My Corner Tank - Venezia 190 - Jul 2007 to Jan 2012

Hi,

This is my first large tank and first real go at planted tanks of a higher techy nature. It has been running for a couple of years now to varying degrees of sucess. Basically i've learned everything i know from trying to make this work and i have been taking photos all the way. There are things i still want to improve in the tank and i'll go in after the picture swarm. 😀

Tank: Venezia 190 - 174L
Filter: Fluval 205 (with Purigen in one compartment)
Heating: 150w internal heater
Lighting: 2x24w arcadia EHO T5 plant bulbs with arcadia reflectors. 1x8w arcadia T5 fitted to the back corner access panel.
Substrate: Eco complete to various depths
CO2: JBL pressurised CO2 kit with ph controller and in tank diffuser


5th Jul 2007


21st Sep 2007


26th Oct 2007 - Added Eco


21st Nov 2007 - Added CO2


27th Nov 2007 - Learning about landscaping


16th Jan 2008 - Learning about cynobacteria 😡


25th Mar 2008 - Learning about erithromycin 😀


28th Apr 2008


19th May 2008


12th Jul 2008


13th Aug 2008


28th Sep 2008


8th Dec 2008

I'm trying to work out ways of improving the hardware for the tank. The one thing i'm currently obsessing about is flow rate.

Unfortunatly the Fluval 205 filter supplied with the tank has an appauling flow rate but in discussion in the hardware forum ive discovered i can use the 405 in this tank.

Beyond that in line CO2 keeps screaming at me.

Next year for this tank i want to have a meadow of Blyxa Japonica with the redmoor wood coming out of it covered in nice moss. Open and simple.

Best Regards,

John








12th Jul 2008

Re: My Corner Tank - Venezia 190

samc said:

wow its progressed so much mine is progressing like yours too not at its best point tho i like your grass looking plant in the forground is tht japonica

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Hi,

Yup its blyxa japonica. It does ok in the tank and is the best thing i've discovered will grow carpetwise under my somewhat limited lighting. It does suffer quite badly every time i split it out though or do some major rescaping. In the most recent shot it has just stopped shedding all the lower leaves after the last big "expansion" and will start filling out and looking healthier again.

The moss has also just been retied as i am trying to expand the amount of weeping christmas moss in preference to the stock java moss, as frankly it is just better. I'm aiming to try some fissendens in this tank once i find a decent source for it. I have a bit more redmoor wood in the post that is especially for it.

Best Regards,

John

Re: My Corner Tank - Venezia 190

altaaffe said:

Great to see the tank progress over all that time and what a difference, I particularly like your Sept shot this year but look forward to seeing your future changes.

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here are some close ups from october 1st. I agree it probably was my favorite time for the tank, just now i've got the hardware upgrade in my head before i improve it a bit more.










Lucifer 2 - RIP this month

Best Regards,

John

Re: My Corner Tank - Venezia 190

Goodygumdrops said:

13th Aug 2008,was flicking through and that picture just struck me,the way the colours and moss on the wood jumped out.

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thanks!

saintly said:

that's a damn fine looking tank. there's some lovely rich colours in there. the lillies?...i reckon should of stayed, but all the same everything looks so healthy.

damn, i wish i could get my hands on some blyxa 🙁

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thanks again! i loved the red tiger lotus too but it is WAAAAAAAAAAAY tooo big for this tank. I actually had three plants in, they were fine before i worked out dosing, co2 and how to control cynobacteria but after they actually started to grow well they were a right PITA. As i've got poor lighting the coverage of the lotus was a massive hinderence to everything else in the tank below it. You can see from the pictures how lush the ground cover got once i took them out.

I was considering just having Blyxa and getting the lotus back with some wood. High impact. 😀

I got my Blyxa from greenline and over a long period just kept dividing it out again and again and again. Started with one bunch which had died back to almost nothing when i got it. Now its my favorite thing in the tank.

jay said:

Lovely tank, The crypts look so healthy, with thick waxy looking leaves.
Nice one!!

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Thanks, The crypts actually give me issues, the leaves are one of the main things that show up the failings in the tank hardware and my dosing. They get pinprick holes no matter how much potassium i add to the tank. I blame my bad flow for now...

Nick16 said:

third to last photo? what is the bright red fish in the centre of the pic? looks amazing!! lovely tank and nice to see how it has evolved and progressed.

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Thanks, I think you mean the cherry barbs. They rock. The bright red ones are the males, slightly browner are the females. Amazing fun fish to keep. They do little dance's, play hide and seek and their fav, chase the female. I have 2 males and 1 female.

Best Regards,

John

Re: My Corner Tank - Venezia 190

Joecoral said:

Wow, those cherry barbs are incredible! They've never gone that red when I've had them before

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Thanks!.

tbh they have always been this red, i think i was just lucky. Plus the arcadia bulbs do bring out the reds alot. I've had comments on the other forum i use that the red's in my pictures are almost too dominant. When i first picked my plants in a bit of a "what grows in this tank and what doesnt" game i did go for all the red ones i thought i could get away with, hence the lotus. Since then i've read alot of mr amano's text and am heading towards a less REEEEEEEEEEED feel to things, trying to use them more as the "flower" in the bed. I'll get the balance right in the end.

keymaker said:

Stunning plant health, John. You have my respect!

What happened between July and Aug. 2008? I can tell that you changed something because your plant growth sky-rocketed. 🙂

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Tbh as with any picture you can't really see the flaw's in the plant growth. I need to improve things on the hardware side to be happy myself. There are issues with my dosing too i'm sure, that and the lack of proper high light. Remember this is 52w of high output T5 blubs on a 174L tank. Not great.

The difference in the plants between july and august can pretty much be put down to the removal of the lotus. It really did a good job of shading out over a third of the tank to some degree. In the corner tank the position of the main lights is a real hinderence. There are dark spots at each of the front corners and the back corner. I've fixed the back corner recently by mounting the extra 8w bulb in the lid as i aim to make my mossy meadow.

Best regards,

John

Re: My Corner Tank - Venezia 190

Themuleous said:

This tank has see a lot of scapes! Looks great I have to say. Lots of great colour and texture variation.

Sam

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Hi,

oddly enough my plan seems to head towards less colour and variation, more impact.

some updates...

(god i mess about with this tank alot)


What you see from my tv seat


2nd Jan 2009 - Full tank


2nd Jan 2009 - Left side view - Note the weeping christmas moss and java moss on the nearest branch.

I'm slowing getting rid of all the java moss in the tank and expanding out my weeping moss as it is FAR better looking.


6th Jan 2009 - Messing around with a mound.

I'm still not happy (will i ever be) with the current mound layout. I'm going to leave it a while to let the moss take hold again and grow out, see how that looks and then potentially reduce the wood area.

The picture i have in my head is a nice tree high up and offset to one side of the back corner surrounded by a grassy plain. The moss cascading from it's arms as it sits timelessly ageing as the fish youthfully dance around it.

Ah well, i can but dream.

I'm actually pondering over another shoal of fish for this tank to compliment the rummies. I know since i am heading towards a more minimal layout the logic says that i should just have a larger shoal of rummienose but i'm into my fish too. Currently my thinking is lemon tetra, or something that is going to swim mid to top level and shoal a bit at least. That and potentially adding a threat fish to make them shoal a bit more. My fishmonger is suggesting potentially a red tailed shark (i think that's its name) for this, but im not sure, dunno if i like them.

Fish suggestions greatly received.

Oh and feel free to comment/rip the current layout. I know there is much wrong with it. But it is just a transitional scape. Advice and pictures for comparable scapes and good plants to what i am roughly aiming for are always warmly appreciated, i love looking at other peoples tanks.

Best regards,

John

Re: My Corner Tank - Venezia 190

beeky said:

Sorry to say, but I preferred it on the 2nd Jan! A bit like a jungle clearing, surrounding a little meadow in the middle.

I love red tail black sharks, they're very handsome. The ones in the shop always look a bit grubby, but after a while the black goes really black (not a grey) and the tail is scarlet. Only problem is that they're a bit schizophrenic. Can be quite calm slowly swimming round and then spend the next 2 minutes chasing another fish fell pelt round the tank.

My current fave fish is the glowlight danio, (B. choprai?). Swims in a nice tight shoal most of the time and always on the move, although maybe a bit busy if you're after something a bit more relaxing.

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Nice tip on the glowlight danio, never looked at them before, they are pretty funky.

Still not sold on the shark thou. It just looks a little too unnatural in colouring for my liking.

I'm having a current muse on the lemon tetra inital idea... maybe it would be better to get something similar in shape to the rummienose so that the overall shoal will look uniform. this slightly more in tune with the minimal layout = simple shoal theory.

pondering goes on.

Is there a medium light plant similar to Blyxa that is much bigger? thinking of complimenting the meadow with more longer grasses at the back and a bit at the sides. axe the large crypts.

John