# New 65 gal tank journal



## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

Hello everyone,

I am a total noob when it comes to planted tanks. I have had a couple of smaller (10 and 20 gallon) tanks that I have mainly kept guppies and mollies in, as well as basic plants (no fake stuff for me, thank you very much!). However, for my 30th birthday recenly, my family all chipped in and bought me a monster 75 gallon tank.

Here's how it looked when I first received it:










(You can see my original post with tons of pics here)

(And pics of my adapting the filter to the existing overflow filter and sprayline here)

At first, I was intrigued by the idea of setting up an el natural tank, and even bought some cheap topsoil to try it out. As one person suggested, I tried to demineralize it beforehand by soaking it in two tubs of water; it smelled like sh*t frankly, and the mud was as black as midnight. "There's no WAY I'm doing that to my new baby!" I thought. So I abandoned that idea and bought some Flourite instead. Here's a couple of pics of that setup:

Gravel border going in:










Flourite going down:










Gravel on top:










... And cheap-o PetsMart plants to kick off the cycling:










So today I finally went down to my LFS (Neptune's Reef in Torrance, CA) and bought some driftwood and my first round of plants. Additionally, I switched out the 50/50 white/blue 10,000K bulbs with some all-white 6700Ks (there are 2 x 55W). I realize that for such a large volume tank this is definitely on the low end of WPG. Any suggestions? Just suck it up and buy a new ballast and bulbs?

Here's what it will look like with the driftwood, once it's been properly soaked to leach out the color:










Here's the first round of planting, after removing the driftwood again so it can soak separately.










I will be adding some gravel to the back to slope it some, after reading some more posts here on APC  Also, I might add a layer of Aquasoil (that's the medium-smaller grain, black soil, right?) over everything ... yes I realize I'll have the "Grand Canyon" layering effect around the edges ... I kind of think that might look cool. My wife is going to flip however - she loves the look and color of the gravel I have in there now.

I have a little Hagen yeast-based CO2 system going right now, just to add SOME CO2, but plan on replacing the miniscule Hagen container with a juice bottle setup that should produce much more gas. I am currently dosing every other day or so with Flourish (the regular kind). Is this about right? Oh and I'm going the tapwater route - 75 gal. is too big to mess with lifting giant 5 gallon jugs of RO water to shoulder height, not to mention purchasing and schlepping all that water from the LFS.

Please can anyone help me here - again, I apologize for the noob questions - I see this stuff that people refer to as "HC carpet" or an "HC bed" - it looks like that beautiful ground covering, very tiny leaves. What is that called, where can I find some, and how does one plant and grow it? Do you have to have Aquasoil to do that?

Many thanks - stay tuned in the following weeks as I add to this page. :mrgreen:

-Mark


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## HoustonFishFanatic (Feb 26, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

hey Mark the tanks looking good. Just a word of caution those plants on the right the green white ones are not exactly aquatic plants. The grass out there in the front also looks like mondo grass which is not aquatic. it will start rotting in a few day.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*



HoustonFishFanatic said:


> hey Mark the tanks looking good. Just a word of caution those plants on the right the green white ones are not exactly aquatic plants. The grass out there in the front also looks like mondo grass which is not aquatic. it will start rotting in a few day.


Hey Houston!

You know, those are indeed two of the Petco plants - they are from Top Fin (sorry this is a bad pic):


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Added my first two new residents: a pair of sailfin mollies:










I also added a little powerhead to disperse the natural CO2 a bit better, and to create some movement at the bottom of the tank especially.

The driftwood is soaking along nicely  I am glad that I am doing it in the sink ... it's already turned two sinkloads of water a little yellow/brownish.


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## Nevermore (Mar 26, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

HC is Hemianthus callitrichoides. You'll definitely need more light if you want to grow it. You can get it in the For Sale or Trade Forum just post that you're looking for it. It will grow in fluorite and is not terribly demanding; but you would need more light than you currently have.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*



Nevermore said:


> HC is Hemianthus callitrichoides. You'll definitely need more light if you want to grow it. You can get it in the For Sale or Trade Forum just post that you're looking for it. It will grow in fluorite and is not terribly demanding; but you would need more light than you currently have.


Hey thanks Nevermore. I was wondering what that lovely HC was, and if it could grow in Flourite and gravel (the gravel shouldn't hurt, right?).

I have examined my lighting hood and am considering my options. If I want to maintain the integrated hood look, I think I have a couple of options (I'll post up some pics of the lighting part of the hood soon). I can either buy a new, higher-wattage ballast (to replace the 55W x 2) or try to cut and drill out some of the hood (there's room alongside the current bulbs) and add some more WPG that way. I haven't really decided yet. It would be great to NOT have to heavily modify the hood already, but I kind of have to wonder what the manufacturer was thinking when they designed and shipped a 75 gallon tank with only 2 55 watt bulbs/ballast (I guess they were thinking along saltwater lines, but I think 1.47 WPG is a bit low even for a reef setup).

Someone suggested that I could try 65W bulbs with my 55W ballast ... I dunno. I'm all about not burning my apartment down. I think I'd rather suck it up and DIY the hood into holding another fixture or two.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

I've added a couple of dwarf puffers just for fun:










And here's a recent pic, pre-trimming:










Some algae starting to come in. I have a shipment of plants due to arrive soon as well ... might have to move some plants around before their root systems take off much further to accomodate the new stuff.


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## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Puffers will attack another fishs,i've lost 11 cardinal tetra cuz of them.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*



zQ. said:


> Puffers will attack another fishs,i've lost 11 cardinal tetra cuz of them.


I've heard this about full-size puffers. Does this also apply to the dwarf variety?

So far, they only go after each other. They leave the sailfin mollies alone ... but I do want to get cardinals, will this be a problem with the dwarf puffers I wonder?


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## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Yep,Dwarfs will too ! 
The Puffer i've mentionen above is a red eye Drwaft puffer and a yellow like you got too,they've eaten almost all my fish.So get some caution !


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## lildark185 (Jul 7, 2006)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

I had a dwarf puffer and it killed my baby betta that was over a month old and hatched successfully when I tried to breed bettas. Just chomped its stomach right out. =T


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## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Ah,another funny thing about this fish  I'll be bigger when it meets danger ! 
And i've lost a Flower horn when i feed it with these Puffers


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Holy crap, I am going to have to find another place for these guys! It sounds like my guppy tanks are out of the question...

I've been pondering having a tank at the office. I keep wanting to do it, but am afraid that the bossman will make a stink about having 5 or 10 gallons in the cubicle next to the computer. :mrgreen: I think I'll do it anyway, and keep the puffers in there.

-M


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## MrHarris (Mar 19, 2005)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*



marke14 said:


> Holy crap, I am going to have to find another place for these guys! It sounds like my guppy tanks are out of the question...
> 
> I've been pondering having a tank at the office. I keep wanting to do it, but am afraid that the bossman will make a stink about having 5 or 10 gallons in the cubicle next to the computer. :mrgreen: I think I'll do it anyway, and keep the puffers in there.
> 
> -M


That's a great idea! So you can watch those puffers chase each other at work  . May I suggest, if you are using c02, make sure surface agitation is kept to a minimum to reduce c02 loss. Tank looks good, but i'd refrain from getting petsmart plants, especially the ones in the tube. The one's in the their plant tank is ok but only if it's fresh because for some reason they always end up rotting and dying until a new shipment comes in. If your real serious, I believe it's worth to buy plants online like from www.aquaspotworld.com or www.azgardens.com


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## shannonscc (Apr 19, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Since you just bought the puffers, you might check out the Dwarf Puffer thread on the "fish for the planted aquarium" board. Lots of discussion there from people who have been successful keeping DP's in a community tank and people who have not - including how to tell the difference between males and females. (The females are less aggressive and easier to keep with other fish.) It would be worth a look.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*



shannonscc said:


> Since you just bought the puffers, you might check out the Dwarf Puffer thread on the "fish for the planted aquarium" board. Lots of discussion there from people who have been successful keeping DP's in a community tank and people who have not - including how to tell the difference between males and females. (The females are less aggressive and easier to keep with other fish.) It would be worth a look.


Thanks for the tip, Shannon.

You know, I have done quite a bit of reading on the dwarf puffers since I got them, and indeed it seems that of the two surviving ones, one is a male and one female. The male is hyper-aggressive toward the female. I will probably move him first when I set up my office aquarium (probably a 3 or 5 gal cube/nano - shh ... don't tell my wife!  )


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*



MrHarris said:


> May I suggest, if you are using c02, make sure surface agitation is kept to a minimum to reduce c02 loss.


Hello MrHarris,

Just a quick update - the Petsmart plants are 100% removed from my aquarium. NONE of them did well and to hell with them ... they're toast.

With respect to your surface agitation comment, I fully concur and in fact (upon reading Diana Walstad's book) I have removed the spraybar from the filter return, so that it just comes out into the overflow filter in one big stream:










My rationale is that this will help prevent some of the CO2 loss due to the uber-agitation that the spraybar inherently produces. *fingers crossed*


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

ONE BIG EDIT FOLKS: 

It turns out my tank is actually 65 gallons - my brother was mistaken when he first told me. We confirmed this in a LFS near me who was selling the exact same model. Happily, this meant that my WPG instantly increased with no work on my part. :mrgreen:


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## dhavoc (Mar 17, 2006)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

sepparate the male, and hopefully the female will settle down and be a good tank citizen, if not you can either return her to the pet store or another tank. these guys dont seem to mind being alone and actually seem to do better at least IME. i've been lucky though and so far all my dp's are not agressive to any other tank critters except the scuds that infest all of my tanks, which is a good thing. i keep them with shrimps and tetras and no problems. each one seems to have its own temperment and personality so you may just have to keep trading them back to the lfs until you get a docile one. good luck, i love the little buggers.


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## MrHarris (Mar 19, 2005)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Great progress mark, keep it up. I'm eager to read/see how this tank turns out


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

OK, a couple o' updates here.

Fish tally:

- added 6 rasboras, but am down to 4 at the moment

- added 2 SAEs

- moved in 5 female guppies from my 20 gal

- moved the smaller dwarf puffer over to the 20 gal

Plus the two sailfin mollies, and the one remaining dwarf puffer.

I added one new plant species, which I will have to look up and/or remember - absolutely gorgeous (it the rounded-looking, very thin leaved ones among the background - started with a "C"). The good Mr. Edward at All About Fish in Long Beach was kind enough to hook me up with a bunch out of the front display tank! What a great shop, BTW - it really lived up to the expectations the SCAPE guys had set for me. And the service and knowledge (Edward) exceeded all others in my admittedly limited experience.

I've ordered some dry ferts from a SCAPE friend, and a CO2 regulator setup from RexGrigg.com.

I added a bag and a quarter more Flourite (rinsed the HELL out of it first - took me about an hour), uprooted all the plants, replanted everything including the new plants, and moved around the driftwood a bit. Here's the result as of tonight:


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Been awhile since I've updated here.

The new plant from the last post was a Cabomba, not sure which species. The green one! 

I bought a CO2 regulator from rexgrigg.com, who is awesome BTW, as well as a 5lb CO2 tank from beveragefactory.com.










The CO2 is running through a bubble counter and into the tank via a ceramic bell-shaped diffuser which sits directly underneath my little Rio 400 powerhead. As the tiny bubbles come out of the diffuser, they gather on the bottom of the powerhead before they roll into the intake, and are blown out of the powerhead. I have zero bubbles, tiny or otherwise, rising up from the diffuser itself to the suface.

In the 5 or so days I've had it running, my Ph has dropped a whoping one full number at least, from 7.8 to 6.8 or 6.6 - I've scaled back the bubbles to about 1/second, and have plugged the solenoid into the same timer as the light. Hopefully this will do the trick and bring the Ph back up a bit (I noticed a couple of my fish flashing against the plants).

Added some Hemianthus micranthemoides and Hemianthus callitrichoides (I think? They were sold as "baby tears" and "dwarf baby tears" respectively).

Here's a pic of what's going on as of tonight, post-hacking:










And here's some close ups of the "baby tears" and "dwarf baby tears", both bought at my LFS here in the South Bay of Los Angeles, CA, tagged from Florida Aquatic Gardens. I hear they are Hemianthus micranthemoides and Hemianthus callitrichoides respectively; if anyone cares to weigh in please by all means:

Hemianthus micranthemoides aka baby tears:










Hemianthus callitrichoides aka dwarf baby tears:










And a couple of close ups of my driftwood:


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Update*

Well I am in full swing with regards to the CO2 injection and the EI dosing. I had sworn I would keep this tank simple, but since it's my first foray into the serious planted tanks, I thought I'd go for broke.

I bought a hardness test kit, so I can use the Ph and Kh to determine my CO2 saturation. You can find a PDF chart of that here (thanks Rex!).

I have to say, the CO2 injection has brought my Ph way down - over a full point! Out of the tap, it's about 7.6 - 7.8. My latest testing, as of last night, revealed a Ph of about 6.7. In the first week of using the CO2, this (I think) caused the fish to do some "flashing" or rubbing up against the leaves of the plants and the driftwood. I haven't lost any due to the Ph swing, and it's OK I think since now the Ph is closer to neutral than it is out of the tap.

So, my Ph of 6.7 combined with the Kh of 5 put me right on the money of an estimated CO2 saturation of about 30 PPM. Looking good!

The Cabomba (def. my favorite plant!) has really taken off with the CO2 and ferts - I have to trim twice a week just to keep up! I can't wait to see what it's going to look like when I get back from our 2 week vacation in September.

I'll take a pic and post it tonight if I can remember.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Well, it seems like it may be no wonder that I am getting such results with my setup ... I think I was sold 96W bulbs when I thought I was replacing my 55W actinics with 55W daylight 6700Ks!

Check it out.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Another Update*

OK, to settle things in my last post ... I was wrong. It was likely just a shorted out bulb.

I did some research here and elsewhere, and found out that Jebo aquariums are notorious for their cheap electronics (they have even been rumored to catch fire!).

So I decided to upgrade to my 2 x 9W setup immediately.

I ordered two of the 96W Bright kits from AH Supply. They shipped the day I ordered and everything arrived well-packaged and in perfect order. The two 96W 6700K daylight bulbs and the two kits cost me just over $200 shipped.

I had initially emailed AH Supply regarding my dilemma of wanting to keep the existing hood setup that came with the tank, which is again a two piece light fixture / overflow filter. I asked if they thought I could leave the clear plastic enclosure off from around the new lights and they told me that they would not recommend that.

Today I finally got around to installing my new lights. I began by removing the screws from the sheet metal that separated the hollow part of the light fixture from the bulb mounting area.










Then I wired in the endcaps to the ballasts, and the ballasts to the power cords, and installed the clips that hold the bulbs. Since the new endcaps had no mounting points, I relied upon the two steel clips to hold the bulbs in place.



















I popped it all back together and replaced the clear plastic enclosure/lens that holds the whole thing in place. Voila! It looked magnificent. The HM began to pearl immediately! It hasn't stopped bubbling since.

Fast forward about four and a half hours, and I am feeding the fish. I had noticed that the top of the fixture was much warmer than it had been with the 2 x 55W setup had been, and as I fed the fish, I saw in the reflection what appeared to be a warped part of the clear enclosure/lens that fits around the lights. Curious, I lifted it up and found that the heat off the bulbs had began to melt the lens:




























So now I am back to the drawing board. Clearly I will have to do something else. Currently the lights are just hanging out in there with only about an inch and a half of air separating them from the surface of the water:










I assume this is bad because the AH Supply person said so.

So, finally, my questions:

- what are my options as far as keeping the existing hood? Get a piece of glass to lay down in there between the bulbs and the water? would this have to be custom? special tempered glass to withstand the heat?

- should I try to find a retrofit enclosure? I like those ones with the legs on the sides, but I don't know if they sell the enclosures sans the electronics?

- should I try to build a new enclosure out of wood? bear in mind it's a bowfront, so that would be hard to achieve

or

- should I try to buy/build a hanging enclosure?

I kind of like the idea of having an open top aquarium but I am afraid some fish would jump out. Or, I could have some sort of hinged glass made that would allow me to feed and maintain the tank.

Any thoughts?


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Update*

I realized I hadn't updated since my DIY lighting SNAFU.

I looked online and thought about building an enclosure out of wood. One of my SCAPE buddies suggested I stop by a Rockler store nearby, which is a woodworking place. I talked at length with a friendly guy down there, and we talked about the type of wood, wood prep, design, etc. I quickly realized that, in order to make a really nice looking enclosure, I would need assistance, a workspace, tools, etc. Also, given the price of the lumber, primer, paint, etc. this was quickly racking up toward the threshold of where I'd just as soon purchase an actual lighting rig.

So I did. Here's what I ended up with, the Coralife Lunar Aqualights:










This is the 36" model, which is 96W x 2. Now, my tank is about 39" across, but I read on some website that the feet that come with the lights are able to protrude on either side a bit, so I thought it would be OK. Uh, wrong ... even with the feet attached at the extreme outside edge, it was still well short of the width of the tank (damn you Jebo Aquariums with your weird, nonstandard sizes!). So I improvised a bit, by going down to Home Depot and picking up a few feet of poplar 1X1, which I cut (one end at an angle to allow for the bowfront), sanded, primed and painted black. So now the lights sit upon these two 1X1s which straddle the short span of the tank front-to-back:










I obviously replaced the actinic bulb it came with with one of the 6700K bulbs I had from the AH Supply setup. I noticed that the Coralife bulb runs MUCH cooler than the AH Supply one (the Coralife bulb is 10,000K).

I bought two more timers, since each bulb has its own power cord, and I now have the lights running like so: 2 hours 96W - 8 hours 192W - 2 hours 96W - then the lunar lights for three hours, turning off at around 3:00 am. The lunar lights are cool for sure, though I wish there was more illumination in the middle of the tank, and it's cool when I wander into the living room late at night for something and find them turned on ... or, if we have stayed out really late, returning to find the lights on (unless we stayed out REALLY late, in which case *all* the lights are off!).

I LOVE the look of these lights - the open top is very attractive as well. The cabomba in particular looks great when viewed from above. I've attempted, with little success, to capture the look of the tank from above. I will keep trying.

In the mean time, here's a close up with some cabomba showing:










And finally, a pic of one of my RCS in the 20 gal (waiting transfer to their very own ADA 30-C cube):


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Update on the 65 gal*

Well each month seems to bring its challenges and rewards. I am definitely learning about maintaining an aquascape over a long period of time. The cabomba in particular grows really fast, as does the "carrot plant" as my brother calls it. Same for the HM.

Here's the tank before I clipped everything today and planted some stuff from the SCAPE meet today:










Here's a couple of close ups:




























The dynamic duo:










And finally, here's a little walk-around video of the tank. The raw video is much better but the program I used compressed the video so much that it blurs the detail. Still, you can get an idea:


Just picked up some blyxa japonica (I think) and some HC, plus some riccia. The blyxa went in in the middle (I moved the cabomba) and the HC is going right below where you see the two mollies in the picture above ... I cleared the area of the creeping HM. Can't wait to do up the riccia proper (that will probably be in the ADA 30-c)!!


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

*Re: New 75 gal tank journal*

Sorry that I missed this thread earlier. It looks like you've got the bug big-time. It's fun to see your progression over time. The thing about your journal that caught my attention the most was all the issues you had with lighting. Non-standard tank sizes are definately a bummer. IMO, lighting is still the biggest obstacle for the average joe who is trying to start a planted tank. It's real easy to give up after the first two or three tries at finding something that actually works.

Your plants look healthy. Growth and density of planting is just about right. The thing that would really improve the overall look of your tank is a stronger mid-ground. The stemmies in the back are a bit leggy. It's no big deal, but if you could hide the bottom half of the plants with something else, the overall effect would be much improved. Blyxa would be an excellent choice for this task in this size of tank. There are several crypts that would work nicely too. An added bonus of many mid-sized plants is that they're low-maintainence.

Keep up the good work and keep up the journal. I'm curious about your exact fertilizing regimen. Care to share?


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

guaiac_boy,

Firstly, thanks very much for the comments! Please keep them coming, I am always looking for a more experienced take on my layout and methods. Don't hold back!

(I see you are a mod - if you have admin privileges, or know an admin, can you please modify this thread's title to say "65 gal" ... I was mistaken when I initially authored the thread).

I have been using the EI fertilizing regimen. I have red Seachem Flourite (two 15 lb/7kg bags) under coated river rock gravel. And I have a 5lb pressurized CO2 tank running through a Rex Grigg regulator, a Fabco needle valve, an Aqua Medic bubble counter, and a no-name glass CO2 diffuser, which is positioned under the intake of a Rio 200 powerhead near the bottom. I am currently running the CO2 on a timer with one of the lights, so the solenoid is open for about 8 hours a day running about 2-3 bubbles/second.

Specifically with respect to the dosing regime, I was told that with dosing, less is often more unless you are exhibiting some characteristics of a particular deficiency (i.e. a red tiger lotus was degenerating, I added some Flourish Iron and it perked up). After measuring the dimensions of my tank and multiplying to figure the actual volume (roughly 65 gallons/246 liters), I discovered that my tank sort of fell between two categories of tank volume listed on the forums here. Forced with dosing for either 40-60 gallons, or 60-80, I went with the smaller dosing.

So, here's my schedule:

Sundays: ~40-50% water change, 1/2 tsp KN03, 1/8 tsp KH2P04, 1/8 tsp K2SO4

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays: Flourish (comprehensive) trace elements - about 6 ml

Tues, Thurs - 1/2 tsp KN03, 1/8 tsp KH2P04 (note that I only dose the K2SO4 once a week).

Sat: nothing.

I run 2 x 96W compact florescent lights, total about ten hours, with about six in the middle where both lights are on (so, 2 hours sunrise, 6 both tubes, 2 hours sunset). I have an hour break in the middle of the day where both lights switch off, to combat algae. I also have 2 blue moonlights that kick on from midnight to 3:30 am or so:










I recently went through a fairly serious bout of thread algae. I have an SAE (had two at the time) and I thought they would take care of it - no dice. I tried adjusting the dosing somewhat, manually removed a ton of the stuff (what a nightmare!) and finally one of my SCAPE buddies suggested dosing the Excel and upping the CO2 - BAM, problem solved.

I have added a couple of species since my last post. As I mentioned, I scored a massive bit of blyxa japonica (looks like two pieces) which I did indeed plunk down in the midground, as well as some HC and some riccia. I've made a test riccia mat using plastic netting over a chunk of slate flooring; the rest is floating happily at the top of the tank, awaiting transfer to my new ADA 30-C cube, once I get it going. Have to get rid of at least one other tank before I can install that one, so says my wife. :mrgreen:

I also added 3 pearl gouramis and 6 small harlequin rasboras (to go with my 4 adult harlequins). The goramis have been pretty shy, but they're beginning to get bolder and we actually saw them out and about for the first time tonight.

I have to say I am pretty proud of my first shot at a truly hardcore planted tank. I've had plants in my tanks since I got back into aquariums about two years ago, but they were just "whatever I bought at Petco that survived in the tank w/o ferts, decent lighting or CO2" but you'd be surprised how well that can work (see my 20 gallon in my signature).

As ever, I must credit the information, advice and lessons learned gleaned from APC and from SCAPE (as well as gifts from fellow SCAPE members) for my success with this tank. Heck, SCAPE members are the ones who talked me into pressurized CO2.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

marke14 said:


> can you please modify this thread's title to say "65 gal" ... I was mistaken when I initially authored the thread).


Done. 



marke14 said:


> Specifically with respect to the dosing regime, I was told that with dosing, less is often more unless you are exhibiting some characteristics of a particular deficiency.


I'd agree with that. The most important thing IMO is enough discipline to stick with whatever plan you've decided to use. Laziness/forgetting has been the root cause of some of my earlier algae issues.



marke14 said:


> I recently went through a fairly serious bout of thread algae. I have an SAE (had two at the time) and I thought they would take care of it - no dice. I tried adjusting the dosing somewhat, manually removed a ton of the stuff (what a nightmare!) and finally one of my SCAPE buddies suggested dosing the Excel and upping the CO2 - BAM, problem solved.


SAE's are pretty overrated IMO. When it comes to a cleanup crew, otos, corries, and shrimp have worked best for me. I have SAE's in two of my tanks but they don't do much other than munch the moss I'm trying to grow and chase flake food around. Honestly the rumor that they eat BBA was probably started by someone who accidentally observed it happening once when one got confused. I've certainly never seen them munching on the stuff and from time to time I've had plenty of it around. For thread algae, shrimp are the only possible cleanup critters that work.



marke14 said:


> As ever, I must credit the information, advice and lessons learned gleaned from APC and from SCAPE (as well as gifts from fellow SCAPE members) for my success with this tank. Heck, SCAPE members are the ones who talked me into pressurized CO2.


Yep, CO2 is usualy the deal-maker or deal-breaker when it comes to being succesful with this hobby. You can do it without, but it just isn't the same.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

Wow, have I really not posted any updates since late August?

Let me first go through some pics, so I can have a relative progression starting in September or so. I did take a 2 week vacation to Europe, during which nothing was done to the tank except my mother in law came over and fed the fish twice a week.

My 2 huge sailfin mollies have passed on.  These guys were great, but unfortunately the black one had some sort of fungal infection or something like popeye on one eye when I got back from Europe. The orange one died a few weeks later. They were great fish, my favs for a long time, great personalities. I got them when they were mature and who knows how old, so I am fortunate to have had them for so long.

First off, here's a couple of pics of the pearl gouramis, which are definitely my new favorite fish:


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

9-15-07 - you can see my riccia mat freshly planted at the bottom, as well as a riccia island floating around up top:


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

Very pretty, healthy and clean. Nice work!

I'm sorry to hear about your sailfins. I have a big male black sailfin and he is definitely a character.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

Thanks Jessie! Yes I miss my sailfins ... the gouramis were purchased to have some "big fish" in the tank again, and while they have a completely different temperament they are still very cool, beautiful fish.

On the SCAPE board, we were talking about powerheads and flow in tanks. I drew my ghetto fabulous layout using MS Paint:


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

*Rescape Feb. 24, 2008*

Sweet. I've been busy and haven't posted on APC in a while. I just logged in and was clowning on my own ghetto MS Paint stuff posted above. Priceless.

Here we go:

After much reading of the NA Book 2 and the ADA Catalog, my wife was surprised and asked me, "I thought you were going to do a U-shape this time?"

You tell me, but I like it. But please, criticize away!

You can see all of my pics including higher res and more elaborate comments here.

A last pic before I begin:


















What is this called again?



















I had to drain and refill it several times:




























I know I have to get rid of my ghetto background and clean the outside of the glass! I know, dammit! Also the slate on the sides are basically just to keep some of each kind of Riccia (and the java moss) going.


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

I like it! Once everything fills out, you'll have a very pretty layout on your hands. I like the contrast in the textures between the Blyxa and crypts.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

Update: I killed a bunch of fish, including all 11 of my cardinal tetras, because I left the CO2 cranked up too high.    

The List: 

11 cardinals
2 harlequin rasboras
3 juvenile SAEs

Everyone else was OK. Just for the heck of it, here's who's left:

1 juvie albino bushynose pleco
3 balloon golden angel rams
4 pearl gouramis
2 dwarf indian puffers
1 SAE
4 harlequin rasboras
5 celestial danios/galaxy rasboras (not sure the actual name of these)
numerous (12?) female guppies


They were ALL fine when I got home from work last night. Before bed my wife noticed that there were some dead fish in the tank, and I noticed that they were all at the top gasping for air. I turned off the CO2, put in an airstone and took some readings.

Am - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 20

GH - 15!! 12 is normal for our tapwater
KH - 5
pH - 6.5
implied CO2 - 47.4 

Remember, this is after the airstone had been in and working for about 25 minutes or so. Looks like I had the CO2 turned up really high for my pre-rescape plantload.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I'm sorry to hear of your fish loss. It's such a shame and casts a pall over your lovely rescape. You have a great combination of textures and the wood is perfect. It will be nice to see how it fills in.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

Thanks CS. I love that gourami in your avatar - I am just getting into this awesome species.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

marke14 said:


> Thanks CS. I love that gourami in your avatar - I am just getting into this awesome species.


Thanks! I like the personality they have - so much character. Its the same reason I like angels but the gouramis aren't so belligerent. At some point I'd love to have the pearl gouramis with that beautiful color and delicate pattern. That will just have to wait until I have enough room. They are so much happier when they aren't crowded.

I had gold gouramis for a couple years that were so striking, they reminded me of tigers their colors were so robust, but an illness swept through them and I lost them all over the course of a month. I still don't know what it was and I don't know if I'd be able to bring myself to try keeping them again. My opaline and blue are still safe and healthy in a different tank so I'm pretty happy with that.


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

6 months since my last update! It's about time then, isn't it?

This was from back in May of this year - 5-20-2008:










Here's a couple of night shots from around that same time:



















Around June I ended up getting some sick fish from my favorite LFS, which wiped out like 60% of my fish population at the time.  Gotta quarantine those new fish, kids!

And a couple of more recent ones - Aug. 8, 2--8 (8/8/08):




























Sorry for the crappy pics!


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## marke14 (Mar 27, 2007)

Time for another update. It's been a while for sure.

OK folks I will kick off 2009 with some photos of my "aquascape" situations.

Here's my main tank, my 65 gallon "Jebo" bowfront. When we recently moved to Long Beach, I discovered that evidently the complex' tapwater is softened. I think this because I've always used tapwater at home in Torrance (not too far from LB) and my plants that I keep have done well.

So after we moved and I got the tanks set up, ALL of my plants melted within a week. I quickly did some water changes with the hose from the patio, which I believe is not softened, and things perked up again (as in, they came back from the brink of death). Here's what's the plants that survived look like about 3 months later, taken today:




























Here's one of my albino bushynose plecos hanging out in his customary during-the-day spot, under the leaf of one of my plants (pooping, of course, just for you guys):










Here's my "temporary" very low-tech shrimp (and snail!) tank:










And some shrimp:










And here's the ADA 30c new srimp tank. I'm cycling through the new Aquasoil leaching right now so it really hasn't been planted yet. Then again, that's how my "aquascapes" usually end up so you never know:










I have a little Coralife that I bought like two summers ago. I disassembled it and drilled it with a Dremel and a standard drill bit, and used some picture hanging wire and a couple of little cable thingys from Home Depot to make the loops. It's suspended from the ceiling with cheapo plant hanging hooks:










Still no CO in this tank. I am trying to figure out what to do in terms of getting another CO2 setup. If anyone wants to sell one I might be interested depending on the price. I guess in the meantime, I will go with a Hagen "natural" setup just to get some CO2 into the water.

I am also curious how people are fertilizing in conjunction with Aquasoil. I haven't really put in anything yet, I figured without the CO2 I might be screwing around with it too much.


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