# Oceanic 50 Gallon Journal



## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I'm going to put a few young discus in this tank until they get too big, then they'll be moved into my 85gal. I spent a few hours last night setting up the hardscape and wanted to get some opinions on it. I'm happy with it, but I'm open to suggestions on making it better. This originally wasn't going to be a planted tank, so the gravel in the front is less than 1/2" deep. Actually, it's only about one layer deep. I wanted something that will look nice but also be very easy for me to clean since the discus are teen-age slobs and I want them to get used to having more things in their environment than just a glass bottom and a plastic plant 

Oh, and of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone...I will be adding plants to this tank. Nothing fancy - just fast growers to keep the water clean. Lighting will be a Coralife 2x18 T5 fixture (which I'm in love with) and filtration is an XP3 with lots of fine filter floss, bio media, and Purigen. Water temp is 85*. Plants will most likely be angustifolia and sunset hygros, e. tennellus, java fern and moss.

So....how does this look so far? The gravel and the stones are almost too perfect because there is little contrast between the two, at least until I get some plants in there!  There are five stones in there, two to the left of the largest and two to the right...


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Untill i know how you wanna use thouse plants, it s hard to imagine how it would look like. I see alot of potential. Just go for it


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I like it Erik. Are you planning to keep the plants trimmed low to make th wood stand out?


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Think this can look really great with a bold stand of stems behind the wood and rocks and to the right (as you look at it) and then a big foreground of carpetting plants all around the front and left hand side. Maybe some moss on the wood and java fern towards the base of the wood to add a focus there. Your discus will love it!


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

those Oceanic 50 gallons sure are a great sized tank for planting / scaping.
They have several over at my local PetSmarts that they are clearencing for like $300, tank - stand - light (not that you keep that light) but a good deal IMO - just they sold the one with the white / natural wood cabinet, only have black left and I don't have any room for black furnature, it just doesn't look right with my natural Maple woods and the furnature in my house.
But if it goes down any further, then I might have to put it upstairs, no maple wood up there.

And I love the coralife fixtures, I am running them on 3 tanks, one 29 gallon combined with a 65 watt PC then I have two 20 longs and one on each.
I am thinking of adding one more to each 20 long as I have pressurized Co2 and want a little more even distribution of the light, on those short tanks, it just doesn't get the front and rear and all 4 corners by itself.

I like your wood and substrate, can't wait to see you going for it.


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## carb850 (Mar 7, 2007)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

OT:
Sorry for the thread hi-jack, but does the 50G Oceanic tank have center bracing on the top?


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Thanks everyone.

carb850 - There's no center brace.
ed - I would love to do a foreground but there just isn't enough substrate there to do it. This tank was never intended to be heavily planted, but I will be planting heavily behind the wood and amongst the rock where there is enough substrate to do so. My only option would be moss or riccia mats. But again, that's if I decide to make the tank completely planted, and for now my plans are just for the mounded area.

I have some nice narrow leaf java ferns that will be super-glued to the wood. I will be using moss on the branches, though it will be sparce because of _all_ the moss I have, the species I have the least of is the only one that attaches itself. MatPat is going to supply me with some Hygros - angustifolia and 'sunset.' Those will go in the back right and center. davis.1841 has some E. tennellus that will be planted amongst the rocks. That's about as far as I can go without adding more substrate to the front and resetting the hardscape. Everything will be treated with potassium permanganate to prevent ANY snails or eggs getting into this tank.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Troy,
Looks really good. Simple but very effective. Is that one piece of wood, if so with Discus you might have to clean the wood. Is it removable?

I was going to suggest the ricca too, but I don't know if the lighting would support that. Looks like a pretty deep tank. I don't think moss would give you enough contrast.

Look forward to seeing it planted


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Thank HoC! I've had this piece of wood sitting in my spare bedroom for a year now, so any creepies that were in there were long dried out. It was dusty if anything else. I think I boiled it when I first got it, but I can't remember. Underwater now, it's taken on some nice dark red and brown coloration. I'm very happy with it. I would love to use Japanese riccia in the tank, but I probably would need a second fixture, or "borrow" the 150W HQI from my parents. I didn't want things to get this complicated, but it seems like it's all or nothing with me.  Does anybody know if the discus would be bothered too much by an HQI? I know they have sensative eyes but with an HQI, it's a gradual start, so that might be easier on the little monsters. Hmm...maybe I'll put Craig Tarvin's DIY HQI thread into action.

I just filled the tank and got the filtration running. My extra XP3 is doing surprisingly well. There's the occasional bubble that gets smashed by the impellor, but other than that, it's being much more quiet than I remember it ever being so I probably won't order an Eheim. Now I'm considering some lily pipes... :mad2:


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*



goalcreas said:


> those Oceanic 50 gallons sure are a great sized tank for planting / scaping.
> They have several over at my local PetSmarts that they are clearencing for like $300, tank - stand - light (not that you keep that light) but a good deal IMO - just they sold the one with the white / natural wood cabinet, only have black left and I don't have any room for black furnature, it just doesn't look right with my natural Maple woods and the furnature in my house.
> But if it goes down any further, then I might have to put it upstairs, no maple wood up there.


Yes, they are a great size for 'scapes. 30" L x 18" W. Can't beat that! I went with the black tank with a Perfecto stand because the wood grain on the Perfecto stand matched my room so much better than the Oceanic stand. There's some pictures of the whole tank in this thread - http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/swoape-forum/30830-my-new-tank.html


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I don't think contrast between stones and wood is a problem here-- they are support stones, not main players it seems.

What are you trying to do with the scape? The hardscape seems pretty balanced-- can't say much more though.

The aquascapes with branchy wood like this don't strike me as being able to do much more than copy ADA (because they really have tried a lot with 'em). In the context of coyping ADA's branchy wood scapes-- I much prefer the ones that use epiphytes and taller grassy plants. The ones he uses stems in feel more awkward imo-- though there are a handful nice ones here and there.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Troy McClure, so you are telling me basically to go and buy this tank.
At least you are saying that if I ever want one that I better get it now?
I actually know where three of them are, at least they were there last week, and I doubt they are gone. Like I said, they are the whole thing for like $300, I am certain that I could get them to sell me just the tank. I actually have no plans to do another tank for a while, but this is the perfect sized tank.

I may just have to bite the bullet and get one.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Thanks Steven! I will be using stems behind the wood, but it will be mostly H. corymbosa 'angustifolia,' so it's long, slender leaves might work out. We'll see!

goalcreas - It's not like these are going to be collector's items or anything, but for a long time Oceanic has stood for quality and innovation in niche of tanks that aren't just long and skinny (like most fish folks want.) It's a shame to see them get gobbled up by Big Business but that's the way things go. AGA might start making 30x18 tanks, but I would prefer to have the Oceanic sticker on there. That's really the only difference between them anyways - that, and one is made in Wisconsin and the other is/was made is Texas. I think Oceanic has slightly better seams and joints, but that little difference can be very important.

I think they are sweet tanks and since I got mine just over wholesale (same for the Perfecto stand,) I had to jump on it. The color and size were exactly what I wanted in a showcase tank...which unfortunately now will be the "nursery" of some yr. old discus.

My only word of caution would be to really consider what kind of lighting you want to have. There aren't a whole lot of fixtures for 30" tank and I was really surprised to see the Coralife twin T5 fixtures in a 30" length. A 150W metal halide would be perfect for this tank as well.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

A 150 watt with two of the 30" coralife fixtures, or maybe even a 70 watt with two of the fixtures should work perfect.


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I saw a tank on another forum and immediately thought of your tank. It uses only moss and has grown that into a carpet too. If you haven't seen it here's the thread. http://www.killies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3509 (it's the last post by fc).
Of course the major problem in your tank may be all the food from the discus sitting in the moss so I might be tempted to leave out the moss carpet, but like all cichlids, they always seemed to spend time finding any little bits of left over food for me!

With the right stems to form the backdrop it would/will look awesome I'm sure. I like the Hygros and have just bought some Tropica ones myself!


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I've had the tank filled and cycling for almost two weeks now and the driftwood seems to have developed some sort of white fuzzy funk on it....


















Any idea what this is, what caused it, and how to get rid of it? It's only on the wood, nothing else. The tank hasn't had any light over it since my T5HO parts haven't come in yet, but occasionally I'll throw a 1x55 on it when I want to light up the room a little more.

As far as scaping goes, I have most of the plants I need. I'll be picking up some Limnophila aromatica at the SWOAPE meeting and I got some great microleaf tennellus from a couple APC members, some Hygro. corymbosa angustifolia and Limnophila from MatPat, and I have some nice sized narrow leaf Java ferns in my 85gal. Once I get my T5s, I'll buy my CO2 tank, dip the plants and get to scaping!


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## rich311k (Jun 24, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I think that is a fungus that can occur with driftwood. It should go away once the fungus has eaten all the available food in the wood. It is harmless.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Is there an anti-fungal treatment I can/should use before putting any fish in? I'd prefer to wipe it out before adding plants.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

It won't affect the plants.....siphon it off, it is harmless!!

You could throw a cupful of sea salt in there if you wanted to....that would take care of it.


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

If it really bugs you, you could drain the tank and treat the wood with some hydrogen peroxide.


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## Moo (Apr 27, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

bah! that's that godforsaken stuff that grew on my manzanita!
it has since been hell on wood!
Aquarium salt? wow. how simple. I should try that.
Ne who. I dunno what to do for it. Mine just went away and now I have this other garbage that I can't get rid of.

I like that setup though! very nice!


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

If you have Otos..or SAEs you can put them in.. they eat the stuff.. but as for SAEs...don't know if you'll be able to remove them again once you introduce them..haha..
But actually many fish do nibble on it.. totally harmelss to fish.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I had some Top Fin aquarium salt in a box of aquarium stuff, so I threw in a 2x dose last night, and added about a quarter cup this morning before I left for work. I'll let that work today then do a water change tomorrow and redose the salt. My reefgeek order should arrive on Monday but the reflectors still have not yet shipped, which is disappointing. On the upside, the delay will allow me to clear this up. If it's safe for fish, great, I just don't like looking at it!


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Thats understandable.. especially when its really ALL over your wood.. ther earlier gone, the better..


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

The salt seems to be thinning it out. I can already see a difference. Being anxious to get some plants in here, I decided to speed up the process a bit and nuke the branches with H2O2. The bubbling has slowed a bit but about ten minutes ago it looked like the wood was in pearling overdrive!

Will the double or triple dose of aquarium salt affect any plants I put into the tank? They are going to be dipped in potassium permanganate for an hour to eliminate any snail eggs, so they will probably already be a bit weak. Even with CO2 running, will the salt concentration cause some sort of osmotic damage to the plants?


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## dhavoc (Mar 17, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

read that your dipping to keep snails out, but they seem to be the best along with shrimp for getting rid of the stuff quickly. they go to town on it if you dont feed anything else for a few days.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

That slime stuff goes away as quickly as it started if you just leave it alone for a while. I don't think it bothers the fish or plants at all - compared to the wild most of our setups look absolutely sterile.


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## Moo (Apr 27, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

haha true.
Mines been on there for about 3 months now. on and off.
I just tried adding salt the other day. It doesn't seem to be doing much. I've even been doing excel.
....mabey I'll up the co2..who knows.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Mine seems to be gone for the most part...salt, H2O2 and a 50% water change. Unfortunately, I think I used too much H2O2 and it might have nuked the good bacteria in the filter because my water has that hazy white look to it. No biggie, I wasn't planning on putting fish in there for another couple of weeks anyways.

Yesterday I dipped some sunset hygro and angustifolia in a potassium permanganate solution (1/4 tsp + 1gal water) for an hour. They seem to be doing OK in the tank now and were even pearling after the water change last night. If I see any snails, I'm going to be quite upset....


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

i spent a couple hours today snail dipping and planting. This is just an initial planting as there are still java ferns, mosses, and a few more bunches of stems that have to go in. I'm eventually going to do a riccia foreground that wraps around to the back left, but I tried dipping a test patch of riccia in the KMgO4 solution that the other plants were in....didn't turn out very well. 99% of it was this dark brown/purple color and somewhat crispy. Maybe an hour was too long. I'll try 30 minutes. Think that will work? The solution is 1gal H2O + 1/4 tsp KMgO4.


















The Sunset Hygro is in there for only as a nutrient sponge. I'll be gone in a couple weeks.


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## redstrat (Apr 3, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

its nice to see this tank with some plants in it, finally, lol  It really looks promising, I'm excited to see it fill in some. Are you still going to put your discus in this tank?


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## Moo (Apr 27, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

nice pics, looks better!! 
Snails? haha I've got a hungry puffer snails usually don't last more than a few hours.
:hungry:


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Thanks guys. It's just a preliminary photo to show that I -am- doing something with the tank  I'll be getting more plants this Saturday and will spend some time on Sunday planting. The discus will be going in here so hopefully the plant choices will benefit them. Hygros are being used to suck up nutrients, java fern and riccia as oxygenators, e. tennellus to allow access to food on the bottom. The L. aromatica is just for color, but it'll be a good nutrient sponge as well. I haven't given much thought to the rest of the fish selection. I might give my black skirts to my parents or dump them into my 85gal. I've never had cardinal tetras before, so I'll probably get a dozen of them since they're pretty low-key and look great with wild discus.

My next step after getting some more plants in is to build my T5HO fixture. The reflectors finally shipped yesterday so I'll be able to draw up plans and start working on that as soon as they arrive and I can get some measurements. I also need to find a clear netting to keep this an "open-top" and also eliminate any jumping threats. The UV-resistant koi pond netting would be OK if it was clear instead of black....


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I spent a bit of time cramming more plants into the tank. Plants added were L. aromatica, more H. corymbosa 'angustifolia,' H. sp. "pantanal wavy,' and I think there is some Ceylon hygro in there too.


















The java fern is in there as a test...and honestly, I'm not exactly fond of it. There are three plants there, two small and one large in the back. The leaves on the large one are too long because the 85gal tank they came out of only has two 55W PC bulbs that are way overdue to be changed. I'll take out the larger one in back and hopefully the smaller plants will stay more compact with the new lighting and won't grow leaves that are quite so long. That might work. If not, I'll consider some Blyxa or I'll add a bit more sustrate and try to fit some Rotala sp. 'green' in there. There needs to be a plant between the NLJF and the E. tennellus. Any suggestions?

As you can also see, the fungus came back so I'm letting it run it's course.

I also removed all the previous pictures in this thread from the server for organizational purposes on the server and I can't edit those posts, so if anybody is really heartbroken over not having those pics, I'll repost them later.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Looks great! You need something red in there......between the Java Fern and E. Tennulus.

Crypt Wendtii? Ludwigia Grandulosa? A. Reneckii? I know the L. Aromatica will get red soon, but some sort of nice midground color between those plants you mentioned would be a real eye-catcher!

Stargrass would look nice as a midground plant too! If you wanted to stay with something green....Eriocaulaceae Type 2 also would be kinda cool too!


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

The big fern was really bugging me so I yanked it out. I think the triangular flow will be much better this way...trimming will take care of that.










damn fungus...

















Donald - that's an excellent suggestion. I like the crypt idea. I'm thinking about putting some Anubias nana across that horizontal piece of driftwood directly in front of the sunset hygro and hopefully that will give a little accent to the stones in front of that. I have a bunch of nana in my 85gal but probably no bronze/red crypts. Who knows what I have in there!

BTW...I'll be have some narrow leaf java fern available in the swap n' shop section in a few minutes. It'll include the large piece I yanked out plus a bag of smaller pieces (much shorter and starting to fill in.)


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## Moo (Apr 27, 2006)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

is the fun-gus still among-us?
haha, oh man if only that garbage were that fun.
Is yours going away at all?
The aquarium salt isn't killing mine at all.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

Troy--you could also put some anubias nana on the rocks itself. It may create more of a "flow" to it.
I understand that you hated the java fern and having to take it out, but now the tank looks lopsided!! D'Oh!

What about using some Fissidens Fontanus on the driftwood? Yet another suggestion! 

The fungus will go away, man....I promise! If you want, you could treat with H2O2 using a syringe, eyedropper, turkey baster, etc. That will totally destroy it the fungus and hair algae. If you don't overdue it, it will have no ill effects on your plants. Try it! It is a cheap but very effective remedy, and I don't really understand why more people don't recommend using it.

"I love you, Dr. Zeyus!" Troy McClure....what a great screen name! I remember you from such threads like Critique on 50 gallon Oceanic! 

Moo--try H2O2 treatment as I suggested. PM me if you have any questions about how to do this.

Keep her going, Troy! It's getting there!


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

*Re: Critique on 50gal Oceanic*

I'm growing out some really nice moss in my 85gal that will be placed on the driftwood. The goal here is a triangular layout so a few trims will take care of the lopsided feeling (though I absolutely agree if feels lopsided now, I can picture it feeling more stable later.) The Limnophila is just very short right now. The narrow leaf java fern is still there but it's the two smaller bunches. I was thinking about replacing that with Rotala and a few moss stones. It may be a good move from a perspective standpoint to have the large hygro leaves on the right, so they feel close to the viewer, then smaller leaves of the Limnophila and sunset hygro as you move to the left and "further back" in the scene, then smaller still with the Rotala. Besides, the feeder is going to be in the back left and my discus are going to need the room!

Thanks for the comments guys!


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Time for a quick update with lots of pictures!

I've been getting some good growth...

















New Rhinox 5000 is running very very well (Thanks Robert!)









Unfortunately, I did run into some algae and over the course of the past three hectic days, it grew and grew. This picture was taken on the May 3rd, so try to imagine a few more days of unchecked growth  









Not a problem. Algae doesn't scare me. Get out the skizzers, the python, and get cleaning! I ended up pulling lots of less-than-satisfactory leaves off the Hygro angustifolia grouping, sucking up the brown stringy algae, and wiping down the inside glass. Here's all the "stuff" I pulled out...









A big water change, and the result...









Lots of bubbles! Sorry I couldn't get them all off the glass before the lights went out and I couldn't take any more pictures. I also started dosing EI per the 40-60gal guide. I should have started dosing sooner because around the time I took that algae picture above, I could tell my plants had used up everything in the water column. Probably by week's end I'll have to trim up the sunset hygro and I'm hoping the LFS will trade live blackworms for plants.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I'm trying to come up with an idea of fish selection. After a bit of consideration, I'm not going to put the discus in here. What do you guys think about five black angels and about two dozen rummynose tetras?

I'll post some update pics tomorrow.


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## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

OMG!! forgot to check this thread for a while and what do you know!! THERE are plants!! WOOHOO!!
Nice going there Troy!! YAY!!


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