# Smoq's 75g planted tank journal UPDATE 04-04-10 FULL OF PICTURES



## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

nice work man! i really can't wait to see it grow in some more. i wish i had the patience to write that much. subscribed.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Nice job Marcin. Great tank, and great journaling. I need to read through it and digest. You put this on that excellent stand that you built right?

You have real nice fish in there they must make an excellent display.

Hey that list will be somewhat easier to follow if you use bullets. You can go back in and edti and add the "list" open & close tags then the asterisk in brackets at the beginning of each new line. 


[LIST}

[*]_text here_

[*]_text here_

[/LIST}


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Man! That was a lot of writing indeed. That alone, takes a lot of time & dedication. I know you'll do great with this tank. Keep up the good work. I'll be following your progress. 

That's a beautiful GBR. They only get that colorful as they fully mature. How old is that guy anyway?


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I love (and really hate) when people start better than what I put months into. Looks great and i love your selection of fish. I have been a plant first, fish second person and lately I want to get rid of fish but I had them for so long, I don't know what to do. Anyway, great start, looks like it will turn out very well.


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## Postal Penguin (Mar 30, 2009)

Beautiful fish and tank. The ram looks stunning.


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## nemosreef (Oct 19, 2007)

Great tank. Love the fish choices. Keep us updated.


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## Strick (Apr 6, 2009)

I love it. Hardscape. Flora. Fauna. All of it.

Great job!!


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## belladee (Jun 15, 2007)

I dont usually comment on tank journals but I think your tank, hardscape and flora are all absolutely beautiful. Enjoy it.


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

Wow Great Job!
the tank looks awesome...super nice manzi too!


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## randomrambler (Jun 24, 2004)

Very nice, I definitely could not tell that you were new to planted tanks by looking at it. And your stock list is almost exactly what I would choose if my mom wasn't stuffing the 55g with mollies lol.


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## topfrog007 (Dec 30, 2007)

I love your tank. GBR's and rummys are my two favorite fish! =)


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

First of all, thank you all for your comments and kind words. It really puts a smile on my face when I read them. The tank looks how it looks mainly thanks to you and this forum, I hardly knew what a planted tank is before I joined I'll try to keep you updated as often as I can.




hydrophyte said:


> Nice job Marcin. Great tank, and great journaling. I need to read through it and digest. You put this on that excellent stand that you built right?
> 
> You have real nice fish in there they must make an excellent display.
> 
> ...


Thanks man. Yes, I put the tank on my stand and it sure look good I mean, it didn't collapse at the first place and that was my biggest goal
I'll try to use bullets, but it seems to be a lot of work to edit that amount of text:flick:



speedie408 said:


> Man! That was a lot of writing indeed. That alone, takes a lot of time & dedication. I know you'll do great with this tank. Keep up the good work. I'll be following your progress.
> 
> That's a beautiful GBR. They only get that colorful as they fully mature. How old is that guy anyway?


I'm glad you like it. It took me many nights and many drinks to write that, especially when I needed to use a dictionary when I didn't know a word or two, but I like writing and publishing so it was fun.
My Blue Ram- well, who knows how old is he, when I got him about 1 1/2 years ago he was a 1" juvenile, so I guess he's about 2 years old. 



talontsiawd said:


> I love (and really hate) when people start better than what I put months into. Looks great and i love your selection of fish. I have been a plant first, fish second person and lately I want to get rid of fish but I had them for so long, I don't know what to do. Anyway, great start, looks like it will turn out very well.


 
Tell me about it. I was so frustrated sometimes at my previous tank where I couldn't do anything good. But it comes with time and patience. When I saw algae in this tank I wanted to take this tank down, but then I said to myself that I have to be more patient and put more work into it. I hope it will be worth the effort. 

Thanks again for all comments and feel free to ask questions and give advices


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Update 08/26/09

I wanted to do a little update with more pics. 
First, I forgot about the technical side of this tank, so here are some pictures of it. 









Here you can see Eheim 2217 hooked up with PVC reactor. As I said before, I wasn’t very pleased with that filter at the beginning because of priming, but I found a good way to prime it (I simply sucked the outflow pipe before to get this thing working, that was so stupid of me). Well, what I do is unscrew the double tap connector on the outlet side until some water spill in the bucket and then screw it back together. That works great for me.








Second filter, Eheim Professional II 2028 and hydor in-line heater on the outlet pipe. And food on the first plane
















I bought a LED light set to lit my stand and glued a switch to turn it on on the side. It really helps working with timers and stuff, but if I had to do it again, I would DIY the light myself- those leds from home depot are quite expensive and not bright enough IMO.

















I also forgot to mention that I made a blue LED light strip myself to “pimp” my tank a little bit. It turns on after T5’s turn off and stays on for 2 hours. It doesn’t do anything good except looking sexy That second picture was shot at shutter speed of 30 seconds, it isn’t that bright in real.
Few shots of plants
















Rotala sp. Green- one of the few plants I didn’t have any problems with- it took off right from the beginning and algae keep off from it magically








Lobelia cardinalis- no BBA here, but you can find some green spot algae here and there. I am still waiting for side shots.








Rotalas indica and rotundifolia- doing well, I hope they’ll stay that nice reddish color.
I’ll try to post more plant pictures in few days.
I added some livestock to the tank from invertzfactory as well








7 zebra nerites snails- great addition, they help with keeping the glass clean and they look great as well, don’t you think? 








7 amanos- I always liked them and they’re big enough to survive with my fish. They are great at hiding, after a day of when I put them in the tank I thought they all disappeared but then one week later I saw 6 of them in one spot. They are among the best when it comes to algae-eating capabilities.








7 blue tetra (was 8 but one disappeared somewhere and has never been seen again)- I liked the vivid blue color of them when I saw pictures on the internet. Mine aren’t that blue, but maybe it comes with age, IDK
I also bought 3 assassin snails to control the snail population but I couldn’t find them at the photo session time.
So, what do you think about my fishstock? I am afraid I overstocked the tank already, I wanted to buy 2 SAE’s but now I think it could be too much. I’d like to hear your opinions
Few pictures of other fishes I mentioned before and I am going asleep


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Excellent job! I love the fish. The scape and stand look great to. I like where this tank is going.

Good write-up


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## malaybiswas (Nov 2, 2008)

Love your tank, specially the driftwood and the ram


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## fish dork (Jan 13, 2008)

I like it! Your female ram looks about ready to lay eggs.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

I have a quick update, I forgot to write down my water parameters, so I checked them today and found confusing results:

Water temp: 80F (with +/- 1.5F changes during the day) 
ph: 5.0-6.0 (here I have a problem, because the lowest color on chart is bright green and it means 6.0, but mine is more yellowish, like in drop checker)
kH- 2-3 (same problem, I tested it twice and the first time the color didn't change from blue to yellow at all, it was yellow after the first drop of reagent; second measurement showed yellow after 3 drops)
NO2- <0.3 mg/l
NH3- 0mg/l

Question is- should I be concerned about that low ph? My drop checker was yellow today after playing with metering valve last evening and my fish seemed to be less active so I reduced the flow of CO2 today and it's back to bright green. Weird thing is that when the drop checker is yellow I see a lot of pearling, but my fish act strange while with bright green I see almost no pearling except for blyxa but my fish swim happily.
The solenoid turns on two hours before the light and turns off one hour before the lights. First two hours after the lights turn on drop checker is dark green, then turns bright green the next hour. Is it normal?
Thanks for all your answers.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Update with more pics of plants.

Foreground confusion










Echinodorus tenellus "micro" kicked back very quickly and that was a nice surprise. It has a nice red hue due to high light but some BBA is attacking it










Dwarf sag, grows like a weed. Nice bright-green color and stay low in my tank. Nice plant to those who want to have a nice carpet quickly.











Dwarf hairgrass -Eleocharis parvula in the front with stargrass in the back. I didn't like hairgrass at first, but know it looks so nice, however, it's a debris magnet. 

I am really confused right now- I don't know what to do with my foreground. I was thinking about getting rid of dwarf sag and do echinodorus tenellus and stargrass foreground, but I also had a little patch of HC left (the rest died as usual for me) which I was preety sure it would die, but it kicked back and now staring to grow. What should I do? Any reccomendations?










Pennywort was a plant I always wanted to have. It grows very quickly and I don't know if it wouldn't be a PITA to trim in the future










Macaya fluviatilis- absolutely amazing plant with fine leaves, I am trying to make a nice bush out of it. 










Lobelia cardinalis- grows nicely, but it's time to trim and I don't know what should I do with the bottom and how it will look after trim.

Any comments and advices about where should I go with the scape will be very appreciated Right now my tank is rather a plant farm than a properly scaped aquarium and I am trying to figure out which plants will do well for my scape. 
One last thing- what do you think I should do with that low pH? Thanks guys, I will keep you updated...


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey this is great. I think we hadn't seen this one in a while. Your plants are beautiful.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

hydrophyte said:


> Hey this is great. I think we hadn't seen this one in a while. Your plants are beautiful.


Thank you. I also would like to make a focal point in the tank with some kind of easy, red plant that forms a nice bush- any recommendations?


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

Everything is looking great, from fish to plants to hardscape. I have had great success with red plants in mineralized soil. You could try Rotala macrandra, Ludwigia glandulosa, Ludwigia arcuata, Alternanthera reineckii. Nesaea sp. 'Red Leaved' and Rotala sp. Butterfly are also very nice, but I had a difficult time growing them.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

I was thinking some time ago about adding SAE to my algae eating crew, but I was afraid of overstocking, so I dropped that idea (SAE can grow quite large). Today I saw a post about red neon gobies and I felt in love from the beginning. There is very little info on them and I was wondering if they are aggressive and if they can thrive in temperatures range of 79-82F. And the most important thing- should I add them to my stock or that would be too many fish in my tank? What do you think?


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## topfrog007 (Dec 30, 2007)

Hey Smoq,

Beautiful tank.

Let me know how it goes when you add your shrimp. Your livestock is really similar to what I want to have. Was curious if the shrimp would be bothered or not.


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## carlos05 (Aug 8, 2006)

Great tank. I have almost the exact set up and its been a trial run for me. I just switched to mineralized soil almost 3 weeks ago but I'm slowly filling up my plant list. I also have to restock my tank but this journal is amazing and so is your tank. Congrats and well done!


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## pieky22 (Oct 17, 2007)

IMO, that tank can hold some more fish easily...your filter seems up to the task...and i must say...those look like some nice, big, and healthy rams...maybe soon you will have some ram fry...


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## mj75 (Sep 2, 2009)

Nice tank! Did you get all the plants together as a package?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Again, thanks for all comments. Actually, it's quite fun when I come back from work and rush to the computer excited about if anyone left a comment



topfrog007 said:


> Hey Smoq,
> 
> Beautiful tank.
> 
> Let me know how it goes when you add your shrimp. Your livestock is really similar to what I want to have. Was curious if the shrimp would be bothered or not.


Thanks.You mean amanos? I already have them in the tank and no fish bother them so far, but they usually hide among the plants and rarely coming out to the foreground.




carlos05 said:


> Great tank. I have almost the exact set up and its been a trial run for me. I just switched to mineralized soil almost 3 weeks ago but I'm slowly filling up my plant list. I also have to restock my tank but this journal is amazing and so is your tank. Congrats and well done!


Thanks Carlos, I hope you'll do well with your tank. You made a good choice with MTS, I have a highly positive experience with it. Great grow and no drugs every morning



pieky22 said:


> IMO, that tank can hold some more fish easily...your filter seems up to the task...and i must say...those look like some nice, big, and healthy rams...maybe soon you will have some ram fry...


You think so? I thought I already am close to overstocking with this tank I see everybody likes my rams, I should probably name them. They spawned on a regular basis when I kept them in my 15g but I've never managed to raise the fry (not I cared about raising it though) but in this tank they didn't lay any eggs so far. 




mj75 said:


> Nice tank! Did you get all the plants together as a package?


I'm glad you like it. No, I didn't get those plants in one package, there were several packages and individual plants (and lot of money) involved. I bought most of them here on S&S. I am planning to make some packages and RAOKs as well as soon as everything will fill-up and I get rid of algae


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Those are the nicest looking rams i've ever seen. Beautiful!


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

AzFishKid said:


> Those are the nicest looking rams i've ever seen. Beautiful!


Thanks buddy. My girlfriend would be angry again when she'll read another positive comment about my Rams. She loves my discus and dislikes Rams for being bossy sometimes


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Lookin good... REAL good. keep it up man.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

I have a quick update and some questions I received a package from invertzfactory, so here's what I've got:





















Red neon goby- from the moment I saw it I knew I would like to have it in my tank. It's so unusual and rare And I heard they eat BBA, which is another reason to have one. I've got 3, but I think they are all females as they are not as colorful as on pictures on the net. I observed their behavior yesterday and their act almost identically as their saltwater cousins. Great addition! 





















I've got 3 of the red spotted nerite snails. While mine zebra nerites looks very nice, the red spotted ones are amazing. Nerite snails, in general, make a great addition to any planted tank, especially that they keep the front glass clean. Some people say they lay eggs everywhere, but I haven't seen any yet...











I transferred some of my RCS and blue pearl shrimps from another tank to see if they won't be harassed all the time. They kind of shy in this tank and they get some harassment from Rams and rainbows, but overall, they made it fine and they'll stay
And so is my cleaning crew more than complete

Now some pictures taken by my fiancee Kamila (she asked me to publish them so you can judge her shots) 










My favorite picture, GBR messing with hairgrass










I added 5 more blue tetras to my tank (now I have 8).










Board meeting










Zebra nerite doing what it's doing the best










Snail killer-Anentome helena










Close-up to rummynose tetra- my girlfriend managed to do what I couldn't for long time-take a good photo of those little buggers










Male Madagascar rainbow's shot

And her favorites in this tank- discus gallery





































And one shot of RAM










I am planning to do some re-scape and need your opinion. Here's few tank pictures to help explaining:




























I wanted to get rid of the hairgrass at first and do e.tenellus and HC foreground, but it started to grow so nice I decided to leave it. What do you think of that combo?
Also, I'd like to move the ludwigia repens x arcuata somewhere, get rid of myriophyllum mattogrossense in the future and replace it with some midground plant other than stargrass (it's just not doing great in my tank) and get rid of both sunset and tiger hygro to give more space for pogostemon stellatus and eichornia diversifolia in the back. What do you think about my ideas? What would you do with plants I have? Thanks for all your input


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

smoq said:


> My favorite picture, GBR messing with hairgrass


BRILLIANT!
I love the hairgrass too, I'd keep it! :icon_bigg


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## roznalos (Aug 18, 2008)

you tank looks awesome!!!
Wish I had one like it


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

definitely keep the hairgrass!!! it looks awesome. 

that first shot of the ram is my favorite too. 

the only real piece of scaping advice that i feel might look better would be to try and spread out the wood some or maybe just add more. idk, it look great as is.


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## EQUINOX (Nov 21, 2008)

Does you Ram really do nothing with the RCS??
Maybe you should examine it with time..

Never tried both of them in the tank, but from what i've heard, they don't survive well with Rams..


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

EQUINOX said:


> Does you Ram really do nothing with the RCS??
> Maybe you should examine it with time..
> 
> Never tried both of them in the tank, but from what i've heard, they don't survive well with Rams..



Oh yes, I used to have adult RCS in my 15g with my pair of Rams and they did fine.


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

what are you feeding the goby?


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

Just curious, but would the Assasin snail kill the Nerites?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

chonhzilla said:


> what are you feeding the goby?


Well, I tried bottom-feeders tablets, but they ignored it. I've seen them eating my discus granules though



SearunSimpson said:


> Just curious, but would the Assasin snail kill the Nerites?


I don't think so, nerite snails are way bigger. I haven't seen any empty nerite shell yet


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

THis tank is looking great. I had missed that last update. That goby you got is most definitely a cool fish.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Another month passed and that made me thinking of new things I learned and observed, so I could bore to death those who are reading this journal with my reflections:
1. I used to have PC fixtures before I bought these catalina T5 lights (and before current nova T5s fixtures that were in my previous tank) and I must say, T5 lamps are indeed very powerful light sources and the old rule of wpg (watt per gallon) should be rewritten or better, forgotten IMO.My tank is lit by only one set of light (2x56W) and it is definitely high light. I wanted to do a noon burst for two hours with the second set of lights, but now I see it as unnecessary welcome for algae. How can I tell I have high light in the tank?- blyxa is more reddish than green, echinodorus tenellus "micro" has a beautiful red hue on every leaf and rotala sp. green started to grow horizontally rather than upwards recently. From what I read, that's signs of high light output in the tank. So my advice for all who are confused about what kind of light they should buy, don't hesitate and invest in T5's. 
-mineralized topsoil is, in my opinion, the best invention in planted tanks in years (not that I followed planted tanks from the beggining). I used to battle algae all the time before I went this road, then I read a post about MTS on this forum (words NO DOSING caught my attention right away) and I decided to try it myself. My tank is still a "work in progress" but I am already a fanatic follower of the MTS method. My plants are flourishing, algae is in minority so far and I haven't dosed anything yet. I hope it will stay this way a looooong time


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

I have a little update with some interesting pictures. The tank is doing good so far, I am planning to get rid of hygro tiger and myriophyllum mattogrossense in the nearest future to make some space for other plants. I still don't know what to do with lobelia cardinalis... I am afraid this tank will always be a work in progress Does it happen to you as well?
Oh, the pictures I mentioned about:











My gobies share a cookie with RCS. Well, shrimps were too afraid to come close, so they caught what gobies spit.










And here they share with amano shrimp. He is not so shy about it.










And here we go, he steals it away from them. That happens a lot, once two of them managed to stole a pellet from my female Ram- one distracted her while the other grabbed a pellet and ran into the bushes. Intelligent little buggers.
As for gobies, I didn't see them for a couple of days, hope they are doing well. I yet have to see their BBA algae eating capability.










Here's an interesting picture Kamila managed to take- an assassin snail hunting. You see that long tube that it has? It can extend much more, the assassin snail is inserting it into the prey's shell and simply ripping off the other snail from it's shell. I observed this slow-motion chase and assassin have it's tube deep in the other snail's shell, but somehow the poor guy managed to free himself and escaped from being eaten.










You can see dwarf sag plants on this one too, it's a great plant for those who wants a nice, taller than usual foreground fast. It's also a good hiding spot for shrimps.










That's another good picture Kamila took. Hope you like it. I tried to teach my ottos to eat lettuce and zucchini, but they show no interest. However, they always have round bellies, so they have to eat something (maybe algae from the back glass, IDK)










A close-up on Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf hairgrass). And I wanted to get rid of it Now it's an eye-catcher in this tank. Those micro ramshorns and shrimps are keeping it clean.










Here's goby resting on it. You can see the root system in front of the tank. This plant's root system is nice, it anchors well to the substrate and it's harder to uproot than, for example, HC or glosso.










My female Ram which is always looking for something in the grass My male is still sick and now I am almost 100% it's the hole in the head disease. I transferred him to a hospital tank when he stopped eating and after a couple of days he seems to be recovering and he is starting to swim around. I hope he will recover soon. I was thinking seriously about raising the fry and offering it to other aquarists, but then he caught that disease and I dropped that idea. As soon as his wounds heal I am planning to make a spawning tank for my pair... 










Tiger nerite snail hanging out on manzanita branch. The plant in behind it is rotala sp. green. I love the color of this rotala, it's so brilliant light-green










My cory cats sifting colorquartz looking for food particles. I can easily recommend this fish to any community tank, it keeps the bottom clean, looks great and sometimes form schools that are great to watch.



















It has been over a month since I bought those tetras so I made some observations. The blue in their bodies vary from one fish to another, some of them show a very nice, purple hue right behind the tail. They won't form a tight school as rummynose do, but they are funny to watch anyway- they constantly chase one another and it's not unusual to see little battles in the tank (probably males fighting for position in the school, but I can be wrong). They eat whatever you throw at them and are generally active during the day.










Here you can see e.tenellus "micro" filling out the right side of the foreground. Dwarf hairgrass is fighting for space with it and I wanted to uproot it at first, but I left it eventually to see how this mix is gonna look. On the right side, a little blurry, is a blyxa japonica bush. This plant was struggling for the first couple of weeks, but now it finally took of and started to look very nice. That experience taught me that patience is a key to great scape. I almost thrown it out but now I'm glad I let it stay. Same thing happened to limnophilia aromatica. First few stems I introduced just melted away, same for second bunch I bought, but I was stubborn enough to buy another stems and it finally started to grow. We'll see... 
OK, that's it for today, enjoy. My word of advice (from a senior beginner) would be- don't introduce more demanding plants to a newly setup tank, it so much harder for them to adapt and thrive. Be patient as I wasn't
Goodnight


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

> I am afraid this tank will always be a work in progress Does it happen to you as well?


the problem with trying to have a finished piece of art is that they just keep growing, lol.



> My word of advice (from a senior beginner) would be- don't introduce more demanding plants to a newly setup tank, it so much harder for them to adapt and thrive. Be patient as I wasn't


good advice ^

tank is looking sweet! keep up the good work.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Wow these pictures are seriously cool. This one would make great wallpaper.


smoq said:


>


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## EQUINOX (Nov 21, 2008)

smoq said:


> Another month passed and that made me thinking of new things I learned and observed, so I could bore to death those who are reading this journal with my reflections:
> 1. I used to have PC fixtures before I bought these catalina T5 lights (and before current nova T5s fixtures that were in my previous tank) and I must say, T5 lamps are indeed very powerful light sources and the old rule of wpg (watt per gallon) should be rewritten or better, forgotten IMO.My tank is lit by only one set of light (2x56W) and it is definitely high light. I wanted to do a noon burst for two hours with the second set of lights, but now I see it as unnecessary welcome for algae. How can I tell I have high light in the tank?- blyxa is more reddish than green, echinodorus tenellus "micro" has a beautiful red hue on every leaf and rotala sp. green started to grow horizontally rather than upwards recently. From what I read, that's signs of high light output in the tank. So my advice for all who are confused about what kind of light they should buy, don't hesitate and invest in T5's.
> -mineralized topsoil is, in my opinion, the best invention in planted tanks in years (not that I followed planted tanks from the beggining). I used to battle algae all the time before I went this road, then I read a post about MTS on this forum (words NO DOSING caught my attention right away) and I decided to try it myself. My tank is still a "work in progress" but I am already a fanatic follower of the MTS method. My plants are flourishing, algae is in minority so far and *I haven't dosed anything yet*. I hope it will stay this way a looooong time


Very nice tank!
Are you planning on keeping it this way?
Fresh MTS emits lots of minerals that punch ammonia rates way-up-high.
Hope you are aware of it and do frequent water changes.
Be glad to hear other members recommendations about not dosing with MTS.

About the Gobies – where is it describes that they like BBA?
Might be a nice thing to know..

P.S. let me know if you see any shrimp executions preformed by the Rams.

Good luck!


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Smoq,

Are those the E. Tennellus you got from me? Your tank looks solid bro. I'm lovin it. Awesome pics as well man.

Also, was it you that wanted a daughter plant of my Tiger Lotus? I cant remember... anyway I have 2 available if it was you.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

First. thank you for all your comments. I can post more pictures if you'd like me to...



EQUINOX said:


> Very nice tank!
> Are you planning on keeping it this way?
> Fresh MTS emits lots of minerals that punch ammonia rates way-up-high.
> Hope you are aware of it and do frequent water changes.
> ...


I am not sure where the scape will go in the future, but I surely will keep MTS in it, if that's what you asked
I do 1/3 water change weekly, both because of trimming and of discus.
About dosing, I have to hear some comments from more experienced people on this forum- what to dose and how much

About the gobies- I heard from a lot of people here that they actually munch on BBA. But the reason I bought them is because they so remind me saltwater gobies from my reef journey some time ago

No executions so far, but one amano decided to move out from my tank last night and I found it dead in my bedroom. The poor fella walked at least 20 feet, that;s how far from the tank I found him.


speedie408 said:


> Smoq,
> 
> Are those the E. Tennellus you got from me? Your tank looks solid bro. I'm lovin it. Awesome pics as well man.
> 
> Also, was it you that wanted a daughter plant of my Tiger Lotus? I cant remember... anyway I have 2 available if it was you.


HEy man, thanks for your comment. Yes, it's the one from you. It's spreading nicely and looks great, thanks. That was me begging for that lotus, PMing you now


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

I've got some new pictures and observations today

First, I managed to create a panorama photo of my tank using photoshop. Here it is:










As some of you know, my male Blue Ram died recently. He hd a hole-in-the-head disease and just didn't make it. That was the oldest fish I had. Maybe it was his time, who knows...
Anyway, I bought a new one few days ago to replace it, but damn this guy is small. I couldn't find blue rams anywhere locally, and the only place that stocked them (it was the same place I bought my first pair) sold only small juvies. I asked the salesman if he can tell a male, he responded "No problem" and caught me this one











He's half the size of my female (or even smaller) and while she is not harrasing him all the time, I can't say he's not getting attention from her. I hope he'll grow up quickly.

Next thing that amazed me is discovery of very small red cherry shrimp in the dwarf hairgrass bush in front of the glass. I took a picture, but it's hard to see it.











It has to be a newborn and that proved three things. First: despite all the fish in the tank, rcs are doing great in the tank (females are super-red, I'll try to photograph them when I'll have a chance). Second: they are breeding, I once saw a brown RCS (like the wild one), that must be a juvi of red and blue shrimp. Third, dwarf hairgrass is a great place to hide for small shrimps- even the small Ram can't poke his head deep enough to catch those shrimps.

One more thing I learned- those blue twtras I bought few weeks ago weren't a good choice. They are NBS (natural born suiciders) and are not good for open top tanks. Lesson learned.

Now some pictures of the flora I keep in this tank.










Brazilian pennywort (hydrocotyle verticillata) and hydrocotyle sibthorpiordes. I find those two accompanying each other well, what do you think?










Christmass moss. I wanted to get rid of it, but it started to grow and finally it stays in the tank










That's how rotala green looks from the top. And that's why I don't want a canopy










And here's thesame rotala with limnophila aromatica in the back.










Blyxa japonica, after many die-offs, started to look great and quickly became one of my favourites.










And that's a new species- Red lotus I've got from Nick.










Eichornia diversifolia

That's it for today. comments are welcomed.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Your tank is looking pretty SICK bro. I'm glad the lotus didn't melt on ya. Not sure if I asked you before, but what are you shooting with man?


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## EQUINOX (Nov 21, 2008)

Very Nice!
Are you dealing with thread/string algae?
What do you do against it?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That is cool. You have such great plants. How did you do that panorama? I don't see any seems. It seems you would have to reposition the camera along a track to avoid changes in perspective between frames(?).

Are you able to adjust your white balance or exposure or something? Some of these shots are a little too saturated with green.

What a great tank. It is so nice and big it must make a great display.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Thanks guys for all your comments. 



speedie408 said:


> Your tank is looking pretty SICK bro. I'm glad the lotus didn't melt on ya. Not sure if I asked you before, but what are you shooting with man?


Thanks Nick. Your lotus is great, it made my lilly go crazy jelaous
I'm shooting with Nikon D40 and both kit lens and 55-200mm. I wanted to buy a macro lens, but it outfits my wallet as for now I was reading some time ago of using old manual macro lenses, do you guys know anything about that? 



EQUINOX said:


> Very Nice!
> Are you dealing with thread/string algae?
> What do you do against it?


Thanks. The only algae I'm dealing with is BBA. I kill it with excel but it keeps coming back after a little while, so I didn't win this war yet



hydrophyte said:


> That is cool. You have such great plants. How did you do that panorama? I don't see any seems. It seems you would have to reposition the camera along a track to avoid changes in perspective between frames(?).
> 
> Are you able to adjust your white balance or exposure or something? These shots are a little too saturated with green.
> 
> What a great tank.


Doing that panorama is really easy. What you have to do is take a few pictures of your tank, and while in photoshop, click file-->automate-->photomerge. You choose the files and let photoshop do the rest. How accurate your panorama is gonna be depends on quality of taken shots, but you can always adjust that later.

I know that my pictures were a little bit saturated, but I didn't have time to correct them, so I left them as they are

Cheers guys.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I gotta try that photomerge tool. Yours turned out great.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

your tank keeps looking better and better. bravo!


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

smoq,

I got bored so here's a attempt to adjust your photo for ya: I can take it down if you don't like it. Am I even close to how it looks in real life?


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## pandapr (Nov 10, 2008)

nice pictures !! 
congrats !roud:


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

speedie408 said:


> smoq,
> 
> I got bored so here's a attempt to adjust your photo for ya: I can take it down if you don't like it. Am I even close to how it looks in real life?


Thanks buddy. Looks great. And yes, you are very close to a=how it looks in reality


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## Vladdy (May 6, 2008)

10/10. AMAZING tank.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Thanks for all the comments folks, I really appreciate it
I was thinking...OK, the thing is simple- I would like to add 2 more discus to this tank- what do you think? I'll keep my weekly water changes, but is it a good idea?


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## DevinWolfe (Aug 1, 2009)

Phenominal tank. Maybe some of the awesomeness will rub off onto my tank from the beautiful plants that came from this gorgeous tank!

I like the contrast of the different types of plants especially well.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

I was thinking today about where should I go with this tank and I decided I need some changes I'd like the right side of the tank to be a free swimming area for my discus, so I thought about letting the hairgrass grow to the back of the right side, replant the dwarf sag to the back and get BLYXA AUBERTII as a main focus plant for right side. What do you guys think?


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## DrinkTheYeastMix (Oct 14, 2009)

So would you take some of the DHG from the front left-ish and move it? that sure would be a huge open space if the open swimming area started from left side where DHG starts. I like the idea, I'm a big fan of designated swimming spaces on the sides rather than the mid/front. BTW I saw that you've got GBR's and shrimp, I wanna get a ram when I set my new tank up but was under the impression I had to choose between shrimp and the ram. they get along huh?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

DrinkTheYeastMix said:


> So would you take some of the DHG from the front left-ish and move it? that sure would be a huge open space if the open swimming area started from left side where DHG starts. I like the idea, I'm a big fan of designated swimming spaces on the sides rather than the mid/front. BTW I saw that you've got GBR's and shrimp, I wanna get a ram when I set my new tank up but was under the impression I had to choose between shrimp and the ram. they get along huh?


I'll try to grow DHG in the back as well and move dwarf sag to the back. I need blyxa aubertii as a focal plant to that side. I am planning to remove alternathera and eichornia and rescape some of the right side. We'll see
About GBRs and shrimp. I will say go for it, but others will say against it. My fish are crazy, I have a 3mm shrimps in that tank that usually are left alone, but I don't know if they gonna be living la vida loca in your tank
I have pictures where my female GBR is 1/8inch away from a 1/2 " shrimp and it doesn't seem to be interested.


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

roud:roud:roud: Amazing tank and wonderful thread! Just doesn't get any better than this!


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Hey guys, I have a November update with A LOT of pictures. My rescape plan is finished, some things have been removed, some moved to another part of the tank. Here's a FTS after rescape:










As you can see, there is much more room for swimming on the left side, I got rid of Alternathera Reineckii (great, easy to grow red plant, but it had to go to make room for Blyxa Aubertii-I'm a blyxa lover, you know) and Eichornia diversifolia. Pogostemon stellatus is also no more, it never really fluorished in my tank. I moved all the blyxa japonica to the left and Dwarf Sag to the right. Pennywort found it's new spot in the foreground. I added some new species- Rotala sp. Japan, which is virtually a HD version of Macrandra. There are few stems of R. macrandra green next to it. Two new ludwigia species are new to my tank- Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata "cuba" and beautiful Ludwigia "Pantal". There is also one new plant I've got extra from Bsmith (thanks a lot buddy, I owe you one), Syngonanthus "madeira" which quickly became my favorite stem plant.
Here are some close-ups of new and old plants in the tank:

Rotala indica bush starting to color-up after heavy trimming.










L. aromatica is getting more red everyday










Crown of S. madeira mentioned above










Another new plant to my colectoris Proserpinaca palustris










And another one- rotala sp. "butterfly"










Blyxa aubertii with a snail hitchhiker










Blyxa bush I've created after moving from the other side of my tank. It's PITA to hold it in the substrate once you uproot it 










Few days ago I came back from work to find that Dwarf sag flowered Here's a shot of the flower. Few of them appeared from a single stalk 











Once again dwarf hairgrass mat proved to be the best choice of foreground plant I could made. It's a "safe house" for so many shrimps that I must have at least 20 of them (but I think there are much more than that) raging from tiny , 1/4 " ones to full grown adults. Blue variety interbred with red cherry and now I have some wild colored ones in the tank (couldn't find any today, but when I spot one I'll try to get a good photo). Pictures:



















Yesterday I even found a fry fish in the hairgrass I was so excited I rush for the camera but when I came back it was gone. It rested on a grass so I guess it was a fry of either neon gobys (highly unlikely)







, ottos (same thing)







or Panda Corys







.

My tank became a snail heaven too, I have 2 assassins, some different colored nerites, microramshorns (it's a plague, but they don't bother me) and another I snail species I can't ID.

A nerite snail hanging out with this unidentified snail










Microramshorns










Another shot of nerite










Another news- remember me babbling about getting two new discus... Yeaaah, I did it I've got a lot of troubles with them as they've had parasites and I wasn't patient enough to quarantine them. My old discus got those parasites from them and I needed to treat them in the hospital tank for 10 days. They are all fine now, but you know, lesson learned. The new discus are very shy and didn't eat for the first week, but now they starting to show up more often. Here are some shots of the new discus:




























Well, that's all for the news. I've got few unrelated photos for you below, all comments and criticism are welcomed as always

This is PEARLING:hihi:










Male madagascar rainbow. Funny guy, he spends half of his day chasing my rummynose tetras and then ignoring them completely for the rest of the day










Manzanita close-up










Rummynose tetra










Reds on e.tenellus "micro"


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Wow! Photos are fantastic with all forms of life extremely happy and healthy. Well done

-O


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## FSM (Jan 13, 2009)

looks great


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

wow man! it just gets better and better.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

So clean!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Your tank is looking awesome. Great pictures too. You must have speant some time stalking critters with the camera to get those shots.


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## nismo tetra (Oct 11, 2009)

wow smoq your blue rams look good, your discus look good, your pics are good, your tank looks awesome. The variety is cleanly put together. Awesome journal.


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## EQUINOX (Nov 21, 2008)

Everythink is beautiful!
Do you find Nerite snails doing a good job with stubborn algae such as black and green, on the Mazanite for example?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

First of all- thank you all for kind words. I'm glad you like it.



> wow smoq your blue rams look good, your discus look good, your pics are good, your tank looks awesome. The variety is cleanly put together. Awesome journal.


Thanks. Unfortunately, the male Ram didn't make it and I really don't know why. He was happy swimming one day and I found him dead 2 hours later. Well, my female Ram is widowed again I know one place that sell adult Rams, but they want $26 a piece and I can't afford it right now



> Your tank is looking awesome. Great pictures too. You must have speant some time stalking critters with the camera to get those shots.


Well, it took me more time that you may think But I enjoyed it a lot. I'm saving money to buy myself a new lens and speedlight so maybe I will manage to get better pictures in the future.



> Do you find Nerite snails doing a good job with stubborn algae such as black and green, on the Mazanite for example?


Well, they are very good with cleaning the glass and manzanita, but they completely ignore BBA. Excel is my method here

OK, just wanted to post a picture of this brown RCS I've talked about earlier. I spotted that little bugger today and abused him a little bit with my camera. The picture is kind of dark, but I couldn't go any further with ISO. 










I also managed to grab a nice photo of regular RCS


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## vtkid (Jan 5, 2009)

that brown rcs is crazy was it just a freak of nature that you bred or did you buy a specimen. those regular rcs's are incredibly red too. all of the life in your tank is are completely healthy looking awesome tank.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

vtkid said:


> that brown rcs is crazy was it just a freak of nature that you bred or did you buy a specimen. those regular rcs's are incredibly red too. all of the life in your tank is are completely healthy looking awesome tank.


Thanks buddy. To be honest with you, I thought that's how the wild one looks like, so I didn't bother. Those pictures I took aren't photoshopped other than brightness adjusted so that's how this shrimp looks like in real (I think the one with brown RCS is a little bit oversaturated due to higher ISO). Who knows, maybe it's a new color, but I doubt it. When it shows up again, I'll try to take more photos.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Don't know how I missed this one - great tank, awesome pics!


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## TheCryptKeeper (Mar 9, 2008)

damn! looking great!


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## EWUeagle (Oct 27, 2009)

I'm still new to the hobby and currently going from a 10 gallon tank to a 75 and I must say this tank is inspiring.


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## angelicodin (Dec 2, 2009)

I can't even began to to express the awesome ness that is this tank. With the DIY stand, blue LEDs, ect. Dose he ever stop. Amazing, simply amazing.


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## bherren1 (Feb 15, 2009)

smoq, this looks awesome man. is there where i have been robbing m. fluviatilis from you lately?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

EWUeagle said:


> I'm still new to the hobby and currently going from a 10 gallon tank to a 75 and I must say this tank is inspiring.





angelicodin said:


> I can't even began to to express the awesome ness that is this tank. With the DIY stand, blue LEDs, ect. Dose he ever stop. Amazing, simply amazing.


THANKS!!! I'm smiling now I'll be repeating myself, but I really appreciate your comments.



angelicodin said:


> I can't even began to to express the awesome ness that is this tank. With the DIY stand, blue LEDs, ect. Dose he ever stop. Amazing, simply amazing.


Yes sir, that's the one It's the fastest growing plant in my tank and I have to trim it weekly, but at the same time it creates the best "bush effect" of all plants I keep. Here's how it looks after trimming:










Stay cool people and see you next time.


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## bherren1 (Feb 15, 2009)

It looks great. I have actually already trimmed 6" off of what I have purchased from you and passed some stems along to a member of the fledgling plant club that I am a member of. (we had the first meeting this past Friday in over a year and 3 people came, LOL) It is a very prolific grower indeed. 

I can't wait to get it into my new set-up that i have in the works so I can shape it into a beautiful bush like yours. truly inspiring, smoq.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Hey people, I just wanted to let you know that I finally made my decision and bought a new camera-Nikon D90. AND, two new lenses, Nikon 18-105 VR and Tamron 90mm macro so expect a wave of new pictures soon Anyone have an opinion on this camera/lens?


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Booo! Should've got a Canon 

I'm sure you'll have fun with the D90 dude. I wanna see what all the fuss is about with this camera. Post up some shots.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

speedie408 said:


> Booo! Should've got a Canon
> 
> I'm sure you'll have fun with the D90 dude. I wanna see what all the fuss is about with this camera. Post up some shots.


I'll let you know buddy. And Canon, no way, I am a Nikon pimp Seriously, what would you do with all that crappy kit lenses I've got from Nikon:icon_mrgr


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## boltp777 (Jan 16, 2009)

amazing tank a great piece of art


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

smoq said:


> I'll let you know buddy. And Canon, no way, I am a Nikon pimp Seriously, what would you do with all that crappy kit lenses I've got from Nikon:icon_mrgr


If I understood you correctly, you just said you have a bunch of crappy Nikon kit lenses? lol 

I know Canon is notorious for their sh*tty kit lens. I do agree it is crap. Other then that, Nikons can't touch Canon. :icon_mrgr To each his own brotha. When it comes down to it, it's not the equipment, it's the man behind the equipment.


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## TheCryptKeeper (Mar 9, 2008)

speedie408 said:


> When it comes down to it, it's not the equipment, it's the man behind the equipment.


that's what she said!

I couldn't resist.. sorry!



tank looks good man.. how are the nerites doing with keeping that glass clean?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

speedie408 said:


> When it comes down to it, it's not the equipment, it's the man behind the equipment.


Yes, you are absolutely right, you filthy Canon bast...:biggrin: 
Hehe, what camera do you use?



Torpedobarb said:


> that's what she said!
> 
> I couldn't resist.. sorry!
> 
> ...


Thanks man. Nerites are doing good, but they started to lay eggs everywhere. Not a big issue though.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

smoq said:


> Yes, you are absolutely right, you filthy Canon bast...:biggrin:
> Hehe, what camera do you use?


:icon_lol: 

I shoot with a Canon 40D w/ Speedlite 430EX II, and my lens of choice ATM is the EFS 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM. Ridiculously sharp with a constant f/2.8. roud: I just did my very first gig (Engagement Party) with this combo this past weekend. :biggrin:


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Hey guys/gals!

New year is here and a lot of work without any vacation ahead of me (which kind of make me sick at the moment). I'm sitting at home bored with winter mood so I thought I'll post some new pictures with the recent lens I bought. We got ourselves a Nikon D90 and Tamron 90mm macro lens. Perfect combination. The lens is so different from what I used to shot with before yet so nice to have. It's quite challenging to take a good photo using macro lens, partly because you need to get very close to the subject (less light) and use tripod in most situations. The extreme shallow DOF makes it even more difficult, but when you take a nice shot you won't regret it
Not much changed in my tank except that I'm slowly getting rid of e.tenellus micro (decided to do some HC carpeting mixed with dwarf hairgrass) and I made a mistake by getting rid of mayaca fluviatilis bush. I'm still looking for a nice stem plant that will form a bush like my rotala sp. "green" rather than grow straight upwards like rotala rotundifolia. Any suggestions?

Here are some sample pictures taken with the Tamron just to show you what it is capable of:































Shrimp time

That supposed to be a blue cherry shrimp when I bought it but it looks more like a snowball in my taste












RCS on the moss










And some amano close-ups



















Here's an example of the shallowness of depth of field










My neon gobies are great models










Board meeting










And some different species of snails you can find in my tank:

Assassin snail










And unidentified species:



















Otto close-up










Cookie monsters




























A little out of focus, but here it is:










This fish is asking me: WHAT DO YOU WANT?










And finally, that's how ludwigia pantal looks like when it grow above the water line. Quite a difference, isn't it?


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## Justshoe (Aug 17, 2008)

Very nice photos. I also have a ton of the "unidentified" snails as well.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

i am jealous. 

...and i think those are just pond snails.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Few months passed since I've written my last update and been active on the forum. Well, wintertime is definitely not my time, but there's something else too. 
I started to save money for another project of mine, a rimless 20g iwagumi style tank. I was halfway thru completing equipment, then changed my mind (it was like a brick hitting my head) and got this instead.










Yes, yes, I know, I'm a cheating, filthy bastard for doing this, but from my romance with salt I learned some new things that can be transferred to planted tanks. I'll try to explain that later.
BTW, if anyone is interested in my reef, here's a tank thread link

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...s-34g-solana-tastes-like-salt-first-time.html

First thing, changes in my tank. Since the last time I've written something, a couple of things occurred to it. I messed with the aquascape badly, got rid of my mayaca fluviatilis bush (which was the biggest mistake I've made, now I found one single stem left somewhere in the corner and I'm trying to propagate it to create new bush), ripped out all e.tenellus ('cause my dwarf hairgrass was loosing the battle of space with it) and managed to kill my favorite plant, Limnophila “Cuba” (and if someone have some, I need it). The tank looked, well, not the way I wanted it to be for some time, but I'm getting to the point slowly.
FTS​










Fishwise, not much changed. On the down side, one of my discus died recently. It was rejected by the school and he didn't eat anything else than bloodworms, was hiding all the time and finally perished. I tried to save him with all my effort, moved him to a separate tank but it was all worthless. Anyway, I am planning to get two new discus after I come back from vacation and I think I'm gonna get some blue variety, what do you think? BTW, do you know any breeders close to NYC? 
Also, my two madagascar rainbows died for no reason. They must have some kind of disease I couldn't identify. Their were fine and active all the time then one day the male died, few days later I've lost the female as well. I miss them, I kind of enjoyed when the male were chasing tetras all the time (without actually harming them of course).
That's all the bad news. On the good side, my shrimp colony is doing better than ever- I have at least 50 of them hiding in the hairgrass. Once again I must say that this carpet plant is the best choice to successfully keep RCS with larger fish. Of course the smaller ones fall prey to my discus sometimes, but they breed so prolifically that it's not much of a threat for the population. 
Also, my assassin snails bred in the tank (and in both filters) to the point where there is no single snail of any other species left!!! Seriously, they ate everything they could catch and became cannibals- so first request to you- if you have any snails (pond, ramshorns) that you can donate to my tank, please contact me!

Soon, I will need some plants too, like rotala sp. Goias, L.cuba and maybe couple of others, so have that in mind. 
My tank will hit a year soon and it “naturally” going what I am calling highish-tech. I dropped the idea of trying to keep alive the hardest plants and I'm not that much into red plants anymore. With two tanks now I will try to stick with plants I know they will grow for me in higher tempsand without water column dosing . I am not going to stop dosing co2 though as it proved to me to be the single best way to keep a planted tank.
I also wanted to share with you my experience with saltwater tanks and how it affected my freshwater setup.
I met some new people locally (I didn't even know there's such a big reef community here in NYC) who helped me understand and maintain my reef tank. I learned one thing that, in my opinion, is gonna change this hobby in the future-LED lights. They are a big thing in the saltwater end of hobby today and I saw tank that were illuminated with just LED fixtures and everything looked and grew well. They are still expensive, but it's definitely the future of lighting in general. There's not much choice LED-wise for planted tanks yet, but they will arrive eventually, it's just a matter of time.
A I said, I adopted some things that are standard for saltwater tanks into my 75g one. First- controllers. I almost bought a temperature controller few months ago (to control my fan and heater in the summertime) and now I'm glad I didn't make that mistake. If you have some money, buy an aquarium controller, it's the best single piece of aquarium equipment I've ever got I have a Reefkeeper lite on my reef tank and ordered the same one for my freshwater setup. This thing comes with a 4 AC controllable outlets, a temperature probe and it's only about a $100 in most online stores while the temperature controller alone is about a $100. This is what it will do in my tank:
-control fans and heater, just like a temperature controller does
-control my lights (you can program a timer to each outlet) and turn them off if the temperature will raise too high
-I will hook up both my filters, co2 solenoid valve and ATO (I explain later) to one of the outlets so I can switch them off with one touch of a button when I change my water or feed my fish (now I have to manually unplug all those things)

You can also buy an additional ph probe if you want to control your co2 injection (same as ph controller, but cheaper)

This is what I'm talking about










If you would like me to explain more about it, feel free to PM me.

The next thing I adopted from reef tank is an ATO (Auto top off) system. As many of you know, keeping a constant water level in a reef tank is very important and since evaporation rate in my apartment is very high, I decided to get one for my FW tank too. What it does is basically keeping a constant water level by pumping water from a reservoir container underneath your display tank. The most basic setup consist of a float switch (which close the electrical loop when the water level is too low), an extension cord, water container, water lifting pump, a reservoir tank and few feet of plastic tubing. You can make it yourself (google is your friend here) or buy one online. I bought an used double switch ATO with snail guard (I can give you a website where you can buy it, PM me if interested). The second switch is a kind of safety measure, both of them have to be on to turn on the pump (so if one is stuck you won't accidentally overflow your tank). The snail guard is simply a plastic tube with small holes on the bottom in which the float switch is mounted so no snail can climb and turn on the pump. I'll try to snap some pictures by the time I publish this post. You can also comment and ask questions if you need more explanation.

Pictures of the ATO components

Float switches in snail guard cover










Container










And inside-pump and tubing










As usual, a short gallery of how my tank looks now

Preparing for photo session










Some plant shots
































































Shrimps



















And discus



















And well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed my update and I didn't bore you to death. To the next time folks, stay well and say hello to your fishes from Smoq

Whaaaat?


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## EQUINOX (Nov 21, 2008)

Nice thoughts there about upgrading to minimize handling and tending.
What are the needle-leafed plant and this one?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Wow you have been busy. 

Those pictures are lovely.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

very nice pictures! great tank!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

This is a magical tank. Simply breathtaking.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

sewingalot said:


> This is a magical tank. Simply breathtaking.


i agree, this is an awesome tank.


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## non_compliance (Dec 1, 2009)

great pics... thanks for sharing..


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## queensalmon (Oct 15, 2008)

You must be so happy with the new camera! Those pictures are stunning. Great tank too!

queensalmon


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## halcyon (Mar 26, 2010)

Camera takes unbelievable pictures.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Thank you for all your comments. I''m glad you like the tank and pictures. recently I added an extension tubes set to my tamron 90mm and I'm still practicing with this combination. I can get very close but it also limit my light options so speedlight is a must.
The plants you mentioned equinox are as followed Rotala wallichii and hygrophilia polysperma "green"


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## HEINEKEN357 (Feb 10, 2006)

smoq said:


>


Wow amazon tank excellent job the grass is killer, can you tell me the names of them two plants?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Grass is perfect, believe me. The two plants are pic1 proserpinaca palustris and pic 2 rotala sp. butterfly


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Sick shots buddy. Love the new lens.


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

speedie408 said:


> Sick shots buddy. Love the new lens.


Thanks man. I've got extension tubes to it and I can get even closer, but damn it's hard


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

Do you have problems with darkening or peppering of your discus because of the gravel being black? If so does it bother you?


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

First of all, WOW, I haven't seen a comment here for a long time, so thanks)) I've never thought about that, but yes, I see peppering in my orange discus' color, but I think it looks very cool I am not going to put them up on discus contest and by the fact they have black spots on them makes them unique to me. What do you think?


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

I sometimes like that on discus depending on the variety. What i think I am going to do is have areas of eco complete filled with plants and seperated by a rock barrier from a pool filter sand filling up the rest what do you think. Also I love your tank. roud:


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## komodoking (Aug 3, 2011)

What a fantastic tank.


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## indigo (Aug 1, 2011)

just read through the whole thread and it was very interesting, beautiful photos


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## smoq (Feb 19, 2008)

Thanks guys. I am making a website with my reef/auarium photos and that takes much of my time, but I will make an update soon, the tank is completely transformed now but still running good. MTS substrate was a great choice, majority of plants thrive in it, even despite that I try to keep my tank at 82-83F.


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## Ashok (Dec 11, 2006)

Stunning tank!


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## WingoAgency (Jan 10, 2006)

Let the pics roll! Wanna see the transformations.


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## DaFishMan (Oct 13, 2009)

the tanks matured for a few yrs now. Any new photos and observations on whats worked and not worked in your tank long term ? How about the maintenance level ? Did your rams pair up and any discus pair forming ?

Amazing tank btw and diverse life in the tank great job.


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## Ihs (Jun 8, 2012)

Great job...Love the diversity of species in your tank...


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## Bleeker (Aug 29, 2012)

Any updates!!!


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