100ga resurrection

[Beach Cruiser]

Hey everyone! Figured i should probably start a journal.

Background: I've kept tanks for years, but mostly w/ large SA/CA cichlids. Which are basically lawnmowers w/ fins, so plants had a very short, hard life. After my last monster passed, I decided to give a go at a planted tank. The water here is pretty soft & I like driftwood hardscapes, so I figured a S/A community tank might work well. Continuing on that theme, but low tech for now.

Here was the last iteration (started CO2 just after this pic & plants went crazy!) from 4 years ago.

 

Then i moved to the coast, life happened & it spent 1+ years as an algae farm. (stopped co2/ferts, but kept lights on because I'm a big dummy)

Current set up:

Tank: Ancient 100ga on diy stand.
Filtration: 2X Fluval 406
Substrate: 60/40 BDBS/Stratum
Heater: 300W in tank
Hardscape: Local driftwood/rocks
Lights: 48" Beamswork FSPEC, 48" Nicrew + (mostly using the nicrew for ramp up/down & fspec as 5hr midday, 8hrs total)
Water Parameters: 76-8 Degrees, PH 7.0, 0, 0, 10-15 NO3, 3KH, 6GH

Ferts: EI on 1/3 dose for 90 gallons. (spread out over the week), 50% water change weekly. Recently added Equilibrium to up GH.

Flora: Anubias (nana, barteri), Swords (rosette), Java moss/fern, Red Lily, Aponogeten U.(the same plants/offspring) Red root floaters, bacopa carolinia, rotala rotundifolia, water wisteria.

Fauna: 2X P. Scalare, 2X Otocinclus, 5X C. Splendens, 8X Rasbora, various snails (angels from original setup!). Recently added 6X A. Macmasteri red shoulder juveniles.

This was the initial 'scape just to see what would grow well & provide cover for apistos. Planning on a full rescape w/ more height/levels/wood and better groupings once the plants convert to submerged form. Also waiting for lilies to sprout. Going to keep them trimmed this time! Woke the occupants up for this pic, so most fish are hiding.
 

General aquascape plan is a groomed "jungle" on the left, descending thru a central meadow to an anubias & moss garden on the right. 

 

Wish me luck! 😁

Edited May 10 by Beach Cruiser
Typo

[Whitecloud09]

Beautiful tanks! Good luck!!! @Beach Cruiser, i love some big tanks! I have the nicrew light as well actually, got it last night , it’s awesome for sunrise/sunset.

[Charestv]

The tank is beautiful cant wait to see the progress on it!

[Beach Cruiser]

Left to right changes:

Cleared out far left side to accommodate arrival of rosette swords & more dwarf sag. (swords on side wall, sag coming down the "hill)

First big trim of B. Carolinia on right of cave (felt a little guilty since it's growing so well! It put on 2-3" in as many weeks & wisteria at back wall hasn't even transitioned yet). Want the BC to form a thick, full depth hedge to separate Apisto territories. 

Central Aponotegon is loving the fresh root tab. (Leaving it room because it used to be a monster!) 

Added driftwood "tree" that will get the bonsai treatment when i can get/decide on moss type. Temped to add buce at base but it's a medium light spot with no co2. Maybe after moss canopy grows in...

Rearranged Anubias/Fern garden on far right to enlarge hidden cave (w/ left side rocks) & free up room for arriving/existing ferns. (Already doing better from advice i got here)

It'll take awhile, but i eventually want the left cave almost covered by wisteria/rotala/bacopa (also hiding eq) & the far right to be a cove of ferns surrounding the anubias/cave (same for eq). 

Edited May 14 by Beach Cruiser
Pic update

[Beach Cruiser]

Rosette swords, dwarf sag, anubias adds. Ferns are finally growing well with multiple new leaves.  Looking forward to trimming the ratty leaves once they shed the offspring. 

Waiting on some bucephalandra. Want to try tall crypt or bolbitus in the back since the wisteria seems hesitant to take off. Could be that the female Angel eats all the tender new growth right after i trim & replant. 🤬 

RR Floaters made it easier to manage nitrates. Haven't found a moss that grows well yet. At 78° the tank may be a bit warmer than most prefer. 

Really need to get a proper background in too, but I hate to move this monster. Maybe slide in a frosted panel if can find 60" sheets. 

 

[Beach Cruiser]

Added some buce brownie (foreground rock middle right) & water fern (middle right back, hard to see). Getting a little better growth from water wisteria (another member suggested that since it arrived in budding mode with flowers starting that it might have taken extra long to transition). Water lily is starting to look nice. 

Absolutely zero change to Buce after a couple weeks...no melt, no change in emerging leaves, no growth, etc. i suppose that's better than absolute meltdown. 

Not sure why, but moss (i think it's java) grows ridiculously slow in this tank. Small patch started itself on front right after stalling elsewhere. Guess I'll let it do it's thing...

Haven't found the cryptocorynes i want for the back yet. 

Apisto males (1 by the Buce) nicely settled into the 3 main cave zones as planned. They still come to the open spaces to puff up, pose & scuffle lightly but nothing serious. Probably would be more colorful on a light substrate but they got some nice red/rust color coming in on fins & shoulders. 

Edited June 16 by Beach Cruiser