# New summer, new beginnings



## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

It has been a year since I've gotten into the hobby and with school ending, I decided on getting some upgrades and creating a new scape. My tank has just been a grow-out tank since I didn't have time to take care of it.









So first off, I decided to upgrade my cheap equipment to some real tools that would help me with the new scape. A glass scraper, cool new tweezers, and an 11" curved scissors.









And I've been without a camera for so long so I've decided to invest in a new camera and tripod. Both for photographing the aquarium and for social occasions. I went with the Canon SD700IS and a cheap tripod from eBay.









I've also grown tired of the ugly orange Shultz AS, and hearing the that the Oil-Dri stuff from Walmart has a similar color to SMS, I took the dive and spent $7 for a new substrate ;D.









So I spent half a day redoing the tank. New substrate, hardscape and a few plants planted.









Planted the downoi and blyxa.









Added some stems plants in the back.









I still need to tie some moss on the tip of the manzanita and I'm still deciding on what to plant in the "riverbed". Comments and criticism are appreciated!!! Thanks for looking :smile:


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## Calavera (Dec 3, 2006)

Looks real nice 
Do you have any specs for the tank?
I really like the planting, especially on the left side - and the fish seem to ad a nice touch to the whole thing


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## ezeke1 (May 1, 2007)

The rescape is coming along very nicely  I really like the downoi and their placement. 

Do you plan to plant anything as a background plant? I'm curious to know what background you have for the tank...or is the silver that I see just the wall paint?


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## arowanaman (Jun 14, 2006)

looks good buddy. Did you get the Bylxa Japonica from the last meeting in Tucson @ michaels house?


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## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

Calavera said:


> Looks real nice
> Do you have any specs for the tank?
> I really like the planting, especially on the left side - and the fish seem to ad a nice touch to the whole thing


Thanks. Erm.. it's basically what I have in my signature. It's a 50g, with an Eheim 2217, 108 watts DIY T5HO, Oil-Dri as the substrate (similar to SMS charcoal), and it has pressurized CO2 with a DIY reactor.


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## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

ezeke1 said:


> The rescape is coming along very nicely  I really like the downoi and their placement.
> 
> Do you plan to plant anything as a background plant? I'm curious to know what background you have for the tank...or is the silver that I see just the wall paint?


Thanks. Since the tank is so narrow, I'm thinking of leaving it open, so no background plants. And that is just the wall


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## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

arowanaman said:


> looks good buddy. Did you get the Bylxa Japonica from the last meeting in Tucson @ michaels house?


Thanks, Jordan. Nah, this is some blyxa that I've had for a while now. I think all the plants you brought went to that new family that went to the meeting.


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## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

Well, I saw something interesting when I checked out my tank today. It's pretty common but a first for me. My rotala and blyxa have turned red!! This is with my light downgraded, too (from 124W ODNO T8 to 108W DIY T5HO). I pretty happy to say the least :heh:


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

It's cause of the T5's good choice of tripod btw.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Hey Darkfury....

It will be very interesting to see how this tank looks in about two weeks. It needs to "grow in" a bit, but you are doing all of the right things. I would like to see the blyxa and bacopa after it finishes changing....that'll look pretty cool!!

How do you like the fissidens, btw? It is easily my favorite moss, and I love tying it to my Manzanita! It is so "dainty" and has a very nice green color. Plus, it doesn't grow very fast, so I find it a dream to keep trimmed up and looking nice!


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## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

DonaldmBoyer said:


> How do you like the fissidens, btw? It is easily my favorite moss, and I love tying it to my Manzanita! It is so "dainty" and has a very nice green color. Plus, it doesn't grow very fast, so I find it a dream to keep trimmed up and looking nice!


I love it, also! But I have trouble keeping it clean in this tank. My shrimp cleans it in the other tank but I have very few shrimps in this tank to clean it up. Any suggestions?


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## darkfury18 (Apr 28, 2006)

DISASTER!!  :jaw: :crybaby: :icon_hang



















*Lesson learned:* Don't place a super hot MH on top of the center brace!!!


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Oh my God! Bad luck on the brace, hope the fix goes ok.


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## gotcheaprice (Sep 4, 2007)

how's your tank doing with oil dri? I just redid my 55 gallon and added oil dri, but it took a couple hrs to clean 2 bags. Let me know! thanks


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## Bstuver (Jan 27, 2006)

I would like to know how this tank is doing and how the oil dri has worked. I am getting ready to set up my 150g and thought I would use this as everything else would cost me a fortune. Do you add anything else to the substrate, like jobes plant stakes?

Thanks


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