# 120 Gallon Journal (56K warning)



## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

This is my 120 gallon tank, which was completely replanted after Hurricane Ike. I went 5 and a half days without electricity and it destroyed the bio-remediation setup I had been using for several years, so I switched to high-tech and bought some plants. On january 1st I will re-scape this tank using new substrate and a large piece of driftwood.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Detail from upper left. HC grown as a floater has bigger leaves, looks like duckweed, but has longer stems. I kind of like it, but like duckweed it will take over the tank top if you don't keep ahead of it.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Here is the tank 8 days later. There are some algae problems, which I expected, but things are growing well. I have added about 25 green neons, 10 ottos, and 10 dwarf crayfish.


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## helgymatt (Dec 7, 2007)

Both look fantastic! I like the open foreground with the rocks and driftwood. Very natural looking. Nice reds too.


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## Lee (Feb 13, 2007)

Definitely an improvement. Dwarf sag looks good.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Thank you for your kind words.

The small grass on the right and rear-center is blynx japonica. The larger on the left is subulata. The picture is not clear enough for plant identification.

I left the clear sand area in the front for Corys, which I don't have yet.

What do you feed dwarf crayfish? They are not showing any interest in the Hikari algae wafers, or maybe the Ottos are just out-competing them.

Thanks,
Rod


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## helgymatt (Dec 7, 2007)

Visually, the CO2 reactor is distracting. If you are going for the overall appearance thats what I would change next. Maybe it could be moved to the back? Or you could do an inline reactor if you have a canister.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

I could not agree more about the CO2 reactor. It is up front because I am not happy with its performance and I want to watch it. When I get it working correctly I will move it to the back.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Update 1 month later*

Here is the tank on January 29th. I have been thru some heavy BBA infestation, but things are looking up. There is still a lot of BBA in evidence, but new leaves are not being infected. As leaves are replaced I am slowly getting rid of it. The worst problem is the crypts in the front corner. Since they don't replace leaves very fast I am wondering if I will end up losing them.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

What beautiful colors! Stunning


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Dwarf Puffers*

This weekend I added 9 dwarf puffers, each about 1/2 inch long. They are so cute. The way the move around reminds me of the PowerPuff girls flying around Townsville.








My algae problems continue to diminish. The key was splitting up the lighting period so that there are some dark times during the day.


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

looks like you got plenty of room for the puffers...they are so cool.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Update. How many green neons do you count?








I bought 20 but Daniel gave me a few extra. I thought I had 25, but I think I count 30 in this photo!


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

I don't know much about alleopathy, but I do know that algae does not grow on the surface of the leaves of my lilly, no matter how bad it may get every place else.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Very nice selection to result in soothing but vibrant colour.

Wish you luck at battling hard to beat BBA. Been there before.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Thanks for the kind words. I don't have your design talent. If I end up with something good, it is mostly luck.

The BBA seems to be really dieing back at this point. Even leaves that were in infested seem to be clearing up. I've got green filamentous algae (probably cladophora) but I don't mind it so bad because it is fairly easy to remove by hand.

The front glass is getting covered pretty bad with either GSA or GDA. Where the heck are my ottos and nerites?! I have not had to break out the mag float in several months but it looks like I will have to.

I have not figured out what dwarf crayfish eat yet, but I know it is not algae.

Thanks,
Rod


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Ich Attack, Dwarf puffer behaviour*

Now my tank has Ich. I guess brought in by the puffers, though I did not see any evidence on them (and still don't). I can see it on the neons though, and the botia has been rubbing himself on stuff. I am raising the temperature and tomorrow will probably start dosing with something.

The puffers seem to have set up territories. I often see a puffer or two move toward a tree line and then be rebuffed by another puffer coming out of the woods. There is never any physical contact in these confrontations, and they did not seem to setup their territories by the usual tussles. Instead, for the first few days they paraded around the tank in 3s, 4s, and 5s, before each one chose a home.


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

I like it a lot, I hope my new 125 turns out as nice.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Still fighting Ich*

I raised the temperature and I'm dosing with 60ml of Ich Attach every evening. So far there have been no deaths and I don't see many white spots.

I had a heck of a time getting the temperature up. My old heater got it up to 85 one time, then gave up the ghost. The temperature drifted down to 80 before I could get to the LFS and buy the cheapest submersible 300W they had. I got smarter this time and unhooked the fan on the lights. Since then, my problem has been keeping the temperature at 85. It was about 87.5 this morning when I woke up. So far, nobody in the tank seems to be suffering, but I don't give my nursing skills high marks.

To ease the pain, I am feeding newly hatched BBS.







This is the easiest and cheapest brine shrimp setup I have ever had. It is a trouble light, a one gallon water jug half full of brine, and an air pump. I get good hatches in 24 hours or less.








The tank by moonlight. Looks much cooler in person,


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

A crawfish claw on a tulip leaf. Possibly the result of mating activity among the dwarf crayfish. I have seen one other missing claw, but have never spotted any berries. Of course, I only see the crawfish that happen to wander thru the front part of the tank.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Dirty glass*









An otto hangs on my very dirty glass.

At one time, I used to clean the glass regularly with a Mag Float. Then I bought 45 Anerieds from Arizona gardens. Within four days my glass was sparkling. No more mag float!

But the anerieds have drifted away to other pursuits, I rarely see more than one or two on the front. I have 16 ottos in the tank, but they don't seem that interested in the front glass either.

I think I'm going to have to go back to the mag float. Are there any plecos that stay under 2 inches?


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

Beautiful tank!! I hope to have one this big some day. Hopefully I can get it to look half as good as yours. I am not sure I am talented enough yet to get up to the quality of yours.


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## jthompson (Dec 15, 2008)

houstonhobby said:


> Are there any plecos that stay under 2 inches?


Try bushynosed plecos, I have had 4 for about a year and they're only about 2.5 inches and 2 of them have been breeding, so now I'm not sure how many are in there.......


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## seds (Jan 30, 2009)

Looks nice. I like duckweed so I like the "HC" 

I counted 29 green neons. Is that the correct number?


I have a magnetic slider scrubber thing that gets rid of algae on the front. Is that a mag float?? If you don't have any decor within an inch of the front you can easily decimate algae this way. The one I bought has a built in thermometer too! It costed $8 canadian.

EDIT: yep, a mag float is one o dems.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

seds,

I think I am probably wrong on the HC. I think my HC was probably just contaminated with duckweed. Anyway, I like duckweed too. Some floating plants help to keep the balance, and I don't find it difficult to keep under control. Yes I think the mag float is probably about the same thing. It is a US brand. No thermometer though.

I counted 31. A couple are facing the camera. Of course, I was looking at the original, which is a few thousand pixels in each direction.

jthompson, I will take note of bushy-nosed plecos. Thanks.


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

> I think I'm going to have to go back to the mag float. Are there any plecos that stay under 2 inches?


How about pit bull plecos?


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

The Ich monster appears to be gone and I don't think I lost any fish. I now count 35 green neons. I notice they like to pace back and forth for hours in a group. I thought it was the 85 degree heat, but they are still doing it at 78 degrees. Maybe it is the live BBS they get every day now.

The dwarf sag melted quite a bit on the left side. I think it was a light issue, but it could have been heat I guess. On the right, the tiger lilly got way too tall.

This isn't really an aquascape. I am not sure I can do aquascaping. I love each individual plant and want to see it grow to its fullest. An aquascape is really about negative space, but I can't pull out a plant to create any. I guess I could if I had another tank to put it in, but I have just these two and a 10 gallon QT (which is, at this moment, stuffed way too full with plants).


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Dude, what happened to my 'scape?*









Thru diligent research, I have finally found a form of algae that will grow on tiger lilly leaves.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Right after the rescape I had a bad BBA infestation. These crypts looked like balls of fuzz. I was never able to clean them, but somehow they survived and ultimately thru off the algae without any assistance from me. Now they are better than ever.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*March 1, 2009*


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## dinker (Jan 7, 2009)

The last picture shows really nice plants. I love it. :fish:

On one of the previous pics where you showed crawfish claw, I noticed you have fresh water hydra. Any tips how to get rid of it without hurting plants and fish?


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

dinker,

You have sharp eyes but I don't think the pictures are sharp enough. I have not seen any hydra myself. In any case, I don't have any special tips for getting rid of them.

Thanks,
Rod


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

wow, nice tank. it has great color!
i have a lotus in my tank and i love it but its such a light hog too !! its already taken over half my tank and its shading out the rest of my plants. its a great plant though, specially when it reaches the surface it looks like lily pads.


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## ranchu dad (May 27, 2008)

Your tank looks great, the mix of color is very nice. One thing I would cation is that Puffers are very much a predator fish and they will start to nip and take chunks out of your other fish and then they will eat them when they weaken. Yours may be fine but I would be very careful.


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

houstonhobby said:


> Thru diligent research, I have finally found a form of algae that will grow on tiger lilly leaves.


I love this quote! BTW I too struggle with pulling out plants.

I really like your tank- consider it dutch 

cheers-K


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

> One thing I would cation is that Puffers are very much a predator fish and they will start to nip and take chunks out of your other fish and then they will eat them when they weaken.


Ranchu Dad . . . say it ain't so! They are so little and cute!. Some of my puffers have doubled their size since I bought them. Others are still the same size. So far I have seen agression only among the puffers, and that looks like play fighting. I have not seen them make any move against the other inhabitants. If I do, I will have to pull them out, and that will mean rescaping. Ugh.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Lotus update! My red tiger has two daughter plants. I didn't notice them until last night. One already has 5 leaves, the biggest is as big around as a Coke can bottom. The other just has two leaves so far.


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## mizu-chan (May 13, 2008)

I love you're tank. The plant diversity is so eye catching. 
Aweosme job!


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

I like your style, did you grow the lotuses from bulbs?


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

The plants on the left come from bulbs that I bought from Arizona Gardens. The plant on the right, obviously a different species, was not grown from a bulb and did not have a bulb attached when I bought it. It came from an LFS (City Pets in Houston). I have read that Lillys can be detached from their bulb, and that if you do this the bulb can then generate another plant. Never personally tried it.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*I saw a baby lemon tetra this evening!*

He came out to eat BBS, then melted back into the forest. He was about 5/8ths of an inch long, so he must have been, what, 6 weeks old?


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Uh oh, the dwarf puffers are going at it*

I clipped a bunch of plants last night and stuck them in my new 20L to give it a start. This evening I noticed something in the tank moving around purposefully. Thought it was probably an insect or something until I took a closer look








It is a baby dwarf puffer! People have warned me that my puffers may not be compatible with the tetras. So far I have never noticed any untoward behaviour. Now, I see how they have been using their time. I am not that happy about the possibility of a puffer population explosion.


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

This is the first time I've seen this thread and you have done a great job. Congrats on the fish fry (even though you may not want them).


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Ottos love this tank*









I put 10 regular Ottos and 6 Tiger Ottos into this tank several months ago. Most evenings you can count all 16 hanging out in the top left corner, by the CO2 reactor.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*Green neon with a problem*









One of my green neons has a problem. It looks like a white feathery thing stuck to it's side. I don't know if it is an injury or a parasite. The picture is not good enough for identification I know. Whatever it is, it stands proud of the side of the fish, but it is not a single thread. It has a couple of ends at the top.

The dwarf puffers in the tank have gone from cute to huge! I would pull them out if it did not require a weekend and a full rescape to do so. It is possible that this fish has been injured by one of them, though in my hours of watching I never saw one make a move toward any other fish (there is a good bit of puffer to puffer action, but nobody ever gets hurt).


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

*The Dwarf Puffer lives!*









The dwarf puffer fry that got carried into the 20L El Natural setup on a plant leaf is still alive and is about 3/8 inch long! This evening was the first time I had seen him since the last reported siteing


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

aww, i love dwarf puffer babies! it looks super cute!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

> One of my green neons has a problem. It looks like a white feathery thing stuck to it's side.


sounds like fungus


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## kkentert (Jan 21, 2007)

absolutely beautiful tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

houstonhobby said:


>


to refresh our memories, i quote picture of the whole tank.

very nice!

there was an interesting article in the latest TFH about research for commercial breeding of dwarf puffers.


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## EntoCraig (Jun 7, 2010)

Your tank is stunning!


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

I broke this tank several months ago. I currently have a 55 cube, a 6 foot 125 and a 4 foot 90. I just have not had time to update my signature.


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## EntoCraig (Jun 7, 2010)

houstonhobby said:


> I broke this tank several months ago. I currently have a 55 cube, a 6 foot 125 and a 4 foot 90. I just have not had time to update my signature.


Fish Happens... Sorry to hear about it, but im sure your other tanks look good too!


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## luisgo (Jun 15, 2010)

Love the red and green combination!!


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