# My 75 gallon money pit



## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

Hey all, I thought I'd post a pic of my 75. I'd really appreciate any suggestions or comments anyone would care to make regarding the scape. I'm not much of a photographer and the color is a lot better in person. I guess a few words about my setup are in order:
filtration:fluval 404 and 304
CO2: pressurized with DIY reactor
lighting: 2x54 T5HO ( one Giesemann Midday and one Aquaflora )
ferts: standard EI
fauna: black skirt, serpae, von rio and cardinal tetras, and a few oto's
flora: java ferns, L cuba, L brasiliensis, P stellata, low grow hygro, and a few other assorted stems

Thanks for taking the time to look.


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

wow...how did you do that? I can't for the life of me figure out why my plants don't grow like that. How long did it take that tank to fill out? Beautiful tank!


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## Lionsfan (Jul 21, 2008)

Very nice.


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## thai (May 14, 2007)

Nice! I like it


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

Carlos, it doesn't take too long to fill in. The ferns on the left and right I've had for 3 years in one tank or another. They just get a good pruning monthly to keep them that size. The narrow leaf in the center I've had since January and it has probably tripled in size or more and it also has to be regularly pruned. L brasiliensis started out as two pots in January and has spread to as it is now. L cuba started out as 10 stems about a month ago. It's a weed, putting out shoots like crazy and grows 4 inches or so a week. I have to stay on it or it gets overgrown quickly. There are a few other assorted stems that are also weeds and need a weekly trim. Keep in mind this is with 2x54 T5HO's. I don't see how everyone with 4x54 or more keeps up with their growth.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

Very nice design.


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## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Looks great. I agree on your light. I got two 96 watt cf on my 50 and only run one and my plants have really been growing quite well. Only use both for pics and sometimes for an hour or so. I think I'd add a bristlenosed cat if you have any algea on the tank. They are great and won't tear up any plants.


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## pacific12977 (Sep 14, 2008)

Just a few questions....what do you use for a substrate? & Right now i have a 90 gallon tank with 2x54w of t5ho...what would be a better investment....more light up to 4x54w or pressurized co2? Do you think with co2 2x54 is enough on a 90g?


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

I'm using regular inert aquarium gravel. I had thought about trying Aquasoil or Eco but decided to just use what I had. 

I'd go with CO2 instead of more light. You'll be amazed at the difference you'll have when you have a consisent level of CO2. After you get a good feel for managing your tank with your current lighting and CO2 then add more light if you're not getting the results you want.

I think 4x54 is a good amount of light to start with over a 90 especially since it's T5. Things will be much more manageable and you can grow a lot more than you might think with it, albeit more slowly.


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## peteski312 (Feb 15, 2008)

How many bps of co2 do you run and do you turn it off at night. I have a tank very similar and am curious.


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## simplefin (Dec 20, 2007)

wow, im truly impressed by the balance your aquarium has! i cant seem to get my plants to get that green!


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

peteski312 said:


> How many bps of co2 do you run and do you turn it off at night. I have a tank very similar and am curious.


I'm guessing somewhere around 4bps. I generally go by the dropchecker and how the plants and fish are doing to gauge the CO2. It's on a timer and comes on a couple of hours prior to lights on and goes off an hour before lights off.


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## chagovatoloco (Nov 17, 2007)

Impressive


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## mcsinny99 (Sep 2, 2008)

aren't they all money pits really?


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## Angie (Dec 4, 2005)

Very nice.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Jeff, the health of your plants is quite impressive. I like the layout a lot too. The only thing I might change is that it's a bit on the symmetrical side. Perhaps if the narrow leaf java fern were moved a bit to the right or left and the respective stand of L. Cuba were larger on that side than on the other side it might bring about a more natural feel. 

Other than that little nitpick keep up the good work!


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

mcsinny99 said:


> aren't they all money pits really?


Pretty much so but there are worse things to spend your money on. All things in moderation.



AaronT said:


> Jeff, the health of your plants is quite impressive. I like the layout a lot too. The only thing I might change is that it's a bit on the symmetrical side. Perhaps if the narrow leaf java fern were moved a bit to the right or left and the respective stand of L. Cuba were larger on that side than on the other side it might bring about a more natural feel.
> 
> Other than that little nitpick keep up the good work!


My wife occasionally mentions it has gotten a bit too symmetrical also. I can't bring myself to a major uprooting at the moment although it will be coming. You know how hard it is to keep the same scape for long.

The biggest thing at the moment is the cuba needs to be thinned. I have this habit of letting things get overgrown even though I do prune weekly. I have a hard time tossing out plants after the time and effort put into them even though it's better for them. You can't see them well in the pic at all but there are 6 stems of P stellata on the left in front of the cuba. They've grown kind of slowly but they're getting some nice size to them and starting to branch and they're coloring up really well. I'm the happiest about the success I'm having with them at the moment and I think I'll begin to replace the cuba on that side with the stellata as its growth allows. Of course that doesn't address the symmetry but it is a bit more variation in the type of plants and most of all I just really like the look of P stellata.

I'll take any nitpicks you care to offer. I'm more of a farmer than a scaper.


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

*Re: My 75 gallon, Updated 4-29-10*

It has been a while since I've been very active on APC but since I've been spending a bit more time here lately I thought I'd post some pics of the various scapes, and I use that term loosely, that my tank has been though over the last couple of years. They go from oldest at the beginning of this thread to most current which is the last one in this post, a lower light, epiphyte based sorta nature style layout.













































Sorry the only pic I have of my current one is too far away and too dark but you all get the idea of what I'm after.

Here's one more of one of my RCS. Ignore the smudge on the glass. I leaned in too close and bumped my head on the glass  .


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## JustLikeAPill (Oct 9, 2006)

It looks like it was worth every penny!


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## onefang (Apr 10, 2011)

JustLikeAPill said:


> It looks like it was worth every penny!


Indeed it does! If I could, I'd shrink myself down and curl up on that foreground with a sleeping bag and doze off under the warmth of the T5


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

So gorgeous!! I'm s o partial to all the colorful stems. Just beautiful! Going low maintenance now, huh?


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

Tex Gal said:


> So gorgeous!! I'm s o partial to all the colorful stems. Just beautiful! Going low maintenance now, huh?


Yes, trimming all the stems and basically so much replanting every week was taking the fun out of it.


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## shauliko (May 1, 2011)

i like it too...


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

Thought I would add another.


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## onefang (Apr 10, 2011)

Oh yes. That is sweet.


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## whiskey (Oct 9, 2004)

Beautiful! I love seeing a tank that is still up and running years later.

Would you mind giving us a rundown about your maintenance schedule, ferts, Lighting, filtration etc now? 

Thanks,
Whiskey


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

whiskey said:


> Beautiful! I love seeing a tank that is still up and running years later.
> 
> Would you mind giving us a rundown about your maintenance schedule, ferts, Lighting, filtration etc now?
> 
> ...


Thanks for the compliment. I'm running 1x54 T5HO. Filtration is with an Eheim 2074 using a set of ADA Lily Pipes. I'm following standard EI dosing adding 8ppm NO3, 3ppm PO4, 5ppm K, 2ppm Mg and 15ml DIY Tropica three times per week dosing micro's and macros on alternating days. Maintenance is a weekly 50% water change. I clean the filter when I notice a reduction in flow. The cleaning consists of rinsing the coarse pad and replacing the fine pad. I've had the filter for three months now and haven't cleaned the biomedia yet. I'm diffusing CO2 through an ADA pollen glass large, soon to be a Pollen Beetle 50.


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## whiskey (Oct 9, 2004)

Awesome! Thanks for the rundown. How long have you been running the single T5HO light? Have you had any Algae challenges? Do the plants Perl at all with the single lamp? How did you like the tank with the dual lamps compared to the single?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm very interested in this tank because it's a beautiful example of what I would like to do, I have a similar setup in a 30 now, but as soon as I get the space I have plans to expand to a 75.

Thanks for the help!
Whiskey


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

I've been using just one lamp since December. Algae has been pretty much nonexistent since then although I will still get the occasional tuft of BBA on driftwood but a drop of Excel kills it and then the shrimp finish it off. 

I cut NO3 dosing down to something like 1ppm per week and added root tabs while continuing to dose all other nutrients at EI levels just to see how the plants would fare with getting most of their nutrients from the substrate. After a couple of weeks the stauro was turning very yellow and growth had ground to a halt and the blyxa wasn't doing much better. So I'm back to dosing EI.

The plants do pearl some but not like they did with twice the light.

Two lamps was a lot more work especially with all the stems I had at the time. I did a lot of trimming every week. Appearance wise I really like it now. Of course when I first lowered the light I thought it was too dark but it's just whatever you get used to.

This has been my most enjoyable tank in that I can just sit back and watch it without thinking of the two hours of trimming I'll be doing this week or wishing the scape still looked the same as it did two days ago.


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## whiskey (Oct 9, 2004)

Lol! I get what you mean on the scape,.. I had a 180 full of steams that always seemed to be a day or two past it's peak.

Amazing tank! Thanks for the run down, and don't forget to come back and post pictures from time to time 

Whiskey


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## citrite (May 13, 2011)

Wow! I'm not sure what else I can say, your tanks are just awesome! I'm still trying to figure out lighting and substrate for a new 90 gallon that I recently purchased and I'm trying to keep things relatively low-tech. Now you have me thinking I shouldn't need more than two T5 bulbs whereas before I was thinking I would need four of them. What part of TN do you live in Jeff?


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## Justindew (Apr 15, 2011)

I cant wait to get my own 75 setup your tank is a great inspiration.


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

Here's a pic from today with the tank filled in a bit more than the previous pic.


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

Hey all, I've made a bit of a change. I pulled out most of the S repens and have replaced the foreground with a mix of L mauritiana, E belem and M minuta. It's mostly mauritiana as you can see. It's filling is steadily although setting no speed records.

















Just for fun, some moss that has attached itself to the wood.









Two oto's on a cucumber.


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## jeremy1 (May 6, 2007)

Very nice, I bet even just a white decorative sand for the forground would look really nice.


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## nap83 (Feb 7, 2006)

amazing


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## simwiz (Apr 1, 2010)

wow, wow and wow!!!!


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

So beautiful! I only hope my needle leaf will look like that soon. I like the addition of driftwood- that would have been my suggestion for the earlier scape. I had trouble adding moss to mine though- it looked good for a bit but acted like a crud magnet eventually. When I removed it then bleached and scrubbed the wood, it still grows back. Crazy! Keep up the good work!


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## pminister (Jan 15, 2009)

I can't believe you have managed to grow, such a beautiful tank just out of one bulb. I mean your lighting is less then 1 watt/ gallon, plus you manged to grow some good selection of plants. 

Correct me if iam wrong ?

I nearly lost hope on my 20 Gallon with one regular T8 - 20 Watt bulb tank, but now I got something to look forward too. Time to get some new gear


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Hey! I love it!

Maybe because this "beginner aquarium plant" - Java Fern - seldom looks so full and healthy in anybody's tank. But this is needle leaf and it really, really looks cool! Also the dark area under the fern is so mysterious looking.

I used to have a tank very much like this - with huge Java Fern, reddish substrate and an attempt to grow hairgrass/tenellus all around (the equivalent of your fancy short plants). Over time you will find that you want to add something to the aquascape to make it more interesting. I too tried to plant some plants on one side, then the other. Nothing really looked that good. Here's a small picture of it from our club's website gallery-in-progress. This is a 55. More disorderly than yours, but you can see the parallels:









And a section of the ultra-healthy Java Fern on the right (no photoshop, except maybe to make the background black-er):









To me such a setup lacks a middle ground but I do not have a clue how to add one to this layout. I wonder if you plant very tall and skinny plants like Val. nana and make the fern a midground will work wonders. Or maybe a few big rocks at the base of the fern. I don't know, but I know you feel like the tank needs a tiny addition to make it really striking.

The beauty of this tank as it is now comes from the super healthy fern. It's almost challenging our views on fore/mid/background. It's as simple and beautiful as it can be.

Nice!

And... I do have an empty braceless 75 sitting and waiting in my bedroom... hmmm...

--Nikolay


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

pminister said:


> I can't believe you have managed to grow, such a beautiful tank just out of one bulb. I mean your lighting is less then 1 watt/ gallon, plus you manged to grow some good selection of plants.
> 
> Correct me if iam wrong ?
> 
> I nearly lost hope on my 20 Gallon with one regular T8 - 20 Watt bulb tank, but now I got something to look forward too. Time to get some new gear


Yep, it's just one 54 watt T5HO. I must admit to having used two bulbs for a couple of weeks during the past month due to my impatience with the foreground but I've gone back to just one bulb. I prefer the look of the tank with less light. There's more shadow and shading that, to me, adds character to the tank and give an old dark forest look to it. With two bulbs it loses some depth and just seems to look a lot flatter.


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## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

niko said:


> Hey! I love it!
> 
> Maybe because this "beginner aquarium plant" - Java Fern - seldom looks so full and healthy in anybody's tank. But this is needle leaf and it really, really looks cool! Also the dark area under the fern is so mysterious looking.
> 
> ...


Hey Niko, 
Thanks! Java fern in all of its varieties has always been my favorite plant and after going through every stem could think of I decided to come back to it.

I've given thought to adding something like Eleocharis vivipara, at least I think that's the one, behind the ferns but it I always think it might be too busy. As for the midground I've also considered some rocks around the base of the ferns using some moss also. I have a fairly good sized amount of moss on the right side that's not so easy to see in the picture, but it wraps around the base of the fern and spreads out around the right side. It adds to the "old dark forest" look that I like and I think it might work on the left side also, but I tend to get too symmetrical with things so I'm still trying to decide how work that out.

You need to get that rimless 75 going. A nice suspended light fixture, ala ADA, and you'd be in business. A rimless open top tank is my dream but my wife says that look is too contemporary for our decor. Oh well, maybe I'll change her mind someday  .


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