# 350 Gal manzy dsplay



## plantbrain (13 Sep 2011)

The cabinet cuts out 2ft of the front of the tank. Hard to get a decent pic of this tank.

Tank is about on it's 4th week after total tear down.
Need to add some color in the back, I'll have a V shaped hedge of stem plants in the middle rear.
240cm x 72cm x 72 cm 

About 200 Congo tetras, z dozen rare plecos and Sturisoma, few hundred RCS and Amano shrimp.
Eventually, the Anubias will crawl through and around the wood, this will take some time, but will look nice later.
The Staruogyne will make a rug like in my 180 Gal home tank.

Light is 8x54W T5 at 110 Cm above the lower plants.

So 1.2 W/gal or....... 0.3w/liter, not much.


----------



## mrjackdempsey (13 Sep 2011)

That is just mind blowing awesome,have just fallen in love with a tank, need to sit down and catch my breath!!!! Come over all flushed and bothered. Looking great and love the Anubias


----------



## Ian Holdich (13 Sep 2011)

looks great Tom! Keep us updated on this one.




ps, there's an Anubias leaf that needs to come off in that bottom pic ; )


----------



## Iain Sutherland (13 Sep 2011)

WOW, that is some inspiring work!!
Good job!!


----------



## foxfish (13 Sep 2011)

I must admit that I have found Anubias a very difficult plant to grow in a mixed plant high energy set up.
Mainly due to the leaves gathering a fine covering or algae that always seems to appear as new leafs mature!
 I will be very interested to see how your amazing tank progresses.


----------



## plantbrain (13 Sep 2011)

foxfish said:
			
		

> I must admit that I have found Anubias a very difficult plant to grow in a mixed plant high energy set up.
> Mainly due to the leaves gathering a fine covering or algae that always seems to appear as new leafs mature!
> I will be very interested to see how your amazing tank progresses.



All these coffeefolia are from this same tank and started off as small little 3-5 leaf plants.........so they do well over time in this tank.....I had this tank like this about 1.5 years ago:



Then 



Going back farther:


----------



## plantbrain (13 Sep 2011)

You will note Flourite, then I switched to black flourite sand, then white dolomite, then finally ADA AS.


----------



## Gill (13 Sep 2011)

plantbrain said:
			
		

> foxfish said:
> 
> 
> 
> > Going back farther:



The tank is Simply Breathtaking and hats off to you in creating it. 

I just have to say, that the group of Hatchet Fish look Amazing. They must have been a joy to watch, have not seen them for sale, in years here.


----------



## flygja (13 Sep 2011)

Looks wonderful, just what I had in mind for my next tank though I can't source manzy wood. How are you filtering this beast?


----------



## plantbrain (14 Sep 2011)

flygja said:
			
		

> Looks wonderful, just what I had in mind for my next tank though I can't source manzy wood. How are you filtering this beast?



Wet/dry filters are on every tank I do.

I seal the top edge for the wet/dry trickle section, but that's all, this prevents CO2 escaping.

I sell Manzy, if you are after some, I do ship to the UK, there is a size restriction and ship typically runs 50-100$ USD.


----------



## Gary Nelson (14 Sep 2011)

wow! this looks the Business - I'd love a huge tank like that! I bet it is breath taking to see and the all the fish look fantastic


----------



## thingymajig (14 Sep 2011)

Absolutely awesome


----------



## JohnC (14 Sep 2011)

i'm having to pick my jaw off the keyboard to type this.

lovely.


----------



## madlan (14 Sep 2011)

What is the crinkled plant to the right??


----------



## J Butler (14 Sep 2011)

Looks like crinum calamistratum to me, I could be wrong though!


----------



## flygja (14 Sep 2011)

Tom, thanks for the offer. I've seen your threads on manzy shipments to the UK but I'm all the way in Malaysia. Shipping would kill!


----------



## mrjackdempsey (15 Sep 2011)

Think the tank looks great and has made me change my my mind about my tank (it's not set up yet but it's 8 foot x 2 x 30" (l x w x h) with  a sump). I have two rather large pieces of Anubias , one Coffeefolia that's about 20" by 16" and a piece of Barteri that's maybe slightly larger and was wondering if you would suggest splitting them into smaller pieces or leave them alone for visual impart and add smaller pieces to supplement them.Was not going to split them but now wondering would it look 'more fuller' if they were cut and moved apart with the hope that they would grow into each other creating lines of Anubias growing amongst stumps and branches.Other thing that has me puzzled is a earlier thread from you about the 'art' of aquascaping where you said you could grow plants but not capture the design side as well. Based on these tanks you shown I think you are far too modest and they have certainly inspired me to have a go. Roll on your book, think it's going to be a must have     :text-coolphotos:


----------



## plantbrain (16 Sep 2011)

It takes patience to deal with Anubias, but the pay off is grand.

Here's  450 I did:

Hardscape then lots of Anubias later


----------



## plantbrain (16 Sep 2011)

I take no responsibility for the fish selection in the 450 gal


----------



## JohnC (16 Sep 2011)

how long did it take to grow the Anubias out that much? I've never seen it as bulked up as that before. looks amazing.


----------



## plantbrain (17 Sep 2011)

hijac said:
			
		

> how long did it take to grow the Anubias out that much? I've never seen it as bulked up as that before. looks amazing.



1.5 years or so.

the key is using low light and and decent fish loads and patience, something RARELY seen from the ADA fan boys........they spend time on the hard scape(I suppose I do as well), but less time on allowing slower growth species to fill in. Amano does though...........I know he appreciates the slower growing cooler species and that thicker nice old overgrowth feel.


----------



## clonitza (17 Sep 2011)

You are the slow growing master Tom! 
Nice scape, really love the anubias growth and the wood in the first aquarium .. man .. looks fabulous.

Mike


----------



## leonroy (28 Sep 2011)

Hi Tom, amazing tanks.

Do you have any advice or pictures of the sump or wet/dry setup you use for filtration on your tanks?
Also what sort of overflow setup do you prefer using? I noticed on your 180 you have two pipes drilled through the base of the tank?
How does that style compare with Beananimal's overflow setup?

Thanks and great work, a real inspiration!


----------



## plantbrain (28 Sep 2011)

leonroy said:
			
		

> Hi Tom, amazing tanks.
> 
> Do you have any advice or pictures of the sump or wet/dry setup you use for filtration on your tanks?
> Also what sort of overflow setup do you prefer using? I noticed on your 180 you have two pipes drilled through the base of the tank?
> ...



I like beananimal's design, but it's large and DIY.

I use  a CPR overflow and a simple wet/dry filter filled with sponge filter. The CO2 is fed through the needle wheel into the return.

I do not have any use for the drilled holes in the tank any longer.
The set up is similar to this but a bit larger is all.
It's pretty quiet too.


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside (13 Oct 2013)

Do you have an update on this tank please Tom?


----------



## plantbrain (14 Oct 2013)

the 350?
Yes, they are all iphone pics.
I'll download them later on.


----------



## Oskar (18 Nov 2013)

woooow, it looks incredible


----------



## steveno (18 Nov 2013)

Stunning... A little patience can really go a long way...


----------

