Welcome to my planted tank page!

I have been interested in all things aquaria related since I was a young child. My mom used to raise guppies, angelfish, silver dollars and many more and I would sit in front of her tanks and marvel at the delicate balance of this underwater world!

As soon as I was old enough to buy my own tank I did and the rest is history. I started keeping fish on my own in the early 90's and have been doing so every since but a couple of years ago I found them to be missing something. The fish were healthy and happy but the artificial nature of the common aquarium decor left me wanting so I set out to research some more "realistic" looking plants that would be more pleasing to the eye.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet I stumbled upon aquariumadvice.com and their excellent planted tank board. After reading and reading I was soon convinced that I could do this! I could have a beautiful planted aquarium with real live plants! It doesn't get more "natural looking" than that!

So I set about planting my 55 gallon tank in a very low tech fashion. Soon I had another 46 gallon tank with a very high tech set up. Continued success in the planted realm (thanks in part to my aquarium advice friends) lead me to want....MORE....BIGGER....BETTER! I believe they call this "MTS" or Multiple Tank Syndrome. And I wear it proudly!

The following is a dairy of sorts of the set up of my 90 gallon tank.

The Plan

I set out to build an incredible aquascape taking inspiration from many great friends and designers on various aquarium forums.

Knowing that I want to eventually fill this tank with adult discus (well not fill, but you know what I mean) I chose mostly swords plants and others that can handle the higher temperatures necessary for keeping Discus.

I plan to start the tank off within the Discus range of temperatures around 84 F. degrees. This way I can be certain that the plants and all inhabitants can handle the temperatures long before I introduce the discus. I want everything to be established and settled long before adding my prized discus fish.

First things first! I needed the tank! I went to a local mom and pop fish store and ordered my 90 gallon tank and stand. He custom built the tank for me. He just so happened to have a stand laying around that was the right size and included a canopy so I bought it as well. A good scrubbing and new paint job was all it needed to have it looking spectacular! It was built very well and has plenty of room underneath for all of the equipment that will go along with this setup.

Carrying it into the house was the hardest part! The tank made of 3/8 inch glass is HEAVY! Sitting in the living room entry area it is quite large and impressive, although I am already wondering why I didn't just get the bigger one! lol.

The Supplies

I ordered most of my supplies online and am expecting them to be delivered today! Yippee! But some other preparations must be made first! Incase you can't tell from my plan I want to create a terraced area in the tank that will keep the plant substrate separate from the pool filter sand. This will also help me keep the planted areas neat and tidy. It will look a little more landscaped than natural but that is what I am going for here. I have already tried the planting any old place type of design in my other tanks and wanted to do something different in this one. Above you can see the X's marking the path I would like to follow giving me some densely planted areas and some wide open free swimming areas.

Already I can see that my plan will evolve as I transfer it from paper to reality but it is an exciting venture.

Well I spent weeks trying to figure out exactly what to use to divide the areas of the tank. I really wanted a physical barrier that would help me keep things tidy and allow me to stir up the sand at maintenance time without disturbing the planted areas. I thought of cork, plastic mesh planted with mosses and java ferns, and even rocks but nothing was really enticing. I imagined it many ways and looked at lots of examples each presenting their own set of problems.

When I mentioned the dilemma to my husband (who normally stays away from my aquarium projects except to help me carry heavy things) he mentioned that we had a spare piece of acrylic laying around that I could use. I was immediately inspired by the possibilities. He then reminded me that my brother in law has a laser engraver which would cut pieces any shape that I want. If I can draw it, he can cut it! Great! I thought, so I drew several drawings (starting with my original plan referenced above) and was made to go back to the drawing board due to the size limitations of the laser but I finally came up with a new plan.

My husband being the technological and electronic brain that he is, presented me with a fascinating idea that I had not considered. With the material being acrylic, we could put LED lights in the bottom that would shine up through it and light up the entire wall. Inspired by one of our sons light up swords with ever changing LED lights he set about finding a controller that could handle all the technological marvels that began swimming in his brain. Suddenly this is now OUR project and I LOVE IT!

In the picture above you can see  the individual layers that were cut then glued together to create a wall. Inside toward the back will be my plant substrate on both sides where I will keep the plants. In the middle and toward the front will be pool filter sand. There is still some cutting and polishing to be done prior to installing the LED lights but you can start to see how it will look.

After fitting the terrace the LED lights were installed and the wiring channel was filled with silicone to seal it completely from the water. So we put the terraces in the tank and plugged in the power cord. It worked! So we proceeded to add substrate. I added a little water to keep the plants moist while I planted the tank.

I began planting.....and planting....then I planted some more.

I added the largest Amazon swords to the back on either side. Then I began to fill in the other areas adding splashes of color with stem plants toward the back.

Then I filled the tank with water and plugged in the heater, and filter.

It is still cloudy in this picture but I expect it will clear up very soon! :)

Well it has been a few days and the tank has cleared and fish have been added. The plants are beginning to spread out now as well so it looks a little nicer I think.

Check it out!