# My 75g tank build



## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Got a cheap 75g off of CL for $60 it was previously used for a saltwater setup, a little elbow grease and it cleaned right up. I couldnt find a stand any where and didnt feel like paying mad amount of money for a stand so i made one myself. Heres what it looks like right now:









my DIY stand first time i ever made something from scratch, not perfect but it will do, dont mind the stain i was testing it out to see what it looks like everything will be stained cherry wood to match my wood floors and furniture.









This is the tank, i added a 3d background and just bought a piece of driftwood for it, I will be creating a biotopish set up with some low light plants. Looking to add more driftwood and will be using medium sized gravel for the substrate.


















As for equipment i will be running 2 canister filters, Odyssea CFS500 and a Sun sun, and a aquaclear 50 for surface agitation, do u guys think that is too much current in the tank?
lighting will be dual t8's and a led light strip on top of it









on a side note my 55g planted tank


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Some of the changes my tank went through:








































































current


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## scotie aquatic (Nov 23, 2007)

Looks like your off to a good start, as for to much glow, well maybe, for discus, but I run a filter similar to the one pictured on my 75, it is 700gph.. at first I thought that would be to much, and figured id have to valve down a bit, since they are adjustable , well thats not the case, I have had to add a power head to conquer a few dead spots... I guess trial and error will be your best solution. But I would think for discus you'd want it fairly calm. Atleast one of your filters has an adjustable return.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

I forgot how m6ch gph mine is but its pretty high I made a spray bar for it and I still have to turn down the flow


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## ScubaSteve (Jun 30, 2012)

Your 55 Gallon is gorgeous...I am getting ready set one up and am so jealous! Also, where did you get your 3d background for the 75 gallon?


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

thanks i got it from yourfishstuff it was like $90 i think thats the lowest from any site even evilbay
btw does anyone know what i can use to stop leaks besides rubber cement?


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## ScubaSteve (Jun 30, 2012)

Where's the leak at?


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

spraybar endcap


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## ScubaSteve (Jun 30, 2012)

What about silicone?


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

that might work never thought of that lol


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## Warlock (Feb 28, 2012)

what size discus you gettin


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

I already have 5 theyre in my 55 bb tank im hoping to put them in the 75 when they reach 5 inches right now they are about 3 to 4 inches I raised them when they were babies, im hooing to add 2 more bringing the total number to 7


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Looks like you've got a nice setup going there. I've got two recommendations.

1- 5 adult discus on a 75 is plenty. Any more and they'll overwhelm the tank. I had 7 in a 90g and it was just too much from a visual and maintenance point of view. Here's the tank in Sept of '03. One of the fish was in time out for bad behavior when I took the shots. http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2003/show66.html

2- Get your plants well established and growing in your 75 (display tank/DT) and keep using the 55 to grow your fish out before adding them to the DT. That'll save you a lot of heartache in the long run. The smaller volume will save $$ on water and money, will give you time to get them eating food more suitable for planted tanks, and you won't have food/nutrient related issues with algae in your DT. I learned this lesson the hard way and wish I'd done things differently.

Cheers,
Phil


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

your tank looks great what did u use as a carpet? looks like you have some wilds? I dont plan on adding the discus until dec and over filtered I have 2 canister and planning on a hob


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

That was _Glossostigma elatinoides_ and _Echinodorus tenellus_. Trimming was really easy, I just took a knife and cut out sections of Glosso and let it regrow. The Echinodorus just got pulled up wholesale by the runner-full wherever it started getting invasive. 

Before I got the fish eating pellets and bloodworms I had problems with algae and cyanobacteria where chunks of beef heart made it down into the Glosso. HC would probably be a better alternative these days. I don't think it was in the hobby when this tank was going.

Yeah, stocking was 5 wild and 2 domestic RSG.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

im feeding them beefheart in the grow out right now also got them on flakes and brine shrimp I think ill stay away from the beefheart when I move them to the 75


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Couldnt wait any longer, today i transferred all my discus in the 75gal, super excited that they arent stressed and eating after less than 6 hours of putting them in a new tank
















sorry not the greatest pics


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## ScubaSteve (Jun 30, 2012)

Looking good!


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)




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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

is this too much light? beamswork double bright led, 2 6500k t5ho , 2 t8 6000k and a pink 12000k plant bulb hung 1 ft above the tank.The t8 I have on for 4 hrs the two on top of the tank are on for 7 1/2. On a side note I broke all my tanks down decided to hive all my time to this tank


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Looks great, love the discus. You can probably get away with that amount of light, just keep your c02 and ferts on par with it.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

some updates took out the driftwood as u can see my ludwigia cuba is starting to transform from emersed to submersed kinda excited for that, my stargrass is doing really well and I have no algae growth at all on this tank so im really glad about that


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Your tank is looking great, du3ce. Nice job !

Many of your pics show all the discus huddled in one particular corner though (lower left) - that could very well be due to the newness of their surroundings in which they're not quite comfortable yet.
On the other hand, it is possible the water flow from your 3 filters might be a touch too strong for their liking. Suggest you keep an eye on it to satisfy yourself they`re comfortably using the whole tank when they acclimatize for a longer period of time.

I don`t think your light is too strong - so I don`t believe it`s that.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

thanks! they were huddled together but they are getting better now they dont even get scared when I approach the tank like they used to and have even started begging for food when I get closed to them.


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## Lowe (Nov 11, 2011)

I love your planted tank. As for the new discus build, I may be biased but I think the MonsterRAY would do wonders =) . If you have any questions PM me~


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

will consider that option when I get my tax refund next yr


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

Man that looks amazing! I wish I would've considered Discus when I had to restock it just a few weeks ago. Your tank looks great and the Discus are beautiful... What temp are you keeping them at? How much water are you changing and how often?


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

nice tank. are you going to get a few more Discus? Do you have anything else with them?


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

The Dude said:


> Man that looks amazing! I wish I would've considered Discus when I had to restock it just a few weeks ago. Your tank looks great and the Discus are beautiful... What temp are you keeping them at? How much water are you changing and how often?


thanks im keeping them at 84 degrees all my plants are doing fine also, I do about 25% every other day

jo3 
I have a pair of cory cats and a pair of german ram im gonna order 2 more discus on thurs, was thinking of ordering one but it would be a waste of money with shipping cost alone, prob will up the wc as well btw im running 3 canister filter on this tank.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

haha, 7 is a good number for a 75. I have 11 in my 125 gal + other fish with only 1 canister. :0


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

how often do u do wc


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

du3ce said:


> how often do u do wc


I started off doing 20% daily --> 20% every other day --> 40-50% weekly and I clean the filter monthly.

It really all depends on what/how much you feed your fish.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

just placed an order for 2 more fish, i have one red scarlett and one snow white tony tan discus coming on tuesday hoping to give it some more color in the tank, excited for that!!!


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/nqMjX6kpd14
made a video of the tank today
also does anyone know why my a. reinekii isnt growing ive had it for 2-3 months and its still like this, also i just picked up some downoi not sure if im able to grow it in my tank we'll see...
















my 2 tony tan discus in a grow out tank


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

my downoi didnt survive dont know what happened but it disinegrated every day


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## xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx (Jul 12, 2011)

Just watched the youtube video of your tank, it looks good so far. Hows that SunSun canister filter working for you?


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

thanks running good I have 2 sunsun and a odysea on the tank


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)




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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

This is looking great!


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## manzpants92 (Dec 6, 2012)

Great work! good call on adding more fish so you have less of a bully problem


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

im gonna be breaking down the scape and making it a biotope setup already have some mazanita branches ordered, will just be some branches and river rocks. I will be transferring all the plants to my 55g, no idea what im gonna put in the 55 but stay tune for updated pics next week.

edit; will prob move 4 rams and 4 corey cats over to 55 maybe add some rainbows, add maybe hatchet or lemon tetras to 75g


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Updates: Lost one discus to parasites, two of my discus has been laying eggs every week now not sure if theyre two females or a pair.




















samsung galaxy s3


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## Niyona (Feb 20, 2010)

Stunning! Discus are so beautiful!


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

My pair laid eggs again they been laying eggs almost every week














samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Trying to get my vals to reach the top of the tank but they are growing very slowly, had them for about 3-4 mnths now

samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Some close up of my discus 







Tony tan red melon







White butterfly male







Female







Blue diamond the first discus I ever bought







Blue turq
Also have a wild green and a snow white but they were hiding. all of my fish except the red melon and snow white are bought from a lfs as juvies and grew out by yours truly.
samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

After not having the tank not planted for a while im getting the itch to plant it again. Heres the new scape, should I remove the other dw on the right side?














samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Some of the changes my tank went through:








































































current


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

samsung galaxy s3


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## CanuckGame (Feb 12, 2013)

amazing tank, i love all your aquascapes except the one with the large rocks on the left side. 

im getting ready to set up a 75G Discus setup myself so ive subscribed to the the thread, look forward to seeing more updates.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks and good luck

samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Added a backlit background

















samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Lost 3 of my leopards they were my favorite too, hoping to replace them soon.









samsung galaxy s3


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

good looking scape you have now. what happened with your leopards?? how many discus are you keeping in your 75 gal?


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks I dont know what happened I did my usual water change added ferts then one started acting strange like he was in a daze or something, I did another 50% wc they looked fine. Spent the night over my gf's house came back the next morning and all 3 were dead, the rest of my discus were fine I tested my water and everything came out fine. I have 8 discus I transferred 4 discus from my other 55g. 

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

The 3 leopards from kenny I got were from a local person I bought off from, I guess there immune system was weak or something, the rest of the discus I raised from juvy are the hardiest discus ive kept including one of my wild green.
So my stocklist now consist of 
3 white butterfly
Wild green
Blue diamond
Red melon
Albino snakeskin
Blue snakeskin


Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

beautiful so you at one point had 11 discus in there??


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

No max kept was 8 the others I kept in my 55 g

samsung galaxy s3


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 13, 2011)

Discus are magnificent fish. I've always wanted to make a discus tank myself, but right now it is just too expensive and too high maintenance for me. One day... One day...


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## 180g (May 20, 2014)

Those are very pretty discus. How much do discus cost?


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

For 4inches plus sized ones $100-$200 from a good distributer

samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Chizpa305 said:


> Discus are magnificent fish. I've always wanted to make a discus tank myself, but right now it is just too expensive and too high maintenance for me. One day... One day...


U just need a lot of time with them a lot of wc variety of food time to spot diseases.

samsung galaxy s3


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## 180g (May 20, 2014)

du3ce said:


> for 4inches plus sized ones $100-$200 from a good distributer
> 
> samsung galaxy s3


wow


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Plants are growing in nicely, glad I decided to carpet the tank with stargrass









samsung galaxy s3


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

du3ce said:


> Plants are growing in nicely, glad I decided to carpet the tank with stargrass
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Tank definitely went through some changes throughout the year. Looking nice! You should do more videos of your tank.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Lol yea I get bored easily but I think im gonna keep this scape for a while


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

Gorgeous!!


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## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

Nice tank. I would consider adding a uv sterilizer from personal experience with discus because they are so prone to parasites and pathogens. I'd keep an eye on the black coloured discus on the far right. Discus turn dark in colour when they're not doing well.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Im running 3 canister filters on this tank and doing wc 3x a week. I've raised 4 of the 8 discus when they were juvies. That black one is a s nakeskin he is eating fine just stunted.

samsung galaxy s3


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## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

Stunted is one thing, but black colouration is not a good sign. It could be one of two things; illness or stress. Snakeskin are supposed to be turquoise & red coloured. There are no naturally black coloured discus. I'm saying this from years of experience with discus. Hopefully it's just stress.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)




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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

well its been a crappy month for me, gf of almost 3 years broke up with me, then one day i come home from work and see all of my discus and angels laying on the bottom dead. Not exactly sure what happened then that started the bacterial bloom. I finally got it under control with some big wc. No livestocks survived except for my 4 cory cats they are some tough buggers i had them from the begining when i started the tank. I think im gonna retire from keeping discus until next year when i get my tax refund money. Thinking about keeping some rainbows or something along those lines.


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## umarnasir335 (Mar 2, 2014)

Sorry to hear about the GF and the fish.
Take some time off dude - both from fishkeeping and relationships 
Come back with a fresh mind. I agree on keeping rainbows, since I don't think I can ever do discus because of the cost and time needed for their upkeep.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks man but im gonna keep going with this tank it keeps me busy.

samsung galaxy s3


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

Sorry to hear about the all the bad news. I hope rebuilding the tank keeps you busy and helps you through your loss. I would be devastated.

Keep us posted.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

all discus and angels....did you outgas them with co2??


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

I dont really know I did a big wc the night before added safe made sure there was surface agitation water tested fine even with the bacterial bloom


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## Curt_914 (Oct 6, 2007)

Du3ce,
I have 6 discus I am looking to move. They are from Kenny and forest teo, I have an unconfirmed pair of white pigeon grade a, 2 white angel, 1 mercury, 1 white buterfly. Let me know if your intrested. Thanks,

Curt


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Here's a update kinda bare without the discus...

samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Did a escape, took most of the plants and wood out. All I have in here is a stargrass carpet, nljf, java fern, anubias, and hygro. I ordered a bunch of jungle Val as a background but that will be it going with something simple and low tech. Ps. Might be trying some buce's as well.









samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Rescape again lol I get bored easily









Here's my 55g in my bedroom low tech









samsung galaxy s3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Went back to planted again used to be a African cichlid tank for 2 months. Now I'm just waiting for my tax refund money so I can order some discus probably from hans or kenny I'm going for a single strain this time here's what the tank looks like now.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)




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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Looks great. Nice use of the branches.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Thanks


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

Update:
I pulled out all the stargrass carpet and planted in some micro swords. Also purchased 4 baby leopards discus they are in a grow out tank right now until they get to 3 -4 in then they will go in the main tank.


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

heres what it looks like now pretty happy with the scape; no show piece fish in there yet i think im done with discus might try angels again. Right now i just have a bunch of schooling fish in there. Currently fight some bba on the dw bought some otos prob add 5 sae in the tank as well.


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