Meg's planted Osaka 320.

[megdaig]

Now that I finally own my home and there are no prospects of having to move another tank ever again, I'm finally setting up a planted aquarium the right way and I'm going all in with a high tech set-up.


Tank: Osaka 320
Filter: Fluval 405 canister filter
Heater: Fluval tronic 300 watt
Lighting: T5HO 4x54 watt
Pressurized CO2: 5lb canister, Milwuakee CO2 regulator with solenoid valve and bubble counter MA957, Milwakee pH controller SMS122, and ceramic CO2 diffuser Rhinox 5000

For substrate I've got about 100 lbs Eco Complete from established aquarium + 40 lbs new Eco Complete...I can't remember how much was in the old aquarium though as it doesn't really matter since I'm going for a DSB.

Plants:
Dwarf Hairgrass
Dwarf Baby Tears
Anubius Nana
Rotala Indica
Red Ludwigia
Micro Sword
Cyperus Helferi
2 types of stem plants I can’t remember
1 type of bunch plant I can’t remember

Tenants on the Wait List:
Black Ghost Knife
Redline Shark

Potential Future Residents:
4 more Redline Sharks
a handful of Cory cats (maybe 7)
something else that my BGK won't eat (currently eats sinking wafers so I might get away with some small meaty fish like Zebra Danios)

Due to a lack of plants at the LFS I was able to plant only the dwarf hairgrass, dwarf baby tears, red ludwigia and the rotala indica (8/15/10).








Was able to get some great plants last Friday and here's how it looked immediately after planting (8/20/10).






And here are how things look currently. Notice the great extension compared to the 8/20/10 shots (8/24/10).









I'm no photographer so bear with me as I learn to take better pictures.

[ssrprelude]

That's a great start! Keep the pics coming.

[mark razmandi]

gorgeous tank, how many gallons is it?

[cichlid1409]

Looks great!

[fish]

i would put some rocks-lace rock, to separate the black substrate with the white(sand). so the fishes dont mess them up.

[FrontosaurusRex]

Looking good. Keep us updated. :)

[megdaig]

gorgeous tank, how many gallons is it?

85 gallons....take away a few for all the substrate and bogwood. It's the largest they make in the Osaka series so I can't say I didn't go all out. ;P

[megdaig]

i would put some rocks-lace rock, to separate the black substrate with the white(sand). so the fishes dont mess them up.

I've been searching for rock all over town just for that purpose. I'm trying to find some small to medium size grey (a mix of light and dark) rock with rugged/jagged edges since the larger smooth river rock won't look quite right. What I'm going for is to simulate a river's edge plus mix in a few medium pieces and a big of the smaller rocks in the sand to break it up a bit to give it a more natural look so it's definitely not the final product; plus I'm not in love with the shape the sandy "river" is in right now so more tweaking to be done.

[ssrprelude]

Check out Nepco or Alamo Stone you'll find the rocks you'll need.

[wesleydnunder]

Nice start, Meg.

Mark

[Roujin]

Nice!

[myjohnson]

+1.

Good start with decent equipment too.

With pressurized CO2 and your t5s these plants are going to look really nice when things grow in.

[Zebvance]

very nice!

[rama]

Looks good!

[megdaig]

Well...this tank has been struggle with cloudy water for months now and honestly I'm not too proud to update. Here's a link to the post I just created to obtain some advice.

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforum...314#post497314