# My SUPER AWESOME 55 Gallon Tank. (Picture Heavy)



## chocological (Nov 13, 2012)

I love the sand. 
Is the Besta shelf gonna be able to hold the dead weight? The black silicone job is sexy too.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

chocological said:


> I love the sand.
> Is the Besta shelf gonna be able to hold the dead weight? The black silicone job is sexy too.


A couple people told me not to get it but I've been shopping around and many stands for this size of tank are made of the same material (compressed wood). Plus, the Ikea seems sturdy to me, there's 3 supporting panel (vertical support) as opposed to 2 on other stands I've seen.


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## rick dale (Feb 26, 2014)

*new tank*

Nice setup. A new tank is always a Lotta fun.


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## kep (Feb 3, 2015)

Looks awesome so far. I like the hard scape a lot. Will be looking for pics once you get it planted!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## chocological (Nov 13, 2012)

Hmm.
I may just get myself a Besta cabinet for my 55. Looks great.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

chocological said:


> Hmm.
> I may just get myself a Besta cabinet for my 55. Looks great.


I love the looks of the cabinet, there's many other types and colors, so you can mix and match. But keep in mind, if you do get one, it's actually 47 1/4th inches long, my 48" sticks out just a little bit. Also, there's different heights.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

This would probably worry the crap out of me! (the cabinet). But I've definitely seen way worse from the fish stores and such. So I'm sure it will hold. Just don't get it wet. That's the biggest thing about compressed wood.

The substrate looks snippy, but the wood looks kinda funny being such different shades. But I think it will be broken up by the plants and look top notch when you get there!

You'll love the SAT+ by the way. Definitely a fun light.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Freemananana said:


> This would probably worry the crap out of me! (the cabinet). But I've definitely seen way worse from the fish stores and such. So I'm sure it will hold. Just don't get it wet. That's the biggest thing about compressed wood.
> 
> The substrate looks snippy, but the wood looks kinda funny being such different shades. But I think it will be broken up by the plants and look top notch when you get there!
> 
> You'll love the SAT+ by the way. Definitely a fun light.


Yea, I'm not too worried about the cabinet, I'm more worried about the house and the foundation...lol.


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## Mathman (Apr 5, 2009)

I love the color contrast of the wood, rocks, and substrate. 

Great choice on the natural River sand.

Awesome nano tank too!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

lots of potential there! great looking nano too btw


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## TrogdorSlayer22 (May 10, 2012)

Yeah, the hardscape is looking nice. You're nano is beautiful as well.

However, unless you have some dividers for the sand, you better be fine with some black/white mixed sand. I had a fairly similar setup as you, with the two different colors, but even with some dividers, the sand got mixed up.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

TrogdorSlayer22 said:


> Yeah, the hardscape is looking nice. You're nano is beautiful as well.
> 
> However, unless you have some dividers for the sand, you better be fine with some black/white mixed sand. I had a fairly similar setup as you, with the two different colors, but even with some dividers, the sand got mixed up.


I'm going to try to minimize the mixing of the 2 sands. I'm getting more seiryu stone to cover along the line as well as plant some HC and riccia on stones along that line.:tongue:


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Update: So I decided to reinforce my tank stand. I felt uncomfortable knowing that it WILL break on me. Good thing I'm doing this now because after disassembling the Ikea stand, I found out that the middle beam is a HOLLOW compressed wood. Don't want to take that risk of flooding my living room and damaging the house. Here's an update photo on the new stand built. Similar to MILIKIAN's tank stand build.








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## ROYWS3 (Feb 1, 2014)

I think adding that extra lumber in the stand was certainly smart way to go


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## chocological (Nov 13, 2012)

Good to see that you did that. I would certainly be worried. 
Now that thing can hold up a truck, lol.


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

What brand and color name is that natural sand? It is a very nice looking color and grain size! 

It is a very good thing you reinforced the cabined!!! BUT I would STILL be worried if the ends of the tank are unsupported!!! It looks to me in the pics to be short, as well if I am reading correctly as if you said the stand is only 47.25" long! That is going to leave about 1" of tank hanging off, depending on the 55g you have! My 55g is 48.25" long, but I have seen them 48.125"-49" depending on the manufacture! The few people I have worked for and around in the Aquarium Business have always told me when building stands or setting up aquariums," The 4 corners MUST be supported equally and if there are any micro gaps in the front back or sides you can use thin foam! If not Sand or Plane it down till it is flat!" 

So Maybe some of the Experts here can tell you if what you have will work or not, but I would hate to see you set your new tank up just to have a end panel pop and ruin your wood flooring!!! I have had a trashcan with 25+ gallons of water change water spill in our living room in our old duplex, and it flooded the 25'x14' living room, down most the 14' hallway, and into a galley kitchen! And the living room and hallway were carpet! I can only imaging what 55g would do on hardwood!!!!! Besides loosing your plants, fish and tank, and maybe a tv, couch, or people, kids, or pets could get hurt in the process!!!!

So I would make darn sure it is 100% safe to do before filling long term!!! Maybe call or E-Mail the tank manufacture would be the 100% best way to get the correct answer of the tank you own!!!! AS each tank might be different!

I just want you and your family to be safe and enjoy this awesome hobby!!! 

Awesome Layout by the way!
Drew

p.s. Your Nano is a piece of artwork!!! What all do you have in it? Plants and animals? How old is it?


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

@ Boxxerboydrew - Thanks man. I dont remember the brand of the sand but I'll post more pictures when I buy more. As for the stand, the tank is just an inch longer than the stand itself, half inches on each end. I think it'll be ok. I'm not done with the stand yet, been busy with school. Ill finish it this weekend though and post more pics. As for the nano, here is a couple links to those threads. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=774114&highlight=
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=811929&highlight=


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

Thanks for the links!!! And for any info you can get me on the sand in the future!

Just as long as you feel safe!!! Just fill if up slowly, and watch for any air pockets forming in the silicone in the seams at the ends or dripping or popping sounds!!!

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!! Take Care!!!
Drew


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Just finished the cabinet reinforcement. Been so busy with school. Anyways, here's some pictures of the final results. I feel so much more confident and eased, knowing that this will hold up the tank..lol.








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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Significant improvement on strength! Should last your many years without worry of breakage. The finish of the basic cabinet is very nice! Good luck with the rest of the progress on the tank.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Immortal1 said:


> Significant improvement on strength! Should last your many years without worry of breakage. The finish of the basic cabinet is very nice! Good luck with the rest of the progress on the tank.


Thanks!


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

You did a VERY GOOD JOB reinforcing the stand!!! You put your supports in correctly, and it looks like you got some very nice 2x material too! It is hard to find in our area!!! GREAT JOB!!!

Keep up the GREAT WORK!!!
Drew

p.s. I see you have your canister in a plastic bag, and I guess that is in case you get a drip/leak. I have found a great and easy thing to use is the cheap disposable aluminum baking pans from the grocery store. The ones I use are the 8"X8" and about 3" deep. They are usually 3 to a pkg for $5 or so. They will fit in the stand of my 55g, and will hold quite a bit of water too! They make many different sizes and you can bend them to fit since they are pretty light weight! Hope this helps!


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

BoxxerBoyDrew said:


> You did a VERY GOOD JOB reinforcing the stand!!! You put your supports in correctly, and it looks like you got some very nice 2x material too! It is hard to find in our area!!! GREAT JOB!!!
> 
> Keep up the GREAT WORK!!!
> Drew
> ...


Thanks Drew! Yea, the plastic bag is there just in case of drip. Thanks for the advice. I was planning to get a cheap plastic drawer from Walmart or something. I'll probably get that when I fill up the tank. I'll look for that aluminum pan that you were talking about, whatever is cheaper.:hihi:


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

I had 20 cups of HC that I was growing for a month. I just decided to plant them today because I needed it to establish the roots in the tank rather than have them root in the cups. It's just small section but it's progressing.


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## Mitashade (Jan 8, 2015)

Sweet. I can picture it all filled out, gonna be sweet. Are you planning on carpeting it all in HC?


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Thanks. HC just this section and a little more in the middle. The rest is going to be Pogostemon, AR Mini, and S. Repens and some xmas moss on the tree (not placed yet).


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## fishophile (Feb 6, 2012)

Great looking tank so far. The cabinet looks professional and so does the scape. Are you sticking with an iwagami style layout?


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

fishophile said:


> Great looking tank so far. The cabinet looks professional and so does the scape. Are you sticking with an iwagami style layout?


Thanks! Yea, I love the iwagami layout. I don't like tanks with cluttered plants.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Finally got my Current USA Satelite + 48-60". Coupled with a T5 and it looks pretty good, and a lot brighter. Hopefully this will put me up to medium lighting.


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## laurasue (Apr 10, 2015)

Very nice setup.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I think you are pretty firmly in medium lighting with the T5+Sat+ depending on what kind of reflectors you have in the T5. You may be into the low end of high light actually. The Sat+ puts out just under 30 PAR at your distance to substrate.


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## Kntry (Dec 26, 2013)

Good luck with keeping the 2 substrates separated. I tried putting a piece of plastic between the two. It worked great except the shrimp and fish moved all the black to the white sand. I finally gave up!

Tank looks awesome.


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## rick dale (Feb 26, 2014)

*new tank*

Nice setup man. Good looking scape.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Kntry said:


> Good luck with keeping the 2 substrates separated. I tried putting a piece of plastic between the two. It worked great except the shrimp and fish moved all the black to the white sand. I finally gave up!
> 
> Tank looks awesome.


Notice I put some rocks right on the line between the two types of sand. :wink:. As for the empty spots where the lines are exposed, there will be HC or other plants covering it. Thanks again for the heads up.


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Great setup  Need more updates!!


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Ok so its been months since I've updated. Here is the current setup I went with. The dry start is coming along well, HC is growing way too fast. Also loving the lights, it's bright enough that the plants are growing like wild fire...lol. I'm waiting till the new section of HC carpet starts to root itself then I'm going to finally add the water and plant more plants and let the tank cycle first. Fishes will come last.


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Your tank is pretty inspirational. My 55 setup is currently sucking... I also really like how your tanks seams are black. Pretty slick look.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Thanks.


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## yellabelly (Mar 24, 2014)

I am very much a fan of this!


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## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

I'm liking this too. I'm thinking you might want to add some medium height plants at the back at some point, to give the tank more depth visually. Not stem plants per se but just something that will grow to about 10-12", maybe some HM or something with color. Also, good call on removing the branched wood. Overall great start!


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

How do you prevent complete melt back of the hc after you flood it?


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

exv152 said:


> I'm liking this too. I'm thinking you might want to add some medium height plants at the back at some point, to give the tank more depth visually. Not stem plants per se but just something that will grow to about 10-12", maybe some HM or something with color. Also, good call on removing the branched wood. Overall great start!


Yea, I'm planning to add more plants. I want some AR Mini, SR, pheonix moss, xmas moss, Anubias petite and more. As for the branch, it's still going in. Just waiting to fill it with water and tying xmas moss to the edges of them.

Bump:


philipraposo1982 said:


> How do you prevent complete melt back of the hc after you flood it?


I'm going to flood it half way first for the HC to adapt to the submerse environment and just dosing it with ferts and co2. Just slowly work with it.


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## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

10kredline said:


> As for the branch, it's still going in. Just waiting to fill it with water and tying xmas moss to the edges of them.


 You'll want to pre soak the wood for a few weeks so it doesn't float to the top, or anchor to stone.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

exv152 said:


> You'll want to pre soak the wood for a few weeks so it doesn't float to the top, or anchor to stone.


Yea, thanks. I boiled it before I placed it there. Maybe might have to boil it again.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Just added the water to the tank the other day. Started off with filling it quarter of the tank first, then left it for 3 days to see how the HC and Downoi reacts. Then filled it up all the way and added xmas moss to the branches, between rocks and to the drift wood. Also added Phoenix moss on the smaller branches. HC started to float up a little so i placed glass holders to hold the HC down. A lot more plants to come...maybe a couple more branches.








an update on my nano also..lol..


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## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

Cool looking tank. I would recommend a few stem plants to add depth.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

exv152 said:


> Cool looking tank. I would recommend a few stem plants to add depth.


Yea, i'm planning to, not finished yet. Thanks.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Bought a couple plants today, little by little. Got some anubias nana petite and some kind of rotala and something else. I'm going back to the fish store so I'll look it up again.


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## skoram (Aug 9, 2012)

ROYWS3 said:


> I think adding that extra lumber in the stand was certainly smart way to go


really smart and somewhat surprisingly looks very stylish :hihi:

Love the tank btw :icon_smil


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## noseprint (Jun 29, 2015)

I love the hardscape!


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Thanks


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

August 10th update: Picked up some tissue cultured plants from Petsmart as well as some more Neon Tetras and Black Tetras. I figured I'd give it a try with the Staurogyne Repens and Alternanthera Reineckii by Top Fin since I had some really good results and success with the Pogostemon Helferi. Also, it is so hard to find the plants that I want around my area besides buying them online. Anyways, here's some more pictures...enjoy.


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Tank looks great. Any more recent updates?


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Blackheart said:


> Tank looks great. Any more recent updates?


Yea, added new plants, cut and planted the propagating downois. HC is melting on some parts and floating so I placed a glass on top. Also getting diatoms on the rocks and sand making it look black and ugly. Not sure how to clean it without removing it. Hopefully I can get it under control.


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Well, whatever your doing, definitely looks great


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## jcmv4792 (Jul 15, 2015)

Very nice! What brand black sand did you get?


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

I'm getting diatoms everywhere. It's all over the rocks, sand and plants. HC is melting away but slowly stopped, my downois have diatoms all over it's leaves as well as the anubias and the S. Repens. AR's are doing fine though, bright red. The plants are growing but the looks yellowish and leaves are dying. The downois seems to be changing its state from emerged to submerged and now the leaves are so thin and small as well as some leaves dying. But they are propagating like crazy. What am I doing wrong? I'm doing the same process as my nano tank and it came out just fine. Here's whats I'm doing...

Setup
48" T5 & Current USA LED Plus - Lighting 7 hours (on timer) (also have the LED on highest brightness but lowered it down to see if there's a difference)
CO2 (paintball) 2-3 bps - Nonstop-day and night
Substrate - Eco-Complete, black sand and natural sand
GLA pps-pro Micros and Macros - 5-6mL both bottles everyday in the morning.
Seachem's Excel - 6mL everyday in the morning.
Seachem's Iron - 5mL once in a while because I see yellowing in the plants.
Water Change - 50-70% every sunday (due to browning of the water from wood)












Bump:


jcmv4792 said:


> Very nice! What brand black sand did you get?


I don't remember, I will get back to you on that when I visit my local aquarium shop.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

well the tank is looking better and better grown in, good job! Diatoms are not much of a problem! Maybe less light and or some algae eaters and its no biggie 

I remember when my tank was new and I had A LOT of diatoms, well 5 otos made QUICK work of that.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I'd imagine that perhaps having more nitrogen in the tank would help with the plants yellowing. I find diatoms are one of those things that happen and stop happening as a tank naturally matures.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Update on the tank: Seems like the diatoms is slowing down and the plants are slightly better. AR's and Downois are doing fantastic as well as S.Repens as you can see but not so much of the HC. HC won't root itself on the far left side. Everything looks nice and health at drystart but not so much after submerging under water. Xmas moss and phoenix moss are doing well, some browning here and there.


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## fuzzyluke (Oct 6, 2015)

Your tank is an inspiration. Its a pleasure whenever you post pics. (I made an account finally to post this, as I've been mostly a lurker around here)


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

fuzzyluke said:


> Your tank is an inspiration. Its a pleasure whenever you post pics. (I made an account finally to post this, as I've been mostly a lurker around here)


:grin2: Thanks! Really appreciate your comments. I'm not a pro or anything and this is my first REAL planted tank, so that really means a lot. :laugh2:


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## Mikeygmzmg (Mar 19, 2015)

beautiful tank man, nice work on this. I love the clean and tight layout.


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## cosmic_shaman (Oct 2, 2015)

Really sharp tank, I very much enjoyed this thread from the first picture you posted to the most recent. 
Gives me something to work up to. Just started planting in my tank that I got for Christmas last year, so I'm completely green at this. But thanks to you and this site I'm getting more ideas than I can keep up with, lol.

Again, stunning tank!


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## Jaxfisher (Jun 2, 2013)

How did you get such a nice slope in the back left corner? 'Love it!


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Jaxfisher said:


> How did you get such a nice slope in the back left corner? 'Love it!


Thanks everyone! As for the slope, I just poured the sand on one end until there's a small hill then placed the rocks to block the sand from sliding down. Once the rocks are in place, I poured more sand until I got the desired height.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Update: Diatoms seems to stop growing and tank is stable now. Haven't changed the water for 2-3 weeks now and just cleaned the glass and some rocks. Also, I ripped off the HC carpet that just won't root itself into the substrate after filling the tank up after the dry start and would constantly float up. I planted some downois and s. repens instead and so far I think it looks great. The back corner, I also took out the long plants (forgot the name) that looked so ugly and planted the ARs and the other long plants instead. The HC on the far right side is doing well and not sure why. As for the middle section of the HC, I'll just have to monitor it since it's also no really rooting itself into the substrate. I might just ripped it apart and do a carpet of s. repens.

(Sorry for the crappy Nexus 6 camera phone, horrible with pictures)


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Any more updates? Tank is looking killer.


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## SwampGremlin (Dec 5, 2014)

Super Cool!


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## tlawle3 (Dec 1, 2015)

*Dosing*

Would love to know what ferts. you are using and what method. Looks great, keep it up!


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

tlawle3 said:


> Would love to know what ferts. you are using and what method. Looks great, keep it up!


Thanks! I'm using GLA's PPS-Pro ferts, works really well and lasted me for quite a long time.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Well, its been 2 months since my last update. I ripped out the HC carpet completely since it would not root itself into the substrate. I got tired of cleaning the tank everyday so I just replanted the downois and S.repens. Been selling a boat load of them so I needed a larger area to farm them. I just did a quick cleaning of the tank before I head off to Thailand tomorrow. I'm going to go walk around at their pet district so I'll upload some videos and pictures of those as well.Here's some pictures from my camera phone. Happy holidays and enjoy!


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

my 55 looks like garbage... WHY CANT I HAVE YOUR SCAPING SKILLS?


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

sohankpatel said:


> my 55 looks like garbage... WHY CANT I HAVE YOUR SCAPING SKILLS?


lol. This is my first real large aquarium tank. I practiced with my 3 gallon in my room. Also, I think I have OCD so it helps with the aquascaping..haha.:grin2:


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

10kredline said:


> lol. This is my first real large aquarium tank. I practiced with my 3 gallon in my room. Also, I think I have OCD so it helps with the aquascaping..haha.:grin2:


I legitimately have OCD, it keeps me on top of water changes and keeping stray stuff out of the water, however, my lack of artistic ability translates over to my aquascaping skills


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Another update on the tank at the moment. Added 2 new types of plants, ripped out the old on. Can't seem to get rid of the dead rotten brown pieces of plants and fish poop. Everything else seems to be growing normally. (sorry for the phone camera pics.)


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## thatphotoguy (Feb 17, 2016)

I am legitimately jealous, your tank is pretty freakin awesome! Good job!


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

thatphotoguy said:


> I am legitimately jealous, your tank is pretty freakin awesome! Good job!


Thank you!


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Another tank update: Just cleaned up the tank today, took me 3-4 hours. Cut and replanted some of the downois and s. repens. I'm getting some green-spot algae on the glass and on the AR and anubias. Do I have too much lighting? I'm thinking about picking up some more fishes and shrimps. Seems like all the shrimps died in this tank during the cycle. (sorry for the over-exposure, i got too lazy to adjust. just wanted a quick snapshot of the tank).


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## Cornishrooster (Mar 3, 2016)

Looks great!


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## elf123 (Feb 11, 2016)

Absolutely beautiful!


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## Lousyweather (Mar 25, 2016)

Better safe than sorry, thats for sure!

Im working on a 75, and after seeing yours....lol....geez....underscores the fact I have no idea what I am doing in my arrangements!

Looks nice! Cant wait to see where this goes!


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

I swear, your tank is like an underwater paradise. Way better than my 55 has ever looked.


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## 10kredline (Nov 6, 2014)

Wow, thanks guys, I really appreciate your comments....too kind! I guess one of the keys that helped me in aquascaping is visualization. I just visualize how I want the tank to look. And also trial and error in my nano tank as well as watched a lot of aquascape videos on youtube..lol.


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