Fluval View- Planted and decorated

[Lady Courage]

I was wanting to upgrade to a bigger tank and was looking for recommendations. Thanks primarily to @inuudo, I decided to upgrade to a Fluval View. It had the tight seal, the size and the modern style I was looking for. Now, after 2 months of searching, ordering STUFF, rearranging and letting a driftwood soak, it's finally done!


(click to view full size)

I've only got this one decent picture right now. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to take pictures without glare. lol But I'll try to get more.

Dr. Seuss is FINALLY used to the filter. At first he freaked out over it and was sooo stressed. But now he's happy with it. He even likes playing with the disturbance. And he LOVES how the output spouts makes his food dance around so he has to chase it.
He also loved all the times I rearranged his tank. He would peer around and gaze at all his new arrangements, swimming around them slowly, examining the changes. lol

What I'm mildly annoyed with is my driftwood. Buuut I think I'll make a new thread for that topic, just to keep this thread clean.

I love love love my tank. It's so beautiful to me and I love to just sit and watch Doc swim around and play amongst his leaves and decorations. It's so relaxing and refreshing. I love having beautiful creatures and environments to recharge with. <3

So! There's mah tank. :D

[Wendyjo]

Looks very nice - good job!

[Wendyjo]

PS - turn your flash off to get rid of the glare.

[tromboneplaya]

I love the shape of your tank! I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before...really cute fish too...beautiful colors :)

[inuudo]

STUNNING!!! I love the rocks and the plant selection. And I'm very curious about the problems with the driftwood (especially because it looks great, too), so I shall proceed to thread stalk you until I find out more.

[Lady Courage]

@Wendyjo Thank you! And thanks for the recommendation, but actually the flash is off. lol The glare you see is the light I was using to try and make sure you could actually see something in the tank. The View LED lights aren't quite bright enough to show you everything clearly in a picture, so I need some sort of outside light to help it.
But I also need a new camera badly and that might be the issue. lol I'm looking to get an entry level dSLR since I need it for work, but that might be a while before it happens. Until then... I've gotta figure out how to make this camera work. lol

@tromeboneplaya I'd never seen it either until inuudo showed it to me! It's pretty cool, isn't it? :D I love how it's so thin and modern, but doesn't give much distortion. And of course, just as the name suggests, it allows me to see Dr. Seuss at almost all times. I do have enough stuff for him to hide behind (and for my future shrimp to hide behind...), but most of the time I can see him swimming around happily.

@inuudo Thank you!! :D And thank you SO MUCH for the recommendation again!! I'm very happy with the View thus far and your brilliant baffling idea gave birth to another brilliant baffling idea from my "fix-anything-no-matter-what-it-takes" Dad. lol Here's a few pics of his suggestion:


(click for full size on both)
#1 Close-up #2 With the lid on


inuudo, you know this already, but to the rest of y'all, don't mind the black stuff on the sponges. lol It's just activated charcoal bits that got caught in the sponge from the filter.

I like this setup because it gives me so much room in the top. Feeding isn't a problem and I have to take the top off for anything else anyway.





The first plant I got I gently unpacked and plunged into the gravel. Well, turns out that tiny plant was a java fern. It did OK, until for a brief while it got moved away from light. I guess the combination of covered roots and REALLY low light just caused it to start to die on me and I almost lost it entire. But I brought it back into the light and slowly but surely... Baby java ferns sprouted from the dying leaves and began to grow.

Well, the original java fern finally fell apart and died completely, so I spent about 30 mins rescuing the babies and finding them something to grip onto.

They are now thriving:

(click for full size)
Cute little baby java ferns! ^.^ I'm so glad I haven't killed them yet! lol

Here's a closer look at my rock formation:

(click for full size)
These rocks are all "local" and we stuck the formation together with plumber's epoxy. Haven't had an issue with any kind of out-gassing (I would hope!). Doc loves it! And I had fun finding the rocks in the nearby stream.

And Dr. Seuss loves his new tank.

(click for full size)
"O hai. U lik my tank?"

You may not be able to tell in this pic, but yes, his fins are still healing from nipping them. First the filter in the tank stressed him out, then we had a cold front and I had to fix his heater. It's adjustable but NOT a thermostat (didn't realize that when I ordered it). I don't think the tank ever got below ideal temperature, but it did dip suddenly even in the house. That really upset him.

But he's happy now. Which makes me happy. ^.^

[megaredize]

That is really nice. and it is a neat tank, ive seen it a few times online. it is very interesting, glad you like it. i havent seen any of my local stores offer this tank though

[inuudo]

That filter baffle is so much better than what I did! simplify, simplify, simplify!

I'm really pleased that I could help you out a little in finding the perfect tank. Doc looks thrilled with his gorgeous new home.