# Wö£fëñxXx 46g update



## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Hi! 

Tank has been established since November/03 

46 Gallon BowFront

Substrate:
30lbs flourite 
20lbs Tahitian Moon Sand

light:
Coralife 2x96 192 watt PC w/6700k bulbs
http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/coralife.jpg

Filtration:
1) 2215 Eheim classic canister. 
Pressurized C02

External Inline C02 Reactor http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/co2reactor.htm

Eheim Surface Extractor

Plants:
E. Stellata
Tonina sp. from Belem 
Jungle Vals
Anubias Barteri var. Nana
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Undulata/ Microsorum pteropus Red
Java Fern
Java Moss
Potamogeton gayi
Alternathera Reineckii
Red Ludwigia (Ludwigia Repens)
Rotala Indica
Chain Sword
Didiplis diandra 
Tiger Lotus kept very trimed
Moneywort
Limnophila aquatica


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## mm12463 (Nov 22, 2003)

Looks fantastic. Keep it up. You are right - aquariums can be a suck on the wallet, nutrients and time. But the pleasure one can get from it - worth it all. Great stress relief to sit and watch the little world we have created.


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## newplantguy (Nov 6, 2002)

Beautiful tank! That Ram is gorgeous!

Ryan


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## mad about fish (Nov 17, 2003)

love the tank the rams look great


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## Pete (Nov 29, 2003)

Great looking tank  impressive.
Pete...


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Nice looking tank, I love the bowfronts. After seeing your photos I had to run to my tank and count my Angels... that looks just like one of my males  
Your growth looks healthy and it looks algae free. I can see a nice piece of wood in there or two.

Looking good !


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## Piscesgirl (Jan 20, 2004)

Quite beautiful!


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

Looks great! Those plants look super healthy!!

Mike


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Thank you guys and gals, you are to kind!  

Buckman.. I thought the same thing when I seen your angel tank, I was like wtf.. :wink:

I am pleased with the outcome of this tank even though it is somewhat new, but established.

I will post more pics as time permits on progress etc, 
I think my misses is going to get me a new camera for my bday next month..Woohoo fingers xXxed.

Craig..


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

very nice tank and very nice rams! I noticed you have the black moon sand listed as one of your subtrates, did it all settle to the bottom?


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

> Buckman.. I thought the same thing when I seen your angel tank, I was like wtf..


Great minds think alike Wolfy :lol:


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Rolo737 said:


> very nice tank and very nice rams! I noticed you have the black moon sand listed as one of your subtrates, did it all settle to the bottom?


Hiya and thanks, no it did not settle to bottom, I mixed it up somewhat for planting purposes,its hard to plant small plants like grass in plain Flourite, so I mixed sand for that reason, I still have about 10lbs of the moon sand left I will use for aesthetic purposes.

how are those angels of yours buckman?


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## Charles (Jan 24, 2004)

I love the pics you posted. Beautiful tank! I have a hard time believing that you haven't started aquascaping it yet. Thanks for detailed specs too. 
Close up of the Rams is also great. Do they spawn in this tank? If so, do the angels leave them alone. I ask because I have 25 gal. with a pair of Rams, moderately planted w/ E. tennelus, java fern, anubius, hygro, watersprite. The Rams spawn every 2-3 weeks but eggs never hatch. I am planning an upgrade and partial replanting of the tank and am considering adding a few angels. Just wondering what your experience has been.
Keep posting pics of this tank. Very interested to see how it progresses.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Hello Charles & Thank you very much.

the Rams are breeding machines, she lays eggs every 2 or 3 weeks, none have hactched, the Angels are just that 
Angels and Rams get along great.

Thats great news on your tank, be sure to post some pics of it as time allows, I have really enjoyed reading and viewing everyone of this forums tanks, specs and how they do things, good read with a morning coffee 

Cheers!

Craig


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Couple of pictures of my Redtail Sternella Pleco, he doesn't venture out much till the lights are off, The pictures dont do him justice, he is a very beautiful creature. top picture was without lights and some photo editing, bottom I turned on half my grow light and snapped before he split. one of my SAE's got involved a bit in the first shot, SAE's are some very nice fish, they have an almost electric ora about them, busy little fishies, good algae eater.

http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/pleco1.jpg


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## George Willms (Jul 25, 2003)

Very pretty.


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Really nice jungle-look! I mean this tank already has a great aquascape, I wouldn't change it a bit! Lost of hiding place, etc...it's great! Wolf, what happened to the Discus you had? :wink:


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Raul-7 said:


> Wolf, what happened to the Discus you had? :wink:


Thanks bro 
I had to let the discus go back , he wasn't working out and I wasn't ready for him yet. maybe in the future once I get my kids through college..LOL I'll do a discus tank. who knows


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Yeh, they never like being loners...maybe if you had gotten a pair before you added the Festivums and Angels; it would've worked out  Anyways, with Rams and Angels, you can't complain.. :wink:


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

After a much needed pruning/thinning

http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/tank2.jpg


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## Tonyd (Jan 22, 2004)

Your tank looks great! I really like your fish, especially the coloration of the angels. That's amazing that it has only been up since November, gives me something to aspire to with my tank. Maybe I missed it somewhere, but how many gallons is it?

Tony


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Great tank! I like the little floating islands of riccia...but where are all the other fish? All I can see is the Angels, a Ram(?) and a Gourami hiding..


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Hello Tony, Thanks! 46Gal

Hi Raul.. All the little fishies are still there, no Gourami though


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

My Lotus, that I am fond of, it's already got two new babys growing from it 

My Sword was busting the tank, so I chopped it up a bit..


http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/lotus.jpg


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## SCMurphy (Oct 21, 2003)

Man I hope you can keep that lily under control cause you have a beautiful tank there.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Thanks Sean, I hope I can also, I have surgical scissors and not affraid to use them.. ask my sword... 8)


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Made a trek to the dam this weekend, found some very nice wood and rocks..
this is the stump that I chose, I had to cut it down a bit, had some moss growing on it so I used high pressure hose on it for awhile, then a good soaking, I was very surprised to find the stump clean to begin with, 

http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/stump.jpg

then after a quick scaping and another good thinning, and a water change.

http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/tank5.jpg

http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/lotus1.jpg

Ill update the picture when it grows in a bit.

Cheers!

Craig


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## katymay (Feb 2, 2004)

I've never seen a pleco like that! What a beautiful fish. Your tank looks great. I'm in the process of changing my substrate over to 1/2 eco complete and 1/2 black moon sand.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Update
This is my little five gal hex, its full of guppy fry, Oscar food :lol: 
no C02. Just macro's and micro's 15watts 
http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/five.jpg

This is my 10 gal home to a female blue ram an apisto and a SAE. no C02 in this tank just a 30 watt fixture w/micro's and macro's
Java moss grows like mad in this tank...
http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/ten.jpg


http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/46.jpg


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

*Microgeophagus Ramirezi*

This guy is amazing. i've had him almost a year, he is a full 3"inches long, he has a very cool character about him, he is king of the tank, he displays many colors, he is very beautiful to watch, and I wanted to share some of what I get to view daily with you all...

all of these pictures were taken within 2 days of each other.























































This is a partial tank shot, in which I took the ram to make my avatar.









My Festivum, she is a very cool fish










and one of my SAE's, I have 3 in this tank, they are all appro. 3 1/2" long.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

That ram is a freakin MONSTER . Biggest I've ever seen. The full-tank photo really gives you a sense of his girth. I only hope that my rams can grow big enough to cast a shadow on that thing.


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## George Willms (Jul 25, 2003)

That is a beautiful ram you have there!


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## chrisl (May 6, 2004)

Very Nice Wolf! Beautiful fish and tank....and a ton of lighting on that tank too at 4wpg!


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## Bert (Jun 21, 2003)

Stunning ram Wolf! And the tank looks great too :icon_bigg.

Bert


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Thanks guys, I really enjoy him, he is an incredible fish..


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Decided on which piece of driftwood to use, so I ripped up my tank and placed it inside, a sneak peek, gonna let it grow in a bit before posting tank shot 


















http://www.triplexclan.com/aquatics/Ram/DW1.jpg


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

Wow, Wolf, that driftwood is amazing! I was impressed with the first pic, but it looks even better in the tank. Very nicely aquascaped.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Oh man....I have got a bad case of driftwood envy. Seriously, those pieces (like you have there) where a root branches off, and then fuses back into another piece....very rare. What a prize!


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## hubbahubbahehe (Sep 13, 2003)

i'm trying to figure out how you placed your eheim outlet? are you putting the spray bar vertically?


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Sweet peice of driftwood you have, I like how you placed it to create a flow in the tank. And your tank keeps on getting better! By the way, awesome Rams...there the best strains I've seen in the US :wink:


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

hubbahubbahehe said:


> i'm trying to figure out how you placed your eheim outlet? are you putting the spray bar vertically?


I have 2 spraybars in the tank. they are both set vertical in back corners, one blowing out accross front bow, the other blowing into its corner.

Thanx Raul.. you rock bro :wink:


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

amanda huggenkiss said:


> Wow, Wolf, that driftwood is amazing! I was impressed with the first pic, but it looks even better in the tank. Very nicely aquascaped.


Thanx :wink: 



unirdna said:


> Oh man....I have got a bad case of driftwood envy. Seriously, those pieces (like you have there) where a root branches off, and then fuses back into another piece....very rare. What a prize!


I am greatful to have that piece of wood, I almost threw it away when I found it brought it home anyway soaked it in bleach water for about a month,carried it to car wash for high pressure.. it was bad silty.. yuk.. but came out good


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## SCMurphy (Oct 21, 2003)

Nice wood, where's the lily? Is it still in there?


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## Tonyd (Jan 22, 2004)

Looks nice. That driftwood really compliments your tank well. The ram pictures are cool. I didn't know they could display so many different colors, really an amazing looking fish.

Tony


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

SCMurphy said:


> Nice wood, where's the lily? Is it still in there?


Thanks guys.. I still have the lily, or should I say lily's, it was getting huge, I have a 5g bucket outback with many clippings in it including that huge lily, lol

I have a couple very small plantlets of the lily still in the tank well trimmed, seems like within a months time, I can have 10 more lilys, it propagates like mad.


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## lbsfarms (Jan 30, 2003)

Your rams are beautiful. Where did you get them? Do you plan on selling any of the fry.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

lbsfarms said:


> Your rams are beautiful. Where did you get them? Do you plan on selling any of the fry.


Thank you. I got them from my LFS in Huntsville, those ram pictures are all the same fish, the male, the female is in quarantine being treated for popeye, hope she gets better, she's been this way for awhile, couple of months,she laid eggs all the time, but didn't hatch, im assuming due to tank mates.


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

my understanding of ram coloration is that it's highly dependent upon gh, kh and ph. what are those readings in your tank??


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

quilaho said:


> my understanding of ram coloration is that it's highly dependent upon gh, kh and ph. what are those readings in your tank??


All that info is on first page of this thread.
But I'll copy it over.

Tank perims:
pH 6.6 / 6.8 
P04 0.5
N03 8ppm appr.
KH 4
GH 8


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

thanks ... sorry about that ... should've looked.


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## hooha (Mar 14, 2004)

nice tank bro, how did you clean that driftwood before putting it in the tank? (Did you find it in the woods?). I recently got 3 pair of Rams that will hopefully get nice and big like yours.

I noticed you have DiY yeast bottles going into an external reactor. Do you have any problems with too much pressure for the CO2 bottles to work against? Do you have the reactor on the inlet or output side of your filter?


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

quilaho said:


> thanks ... sorry about that ... should've looked.


Not a problem Q:wink: 


Hi hooha, 
thanks for the kind words, I cleaned it by soaking it in bleach water for a couple of weeks, then I carried it to the carwash for hi pressure rinse, needless to say I had to have a shower after:fish: 
No, I didn't find it in the woods, we have lots of water here, ie. lakes and rivers. I found that piece while roaming the riverbank one stormy day.

Good luck with the Rams:wink: 
The external reactor is on the outflow side of canister, and no it is not to much pressure for it to work against, unless C02 runs very low, then for safety, I have a check valve in place.


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## hooha (Mar 14, 2004)

check valve - as in like the one-way valves you put in front of your air pumps?

ah cool, didn't think of that. I just might try the external reactor for yeast CO2 now


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

hooha said:


> check valve - as in like the one-way valves you put in front of your air pumps?


Yup, thats the one.




hooha said:


> ah cool, didn't think of that. I just might try the external reactor for yeast CO2 now


Mine is setup almost like this, except for the picture shows a "powered reactor" I use the inline external reactor. I also have a check valve placed between the reactor and gas separator.
http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/bigdiyco255.jpg

And this is how I built my reactor.
http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/co2reactor.htm
I have the reactor straped to the inside back brace of tank cabinet at about a 20degree angle with a velcro strap for easy removal, for cleaning purposes and when cleaning the canister it is connected to, C02 is still running, so once canister is re-started, reactor needs to be inverted for a moment to let air out, dont want water to air contact.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

*update 10/2/04*

Thought it time for an update

Tank as of 10/2/04









Caridina Japonica/Amano shrimp










Neolamprologus pulcher AKA Brichardi Daffodil



















Pulled out 1/2 a 5gal bucket of glosso and tossed it,it was taking over. decided to stick with the microsword/lillyopsis.


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

You've got a Brichardi in that same tank?!? With the ram and shrimp? Gutsiest move I've seen in a long time. Although I've never kept a Daffodil variety, I have bred many Lamprologus brichardis - and those little Tanganyikan monsters would tear apart every fish and plant in their tank. They would also dig...and dig...and dig.

All that said , how long have you had that African in your tank? I've successfully kept "incompatible" fish as well, and I always like to learn more about that conditions that create exceptions to the 'rule'.

He's very pretty, btw.


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## Rolo (Dec 10, 2003)

The color of everything changed dramatically. Did you recently switch the bulbs?


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## fishyboy (Nov 16, 2003)

it looks like the GE bulbs


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

unirdna said:


> You've got a Brichardi in that same tank?!? With the ram and shrimp? Gutsiest move I've seen in a long time. Although I've never kept a Daffodil variety, I have bred many Lamprologus brichardis - and those little Tanganyikan monsters would tear apart every fish and plant in their tank. They would also dig...and dig...and dig.
> 
> All that said , how long have you had that African in your tank? I've successfully kept "incompatible" fish as well, and I always like to learn more about that conditions that create exceptions to the 'rule'.
> 
> He's very pretty, btw.


Hi Uni
The Brichardi is not in the 46, but he is in my 55 heavy plant community tank with more rams angels festivums sharks and misc dimestore fish such as tetras platys--the wifes critters haha

I have had him for about year, he does great by himself, I had two, they were a mess with a pair, but with a single brichardi he is peacful and pleasent.. if that answers your question.. I hope 
I have been playing around with my camera and got a couple of nice photo's of him, so I thought I would just add one of him.



Rolo said:


> The color of everything changed dramatically. Did you recently switch the bulbs?


Nope, but I did switch camera's awhile back..my tank takes much better photo's at night with a single powerglow 30w bulb, as apposed to using my aqualight 6700k's plus my camera is sweet and still learning how to use it as time permits..powershotA80


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