# My projects journal: tanks, wabi kusa, house plants, diy



## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I originally had 3 different threads going. Now that all of the tanks are in the same room, I have had those threads merged. This thread is a timeline from my first introduction to the planted tank world, to current. I try and update on a weekly basis with photos and information about the tanks. As you will see, my main tank has gone through a pretty extensive change. 

Currently this thread will track


55g-Mopani Mantle









The old 55g started leaking. I started fresh 5/16/14









55g as of 8/1/14









12/8/14









12/21










29g- 









8/1/14









8/17/14









Starting over, making this a betta home now. 9/21/14









10/19/14









12/8/14









12/21









10-grow out









8/1/14









12/21









truaqua 8.7g









8/1/14









10/19/14


















12/21









Please take a look, enjoy the photos and feel free to ask any questions. I believe in open source, sharing knowledge baby!

Below is the original start of the Mopani Mantle Thread. 

Enjoy

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Hello everyone, I made an into in the GD area down below. My name is Joe and I live in Olathe, KS, which is not to far from Kansas city. 

I've had a 55 gallon tank for a pretty long time. At the start it was really just a ooooh looks cool type of tank (lots of plastic) My tank started to leak so I decided to take it down and start over. I picked up a solid glass tank on craigslist dirt cheap. So my rehab began.
This is what the tank originally looked like
Your basic run of the mill petsmart set up. 









I was really really really really really tired of fighting hard water build up on the tank. I wasn't going to put up another tank and deal with it again. We have decently hard water here in Olathe. My first step was to pick up an R/O system. Amazon had a coralife system at a price I couldn't pass up. I put together a little frame to hang it on.








After some serious thought and debate with the wife over "our" new decor I decided it was cheaper to build what I want vs paying retail price. I searched out some local businesses and found some cheap, like .90/lbs cheap slate and rock.
so it went in first 








1 inch of old gravel that just had to much bio to let go, 3 inches of eco complete and the rest is fine black and blue sand. I built all of the rock structures with some putty from petsmart. Not the best, but I'm happy with it for my first attempt.
Suspended the light bar from the ceiling, this light bar was on amazon for 137 and I think I got the last one, b/c they came off the site after I did my purchase. 3 plugs, 3 on/off switches 2 12k, 2 anatic and 4 moonlight leds.
























Looked empty so I picked up some plants from liveaquaria (place is awesome btw)
And plants
(march 27th)








2 ruffle plants, 3 hyprophilas and 2 dwarf hairgrass (which have not taken off yet)
Here is a more recent picture, I built and added a rock cave to the left side of the tank and moved a few things around b/c the fish didn't seem to like how it was designed lol. 
















Here are my babies
6 convicts
9 penguin tetras
Albus the defender (albino pleco)
I got the convicts from a friend, they were super small and only about 4 weeks old when I got them. (march 27th)
I don't have pictures of them all yet, but here are my best shots
Alpha








my alpha female








sup

































The current set up is as follows
Fluval 305
50w heaters
wonderful no name light "260w reef marine led light bar" with 2 65w CF coralife 6700k bulbs
whisper 40 air pump 

I dose with Seachem flourish (5ml 2x a week) 
flourish excel (3ml daily) and root tabs
Marcos get 2-3 x weekly.

Thanks for taking a look. It's not where I want it just yet, but since we are renting I'm not going to do much more until we buy a house at the end of the year. I've been fighting my Hygrophlia corymbosa, trying to get the correct ferts into the tank to get it growing again. Seems to be making a turn around now. I need to grab some newer pics, those are about 2 weeks old and my ruffle is almost to the top of the tank now.

Thoughts, opinions, suggestions, criticisms


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## horsedude (Nov 10, 2012)

looks good to be truthful im not a fan of the blue sand but I love the rock scape it just works, the fish are great as well 
good luck


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I wasn't a fan of the blue at first, my original goal was to have dwarf hairgrass covering the bottom of the tank. It had a nice start to it, but my convicts decided otherwise. I've got a few clubs still in the tank surrounded by rocks, but I've given up hope on getting it to grow.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

*Gold ram "Xandar Ranch" 29g*

I bought this set up from a friend of mine that's moving over seas. 

Eheim Ecco cannister filter
Hagen CO2 system
dual T5 6700k bulb and a "pink"
4 inches of eco complete with white sand on top. I know the sand will eventually push down below eco complete. A sand/substrate mix is what we are going for. 









picked up 5 tetra to get the tank going. 

















Here in about 1-2 months I will have a pair of German Blue Rams going in. I've got a buddy who has fry pretty regular. Good quality fish as my convicts came from him and they are doing great.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

What kind of white sand is that? It looks nice and like it has a very small grain size.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I will get the name tonight. I found it at petsmart, they were the only place that had this kind of sand. Everything else was larger grain that I didn't want. It's almost like a powder. I cut a PVC elbow into 2 parts and used the GE 1 sillicon to glue the sand on it. I think it turned out pretty well.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Tank was set up last week. Tested the tank when I got home.

Ph: 6.6/8
Ammonia:less than .25
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 20ppm

Pretty happy with it. Just need the ph to come up. I started the tank with a 50/50 tap r/o mix. With 5 gallon changes every day till friday.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

My male and female paired last night, and shortly after he started to hump the slate wall. So no I'm trying to decide what to do with my other potential 4 convicts. I'm waiting to see if my other male pairs up. That would be ideal so I would only have to remove 2 females. My wife is pretty attached to the female in the 3rd to last photo. I'm going to rescape a bit next week while I'm on vacation. I've got some more plants on order.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Tank started to cycle last yesterday.

Second guessing doing the GBR's now, not just my water is set up for them. Natural ph for my tanks is 7.4, I know the GBRs require a 6.4-7.0 ph


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

This tank was a bit of a mess. I rushed the process a bit and my results were less than par. I've spent the last few weeks doing a proper cycle and fixing a few issues.
My java fern came down with a bad case of bba. I pulled it from the tank for another project. 
I built a sump for the hagen co2 out of a gatorade bottle. No more yeast in the tank.
Found a random heater in a box! That was a huge help.
Fully planted and what had melted has come back. 
























Now to decide on my fish stock.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

This tank has gone through some changes over last 2 months

I'm working on the right 1/3 of the tank now.










Red rubin and red flame are finally showing



























The right side for the moment, still unsure if I want to add driftwood or not.









I have flowers blooming


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

I like the re-scape with all the rock. The new scape really hides the blue sand nicely.


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## andrewq (May 22, 2013)

I like the rocks used. Where did you get them from?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

They are Mexican river rock. They really help with the BB in the tank. Several of the original rocks I put in have nice brown algea built up. Really makes the tank look more natural. 
I picked them up from a local place called Merriam house of rocks. I bought a 5 gallon bucket for about 30.00 with Small to large so I can constantly change it up if need be. 

Not many people like the blue sand, but I have not really seen any other planted tanks with blue sand. It really stands out when looking at it in person. I would love to change it to a black sand. Seeing how I have a flowering plant I really don't want to mess with my 3 inch sand bed honestly. Once the last of the convicts get pulled out. I'm going to add more microsword and get a bit of some carpet going along the backside of the tank. Changing up the fish in the next month. I'm going with Bolivian Rams instead of Convicts. 

My next step is to move the Fluval 305 to the center of the stand so I can add another 10 gallon tank below. I'm going to frame around them to make a "faux" outter cover out of wood. That way I can remove it to work on stuff if need be. I've got the 10 gallon tank, brooder lamp and bulb. I just need a sponge filter, heater, and air pump, substrate. Basically everything else. It's a work in progress.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Made a "3D" background last night. I'm going to find a lighter color and do it a little different next time. This was a trial run.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Its been awhile. I've done some major changes.

New stock


















Redid the right side


















The rams are amazing, I'm glad the convicts are gone. I have a nice peaceful community tank. I still have some additional plants to migrate in. Just waiting to trim my 29. I've switched to dry fert solutions, and looking into co2 set ups at the moment.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Awesome tanks! I miss my Serpae Tetras!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Marrz (Sep 3, 2013)

Rams will do fine at the ph you listed. I have a spawning pair plus another in 7.8 ph water. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Would they house ok with my betta? He keeps to himself in my rotala most of the time.


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## Marrz (Sep 3, 2013)

I have a Betta in my tank as well, Rams could care less about him. I'm by no means an expert, but most of what I have read points to consistency of water parameters being more important than exact target numbers.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The blue wasn't working well with the rams. It was fine for the convicts. Not dark enough for them. I picked up some Tahitian moon sand. I'm just looking to dull the blue down. As the fish mix it around, I will add more. This tank had a nice sand bed with lots of bio in the gravel. I removed some swords to make way for the dwarf sag. Add some crypts I propagated from the 29g. 





































I really want some moss in this tank. My excel dosage kills it every time. The anubias up front might have to go. Its got bba. Until I get pressurized co2, I'm going to stick with stems. I've got some macrandra red growing in the 29, I'm going to add some to the rear. Should make the green pop. We'll see.


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

Give that Dwarf Sag a few months and it will cover the tank. I think its looking pretty good. I would raise the water level and look for a large piece of driftwood that reaches the surface for some real impact


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Moved the anubias to the 10g and replaced the mopani


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Busy day today, finished my last round of treatment to the new wood today. This was the best position for what I want to plant around it. Moved the crypts around and pulled the last martii out.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Worked on the left side this morning. The bottom half is done. I'm on the hunt for more mopani. I think I'm going to suspend some. Thanks for looking at the updates.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm giving this tank some attention while the 55 is settling in. Added a diy moss column and removed a few plants. (In the 55g now) I'm moving all the hairgrass towards the front. I'm going to attempt to carpet the rear with various height of stargrass starting from the corner going diagonally across. Added some westeria so rico can make a bubble nest. Any thought on what plants to add here. I tried brown crypts but they kept melting. I want to avoid swords.


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## CPD (Feb 7, 2012)

Awesome to see the progression of this tank!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Update time

Just finished moving some stuff around. What do you think?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

What is this. I've tried matching a pitcure but I can tell. Its not black so I'm ruling out bba. My nitrates are in the 40-60 range. I'm slowly switching the tank from straight r/o to a blend of tap. I'm still dosing excel. This tank is not seeing pressurized co2 until I have the basics down on the 29. As the fish loss would be much less in it. My goal is to stuff it with various stems, fast growing until I have enough growth to out compete the algae. 

I'm dosing 5ml of kno3 and kh2po4 sun, tue, thur

5 ml of csm+b mon, wed, fri

Sat off with water changes on sunday. Between 10-15g. 

It gets between 2-3 gallons of top off r/o throughout the week since we turned the heater on.

I have a feeling its due to swings in co2, it gets 5ml daily around 8am, lights are on from 12:00 to 8pm, some minor sunlight but its dim.



















Thanks to those who follow this thread.


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## georgesd (Jun 12, 2013)

40-60 ppm of nitrates is way too high I believe. You should do larger water changes.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Continuing the pursuit of the perfect tank. I want to dangle some drift from the top of the tank. I'm torn on mixing driftwoods. I can't find a mopani that I like. I've always been a fan of manzanita, but unsure of how it would look mixed.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

They are showing more color and actually eating from top of the tank now. They love swimming around the left side through the driftwood.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Pulled a late night last night and messed with the tank. Cleaned the hoses, and man was that mess in the kitchen. Replaced the filter pads and got it flowing again. I had a bunch of left over packing paper. So I put together a new bacground. 






















































Still need to move the air stone over and move the heater to the rear.


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## oldskool559 (Aug 19, 2013)

looking good!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I planted these as top cuttings a week ago. They were about 5 Inches tall, right below the driftwood. Took these tonight. 

The macrandra has woken up, I have several pink stems ( don't know the correct term) growing off the main stem. These seem to be rather slow growing. They have had about a month to root.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I could not pass these two up yesterday. I attempted to place them in the 29g with riko, but that didn't work out very well. 

I welcome nova and nebu to the community. 




























I put them in yesterday afternoon. They are fitting in fine. Sticking together and swimming with the tetra.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I spent some time observing behavior with the addition on nova and nebu (still not sold on this, help me out) 

For the last 24hours Sebastian has stuck to his right sidr divet he's made home. Here, well in my head is the exchange I just watched that went down between nova and Sebastian.

Middle mopani piece, nova on the front side, Sebastian on the back.

Sebastian: (swims up) looks, sup
Nova: same thing

Both swim down

Sebastian: (su) fin, sup
Nova: oh you got fin, I got fin, bam

Repeat for about 5min untl Sebastian "flex'd" on him.

N&N have been doing a little bit of chasing, and they keep raming the dwarf sag and get confused when it moves. Im hoping the chasing will lessen a bit once they settle in.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

So that experiment failed. N&N were just to pushy for the Bolivians. So riko from my 29g joined the community. N&N now have the 29g to chill out in. Riko sticks to the top on his betta hammock. Worked out well all around.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Riko has joined the ram community tank. 

I moved these two guys into this tank.

Nova and Nebula


















Great contrast against the green.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

I like this tank a lot better without the blue sand.  The driftwood is also a pleasant addition. It's too bad the rams couldn't get along. Maybe the next time you move plants and driftwood/rocks around, disturbing the current territory, might be worth a shot to try again.
Nice to see your stems are growing. I just added a bunch to my 55. I'm hoping they'll start growing quickly.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm really happy with how this tank has come along in the 8 or so months I've been really working on it.

I joined this site and went from 1 basic looking tank to 3 compeletly planted tanks in a pretty short period of time. I love the wealth of information TPT has. 

I wish the rams would have gotten along. Sebastian wasn't an issue, but they were cornering my females, which are usually free swimming in the mid range. They could not leave the right side of the tank without getting chased back. All 3 of my tanks have the same water conditions. So it's easy to swap fish around. I put riko straight in and he's had zero issues. Pretty funny watching all of the tetra take turns swimming up riko to check him out. I put the betta hammock in the top left my the intake pipe. He's content.

I originally wanted the 29 to house blue rams, but went with the betta as a "place holder" while the tank was establishing and I finished the scape. The orange/yellow they have right now looks great with all the green the 29g has. 

The dwarf sag is spreading very quickly on the left side of the tank. No so much on the right but the crypts are growing pretty steady. The star grass I added from the 29 started to grow upwards, but within the last week they have all fallen to the substrate and look pretty bad. I'm going to give them some more time. Is there anything I can do to promote growth in my macrandra? It's growing very very very slowly compare to my other stems. My next addition will be some Italian Val, they didn't like the jungle val, I found it floating 3 times so moved it to the 29g. I think it was to big and blocking swimming paths for the rams.

I added some java moss to the mopani on the right and some taiwan on the left mopani. It's been in for 3 days and I'm starting to see some brown. I believe I pulled the last moss to early, I figured brown=dead but I should have waited a bit longer. I've read it can take a few weeks for the moss to establish. I hope to see some new green growing by next month. I've increased my water changes, my nitrate is very night 40-60ppm, I've done well over 50% of the water in the last two weeks using R/O instead of tap. My tap has 15-20ppm nitrate, doing the 50/50 tap blend shot my nitrates up from 10 to 60. So I'm going back to 80% r/o 20% tap until I can get this figured out. I know I have a pretty big fish load in this tank. I plan on adding an additional cannister filter next year. Probably another 305 or something smaller.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Help me come up with a name for this tank. I'll post so recent shots tonight.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

What is the appeal of the crinkled paper look versus a solid background?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Something different from my other tanks and it got the "god damn paper out of the garage" I have like 30ft of it and my wife wanted it out of the garage. It needs some adjustments, but I like the look. I'm open to suggestions though.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Rams have settled in nicely. Novas tail is growing back. Almost healed in 7 days. Ive added some jungle val and replaced the maxican river rock with some tiger rock.

Plants are starting to fill in.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Riko has taken to the upper left corner so I'm building him a little hang out area.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Someone in the tank was digging cave out under the slate. Making a mess of things. So I removed the slate this morning and the red flame.


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

Cool Bolivian rams and tank!  AWESOME pics!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thanks, They are enjoying the more open swimming area. I should have taken a photo of the red flames roots. They were a few inches shy of 2ft. I added some ital Val, and a few others I propagated from my 29g.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

More plants


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Any opinions on the sex of these? I think 2m and 2f
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKV4bz4OGcg&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Built a diy co2 system this week. Hooked it up this morning. Heading out for thanksgiving, hope I come back to bubbles.


















Temple's are settling in


















Have a great thanksgiving everyone. 

Cross your fingers for bubbles tonight!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The co2 system is working, I had micro bubbles last night. I had 3 bare macranda stems yesterday. Today ive got some growth already. Should have done this months ago


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

A little weekend update. Ive been on vacation all week. I devoted some time throughout the week and cleaned up the tanks. Since adding the diy co2, my temple plants have started to branch off. Ive cut excel cold turkey from this tank. 

This macrandra was dormant for some reason. This is all new growth since Thursday.










Couple of additional pics


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Growth picture of the macrandra









Stargrass has come alive









So, thoughts on male or female


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Nova and sunshine are doing wonderful. I have some blue starting to come out.

The driftwood of the left side became a bba breeding ground. So I removed. I have some ludwigia sp red on the way to fill the void. My hairgrass has almost filled in the left side like I want it to.




























+10 internet points if you can name the xandar reference


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Update time

Ive started to gain some ground on the bba/staghorn. Spot treatment of peroxide a change in viewing time with two less hours ive managed to clean up a bunch of it. Im resetting the tank. Way to much fert and light and not enough water changes.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Something found its way in a pot of boiling water!

2 more sessions and i get to play.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## keats (Apr 26, 2013)

Very pretty rams!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I've had the diy co2 on this tank for almost a month now. I have had a serious uptake in growth. The large hygro has not reached the surface of the tank and has started to produce a bunch of very vibrant green side shoots. I added some blue hygro, or corymbosa last night. I had this plant when I first started the planted tank adventure. They did not make it. I'm interested to see how they fair in the tank now, 10 months later after a lot of changes were made. The Bolivian Rams are starting to show more color and I'm starting believe I now have 2 pairs in the tank. I need to pull the sarpaes out, they keep nipping at tails. They never did this before, but in the last 3 weeks they have started nipping everything in the tank, so they are coming out if I can catch them. 

I raised the tank light up another inch above the tank. The BBA has started to subside now. Still some on my anubias and jungle val though. I'm going to let the large temple grown above the water. I would like to see them flower.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Got my Bob Ross on this afternoon. 



















Weather in ks


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaavsGQSCoU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Another vid of the tank


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Made some changes


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

New additions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzX1WfjjfdQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Im rather pleased with the growth ive had since adding the co2.

The corys and otos have claimed the stargrass on the right. Each bolivian has claimed an inbetween section of the middle mopani. They have their own little apartments divided with plants. I will try and snag a photo of them in the morning when they are poking out.


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## zetvi (Jun 12, 2013)

It filling in great! Have you figured out which one is male/female yet? I


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I believe I have. Based on the tails and chins I have two males and two females
Over the last week ive noticed some lip locking between the same couples. I really wanted two pairs. I pulled the serpaes out. They were nipping fins and being to aggressive towards the other fish. Since removing the tank has really come alive. Fish are schooling once again and the new growth on the bettas tail has stayed.


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## trailsnale (Dec 2, 2009)

just read your thread from beginning to date. can't recall seeing such a transformation in such a short period. really fantastic job!!!

thanks,


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Welp, that didnt take long.










Here is mama


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

timeline so far-
From adding the 2 additional females
-Days 1-3-nova went female to female dancing and strutting his colors off

-4-5 he starting following the female that showed him zero interest. 

-Day 6 female showed red spots on belly, nova and her were side by side now 7-now

-They dug a pit first in the back corner. She laid the eggs and he rubbed against the pot. They then moved them to the pit and covered them. 

Several pits have been dug around around the pot. Eggs are in one of them.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Still no wigglera


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you, I'm very pleased with the progress this tank has made. I've learned a lot in the last 9 months. 

Update time

Im about due for a trim. My wife thinks there are to many plants in the tank. Since adding the co2 and stuffing it full of plants ive had next to no algae issues. The fish enjoy the shade the corymbose provides, they are actually schooling now instead of swimming in one spot. 










The duckweed keeps killing my tops. Its a pita to remove. Never should have put it in the tank.


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## jmf3460 (Aug 21, 2013)

absolutely stunning! what a great progression. Your tank is beautiful. I wouldn't trim anything just yet, maybe the plants that reach the surface but other things still have lots of growing to do. Dwarf Sag is my favorite of your tank.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I want to trim back the stargrass, it's overgrowing the crypts. Although the crypts have started to grow taller based on the last 2-3 leafs they have produced. I added some ludwigia sp rubin last night to the righ and left sides. I think it will give some nice contrast to the green in the tank. 

Does anyone know anything about the rotala macrandra? I planted 4 stems in the tank, the one pictured above is the only one that has grown. The other three seem to be stunted. I can't figure out why. I added some additional root tabs under them. Should I cut the stems to promote new growth?


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## [email protected] (Dec 13, 2013)

Looking good


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

For whatever reason, unknown to me. I'm not able to grow moss in this tank. specifically java moss. I attached some taiwan moss to the driftwood on on the left side (by the red rubin) it's growing slowly. All of the java moss I attached to the driftwood on the right side has turned brown and fallen off the wood. I'm going to give up on having moss in this tank. 

I was thinking about attaching some fissidens to the wood on the right. Do you guys think that would blend in well with the tank? How much should I look at picking up to get a good start?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

i've decided to move this tank. Saturday morning I'm going to wake up early, pull all of the water out of the tank, put the fish in buckets and have my brother help me carefully and slowly carry this tank down a flight of stairs, across a living room, and into the dinning room to be put with the rest of the tanks. I have no idea how heavy this tank will be, just substrate and plants. I hope we will be able to carry it and not slosh the scape all around. Last thing I need is a mini cycle kicking off.


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## Duck5003 (Oct 1, 2012)

In my experience moving tanks like that, i treat it like a water change. I take all the water out, but keep the equivalent of what would have stayed in the tank in buckets or what have you and then add it back in after the move and top off with the new water. Never had any problems and that includes moving tanks to completely new locations. Just my .02  goodluck!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thanks Duck, I made a boat load of r/o water over the weekend and have some tap resting currently. 

2 buckets for the fish to hang out in while I move it which is about 10 gallons of water, I'm going to throw an air stone in the buckets in the event that it takes longer than I'm planning for.

I've never moved a tank before, this should be fun. I'm guessing the tank will weight about 50-60lbs substrate/plants/wood only.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

Nice tank, I have a suggestion for killing duckweed. Run an airstone or two at night. I can't grow floaters at all in my 75 cause it ends up dying and getting eaten by fish or taken by the filter as it dies a watery death. Doesn't hurt to have extra oxygen at night anyways.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I run an airstone from 11pm-6am and noon-2


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

My brother and I were able to get everything moved in an hour. Went pretty smoothly. 

All the tanks in one room


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Stopped by the lfs today, walked out with these Two. 























































These two have paired up


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Nova was showing off tonight


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Procured some sunset hygro, found local!

Achievement unlocked


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm going to combine my 10g tank with this thread


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## alienufo (Dec 4, 2013)

I have a very similar stock. 8 serpaes, 2 rams, 4 ottos, and 4 corys in a 36 gal. I see you moved your serpaes out though. were they harassing the beta?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

They were controlling the entire tank. The tetra wouldnt school, the rams stuck to the corners. They would chase my larger male. For the greater good of the tank. I had to pull them.


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## cbachmann (Aug 6, 2013)

Its funny, your hygro looks a little different than mine. Yours seems to hold the color in the "meat" (cant thing of the technical ternm) of the leaf while mine seems to hold the color in the veins. How odd...


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Its still adjusting, the new growth is much lighter with a red vein. The sunset is very green. Im excited to track its color change. I believe im in the med/high range for light. Light dosing of ferts and the added diy co2 has helped me find a happy medium for this tank. I feel its made great strides.


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## cbachmann (Aug 6, 2013)

Its a beautiful plant, one of my favorites because it actually stays red, even in a low-tech setup.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I gave my red rubin a pretty big trim last weekend. Since then it has exploded in color



















Did I make this happen by doing the trim?

The sunset is setting in


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Very exciting stuff going on in the tank. Noticed these new additions this morning


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

TruAqua 8.7 ordered today!


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Tank's looking awesome! The growth you've seen since the addition of the DIY co2 is nice. How are you liking the Ludwigia sp. Rubin? I've got some, with no co2 it seems to grow slowly, no big surprise, but is a very nice looking plant. 

Did you experience a mini-cycle after the move?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Ive had this thread combined with my others for a fish room thread.

Lidwigia sp is off to a slow start, but not nearly as slow as the macrandra has grown, but new growth is pretty red. Im quietly waiting for the hygro sunset to start changing. It had some. Im overly pleased with the diy co2. Its taken a bit to dial in my mixture and place the moss hob filter in the correct spot. The bubbles flow up into the stainless steel basket I made thats attachted to my aqua10, the basket sits about 3 inch into the water. The moss in the basket catch the co2 bubbles. The filter flows through the moss sending the bubbles back towards the bottom of the tank.

No mini cycle, I tested for ammonia several days after. I took all of about an inch of the water out. My brother and I took about 15min to move the tank. We went very very slow down the stairs. Used half the old water and half r/o to start it back up.


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## 1Sarah (Jan 31, 2014)

Your tank looks great! Did any babies come from those eggs? 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Hi Sarah, great question. I watched them move the eggs to a pit and then nothing. They were both pretty young rams. I think that go around was more of a one night stand for nova. They have now paired though. So I have one pair, one bachelor gold ram and a very skiddish female. They they dont pair I will probably shuffle some fish and try them in the 55g. Which would give me 3 pair in that tank total.


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## 1Sarah (Jan 31, 2014)

Italionstallion888 said:


> Hi Sarah, great question. I watched them move the eggs to a pit and then nothing. They were both pretty young rams. I think that go around was more of a one night stand for nova. They have now paired though. So I have one pair, one bachelor gold ram and a very skiddish female. They they dont pair I will probably shuffle some fish and try them in the 55g. Which would give me 3 pair in that tank total.


Practise makes perfect right? Hopefully next time you'll get some fry 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I hope so as well. I have a spare 10g and sponge filter in prep of fry. 

I purchased a truaqua 8.7 bow front today. After looking at the fluval spec v, the chi and a few others. My wife sent me the truaqua and said she wanted it. Couldnt beat the price with free shipping. So new project to focus on while these tanks grow in. In an effort to achieve bush status with the hygo, I cut it and the stargrass in the 29g, im now dealing with 2 very territorial rams, and the other two have no where to hide. Its a bit stressful in the tank right now. I replanted the tops. Shouldnt take long to grow in.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

*is888's fish room, 55g, 29g, 10g, 8.7g*



Italionstallion888 said:


> Im overly pleased with the diy co2. Its taken a bit to dial in my mixture and place the moss hob filter in the correct spot. The bubbles flow up into the stainless steel basket I made thats attachted to my aqua10, the basket sits about 3 inch into the water. The moss in the basket catch the co2 bubbles. The filter flows through the moss sending the bubbles back towards the bottom of the tank.



If you don't mind me asking, what is the mixture & portions are you using for CO2? I've tried a couple in the past and had pretty low results


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The 55g has two welch juice containters and 2 coke 2l bottles.

The mixture I use

2 cups sugar
add room temp water and shake until sugar is gone
1 table spoon of dry active yeast, I use a I believe Red Star yeast
1 table spoon of baking soda

shake and hook up rather quickly. I have bubbles within 20 min and one bottle will last me about 2-3 weeks, I alternate bottles out every other week. 

29g has the same set up, but just 2 2l bottles. I'm using the hagen ladder in this tank. While it works, it's a pain in the butt to clean. I might put a another glass ceramic disk diffuser on this tank. I was really wanting to go pressurized on both tanks. After seeing people have issues and end of tank dump, and the diy is giving me the results I want at a growth rate I can keep up with. I probably won't go pressurized until we buy a new house and I can redo a few things.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Truaqu bow will be here Friday!

The products I won from acurel should be here friday as well. Can't wait to see what they sent me.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Italionstallion888 said:


> I might put a another glass ceramic disk diffuser on this tank. I was really wanting to go pressurized on both tanks. After seeing people have issues and end of tank dump, and the diy is giving me the results I want at a growth rate I can keep up with. I probably won't go pressurized until we buy a new house and I can redo a few things.


Thanks for the recipe, I will give it a shot. I've only ever used a single 2L bottle w/a smaller overflow bottle. I might think about doing a few of these on my tank if I can't get my PB co2 system to stop leaking.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

If you have an ace hardware in your area, you can build a brass T to connect the 2ls to the sump.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Welp, 2 pair didnt work out on xandar ranch. So sunshine and unnamed female blue have joined the mopani mantle. The next few days will be interesting. Riko the betta will rehomed to his own 10g shortly.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Truaqua 8.7 was just delivered


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Noy happy with the aquatop bow, the entire tank will flex when you pick it up. Terrible

Couple fts









I did a big trim on the hygro, so the middle looks a bit empty. The ludwigia sp red hasnt really done much. None of the stems have really in this tank.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Bella has colored up a ton since the move to mopani mantle


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Look what I found in xandar ranch.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Caught them in the act last night

http://youtu.be/glVry_Da2u0


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Rescape on the 10 gallon
Fits better with the rest of the tanks. The 8.7 will be different. 

First attempt at a "slope" scape


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

So the 8.7g became a bit of a problem. The tank is not in the most desirable conditions. It has a bit of a slant to the right, due to the glass alignment. It's been holding water for the last week. Although I'm not happy about it, we are going to use the tank anyways. This is going to be my wife's project with input from myself. She's picked out everything so far. 

I showed her all of the "tank" options and she opted for the dirt method. So this weekend we picked up some organic soil and I spent some time sifting the soil. It needs one more go and the soil will be ready. She picked out some malaysian driftwood from Olathe Pets. They are sitting in a bucket right now. We ordered a stand from Nebraska Furniture mart last night. Expected delivery date is 03/08/2014. Once we get the stand here, we will decide where we think the tank will look best. So far she's picked out some Stargrass and sunset hygro to go in it. I don't think we will be doing any carpeting plants. She's wanting simple and clean. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited that she's taking an interest in my hobby and has gone full steam with this project. I will snag some progress photos later this week.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

New light for the 10g


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I put an order in at my lfs. Came in today. Very happy with them.


















Added some golden to the 55g as well


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Fts and others













































Nova


















Bella


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The end table we ordered from nebraska Furniture mart came in last night. We spent sometime last night moving the stand and tank around the house to find where we like it best. We ended up putting it where the 29g use to be in the hall way upstairs.

Left to order

Filter
light
Heater


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Just ordered a finnex fugeray-r ultra slim 
eheim 2211
cobalt neo 25 watt heater

should be here on Monday


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

So the end table we picked up from NFM was rather sketch. Only had 4 screws holding the entire thing together. So I removed the 4 screws and let it fall apart. I glued the living crap out of it friday night. As of this morning, it's as solid as can be. So that's done

Just got notification that the eheim 2211 has arrived at my door step, the heater should be in the mail box by the time I get home. Just waiting on my finnex fugeray r to come in. For some reason Amazon shipped the light with my 2TB Hdd I also ordered. So i'm looking at thursday/friday for that.

Tonight I'm going to set the filter up dry, and make my measurements for holes. I need to cut a hole in the bottom for power cables and 2 on the back or side for the filter hose.

Getting closer and I will snap some photos tonight when I get home.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Started the hardscape last night. What do you think?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Redid the 29g I had to many dead spots. Fish seem happy wIth it


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I've made some great progress with the macrandra. I think I have this plant figured out.









Couple of other shots


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I tested the 8.7g last night, my ammonia has dropped from 8ppm to 0, and I now have some nitrites showing up, about 6ppm, i'm going to do a water change this afternoon and bring the ammonia up to 3ppm. Hopefully in a week or so it will be finished.


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## doug14 (May 30, 2012)

I have just sat in my work(shhh) for around an hour reading your whole thread and just wow.

The tanks look great!

Just shows you how much you can learn and how you still learn even when you think you know it all! haha

Well done.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you Doug for taking the time to read through my thread. I've have 90% of the plants I want, and I've been able to grow them at a pretty decent rate. I've spent the last 2 weeks reading and watching youtube videos to expand my knowledge of trimming the plants. So I'm now working on getting the plants to bush/fill in the areas where I placed them. My Macrandra has taken off, but some of the new growth has started to come in green. Not sure about that.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I realized last night when watching the tank, I have litterally lost Riko. My betta was not in the 55g. Not sure what happened but RIP little guy.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I've got some Tom Barr manzanita coming for the 10G!

I'm tearing down the 10g completely, something is not right with the tank so I'm going to start over. More to come!


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Awesome! I love the look of Manzanita! I'm sure part of that is from growing up in NorCal surrounded by it. Hell, it's even what we made our forts in as kids! LOL! I'm getting excited to be back out west soon, where I can go collect my own!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Me to, while having all of the tanks "looking" the same, I decided it was time for a change. The way the 10g is set up, it's nothing but a mulmy dirty mess. I'm not pleased with the zoomed 501 canister filter. Requires way to much maint for my schedule. My only problem is, I don't have room under the stand for another filter. I would like to reduce the amount of electronics I have running on that outlet. I think I'm going to revisit the sponge filters and use my dual air pump to power it. I would love to put an eheim on it. I'm going to move all of the plants out of the 10g and place them in the others. I'm going to bleach the crap out of the tank and then let it sit for a week or so with some vinegar/water. I have a bunch of sifted dirt left over from the 8.7, so it will get the dirt treatment with a black sand as a cap. I can't wait to see what he sends me. After my loss of riko yesterday, the 10g will get a new betta, as riko was originally going to go into it once it was done. I'm a bit heart broken about riko. He was my favorite was really starting to show a lot of color.


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## Crazy4discus (Jan 30, 2014)

Nice tanks!


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## Kstawski (Nov 13, 2013)

Your tanks look great! Such a big change since adding your diy CO2! I just added 2 2L of CO2 to my 55gal and looking to add a third soon. Do you remember how soon after you noticed your plants respond to the addition of CO2?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

My dwarf sag exploded after about a week. My macrandra was not growing at all. 30 days after adding the co2, I had macrandra stems at the water line. So huge improvement. Although its turning green now for some reason. My bubbles float up to a hob with a ss mesh basket I made. I loaded the basket with java moss. The moss catches the bubbles and the running water flowing through the moss gives me almost 100% saturation. For being a diy method it works pretty darn well.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Put this together for the living room today


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Her tank has finally cycled!

I took down the 10g, all the plants from it went into hers. We agreed to let them grow in, then decide what stays or gets added. Couple of carpet plants to see which grows best. Im hoping for the microsword.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Im giving the 8.7g a test with a replacement for riko. I promised the wife I would not kill another betta of hers. I should have the 10g ready to go in about 4 weeks. This guy will be relocated to the 10g and Celeste will then pick out a new one. Pretty stoked I found him. He was in a cup all the way at the back. Hes pretty grumpy hiding behind the driftwood now. I turned the lights off for the day. What do you think? Did I pick a good replacement for riko?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Hes gotten a lot darker and his blue is starting to come through more. He seems pretty happy. 









My macrandra was looking weak, I added about 7ml of kno3 which I have not dosed in about 3 weeks. It perked up very quickly


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

So the 8.7 went up like a volcano this morning. I walked up stairs to grab some socks and the tank was a mess. I looked in and the back side substrate was erupting. Dirt, detris everywhere and a dead betta. So after some very harsh words, I redid the tank.









Updates on the others


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Box o wood from Tom Barr, for the 10g and many more tanks to come.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Progress pics: 10g

Dirt in


















Added some additional rock and black sand


















Used light grid double stacked and super glued together. Ends of the manzanita slid right into the squares. The dirft and sand seem to have them rather sturdy. We'll see what happens when I add water 




























Where its at currently. Heading up the lfs in an hour to grab an ac20 and another betta for her tank.

Now to figure out what to plant.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Minor tweaks, to cover the wood in fissdens or not...


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The splashes of color are finally building up, I can see the vision I had in my head. These plants are teaching me patience. I told myself I would not but a munch to fill it in. That I would learn how to grow them from a single stem. It's nice to see some rewards.

Added some new anubias and a red mellon that might end up in the 10g, parked in the 55 for now.


































Trying out some ludwigia red









My nitrate reducing coral









29g I added some anubias coffee, huge hygro willow, and some ludwigia red


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Picked up some Fissdens last night, attempted to "attach them" to the driftwood last night, but I'm going to have to tie them down. So that's my plan after work tonight. I've got a bunch of it, so I should get some solid coverage on the wood. I think I'm only going to cover the wood closer to the top of the tank and leave the bottom bare.

Had a huge WTF moment last night. Wife work me up at 3:30 this morning stating one of the tanks was leaking on the floor. Dead asleep to zombie mode. Went down stairs and saw the HOB on the 55g leaking from the bottom. Investigated and found the SS mesh basket I made was pushing the water under the filter and over the side of the tank. I just lifted the filter up a bit and went back to bed. Dodged a bullet on that one.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Scape is 70% done, still undecided on what else I want to plant. Might put some ludwigia red along the back side.

What do you think?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

I like the top tank.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you, the 29g is a bit of a mess. When the 10g crashed I stuck all the plants from it in there. No real rhyme or reason to placement. I'm going to let them grown in and then move/cut back to clean it up. I just planted what I had to see what would grown lol. I'm trying to get the rams to breed, over stuffing the tank and raising the water temp seemed to do the trick last time.


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## Agent69 (Oct 9, 2013)

Sweet scape with that manzanita wood. I had that problem once with my hob filter only mine was actually leaking from a sealing defect but I was so relieved it wasn't the tank itself haha

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Turned a zoomed 501 into a water change pump. No more lifting buckets! Slow baffled output.

http://youtu.be/hYuf5ymYSkg


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Nice use of the ZooMed. In your video it appears to work pretty well.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Indeed it did. Took about 5 min yo drain 5 gallons and for once the tank looked clean after the water change. Worked like a champ on the 55g as well. Just need to add shut off valves mid way on each hose.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Playing with my new gs5














































Here is some home grown bacon. I have about 25lbs of it lol


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Completed my ram collection this morning. To young to sex, Hope It's A female.

My new EB meeting bella









The rest of the community


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

i'm dreading going home tonight. Last night I noticed a cyst on Nova behind his left side fin. The other fish in the 29g look fine so far. I did a 50% water change on the tank, and turned the heat up a bit. 

My flame gourami in the 55g has some bumps forming along his body, my QT tank has not finished cycling yet, so I might be putting him down.

I really hope i'm not looking at an outbreak of lymphocystis in my tanks. This will be horrible if so. I'm going to do some 25% changes on all of the tanks over the next few days. I will probably remove my flame and honey gourami as a pre-emptive strike against what ever this might be. I can not deal with it attacking my bolivian, blue and EB rams in the 55g.

If it spreads through the 29g, that will just force me to redo the tank. I have some manzanita left over that I think will look great. Time will tell. 

I'm going to stop by the lfs after work and see what meds they have. I know with lymphocystis you just have to give them a clean environment and let it run it's course. The tank isn't dirty as the nova and my blue female both in the 29g spawned last week. I have zero idea where this came from.

/frustrated on a friday


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Worst possible timing for the 55g to start leaking from the corner. Just got back from petco with a new tank. I wont have time till next Friday to do this swap. Time to contain best as possible. This is going to be a lot of work and I just blew through my co2 money. On the plus side, I have a scratch free tank and I was going to overhaul the scape anyways. Just wasn't planning on it being this soon. 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

So the 55g started leaking last week. This morning I took down the tank and started over.

Here is time line Enjoy
Here we go!




































Temp tank is running. Just waiting on the temp to come up. I have 4 large nets to catch the fish with.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Fish, scape, plants have been removed. 



















Good bye old friend









Hello you pretty thing



























Going to put the fish back in after an hour or so






And

Done for now










Man that was a lot of work. We'll worth it though. Only took 6 hours start to finish. Not bad. Fish are swimming around, the bolivian pairs are sorting out territory. I have half a bucket of dwarf sag left over. Not sure what I'm going to do with it. I trimmed up the plants before going in. They are spread pretty thin. Im not touching a thing for the next month. I'm going to let the tank do its thing and re establish. Which will give me time to save for co2 again. Over all I'm very pleased with out the swap went. I tried to be very method with it. The temp tank was a huge help. Fish were pale, but color has started to come back already.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


>


Love these photos, which anubias variant is that in the last photo?

Good luck with the fish rodeo (trying to catch them all). I found using a cup that I always used for water changes was easier to get them in (and out of the tank) than a net which they always seem to remember as "BAD".


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Coffeefolia, my favorite. My collection is nowhere near yours. Totally digging what you have planted in your tank. I placed all my large variety in the 55g now. The Nana and petite will head into the 29g tomorrow. Sorry to hear about the rhizome rotting. Hope they bounce back.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The tank has cleared up. Here are some closer shots of the scape.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> Coffeefolia, my favorite. My collection is nowhere near yours. Totally digging what you have planted in your tank. I placed all my large variety in the 55g now. The Nana and petite will head into the 29g tomorrow. Sorry to hear about the rhizome rotting. Hope they bounce back.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


Thank you! still want more "gotta collect 'em all, gotta collect 'em all.. ANU-BI-US!!" lol pokemon reference really like the layout from your most recent photos, very healthy plants, especially love the hue of the swords! I don't keep any large ones since the only tank tall enough for big swords has a plant eating pleco in it.
The coffeefolia I have was hidden behind other anubias so I never saw its new leaves till they were already opened up. I have one more anubias I am eyeing that may go (discolored rhizome :c), but the rest seem ok.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I fixed my rotting ones by dipping them in a bowl of straight hydrogen peroxide for about 5 min, then took a tooth brush to the rhizome. The clean wound areas have given new rhizome growth in about a month. I want some star dust and a few others.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> I fixed my rotting ones by dipping them in a bowl of straight hydrogen peroxide for about 5 min, then took a tooth brush to the rhizome. The clean wound areas have given new rhizome growth in about a month. I want some star dust and a few others.


The ones I recieved with rott I cut off thr rot and dipped the cut end for about 30 seconds in a diluted peroxcide, maybe I'll try the harsher treatment, I know they are awesomely tough plants to tolerating bleach and peroxide. Thanks for the info on that ^^
Has everyone (fish) settled in fine from the tank shuffle?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

With the new layout and more open space, the fish are no longer swimming in tight schools. My wife hated the mopani scape. She loves this one. Lowering the substrate level really helped open the tank up. More natural and clean in my eyes. Im waiting for my lfs to do his monthly buy one get one. He has his anubias priced at 2.99-5.99, so I load up on his left overs before the new stuff comes in. What Other Varieties should I have him order? 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Well if you're going for a large collection, I have a hard time finding:
marbled (for non eye gouging prices)
stardust (for non eye gouging prices)
snow white (never gonna find for non eye gouging price x.x)

caladiifolia
augustifolia (sometimes sold as minima or lanceolata)
glabra (also sometimes sold as minima or lanceolata)
nanagi
gracilis
gilletii (I can't find Constantino on height info for this)

larger varieties:
hastifolia
heterophylla
gigantea (this one as the name implies is gigantic! want one but no room for it)

If they can special order these then i envy you! I've also bought some anubias varieties from (with shipping charges):

plantedaquariumscentral:
Frazeri
Nana var narrow leaf (its a little large leaf than petite and very compact)
+some of the more common ones:nana, petite, and coffefolia

H4n on pt: 
broadleaf (on steroids) that's sold as a barteri
gold
micro
hastifolia
+ other common ones

I won't say who I got stardust, lanceolata, heterophylla, and afzelii from as they sold me the bad plants...

Personally I *love *true anubias bradaleaf as they have quite wide leaves, I put mine under the outflow of my hob to keep it from stirring up the sand substrate, great plat for fish to hide under the leaves of.


Disclaimer for admins: I'm not giving reviews of sellers, just saying who sells what that I've bought from (and did not 'say' seller's name for the negative comment)


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

55g new tank, new scape: http://youtu.be/dnDYWj1dJbM

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Tank is settling in. Driftwood is 90% secure same with the anubias. A few are "floating" on string to encourage root growth from rot. A week out and I'm in love with this scape. Mopani was fun, but this functions way better.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I don't expect Nova to make it through the weekend. What ever bacteria he has I have not been able to treat. He's been sitting on the bottom of the tank looking very white for the last 2 days. Once he goes, I will probably rehome some of the fish, not sure what to do with the female ram. I really don't want to put her in the 55g as that might cause some aggression issues. (i'm not sure if my EB ram is male or female yet)

Life has gotten a bit busy and caring for 4 tanks has become a bit much. As much as I love the scape in the 10g, I'm going to break it down, move the AX20 to the 29g, giving me 2 ac20s and an eheim ecco on that tank. Remove the anubias from the mopani and rescape the 29g using the manzanita from the 10g. My betta in the 8.7 will relocate to the 29g and the wife will get to pick out her new betta. This will allow me to focus on getting the 55g pressurized and moving the 29g to a more low/med tech with a smaller bio load should help. I just can't keep up with the water changes right now. Ever changing hobby I tell ya.

i'm also considering apisto's for the 29g, thoughts on this?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sorry to hear about your fish, hopefully it passes quietly and peacefully, and not the ugly way nature sometimes shows (getting eaten while still alive or bullied to death because its sicker/weaker than other fish). Are you re-using the anubias on new wood or getting rid of it all together? No experience with apisto but looks like a cool fish. Look forward to seeing the re-scape.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm going to reuse it. I have a bunch of nana that will look great on the manzanita. Nova is the king of the tank, I see him just passing or me having to put him down. New rock and wood for the 20g, this should come together nicely if the vision I have works out lol


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

8 coffeefolia for 30.00, I love my lfs


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Lucky!!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

8 talked him down from 6.99 each to elan even 30 for 8. Hes made enough off me over the last 2 years, im starting to see special deals lol. He is ordering me some nana and petite as well. 

Picked up a marble queen and golden pothos for my aqua clear, living and dining room.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Here is another tour of the 55g and a sneak peak of the 10g

http://youtu.be/oIhcRQlRllg


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Slow motion with the new wave maker. 55g: http://youtu.be/KylMU02DxS8

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Fts


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

used my amazon rewards points yesterday to purchase a 25ft python. Excited to put the buckets away finally and make doing the 4 tanks easy as pie. It takes about an hour and a half to do all 4 tanks currently. Here's to hoping I can cut that down to 30min.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

After the death of nova, I was really close to selling off the 29g set up. I changed my mind and decided to make a new home for a new pair. I picked this guy up last night. As of this morning they were swimming around together.









How the 29g looks now


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Great news!



I put a a small Tera cotta dish in there for them to use the day I put him in. 5 days later, they do this









Pretty happy tonight.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

New leaf on The tiger lotus, words can't describe how happy I am to have this plant. 



















My red rubin is a mom, digging the color of the baby already. I will have to sell it off once it grows, I don't have room for a 3rd one. I wish I had the room for a 90 gallon. One day


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Just reread this thread! Felt like I had missed a lot since I last commented so I decided to start from scratch. I'm really digging the looks of the new 55. Huge bummer about the old one dying. I am dreading that happening to my old tank. I see you're putting the box 'o manzanita to good use! Glad you're enjoying the Red Tiger Lotus, I've got one that I really like. It has just started to produce new larger leaves after my cross country move last month. I actually ended up with two plants from the one bulb. I hope that in time I will be able to remove another small rooted plantlet to put in another tank! Glad things seem to be going well!


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Oh, I'm also really liking that marbled pothos you picked up! Just got a pot yesterday, not quite as much white in mine though!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you, it was sad to see the old tank go, but the new direction I've taken this tank makes up for it. Still a long way to go, im at a stand still until I replenish the funds for co2. I'm pretty close. If I can sell off my old propane grill and my 10g set up I will be there plus some. This Friday in redoing the 8.7g, I used way to much dirt and not enough sand cap. It is a bloody mess right now.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Photo update of your pothos and palm(?) in the hob?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Its not done yet, I upgraded to an ac30, working on adding the pothos, I have a small bit in right now.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I left both pothos planted, I wanted to get some new growth that was adjusted to my room light before I plant in the hob. This is my new growth


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I think the 8.7g has taken a turn for the better. Did some topping and replanting









My betta that won't sit still long enough for a good photo


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The bgr pair in the 29g


















Their new spawning area I put together this afternoon


















I'm raising the temp up 2* to see if she will lay eggs again. The Cory cats are gone. Having the cave should protect the eggs from the tetras. Not sure how the tetra will do in the higher temps. I have the heater set at 83*


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

55g: http://youtu.be/bBHJESFjFuM


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Finally decided to do something with the bowl



























Waiting on it to settle and plants are going in.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Removed the air stone, and wave maker for a fluval 106. This will have the in line co2 diffuser, leaving the 305 as my main filter.

Swapped out some driftwood and removed a few algae covered plants.









Moved the 10g to another room, for co2 tank room.









10g upstairs now


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

New addition to the 55g, he's holding his own against Sebastian who's twice the size, but my bolivian rams are pretty chill fish. He's sticking to the lower right of the tank. Not much exploration of the tank yet.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Changed the right side of the tank, I wanted more open swimming area and plant room.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Got a friend for double red (nick)









Guess the fish









Mom and dad were wild caught in peru. She's awesome


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

How's the marble queen transplant doing?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Still in the vase rooting, getting closer


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Both fish have settled nicely. My panduro has colored back up. 

Pic of the planted hob in process

















Not much but it's a start. I want to figure out some sort of basket going into the tank. I have some surface scum, ive removed all the air stones, to much water evaporation. I don't know what to plant in the basket nor what to make the basket out of. My last attempt with stainless steel didn't work to well.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

This is something new my emeralds are doing. At one point all 6 were surfing the current like this. Couldn't get the pick quick enough.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

apistogramma agassizii triple yellow came in today. Can't wait to watch this guy color up









Some plant updates
Added nangi and minima anubias



























29g is a bit meh right now. I'm more trying to breed the rams than grow the plants. What led light should I go with to get me more in the med light range? Current usa planted+ or the finnex ray2?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Yeah buddy 10 stems of hygrophila polysperma 'rosanervig'


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I spotted a marble queen pothos at a grocery store today, I grabbed it and started walking towards next isle of food I needed to go in then realized ".. I have NOWHERE to put this (in riparium)." and put it back.. it wasn't very healthy anyways but its a pretty contrast from the green and yellow I have :/
Pretty new hygro btw, whats the fish right behind it?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Small terracotta pots with 2 stems of pothos make pretty wall art. I'm adding them to my floating shelves.

Its an apistogramma panduro, 1 generation domestic. Parents were wild caught by a local club member.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Quick shots of the hygrophila sunset settling in and my beta


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Pretty lavender (is that the right color term.. or does that refer to the more pastel hued purple-reds?) betta, whats its name?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

he changes color, sometimes it's more blue other times it is a darker purple. Since he started making bubble nests the lavender has been his most constant color. No name yet, the last 3 betas I had, right after I gave them names, they took a leap of faith to the floor, so I've stopped naming them lol. 

With him covering almost the entire top of the tank in bubble nests, does that mean he wants to breed? Should I try and locate a female or something for him? The tank is a 8.7g bow front.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I'd say "yes" but some more knowledgeable betta owners will says building a nest is just their thing, even in [censor] water conditions (not that you have these) that couldn't support babies they will still build.... 
Buuut my male is really half arsed about making a nest.. I keep my flow very minimal (just enough to prevent bio film) and there are a few plants going to the surface/floaters.. but he only kept up a bubble nest for about 2 weeks (right after i told someone i don't think he wants to breed because he never builds one). After that it was 2-3 weeks of no nest then 1 nest again after his other resident passed from a filter mis-hap.. and no new ones since...
Babel babel.. if you can house all the babies and have the time to monitor the female while she's in with him so someone doesn't get hurt/killed I'd go for it.
I don't have the ability to house all the babies as they get aggressive before their old enough to color up to be sold, or I'd get a mustard gal for my Xerxes and try it.. if he'd build a nest again...

What are you feeding your boy? 
Supposedly higher protein diet (don't constipate them with over feeding) helps educe nest building/getting heavy with eggs for bettas. Mine is on pellets except Sat evening meal: gets either frozen blood worms or brine shrimp (rotate each week). Maybe if i increased frozen foods or gave live black worms more often he'd keep up the nest building..


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I give him 3-4 pellets daily and on sunday he gets a treat of either shrimp pellets or tetra color crisps which he loves. I don't have another tank to house a female, they couldn't co-habitate together? Do beta's pair, I guess that's my question.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> I give him 3-4 pellets daily and on sunday he gets a treat of either shrimp pellets or tetra color crisps which he loves. I don't have another tank to house a female, they couldn't co-habitate together? Do beta's pair, I guess that's my question.


Oh sorry for not covering that. NO, you cannot keep males and females together..not the man made breeds anyways (veiltail, crowntial, delta, plakat, etc).. some wildtypes/wild caught can be kept in reverse harmems (more males than females) but I have no experience with those. 
The common betta breeds people get can kill each other instead of getting it on to begin with (being bred for aggression for fish fights), but if they do mange to do the nasty, the male immediately after becomes VERY protective of the bubble nest and will chase/harass/even kill the female he just mated with. You have to have another home for the gal. If you want her in the same tank then you need some fugle barrier/divider or keep her in a breeder basket.. but they will not be a happy couple. They do not mate/pair for life as many breeders are able to switch around their gays and boys for mating, but some fish just plain don't get along with each other.
Also good to have a LARGE tank with dense planting for line of sight break up all over for grow out of betta babies (as mentioned the aggression starts before they are at common selling age), or a ton of jars/cups/bowls and the ability to filter/heat... or be doing a lot of water changes. Not sure if its the same for bettas.. but angelfish breeders usually leave some sort of mild/night light on when tanks lights are out to keep parents from eating eggs or fry. Don't think betta dad will eat eggs in nest but he might eat fry on first try or two.. having a light and plenty of hiding places for fry (moss, floater/riparium roots) may help.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thanks, that helps a lot. I have some thinking to do.

I pulled some of the dwarf sag to bring the fish from the back of the tank. Its been 3 weeks since I removed the diy co2, I have some wicked bba I'm spot treating and I have cut my ferts back. The plants are growing, I need co2. Tuition and books then a system.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Just purchased wildcats co2 system! I have a week vacation starting the 18th. Set it up this coming weekend and a week to dial it in. Excitement!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Please if you have a moment, visit this thread and throw a little vote up for me

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=701097


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Fun starts this weekend!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Now that I have my co2 stuff, I'm going back and forth on doing a complete redo of the 29g. Right now the mopani takes up so much room that I could use for more plants. I'm thinking about swapping the mopani out for something out. I want a scape that will make the blue rams feel comfortable yet give me more space for planting. I don't really want to do manzanita as the 55g already has it. Not sure what to do, I like malaysian wood, and my lfs has a boat load of it, but I'm not sure the rams will like it. Suggestions?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I've been growing fissdens at work, started off with some mush I removed from my tank at home. Checked on it today and found this










Here are my other projects at work


















This is my favorite one


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Gratz on your non mush fissdens! Love the light green an variegated pothos planter in the last photo, great color contrast.
Do you keep any aquatic fauna at work or just this flora?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Working on setting up a tank. I need to have facilities install a table first. Just waiting on the work order to get sent through. 

The middle black pot has some white queen pothos in it. Its starting to root finally. 

The last photo started as 2 8 inch stems a year ago. Its sitting next to a tinted window that gets partial sun throughout the day. Growing like a champ.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Co2 is a go, working great so far. Only been running for about 2 hours.



















I snagged some great driftwood at the lfs. Currently sitting in a bucket. Rescape tomorrow!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

To help with line of sight and give the background some help, pulled out my slate tub


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

So far the co2 system has been working great. The jbl regulator took a bit to dial in but it's staying in place. Almost gassed the fish on sunday, threw an air stone in and did a 4 gallon water change. They were fine about 30min later. I'm going to slowly increase the co2 amount over the next few weeks. Just finished with an ink appointment. Hoping to find some eggs in the tank when I get home. They were getting "busy" this morning on a slate tile I put in.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Started adding tops from other tanks


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I noticed a huge reduction is flow out of the 305 over the weekend. I gave it a good cleaning, good lord was it dirty. Flowing like a champ now. Seems to need a cleaning every 6-8 months now. Sponges looked great, just had a bunch of thick bio clogging them. I notice when I get a build up of this stuff in the filter, bba comes on like a monster. Any correlation between the two? Should I be cleaning the sponges more often?

My rams are being nice again and showing off some color.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Tvadna (Jan 17, 2013)

Have you ever thought of upgrading your RO system? I saw that in one of your early posts you have it filling a large container as a reservoir. The two downsides of this are
1) You still have to use buckets unless you have a pump
2) There is a chance of it over flowing. Even if you have a shut off float, it can fail.

I also have numerous tanks so water changes can be a pain but instead of a reservoir, I feed mine into a pressurized tank. They sell these systems with small 2 or 3 gallon tanks but instead of that I used a 30 gallon well tank. I have a small line that is long enough to reach any of my tanks with a valve off of it. The big advantages for me are:
1) No more buckets. Refilling doesn't disturb my substrate or plants.
2) I can control the flow of the refill so it is more gradual and easy on fish.
3) No chance of an overflow on a reservoir

Well tanks are expensive if you buy them new. If you contacted a plumbing/well company I'm sure they would give you a used one for free if not really cheap. The only thing I would recommend if going with a used one is to get the old style without a rubber bladder. Over time the rubbed diaphram or bladder on new ones fails. The old ones are just steel so that you have to add air every year or so but they don't have any components that can fail.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thanks for the idea, I'm just using the r/o for top offs now. 

Just ordered a finnex planted+ for the 29g, used my amazon rewards 60.00 shipped!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Few pics before the light change.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I Love this guy!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Love the new light, the 29g has progressed nicely in the last month. 55g gets the treatment next. I have more manzanita coming in. I'm going to take the tank down, remove half the substrate and go with a natural brown rock for the cap. The tank also needs some wood placed under it. I cant afford a new stand right now so I'm going to reinforce a bit.


















8.7g is coming along


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Huge upgrade today

Waited 10 years to buy my first car. By choice, I built my current car when I was 20, wife and I did a lot of racing back then. It was time to let my race car go. Bitter sweet 
On to this


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Box 2 of manzanita on its way!


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

Why'd you decide to let your other car go?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

In our current house we don't have the room to park it. The biggest reason I can't reveal yet. I've just gotten to the point in life where I have zero desire to work on the car anymore. It needed new suspension, a new steering rack and a few other odds and ends that I didn't feel like putting into a 1992 integra. I sold it to the owner of the performace shop I've been using for the last 12 years. So it's going to a good home. 

The integra had a JDM front end, JDM 2.0l motor, full race suspension and a semi roll cage. Wasn't ideal for daily driving. With my recent promotion I'm now driving about 50 miles a day. Stage 2 clutch, 11lb flywheel doesn't work out to well in rush hour traffic. The clutch is a spongy mess by the time I'm half way home. My hip and left knee just couldn't take it anymore. The wife and I decided in a few year when we buy another house and have more room, we will pick up new toys to play with. I want another Turbo honda and she wants a hi reving all motor car for autocross.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Prepping for a rescape on the 29g, just need to pick up the new substrate. Almost there


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## dbw27 (May 19, 2014)

love your fish!

dbw


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you!

Here is an update on the take out moss container

I'm pretty sure these are fissdens 


















Growing but very slow


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I increased the photo period to allow for more co2 time. Started Dosing a bit more ferts. I added scarlet temple and red ludwigia



























Would anyone suggest a ray 2 in addition to the planted+

I don't want to wash the tank out. I like the warm color I have so far. In order to bring out the deep reds I need more light. Yay or nay?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

As I'm 2 days out from fixing the 29g. I have to much substrate, and it's causing me stand issues. I'm going to remove 3/4 of it and put new sand in. 

My rams decide to finally spawn. I can't win.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Picked up my sand. Sadly I believe my female ram has come down with the same thing my gold male had, that eventually killed him. My choices are a new female or a betta to go with the new scape.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Did you test the new rocks you are going to rescape with? I ask as I have simular rocks but they jacked up GH and KH off the charts! So sadly I never got to use them :c. SOrry to hear about your ram, but for replacement fish: betta betta betta! Rescue some poor soul and give 'em a nice home ^^
Is that sand truly the Best? I wonder. 
Also omg that carpet! I lived in a 1 story rental home in collage (because [censored][censored][censored][censored] campus life, this was cheaper + private bathroom!), the carpet through the whole thing except bathroom and kitchen looked just like that! Only with candle wax blobs I couldn't get out of the carpet from previous tenant... apparently a candle nut...


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Yup, I hate this carpet. We are in a rental currently. We will be in our own home by next year.

That sand was recommended by my local fish club. The store said a lot of people use it. 

I use r/o in this tank mainly. It could use some natural hardness. I know they are not toxic, that's about it. Its going to be an experiment. I believe my current substrate is toxic. 3 fish same disease and its the only variable I have not changed. Its all coming out, getting rinsed and 1/4 of it is going back in. I'm also doing the 8.7g tomorrow for the same reasons.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Getting set up


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Ok I have to ask.. whats that 'written' on the rainbow toilet seat on the wall??


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The wife and I have been in a dynasty fantasy football league for the last 6 years. Our league is called the "bubble" 

First place trophy I built









Last place "toilet bowl" champ









We keep them at the house during the season and they return home to their owners once the season is over.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Took out 3/4th a 5 gallon bucket of substrate. 









First scape


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The wood floated right back up. Tank is put back together. Just added the rams back in. Hopefully in a day or two I can get the wood in place.


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## BigJay (Jun 30, 2009)

Love the pics of the Rams. The female in the first photo has really nice color.

I hope they do all right in their new setup. I like the driftwood, it has character. Are you going to tie it down with slate?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I have the wood floating in a bucket currently. It just needs to water log again. Rams had to go. I ended up with an ammonia spike. They went to a friend. Betta will be going in once it finishes this mini cycle.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Manzanita went in this morning. Still unsure what to do with all my anubias. Its floating in the 10g giving the betta some cover currently. I think this scape will come together once the hairgrass builds back up. 

I tested this morning and I had 1ppm of ammonia. I just took out about 14g, im going to retest in a few hours. 

Finished for now


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

With 2 50% water changes since 8am, ive kicked the ammonia down from 1ppm to .25ppm. I will do one more before bed and give it 24 hrs. I would think if I go 24 hrs with out it building back up I'm in good shape. Worst case I will open the filter and add some cycled media to it. And give it a little help. I'm more worried about plant damage than anything.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Here is what 1ppm of ammonia will do in 24 hours.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The tank is back under control. I did have some plant loss, my furcata is down to bare stems, but new growth has started. Tank looks bare right now. 

My now 3rd betta, he's a happy camper.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Making some tweaks to the tank.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

My betta was moved to the 10g, the wife picked this out for the 8.7g









29g post meltdown









Enjoying his cave









Best shot I could get so far.









55g pictures


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

New additions and some growth photos














































Weeks worth of growth









Laying out


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Coming out of hiding


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Interesting baffling for the betta tank. Any names for the new boys?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I might do something a little more "professional" looking for the baffling, but it works for right now. I just cut up a water bottle, seems to work well so far lol

as far as names, not at the moment. I'm currently calling the blue one "ashy larry" due to the fact that I've caught him several times floating over my co2 diffuser with his gills open letting the co2 pass through. Then he swims around like he's drunk. It's pretty funny to watch.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> I might do something a little more "professional" looking for the baffling, but it works for right now. I just cut up a water bottle, seems to work well so far lol
> 
> as far as names, not at the moment. I'm currently calling the blue one "ashy larry" due to the fact that I've caught him several times floating over my co2 diffuser with his gills open letting the co2 pass through. Then he swims around like he's drunk. It's pretty funny to watch.


Hah! I've heard of shrimp hanging out on/by the diffuser and getting 'drunk' off it before but not fish.

As for baffle options.. may not be your thing but planted spill way or foam with moss or riccia (or other emerse friendly plant) works well. When I had a delta male in my 20g long I put a thinly cut piece of foam over the outtake and threw riccia ontop, it baffled well and have a nice splash of green (hob was planted with wondering jew mostly). The riccia stayed put and did not go shooting out all over the tank. If i ever put another betta in that tank I'd probably do the planted foam again.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

i've attempted a spillway before, but I failed miserably at making the SS basket. This was just temp until I figure out another way to build a spillway that won't trap my fish in it lol.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Sad news this morning folks, I came home from work last night and saw one of my bolivian rams upside down on the substrate. I pulled him out and inspected, other than some very tattered fins there were zero signs of infection. Based on observation of the other 3 in the tank. I believe this was an aggression kill. I think my rams are starting to pair off, the other two smaller rams seem to be going back and forth at each other while my bigger bolivian sticks to his corner and chases one of the smaller rams away when it comes close. Everyone else in the tank looks fine, no signs of illness.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

First topping of the ludwigia. Scarlet temple has rooted with new growth.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Starting my roasted red sauce for the games today.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Just ordered some additional variety of rotala, ludwigia and hygro. Birthday is wed hoping for some tank goodies.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

A few items I got for my birthday


















I bought myself another 24 inch finnex planted+ for the 29g and I'm going to head to gamestop and load up on used games for winter. Had 135.00 to spend on myself. Spreading it out among my hobbies. Taking suggestions on games. Xbox360, ive played through
Gears of War
Mass effect
All cod
Halo
Dead island
Left 4 dead 1 and 2
All forzas
Forza horizon
Ultimate marvel
Mortal kombat
Most of skyrim
Arkram knight series to date


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## samee (Oct 14, 2011)

Watch Dogs, lot of hate on it but I enjoyed the game. There are little things that made me smile. I just love how the lambo lookalike and other high performance cars have their rev/gear change sound like real life performance cars. Love it!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Is that a gta style game? Never could get into them. Bored to easy. I'm playing the Harry Potter Lego series currently. Lego star wars and lotr are on the list.


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## FewestKitten896 (Dec 13, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> Is that a gta style game? Never could get into them. Bored to easy. I'm playing the Harry Potter Lego series currently. Lego star wars and lotr are on the list.


Those Lego series are awesome. Finished Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and still working on the Harry Potter. I think I am 75% done but after we moved I haven't hooked it back up. Is there two Harry Potter's or just one?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

There is 1-4 and 4-8 on the Harry potter. Marvel Lego was pretty dope. I'm 29 yrs old with marvel posters on my bed room wall. The wife has a few thor posters lol


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## FewestKitten896 (Dec 13, 2013)

Italionstallion888 said:


> There is 1-4 and 4-8 on the Harry potter. Marvel Lego was pretty dope. I'm 29 yrs old with marvel posters on my bed room wall. The wife has a few thor posters lol


Haha. Nice. Well you got a couple years on me but definitely enjoy me a good Lego game. Back in college my roommate and I would stay up every night til 3am trying to finish those Lego games.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Added the 2nd planted+


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Close ups I took today as the plants were starting to open.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Did some topping and removed some polyspera to make way for some more rotala.









The betta flexing out at the back









Made some adjustments to the spillway, diy skimmer now. Surface was clear in 10 min after this


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I picked up new wafers as the ones I was using were being ignored. Not these ones


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Started work on the 8.7g this morning.









More to come


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

What brad of tank is the bowfront?
Also what brand of wafer did you get that the cory like? And which were they ignoring?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Its An Aquatop bowfront, That I Bought from truaqua.
These are the ones like eat









The others were tetra veggie wafers.

All done, im going to let it run for 24hr, test for ammonia. If I'm good the betta will go back in.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I thought about getting one of those but the only one I found was the 6.3 bowfront from aquatop.
And my pleco when I had him loved the hikari wafer too


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Achievement unlocked!!!!!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Picked up this from a local guy

Complete eheim 2211









25.00


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Lcuky!!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Everything was there, clean as a whistle. I'm putting this on my 10g and reusing the hobs for something else TBD. He had some solid deals on complete 20g longs, cheap but I don't have the room.

Testing it out









So far so good


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Removed the aquaclears and added the eheim, cleaned the 10g up some but it needs another big water change, lots of mulm in the tank. I stuffed it full of anubias. Eventually I would like to change the 10g over to a 12x12 cube or another 8.7 bow front low tech anubias tank. I have 3 coffeefolia, 3 nana, and will probably split some others out of my 55g. With the baby on the way, I need to get these tanks self sustaining as much as possible. We'll the 55g and 29g atleast. They require the most work.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Holy growth, doing a trim this weekend to get it back under control.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Cleaned up the floating mess of plants in the 10g, a few shots of the 8.7g after a week.




































Jack









8.7g



























Still to be named









29g is a mess, I can't even see the back of the tank.  #plantedtankproblems


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

This came up after a water change yesterday. Baby tiger lotus!


















Very excited to see this plant propagate. 
The wife and I are 2 weeks away from our first major ultrasound. Nerves and excitement, mixed bag of emotions right now. We bought an at home doppler. Heard my "crossing fingers" sons heart beat from the couch lol, life is awesome.

If you read my journal and follow my tanks. Thank you, I dedicate a lot of time to these tanks. Not only to give my self something to zone out on, but to create living art in the house. My scape and design work has come along way since I started down this rabbit hole 2 years ago. My wife is in love with the 8.7g, I caught her today sitting in front of it zoned out. Thank you for reading my journey, filled with ups and downs. Learning things along the way. My goal with this journal was to inspire others to continue to better their tanks. As I have by following other members tank journals.


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## Grumpy1415 (Oct 15, 2013)

Pretty Tiger Lotus. You have some spoiled Bettas!

As for games, I recommend the Assassin's Creed games...Brotherhood, 3, Black Flag. If you liked Skyrim, then check out Kingdoms of Amalur.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Thank you, I want a 12x12 cube and replace the 10g with rimless 10g. I think for now and the forsee able future I'm done with big tanks. I think the 55g will become a 40 breeder when we move.

I picked up crysis 2 and 3, and the 2 dragon age games. Digging crysis so far. Has a predator feel with guns lol


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

New addition to the dinning room, the tank gives it plenty of light. Perfect Spot









I believe this is wandering jew?


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Dark photo but it looks like Pilea cadierei / Aluminum Plant to me.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

+1 aluminum plant but it seems a bit wilted.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

thank you! My brother came home from the army and brought his cat with him. The cat proceeded to destory all of my moms house plants. I rescued them and replanted them. One day they will go back once that evil cat is gone.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Perked up a bit after some water and sunlight. She had them outside, so the cold hit them a bit. I'm thinking about uprooting them and swapping out half of the dirt with some used substrate I have in the garage. 

debating taking the light up another inch. I've have some bba, not as much as before. Next step is to add some planters. What black Rock can I use as a substrate in the planters. Going to try the bathroom caddie option first.


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

"black Rock can I use as a substrate in the planters"

Safe-T-Sorb isn't black, but its pretty dark.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

vanish said:


> "black Rock can I use as a substrate in the planters"
> 
> Safe-T-Sorb isn't black, but its pretty dark.


 
thank you, I will check into that and see if I can find it local.

What plants would be ideal for the planters. I want something grass looking or that grows verticle. Walmart is my best option for plants at this point in time. I've had decent luck with basic ferns in the 29g, but they are growing slow.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Weekly trims at this point. The other tanks are filling in. 







































Sunset and regular








Added 5 small idk what fish, forgot the name









The Cory love the network of "caves" created by the driftwood and leaf litter.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Pics of the week 8.7g

This tank is coming into its own. Over filtration, med amount of dirt and med light range. Next to no algae after a month, solid plant growth and hasn't needed a water change yet. The wife is happy!

I moved this tank into our 2nd room next to the 10g. 









Plenty of room to fill in on the left side.









The natural cave that he crashes in nightly. 









I picked this specifically because it reminded me of a witches high heel shoe.


















Added some more hardscape to the 10g


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

11/1/14 - I topped the hygro tiger









11/5/14

















6 inches or so of growth in 5 days. Hygro willow is becoming a monster


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

This morning I removed the one bolivian ram that was sleeping alone. I placed it in the 29g. it and Larry the betta seem to be getting along. Now I can see if I have a pair or not. I might move around the driftwood tomorrow afternoon.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Woot!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

My morning project






















































I'm at a standstill with the 29g, its a mess. I'm not sure which plants i want to keep out of the bunch. The scarlet temple has established in the rear. I hate to uproot them, but they need to come forward more. Remove the polysperma so it would look like Hairgrass, then scarlet temple, with hygro willow and furcata at the back. mixing in the hygro tiger across the tank. Some of the ludwigia and rotala have not shown yet. I have new growth but it's small. My willow is a beast!


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## pweifan (Nov 2, 2006)

Italionstallion888 said:


> Woot!


Congratulations!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Post purchase, I think I should have bought a ray2 instead of the additional planted +

After trim and move



























Bolivian and betta have had no issues so far.


















Sebastian being social again


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Here are some of my house plants


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

So the power compacts are now 6 inches above the tank. I've noticed a reduction in bba on the wood. Still fighting the anubias. Hoping the lower light level will help. Fish don't look nearly as stressed as well. 


















My 8 yr old pleco









These two I believe have pared up.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm dealing with an explosion of gsa. It really came on after I added the 2nd planted+ fixture. I have been testing the nitrate and phosphate levels for the last 2 weeks. I started with .25ppm of phosphate and 20 ppm of nitrate. I've been Dosing kh2p04 and k2so4 in larger amounts. Phosphate levels showed 1ppm and the nitrates came down to 10ppm. I believe I have figured out my targeted Dosing now. Gsa is disappearing big spots at a time. My reds have become darker and my rotala I planted a month ago has doubled in new growth. Weekly wrap up photos to come.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

55g looking better


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Benny the bolivian seems happy with its new home in the 29g. Larry doesn't seem to care. They swim together. 

Color us coming back


















Any suggestions for the gsa on the glass? I've increase my phosphate levels to 2pmm from 0 2 weeks ago. The lights are on 2-9, co2 from 1-8. 

I understand the goal of growing the plants to out compete the algae. I have great growth. What am I missing?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

To help with my gda, I pulled 50% out and wiped the glass with a paper towel. I moved plants around for a more pleasing scape.

Topped at the first root
























































Tada rotala hiding in the back









I like the new layout, I might remove the big rock for more planting space.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Topside of the 55g after 3 weeks


















My light holes


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## Dropped (Oct 14, 2014)

does all the surface plants blocking the light stunt growth?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

My tiger lotus and polysperma started to look sad, so I made the light holes to give those specific areas light. They seem happy now. I have a pretty powerful light, raising the power compacts up 8 inches above the water line and adding the floaters cut the light in half at the substrate. My fish are out swimming free and I've noticed a reduction in bba on the wood and anubias. I'm happy with the low light set up. I don't have any real high light plants in it. They were all moved to the 29g. 

The light hole for the lotus


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

First cuts, name the plant


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Moved the gda line down further









More photos






















































Its hard to see with a camera phone, but the hygro sunset is turning white and pink. 



























Hygro tiger


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Added some moss to the hanging wood.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Picked up a tri pod for my s5, testing with it this morning









java fern for the 55g


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Sunday scaping

New vision for the 55g, came to me last night































































My cherry barb pair



























I added the sand in hopes it will help the bolivians pair. They are both showing more color. The decreased light, new scape and now added pool filter sand. Made the tank closer to a natural habitat for them.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I let the ial float into place, couldn't have placed it better myself.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

No more cell photos!


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Trying out the new camera. Sending photos to the phone is so easy. 

Larry


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I'm growing a little tired with the hygro willow. I have options to replace it. Would you rather see a red rubin sword, the scarlet temple moved, or an additional stem plant (which one)


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Traded my large willow, some stargrass, hygro sunset and 10.00 for this box









It has a broken impeller, I used my amazon points to buy a new one. 

I also got a dozen red cherry shrimp, 3 assassin snails and anubias afzelli


















Here is the willow


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Had some time this afternoon to play with the new camera and tripod.

55g







































































29g, spaced out


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The forgotten ones, dirt tanks with over filtration and zero attention. 

10g anubias 













































8.7g


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

House plant update
This seems to get the perfect amount if light between the tank and back door.



























Golden marble


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Your house plants can go into a riparium ^.~


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Savers finds! The new filter wouldn't reach inside the tank from under. I didn't realize until I dug further that it didn't come with an output. He used the spray bar. Which is to big for tge 29g. It might go on the 55g. Ordered a new output on amazon and picked up more bio rings from my lfs. One of the employees there got pregnant the same time we did. They got some upsetting news. No thing major. I went up to check on him. This baby stuff can be stressful for a husband. 
Anyways,

Problem solved on the hose length. Undecided if I want to paint it. Much cheaper than buying new hose.









Yoga mat will go under. No more dead spots for 17.00 invested. Not bad I say.

I'm always on the hunt for Terra cotta pots at savers. Found this gem today


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Gravistunn (Aug 8, 2014)

Savers alway has great stuff. onto the topic of pots, I have plans to start producing some myself so I will be updating you when I have some on hand. They should be much more appealing then the regular styles.


~Travis


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I love unique one off stuff for the tanks. If I could find terra cotta Greek style columns I would be a happy man.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Perspective 
October, blyxa took off lol


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Tripod came in. This camera has a remote view option via the WiFi


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Woot got a finnex sting ray for the 10g from my brother.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Yesterday I ran up to olathe pets. I picked up 5 harlequin rasbora for the 29g and 1 more additional bolivian. He was picked on a bit yesterday, but held his own. My male cherry barb is horny as hell. He wants to spawn and my lone female won't have it. Might have to run back up and grab 2 more females.










These will be ready for trade in a week, 



























This tells me I'm getting my dosing in line. Its been stunted for the last 2 months. Whole bunch of new growth.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Started my wabi kusa project today




































Using a finnex sting ray. Used 3m command hooks and a chain to hang it


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I have doubled my k2so4 dosage in the 29g for the last 2 weeks. Finally seeing some results in the hygro sunset.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Up close of the 55g, and my new additions

I added 4 more bolivians totaling 6



























King of the tank


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Mocked up, might lower the light down for the start. 



















What's in the bowl


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Update on the wabi kusa project, plants are starting to poke up


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## neilshieh (Sep 6, 2010)

Great looking plants and tank! keep up the good work. What do you feed your rams? I think you could bring out more color in them.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I agree, I was feeding them just flake, shrimp pellets and algae wafers. For the last 3 weeks they have been given frozen blood worms and frozen brine shrimp once a week.

Took these yesterday. More yellow showing up




































Here is the 29g before I rescape tomorrow. 



























The additional iron and k2so4 have woken up the sunset.


















I love this shot


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Happy day, a month later one is still alive


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Big trim for a raok!






















































We also had a contract accepted today on a house. This is the pond in the back yard.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I opened the fluval 305 to clean it. Found an entire pocket full of sand. Cleaned it out, added peat moss and closed it up. Some how during this process I managed to crack the housing under the handles in the exact same spot on both sides. So my main filter on the 55g is sitting dead while I wait on a new housing from amazon prime. Fluval 205 is getting a work out right now.


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## EndlerGame (Oct 19, 2013)

I love that 55 gallon, and the rams...mine didn't last too long in my tank after I got worms. Treated now, but they're pretty sensitive to parasites.

Do you know the name of the tall thin "grass-like" plant that you have on the very far right end of the tank? I got some that looks alot like that from my cousin, but don't know what its called. He has a 90 gallon tank completely filled with it from front to back and trimmed at an angle, looks pretty cool.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

The large blades of grass are the mother dwarf sag plants. I placed 4 of them in the tank. All of the smaller ones filing in front came from them.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Quick snaps, 

Little bit of bronze coming out.









New rotala don't know what type growth


















Ludwigia growth in 7 days


















Can anyone tell me what this plant needs?


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Wabi kusa update













































I can see lots of roots in the water.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

testing out the video quality on the new camera

http://youtu.be/FjfFxJjzvMQ


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)




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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I've been packing for the last 3 weeks. Other than water changes and ferts I've neglected the tanks. Here is the 29g and the wabi kusa


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## FewestKitten896 (Dec 13, 2013)

I think you need some more plants in your 29G.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

It's a jungle mess right now. The fish are loving it though. 
Since all of the tanks will be making a trip across the city, I'm trying to keep them as constant as possible to reduce the chances of a mishap when I set them up at the new house. I only plan on keeping the 55g running until July/august. By then I should have a 75-90g to transfer everything to. I think I'm going to take the co2 of the 29g and move it to the 75/90g. My 2 finnex planted plus should fit on each side of the larger tank and I will pick up a 48 inch finnex ray 2. The 29g will become a low light breeding tank and the 55g into an african cichlid tank. 10g will come down and be replaced with a new rimless cube. New house=new projects to play with.


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## FewestKitten896 (Dec 13, 2013)

Sounds like a fun project, the tanks that is, moving always sucks.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I have to get the baby room completed first, we just picked out a crib and changing station. I will have to paint the baby room, get those (cribs ect) set up and then add my cool stuff to her wall. I need to make a trip to hobby lobby for supplies. My 8.7g will go in Ridley's room as her fish tank. I'm going to start her off early with tanks lol.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Topside of the 29g


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

I've been working on completing a comic collection for the last month. With captain America civil war on the horizon I wanted to freshen up my memory. I was missing a few issues from the last move. So eBay I went, as my local stores were blah

I found a stellar deal on The Fallen Son series. I have a few more specific comics, mainly the front lines and a few one offs. 

Road to civil war 529-534, new avengers illuminati 1, civil war 1-7, confessions, 









The death of Captain America


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Start of a new Era









55g and 10g get moved tomorrow.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Now that I have wifi back I can update. During the move the 55g went into a cycle. I lost all of my dither fish except for 1 cherry barb. The bolivians, cories and pleco made it fine. Its a blessing, now I can focus on breeding the bolivians with a high fry success rate.










Slight rescape 









Did. Trim on the 29 finally


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Lack of updates due to a shift in focus. 48 days and counting.



















Tank wise, my new custom built stands should be here tomorrow. I had a stand built to hold the 29g right now, but gives the ability to swap out to a 40g breeder.

The 55g stand will allow me to go up to a 90g. Thinking ahead on these.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

In prep for the 40g breed swap, I rigged up my planted hob light.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

These showed up today


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

Where did you get the stands from? They look nice.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Custom built from a local club member. 250.00 delivered. The one in back will do 10g-40g breeder. The front one 55g-90g.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

New direction began this weekend. Took everything plant related and put it on the 55g. Today I will move the plants over.

This now has 2 power compacts @6500k, 2 power compacts at 12k. 2 finnex planted + and co2 injection


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

After a move, 2 mini cycles and way different water. I still have a few of these in the tank.









Super pleased with it so far. Now I'm on the hunt for a 90g. The 29g was taken down today. I will be putting a 40g breeder in its place this winter.


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