# 125 gallon fish tank project - "Nature's Beginnings"



## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

Hey guys,

I’m new to planted tanks and this forum. I’ve been in the fish hobby for 17 years (on and off) and have had two 55 gallon tanks with just fish. In the past, I’ve tried integrating a few plants, but I’ve never gotten serious about aquascaping until recently.

I’ve upgraded to a 125 gallon and want to provide a well-planted home for my fish. After looking online for aquascaping inspiration, I’ve sketched out some ideas and am now starting to build my tank.

Here are some videos:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNCax2MgXFHYMsOTJdR54bMQBTXL7Mm3K

And the pictures:


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

That's a nice hardscape! What do you plan on doing with the far right side of the tank?


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## shawnleon (Dec 10, 2012)

I'm a huge fan of the modern look. The white stand and black tank are striking. The setup seems custom designed for a stone hard scape. I'm following along on your journey.


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## Politikz_Amore (Sep 24, 2012)

Another superb hardscape

I know how fast the plant list can change as you start to shape things
up, but any ideas so far?


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## Clemsons2k (May 31, 2009)

Thats going to look fantastic! Subbed


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

GMYukonon24s said:


> That's a nice hardscape! What do you plan on doing with the far right side of the tank?


Thanks! The far right side will be all plants.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

shawnleon said:


> I'm a huge fan of the modern look. The white stand and black tank are striking. The setup seems custom designed for a stone hard scape. I'm following along on your journey.





Clemsons2k said:


> Thats going to look fantastic! Subbed





Politikz_Amore said:


> Another superb hardscape
> 
> I know how fast the plant list can change as you start to shape things
> up, but any ideas so far?


Thank you guys!

shawnleon - yeah actually the stand was black originally. I decided to go white because of the modern/clean look to it. :angel:

Politikz_Amore - As for the plants, I had brought few (some swords, java fern, baby tear, java moss, these purple looking ones, theres more, but I forget). I'll be posting up new updates later tonight. Stay tune.


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## shawnleon (Dec 10, 2012)

j03yYunG said:


> shawnleon - yeah actually the stand was black originally. I decided to go white because of the modern/clean look to it. :angel:


All of mine are black, but I really think you made an excellent choice.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

shawnleon said:


> All of mine are black, but I really think you made an excellent choice.


You can do the same. Just buy some sand paper, primer and white paint. Thats how I did it.


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## hisxlency (Jan 26, 2013)

Where did you get the stand? That thing is sweet!!


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

hisxlency said:


> Where did you get the stand? That thing is sweet!!


I got the stand with the tank. But I think it was just a normal perfecto stand.
This is what it looked like before I painted it and added in handles.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

The tank is fully planted with water, but I'm trying to get the youtube video uploaded as I post these updates here.

Here's a teaser.. :icon_roll









Here's a quick video on the plants I got for the tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbIhsC6TXig&feature=youtu.be


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## jczz1232 (May 8, 2008)

Looking great


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

jczz1232 said:


> Looking great


Thanks!

Here's a quick teaser clip of the tank until I finish uploading the real clip. I'll be in a few hours. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjyxnyXcqkI&feature=youtu.be


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

Update!

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej23YaKd-I0&feature=youtu.be

Pictures:


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

excellent. this should look amazing once filled w/ water


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## hecto33 (Jan 7, 2013)

Good job starting up with a lot of plant matter, it'll really help with algae problems.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

Update Video:




 
Pictures:


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

5/2 update:

It's been 3 weeks since I started the tank. I used ~10 gallons (every water change) of good tank water from my 20 gallon to help start the cycle the first week. All the plants melted except for the the ferns and swords. The HC and moss have been yellow since than... But I see new growth coming back. The Rotalas, Ludwigia and Limnophila hippuroides completely die off.. :icon_cry:

I added ~15 shrimp and 10 Neons (1st week), 15 white clouds and 10 zerbas (3rd week) to cycle the tank.

Had a nitrite spike and have been doing daily water change to control that.

Pictures:


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

6/7 update -

HC carpet all died. The pleco kept uprooting them. Also its due to the T8 (50W) I had for the longest time. I finally was able to upgrade to LEDs a few weeks ago. So the plants are now slowly taking off. The Java Moss is taking forever to grow.

I added a few Discus in the tank and have been fighting some clamped fins and internal parasites with the fish. 

They're going a lot better now.

Here's an updated video.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

*8/17 update!*

8/17 -

Hey guys, it's been 2.5 months since the last post. I figured its time for an update. The tank definitely changed since April.

-Trying to grow HC again, but having a hard time because the fish keeps uprooting them. 
-The xmas moss is taking its sweet time growing in. :/
-Battling with a few algae, green hair and this green ball (kind of looks like a moss ball)
-The fish are doing great!

Enjoy. 


















































Latest Video (it's 2 week old)


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

8/25 update

- I got new LED light fixtures.... Max Razor R420r 160W 8000K :icon_eek:
- Selling the Aquatic Life if anyone is interested.


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## norbot (Jan 5, 2013)

Wow, looking good!

I can't believe the color difference between the lights! Thanks alot, now I want razor max leds :wink:

Do they have sunrise/set options and the like?


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

norbot said:


> Wow, looking good!
> 
> I can't believe the color difference between the lights! Thanks alot, now I want razor max leds :wink:
> 
> Do they have sunrise/set options and the like?


I know! The Razor Max LED lights are super nice. And it does have a sunrise/set option. 

But I still really like the sleek design of the Aquaticlife LED. If they had them in 8k range, I would've gotten that.


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## Lowe (Nov 11, 2011)

Holy cow that is beautiful


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

The colors really POP.

v3


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

nice tank but u should move all the tall.stems to the back


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

du3ce said:


> nice tank but u should move all the tall.stems to the back


Its seriously stacked in the back already. :0


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

Lowe said:


> Holy cow that is beautiful


Thanks!



OVT said:


> The colors really POP.
> 
> v3


eye popping. O_O


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## SlammedDC2 (Jun 4, 2011)

Wow looks great, I would love to have LED's


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## frenchie1001 (Jun 23, 2013)

dream discus tank right there!

well done.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

SlammedDC2 said:


> Wow looks great, I would love to have LED's


LEDs are really awesome. Highly recommend the Max Razor 8k if you plan on getting one in the future.



frenchie1001 said:


> dream discus tank right there!
> 
> well done.


Thank you!


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## Dr. Brand (Nov 20, 2013)

Great looking tank. I'm still planning out my hard scape and I like what you've done in your tank. Where did you purchase your plants from?

I'll be following your progress.


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## manzpants92 (Dec 6, 2012)

Those new LEDS look 100x better. Good to see the discus are happy and healthy


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

Dr. Brand said:


> Great looking tank. I'm still planning out my hard scape and I like what you've done in your tank. Where did you purchase your plants from?
> 
> I'll be following your progress.


I started off at aquariumplants.com for mass order. But recently all of them have been though fellow TPT members. I just keep an eye out for deals and plants that I want.



manzpants92 said:


> Those new LEDS look 100x better. Good to see the discus are happy and healthy


Thanks! I love the new LEDs much more as well.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

*tank update*

It's been a few months since I last updated... here we go.

*Oct 2013 *









*Got some new Discus*

























*Nov 2013*









*And.. got some more Discus... *


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## zetvi (Jun 12, 2013)

Beautiful tank! One of my friend is having a 125 gallon discus too and she really wants to have a live planted tank. Can you please go in details of substrate/ co2/wc a week and dosing? She is still afraid of those needed for plants that might harm her lovely discus, so if you can provide the details, that will be much appreciated!


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

zetvi said:


> Beautiful tank! One of my friend is having a 125 gallon discus too and she really wants to have a live planted tank. Can you please go in details of substrate/ co2/wc a week and dosing? She is still afraid of those needed for plants that might harm her lovely discus, so if you can provide the details, that will be much appreciated!


Eco complete, co2 targeting ~25-30ppm (which means pH drops about 1.0 when the co2 is on), 50% wc weekly and EI dosing macro/micro


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## zetvi (Jun 12, 2013)

Thank you !


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

zetvi said:


> Thank you !


Np. Your friend shouldn't be worried about keeping Discus and plants together. I would say the biggest challenge would be watching the co2 levels. Try to have that dialed in and set. A few times I ran into issues where the co2 regulator didn't turn off when the timer was off.


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

*2014 Updates!*

It's been awhile since I've updated. A lot has happen in 6 months, here's some key things.

*March 2014 Overview*

















*During a water change... so many plants O_O*









*April 2014 - Got my first confirmed pair!  Blue is female, Red is the Male. No wigglers though.*

























*May 2014 Overview - I dedicated a side for the Discus Pair. Lucky fishy!*









*June 2014 - House went through some remodeling, so I had to blackout/cover the tank for 2+ weeks to avoid dust/debris from getting in. As a result, 70% of the plants melted and died off... *









*The tank is slowly coming back together, but here's what you can look forward to in the next update. They're in a QT tank, but I think I like the color red... *


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## JPrice904 (Jul 23, 2013)

Beautiful tank and fish!


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## polukoff (Oct 12, 2011)

Very nice tank! I am assuming you're around the Dallas area? And did you get the discus from Kenny?


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

JPrice904 said:


> Beautiful tank and fish!


Thank you



polukoff said:


> Very nice tank! I am assuming you're around the Dallas area? And did you get the discus from Kenny?


Thanks. Austin area. Yup all of my Discus are from Kenny's Discus.

It's been a few months since the last update. I'll try to post a new shot of the tank this week.


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## derik999 (Jul 24, 2014)

I hope to have a Discus tank some day. Very inspirational!


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

derik999 said:


> I hope to have a Discus tank some day. Very inspirational!


Thank you. I'm sure you'll get some down the road. 

*Sept 2014 Update *- Plants are still growing in since the blackout back in June/July.









Video if you like it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccU98c3cU3o&index=4&list=UUD1O5nupXVO99fg0fpedwnw


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