New Setup

[cneal112]

Ok I went to the lfs looking for some pearl grass and I wound up finding a good deal on a tank and stand so I picked it up. I got a 100gal corner tank, Odyssea 36in compact floressent,Eheim 2217 filter and two marineland stealth heaters for under $600. The only thing wrong was the tanks trim on the back was comming off thats all. So I reglued the trim and painted the two rear corners blue so the only thing that is clear is the front glass dropped in 60lbs of florite, 100lbs of sand and just got done filling it up. Here are some of the pictures I will say I am sorry becasue the pic's were taken with my cell phone. I plan on using the tank for a discus tank and I will post more pic's once I start planting and landscaping it.

Here is the tank empty (http://www.theforgottenlore.com/images/tankempty.jpg)
Tank with 60lbs of florrite (http://www.theforgottenlore.com/images/tankflorite.jpg)
Tank with the sand (http://www.theforgottenlore.com/images/tanksand.jpg)

[oscarbartoni]

It sounds like you are on the right track to keeeping discus and live plants. Keep us informed as to how things are going.

[cneal112]

I noticed tonight when I was adding three Amazon Swords to the tank that the once light strip does not produce enough light to cover the tank and it really casts a bad shadow in the upper rear of the tank that looks like the water is darker in the back. I added a 24 in compact floressent tonight but it did not help. I might have to custom make something since I dont think they really have anything as far as lighting for this tank. If anyone has any Ideas please let me know.

[cneal112]

Here is a pic of the tank with the lights on (http://www.theforgottenlore.com/images/tankshadow.jpg) . If you look at the upper part of the tank you can see the shadow that I am talking about. I guess what I need to know is there anyway I can get rid of that shadow.

I did put 4 male platies , 3 sword plants and a rock in the tank as well as some of the ceramic bio media from my 120 gal into the filter to help start cycling the tank

[oscarbartoni]

I would fill the tank so that the water level is above the rim of the tank (so that you do not see the water level). I think that will solve that "problem".

[cneal112]

I just walked into the room where my newest tank is set up and noticed that there are hundreds of whatI can only call little spores. They are no bigger than say a medium flake food and they are furry. I only have 4 platies in the tank and I did notice that two of the three sword plants I have in the tank have grown runners and there are roots coming off the new growths. Could this be from the sword plants? The platies seem to be eating the spores and I need to know if this is something that could hurt the fish. I will try to get a pic of them and post it if I can :HP

[AngelMom]

The plants could have had hitchhikers that got into the water.....did you rinse the plants in anything before adding them to the tank? I doubt it would be anything that could hurt adult fish.....there are a number of pests that can be transported via plant, but none that I know of that are harmful to fish. If the platies are eating them, it's probably not a big deal.

[cneal112]

I took them out of my 120 gal tank. I have had them for a while and I did rinse them. I checked this morning and they are all gone so I dont know if the fish got them or the filter

[AngelMom]

Huh....probably nothing to worry about. Just make sure to not overfeed to keep the pests away. :D

[cneal112]

I brought one of the larger swords up to my store since I am setting up a tank here and I noticed that there are little pods on the new growths that are opening up and releasing the spores into the water. According to google some sword plants do release spores and can develop from them when the right water conditions are met so I guess they just like my water lol so I might have little swords all over the tanks so they might be free to good home lol

[cneal112]

I just got in some of my plants and driftwood and decided to post another pic of the tank so far

Here it is with driftwood and some plants (http://www.theforgottenlore.com/images/tankplants2707.jpg) Again sorry for the bad pic. I need to go get another cam lol

[oscarbartoni]

Sword plants have seeds that are produced from flowers and not spore like the lower plants do. Lower plants like moses and ferns will have spores. Are you sure that it is a sword plants nad not some other kind of plants?

[cneal112]

I am sure that they are swords and I am just going by what I read on google. Now be it spores or seeds or what ever they are only doing it on the new growths and they have little what appear to be buds and they are releasing them into the water. I have never noticed it before and just noticed it when I took three of them out of my 120 gal to start planting them in the 100 gal and now one of the three that I brought to my store and planted in a 75 gal is doing the same thing. They could be seeds I just called them spores based on again the information I got off of google and what they looked like. I will try to get a good camera this weekend and if there are any left I will take a picture of them and post it. As long as they dont hurt the fish then I am not too worried about it and plus the fish seem to like them lol :D