The new tank is in the house and am gathering things to get it started.

Tank: 4' x 20"x 18"
Filter: Pro-Aqua 2000/LPH Canister (ordered today)
Light: 3x T5HO 54W (ordered today)
Substrate: Propagating sand/JBL AquaBasis Plus mix, Marble chips, Blood & Bone, topped with Course sand.
Hardscape: Goldvine (to be ordered in small lots cause its pricey *L*) & Rocks (gotta do a landscape crawl to find some i like)
Plants: to be honest, no idea at this stage
CO2: If i do it will be DIY
Fertz: Yep
Livestock: Redtail black shark & couple of BN (definates) and will be looking at large schools of smaller fish types.

This will not be a speedy build, budget doesnt permit it *LOL* It will come together eventually, and i will update as it happens

Tank stand is still raw and will require varnishing before anything can happen

Another tank will be going underneath, being cleaned up. Though am debating upsizing a bit

Substrate goodies (need at least another bag of marble chips i think)

Awesome idea, gotta love the planted tanks.

Just my input. Loose the red tail shark (not gonna have much luck with small fish with that thing in there) you could try a pair of dwarf cichlids like apistos or rams instead. IMO they have a huge personality for a small fish. Definitely bristlenoses (gotta love em ), schooling fish try some rainbows (natives for the win) personally I love threadfin rainbows and spotted blue eyes. Plus they are small so in that size tank you could have a couple large schools of 30-40 each.
A good place to go plant shopping as an Aussie native plant and fish website called aquagreen as they have the best selection and iv spent hours drooling on they're site lol. Anyways that's my 2 cents, take it or leave it lol

The redtail i already own and have for 2+yrs lives in with neons and small fish now, its an awesome fish, doesnt harass anyone, food time he might get a bit pushy, but nothing nasty. I want him to move to a bigger tank, and his coluring is stunning, the redtail will be like a centrepiece fish, and his sheer size will i hope make the fish school better Yep love me BN, got a couple of pep juvies that will go in there also.

I hate to say it, but i'm not really a fan of rainbows. I do however like blue eyes. Rams/Apistos, i may have another tank a pair might like *L*

I'm thinking Rummynose, cherry barbs, WCM, Harlequin rasboras, Tiger barbs, etc Flashy fish

I'm familiar with Aquagreen, i have dino pee and dung here, i have been looking at the plant selection there. Unsure what i'm after yet though.

Thanx for your input, while i may not follow what you suggest, it is good to hear what others think

The tanks new canister and light arrived today........wooooohoooooooo!!

Coming together!

Are you going to do some step by step photographs ., it would be nice to see it all coming together.

I tend to agree about the Redtail black shark they do tend to become more aggressive with age and if it did then the BN's would be targets.

Yep there will be photos.

I've had this RTBS for 3yrs+ (looked it up), it is an adult. Beleive me its the calmest thing, i have never had any problems with it being aggressive, it just cruises around and keeps to itself. Some maybe cranky pants, i have never seen this behaviour in the 3 i have owned over my years of fishkeeping.

Nothing is the same for all people afterall

Tanks are back on the stand, light is in place. Back glass lids will need to go back and be cut a bit shorter and i need a larger piece taken out the corner for the canister inlet and outlet tubes (canister is going at the end not under tha tank)

The background is on (vaselined), now light is on the tank and i can see better, a few spots need a bit more work. Will also be getting 2 more bits of backing to cover the sides of the tank, this will cover the canister pipework.

I'll grab pics later tonight.

looing good!

Here are a couple of pics of my 4ft tank, seems you are looking for something similar

Here is it when the CO2 was running hard



and this is it after a big remodel when i put in the same substrate you are talking about (I'm guessing you got the formula off AquariumLife). It works amazingly well. I dont even run the CO2 any more. I find that with the CO2 the plants like the lotus and the Java fern grow too fast and it becomes less managable.



I used Silica sand for the top layer and it works well.

Good luck with it!

Beautiful tank Doug! Yep got it off AquariumLife. Small world eh *L*

My breeding peps will be moving into the bottom tank

Will start messing with the substrate goodies tomorrow

Added Blood & Bone and Marble chips. Propagating sand/JBL AquaBasis Plus mix. Course sand added to top off

Thanks for looking, cleaning up my Photobucket account

Planted, not finished though, gotta get my hands on some different plants now

WOW stunning

So what plants do you have in there? And what's still to go in?

Thanks kfenk

Only plants in there at the moment are various anubias, crypts wendtii, java fern and a few tiny swords. Plants to come, unsure as to exacts yet, depends what i can source, but a groundcover for the foreground, red type plants etc

Red plants ay? Hmmm sounds like it's going to be a nice little slice of fishy heaven when it's finished. Can't wait to see which fish you stock in there