotala sp. was looking great. Starting to color up, but a few pieces were looking a little sad.
As for this Rotala sp., it appears to be pretty sad and doesn't seem to have much to grow of. I was getting worried these plants were not thriving.
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I Donated 2026
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