Via Aqua 418 - 12 Gallon Aquarium

Day 0 - 4-23-2008

The day the first life is brought into the aquarium.

In preparation for this day, the rear panel on the tank was masked off and painted with Krylon Fusion dark blue spray paint to hide any cords and/or drips that will be there over the coming months and years. I find it helpful to have a solid color background on a tank. Dark or light is a matter of preference and sometimes even a matter of what purpose the tank will serve.

Flourite dark regular was used as a substrate, and stones were purchased and place before the plants were ordered. The head-on view seen above and below is about the most right-handed view the tank will ever be seen from. The left side glass is the view we will normally be viewing the tank from. So the "rear" of the tank is actually the back right corner. Thus, the highest point of substrate and the tallest plants will be reserved for that part of the tank, while the shorter, more carpet-like plants will go in the front and left sides of the tank.

The substrate was rinsed clean and then sprayed thoroughly with fertilizers in preparation for planting.

The plants that went into the aquarium tonight are hemianthus callitrichoides as a carpet plant in the left side and what's commonly referred to as microsword in the right rear. The HC was broken up into small clumps and placed on the substrate then roots were gently nudged into the substrate with a toothpick and a pair of tweezers. The microsword had grown clustered and tight and any attempt to break apart the roots seemed to destroy the plants involved. In the end, I placed them on the substrate in the rear corner of the tank and pushed as many roots down as I could, then soaked them thoroughly with fertilizers and then sprayed them with fresh, cool water. I'm hoping that will be enough to keep them alive while they re-root.

I'm using emergent growth to allow the plants to gain a foothold in their new home before filling the tank with water. This should allow the root systems to develop fully before forcing them to hang on in any form of current, and also prevents any animal life from causing harm to them in their most delicate stage. My plan is to dose fertilizers carefully every day or two, and keep everything moist with clean water spays, while keeping saran wrap over the top of the tank to prevent moisture from escaping.

My light timer for this tank also arrived today and I think I'll be setting that up for an eight hour photo-period to start with. I may increase or decrease that as time goes on, depending on how the plants do. The tank will also receive some sunlight through the day from two windows in that room.

It should be fun to watch the HC carpet form over the next few weeks before filling the tank and getting animal life into it.

UPDATE: The light timer I purchased was apparently a two prong timer and not a three prong timer. I'll have to get a replacement. So, in the meantime, it looks like I'm stuck with a minimum of a little under an eleven hour photo-period. It should be OK so long as there isn't a lot of standing water in the tank where algae can form.