# Pavel's 30 gallon Long



## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

I just bought a new tank and before I start a journal about it will take down my old one, I figured out it would be nice to post about the old ones', rather short, life too.
I set up the tank in June 2009 and the tank serves well since then. The only complain is small depth and the fact it's the usual ugly AGA tank, with thick black rim and ugly silicon seams. 

Here are some tech data:
AGA 30 gallon long, 36x12x16"
Eheim Ecco 2232
24" Coralife CF 2x65W 6700K. Disassembled and inbuilt in handmade hood
DYI CO2, diffused in powerhead, canister filter, CO2 reactor, ladder... (I tried everything)
Black Fluorite mixed with onyx sand, white sand and black pabbles from art store
Sierra collected manzanita driftwood 
Ocassional use of 18W UV Odyssea
Ocassional Excel and N (injected in gravel)

Animals:
2 Angelfish (marble pearl (female) and platinum blusher (male))
10 Cardinal tetras
5 Panda cory
2 Ottos
1 Pitbull pleco
12? Amano shrimps
MTS
ramshorn snails
mini rams snails
Physa snail
Lymnea snail

Plants:
will add later, super long list


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

The initial scape with black gravel, black pabbles and white sand.










Some plants added









And the final scape.... for now


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

Adding plants list (for some reason, I cannot edit the first post)

Anubias nana 'normal and pettite'
Bacopa monniery
Blyxa japonica
Blyxa aubertii
Cabomba caroliniana
Cryptocoryne crispatula v. balansae
Cryptocoryne lutea
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'brown'
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya' 
Cryptocoryne gecco
Echinodorus tennelus
Echinodorus 'vesuvius'
Echinodorus sp. (?)
Eleocharis parvula
Glossostigma elatinoides
Hemianthus callitrichoides 'cuba'
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Heterantera zosterifolia, 
Hygrophila corymbosa 'compact'
Hygrophila corymbosa 'siamensis'
Hygrophila difformis
Hygrophila difformis 'variegata'
Hygrophila polysperma 'ceylon'
Lemna minor
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Limnophila aromatica
Lobelia cardinalis 'mini'
Ludwigia repens 'rubin'
Mayaca fluviatilis
Micranthemum umbrosum
Microsorum pteropus (Java fern)
Myriophyllum mattogrossense
Myriophyllum scabratum
Myriophyllum tuberculatum
Najas sp roraima
Potamogeton gayii
Pogostemon stellatum 
Pogostemon erectum, 
Polygonum kawaegonum
Rotala indica
Rotala macrandra
Rotala colorata
Sagittaria subulata
Salvinia auriculata
Salvinia natans
Staurogyne 'low grow'
Suesswassertang
Tonina fluviatilis
Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java moss)
Taxiphyllum sp (flame moss)
Erect moss
X-mass moss
Vallisneria nana


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

Now with all my old fish put here from a bucket.
And some addition of new plants and fish (baby angelfish) but also algae.
I moved my old tank into this one, so I wouldn't expect much of algae but I also didn't do black background like on my old one and it apparently took its toll. But I kind of like it. Dust algae are the least annoying algae to remove too.


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## chadly (Dec 19, 2005)

good lookin scape... I usually think bad things when I see river rocks, but they look great in there. Your plant list is huge, I see a major pain trying to trim and fill in some of those stems..

The GDA background works! Whats with the light? It was so bright before.


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## CrimsonBlush (Sep 8, 2008)

Sweet looking tank! Makes me want to model my 40 after it.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

Thanks, guys!
Yeah, the plant list is long but I have sometimes only a stem or two. I'm trying to find out what grows well in my tank and what I like. Will throw away the rest. Or sell it here 
The light is as described above. But in the first picture, the light was higher and therefore more evently distributed and also, white background versus dark green.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

I scrapped the green algae from the back glass and put a dark brown background (part of a big cardboard box  instead of just white wall. Some trimming happended too.


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## melonz (Apr 21, 2008)

wow. just wow. very lovely. that cardboard trick is pretty neat, flows so well with the lighting and all.


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## londonloco (Sep 25, 2005)

I love this tank, the scape looks so natural to me. I'd love to see a full tank shot including your lights. What floating plants do you have? And is the tank covered or open top? Very nice.


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## NowMed (Feb 10, 2009)

Love the tank!! Very realistic scape!! Looks like someplace you’re happy to find on a scuba trip.


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## houstonhobby (Apr 11, 2009)

I am very impressed with the tank. My favorite picture is the one from the 16 of march. I find that is often the way with my tanks as well. I don't like to trim severely but the tank looks better with more open space.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

A month later from the previous photo. It turned into jungle.


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## xJaypex (Jul 22, 2009)

Thats a lot of growth, bet the angel is loving it though


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## Chris Noto (Aug 10, 2005)

You've got a very pretty wild-type tank, a style that I enjoy a lot. Everything looks very healthy, and I'm sure you have some nice times, just sitting and watching. Thanks for sharing this thread with us. 

Now if I could just convince folks to pull some of the more obvious hardware before taking pictures...  I'm a glutton for good desktop wallpaper!

I look forward to seeing your tank continue to develop.


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## default user (Feb 9, 2010)

How did you do your substrate? I'm looking to do the type of idea with the exposed white sand area. Did you just layer it on top of the fluorite or is it sand all the way down?


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

There is row or black river pabbles separating the fluorite from the front glass. I filled this gap with the sand. So, yes, the sand is all the way down and in the ideal case, doesn't mix with the fluorite. Surprisongly, even though they're amano shrimps in the tank, they did't mix it. I'd worry with cories, though.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

I trimmed it a lot. This is about a week after it. Some regrown back.


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## Aquaticz (May 22, 2009)

Cardinals are looking good in there. 
Nice job


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## aquyenl (Apr 15, 2010)

your tank looks incredible. i see that you said you used DIY co2. could you explain your recipe, diffuser, etc? i am trying to figure out how to best do a diy co2. thanks!


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

aquyenl said:


> your tank looks incredible. i see that you said you used DIY co2. could you explain your recipe, diffuser, etc? i am trying to figure out how to best do a diy co2. thanks!


I used two bottles (1L each) connected into same output. DIY bubble counter. I tried all kinds of diffusers:
canister filter intake - not good, co2 stays in too long
co2 reactor on output - reduce flow direction placement, looks ugly because it's hard to hide
co2 reactor on powerhead - big and ugly, but can be hiden better and more efficient, cummulate o2 over time
ADA-like diffuser - DIY doesn't have enough presure (I assume it leaks) so it doesn't work at all
air-stone - very inefficient
ladder - modified to produce tiny bubbles, then very efficient. easy to fide in the back but prone to be obstructed by leaves, stopped by so gue from the yeast, needs water flow over to remove co2 filled water and speed diffusion
co2 fed into powerhead propeler - loud, bubbles not small enough, so not so efficient
air-stone under powerhead seems the best but again, it's too ugly

Now, I have pressurized and I wanna try in-line diffuser on output. I heard great reports on it. It prob won't work with DIY.

And the receipe is simple. Google "DIY co2 yeast" and they're all the same  My bottle usually lasted for 2 months minimum


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## shark1505 (Jan 24, 2010)

2 months???? Mine usually last around 2 weeks!


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## inghamb87 (Mar 10, 2010)

Stunning! As chadly said, I wasn't so sure about the river rocks but it looks beautiful in there. Would love to share these on my platform as well if you are ok with it.

By the way, you are going to have one heck of a time keeping up with all them plants ;-) Good luck


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

shark1505 said:


> 2 months???? Mine usually last around 2 weeks!


They usually last even longer but then it's going too slow. It's all about the ratio of sugar a yeast. Too much sugar means they multiply too fast, create too much alcohol too fast and get themselves killed. Low sugar content - slow steady growth.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

Two weeks later









And then another two weeks later









Whoever commented on the fast plant growth was right


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## PeterE (Feb 9, 2010)

Looks really good! Is that a Hygrophila on the right? I like the floating plants in the back.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

I removed the white sand because it was getting more and more green rather than white. And also rescaped the tank a little. All driftwood was taken out and I placed some other wood on the right side more like roots (facing down) with java fern attached.

My angelfish loved this configuration and the next day claimed the right side and laid eggs on one of the leaf of java fern.
They all got eaten and there was no male in the tank, so it wouldn't lead to anything anyway... At least it showed me she's really "she" and that I needed a male.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

More growth after couple of trims. 
Now with a new angelfish, male. Platinum blusher. My old angelfish really likes him and she laid eggs the next day.... and he eate them within few hours :/


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## oscarjamayaa (Dec 12, 2009)

I liked a lot the inicial design, but with so many plants you arhe having a realle deep jungle...


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## tropicalcrazy (May 4, 2010)

i have to agree with oscar, i also liked the initial design, although no matter whether thick full of plants or trimmed it is a very amazingly beautiful tank. i wish i had your talents in design. im starting to get there seeing more scapes


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

All river rocks are out. The wood on the left is there for my angelfish to have some easy-to-defend spot for their eggs.


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## Sidefunk (Apr 20, 2010)

wow


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## ItsDubC (Jan 12, 2008)

Very natural-looking IMHO. Well done! :thumbsup:


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

My angelfish are trying to protect their eggs on the wood on left and cardinals are lined up on the other side, waiting to eat them all.
And unfortunately, they always succeed :/


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## sam22sam (Jul 9, 2010)

Vow.. love the scape.. the color contrasts and the wood branch is amazing. 

You have neon tetras with an angel.. thought that was angel's favorite meal in the wild...


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

sam22sam said:


> Vow.. love the scape.. the color contrasts and the wood branch is amazing.
> 
> You have neon tetras with an angel.. thought that was angel's favorite meal in the wild...


I think those are Cardinals.
But still, angelfish in the wild ussualy grow larger, and are hungrier than captives... the domesticated fellas sometimes learn to rather wait for their awesome magic food-providing hand.


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

Yes, these are cardinals and they're as big as they get (some of the females) but more importantly, the angel was with them since it was a baby. This way, it learned that "fish are friends not food" 
I've seen tank with grown Arowanas, Discus and angelfish and small tetras living happily together! So, it's possible to get even 20" fish not to eat 1" tetra. 

btw, I have now wild caught Altums in my 90p tank with much smaller cardinals and they don't seem to bother them either.


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## JEden8 (Nov 11, 2010)

Pavel, where did you get your hardscape?


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## barakainus (Jun 11, 2009)

It's manzanita wood from Sierras. The pebbles were from craft store


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