# attack11's 47gl (56k warning)



## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

that'll be nice once its all growin in nice. should be fun to watch


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

small update. i setup my pressurized co2 equipment (jbj regulator/5lbs tank/glass diffuser). battling some hair algae right now; i think i've been od'n iron (premix @ 0-0-3) so i'm going to back off a little and add more plants asap.




































crazy glass warp on this shot.









low light hand shake.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Yes you need more plants, get some fast growers in there too, Hygro. species or even more bacoppa. Also dont burry the rizome of the javafern in the substrate. I see you have anice peice of driftwood that it would love to be tied to.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i'll look around to see if i can find some fast growers, i think i'm limited to bacopa locally. the java fern plantlets were positioned to send runners into drift wood (very large plantlet off camera, the small one was just getting a mercy planting); but i ended up pulling them out because they were the initial source of algae and they weren't doing too good after i cycled my tank.

i'd like to get more and properly tie them to the wood in the tank, but i haven't seen any in the lfs that were healthy. i think i'm going to take a drive to toronto sometime in the future and check out the shops mentioned in other threads, the local selection seems to be coming from someone's tank and it's always got a little bit of algae on it.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

Someone dug this up while i was at work, but i'm very happy it has roots! I was a little worried i condemned it to a slow death with an early removal. It's an "amazon sword" plantlet (i doubt it's an amazon sword). Replanting it will be a bit of a pain, gotta drain 50% water and stand on a stool, which is on a chair.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

added some more plants and finalized co2 setup (maxijet at top angled to catch bubbles when sms122 turns on the selonoid + maxijet, during daylight hours). still working on my fertalizing, but the plants are growing well. i wanna get the algae under control. it needs some grass.


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## natx (Jun 6, 2006)

Hey k2, nice to see your tank in two forums. 

I just bought the 29 gallon I've been harping on about for weeks now.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

sweet. i'd mirgrate that other thread here but it'd be pointless.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i shot with the wrong metering by accident, camera was set for a moving car.

basically changed almost everything in the aquarium. a lot of new plants, new 10000k bulb, background, proper planting positions to minimize algae and promote healthy growth. maxijet is gone and using only the glass diffuser.

the rotala need to be untangled a bit.


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## natx (Jun 6, 2006)

Looks great. Whats that filter you're using? Did you get a custom setup to have the intake pipe reach down that far?


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

that's an emporer 400. the biowheels aren't moving so co2 loss isn't a huge issue. it's better suited for saltwater. the intake is stock, seems to be perfect for tall tanks.


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## Nightshop (May 12, 2006)

Ever considered Angel fish? They would love a deep tank like that.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i like the colors of various labyrinth fish species more, once i get a tank for the balla i'll populate this one properly. i might do angels in the future with some black drift wood, adg style with ada wood.


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## AndyN (Jun 2, 2006)

is that mondo grass in the back? If so it's not fully aquatic.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

yes, yes it is. i fell for the classic "store selling the wrong kind of plant" scenario; i forgot to remove it yesterday, gives me a reason to "fix" a couple of things.


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

I can't wait to see the stems reach for the surface.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Urkevitz said:


> I can't wait to see the stems reach for the surface.


yeah it will be quite impressive!

good luck on the tank... i miss that nice driftwood you had in there....
what happened to it?

- fish newb


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i removed it because the branch that stuck out cast a large shadow and i have limited space (almost 2ft sq). it's going to my gf's gecko i think, or storage until i have a long tank.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

attack11 said:


> i removed it because the branch that stuck out cast a large shadow and i have limited space (almost 2ft sq). it's going to my gf's gecko i think, or storage until i have a long tank.


i can completely understand then.... my 55g i dont have that problem but in my 10g i have similer problems


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i swapped out the filter for a fluval 305 today. it seems in my case the carbon in the emporer's cartridges was removing a lot of the nutrients from the water, my plants looked unhealthy in just two days and i was starting to get tiny holes. this was less of an issue with the local plants i had in the tank, but the new stems were very sensitive to the change.

oh well. the filter is setup and i just od'd some ferts in an effort to get everything up to a good level.


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## Adrian (Aug 17, 2005)

You have a nice tank going there. Good work! Some suggestions:

IMO, you made a mistake by removing that wonderful peice of driftwood from the initial setup...it gave more substance and depth to the tank. I would get some jungle Vallis to show-off the height you got. And you might want to look into a canister filter.

Where abouts are you anyways?


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## Adrian (Aug 17, 2005)

Never mind my suggestions, I dind't read the second page...jumped the gun


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

thanks. i'm in sudbury, where planted aquariums aren't really supported. luckily barrie is only 3 hours away, which is where i got my new plants. i wish i had thought to check out the shrimp at the big al's.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

small update: this morning most of the new stems had 1/2 to 1" of new growth and the small amount of bba on my wisteria is now blooming so the carbon was definitely a problem. i know i had a nitrate deficiency, so in an effort to fix things asap i ordered some ferts from greg watson; looking forward to getting those in a few weeks. i might have to do an h2o2 dosing between now and then if the bba keeps growing like it is.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

new growth + filter. i'm eventually gonna figure out how to shoot this aquarium with my camera, too much light/reflection


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## Architect1 (Feb 19, 2006)

Hey vary nice tank. i like the veriety. and the shape of the tank is different. its vary slim for a rectangle. vary nice set up. hope you solve the black algee.


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

nice set up,plants look good too. maybe you might want to shift the driftwood with the java fern on top to the back a little,it kind of draws the attention away.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

attack11 said:


> new growth + filter. i'm eventually gonna figure out how to shoot this aquarium with my camera, too much light/reflection


Turn off all the lights in the room, close the drapes and get it completely dark. Then use the camera without flash. The pics will amaze you.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

that's how i took the shots (photography is a hobby); the problem is the plants are a very bright light green with a white substrate so the light reflection from the mH bulb overexposes regardless of shutter speed. i can get leaf detail if i underexpose a lot but then you wouldn't see any fish.

it's an ideal setup for hdr photography, but the fish don't wanna stay still


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## deeplove (Dec 27, 2005)

Remind me why that shark doesn't swallow that betta whole.

:hihi: 

The tank is coming out nicely. As for the pics, the darker the room the better. And if you want to get technical, then use Photoshop or a graphic editing software. You can also take out the intake and diffuser to get a nice clean pro look.

:icon_wink


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

thanks 

bettas are labyrinth fish which get along with cyprinidae (minnow family - the bala shark and barbs). you can't mix labyrinth with certain types of tetras (characins). not sure why, probably some kind of instinct but the tetras will go after em. i'd guess that most cichlid species would go after it also.

i've been using photoshop for 10yrs now actually (started in 95/96); i'm onto cs2. looking forward to adobe's lightroom. it's really just a light issue like i said in the other post. 150w mh bouncing off white is just hellish for a camera regardless of metering or shutter. i've taken a few shots stopped way way down to get leaf detail but then the colors are off and require way too much correction. if i flooded the room with light i should be able to get proper exposure but i don't have a studio light kit for that


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

In a week the limnophila sessiliflora has doubled in height (and width); the ludigia repens has a lot of healthy growth and is expanding outwards. i planted more rotala indica to fill the background lastnight, spaced it out a little with hopes that it'll create a solid wall. the money wort has been putting out a few leaves a day since mid week. my bba is dying! it's gone from a healthy dark gray/black to a sickly light gray/red.

the amazon sword plantlets in the foreground have added a few leaves. i might be able to scape by the end of summer 



















edit: i just noticed i have some lovely green algae starting in the tank. fun times.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

everything is growing very fast 

the wisteria has started to really move into the rear left corner (it's starting to creep in the picture above). i think this is the best picture i've taken of the tank so far.


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## aquasox (Sep 3, 2005)

Hi attack,

Really like the look of the tank...especially the hydrocotyle verticillata foreground with bare substrate in front.

I do however think the the Amazon swordplant is less than ideal for the tank though...if it does grow to its potential it will expand beyond the size of the tank.

I've got some echinodorus quadricostatus which stays around 10 cm....it might be a little bit better.

Keep up the great scape!


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

good suggestion. i have a few local plants left that i'd like to remove (sword being one of em), i just couldn't afford to buy all in one shot 

there's no local planted scene/group, kinda sucks.


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## natx (Jun 6, 2006)

Those things are shooting up like weeds! Thats the most progression I've seen in your weekly updates ever. Awesome.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

replanted. i figured with the growth rate i should "fix" the placement now before it's a jungle. everything has space to grow out and up. i just gotta leave it alone for a few months now. i had no idea the wisteria was >10" tall; it's not straight up in these pics.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

attack11 said:


> everything is growing very fast
> 
> the wisteria has started to really move into the rear left corner (it's starting to creep in the picture above). i think this is the best picture i've taken of the tank so far.


I like the positioning of plants this way.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

there was a few growth issues with the plants in that arrangement.


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## Brilliant (Apr 11, 2006)

Cool tank. I think that is the best picture so far. I like the 14k in your tank.

Damn...you should share more about photography and cs2  I am trying to learn my new camera now....as for cs2 thats a complete wash...as if I have enough time for that. Awesome package tho.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

the plants are starting to show signs of a potassium deficiency. thankfully i got my ferts lastnight and i dosed before eating lunch. i went with a ppm calc that should be proper for my water column, but i'll have to see how the plants react since no aquarium is the same. i'm also overfeeding a little (2 - 3 small feedings / day) to get my cycle going and the nitrates up.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)




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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

it's looking good. i'm about to try taking some before pics of my tank (before i replace the substrate tomorrow).


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

dosed some kno3 and k2so4 earlier in the week when the ludwigia repens looked like it wasn't taking well to being moved. the leaves really grew out fast. added 2 ottos and 3 white clouds today.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

update shot. in 3 days there's been nice growth, but the ludwigia repens is still not behaving how i expected, and quite differently than the other plants. it's got tiny rips in the new leaves it's putting out which are much larger than it's old ones so i'm assuming i'm not meeting it's new needs, or i've possibly od'd a nutrient and this is the result. gotta figure it out.

it needs a trim soon.


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

looking great and yeah,your tank needs a little trimming. Like the centre plant...is it ludwiga?


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

yeah, it's ludwigia repens and there's another kind behind it. it seems the plant really responds to the ferts when there's a good amount of nitrates. it's putting out huge leaves.


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

Thats really great. Makes the plant redder too if i am right.


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## Deactivated_1 (May 7, 2006)

What was the airstone thingy in the first pictures? like a white disc with air/co2 ??? coming out of it??
Your tank has come out brilliantely! good job!


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

Your tank is so unique and beautiful.....I really like it.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

parky, there was an airstone in the rear/right corner but it's obstructed in the pictures. the white disc is an airline holder.

thanks for the compliments 

i trimmed the wisteria and limnophila sessiliflora at lunch and it looks nicer. i have some plans for trimming in the future now


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i'm hooking up my reactor 1000 inline with my fluval. if the co2 diffusion is as good or better than my glass diffuser i'll be happy.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i'm experiementing with the fertalizing, trying to get it just right. I haven't found the sweet spot yet. I had to trim the limnophila sessiliflora twice this week. The wisteria has passed 20" when it's falling on itself


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

wow growing in nicely. Beautiful tank. What is that in your foreground? Will it get tall?


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

it's hydrocotyle verticillata. it should stay pretty low if the snail stops moving thru it. once it's filled in it should look like a nice clover patch. it's not looking that great today, went a little yellow on the older leaves. i'm not sure yet if that's due to the amount of new stems it's putting out but i'm pretty sure it's based around my micro fertalizing. i haven't figured out if i'm doing too much or not enough.


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

The plants seem to look healthier with every new post~! Looking great=)


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

wow thats growing in very nice. i like the depth of the tank because it allows the plants to get tall which is nice to see.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

I moved the filter intake and setup a spraybar, along with the aquamedic reactor 1000 i had. i'm looking forward to all of the air being out of the new setup. the ph seemed to drop much faster than with the glass diffuser i had been using, so i'm impressed.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i had some fun the day after i setup the reactor. i originally used the same length of tygon that was used for the diffuser in the tank so it was a little over 60" long; which i looped when i connected the reactor. water pressure and gravity stopped the co2 from getting out so it was a lot of fun swapping the hose while water shot straight up out of the top of the reactor 










trimmed the ludwigias and hygrophila difformis yesterday to thin them out a bit. i'm trying to get the limnophila sessiliflora into a wall that doesn't block the light, so short in the front and tall in the back. the plant grows so fast it's a little hard to get right. the hydrocotyle verticillata are putting out runners in every direction which is great; i'm tempted to try to push the exposed runners into the substrate (the snail is a pain with these plants). i think next week i'll try doing a side cut on the alternanthera reineckii; it's grown a lot over the past week.


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

wow. everything looks really full.


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

Your tank really has alot of depth,plants looking really healthy too.


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## Adrian (Aug 17, 2005)

Wow I'm glad to hear that the hydrocotyle is doing so good...usually it does not take well to deep tanks (they're light lovers).

Every thing looks good!


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

metal halide  (i love that fixture)


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i have black molly fry in my tank. so far i've counted 4. i think they were in hiding until the bala was removed, because they're magically there now; along with some shrimp that survived.


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## natx (Jun 6, 2006)

Haha nice bonus! I bought those platys on a whim hoping for some fry and ended up with five males. Its a good idea to learn how to differntiate sex on a species prior to going and buying them.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

haha no kidding. i have a male and female cherry barb that i hope will breed. it'd be nice if one of the new balas i got for the other tank was a female; kinda hard to tell when they're young/small.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

I did a massive trim on the hygrophila difformis and two luwidgias (including replanting one of them), removed the limnophila sessiliflora (put a small bunch into the bala tank) and moved the alternanthera reineckii so the hydrocotyle verticillata will get lots of light and grow flat.

This was also around a 60% water change so i redosed the micros/macros to 1/3 ei ppms (roughly - i don't do ei dosing) and did kno3 to get the nitrates to around 30ppm and k2so4 got a generous dose to speed new leaves.


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## FiftyFive (Jul 12, 2006)

great thread!


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

This is the final scape for these plants; now that the tank is mature enough to pull out the very fast growing plants. It should look pretty good in a couple of weeks.










I moved the small peice of driftwood with the java ferns grown in into the bala tank along with a clipping of the alternanthera reineckii. when the fern rhizomes(?) are ready i'll tie them onto the big peice of driftwood in the other tank.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

here's my current arrangement. left to right it's planted, salt (cycling), bala / lowtech










i'm having fun with some algae in my planted tank. i increased the bioload which appears to be more than the natural cycle can handle so i'm getting some bba; dosing is up to try to counter it and it's kinda working but not really. i'm trying to kill it without cleaning the substrate.


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## natx (Jun 6, 2006)

Wheres the picture of your girlfriend shaking her head at how you've turned the living room into a fish room?


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

the way she took over the bedroom counters this well.


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

attack11 said:


> the way she took over the bedroom counters this well.


BAHAHAHA!! nice.

looks good though man. you gonna do a reef with the SW or just live rock and fish? i should have my mini reef start goign in a week or so


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i think i'm going to do a reef. i'm planning on starting on the rock this weekend.


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## FiftyFive (Jul 12, 2006)

i love that photo guy... I've been showing everyone that since you sent the link.

Truely, impressive. Now turn on the de-humidifier!


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

natx said:


> Wheres the picture of your girlfriend shaking her head at how you've turned the living room into a fish room?


hey i get that all the time.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

My wgnlite bulb arrived yesterday so I happily installed it. In a day the plants growth and pearling has been unreal. It's definitely hitting the right radiation peaks so lots of useful par!

It cost $25 on ebay. If you need bulbs get one!

The tank is pretty different in person. It's got a cool green tone and the reds and greens just pop.


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

Simply bea-u-tiful! I love the serene feeling it gives me.Nice wood placement.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

both of my freshwater tanks are going thru a gw outbreak so no real updates on either other than "lights out". i moved my sunpod fixture over to my new saltwater tank and have ordered a jbj k2 viper 150w to take it's place.

some pics of my new salt tank. it has about 1/2 of the final amount of rock (18lbs right now). gonna be a mix of soft and lps corals (low current, medium light) and 1 anemone (not sure which compatible type yet).

currently two ocellaris clownfish, a bunch of crabs, one snail and two starfish call it home. lots of hitch hikers on the rock. i'd like to get an orchid dottyback and i'm considering putting in a peppermint shrimp to deal with aiptasia as they arrive.





































the saltwater tank is much more interesting to get close to, and the fresh are nice from a distance.


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## organic sideburns (Dec 22, 2005)

The freshwater tanks are nice up close too! But I know what you mean, I had 2 saltwater tanks a 20 gal and 55 gal for years. I cant handle those tanks and my 46 gal freshwater so I am currently taking down both saltwater tanks and returning the fish. I had to dump 45 pounds of figi liverock too. Good luck with your saltwater tank, its realy fun but hard to take care of.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

just did a substantial cleaning of the tank, removing dead leaves and all of my ludwigia which didn't survive 2 weeks of room light. pretty let down over that and my backup light not being what i expected.

the tank is still alive though which surprised me. there's some new growth and the other 3 types of plants seem very healthy so i'm going to keep it going until i can find a good metal halide fixture for it; or i buy another sunpod.

i have molly fry again; and all the algae in the tank and filter spray bar is dead so .. oddly the tank condition looks great; the plants aren't so hot right now.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

moved the hardware over to my 40gl tank. i'm planning on changing the substrate to something more suitable for a high tech tank once the wisteria stalls or covers the whole tank. i'm in no rush


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## Brilliant (Apr 11, 2006)

Such a shame what happened. I hope the reef tank makes up for this.

Thanks for the tip on that light fixture.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

yeah. i should've just ordered a second sunpod. oh well. i think this 40gl long will be pretty cool once i have a plan for it. it's got 2 x t5 light on it right now and it's doing well without fertalization; but it is just wisteria and java ferns.

i'm thinking of getting more white substrate and doing a glosso tank with some different red plants. not sure yet.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i've been letting this wood grow for a couple of months. pretty soon i'll be getting some moss from a friend so i'll be doing a nice lowtech moss tank hopefully.

i didn't really take care of the water for a couple of months so it got some algae :/


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## CardBoardBoxProcessor (Sep 17, 2006)

:eek5: a Betta will get along with barbs? Tiger barbs by chance? haha


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## Finch_man (Mar 21, 2006)

Thats a nice picture of those clownfish.


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## CardBoardBoxProcessor (Sep 17, 2006)

Don't clowns prefer to be in odd numbers? or is it even? I forget. I knw one till turn female and be bigger >> haha


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

my betta got along with cherry barbs of about the same body length. the tiger barbs would've killed it quickly. i accidentally killed them during a massive water change :/

they were about 6" long and maybe 3" high. very fast growers and very fun to watch. i might try to keep them if i ever get a larger tank, 4ft tank was too small for em.

all clowns pair off. i have a green carpet anemone on order for those guys. current shot of the reef. it's fully populated sans anemone and maybe an open brain coral.


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## CardBoardBoxProcessor (Sep 17, 2006)

how hard is it to keep a reef? and clowns? I notice petco recently started celling cl0owns and lion fish.. it leads me to believe they are hardy?


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## Nightshop (May 12, 2006)

Wow, your reef tank is very attractive.

I have been considering begining one of my own, how hard would you say it is compared to a planted tank.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

it's a little less work than a high tech planted tank unless you're keeping something like a clam that requires a few more elements dosed into the water. getting the water movement random, but at the proper speed for whatever you keep can be hard. having frogspawn in a small tank and getting a nearly dead spot for it and a pulsing xenia was a little hard, while keeping a strong current for my green star polyps (they look like grass) 

percula clowns (true or false) are easy to keep. if you go with clowns you should buy a pair (already paired makes the transition easier) and a natural hosting anemone really makes them seem happier helps but isn't necessary.

just like plants, different corals/inverts have different light/flow requirements for healthy living so figuring out what you want to put into your tank first helps a lot, otherwise you bend to the hardware you buy.


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## CardBoardBoxProcessor (Sep 17, 2006)

I was wanting to make my 15 gallon into a sw.. slap a nice Aqualear 110 on there. get current over the whole top of the tank. maybe add a powerhead. nice big clown home thigny in the middle. I dunno though. salt water seems like a butt pain.


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

it's far easier than you think 

since i don't have a clam atm, i dose 2 liquids twice a week (1.5 cap, and 2 caps into a glass of water to dilute before going into the tank). and i feed once a day with my skimmer turned off.

a 15gl could be too small for a pair of clowns once you get rock in there. the biggest difference 'tween a planted and reef aquarium is the live rock. generally (very generally) 1lbs of rock to 1gl of water.

you should check this list for some nano tank size compatible fish.

most reef fish require more space than freshwater fish, and you gotta stick with compatible types (check the compatibility chart on that site, it's helpful). for instance, i have a sunrise dotty back which i love, but because i have him i can't get any other rock dwelling fish or they'll fight and someone dies based on the size of my tank (3ft). if i had a 125gl i could probably put 1 other rock dweller in.


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