135L Cube(ish) Planted

Hi peeps.

So.. I'm finally at the stage where I've realised it's time to start contributing to the forums, (hopefully) contributing a bit after trawling the forums for so many years and not posting a damned thing. Anyways, this is a quick rundown of my planted tank.

TANK: 60cm x 50 x 45 (cheap custom tank, along with a DIY cabinet-type stand from 16mm MDF)
LIGHTING: ADA Aquasky 601 (30W LED Unit)
FILTRATION: Eheim Classic 2215 canister with a trimmed spraybar
HEATING: Jaeger 100W
SUBSTRATE: Aquasoil + Fluorite
FERTS: EI using saltpetre, Lenolax, CSM+B
CO2: 5kg cylinder with Up-Aqua dual gauge regulator, in-tank Saga diffuser

FAUNA:
2x otocinclus
1x ancistrus
1x scalare angel
9x lemon tetra
9x black phantom tetra
4x bronze corydoras
5x juli corydoras (3-stripe cory)

FLORA:
1x Aponogeton crispus
Pogostemon "Octopus"
Rotala
Cryptocoryne wendtii brown & green
glosso
Hydrocotyle tripartita
Ludwigia inclinata
Amania (senegalensis?)
Staurogyne repens (buried somewhere in there..)

I've had this tank running for 5 months, but had the benefit of setting it up with established plants (& filter) from a previous setup. Comments, crits and suggestions are all appreciated

Cheers,
Justin

 

I like it! Nice dimensions for a planted tank...

 

Thanks @Reedfish & @Jaco83

 

One day my planted tank will look as good (hopefully.)

 

Awesome dimensions, you can get a great sense of depth with a tank like this, my only suggestions would be to add more height to the back of the tank, by this i mean adding more substrate to elevate the back, helps with depth as well.

 

Thanks @Pezulu, @Peter E. Very much appreciated.
I kinda needed 2 large bags of aquasoil to get the slope done properly, just wasnt willing to drop more $$ on another large bag. I ended up convincing myself that some spare fluorite (maybe 2kg) would do the trick for the back-right corner. then I'd have to concentrate on plant layout to get some sort of depth effect. So the bigger plants get to hog the back corner for now. If I break this down anytime sooon, that a different story I'm so stingy that I haven't even added more wood, even though I know I'd love to add a nice focal point to change it up a bit.

I've got quite a few other plant species ticking along (emersed) in some outdoor containers, they need to find their way back underwater sometime. But this tank is already too full of plants. Collectoritis is the worst... If only planted setups were cheaper to get going. Maybe it's time to move all of this over to a 4-footer? Oops, there's the ol' MTS

 

2 weeks later after tweaking NPK doses a little. Seeing the difference in the stem tips, no more structural defects on the new leaves. Gonna start dosing iron again from today onwards, together with my regular CSM+B dry dosing. Hopefully the BBA stays away
Added a few extra pieces of hardscape, will play around with the layout after trimming in the next few weeks. Right now all I want is for this to turn into a jungle

 

That monster Aponogeton crispus has some serious flower power.. Last year it must've shot about 15 flowers in a row over a period of 6 months. 3 at the moment, oldest to youngest from back to front

 

Beautiful............. No other words

 

That looks awesome.

 

Awesome looking tank.

 

Thanks guys, all the comments are very much appreciated

 

A few female black phantom tetras that have been with me for around 3 years now, still a big fan

 

The only tetras I like more than black phantoms are bleeding hearts. If I had space for several more tanks, one of them would have BPT's in it. They are truly beautiful creatures. Nice photos, too.

 

Thanks dorff! Its crazy how much fun I have trying to photograph my tetras. This is the current group in this tank, BPTs and Lemons, another favorite

 

A shot from a week ago, and the second being a week after that. The aponogeton is getting too big for this tank, may have to come out soon

 

Aponogeton, sorry but you're outa here.. Light is spreading much more evenly around the tank, stems are going for it. This was around 1 week ago





And at the moment..

 

Hi Justin.I like you're tank.Well done!!What is the plant that you used to blanket the foreground?Thank you

 

Hi CD! Thanks man. That stuff is called Hydrocotyle tripartita. Beautiful and easy grower