# Newcomer with 160L Bowfront



## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

I have read posts on the forum for a while now and just recently decided to join. This will be my second venture into aquascaping and really my first serious one. All advice and criticism is welcome. The reason why I am choosing to scape this bowfront tank is because I have relocated my goldfish to my 55g low tech. It currently houses 2 ranchu goldfish and 1 butterfly along with some anubias, java fern and bacopa.

In this tank I want to create a simple layout with lush growth that will take advantage of the panoramic view.

With that being said here is a picture of the tank empty.









The equipment will be;
*Co2* pressurized 10lb tank with Aquatek regulator and ceramic diffuser
*Light* Odyssea 36" 3x39W t5HO
*Filtration* Fluval 405
*Substrate* Eco-Complete capped with Fluorite black sand
*Ferts* Seachem (lfs had a deal and got the whole line when it runs out I will buy dry)

I have a few pieces of driftwood and this is what I managed to come up with.

*Hardscape 1 *
















The only doubt in my mind that I have is that this hardscape looks too unnatural. I am planning to cover the wood in Flame moss. I still have not capped with the Flourite sand which I will do once I start planting. When I do I would definitely make the substrate bed more of a U shape with the highest points being the left and right corners. The lowest part would be the center where the two pieces of wood make an A shape. I can either; *A* Raise the substrate level around the wood so that the ends would be covered by the substrate and the tops would be pointing out. *B* Maybe cover the end with substrate on the left and leave the wood on the right the way it is.

*Hardscape 2*
















This layout feels much more natural and aesthetically pleasing and is probably what I will be going with. I may get another pointy piece of wood to place behind the small piece on the right or I may leave it empty.

*Planting*

With hardscape 2 I will probably be doing a carpet of HC for the majority of the tank. On the drift wood piece that is sticking up the farthest I will cover with flame moss. Then I can plant either Giant hairgrass or Cyprus helferi in the back left corner so it can contrast with the moss and create depth. In the Back right corner will probably be Rotala Rotundifolia. Right before that maybe diandra or pogostemon erectus.
Around the bases of the drift wood Blyxa Japonica and finally maybe rotala wallichii before the giant hairgrass in the middle left corner.

Let me know what you guys think and what plants might work out.


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## bjielsl (Sep 20, 2011)

Welcome. Everytime I start a tank I go through 800 test scrapes and the final product is almost always different from what I started with.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

*UPDATE*

Went to my lfs and was dissapointed. They will not be ordering any new plants for the next 2 weeks.

I have ordered plants on my own. Some from a seller on ebay, a forum member, and Aquariumplants.com.

What I have coming are 4 bunches of hairgrass, 4 pots of dwarf hairgrass, 7 stems of blyxa japonica, 7 pots of HC, around 15 stems of Rotundifolia, and two 2 x 2" patches of flame moss.

This is pretty much all I'm planning on using.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

*11/24/11 Update*

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The tank is now planted. Most of the plants made it. The plants that look the worst are the blyxa japonica. However, I got way more than I expected. The guy gave me around ten plants when I was only expecting five. All of them are planted to see if I can salvage them and they all wont stay. I will probably replace some of them in the left corner with Rotala walichii but for now I think the tank looks good. We'll see how it grows out.

The fluorite black sand looks great on top of the eco complete.

*Hardscape before planting*








Flame moss is on the driftwood.

Here is the tank planted it's a little cloudy from the Flourite.

*FTS 11/24/11*

















Here is a shot of the giant hairgrass seperated for planting. 








Big chunk of dwarf tears. 








Got my Co2 dialed in at around 5 bps. Will post the water parameters tom. 
I layered the gravel with root tabs and initial dosed a little excel and comprehensive. Tomorrow I will add a small amount of ammonia for the cycle as well as some iron and excel.


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## ProjectCode858 (Nov 29, 2011)

Looks like you have done a great job there. Keep it up.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

*Update 12/09/11*

It has been two weeks since my last update. I've been keeping the Co2 high dosing excel, potassium, and trace/micros nearly almost everyday. I finally dialed down the Co2 a little bit since I got my drop checker. I am also starting to dose some nitrogen since its a little on the low side now.

My latest test results were- pH=6.6 Kh= 4 Gh= 9 NO3= ~5 PO4= 0.5 and Fe was pretty low. Temp goes down to 75 F at night when lights are off and up to 78 F during day while the lights are on.

I will start dosing more Nitrogen and Iron since the plants look like they are really starting to pick up now. I will monitor PO4 but due to some die back and melting from the initial planting there is a build up in the water. I will wait for the plants to utilize that first.

So far both the Giant Hairgrass and Dwarf Hairgrass are growing fast and shooting up runners. Rotala Rotundifolia has some dead parts on the stems and dead leaves most likely due to shock from trasplant. However, the new shoots are very lush and stunning. Almost all Blyxa Japonica melted back to nearly nothing and are starting from scratch. They seem to be bronzing in color and growing steadily which is a good sign. The Dwarf Baby Tears melted a bit. I think from converting from emersed to submersed growth. You can tell that they have started to spread. Also noticed some pearling from different patches. Flame moss is starting to stand up on the wood.

So far so good.

Planning on adding a cleanup crew. 6 oto's and 10 cherry shrimp or some amano's. Depending on what the lfs has in stock. Only some slight algae buildup. I'm hoping to get a clean up crew in there asap before it starts to get worse.

Water is still a little cloudy and there is some surface buildup. Tank just needs to cycle itself out and I have also added some purigen.

For my schooling fauna I was probably just going to go with neon tetra. This will be further down the road.

Here are some pics. Nothing spectacular but I think a good start.


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## singolz (Oct 27, 2011)

good to see you went with the latter for the hardscape. tanks looking nice


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

singolz said:


> good to see you went with the latter for the hardscape. tanks looking nice
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thank you.

Yes, I'm still learning. The only real issue I have with the hard scape I chose is that I'm using driftwood instead of rocks. The driftwood piece on the right looks slightly different from the ones on the left. I am trying to have it almost completely covered with plant growth. Hopefully no one will be able to tell. My original goal was trying to do a simple layout with a lush foreground, and lush planting and I think I will achieve that.

Once I get this tank where I want it I think I will then be able to move on to a rimless tank and then try to do a true Iwagumi.

Hopefully I will have Oto's and some cherry shrimp by the end of the week. A new lfs opened right near me that seems to specialize in aquatic plants. They also have rimless tanks done by Mr.Aqua. I haven't had a chance to go in yet but it looks amazing. I will probably get some blyxa japonica from them as well, that way I can fill in some of the empty spots where mine are still growing in.


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## h4n (Dec 23, 2005)

looks good! Its filling it nicely.
Also I think your suppose to have your drop checker toward the rim more then the bottom if i remember correctly.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

Ok I'll move it up higher. 

Ugh, I'm getting a brown cottony/hair like algae growth on my mosses and hairgrass. Also, lots of diatomis/brown algae and a little GSA. 

My lighting was on 1 39watt t5 on at 1300 until 2300. 2 39watt t5 on at 1400 until 2200. I think that was too much. I know have the all three lights on for only 4 hours and the 1 light on for the other four for a total of eight hours. 

I cleaned most of the algae out hoping to get those Oto's and RCS soon!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Once you get things balanced you will be able to control the algae. Try Hydrogen peroxide spot dosed on your algae. The diatoms will go away by themselves as your tank cycles. Cutting back on your light was a good idea. New tanks are not good with too much light.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

I've diagnosed the main algae I'm having a problem with as Rhizoclonium. It is minimal as compared to before but it is growing on my hairgrass and HC. Nothing else seems to be affected. Also, ran into some deficiencies on my rotundifolia. Wrinkled new leaves. It had to be Calcium or Boron or perhaps overdosing of K. The over dosing of K may have provoked the Rhizoclonium as well. I reduced the K dosing a bit and added some additional micros. Growth of the Rotundifolia is normal again.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

Added 6 RCS and 4 Nerite snails. I had bought 7 RCS but one of them died in the bag. Hopefully they will give me another. Plan on adding 2 SAE's, 6 ottos, and some amano shrimp when they get some.


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## h4n (Dec 23, 2005)

good luck!


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

2 more shrimp ended up dying. Water parameters are fine. I just think it was an initial die off. Still have 4 RCS and one of them is a berried female. The rest are doing fine. Added 6 Oto's and 3 true SAE babies. 

Algae died back some so I changed photo period to two lights on for 8 hours with a 3rd light on 4 hours in the middle of the photo period for a mid day burst. Co2 is 5 bps. I'm now dosing NPK+Iron and alternating with Fluorish Comprehensive every day. Also dosing excel everyday. May cut back and only start dosing excel with comprehensive. I added a few stems of Anachris to float and absorb excess nutrients. I have not had ANY melting at all with the Anacharis and excel. I think it is being utilized too fast.


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## ProjectCode858 (Nov 29, 2011)

Hey,

The algae treatment is harsh I know but persistency is key.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

Bad News...

lots of planaria, hydras, and crawlies...my prized ranchu died suddenly in my 55g tank 



Good News! 

Algae is GONE! HC is starting to spread fast! RCS babies and another berried female! 


Going to redo the 55g soon. 

1 month update photos to come soon!


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

*Update 1/1/2012*

*Lighting* now consists of two T5 39 watts for 8 hours and a third T5 39 watt for 4 hours (midday burst).

*Fertilization* has been NPK + Fe + Excel and Flourish Comp. + Excel rotating every day. 1 rest day is given before water change day where I do not add Ferts.

*FTS*








_Crossocheilus siamensis _ + _Otocinclus sp._








_Neocaridina Heteropoda var._








Giant Hairgrass is getting annoying. It breaks easily, rots, and then does not look good. I may switch out this plant further down the road but for now I will give it a little more time. At least until the HC completely fills in. There is a piece of floating Anacharis at the top temporarily and some Cabomba shoots in the low right corner to help absorb excess nutrients.

To all of those excel users. I dose excel everyday and my Anacharis has not melted.

Blyxa is growing extremely slow and some leaves are raggedy. I wonder what the problem is. Temp is usually around 79 degrees. Everything else should be fine. The plants may have been bad to begin with. I have ordered some more.


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

*Update 1-13-12*

This tank has come a LONG way. I'm starting to get the results I wanted now.

*FTS*







*PRE-TRIM*







*NOW*















I didn't even know that Nerite was back there until _after_ I took the pictures. He was promptly thrown back into the tank:neutral:
Still needs to fill in a bit. One more month and I think it will look great. Planning on adding my schooling fish soon. As well as a background perhaps...

I will most likely be picking either cardinal or neon tetra unless someone can recommend another nice schooling fish that will work with my oto's, SAE's, and RCS.

I REALLY want to put 3 turquoise blue discus in this tank as I think it would make it look absolutely stunning however my poor baby RCS! Maybe I'll wait until they get into the 100's and then bring in the population control...


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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

And some shrimp pics...























In the last pic you can see the RCS posing on the wood in the middle.


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## singolz (Oct 27, 2011)

cdSan said:


> *Update 1-13-12*
> 
> This tank has come a LONG way. I'm starting to get the results I wanted now.
> 
> ...


cardinals and neons are pretty poor schoolers. I just dropped in 10 pygmys and can't wait to add a ton more. fabulous schoolers and make tanks look very big relative to size. rummynose tetras are great schoolers. as well as rasboras

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## cdSan (Nov 17, 2011)

How the tank finished out. Rescape soon.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Wow, that looks much better than I expected to be honest. Great job!


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## Bexington (Apr 11, 2013)

Very nice. 

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