# A year in the life of a 180gal



## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Just a journal of my 180 over the last year and its many rescapes.

30/06/07







11/07/07







23/07/07







23/10/07







8/11/07


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## bigred (Nov 13, 2003)

i like the 2nd and the 3rd one you did.. they look really nice..


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

12/02/08







09/04/08







30/07/08







17/08/08







17/09/08


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

im kind of diggin the 11-7-07. If that grew out that would be s sick scape. sweet work man. I would like to use drift wood when I re scape my 180.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Yeah the early scapes had a good spooky vibe. That scape would have been kept but I never got onto any P's. As a result it got changed around and planted out. Rescaped for pbass and then again with the new wood. Originally got this tank for P's and am still trying to get them(over a year, Australia and its stupid import/possesion laws). Hopefully I in the next month or so I will have some in which case the current scape will be allowed to grow in properly.


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

where did you score your drift wood


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

i am looking for drift wood like a trunk.. with long branches just like you have.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

I get my wood from either up north australia from the rainforest creeks or out west. West wood is very dense(red gum) and from sandy creeks so it gets sandblasted during the floods which makes it perfect for fishtanks. The rainforest pieces are also pretty hard woods, similar to malaysian wood(makes sense given that our rainforest is pretty much the same). I've got a huge pile at my parents place up north which I add to when I visit up that way and bring pieces back south once or twice a year.


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

louisvillain2.0 said:


> I get my wood from either up north australia from the rainforest creeks or out west. West wood is very dense(red gum) and from sandy creeks so it gets sandblasted during the floods which makes it perfect for fishtanks. The rainforest pieces are also pretty hard woods, similar to malaysian wood(makes sense given that our rainforest is pretty much the same). I've got a huge pile at my parents place up north which I add to when I visit up that way and bring pieces back south once or twice a year.


want to sell any. it would be a pain in the ass to ship for sure though.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Ship from Australia to US?!!! Hell expensive! It costs me $140 to ship a fridge box full from up north to where I live(2hr flight). Probably easier to take a saw and roadtrip somewhere around you. Some of the wood Tom Barr collects is unreal. No idea whereabouts you are in the States but I'm sure there'd be some place where you can plunder.


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

louisvillain2.0 said:


> Ship from Australia to US?!!! Hell expensive! It costs me $140 to ship a fridge box full from up north to where I live(2hr flight). Probably easier to take a saw and roadtrip somewhere around you. Some of the wood Tom Barr collects is unreal. No idea whereabouts you are in the States but I'm sure there'd be some place where you can plunder.


cool. I figured it would cost a grip load to ship I will look around.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

First...I love the tanks progression!

THis brings up a good Idea....we should have a driftwood trading thread. Also, areas in which are good to collect from.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

notaverage said:


> First...I love the tanks progression!
> 
> THis brings up a good Idea....we should have a driftwood trading thread. Also, areas in which are good to collect from.


Cheers for the comments.

As for trading driftwood, always a good thing, especially for people who don't have access to good spots. When I ship a carton down I usually sell off a few primo pieces to recoup shipping costs then trade the rest for plants with local aquascapers. My last lot of wood covered costs plus a bit extra and some rarer plants for my tanks. All the pieces were about 3-4ft.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Where do you get it?
Is it roots of dead trees you pull out?

I would LOVE to have something like that!


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Northern Australia has two seasons, wet and dry. Wet season=big floods which erode the banks exposing roots or rip trees out along the riverbanks. Once the floods are over it's driftwood city. Pre-soaked and sandblasted and waiting to be sawn off and taken home. You could take a few truckloads from some spots and not even make a dent in the amount of wood piled up.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

well good for you...I would love to come to Australia...I told my wife I want to move there...I know its pretty damn difficult to make that happen legally...at least from what I've heard...hey send in pics when you get a big lot of drift wood!!


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Will be up north again in a month or so once uni is done, will get pics of my creeks and rivers as well as some fishing pics. As for moving to Australia, don't think it's that hard to get resident visa and citizenship. Keeping fish here is sh*t but. Most preds are illegal and if you can get them they cost serious $$$. Plus you need to know the right people.
Channa micropeltes 5" @ $250-400
Motoro and retic pups 6" disc @ $1500+
RTC 4" @ $450
Spotted gar 5" @ $450-600
Gator gar 5" @ $300+
Silver aro 5" @ $250+(big price drop, were about twice that price last year)
Asian aro's 7" green $850+, RTG $2000+, Chillired $3000+
Datnoid 3" @ $450
TSN @ $400
Nattereri 2" @ $300+
It's going to cost me about $1500 to get a small school of reds for my tank, which is sh*t after living in Vancouver and paying about $10 a pop for them.


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Wow...Really?

Pretty crazy


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

I stumbled upon this thread, and I must say, wow, nice tanks!
You are inspiring me to go on a driftwood run!

Nice tanks! Thanks for sharing!


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## boiler149 (Oct 31, 2007)

theres some really nice looking tank here haha


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## khmerboiRED (Jul 15, 2008)

23/07/07 looks awesome!


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## Demon Darko (Jan 28, 2007)

They all look great.


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## TamNguyen604 (Oct 20, 2008)

wow all those tanks are beautiful


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## boiler149 (Oct 31, 2007)

ya they all look sweet


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## Nick G (Jul 15, 2007)

louisvillian, those are some of the coolest tank setups i have ever seen. that driftwood is awesome, and the tanks look amazing. good work man.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

cheers for all the comments guys. Still no P's on my horizon, people are more interested in "importing" big dollar fish like asian aros it seems. If my guy hasn't got any by xmas the tank will get another rescape. Got some killer wood just crying to be used. Will keep the thread updated.


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## nataz (Mar 31, 2006)

Great looking tanks!!! I wish I could get my hands on some drift wood like you have without it costing an arm and leg.


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## zbaidy (Dec 23, 2005)

3rd is gorgeous !!!


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

^what is that???lunch?

Great tanks as stated a month or so ago!

What ever happend with that Drift wood swap?


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

There are places I go for driftwood and such. haven't had the time to get any for a long time, but it never looks as good as these pieces you come up with for sure..

I never thought I'd say this, but... 'Nice wood'

lol


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Hehe, cheers. Small update, ripped out the jungle val along the ends and replaced with wisteria. It should fill the ends nicely without blocking the light in the centre of the tank. At the moment the tank is housing a jardini that got dumped on me, so far it's treating the plants with respect but I can't wait to be rid of it.


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