# JJP2's 135 Gallon Planted Rainbow tank



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

*Tank shots as of February 6, 2009*

The tank is well established and a bit overgrown as shown in the pictures. It also needs some aquascaping so any suggestions would be great.


1312 - Front Left
1313 - Front Right
1314 - Full Front Shot
1315 - Full Front shot straight on
1316 - Outward End Shot


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

*Tank shots Feb 06, 2009 cont*

More shots as it would only allow so many in a post..

1317 - Back side full tank (ignore the messy desk, and for those curious, I am a document management consultant so it shouldn't look that way.)
1318 - Back side left end as facing the back.
1319 - Back side right end as facing the back


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

*Tank Plumbing*

Here is a picture of my plumbing.

In the picture 1288.jpg, the ribbed hose is the intake, comes from the tank into the FX5. The clear reinforced hose is the outlet. It goes into a T (hiding behind the ribbed hose) were the CO2 goes in. This then goes into the Gamma UV shown in 1290.jpg going behind the fx5 and co2 tank (also shown in 1291.jpg). 1289.jpg shows the outlet of the UV going into another T where air enters at night. This is all 1 inch hose. It is then split into 2 3/4 hose's and returned to each end of the tank with the outlets pointing forward and toward the middle. My outlets are mid tank, to allow for CO2 distribution before the mist floats to the top.


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

*Canopy*

This is my canopy (1306). 

The front has 3 2ft mini doors which open upward to allow feeding and use of tweezers, scissors, etc without opening the full top (1307, 1309). I can get to most of the tank through it but can't get my arm fully in. I couldn't make it wider due to the space needed for the lighting.

Pictures 1310 and 1311 show the canopy with the top fully open and the lights mounted. I do have the lunar link lights in the middle.

I put the fans in for cooling. The only real heat are the ballasts that are mounted under the lights in the canopy.


----------



## ben314z (Jan 11, 2009)

:thumbsup: Not too shabby!


----------



## seds (Jan 30, 2009)

Pretty nice! The plants sure look healthy.

Madagascar laceleaf has a reputation of being difficult. That proves your skills of a master.


If you want my opinion, the plants in the middle are taller than the edges, most people try for an amphitheater look, with a big non living piece (such as a rock or log) As the centerpiece. Sooo you could work around that. If there was an open area perhaps the rainbows would form better shoals there, who knows.

You can also see a little hole without vegetation near the centre but to the right of the tank, at the top half. They will probably eventually grow in to it though.


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

seds said:


> Madagascar laceleaf has a reputation of being difficult. That proves your skills of a master.


I don't know about this one. I can't grow Eriocaulon at all. I've put the Madagascar Lace in, left it alone and it just grows and flowers. It's had a dormant period for about 6-8 weeks and came back strong. If its doing well, I try not to mess with it.

When I initially laid out the scape, I was trying to have 2 open areas for the rainbows to swim, kind of like a discus tank. I had that till it got over grown but not totally happy with it but haven't come up with an idea.

Thanks for looking.


----------



## brotherd (Jan 22, 2006)

*moon lights*

How long are the moon lights on?I am thinking of getting some for my 110.Are they blue?


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

I have the white ones. The blue are really blue, and I didn't care for that look. I run them for 3 hours at night and 2 hours in the morning.


----------



## brotherd (Jan 22, 2006)

Next question,do you use a controller?I am getting one because all my lights and 2 Koralia pumps come on at the same time.I only have 1 timer and don't want to buy a bunch more.


----------



## brotherd (Jan 22, 2006)

Ok,on closer inspection of the pics I see the timers.


----------



## Florida_Larry (Jan 19, 2009)

looks like a hardware store under there.

and for anyone else thinking of getting some of his clippings, i can vuch for them, good and hardy, i had doubts due to the cold weather when i picked some up from him, i stuck them right inide my sweatshirt for protection from the cold, and it was a bit nippy.

Plants survived so nicely i have had to trim them once already.

Hope to see ya all sunday


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

A couple hours in a zip lock is less time then it takes to mail, so I knew they would be fine.

Plants deal well with the cold unless they freeze. Frozen plants are dead plants. Heat causes them to dry out, wilt or turn to mush kills them.

Glad they are doing well.


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

New picts after a rescape and trim. Moved the red rubin to the far side so it doesn't take most of the tank now.


----------



## gabriella (Mar 25, 2009)

Hi John,

I love your plants, I think they look great! I couldn't help noticing the Glass Cleaner on top of the canopy  That's probably the last step to do before sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the view.


----------



## gdcox76 (Jul 19, 2009)

The tank is beautiful! I would suspect that your problem with your landscaping is that typically most tanks have one whole long side against a wall and therefore you only need to create open areas in front or on one side etc. as that is where the fish are visible. Your tank is visible from both sides so you almost need to have it built up in tiers from the glass into the center so the fish have open swimming all the way around!


----------



## malaybiswas (Nov 2, 2008)

Not bad, but your stem plants are all over the tank and I am not able to focus on any area except the red rubin. You may want to group your stem plants closer and leave some space in the front.

One trick that has worked well for me. Try planting 3 stems together. They will grow just fine and give a dense look.


----------



## skratikans (May 23, 2008)

I love your canopy, do you have a glass cover or anything under your lights to act as a splash guard...Im trying to decide whats a good way to make a canopy for my t5ho retrofit
Btw, where did you get those fans? Did you have to wire them?


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

A quick update... I need to post new pictures.

I got rid of the red rubin. Lovely plant but just massive and wasn't working with everything else. Slowly working on altering the landscape.

I don't have any covers on the tank other than the canopy. I did that on another tank and found cleaning the covers to be extra work. 

I bought a set of computer fans with a 12v transformer off of ebay. Mounted and wired them in myself.


----------



## sick lid (Jan 13, 2008)

Hi John. Looking forward to updated pics. How's the FX5 working out for you? I've got one on my 180, took a year of gradual minor mods before I was _really_ happy with it.


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

*New Picts*

Finally got around to tanking updated pictures

Image_1472 is a full tank shot, Image_1473 is the right and Image 1474 is the left.

Image_1475 is the left back and Image_1476 is the right back.



Still need to do something with the Aromatica.


----------



## londonloco (Aug 25, 2005)

Love your tank. I've always wanted a big long tank as a room divider. Do you like you're Aqua Blues? I had them for several months on my 120g, I thought the tank was too dark. Just changed to Aqua Flora and the tank did brighten up quite a bit.


----------



## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Awsome setup!


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

Thanks. I find the blues are darker than the middays. My son loves the color when both blues run together. 
Finally got around to taking some new pictures.

First two are the front side and the last 2 are the back side.


----------



## jemmanuel (Jul 20, 2011)

Hey. Nice tank! Looks great for only running 2X80 watts. Hopefully I'll be posting pics after my makeover


----------



## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Nice tank and the A. madagascar is huge with whole leaves, nice job.

Where did you get that long black power strip that separates your timers so nicely???


----------



## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

Been a while since I've updated. I had a bad bout of algae which resulted in the loss of my madagascar lace and aromatica. Tank has recovered but my attention is focused on moving up to a 180 which is currently in the garage.

The power strip I found at Lowes. Its 4 ft long and works out very nicely. Plenty of space between outlets for all the timers.


----------

