# 2014 New Year New Aquarium 120 Gallon Planted Aquarium



## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

I've recently closed down by 35 22"x22"x22" planted cube aquarium. I wasn't going to start this project until after April as my
wife is expecting with our first child then, but I found some free time during this christmas break and I decided to set up this aquarium with the go ahead from my wife

I would like to share my journey of this aquarium with everyone.

Took a few photos on my latest adventure.

The specs of this aquarium setup are:

120 ish gallon aquarium 48x24x24" bought off my frined who's also on this forum.
TEK T5HO 8x54watt light fixtures, with 4 giesman aquaflora and 4 mid day tubes
Eheim 2080 Filter
Eheim 2075 Filter
10lbs CO2 tank with a 3 way manifold on 24/7 with 2 difussers in this tank
6 bags of ADA Amazonia substrate


Some background:

I've fairly experienced with planted aquariums and have been successful with growing plants except my aquascaping sucks. 
I've had planted aquariums since 1996 and the usual method I use is high light, high co2, high water flow + heavy substrate fertilization.
My cube aquarium is almost algae free except for the occassional BBA on the filter intake tubes, which I usually remove manually pretty easily.

Here's the start.

Here's the last images of my cube aquarium before tearing it down, most of the plants are out grown and needed a trim.

Here is a front tank shot









Here is the tank with the ada like cabinet my friend build for me










As you noticed the lights are a funky mixture since I've sold off most of my lights for this aquarium and I'm left with 46watt CFL's (which work great!)

Here is an image of my cube aquarium emptied


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

Ok that should be enough photos of my old aquarium, onto the new one.

This one's been sitting in my garage for about 4 months besides my motorcycle (so after removing the aquarium and shifting things around I can park my car inside my
garage again!, enough of scraping the frost off my windows in the morning, the extra 5 mins of sleep helps!)









Finally got the tank in the location I wanted with my buddy Ed's help









Boxes of ADA Amazonia from Pat from Canadian Aquatics









DOH! only needed 6 bags of ADA, now I have 2 bags left over and some photos of the petrified wood I'll be using from King Ed Pets









Here's Ed extremely happy finally filling in the aquarium









One of the two moster filters I'm going to be using, an Eheim 2080 from JL Aquatics boxing day sale 









Tank filled with water, super cloudy









The TEK T5HO Fixture from Tom Barr that I'm using for this tank









The two filters side by side Eheim 2075 and a Eheim 2080, unfortuantly they are too big and won't fit in the custom cabinet for low viewing  so had to put it on the side









Here's a tank only shot, I know the sponges on the filter intakes look ugly, but when the plants fill out it'll cover them











Here's a front tank shot with the cabinet










thanks for looking,

hope to update in another month when the plants fill out.


Ray


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## Wolf19 (Jan 24, 2013)

I'm surprised there was no way to get those canisters inside the stand!! You couldn't flip the canister sideways to get it inside then stand it back up? 

Looking forward to this progress!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

Here is my aquariums 6 weeks later


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## The Trigger (May 9, 2012)

Wow looks awesome!


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## horsedude (Nov 10, 2012)

like it a lot
good luck...


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

Very nice.


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

Man thats a ton of growth!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thx for the kind comments,

during these 6 weeks, I've trimmed the stem plants a few times, trying to get some of the other slower growing plants to fill in.
more photos soon!


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## baishui (Jan 7, 2014)

I can't believe it grows that much in 6 weeks. 

And where did you guys find the perfect size stand? I am looking one for a 90G tank now.


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

I got the tank from my friend and the stand was custom built!

oh I was just in Toronto last week, went to aquaaspirion, shrimp fever and a few other stores.

pretty impressive selection, compared to Vancouver


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

I like what you've done. Now you can rock your baby to sleep in front of a beautiful aquarium. What a great start to life.


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## flutterbug (Jan 8, 2012)

It looks very nice!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

Just picked up my 2 new 20lbs co2 tanks upgrade from my 2 x 10lbs 









Old regulator vs. new regulator, 3 port manifold vs 4 port manifold









New regulator attached to the new co2 bottle










thanks for looking
Ray


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## randylahey (Sep 14, 2013)

Very nice ray!
What method of CO2 diffusion are you using for that beast?

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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

hey hey randylahey, ok I believe your real name isn't randy 

I replied in the bca thread by accident
I'm currently using 2 fluval ceramic difussers.

The reason I use these is because they are cheap and easy to clean.
the replacement difussers are $5 each.
I've used glass difussers, (I still have three I purchased when I was in HK)
I've used inline but they were leaking


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

monthly update of my aquarium











gotta do some major trimming soon


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## Gooberfish (Mar 27, 2012)

Oh my God that looks incredible! Keep up the good work!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thx for the kind comments gooberfish!
gotta make it look better!


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## flowerfishs (May 6, 2009)

400 watt of light. do you turn them on all the time? any algae problem? beautiful tank


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## Crazy4discus (Jan 30, 2014)

Awesome!!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

yep all 8 tubes on at 2pm and off at 10pm for 8 hours / day
co2 on 24/7 at 3bpsx2


algae problems? just minor green dust algae on the glass but the red ramshorns and BN Plecos take care of it


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

here's some photos of the fish in my aquarium
apistogramma cautoides triple red and some neon dwarf rainbowfish









and


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## Assassynation (Dec 23, 2011)

All that growth in 6 weeks! Ada is awesome stuff, great work!


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## MB2 (Feb 6, 2007)

Beautiful tank. So much growth in only a short time. More pictures, please.


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## coco4pr3z (Jan 28, 2010)

Just....wow!

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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

Just a photoupdate,

Here's some photos of my bloody mary shrimp, very different red than my painted fire reds


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

That is super nice!

What are the reddish/brown plants in each rear corner?


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

left side is ludwigia lacruis right side is ludwigia red 

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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Thanks, very impressive.


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## Jason K (Jan 3, 2009)

Beautiful...did you remove the petrified wood?


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## jcgilmore2 (Jul 10, 2013)

Nice tank man! you got some quick growth... grew in amazing. Is that rotala sp green in the rear middle'ish there?


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

yep that's rotala sp green

it grows crazy fast . I've gotta trim it often

I've taken all the petrified wood so I can have more layers of plants. there was about 100lbs of petrified wood in this scape


thanks for looking

Ray

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## rdmustang1 (Oct 20, 2013)

Beautiful tank and very impressive progress in such a short amount of time.

Are you using all 4 CO2 outputs?


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thx for the kind comments, only 2 co2 ports are being used on this aquarium, the other 2 feed into 2 other small add 45f tanks


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

Pretty awesome tank.


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## tricken (Jun 27, 2013)

very nice work 
looks great


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## The draft (Feb 21, 2006)

Looks great!!
Would you share your fertilizing regimen!!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thanks its a new tank with new ada substrate so I dont dose or do any water changes for now

but I've ran a few planted tanks for many years without dosing and everything was healthy

as soon as I see any difficiencies ill ei dose

but no dosing for now 

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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

almost a year since this tank's been setup. Only been doing top ups and everything seems to be growing pretty nicely and healthy. Kribs are breeding mad and ate all my cherry shrimp and BN plecos are breeding like nuts.

Here's a photo of the aquarium as of last week

thank-you for looking
Ray

Aquarium 2014-12 by RW-Photography, on Flickr


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## xxstitch69xx (Aug 6, 2014)

This is one of the most gorgeous tanks i've seen in quite a while. I love the layout of the plants, colors & in the last pic, the plant that's growing above the waterline. Truly amazing!
Do you mind inboxing me a link for your light fixture please?


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Beautiful!

If you organize it a little more and make some streets you could enter into the Dutch category.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

So nice!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thanks for the kind words everyone! I'm trimmed it a little bit yesterday but I'm still growing out the left and right side so it covers the intake tubes. Also I've attached needle leaf java fern onto the intake tubes, (sort of looks ok)

The light fixture I purchased off of Tom Barr, it's a TEK t5h0 light fixture, 8 tubes x 54 watts. But I believe TEK's discontinued, so you'll have to find used units 

here's a photo of the plant on the surface, there's some in my tank also, it's linderia roundfolia var varigated

Linderia Roundfolia var varigated by RW-Photography, on Flickr

thank-you for looking!


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

No water change at all?


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

just top up with a bucket of cold tap water every week due to evaporation.

I don't recommend this for more sensitive fish, but the types I have in here so far are thriving and breeding 
except for my cherry shrimp  damn kribs ate them all not a single one left from over 1000


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Pretty cool.. do you ever test? Tds? Just curious.. that tank is unicorn magical.. absolutely.. I'm wondering if I'm changing to much water and possibly robbing the plants if precious nutrients from the fishy poo.. 1000rcs?!?!? Was that a start up or a bred colony?
Those Kribs must look like flamingos


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## Kimlafeiet (Nov 30, 2014)

Wow, your tank is beautiful!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thx for the kind comments!

ph is stable at 6.5, comes out of my tap around 6.6
tds, i have a meter but i haven't tested in a while,
ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are in check,
but i suspect the ada amazonia is running out of juice, so I'll have to start dosing soon


yeah i started with 30 rcs, had 1000 of them after a year or so, then dumped a bunch in this tank and sold and gave away a bunch from my other tanks to aquarists in my area.

Just got some painted fire reds, so hopefully I can get those to breed, I love seeing an army of shrimp when I'm feeding them 

damn kribs, i have about 50 or so in this tank right now, I'm going to have to give some away soon. (started with 6 of them, they're like wabbits!)


but as you can tell, i love armies of things


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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Holy cow! That's a lot of cichlids! All from breeding huh?


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

There might be more... I wish apistos can survive this type of set up .... well they kind of do but they are more sensitive. My office 20 gallon has a similar setup. No water changes for 8 monthd and the plants grow like nuts.

I've noticed my army of endlers getting smaller. I suspect it's those darn Kribs work

Oh and not much algae except for a little bit of green spot algae on the glass I scrape off once a month

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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

It looks flawless on my Samsung s5 hahah.. apistos are my babies.. that's why I'm so anal with the wc's.. they don't like nitrates..


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

I love apistos. One guy at our local fish club had a fish room with over 100 15 gallon tanks. He kept so many apistos. I was so jealous. I've kept and bred them before. I used to keep and breed discus and daily water changes are a pain

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## brooksie321 (Jul 19, 2014)

Yah..i tried the daily wc thing.. nope.. this time I put a pair in a 20 long.. I figure the spawn will be strongest survives type deal, 3-25% wc's a week and 2 feedings a day.. we shall see. Discus are chill.. lot of money into those fish though.. I'm not entirely sold... i would however like a room with 20 - 30 breeders and 15 different types of apistos one day!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

here's an update of my aquarium as of last week.

waiting for the foreground, left and right corners to fill out

120 gallon jan 2015 by RW-Photography, on Flickr

Here are some ludwigia repens emersed and submerged in this aquarium, same plant
Ludwigia Repens Emersed by RW-Photography, on Flickr

Ludwigia Repens Submerged by RW-Photography, on Flickr


thanks for looking!
Ray


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

This tank continues to look so very nice. Great photos too.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

I just want to follow!
Too overwhelmed reading thread to ask any questions.
YET!
Absolutely beautiful!


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thanks for the kind word everyone!

The left corner I've planted ludwigia pink ovalis, but this plant, for a good reason, grows quite slowly.

I can't wait till it fills out.

I've got Ludwigia inclinanta var cuba from my friends for the right corner, but I'm a little bit afraid of this plant, last time I had it in another tank about 6 years ago, it grew about 3 inches per day!!!! 

feel free to ask any questions, my technique might not work for everyone, but I'd love to share my experiences


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Love the richness of color; refreshing to see a tank with a lot of reds. Most tanks I see nowadays are all green. Good job.


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

Raul-7 said:


> Love the richness of color; refreshing to see a tank with a lot of reds. Most tanks I see nowadays are all green. Good job.


thanks raul-7
but
I'm not too sure if that's a good thing, my wife keeps telling me there's too many red plants in this tank and it looks ugly =p

The right corner will have ludwigia pink ovalis and I'm trying to figure out where to stuff the ludwigia red so it looks nice. I'll have to see how the right corner turns out with the ludwigia inclinata var cuba

thanks for the kind words!

Ray


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## Jessica (Mar 1, 2007)

What an inspiration!

I apologize, since I skimmed through pretty fast, but are you dosing any?


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

thx jessica,


fish poop, co2, and 1.5 years old ada amazonia substrate that still has mojo left.

No other dry fertz (I do does my other tanks not this one)


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

added some hygro compacta last week. this stuff is starting to adapt, had it before and I love how red it's turning

hygro compacta by RW-Photography, on Flickr


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Beautiful just the way it is!

But if you do think it's too much red and want to do a dutch-like scape, you should split up the different reds with greens. Just need more contrasting colors, heights, and leaf types in between clumps. 

Here's a good article -- http://aquascapinglove.com/basics/the-dutch-aquarium/


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

xenxes said:


> Beautiful just the way it is!
> 
> But if you do think it's too much red and want to do a dutch-like scape, you should split up the different reds with greens. Just need more contrasting colors, heights, and leaf types in between clumps.
> 
> Here's a good article -- http://aquascapinglove.com/basics/the-dutch-aquarium/


Thanks for the link, pretty good read. Let me try some of these techniques once the plants have filled out more

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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

left and right side filling out! so is the foreground, just a photo update
Late Feb 2015 Update by RW-Photography, on Flickr

thanks for looking


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## corrupt (Jan 25, 2014)

Wow


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Subbed! Looking forward to your updates.


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

Just borrowed Jeff's par meter from JL aquatics
Here are the measurements in my aquarium
(μmol m-2 s-1)

My Kessil light on my 10 gallon are 200 in the middle and 67 on the sides

Par ratings by RW-Photography, on Flickr

I kinda want to buy a unit for fun though 

Light fixture is 7" above the water top and the tank is 2 feet deep


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Beautiful tank! Any updates? Am curious about your fish load and feeding schedule.


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