Newbie Philippines

mujacko2002 · 10-02-2008, 09:38 PM

Mabuhay!

thanks guy for the information. I have a super duper updates of my tanks.

Sun-Fed 75g tank

please paste/click the whole string on your web browser. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US

I just want to share my "works" in progress....and criticisms/suggestions/appreciations/advises will always be of utmost importance to me. Please bear with me, since i'll be posting 25 pics all in all..i want you all to see my tanks in its raw form...hehehehe. Just to remind the group, i really feel that i have very little aquascaping skills (or none at all) and as of now my goal is how to keep the plants alive.

I took a picture of the tank before i added the "river-sand" .... maybe next time i'll use pure soil as my substrate. Again, i mineralized it..according to the website i've read on how to mineralize your soil. I used river-sand because thats the only thing my money can buy right now. hehehe

I've noticed that when you soak your soil for a long period of time, the texture changes its kinda smooth and more compact in a good way. I can't help it i am a big fan of K.R. and i really love the idea of using soil as substrate because i like working with soil, i love to get my hands "dirty" actually, i really dont use gloves when i work in the garden. Since its a soil substrate, the snails seems to be just gliding from one end to another, i guess they're really loving it and seeing them doing it gives me a very good feeling especially when i see their trails.

I bought the following plants below in a place called "cartimar" here in Manila. Its really a big place full of aquariums and other pet-related stuffs. I said to myself, i'll try growing again the red bacopa and the reineckki since these plants always dies on my 25g setup. But it had a twist, i put them in caps filled with vermi-soil, mineralized soil and river-sand and it looks very promising. i've never seen the plants grow roots so fast.

another example of plants in plastic cups. As you can see in the very first picture, most of the plants are in pots, i did it because back then i was still saving money to buy river-sand. Anyway, i removed some of the plants from their pots since keeping them in it only eats up space but i left a number of plants in the pots to control their growth such as dwarf lotus, vallis, horse-tail and echis.

Unfortunately, the river-sand i bought kinda look like cement sand hehehe. since i still have some white-sand and volcanic dust left i mixed it with my river-sand.

The start of my grueling experience. I have a peace lily hanging in the aquarium many believed that its a good nitrate absorber.
my peace lily para nitrate absorber.

look ma, containersssssssssssssss!!!!
Whenever i would do a WC, i always use the water from my aquarium to water my land-based plants so as not to waste anything.

As you can see the aquarium is filled with floating plants such as najas grass, water lettuce, and many more. I did not throw away my excess plants just yet because i will need it to hasten the cycling process and establish colonies of good organisms.

The (un)finished product. hehehehe

Actually, i only have a small idea on how this aquarium should look like but for now i need to master how to grow plants first. As you can see in the (un)finished product, there are no directions where the aquascape is going..hehehehe

Again, thanks for viewing please feel free to share your views.

25g tank

Mabuhay!

Please copy/click the entire link below to see pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...localeid=en_US

this one is with me for more than a year now. A lot of things have happened with this aquarium, i removed some of the plants that are just too big or too long. So i just decided to make it a low light/low-tech tank. And i just love echis...

i have this long and narrow java fern, a new addition to my tank. And i recently bough a "pelia", the one in a square metal thingy, its not doing good.

I am open to any suggestions/appreciations/criticisms.

DIY-CO2 - 2 bottles
river-sand (sometimes i topped it off with soil)
1 55w PL and 1 CFL
lighting period is from 6pm-2am

inhabitants
danios
neon tetra
betta
molly
lots of shrims and snails.

Godbless everyone.

mujacko2002 · 10-03-2008, 10:05 AM

Mabuhay!

I am on-leave from office work so got nothing else to do so i tinkered my planted tank. I put the floating plants on the left side to give way to the red-colored plants for it to receive long and full power of the sun. Some of the plants have become lethargic because its still adjusting with its new spot in the aquarium...i am hoping that it will get back up soon.

top view

---TBC

mujacko2002 · 10-03-2008, 10:07 AM

---continuation

I am trying a number of plants as foreground or cover plant. Actually, i got this idea from another forumer, he used wisteria as foreground, so i said to myself, there's nothing wrong with trying it. I am really having difficulty growing HCs or Glossos since most my tanks belong on low-medi

i transferred my long and narrow fern here. Actually the fern was given to me by a friend...thank you so much friend.

my simple DIY-CO2

I am open to suggestions/critiques whatever...hehehhee

Godbless

SdJaCK&SaLLy · 11-13-2008, 06:44 AM

Your tanks look very nice!

Cory Lover · 11-13-2008, 07:05 AM

Your tank looks good.

mujacko2002 · 04-10-2009, 10:41 AM

Mabuhay!

Whoa! Its been awhile since the last time i posted my tanks. I've already dismantled my 25g and 10g to make way for something bigger? hehehehe (wishful thinking) So, what i have right now is just my 75g aquarium-pond. I have placed all my plants from the tanks i dismantled in these tank so as you can see its almost filled to the brim. hehehehe. Then, I am also placing some bog plants (plants that can live between water and land something like it) on top of my aquarium to completely have the "pond feeling" to it. I want to have a pond (ponds actually) someday, i can't resist the beauty of a lotus plant coming out of the water its just orgasmic (hehehehe)

Here it is now : (the setup is almost 6 months old)

As bog plants, I have some peace lily, some philodendrons, anthuriums, HCs, mosses. The peace lily has a very extensive root system below..its just so nice to look at.

I have quite a growth of cryptos, i guess they really like the soil substrate

===to be continued

mujacko2002 · 04-10-2009, 10:42 AM

===continuation

This part of the aquarium receives a lot of sunlight so what i put here are easy to grow stem plants and a number of echinodorus species

Some of my underwater ferns and anubias are tied to a tree-fern stick, i guess they like it there.

My lotus plant somewhere

My white anthurium

Don't mind the scape kasi as of now i just don't have the skills yet for those jaw-dropping na aquarium designs. As of now, i am happy with my setup, the plants are somehow thriving and hoping to have more in the future. But of course, i am open to questions,suggestions, advises, criticisms or whatever you want to air-out about my setup.

take care now everyone.

Godbless