# 120 Gallon Planted Aquarium



## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Hello, 
This is my journal for my 120 Gallon Aquarium. 

About a year ago I went out to petco and bought a 55 gallon and began a planted tank. Soon I realized this tank was way too small for what I wanted to do. Over the past few months I checked Craigslist on a regular basis for a 75 or 90 Gallon Aquarium. I came across a brand new TopFin 120 Gallon Aquarium ensemble set for $150. I jumped on the deal and bought it. This journal will track the progression of said tank. 



I started by painting the back of the tank black with acrylic paint. The tank and stand were then placed in my family room where my previous 55 was placed. The difference in size was larger than I had expected. I decided to dirt the tank because I was not ready to spend 200-300 dollars on ada soil. There is 1 large bag of MGPS which has my previously used eco complete on top which is then capped by Black Diamond Blasting Sand. The tank was then aquascaped with some Malaysian Driftwood. 

Equipment:

Filtration: 
Sunsun 304B canister filter
Rena XP4 

Lighting: 
Beamswork DA Fspec 30"(2)




Stocking: 
6 Angelfish 
2 Odessa Barbs 
10 Black Neon Tetras
6 Neon Tetras 
4 Cherry Barbs 
1 Albino Bn Pleco 
4 Otocinclus 
Ghostshrimp 

Plants: 
Pygmy Chain Sword
Hygrophila Sacifolia 
Hygrophila Corymbosa 
Hygrophila Corymbosa Angustifolia 
Ludwigia Repens
Rotala Indica
Amazon Sword 
Crypt Wendtii Brown 
Crypt Lutea 
Red Tiger Lotus 
Blyxa Japonica 


I does PPS Pro and have plans to add pressurized co2.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

I added 10 neon tetras and 10 black neon tetras. The angel ate 5 on the neon tetras. I bought two Beamswork DA Fspec 30" for the tank. 











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## FishLover345 (Aug 9, 2017)

You could add a school of 6-8 corys!


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## finfan (Jun 16, 2008)

I vote for a school of corydoras too, but I would go for 10 minimum, cory's act very differently when in larger groups and its more fun to watch, just my 2cents, btw, are the angelfish in there? I don't see them, maybe hiding in the corner?


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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

finfan said:


> I vote for a school of corydoras too, but I would go for 10 minimum, cory's act very differently when in larger groups and its more fun to watch, just my 2cents, btw, are the angelfish in there? I don't see them, maybe hiding in the corner?


 I second this. A dozen would be nice.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

I'm 100% down with getting corys. Thank you for the suggestion. The angelfish were hiding because I just put the lights on. 



















The platies will be rehomed. I got them as the first fish in my old 55. There is diy co2 but that nothing major. It's just a little addition. Pressurized co2 will be added.

I was looking for advice about my Odessa Barbs and cherry barbs because they are always hiding so I'm not sure what to do. I think maybe I need to get more of them so they feel comfortable. I will also add more angels but I'm afraid of them pairing off and being aggressive.


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## finfan (Jun 16, 2008)

Man, your angels are really nice looking, so many times I see bent finnage and deformed shapes on angelfish these days, hard to see nice specimens, I really like the two marbles you have, I have kept Odessa barbs before and for me they were super active and always out and about, but when I added them I had had 6 I think and the tank was heavily planted already


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Wow tank looks awesome!! Dirt makes for such nice plants. It's too bad Angels eat Neons and Cardinals. It would look really nice. I had a very similar set up years ago. Dirted, paintball CO2, Angels, Rainbows, black neon tetras, and a couple pleco's. I just got so sick of the mess that would result from moving plants.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

finfan said:


> Man, your angels are really nice looking, so many times I see bent finnage and deformed shapes on angelfish these days, hard to see nice specimens, I really like the two marbles you have, I have kept Odessa barbs before and for me they were super active and always out and about, but when I added them I had had 6 I think and the tank was heavily planted already




The big one I bought a year ago when he was 1/4 of the size and he grown a lot. He has a lot of personality and is probably my favorite fish. The smaller one is new but it's grown a little. I really like black angels. 

I'm also about to place in order on Wetplants.com. They seem extremely friendly and they care about their costumer from what I can tell. I'm going to by adding Hygrophila corymbosa, Hygrophila angustifolia, pogostamon gayi, jungle Val, and narrow leaf ludwigia to fill in the middle background of the tank. I'm also going to get red tiger lotus and crypt wendtii red for the mid ground. I want to experiment with some blyxa but I don't think it will grow that well. I may attach moss or narrow leaf Java fern to the wood. If anyone has plant suggestions I'd love to hear it. 


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

MasterofCloak said:


> The big one I bought a year ago when he was 1/4 of the size and he grown a lot. He has a lot of personality and is probably my favorite fish. The smaller one is new but it's grown a little. I really like black angels.
> 
> I'm also about to place in order on Wetplants.com. They seem extremely friendly and they care about their costumer from what I can tell. I'm going to by adding Hygrophila corymbosa, Hygrophila angustifolia, pogostamon gayi, jungle Val, and narrow leaf ludwigia to fill in the middle background of the tank. I'm also going to get red tiger lotus and crypt wendtii red for the mid ground. I want to experiment with some blyxa but I don't think it will grow that well. I may attach moss or narrow leaf Java fern to the wood. If anyone has plant suggestions I'd love to hear it.
> 
> ...


You can't go wrong with crypts. Crypt Parva for foreground and crypt becketti has really nice color. You can never go wrong with anubias.
They would do really well in a dirt substrate.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Post water change/trimming










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## ChrisX (May 28, 2017)

Your tank still needs a large school of something, even if you get more large fish. Maybe diamond tetras.. something too big to be eaten.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

ChrisX said:


> Your tank still needs a large school of something, even if you get more large fish. Maybe diamond tetras.. something too big to be eaten.




I think I might do black neons or serpae Tetras


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Added more plants today. 

Java Fern Narrow Leaf 
Hygrophila Corymbosa 
Hygrophila Corymbosa Compact 
Hygrophila Angustifolia 
Hygrophila Sacifolia
Red Tiger Lotus 
Red Robin Sword 
Crypt Lutea 


The java fern looks kind of dead with a bunch of black spots all over. I'm not sure what to do.

















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## KrypleBerry (May 23, 2017)

Java fern takes on that appearance as it propagates, this is normal if under the leafs only. Soon there will be roots and shortly after new leaves sprouting from older growth. If its all over it could possibly be a potassium deficiency.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

KrypleBerry said:


> Java fern takes on that appearance as it propagates, this is normal if under the leafs only. Soon there will be roots and shortly after new leaves sprouting from older growth. If its all over it could possibly be a potassium deficiency.




Yeah it's not propagation. I'm gonna assume it's potassium and dose more macros.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Just added 7 pepper corydoras since petsmart only had 7. They also had rainbowfish that looked really good but I decided against it because I'm not sure they would work with angels. 

On another not I'm not happy with the Dwarf Chain Swords pink appearance. I would like the carpet to be completely green. I'm not sure what to do. I think I might rip it all out and get another carpet plant. I'm thinking about microsword. Would it grow as fast as Chain sword or would it even grow in my tank? I was also thinking about S. Repens. 


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## nycman (Apr 12, 2017)

beautiful tank


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## leaf (Jun 27, 2009)

MasterofCloak said:


> I would like the carpet to be completely green. I'm not sure what to do. I think I might rip it all out and get another carpet plant. I'm thinking about microsword. Would it grow as fast as Chain sword or would it even grow in my tank? I was also thinking about S. Repens.


I wouldn't rip it out but rather add another carpet plant to it to green it up. Dwarf hairgrass and pink micro swords make a great combination. Monte carlo or HC would also look smexy with the micros. Add flat rocks of moss to create instant carpets... so many options with ur tank! :red_mouth


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Update: 09/01/17

Bought four new angels which are decent looking. Fins were good so I bought them. My old angel is being pretty aggressive so I'm not sure what to do. Added 10 corydoras and sold the water Wisteria and some crypts and all of the myrophyllum. Bought some S. Repens as a trial midgeoundish plant.
























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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Update: 09/08/17 


Added some Blyxa Japonica and an old Rena Xp4 for more filtration. The angels are now getting along quite well. I'm planning a rescape after the hurricanes pass. The left side with the driftwood will be surrounded by S. Repens and Blyxa. The left will be Amazon Swords and some Blyxa. 











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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Gorgeous! Hopefully no aggressive pairings any time soon. Are you in Fl? I'm in Tampa... my Apisto's arrived, but my Carbon Rili's were sent Wed and still haven't arrived... I don't know if mail is coming tomorrow... if not they aren't going to make it... ridiculous... good luck with the storm. Do you have a generator or battery powered bubblers


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Gorgeous! Hopefully no aggressive pairings any time soon. Are you in Fl? I'm in Tampa... my Apisto's arrived, but my Carbon Rili's were sent Wed and still haven't arrived... I don't know if mail is coming tomorrow... if not they aren't going to make it... ridiculous... good luck with the storm. Do you have a generator or battery powered bubblers




I'm in Orlando. Hopefully we don't get hit too bad. I don't think mail is gonna be delivered till next week now :/. I feel bad for you. I don't have a generator and couldn't find any battery powered bubblers so let's hope that power doesn't go off for to long otherwise I'm done. Should've prepared more. Hopefully you guys don't get hit too bad either. Planning on ordering some Rams and other angels from a farm in Tampa. Good luck man. 


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

MasterofCloak said:


> I'm in Orlando. Hopefully we don't get hit too bad. I don't think mail is gonna be delivered till next week now :/. I feel bad for you. I don't have a generator and couldn't find any battery powered bubblers so let's hope that power doesn't go off for to long otherwise I'm done. Should've prepared more. Hopefully you guys don't get hit too bad either. Planning on ordering some Rams and other angels from a farm in Tampa. Good luck man.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


How many tanks do you have set up?? I'm still trying to figure out logistics... I can't keep the generator indoors so I'll need to set it up somwhere and run extension cords... I always wanted to invest in those Goal Zero solar setups with the big batteries. I will probably do it after this. I figure if I can run at least one HOB on each tank I'll be good with the bubblers.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Everything survived the hurricane. Power never went out. Got super lucky.










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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

9/13/17 New Scape 
I changed the left side of the tank and added lots of blyxa. Hopefully everything will fill in. 

I have a lot of Pygmy Chain Sword from the rescape for sale so PM me an offer if you want it. 










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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I love the new scape!! Our power went out Sunday... and it's still out... ridiculous


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Would I be able to add some YoYo loaches to the tank or would you guys recommend against it? 


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

10/14/16

So I added a lot of new plants/fish/equipment. 
I added one of my old Rena XP4 filters. I added 4 small blue zerbra Pinoy Angelfish. They are super small but are growing. I added some flame moss and a lot of Hygrophila Corymbosa narrow leaf. 









I’m also dealing with a lot of plant deficiencies and Black Bread Algae. I decided that pps pro wasn’t doing good enough and wasn’t helping me fight the algae so I am now dry dosing Ei. We will see how that goes.










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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

10/18/17

The fish are doing good and EI dosing is working out well. The deficiencies are subsiding but the red tiger lotus is beginning to turn green (Not because of algae) 









The bba is also starting to die down at this moment.










The addition of the new plants will require some repositioning of other plants and maybe a rescape of the right side. The plants are doing well and the blyxa and S. Repens have begun to fill in well. Overall I’m content with the way the tank is progressing.










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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

MasterofCloak said:


> Overall I’m content with the way the tank is progressing.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


You should be. Filling in and taking shape very nicely. Very nice work!


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

1/6/2018 

Update: 

My large marble angelfish died during December all other fish are doing well. Now with him gone I can add smaller fish like Tetras without having to worry about them being killed overnight. I moved some plants around and changed up the positions. I added some Cryptocoryne Florida Sunset, stargarss and HC Japan. Hoping the Stargrass will take off. I am still trying to control the bba algae in my tank which is all over the carpet. Tried peroxide treatments but they won’t work and I can’t seem to find any SAEs in my area. The red tiger lotus is showing signs of deficiencies and is getting green spots on its leaves. The Amazon Swords no longer fit into the tank well so I’m probably going to sell them when the become healthy again. Overall the tank is slowly getting better but nowhere near where I want it to be. 













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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Rescape…


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

MasterofCloak said:


> Rescape…
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


That's alot of driftwood!!! Have you accumulated that or did you purchase all that from one source? Looks like good unique stuff


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> That's alot of driftwood!!! Have you accumulated that or did you purchase all that from one source? Looks like good unique stuff



Manzanita.com Amazing deal. 


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Thank you! I'll check it out. I can't wait to see what you do with it!


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

.…


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## finfan (Jun 16, 2008)

enjoying your thread, love the angels, glad they eventually got along, adding angels at different times is tricky, I have grown out 8 together in the last few months in a bare tank as I am waiting to put them in my new tank coming soon which will be planted, taking some inspiration from yours

sorry, just realized you lost your big boy, that was a gorgeous fish


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Soaking the wood. Rescape Saturday-Sunday 


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Looks like you are really getting somewhere now.

Looking forward to seeing this all put together.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

I tried this but I really don’t like it. I had the lava rocks in here but they look to unnatural the way they were placed. The wood still floats. I’m gonna go buy more sand to add depth and try again next week. 


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Update: 3/15/18

Not even a month in on co2 and I adjusted it to fast and killed all my fish. Literally all of them are dead. :-(. Planning on doing a big change to the tank so I wanna to know how can I store plants long term without a fish tank. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank You in advance 


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

If you're in Florida you should be able to grow them outside. Are you getting rid of your tank?


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Phil Edwards said:


> If you're in Florida you should be able to grow them outside. Are you getting rid of your tank?




No just gonna change it up. Gonna dirt it differently this time and dry start it


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Check out Rachel O'Leary on YouTube. She's got some great videos documenting setting up her summer container gardens.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Eh it’s going somewhere. 


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

This is the scape I am going with. Now comes the fun part, stocking and planting. I already order a bunch of Lilaeopsis Brasiliansis for the foreground which I am going to dry start in the tank so I don’t get any floaters. For the left side I am going to do bolbitis in the back left surrounded by trident fern on the rocks. Towards the front left there will be red tiger lotus. For now that’s all I know I am gonna do. I need some stocking suggestions as well as other plants. As of now I have some cherry shrimp in a 20 long that might do in this tank if the main inhabitants won’t eat them. Let me know what you guys think. 



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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

That's going to look cool. I love bolbitus. Took me a long time to learn to grow it without being inundated with BBA. Make sure it's sitting in front of a powerhead or the outlet for your filter. I think some buce on the lower branches in front would look killer.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Dry start










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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Is that dwarf sag?


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> Is that dwarf sag?




Microsword 


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## coco4pr3z1 (Apr 2, 2018)

Very cool.

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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

2 weeks of dry start. Lights are up to 16 hours per day. Gonna give it 4-6 more weeks before I flood it.










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## The Bungulo (Aug 28, 2017)

Honestly, some Aponogeton Crispus or Boiviaianus would be amazing coming out from behind the wood. a bunch of val, crinums, tall blyxias, and really tall hairgrass would really bring out the wood. Or you could do an Amano scape and have all of the wood covered in epiphytes, to the point of when you heavily plant it, you cannot see the wood.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The Bungulo said:


> Honestly, some Aponogeton Crispus or Boiviaianus would be amazing coming out from behind the wood. a bunch of val, crinums, tall blyxias, and really tall hairgrass would really bring out the wood. Or you could do an Amano scape and have all of the wood covered in epiphytes, to the point of when you heavily plant it, you cannot see the wood.




I think I’m gonna go with the epiphytes like some bolbitis towards the back, some trident fern or other towards the middle and a lot of Buce and moss towards the front. I might throw in some crispus and towards the right I was thinking of a lot of hygro pinnatifida. I would keep it trimmed to amount 4-6” but I’m not sure yet. 


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

MasterofCloak said:


> I think I’m gonna go with the epiphytes like some bolbitis towards the back, some trident fern or other towards the middle and a lot of Buce and moss towards the front. I might throw in some crispus and towards the right I was thinking of a lot of hygro pinnatifida. I would keep it trimmed to amount 4-6” but I’m not sure yet.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


That sounds killer. I have a love hate relationship with H Pinnetifida. I love the way it looks and I hate that I can't keep it alive. I've had success with it planted in the substrate near the the outflow of the filter and C02, but it has always wilted and died when i tried to grow it as an epiphyte.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> That sounds killer. I have a love hate relationship with H Pinnetifida. I love the way it looks and I hate that I can't keep it alive. I've had success with it planted in the substrate near the the outflow of the filter and C02, but it has always wilted and died when i tried to grow it as an epiphyte.




Rather than using it as an epiphyte I think I’m gonna just plant it in the substrate. Hopefully the dirt will help it take off. 


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

You may want to go get some cheap and heavy rock to weigh that wood down before you flood it. It's going to pop right up once there's water in the tank.

On the positive; that microsword looks awesome!


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The dry start has been invaded by snails and duckweed. I have no idea what to do. 


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Kill them with fire. You've got the opportunity to get in there with a bowl of snail poison and/or manual removal/smashing. Duckweed's not as hard to get rid of; it just takes some patience and work with a net and siphon. You just have to be ruthless and thorough in both cases.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Phil Edwards said:


> Kill them with fire. You've got the opportunity to get in there with a bowl of snail poison and/or manual removal/smashing. Duckweed's not as hard to get rid of; it just takes some patience and work with a net and siphon. You just have to be ruthless and thorough in both cases.




Wonderful 


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

MasterofCloak said:


> Wonderful
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I know, right? At least you've got a good opportunity to get rid of the snails now before you flood the tank. The duckweed's fairly easy to get rid of, all things considered.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Update: 6/8/18

I finally got tired of looking at an empty tank and I decided to fill it up. About a week ago I took all the wood out and soaked it so it wouldn’t float. I put new media in the canister and deep cleaned all the equipment. After it’s done filling up I will start pumping in a dangerous amount of co2 to reduce the shock to the microsword. Hopefully all goes well. I bought some Rotala, blyxa, a bulb of aponngeton bovinians as suggested above and some salvinia in hopes of preventing a lot of algae growth. Im relying on the plants to take in most of the excess nutrients. I may add some s. Repens to the right side of the tank instead of having microsword there and a large red tiger lotus behind it. I’m still open to plant suggestions but my main problem is what I should stock the tank with. I have lots of cherry shrimp in another tank which I want to put in the 120 but other than that I am not sure. Id like to know what you guys would put in a tank like this with or without the cherry shrimp as sometimes they become an expensive snack. 









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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

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## jayo (Sep 21, 2016)

that's looking really nice! 

Are you planning to stock it with a lot of little fish, or with bigger fish?


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

jayo said:


> that's looking really nice!
> 
> 
> 
> Are you planning to stock it with a lot of little fish, or with bigger fish?




As of now I have no idea. I have a few high quality cherry shrimp in here at the moment. I was thinking about maybe getting some Blue Zebra Angels and a few schools of tetras but I am open to suggestions. 


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

What I WOULD DO with that 120... some crazy Philippine blue zebra/clown angel fish. A group of Bolivian Rams, and a bigger tetra... Bloodfins, Rummynose, or Emporers... something along those lines. You'd probably be better off long term with a larger bodied tetra... like black phantoms, emporers, or those types, but I think as long as you got the tetra school in there while the Angels were small and they were able to reach full size you would be good. With dense planting you can absolutely maintain a shrimp population. 
Tanks is looking great


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> What I WOULD DO with that 120... some crazy Philippine blue zebra/clown angel fish. A group of Bolivian Rams, and a bigger tetra... Bloodfins, Rummynose, or Emporers... something along those lines. You'd probably be better off long term with a larger bodied tetra... like black phantoms, emporers, or those types, but I think as long as you got the tetra school in there while the Angels were small and they were able to reach full size you would be good. With dense planting you can absolutely maintain a shrimp population.
> Tanks is looking great




I’m leaning towards that. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to buy blue zebra angels. I was going to purchase from Angelmania but read a bunch of bad reviews. 


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## AdamRT (Jan 23, 2018)

Tank looks great!!! Can’t wait to see it with fish. I’m in the process of setting up a 120 as well and have a very similar aquascape in mind- triangular scape with terraced black lava rock and ghostwood. 

Such a great size tank to scape, and yours is a beautiful example of what can be done with them... congratulations!


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

I've purchased Angel's from Carol (Baskington on aquabid) and I've always been more than pleased. Exceptional fish in terms of appearance, but also incredibly healthy. She has to have 20 years of breeding angel's by now. Probably much more than that. I got my first angels from her in 2006 and she was a serious breeder then. 
I'm very excited to see what you do with the tank


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## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

That is a great looking scape! Nice work. Stocking should be a blast for you!


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

I dose EI so I do water changes every Sunday, about 50%. I ran into a bunch of algae problems. There is a lot of bba and hair algae. I removed as much as I could. The carpet was also affected so I trimmed it down about half an inch to get rid of the algae. I also added lots of salvinia to take in the excess nutrients and provide some shade to the java fern. I think my algae problems stemmed from the fact that I kept messing with the amount of co2 added to the tank. I’m gonna keep it where it is for now and wait about a month to see if Algae subsides. As for fish I am talking to Carol about purchasing some of hers. They look amazing.










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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

You're getting algae problems because you're dosing high levels of nutrients on a tank with new plants that have not even fully acclimated and are not yet growing vigorously. Even when your plants are better adjusted they will need nowhere near the levels that EI provides.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Axelrodi202 said:


> You're getting algae problems because you're dosing high levels of nutrients on a tank with new plants that have not even fully acclimated and are not yet growing vigorously. Even when your plants are better adjusted they will need nowhere near the levels that EI provides.




So what would you recommend I do. 


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Assuming your soil is not completely exhausted, it should still provide decent nutrition. You can add root tabs if you feel it's lacking. Liquid dosing may be necessary but not in large amounts. 

I would stop liquid dosing now, except for maybe some potassium (say 1-3 ppm a day). If you notice lingering symptoms in the plants, then based on the pattern of symptoms you can dose other things like nitrate, phosphate, traces. But the species you have chosen do not have a generally high nutrient demand (except maybe the hygro). 

My philosophy of dosing is similar to the one outlined here.


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

What I did was start out at 1/3 EI. Once I saw signs of deficiency I went to 2/3... etc. So to start i only dosed macros 1 day and micros 1 day. Water change every 7 days. How long is your photoperiod? None of my tanks can do more than 7.5 hours a day. I'm also getting away from LED's where I can. On other tanks Im limiting blue LED's and considering making supplementary fixtures with 6500k LED's and 660nm red LED's. As I've limited some of the blue LED's I've noticed less BBA specifically. Could be coincidental. It could just be deficiencies in red spectrum slowing plant growth. Just what I've observed. My tanks are also slow growers primarily.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

Yes! I've noticed blue-heavy lights are horrible for BBA as well. The way I look at it, lights that blue stress my eyes and give me a headache. If they make me feel that way, then how are they making the plants and bacteria feel? After switching to a warmer T5 fixture from blueish LEDs my BBA decreased drastically.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

The Dude1 said:


> What I did was start out at 1/3 EI. Once I saw signs of deficiency I went to 2/3... etc. So to start i only dosed macros 1 day and micros 1 day. Water change every 7 days. How long is your photoperiod? None of my tanks can do more than 7.5 hours a day. I'm also getting away from LED's where I can. On other tanks Im limiting blue LED's and considering making supplementary fixtures with 6500k LED's and 660nm red LED's. As I've limited some of the blue LED's I've noticed less BBA specifically. Could be coincidental. It could just be deficiencies in red spectrum slowing plant growth. Just what I've observed. My tanks are also slow growers primarily.




I will start dosing macros once and micros once. As for photoperiod it is 7 hours. All my lights are leds and they all have blue leds. I don’t really want to change the lighting I have at the moment so hopefully the nutrient s will balance out and algae will subside. 


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

> Yes! I've noticed blue-heavy lights are horrible for BBA as well


Odd since BBA is a red algae and utilizes a different part of the spectrum, and not really blue..

http://www-med-physik.vu-wien.ac.at/uv/actionspectra/actionspecs/as_photosyn_trail.gif

[link]http://www-med-physik.vu-wien.ac.at/uv/actionspectra/actionspecs/as_photosyn_trail.gif[/link]


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

In my experience bba is more of an opportunistic organism. If plants or beneficial bacteria (this is not limited to just nitrifying bacteria) are unhappy, then it will grow. So my guess is the blue encourages bba by hurting these two, rather than promoting the bba itself. There are many studies about how strong blue light can activate stress pathways in bacteria and mitochondria (prokaryotic derivatives). But the blue light and bba experience has just been this hobbyist's personal observation, so take it for what it's worth.


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## aquatictam (Jun 30, 2017)

Looks great! Where do you get your Blyxa from?


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

aquatictam said:


> Looks great! Where do you get your Blyxa from?




I got it from this forum back when the for sale section was working. 


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

@jeffkrol this is just my thoughts.. we know red algae is red because it doesnt absorb red.. it reflects it. Phycoerythrin I believe?? If red spectrum is LACKING itwould negatively affect plants that CAN absorb red spectrum thereby creating an advantageous environment for BBA. 
@MasterofCloak is it possible to add something to provide red spectrum? This is where I'm at with ALL of my high tech tanks. After doing alot of research I'm going to move to T5HO for my 150 just because building an appropriate LED fixture is big bucks and technically challenging. I found one vendor selling high quality "Booster bars". I'm thinking of adding these to my 75 gallon tanks. They aren't cheap, but high quality. Vendor is StevesLED's


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

not going to "challenge" anything about blue light and bba but in my very limited experience this light never brought on BBa.









That said my 55 w/ 6500k, 5000k, and 4000k pucks was literally destroyed by it...

High flow, low flow, high light low light really never did much once it was established..
Only real variable was CO2 fluctuations, possibly more ambient light, and a mulm-y soil...

Oddest thing was that the BBA woudn't attack new healthy growth nor grow well on old dead growth but the in-between stuff was another story..
Took a lot of Met15 to knock it down..

The "agea theory" is that th spores need free ammonia to germinate and this can "apparently" be supplied by mulm and senescent leaves.. 
Coupled w/ inconsistent "fertilizers" i.e CO2 and ect. is a recipe for failure..


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Does anyone know what these are? I think they are some type of bacteria/microorganism 


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

If they're on your glass my best guess is Rhabdocoela flatworms. In which case they are harmless.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Axelrodi202 said:


> If they're on your glass my best guess is Rhabdocoela flatworms. In which case they are harmless.



Is it safe to assume that the moment I add fish they will become food? 


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

I'm not sure if fish will eat them. But there is a decent chance they will.


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

Would it be possible to add a very large school (30+) of Serpae Tetras to this tank? Would the large number prevent aggression towards of Fish/shrimp in the tank or am I just asking for it by adding them?? 


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## The Dude1 (Jun 17, 2016)

Serpae were kind of spastic/nippy when I had them. Kind of like troublemakers. They went after shrimp just to do it at times. I had 20 or so in a 75 gallon with Angel's, Bolivian rams, and congo tetras.
Black phantoms are more chill and the females are a deep darker red. I think they are better looking than serpae and no one bothers anyone except for the two top dog males always showing off to one another. Im going to try to raise a batch of fry from them as I hear they are easy to breed. Another plus


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## MasterofCloak (Jun 27, 2017)

My Beamswork DHL fixtures are starting to fail. They have leds going out and some are flickering. The fspec on the other hand is still perfect. Not sure what to replace the DHL with. I’m thinking about the Green element fixtures or maybe more fspecs. 


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