That's what the tank has pretty much appeared like for the the last 3 years, so it was time to switch things around.

So, without removing all the fish, and wanting a nicer color for the gravel as well as a finer grain sizing, I removed all 500lbs of flourite and added black flourite.

I did this in two stages:

Day one:
1. Uproot, clean off the plant roots of old flourite
2. Remove and store in trash bags, remove all wood
3. Remove all Rock
4. Water changes while mucking the tank up(3x 70%)
5. Rinse, add new flourite
6. Fill, run filter over night, add Seachem Prime, purigen, Zeolite, Matrix carbon

Day two:
Scaping:
1 50% water change
2 Wood placement
3 Wood secured
4 Rocks
5 Planting
6 50% water change



And after planting:


I'll touch up plantings later now.
The plants will straighten up and I'll fill in various sections.

I removed about 40% of the plant biomass that was there prior in this picture.

Lot of work, about 12 hours worth.
Still, worked pretty fast redoing an entire 350 gallon tank and lost only one rummy nose in the process. I can touch up later after things settle down and the tank goes through its cycle a bit.

BTW, I cannot have Gloss, whimpy frail plants, Amano shrimp, moss etc, the plecos will maul and eat it.
With this stocking, I have to contend with trade offs.
I did manage to get some gloss going for awhile, I might try again later.

The flourite is really nice, much better than the Eco complete....which if you mat recall, I removed all the ADA As out and replaced with EC in a 1600 gallon tank not too long ago, so I am very well versed with each and every type of sediment at a large scale.

I learned the hard and large way I suppose


Regards,
Tom Barr

Here's 2 pics right before I redid the tank:





The rose lines have grown rapidly in the tank.
They have 2x in size in a few months and will be approaching full size in a year or so.
Some are 5" now.

There are 2 A. adonis plecos in here, they are 12" long and maul many plants namely from their large size and ripping through the plants, not eating them.
I'd like to find them homes, they are gorgeous and dramatic, wood gnawing.

I'd say the wood last about 5 years in this tank due to the plecos.


BTW, if anyone would like 100 Crypt Green gecko, 100 C undulatus, 100 C spiralis, 4-5 massive Crinum calamistratum, email me and make an offer.
They all came out of this tank and that's only 1/3 of what was not taken by some stores like Aqua Forest etc.

But, in 2 month's time, the tank will be cranking along.
So more will come from this tank.

I think I'm going to leave that large weight rock on the redwood root there, I can add plants and make it appear like the rock's base is at the bottom of the tank.
The wood takes about a week to sink, so I often use placement stones till the wood sinks on it's own, then remove later.

Here's the fish after the rework:


Regards,
Tom Barr

Here's the tank at week 3:



And



And



Looky at all those sick fish in an algae infested tank all due to EI dosing..........



Tank is still several weeks away from where I'd like it, I'll be mixing dutch and nature styles.
The tank is cloudy due to a filter cleaning, water change, just turned the lights on and trim.

Most of the rear is Java fern+wood and the rest is more Dutch.




regards,
Tom Barr

More:

I like the style of this tank! this is a very large display. great job!

Tom, this tank looks just surreal!!...Dutch and Nature combo kinda sorta-ish...Love it...Is the tank 30" deep?. Do you get in or just scape on a ladder?.

Well, it'll fill out a bit more and look a bit better.
The rose lines are not full sized.

I'll likely take a Video of the tank, that way folks will get an idea of the fish load and how they interact.

I have limited choices for aquatic plants
So trial and error.

Regards,
Tom Barr

whats the name of the fish on the fifth picture with black line and half red line above it? i been trying to finde out but no luck?
thanks

Those are rose lines barbs from India.

Silver aquatic rats

They are pigs, they mow the algae wafers till they are gone.
So do all the plecos, cories etc.
They are nice schooling and active critters.

Regards,
Tom Barr

What kinda rocks are in this tank? Any ideas how I can get my hands on something like that (in Iowa)?