# Peaceful Portal



## arportia (Jan 5, 2014)

I want to document the evolution of my tank @: )
Here is the first photo of it, before I ever added Picasso and friends.









and the attached photo beneath is what it looks like today.

My tank is going to go through some changes! Right now, there are two corycats (Salt & Pepper) swimming along the bottom, and maybe 20ish baby blue mystery snails taking up real estate. I am working to rid my tank of all of those mystery snails. Picasso is in his QT nursing his stressed out fins back to health.

The plants in there currently are Vesuvius, Italian Vals, and Dwarf Lilies. The lilies have really taken off- I just trimmed off 9 13" long pieces!
(the original setup also included water sprite and dwarf baby tears but those were completely eaten by the late mystery snail, Helix ,@" )
I'm ordering new plants to add to Picasso's serene abode.

My current substrate floor is Eco-Complete. When the new plants arrive, I'm going to re-plant the tank as a fully natural planted tank with real dirt. I have not decided what sand cap to use, if I'm going to just use the Eco-Complete alone or mixed with a sandcap, OR mix a couple different gravels I have here (a blue-purple mix and a pearly white mix) in with sand. Still deciding. I think it would be cool to have a colored sand, maybe red or purple but I haven't made that decision yet either.

The construction worker that is working on my moms kitchen graciously cut my driftwood piece in half for me so I'll be able to fit that better into the aquascape when they are done soaking.







Im also soaking the top fin waterfall to give Picasso an extra place to hide. Eventually, I want to find (or make, with clay) him a cool dragon to watch over him as well.


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## arportia (Jan 5, 2014)

Here's the new setup. I decided to move things around and take all of the water out to get the rest of the snails out. Waterfall is on the left! It's a bit cloudy right now because of all the reorganizing I did!


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## niQ (May 28, 2014)

Your dwarf lilies look great


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## Zuzu (Jun 24, 2014)

Wow, that's a gorgeous piece(s) of driftwood!


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## arportia (Jan 5, 2014)

NiQ- Thank You very much! I am still so shocked to have such massive amounts of growth coming from such small bulbs! I ordered them from plantedaquariumcentral.com - they have a special discount for everyone here on the forums. Before I trimmed them, they were pretty much all hogging the light on the surface of the water!

Zuzu- hah! Thanks! @: - )
I got the one piece originally because my eyes fell in love with it at a local fish store----only to realize it was way to big to fit in my tank when I got it home! I'm so glad that I can finally put it in there now! I'm thinking about getting a black background for my tank so that the driftwood really pops! I like how it adds a tannin to the water. I haven't put Picasso in there yet, but I'm sure he will be stoked!


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## niQ (May 28, 2014)

Thx for the info arportia  I have not looked at that site yet.


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## arportia (Jan 5, 2014)

niQ- You are welcome i think i spelled the site wrong---- its supposed to be www.plantedaquariumscentral.com
They have the most excellent plants, and very often, send you more than what they say they will. High quality!
and the discount code is private for board members only--you can send Linda a private message and she has the power to bestow upon you the coveted discount coupon! Here is her page: http://www.bettafish.com/member.php?u=49434


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## niQ (May 28, 2014)

Thx arportia again  I took a look at their site. I could not find the lilies but thats alright, I do not have room in my tanks yet for it. Do they usually just sell a few selections of plants at a time?


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## arportia (Jan 5, 2014)

Hi niQ ! I PMed you the link for the lilies, but PAC does indeed stock a huge and immense variety of plants, and rare ones as well!


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