Today I finally picked up a 50 pound bag of black 3M Colorquartz, T grade, from a pool supply store. They had to special order it for me. The guy was nice enough to order a bag of S grade and T grade, so I could see the product and pick the one I wanted. The T grade is the size of crushed coral, and should be just perfect in this tank. :D

This weekend I will try and hunt down a paint screen. Someone mentioned that they used one for rinsing substrate. I can't wait to get started. This tank has been bare for too long!

Below are a couple updated pics of my angel.

That sounds like a great looking tank when it's finished. the Clap

Can't wait for the final pictures Good Job Good Job

Beautiful angel! the Clap

I believe the black rock always sets off
the plants the best!

Can't wait to see the pics when you're done!

I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress on this tank!

Today I bought a "paint strainer" from the paint store. It comes in a 1 gallon, and a 5 gallon size. I bought the 5 gallon size. It looks like a giant filter bag. Perfect for washing new substrate in. I put in a little at a time, and rinsed it thoroughly with the garden hose outside. There's still a little bit of a cloud in the tank though, but not bad. Nothing that won't come out with a few water changes.

Right now I'm boiling a piece of driftwood to add to the tank. I'll take pics when the driftwood is in.

I rooted the ludwigia repens in the substrate. I guess I'll know in a couple of weeks whether it takes or rots. I was leaving the stem plants in the plastic pots until I got the substrate in. I had to take the ludwigia out of the pot and float it until I got the substrate, because it was rotting at the base. The cryptocoryne has done well. I hope to buy more and have it fill in the right side of the tank. I also have to get some root tabs. The onion plant has been doing pretty well also. Wouldn't mind one more of those. The hornwort I'm leaving floating, as whenever I've tried to anchor it, it rots at the base. The moss balls have been fun. A couple of them seem to be working on making a baby moss ball.


I chose a black substrate because it makes the black spots of the Rio de Para plecos just pop. With a lighter substrate, their spots fade.

Sounds like it's going to be a really pretty tank! Can't wait to see the pictures.

Are you supposed to take off the plastic pots? I've left mine on to avoid clouding the water, and have not buried them, just set them on the bottom and held them down with a rock or two.

I asked about that on Aquatic Plant Central, and was told that I should remove the pot and rock wool from the roots, then plant in my substrate. I think the roots will outgrow the pot and will need to spread into the substrate where they can find more nourishment.

Kelly, that angelfish is really coming along nicely! How big is she now?

Don, I take the plastic pots off of mine, but I just assumed you were supposed to do that. I've also noticed some LFS put metal clamps around the roots of the plants, and I assume you need to take those off as well?

I've had a little die off from my plants when I first put them into the tank, but they seem to bounce right back and do just fine.

Kelly, I picked up a piece of water wisteria yesterday, so I'm interested to see how that goes. It's a bit different from the other plants I have in the tank, most of which I cannot identify.

I'm not too crazy about the hornwort that we got...It's really trying to take over one side of the tank, and half of it is floating, blocking the light from the other plants. I may eventually remove it.

Keep us posted with pics as you progress. Are you going to use any supplements to aid your plants in growing? We've been adding Flourish by Seachem twice a week at 1/4 the recommended dosage.

Next, we're going to go wild and fully plant one of our 55G mbuna tanks! From what I've seen and been told, it CAN be done, as long as you really add alot of plants at once.

Kim

Ok, here's a pic of the tank this morning.


...and here's a pic where you can kind of see a couple of the plecos.


This is a work in progress. I'll post more pics as things fill in (or rot, as the case may be), and as I add more plants.

Kim, the angel is probably four inches top to bottom, with a 2 1/4 inch diameter on the body.

It looks really great...I wish I hadn't put so many plants in at the start, and had done as you did. Now I need to remove some and know that I will tear the roots up when I do!

Kim

It looks nice so far. Those onion plants look nice and healthy. I didn't see anything like that when I was plant shopping; I'll have to keep an eye out for some.

That pleco is just glowing under the driftwood in your first pic. I think the dark substrate was a good choice to show him off.

Good luck keeping those plants alive!

Actually Kim, you're supposed to plant the tank heavily in the beginning to allow the plants to get a headstart on using up the nutrients that the algae needs. I'm trying to be careful not to leave my lighting on for too long, and this tank is not too stocked at the moment, so that's what has helped me keep the algae in check. Not sure how much algae these plecos will eat, I keep them for their beauty, not their algae cleaning ability. :lol:

I did also have the water wisteria that you mentioned, if you're talking about hygrophila difformis. In this particular tank, it rotted. I also kept it many years ago, and it did very well with no CO2. It's supposed to be a pretty hardy plant. I hope you have better luck with it than I recently have had.

Nice start to a beautiful tank!

I knew the black 3M Quartz would show
the plants very well.

Keep us posted and good luck!

Definitely coming along nicely! The onion plants are the same ones that have worked so well for me in both my tanks.

Thanks for sharing all of this -- really interesting thread!