strauss

Thanks ill post more later. Plants growing pretty fast so it's filling in fast.

Since life has settled down some, decided to start another tank for a bit of stress relief. It's a custom built cube, corner tank, blacked out on 2 sides, eurobraced but plastic rimmed as well. I built the stand with left over reno supplies. Substrate is ada amazonia 2, fluval 406 plus a small power head for surface agitation, should probably be larger. Plants that I can remember, glosso, dwarf hair grass, repens and then others. Plan is a few L plecos I really enjoy plus ottos, a group of rummy nose or cardinals, a few corys and some discus. Ill be waiting for plants to root and cover before I grab more fish. Just want a clear, clean piece of amazon to enjoy. First 3 are of 1.5 weeks ago And today

The wood is out of California. I have family in Vancouver so I had it shipped to an American address and they grabbed it. It's 2 boxes of wood totaling about $220 with shipping and duty. You can't really beat it

Also, the brown on top of the wood is a landscaping foam coated in silicone and peat moss as I will have some dart frogs in the top section with bromeliads and orchids. I ordered a bunch of plants from aquaticmagic on ebay and still looking in calgary for lots. More pic's when I get that done

Sorry for the long intermission but here is a photo update: Painting back black stand and hood skirted and built Daughter in for comparison and time out, just kidding Main electrical components on board with magnets Putting wood in Glass barrier siliconed along tank bottom as sand/ada barrier. Some will mix but I will be planting glosso which should fill in and cover Lights on but not calibrated Adding water, will be doing water changes throughout the week as RO/DI kicks in Tank and plumbing Will have more soon Brandon

Awesome, thanks guys. I stopped at Western pumps yesterday to get plumbing and Jennifer pulled me aside and said if I wanted she could order what ever I wanted from lifeguard aquatics. So the quiet one 6000 will end up costing about 110 versus over $200. Plus many hard to find items. Now just waiting on everything to arrive.

So the title is a little misleading. The tank is actually 270 gallons but the top 12 or so inches are for grow out. I just sold my 89 reef as I feel I dominated it and hard crazy growth out of even the hardest SPS so it's back to freshwater like never before. I may verywell have a mild case of ADD but the wife is ok with it. Anyway back to freshwater with a vengence. As of thus far, the tank is being built by concept aquatics. 72 long, 24 wide, 36 tall. Dual overflows, beane animal style. 2 returns drilled in the bottom of the tank so I can create a slow moving river current that will most likely alternate. I ordered 2 Kessil a150w's as I will be utilizing my Mitra lx6100 from the reef tank I just sold. I feel good using it as I can customize it to anything and everything. It is extreme overkill but can be dialed down via computer. I will be using my reef controller for everything and have ordered the up atomizer to plumb in the return plus Co2 canister/regulator. I grabbed a ton of ADA amazonia and the smaller grained amazonia sand. I am thinking of using playsand(whitish) to contrast the ADA but in a controlled bed in the front. I also ordered 3 boxes of manzanita out of cali. I plan on making the tank one big mangrove bed out of the manzanita wood. Just inverting the wood and either glue or screw together and hide all holes. It will be heavily planted as well as the top portion will be stocked in bromeliads and orchids as well as ferns. Lots of colour, but the main event is the water. I will post pictures as piecies start arriving and I get at the tank, I promise. I want schools and I love plecos so thinking rummynose, 7-10 kinds of pleco, maybe cardinals or harlequin rasb. A school of sterbei's. I am not sold on discus but like the idea. If you have any suggestions/ recommendations, please voice them. I am currently looking for sand to use that is not a million dollars a bag and brownish-white. More white than home depot play sand. Tank is done late next week so the fun will start then. Ill keep you posted. Brandon

Just finished screwing/zapstrapping wood together and putting it in last night. Needs time to grow in and I need the rest of my CO2 setup to arrive. 2 weeks old About 3 1/2 weeks old. Doing real well. Waiting for a few more pieces of equipment (maybe) then going all sps

I appreciate the love. I love saltwater but really love fresh. A planted/driftwood tank looks awesome. Mind you a complete reef ecosystem is a whole different sexy. Anyway thanks for the welcome. Ill get pictures up soon.

What size is the tank? I managed a pet store for a while and so had to deal with red "devil" algae quite a few times in customers tanks. Your best friend will be constant water changes like everyone is suggesting here. Get the rock with the algae on it out of the tank the same time you do a major water change and try to get every single piece of red algae you can find. Even little bits repopulate easily. We usually had to nuke a tank but if you're meticulous and careful you can do it.

Based on what I saw working in a pet store it will go wherever it wants. Should you tie it down and it does not like it, it may stop growing well or even die off. Although, condylactis are really pretty hardy. Anyway my 2 cents, try and place it but beware it may move.

True, cover everything. I had an octo for about 6 months before I got sick of feeding it and not seeing it often so traded it away. It's cool at night but pretty inactive during day. Mine was a common $40. Regardless, was cool for the short time I had it.

Brand new here but not to fish. Currently have a 40 tall salt water going sps and a 90 g planted/CO2 injected. Not really planted yet as it's only a few weeks old and I just finished aquascaping it with driftwood. Ill post when I have a second. Anyway, I understand those here are solid and this site is solid so I'm stoked to see others photos and learn a bunch. Brandon