Complexity's 90g Planted Tank Journal

[Complexity]

But a biotope would mean all rocks and no plants. To do that and get a design like I'd want, I'd have to get a custom background and use corresponding rocks to blend in. It's really cool looking, but expensive.

[myjohnson]

I'm not even going to try a biotope design. I wish I could, but right now, I'll be happy with anything that looks halfway decent.

Dude! Don't think like that.

I always aim for a biotope...it normally makes the scape look better even if you are a sup par scaper like me. :(

[Complexity]

Yes, it's my new OB! Just got him a couple of days ago. I wanted to add more red color to the tank so I got the OB, a sunburst, and a gorgeous red shoulder peacock that looks like he's glowing all over. They really brighten up the blue and yellow.

I'm not even going to try a biotope design. I wish I could, but right now, I'll be happy with anything that looks halfway decent. Using fake plants makes it hard since they're so obviously fake. But I'm just not all stacked rock kind of person, and the cichlids aren't planted tank kind of fish so fake plants is the compromise. So I've decided that rather than fight it, I'm going to try to work with it.

[aquabee]

Beautiful tank! Is that the OB I see on the right?

[myjohnson]

I think it would be cool to use plants from malawi.

Keep it biotope style playa! :)

[Complexity]

Thank you! I don't like that there's no focal point. It's just a bunch of rocks with fake plants literally dropped in. I want a real design.

So I started looking around, and I found some ideas on the ADG galleries. It's actually not too far from what I've been doing, but with a design and focal point. Plus, while there are rocks, it's not based on a bunch of stacked rocks (which most of my fish don't use anyway). It uses wood and fake plants to break up the line of sight which is basically what I've been doing all along, only their way of doing it looks good. Plus, if I can't manage the stacked rocks on my own, then it's probably best I change to a design that I can manage on my own. So with all that put together, I'm going to change designs.

I've already ordered new fake plants. Bought 5 of these last night. I hope they look good in the tank!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160543187160

I'm also going to use my left over Malaysian driftwood that I already have. I'll start soaking later today. I may switch to bull rocks, as well. Still thinking out parts of the design.

[myjohnson]

I like the way it looks! :)


But why plants?

[barrettsline]

You gonna do more of the really tall plants?


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.537608,-95.154527

[barrettsline]

I don't know why! That thing is beautiful!!!!


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.505670,-95.115567

[Complexity]

Water has cleared out so I got a FTS. Excuse the ugly wood smack dab in the middle. It wants to float so it's just wedged down however I could get it to stay down and not placed there for decoration. It's there for my plecos.

I finally got a count on my plecos and catfish. All 3 plecos and 7 catfish are still doing fine! Looks like I have around 15 labs. Of course, I lost the fry in the rescape, but I knew I would. They'll make more.

Even though this is a rescape, it won't last long. I just don't like it. I'm already working on a completely different idea. But for now, this is the new scape.

[barrettsline]

You should see my fish going nuts with the new scape. None of them know where to go anymore so they're swimming all over the place. I think this is the most fish I've seen out at one time ever!

I love doing this to mine as much as they hate it. Everybody must fight for new territory, theres no space that can be said "thats mine", it also helps with my males and females who are breeding.

[Complexity]

Yup, Contour brand! The guy even told my husband it was the "only kind they had that was safe for aquariums." Ugh. Thank goodness I still had a bad of the real Leslie's sand laying around. It was enough to put my tank together even though I still need more than just one bag.

I'm just glad I knew to check it before putting it in my tank. I knew it wasn't right. So I put a couple of cups in a bucket and added water, and it was immediately clear that this was a disaster begging to happen.

You should see my fish going nuts with the new scape. None of them know where to go anymore so they're swimming all over the place. I think this is the most fish I've seen out at one time ever!

[Crude]

Let me guess... Contour?

I went to a non-Leslies store (thinking it was Leslies... shh), and I bought some PFS... not feelign quite satisfied after realizing I was at the wrong place, I went to Leslies... and they had the same brand sand!

Long story short, I siphoned the whole tank and emptied out 100lbs of sand (gogo shop vac!) and started over... boo! Sorry! I feel your pain!

Lets see what it looks like sans substrate

[Complexity]

Well, it has rocks in it, but I hate it. I will redesign it again later. I'm too tired to mess with it anymore now, and I think my fish have had a day of it, as well.

I have a different idea of what I want to do, but I need to get some driftwood and get it ready so I can scape around it. I also need more sand. What I have will work for now, it's just not to my liking. It's just a pile of rocks. The fish will like it just fine so it'll work for now.

[Complexity]

Oh, no! My husband went to get Leslie's pool filter sand, and the guy sold him a different brand. I do not like this stuff. Not only is it darker, has larger pieces, has a higher variance in the size of pieces, but it is cloudy as heck when you add water to it. Thankfully, I didn't put it in my tank. I have one old bag of the real Leslie's pool filter sand from before that I can use for now, but I'm not happy that I can't finish the tank tonight!