# Tharsis' 75 gallon - The Rhode Island Chapter



## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

FTS 12-29-2012










FTS 12-01-2012










FTS 09-04-2012










FTS 07-10-2012










FTS 07-05-2012











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So I have maintained a 75 gallon in Colorado and then Indiana over the last few years with pretty much the same set-up. 

Here is the link to that thread.

Unfortunately on my most recent move to Rhode Island, all my fish died and I had to abandon my hardscape, so that means I get to have a complete fresh start!

I have gone almost exclusively wood in my scapes and I am thinking that I would like to venture into the world of stone. There is a ton of rock (glacial till) in the woods around my house so I think I may incorporate that. I am thinking the traditional cliffs with the path between them kind of scape. 

I am going to go low maintenance on this version, mostly anubias, HM and java fern. Maybe some crypts...not sure yet. But I want it to be dramatic but simple. 

I think I will do fire red shrimp and a single small schooling fish like black neons...or harlequin raspboras.

I am probably going rock hunting this afternoon, will post the results!


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Sorry to hear about what happened. I just started playing Diablo 3 so I haven't been on this forum much :X! So your fish ended up dying from the heat? That's really sad that you had to ditch your driftwood as well. What happened to them? Did you just put them in a dump somewhere :O? I woulda paid for them .

How did rock hunting go?


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Ah diablo 3 claims another victim. 

My guess is partially the heat and partially the extra eight hours in the bags with no water change/oxygenation is what did them in. It was a real bummer but I am excited for the next tank. I don't think I will be moving fish again any time soon. The next time I move I will just sell everything. 

The wood was left in the garage, hope the landlord didn't mind haha. It was a final hour decision to leave it behind. There was literally not an inch of space left in either the truck or the van...it was crazy. 

I did get the rocks and I piled them all into the tank and it is mostly planted. I ran out of steam halfway through so I didn't finish it off. I have two islands with tons of anubias and HM as the foreground. I can't find my camera though so no pics yet...


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Sorry on your loss of fish, congrats on the new scape, can't wait to see it.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

thanks, its very different than what I am used to. I have always done wood scapes so I had to get out of my comfort zone a bit with this tank. I think I accomplished what I set-out to do with the tank, just need to let it fill in!

and I need to find my dang camera...I hate moving!


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

tharsis said:


> Ah diablo 3 claims another victim.
> 
> My guess is partially the heat and partially the extra eight hours in the bags with no water change/oxygenation is what did them in. It was a real bummer but I am excited for the next tank. I don't think I will be moving fish again any time soon. The next time I move I will just sell everything.
> 
> ...


Yeah... the addiction. And hm.. I feel like they woulda had a better time if you put the fish into 1gallon jugs. My drive wasn't 8 hours, but the 5 hours in traffic from NJ to CT went perfectly fine. I put like 2 fish per gallon jug with a little plant. THE POOR WOOD LEFT BEHIND!!! . Must've had some really nice ones as well. Got any pictures of the moving process? I'd like to see how full your cars were !

Take your time with the pictures man. Get settled down in your new house first!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

I actually had them in large bags for the first day and then transfered them all to a large rubbermaid tote with 50% fresh water and I oxygenated overnight in the hotel. The plan was to do the same thing the next night but we didn't get into the hotel until 3am, as opposed to 7 pm like we planned...so by that time they were toast. 

The would stings too, but I am sure I will find some awesome pieces on the beaches here. 

no pics of the truck and van but believe me they were fully loaded! I wouldn't have been able to squeeze a baseball in!


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Yea I like to see how you would've packed though. Guys have a better spatial sense when it comes to packing .


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

lol, yeah it is a disaster when my wife packs. I kind of enjoy packing, I see it as a jigsaw puzzle, or a crazy horizontal game of tetris...
It gets pretty crazy when you get to the sofas and lazy-boys.

So I took some pics of the tank tonight. I used a camcorder because I still can't find my camera  



















Once the tank and plants stabilize, I plan on keeping the anubias trimmed. i am going to trim all the older bigger leaves and let all the small leaves dominate. 

I plan on having the HM come in pretty thick in the foreground, not sure if I should keep the center valley unplanted...that will be something to deal with later. I also have a bunch of stems behind the rock piles that will add some height. 

The more I think about it, the more I want to have it as a PFR shrimp tank.


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Great looking scape and go for that shrimp tank!


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Amazing!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks! It was fun lugging those rocks out of the woods haha. I think I made 5-6 trips with the dogs. 

Its hard to see in these pics but the rocks have some really neat textures, and they are slightly iridescent green. I will try to get some better pics of the rocks themselves...when I find my camera grrr. 

The more I think about it, the more I want to have the painted fire reds in this tank. I will start with a fairly large colony and when they are established I will introduce a small schooling fish.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

How did you clean those rocks? Looks really nice! Did you super glue the anubias down before hand?

You can definitely go PFR's and mosquito rasboras, unless you prefer larger fish. Or.. if you don't want so much red in one place


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks! I just hosed the rocks down and scrubbed off the spider eggs etc haha. 

They were pretty clean to begin with, alot of loose rubble and rocks in the area. I wedged the big rhizomes between rocks where I could and glued the smaller ones where I couldn't.

Yeah the mosquito raspboras would be too red...I want a bit of contrast from the shrimp. My initial inclination was harlequins or even black neon tetras...but they are a little too plain. Some scissortail rainbows would be cool but I think that would break the bank... 

Atleast i have some time to think it over


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Glofish @[email protected]?

I'd watch parameters over a week, mainly gH and kH. Those rocks might be raising those slowly.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

glofish haha

while my kids would probably love that, I would cringe everytime I walk past the tank!

The rocks appear to be some sort of phyllite, which is metamorphosed mudstones. It is mainly silicates so they should be pretty inert, but I will monitor the water over the next few weeks to be certain.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Even if the rocks are inert they could be raising the TDS over time. Just check for like a week to make sure.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Do I remember correctly that there was an Indian version before the Colorado version? You do seem to get around!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

haha, yeah there was an indiana, colorado, indiana and now rhode island version! I only have a two year contract here but there is a possibility for a permanent position so I really hope that that pans out because I am sooooo sick of moving! 

Rhode Island is a great place, I really like it here so far. 

*Di:* ok cool, I will check that to make sure. Thanks for the tip!


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Hey I'm from Indiana! Go for the shrimp tank + a school of CPDS and corydoras habrosus! Large schools of nano fish gives a large a tank a lot of life. These are all relatively shrimp safe, but get a shrimp colony started first to be safe.

C. Habrosus:









C. Pygmaeus:









CPDs:









PFRs would be huuge contrast on that green + rock:









Tank is looking good! Hope that helps


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## MyMonkey (Jul 17, 2007)

Tagging along!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

*xenxes:*
Yeah I have definitely decided to go with the PFR's, and I would love to get the CPD's as well, they are just kinda pricey. I guess I have a lot of time while I wait for the shrimp colony to get established so I will be able to save up for the CPD's. 

Good idea with the pygmy cories. I think I may go with them as well. 

*MyMonkey:*
thanks! I hope to make it worthwhile  


The tank is coming along nicely, the stems are growing behind the rocks, it won't be long before it starts to fill in. I will take some pics when the sun goes down. I haven't tested the water to see where I am in the cycle but I should be getting close to being ready for shrimp. Probably at the end of this month...

I haven't connected the CO2 and I have been keeping a pretty short photoperiod as a consequence, so there is no algae to speak of. I may try to avoid CO2 altogether for this tank, hopefully I can get by on this tank with just a bit of glutaraldehyde dosing. I will then use the set-up for a calcium reactor in the saltwater tank I am assembling.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

I got CPDs at my LFS for $2 each. Scratch my pygmaeus suggestion, go with habrosus, they're less shy and more active. You will rarely see your pygmaeus in a densely planted tank.

For the plants you have you don't need CO2. Well, you never *need* CO2, just more patience 

I only dose glutaraldehyde (Excel) sparingly when I see lots of algae growth. Use some floaters if you're getting too much light.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

I have only ever seen them for $6 a pop...but if i can find for $2 i will buy tons of them. I have never had a really big school of fish before. The most I had were of serpae tetra and I think I had ~15 or so.

Yeah I purposely kept the 'easier to maintain' plants so that I could avoid CO2. This tank is in my dining room and it is an open stand, so [STRIKE]I want[/STRIKE] my wife wants to keep the clutter to a minimum. The co2 tank and the cerges reactor create alot of clutter under the tank. If I run into a problem I will jsut raise the light up a bit. I am not very fond of floaters for some reason...

That is what I had in mind for the glut as well, maybe do one or two small weekly doses.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

tharsis said:


> [STRIKE]I want[/STRIKE] my wife wants to keep the clutter to a minimum. The co2 tank and the cerges reactor create alot of clutter under the tank. If I run into a problem I will jsut raise the light up a bit. I am not very fond of floaters for some reason...



:hihi::hihi:

It's not a problem if you stick with the larger floater variety, red root floaters, water lettuce, frogbits. Easy to scoop out whenever. Avoid salvinia minima and duckweed, ick.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Here are some pics I jsut took... doesn't look terribly different but I think another week and the stems in the back will start to change the look of the tank alot.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Needs some shrimps


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

long time since I updated, been super busy at work and no time for tanks unfortunately. The lights are still on only afew hours a day so the growth is very slow. Still no livestock, except for a couple redwag platies and a couple black mollies (the kids were tired of no fish so they picked them out). 

i still want some shrimp in there eventually. 

I have some green hair algae in the HM...I kinda like twirling it out with the toothbrush haha. 




























I had an awesome curbside pick up last week, got a fluval 306, wet/dry filter filled with bio balls, huge HOB overflow and pump and one of the huge aquaclear hob filters for free. Everything worked great so I added the canister filter to this tank and will use the wet/dry filter in my saltwater set-up.

I think I want to add CO2 to the tank, the plants are not terribly happy right now so I want to get a boost with the CO2. I managed to fix gthe solenoid issue I had with the milwaukee set-up so I will connect it up to the cerges reactor and the fluval canister.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Whoa update! Those rocks got mighty green from the algae ! Got some good growth as well! So now you're using two canisters on this tank? I see 4 pipes :O!!

Finally gonna use the DW you sent me a long whiles back. I bought a 20L from the petco $1/gal sale


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## xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx (Jul 12, 2011)

Your tank is amazing!!!!! Can I steal go up there and steal it from ya  lol


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

diwu13 said:


> Whoa update! Those rocks got mighty green from the algae ! Got some good growth as well! So now you're using two canisters on this tank? I see 4 pipes :O!!
> 
> Finally gonna use the DW you sent me a long whiles back. I bought a 20L from the petco $1/gal sale


haha, yeah they certainly did. I kinda like it, makes it looked more weathered. 

Yeah I have the fluval and the sunsun. They are both point slightly up so i am getting good surface agitation and a nice slow flow throughout. 

Looking forward to seeing your tank with the DW!

I miss driftwood...i like the rocks but I think I prefer driftwood. I put a 20 gallon tank together over the weekend using the same rocks and style as this tank and all I was thinking was I wish I had driftwood haha.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

So I was just sitting at work...staring at the wall pondering what to do with this tank. It still doesn't have any livestock in it and I am getting bored with it. 

I want lots of color and lots of largeish fish...so I thought why not do some african cichlids.

I think I will take out all the stems and leave the anubias on the rocks. They are well rooted to the rocks by now so they are secure. So I will have just sand substrate, the rock piles with the anubias and a whole bunch of cichlids. I will add a bit more rock to get more hiding places. 

I am excited haha, will need to do some research on which cichlids to get.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Got my first fish for this tank today. 

An electric yellow lab. Nice little fish, I look forward to adding more. 

Here is a pic of the tank as it looks now, just anubias with some moss and java fern slowly spreading. I added lots of caves and nooks and crannies in the rocks. I think I am going to want to put in black sand instead of the play sand to make the colors pop a bit more. 










And here is a pic of the fish.



















I am excited for the color and activity that these fish will bring to the tank. I still don't really know what ciclids will Mbuna cichlids will be compatible with each other so the rest of the fish are still up in the air. I am a little nervous about getting fish from the 'mixed african cichlid' tanks because they are so interbred, you never know what you are really gettting.


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## marioman72 (Jan 22, 2010)

Looks awesome fellow Rhode islander! have u thought about doing any foreground plants? but love the hard scape, def might be a good idea to switch to black sand could make everything stand out much more like you said, but as it sits now looks very natural.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Hey thanks! 

Good to find some local people haha. 

I took out the HM from the foreground for a few reasons, the 1st is I thought that the cichlids would tear it to shreds (I figured any rooted plants would not be very successful with these fish), and the second was that I wanted to use the HM for my other 20L and the third is that I wanted to keep the hardscape clean and more representative of their habitat (although anubias aren't very accurate haha). 

The more I think about it, the more I want black sand, i think I will get a bag of the black diamond stuff. 

So I am fairly new to the area and I am still trying to find a good LFS...any suggestions? I like the place on wikendon in college hill and I was not too impressed with RI pet and aquarium.


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## marioman72 (Jan 22, 2010)

yea auqa life in prov is fantastic, probably the best in RI, but Critter Hut in North Kingstown is a close second, they have a very good selection of plants and fish and lots of different equipment. its the only place locally i can find eco-complete or fluorite lol id go take a look there. Rumford Pet Center use to have a massive aquarium section but they got rid of the whole thing a couple months ago and only sell betas now :/


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Yeah, I think I will check out critter hut soon, it is just hard to justify driving 25 minutes if I am not going to buy something haha. 

I got some more cichlids from aqualife yesterday, I am really liking their colors. I will probably aim for about 20 cichlids in this tank so I am a quarter of the way there.

LOTSA PICS!!!!!! 

*FTS: *










*Glamour shots:*























































*Action shots:*


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

The tank is doing good, I added a bunch more cichlids to the tank, I also added an albino bristlenose pleco to the mix.

I had to raise my light up though because I am starting to get algae on the leaves. I also blew a ballast a couple days ago, I think some dog hair or something got in and caused a short circuit. I was in the other room and I started to hear a loud crackle, I ran into the dining room and saw the puff of blue smoke coming out of the ballast. I was pretty pissed to say the least... but in the end it will probably be fine, 2 T5HO bulbs over this tank should be more than enough light. It will just take some getting used to the dimmer lighting. I will probably end up stringing a few 3W LED's together though to add a bit more pop (I am thinking some 10000K's and some Royal Blues).

I finally got a lens for my camera so I have been taking tons of photos of the tank and the pics...please indulge me  

FTS:









FTS with slow shutter speed...I call it the ghost shot









An overprocessed FTS


















Semi FTS shots



























This is the blarney stone, I call it that because the orange guy is always nibbling on it. 


















This guy was nibbling at the algae on the glass



























Thanks for looking at all the pics haha. I am liking this camera (Nikon D3100 with a stock 18-55 Nikkor Lens) but I am already wanting a higher end lens. I just can't get the pics of the fish crisp enough.


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## halffrozen (Nov 4, 2011)

Play with the Motion/movement setting on the dial, and then try and mimic those same ones on Manual mode, but with a faster Shutter Speed.

That is how I get decently crisp pictures, though... it all depends on how well you know the camera... I have my shoots with my D3200 where I take amazing pictures, then I just don't... lol


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

Tank looks awesome! I really like the change to an African Cichlid tank. I love the sand, stones, and small plants in the stone


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## marioman72 (Jan 22, 2010)

looks great! my fav lens is the 50mm 1.8f probly the sharpest pictures out of the lens.


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Love the look, I did the ghost shot on my reef tank with a 15 second exposure. Have fun with the new camera.


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## MiniFishRoom (Mar 23, 2012)

The anubias is looking awesome


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

Lookin good man! I would keep the sand as it is. The light color with the lighter colored stones works well. Besides it looks like the colors are popping just fine


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## Saxtonhill (Dec 28, 2012)

Wow! I really like the change in textures from darkish grey rock to small anubias in the crevises and moss, the tan/gold sand and the way the colors of the fish just pop out at you.


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## tithra (Dec 1, 2012)

Beautiful tank!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

halffrozen said:


> Play with the Motion/movement setting on the dial, and then try and mimic those same ones on Manual mode, but with a faster Shutter Speed.
> 
> That is how I get decently crisp pictures, though... it all depends on how well you know the camera... I have my shoots with my D3200 where I take amazing pictures, then I just don't... lol


Thanks for the tip! I will give it a try, although I feel like I have tried every combination of parameters haha. I am trying to get the fastest shutter speed possible but it seems that I am limited to about 1/500s at f/3.5 and iso 3200. I think that this is the limiting factor with this lens...



marioman72 said:


> looks great! my fav lens is the 50mm 1.8f probly the sharpest pictures out of the lens.


Thanks! I looked into the lens, pretty decent price! I checked on ebay and there are alot of them for sale too. 




2in10 said:


> Love the look, I did the ghost shot on my reef tank with a 15 second exposure. Have fun with the new camera.


The ghost shots are fun to do I must say. I have done a bunch of them so far. It is nice to finally have a higher quality.more versatile camera. 



The Dude said:


> Tank looks awesome! I really like the change to an African Cichlid tank. I love the sand, stones, and small plants in the stone





MiniFishRoom said:


> The anubias is looking awesome





kwheeler91 said:


> Lookin good man! I would keep the sand as it is. The light color with the lighter colored stones works well. Besides it looks like the colors are popping just fine





Saxtonhill said:


> Wow! I really like the change in textures from darkish grey rock to small anubias in the crevises and moss, the tan/gold sand and the way the colors of the fish just pop out at you.





tithra said:


> Beautiful tank!


Thanks guys! I definitely have decided to keep the white sand. I am really liking the colors in this tank. It is in my dining room and I find myself just staring at it while my family and I are eating...its kinda annoying my wife :hihi:

I added a T8 light strip with a Roseate bulb and I find it makes a big difference from how I had it. The fish pop even more and the extra light helps with taking pics. I am obsessed with taking pics...


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Good to hear on the roseate bulb. An UVL Actinic White also is good. It has nice red and blue spectrum to bring out fish colors and plant colors. The plants also seem to appriciate some blue spectrum.


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## marioman72 (Jan 22, 2010)

yea a faster lens will help a lot with the lighting problems, a tripod is always good help too! then u dont have to put up the iso to super highs and keep the images super sharp.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Time to dump a few more pics...I feel like I am overdoing it with the pics but too bad  
...I like taking them and I like sharing them haha

These guys seriously beg for food all the time...they are worse than goldfish!


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

i'm always amazed at just how gorgeous a tank can look with "simple" plants.


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## UDGags (Sep 13, 2009)

I really like your tank. Very nice job!


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Great looking shots, looks like the right number of fish in the tank to me. Great selection of color in the fish.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

scapegoat said:


> i'm always amazed at just how gorgeous a tank can look with "simple" plants.


I am definitely on a minimalist kick at the moment. My last successful tank was a collectoritis tank and it took alot of time to maintain. I want to try and limit my current tanks to no more than 3 species of plants. Partly for the convenience and partly to see what I can do with it. 



UDGags said:


> I really like your tank. Very nice job!


thanks 



2in10 said:


> Great looking shots, looks like the right number of fish in the tank to me. Great selection of color in the fish.


Thanks, I think I will add 4 more fish to the tank and call it complete. I have already lost track unfortunately but I believe there are 14 fish currently. I don't have a huge amount of hiding spots so I want to overstock to limit the aggression. I am also heavily over filtering to account for the large number of fish.


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

tharsis said:


> I am definitely on a minimalist kick at the moment. My last successful tank was a collectoritis tank and it took alot of time to maintain. I want to try and limit my current tanks to no more than 3 species of plants. Partly for the convenience and partly to see what I can do with it.


my past tanks were unsuccessful LOADS of plants that I love in the beginning, then end up overgrown and out of control. I'm planning a 100 or 125 6' for the basement and am thinking of going with a limited variety. I think it looks more natural as well.

i really like your tank and will be using it as reference!


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## .shawnD. (Nov 2, 2005)

It's hard to make Anubias look good! This looks amazing!


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

Great use of rocks and plants. I like the single style planting scheme. This gives me hope and ideas for my new 40G breeder.


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