My new planted tank by Exotic Aquatic

[Merrilyn]

Had Adrian from Exotic Aquatic visit last night, and set up not one, but two planted tanks for me. The first was a 24 inch Cade tank with stand with hanging 300 watt LED light.

With a bit of luck Adrian will come on and give you a run down of the plants. He started with rock and golden vine driftwood ...........

[Merrilyn]

Second stage -

[Merrilyn]

The second tank was an 18 inch cube by Aquatic Style which came with a flat pack style cabinet. As you can see, putting it together was a lot of fun ............not !

[Merrilyn]

The finished tank, a home for my new Betta Macrostoma pairs. They will eventually be housed one pair to a tank, but at the moment I'm waiting for the Cade tank to cycle, so I've got two pairs in together. I'm currently trying both tanks without CO2 but depending on the plant growth, I may add CO2 at a later date.

Thanks Adrian for a job well done :)

[Discus Planetarium]

Looking good Merrilyn Adrain is the man for planted tank set ups I like the golden vine I am setting up a 6 ft planted show tank with all my discus and not sure how to go about it I will take some pics as I go along I don't want to go to heavy on the plants was going to use hair grass but thinking about something different thanks for your pics keep them comming

[Exotic Aquatic]

Looking great Merrilyn! Keep up those water changes on them until the cycle is done. Let me know what you need and ill post it up for you or collect it in a nice box for your next visit.

Plants used are e.tennelus (a thin leaf dwarf chain sword that appears as grass), 6 kinds of anubias, most heavily featuring nana and afzeli. Needle leaf java, peacock moss, thin val, Philippine java, hydrocotyle. all low light and easy to keep. Lights are 50W LED (equivalent to 300W Halide. Hardscape is goldvine and honeycomb rock. These should both be nice low maintenance se tups.

[Merrilyn]

Thanks for the comments Discus Planetarium. I'm loving the look of these planted tanks, and I'll most certainly post some more photos as the plants grow.

Yep, doing daily water changes Adrian, and the plants are looking wonderful. The betta macs are loving all the hiding places the plants provide, and the big male has deepened in colour, as I knew he would. Stunning fish and stunning tanks :)

[dvdrew]

Looks great Merrilyn. Would love to see some progress photos over the next few months. I love watching the plants grow and evolve.

Just wondering how the plants are attached to the golden vine?

[nicholas76]

update pic time mez hehe

[ILLUSN]

300W of led light would be well over 1000 PAR!!!!!!

hope you got that puppy turned down Mez, tank looks great real Credit to Adrian and EA

[Merrilyn]

You know I'm technically challenged Jothy :roll: and have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.

I've just been advised that it is actually an LED light equivalent to a 300 watt globe. Does that make more sense LOL :oops: How come you're the only one who picked that up :wink:

dvdrew, the plants are glued on to the golden vine. Bigger ones are tied on with stuff like fishing line.

[ILLUSN]

lol that better my 60w leds are equivilant to 400+w MH so i'm assuming yours is 35-50ish watts which should be fine just keep an eye on that alage :)

its still a heap of light.

[Merrilyn]

I've got the lights on a timer for 8 hours a day. Should I maybe bring it back to 6 hours?

[ILLUSN]

leave it for now if you notice heaps of green spot algae on the glass or filementous algae on the plants/ wood cut it back

[Tommo]

Very nice indeed . Any updates ?

[Merrilyn]

Both tanks are due for a big trim Tommo. The growth has been amazing. I'll take some before and after photos this weekend.

[Tommo]

Thanks Merrilyn :)
Are you using co2 ?

[Merrilyn]

No co2. Just regular liquid ferts. Adrian chose plants that wouldn't need co2.