i personally liked the first picture.

a few things,
why do you keep the water level low?
do you know how big clown loaches get?
did you pre-rinse the sand before adding?

 

this is the tank yesterday

this is today..

@ onefishtofish

1, i keep the water low before because i thought that the pipe from my ohf will overflow when it is submerged in the tank. now i keep it high sorry.

2, yes i know how big they can get, i have a spare 100gallon tank for them, im just wait for my plants to grow, anubias and javas. im planning to put them in there in 2-3 mos. of time, plus i;ll be adding 2-3 more of loaches to make them happy. will they like planted tank?

3, yes i did pre rinsed the sand 10x but i thought that it'll be enough, and my calculations failed.. but anyway i've learned my mistakes.

i'm very happy for my tank now. and for my fishes also. i've learned so many things about fishes. and the number one thing to know when handling these kind of hobby is that " lazy are not allowed"

happy fishkeeping guys

 

i choose this color of substrates because i can easily see their poo, and other stains so i can maintain their tank looking clean.

this is my filter

3 ft 3 layer trickle filter.
medias: sera wool, anti- ammonia pad, ceramic rings, bio balls, sera wool, anti nitrate pad.

 

whole tank shot.

happy fish keeping!

 

the 2 loaches is going to this tank, 2-3 months from now. it's quite messy now..

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x132/jun_lee/Planted%20Tank/100Gal/100Gfullday1.jpg

 

Thats is a REALLY cool set up, I wish I knew more about the mechanical/chemistry of fish keeping to build something like that!

 

all i did is to research and research plus read read and lastly read hahaha! i never imagined that i will be doing that, you can do that too. look at the colors of my fishes before and after. they look brighter now. they play in the sand like kids! thank you for the nice comments!

 

Interesting set up, how do you balance the flow between the compartments?

I'd really recommend getting rid of both the chemical pads. A properly developed biofilter will handle the ammonia with far more aplomb and dependability than the pad. Also, your fish will be fine with some nitrate in the water. The better was to control nitrates is with water changes. Even with a system that removed 100% of the nitrates you'll still want to do water changes to replenish trace minerals.

 

Interesting set up, how do you balance the flow between the compartments?

I'd really recommend getting rid of both the chemical pads. A properly developed biofilter will handle the ammonia with far more aplomb and dependability than the pad. Also, your fish will be fine with some nitrate in the water. The better was to control nitrates is with water changes. Even with a system that removed 100% of the nitrates you'll still want to do water changes to replenish trace minerals.

the powerhead sucks water from my tank, then to my filter boxes through rainbars, the boxes has small/big holes underneath each trays.i just bought that kind of trickle type of filter because it is now popular here. it has a "mr.aqua" brand from taiwan/japan i dont remember sorry.

i'll be removing my pads as you mentioned and replace it with more ceramic rings and bioballs. BTW the sack that you can see in on trays are zeolites and zerocolor. thank you

 

Nice change. NOW it looks like an African tank. Boy did it cloud up though! lol

 

Your clowns will love being in a planted tank. I keep my "herd" in a planted tank. Maybe you could keep at least five. They do best and are happiest in a group.

 

i do a 10% WC everyday to all my tanks, just 10% and i replace them with aged water. is ithis ok? same temp also. because somebody told me that it is good to have little wc everyday to make my fishes happy. the result was fine, i saw my fishes grew fast. but then again i like the opinions from you guys. im also practicing myself not to be lazy in wc, because im planning to buy a 100 gallon tank and keep some discus. thank you for the nice comments and suggestions.

 

i think a daily water change is too much unless you have ammonia, nitrite or high nitrate levels your trying to get down. if your tank is already cycled i would do a 10-20% water volume change weekly alternating vac-ing in different spots of the tank each time.
aged water wont get rid of chlorimes, which is chlorine fused with ammonia. your going to need a dechlorinator for that.
discus require some pristine water, good luck!

 

the procedure of my aged water is, i put them into my big drum, i also put airpump/airstone in it to make it moving because i dont want mosquitos to lay eggs in there, and to stir a little for my stresscoat. and viola! i can use that for the week!

i'll reduce my WC now make it 2 times a week only. but i always siphon the poops because it can be seen easily by the viewer because my sand is super white. im so glad that my fishes only poops infront and not in the rocks. for me to easily clean them.

my question is when will i go for general cleaning? like 100% wc and decoratiion cleaning?

 

never. never a 100% drain and clean until you take the tank down. a 100% cleaning will cause your tank to endure a cycle all over again, which you dont want to do not to mention just the removal of fish and adding them back in is stressful as it is. a weekly water change will be more then enough, 2x weekly in small amounts will be fine as well, never a 100% cleaning. if you wish, every few months you can remove decorations and scrub them clean - keep in mind that these also harbor benifitial bacteria so i would only do 1 or 2 decorations every few months if you really wish to clean them to prevent having a mini cycle.

 

okay, thank you very much for the answer, this is just what i needed! thank you very much!

 

The tanks look great now. That is one monstrous filter you've got there. The African tank looks great after the change.

What are the dimensions of that 100g tank you linked to that you plan on putting the loaches in? It seems very long and low, which would make it a perfect loach species tank.