My old tank setup (R.I.P.)

[BradC]

Hello everyone!

Just thought I would share pictures of my tank when it was a high tech planted about a year ago, which I added discus to toward the end of its life lol. The tank now is a BB tank with driftwood and six Santarem's from Hans. When I look at my tank now and then look at these pics it amazes me that my tank once looked like that. Well thanks for viewing and enjoy! :)


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[Stag]

I hear that... the things we do for our Discus!

[ZX10R]

I love that first pic nice looking tank. Well I mean was a nice looking tank :)

[rdiscus]

Wow, that's very nice plant tank

[zchauvin]

Planted tanks are so much prettier lol

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[nwehrman]

Nice tank!

[BradC]

I hear that... the things we do for our Discus!

I have to say keeping discus is a little bit easier than high tech planted. Between dosing ferts daily, having to trim or should I say mow the lawn of DHG every week (would grow 4"+ a week) and trim all the other plants, and a 50% WC at the end of the week. Doing a 50% water change everyday which takes me 30-40 min is a piece of cake! :)


I love that first pic nice looking tank. Well I mean was a nice looking tank :)

lol Thanks!


Wow, that's very nice plant tank

Thank you!

[zchauvin]

I have to say keeping discus is a little bit easier than high tech planted. Between dosing ferts daily, having to trim or should I say mow the lawn of DHG every week (would grow 4"+ a week) and trim all the other plants, and a 50% WC at the end of the week. Doing a 50% water change everyday which takes me 30-40 min is a piece of cake! :)



lol Thanks!



Thank you!

Lol brad 4"+ a week sounds like hair grass, dwarf only gets 3" max ;)

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[Stag]

I have to say keeping discus is a little bit easier than high tech planted. Between dosing ferts daily, having to trim or should I say mow the lawn of DHG every week (would grow 4"+ a week) and trim all the other plants, and a 50% WC at the end of the week. Doing a 50% water change everyday which takes me 30-40 min is a piece of cake! :)


We must be keeping different fish... :o

[laborelch]

I hear you! About to change my 200g planted to a simple sand and driftwood setup. Sick of pruning, dealing with algae and fertilizers. It looks nice though and I hope I will enjoy a more low tech tank just as well :-).
Awesome setup you had there!

[BradC]

Lol brad 4"+ a week sounds like hair grass, dwarf only gets 3" max ;)

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It was DHG (Eleocharis acicularis) which grows quite tall. There are a few kinds of DHG and the one you are prob thinking of is Eleocharis parvula.

[BradC]

I hear you! About to change my 200g planted to a simple sand and driftwood setup. Sick of pruning, dealing with algae and fertilizers. It looks nice though and I hope I will enjoy a more low tech tank just as well :-).
Awesome setup you had there!

I thought I had a lot of work with my 55 gal, nevermind a 200 gal! If you still want plants I would try turning it into low tech. I have a 20 gal tall in my kitchen which I used organic potting soil capped with aquasoil (dont ask me why lol) and I clean the filter and do a 20-30% WC every 2-3 weeks. Def a big difference in how fast the plants grow but everything is healthy and barely no algae (tank was first flooded about 6-8 months ago). Really all I worry about is feeding the fish 3-4 times a week.

Good luck if you decide to go through with the change! :)

[walt3]

tank looks crazy nice! wow!

[laborelch]

I thought I had a lot of work with my 55 gal, nevermind a 200 gal! If you still want plants I would try turning it into low tech. I have a 20 gal tall in my kitchen which I used organic potting soil capped with aquasoil (dont ask me why lol) and I clean the filter and do a 20-30% WC every 2-3 weeks. Def a big difference in how fast the plants grow but everything is healthy and barely no algae (tank was first flooded about 6-8 months ago). Really all I worry about is feeding the fish 3-4 times a week.

Good luck if you decide to go through with the change! :)

Thanks :-)

I got rid of all the baby tears and dwarf hair grass already and planning on keeping only some crypts and red tiger lotus. Got about 3-4 sq. feet of vals that need to go :-). Def looking forward to less maintenance and will need to change my lights (currently running 2 x 400W HQI)

[Plumkin]

where did you get the grass at? did it grow like that or did you have to buy alot of it

[zchauvin]

where did you get the grass at? did it grow like that or did you have to buy alot of it

With co2 and ferts a 2x2 square of that will carpet a tank that size in a month or two. You could buy more if you wanted to though

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[BradC]

tank looks crazy nice! wow!

Thank you! :)


where did you get the grass at? did it grow like that or did you have to buy alot of it

I bought 12 pots of the Dwarf Hair Grass from liveaquaria.com.

It was a very timely process which took almost 8 hours to complete. I first took off all the wool that holds the roots in the pots. I then separated the DHG into groups of 5-15 strands and then trimmed about 1" off the top and a little off the roots to promote growth.
After that I used tweezers and planted all the groups about 0.5"-1" apart from each other. Took up about 1/4 of the tank and filled in and spread from there.

Overall I was very relieved once completed :p. Took about a month/month and a half to get it to the point you see it in the third pic.