Gareth's 105 Gallon Planted Tank (Pics)

[christyf5]

Absolutely amazing looking tank. Love the giant "tree roots". I always wished I had a knack for freshwater, sadly I only had a knack for growing green slime algae. *sigh*

I'll just drool over your pics instead Simply gorgeous!

[SeaSerpant]

what types of plants do you have in there? how do you plant them? How deep is you gravel bed? I have a 55G FW tank and i love the look of planted tanks. Please tell me you secrets

[aquariumgirl]

Great looking tank!!! But now you have no money to stock your reef :P

[GeekPhysique]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Wow, great setup. Although I can tell you're not completely a reefer yet, because in all that description about your tank, you missed the lighting (the one thing I guarantee all reefers were hoping you'd mention)

The thunderstorm effect is quite neat. How often does it happen and for how long?

It is really an amazing looking tank. Congratulations! It almost makes me want to dabble more in FW.

Doh! I knew I was forgetting something.. few too many beers before posting I guess.. Tank is lit with 4 x 96 watt CF bulbs and 4 x 65 watt CF bulbs. I am making some 150 watt HQI pendants to replace some of the CF bulbs, but for the time being this is working.

The thunderstorms happen twice a week, for an hour a day.

You can do a lot of fun stuff with Freshwater, but, much like a reef, it gets costly (lots of light, CO2 equipment etc)

[GeekPhysique]

Originally Posted by Joe Reefer

Great Job! What is the reasoning behind having the 2 controllers sync'd through a pc?

It was cheaper for me to buy a second "package" then it was for me to buy all the extras I needed to do the tank up with a single expanded profilux. I am going to continue to use them both on this tank untill I can get a 3rd digital power bar. I will then move the second profilux and the 2 analog 4 outlet bars to my very basic reef. 8 outlets should be enough to control my temp, lighting, wavemaking and topoff.

[dsaundry]

Used to do freshwater tanks and I know how expensive they can get when you get obsessive with them. I used to have 3 planted tanks from 90g to 150g...still have some mopani left:question...you have done a superb job with your set-up. What type of fish are you getting for it?

[GeekPhysique]

Originally Posted by dsaundry

Used to do freshwater tanks and I know how expensive they can get when you get obsessive with them. I used to have 3 planted tanks from 90g to 150g...still have some mopani left:question...you have done a superb job with your set-up. What type of fish are you getting for it?

Thanks!

I am planning on stocking the tank as follows:

100-150 Galaxy rasboras
15+ Otocinclus
6-7 Female copper cambodian Bettas or Croaking gouramis
6 Peacock Gobies
1 Zebra Pleco
8-10 Glass Catfish

[Zylumn]

Very impressive an inspiration. What are you running for substrate in your x3 and x4 as you must collect a ton of foliage in them.
Kevin

[GeekPhysique]

Originally Posted by Zylumn

Very impressive an inspiration. What are you running for substrate in your x3 and x4 as you must collect a ton of foliage in them.
Kevin

The substrate in the tank is 50% Flourite Black and 50% Flourite Black Sand. For filter media I am using Eheim Bio Media, and various other ceramic bio media (Fluval Biomax, Rena Biostars, a few others). Both XP's have the prefilter sponges in the bottom trays but I have removed the micron filter pads (restricts flow too much).

Honestly there isnt any dead plant material to get sucked in yet. everything is growing, and pruned leaves are removed as I prune.

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by GeekPhysique

100-150 Galaxy rasboras

Oh man that's going to be awesome. Do rasboras self-breed in a setup like that do you figure?