This is our newest tank. It's a 36g Bow front:
We had just put the Eco-Complete in and mixed it with black gravel. We also put in the Manzanita wood root, Mopania and Malaysian drift wood and the Dragon stone, River stones and Lava rock.


This is the tank after we filled it with water and got the 2 filters and air stone running:


This is the tank as of tonight:
You can see the nylon stocking of seed gravel from the old 10g tank and the old filter sponge from the 10g.

We also finally remembered to get a background for the tank and put it on... not so easy once the tank is up and running, lol.

It's hard to see in this pic, but the Aqueon Floramax light is actually quite dim and has a blue/purple tinge. We are going to get a Life Glo light for it. We have one for the 20g tank and like it. It's brighter (at least on the 20g it is,) and has a white tinge to it.

Our plan for this tank is to have: 3-4 Dwarf Gourami (1 male, the rest females), 8-10 Harlequin Rasboras, 6 Panda Cories and 3 Nerite Snails. We will probably have very much the same plants that are in the 20g - various Hygros, hornwort, hair grass, corkscrew vals, mayaca Fluvialitis, moss balls, java fern, swords - just in higher numbers because it is a larger tank.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

Wow,Holly,beautiful!That root like wood is awesome,where did you find that?

Hey come across the state lines,I have some amazon swords lol.

Good luck with this cycle.Fishless again?

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Wow! Looks really good :D

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Thanks everyone!! :D

Yes Bev, fishless again.... I am Ben's grasshopper, lol. I got the root wood at that big fish store.... you know... the blue sign with the happy shark on it... *cough cough....

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

That right,you are Bens grasshopper!

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Hahahaha, I hope everything turns out alright this time! I'm aiming for 2-3 weeks... maybe 4 tops.... we'll see....

Right now, I'm focusing on keeping the ammonia down in the 20g with everyone moved in. was feeding once a day, but am going to skip a few days because ammonia is between .10 -.20 - yesterday it was about .10 so I'm thinking the morning feeding and the frogs feeding bumped it up a bit. I had to put 1/2 an algae wafer in for the Otos because they haven't been fed in a while and they went absolutely NUTS over it, where as before they've ignored them... (but have to feed the frogs every other day or they will die... they are the only feeding exception.)

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

I like it!

That is sweet, nice set up can't wait to see the fish in it... \m/

Thanks everyone!

(and an update on the 20g: ammonia back down to .10ppm or less, NitrItes 0ppm, and NitrAtes 30-35ppm.) So, I am happy for now - especially since last night the ammonia was at .40, no Nitrites but NitrAtes at 40-80ppm.

Still got fingers crossed that the 36g cycles faster than the 20g did! Ben will hang his head in shame if I fudge this one up!!! Hahahaha!

It's only day 3 and the ammonia drops daily and I've already got some NitrItes present.... so, it's off to a good, quick start! :D

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

Fishless cycle finished today! Got all the plants in and letting it run for a day or two, to let the Nitrazorb get rid of some of the Nitrates and to let the heater go down a bit (was at 84-86 for the cycle.)

This is the tank with the flash - can kind of see more detail.

Aquarium Gallery - 36g Bow Front plants in!

This is the tank without the flash - little blurry, sorry - getting a brighter light tomorrow. Don't like how dull this one is.

Aquarium Gallery - 36g Bow Front plants in!

For plants: Hygro Difformis (water wisteria), Hornwort, Elodea, Mayaca Fluvialitis, Amazon Swords, Melon Sword, Moss Balls, Java Ferns. One of the Amazon Swords had a baby on it, so that got cut and planted. The two large Java Ferns that I bought were basically no good, but each of them had about 10 babies on it, so I planted them all (even had to put one in the 20g because I ran out of room.) The plants along the sides and back will grow tall, so there will be more height to the tank - just new plants at the moment, lol.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

Get the java ferns out of the substrate and tie them to the wood. They shouldn't be planted. When cutting babies off the swords, make sure the babies have roots on them first.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

Thanks.

All the babies have roots. I tied as many to rocks as I can. I can't tie any to the wood, as the plants are all planted in amongst the wood and it would up root the whole tank to take the wood out to do that.

I read (and was told at the store) that as long as they are not buried too deeply, that Java Fern can grow in gravel. Mike is going to the store to get a better light tomorrow... I'll have him pick up 10 or so silver dollar sized pieces of Lava Rock for tying them to if they start to die. (That size rock should be big enough right? The plants are tiny and I've never really seen Java Fern get huge...) I just don't want the rocks to take up all the gravel, as there isn't a lot there in the first place for the Cory's... lots of plants.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

Holly look at this java fern behind the sword. Its on a small 10 inch branch just laying on substrate.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

Oh.... well... I was told that the Java Fern would be a good foreground plant..... the one I've got in my 20g tank I've had for almost a year and it's barely any larger... and it's on a maaaaybe palm sized rock and it seems ok.

If I tie them to some Lava Rock (very porous rock), will there still be enough room for the Cory Cats? Not a lot of gravel space because of the wood and plants.... should I take a piece of wood out?

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

yes there should still be enough room.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

Thanks! Tied as many to existing rock that I have... and picked out the least buried piece of wood... thankfully, it had holes, so I weaved the roots in the holes and tied them down.

Here are the ones I tied to rock. Some of them lay almost across the rock... hard to get them to go straight up with the shape the rock is... hope the root and grow properly... I also put 2 and 3 babies together in some places, as they were very small. Is that ok?
Aquarium Gallery - Java Fern on Lava Rock

Here are the ferns (clumps of 2 or 3) on the wood:
Aquarium Gallery - Java Fern on Drift Wood

Aaaand here is the baby Sword. I'll have to move it eventually:
Aquarium Gallery - Baby Sword

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

You don't like doing this? lol

I don't like doing what? Posting the pics?

I do, but I keep forgetting how, and I couldn't find the "how to video" hahaha! Thanks for posting for me.

Readings on the tank today:

Ammonia: .10ppm (maaaybe)
NitrIte: 0ppm
NitrAte: 20-30ppm
pH: 7.6 - 7.8
KH: 161.1ppm (degree of KH 9)
GH: 304.3ppm

So, I'm going to dose a little bit of Amquel to help bring the NitrAtes down a touch more, then will test the ammonia tomorrow before adding fish. (6 Julii Cory's and 6 Harlequin Rasboras tomorrow.) The other 4 Harley's and 3 Dwarf Gourami's will follow in a few weeks, providing everything turns out alright.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

tank is looking really good i like how you have it setup

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

Thanks! Definitely looks better with the plants in it now! Kinda' worried that sword is going to get too big.... will be a pain to dig out later, hahaha.

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981