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90 Gallon Boesemani Tank [56K]

28K views 125 replies 34 participants last post by  Soxfandowd 
#1 · (Edited)
Tank Specs:
48 x 18 x 25 (90 US Gallons)

Equipment:
Rena FilStar XP3
3x Current LED+
Coralife 8 watt 3x Turbo Twist UV Sterilizer
Hydro Koralia 425
[STRIKE]Pressurized C02 with Ista Max Mix[/STRIKE]

Flora:
Microsorum Pteropus (Java Fern)
Broad Leaf Amazon Sword
Cryptocoryne Wendtii 'Green'
Anubias Barteri 'Nana'
Anubias Barteri 'Petite'
Eleocharis acicularis (Dwarf Hairgrass)
Narrow Leaf Java Fern
Lace Java Fern
Crypt Spiralis
Dwarf Sag
[STRIKE]Cabomba Caroliniana[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Clinopodium Brownei (Mint Charlie)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Ludwigia[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Tiger Lotus[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Dwarf Sag[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Glossostigma Elatinoides[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Vallisneria Americana Gigantea (Jungle Val)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]Hygrophila Corymbosa[/STRIKE]

Fauna:
1x Red tetra
1x Albino Cory
2x Albino Bristlenose Pleco
2x Siamese Algae Eater
3x Peppered Cory
3x Neon Tetra
7x Whisker Shrimp
7x Emerald Cory
8x Boesemani Rainbow
10x Pristella Tetra
[STRIKE]1x Albino Cory[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]1x Albino Bristlenose Pleco[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]2x Angel Fish[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]6x Red Tetra[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]10x Neon Tetra[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]2x Assassin Snail[/STRIKE]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I bought this tank off of a guy that wasn't able to keep up with it anymore. It was completely covered in about an inch of algae. This is where I'm at after 2 weeks of cleaning and pruning.
 
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#4 ·
Updated growth. Still working on getting some more 6700K bulbs. Currently only have 1 6700K 2 10,000K and 1 Actinic. I have 2 6700K on order right now. Still looking for some ideas for a good foreground plant. Anyone recommend anything?


Tank looks good!

I'm no expert aquascaper but I feel like that foreground is begging for something other than HC. (not a hater of it, i love it in my tank, but dont think it would transition right to what you have behind it)

From what I have seen Glosso might look just right in yours or are you looking for a grassy plant? I like the Lilaeopsis mauritiana that I've seen growing particularly in Lauraleellbp's tanks.
 
#6 ·
Thanks axio!

Tank looks good!

I'm no expert aquascaper but I feel like that foreground is begging for something other than HC. (not a hater of it, i love it in my tank, but dont think it would transition right to what you have behind it)

From what I have seen Glosso might look just right in yours or are you looking for a grassy plant? I like the Lilaeopsis mauritiana that I've seen growing particularly in Lauraleellbp's tanks.
Thanks doc! I've never had any luck with HC in any of my other tanks so I don't think I would go that route either. Don't think it would be tall enough either like you said. I've got mixed emotions on grassy like plants but love how quickly they fill in! I was thinking of just using some microswords but I like the thinner leaf of what you're recommending. I will definitely add it to the list of plants to look into! Thanks for the help and I'll keep ya posted on what I decide to do!

Nice setup. I have a question about your lights, I have the same lights for my tank, but was told by several people on this board to remove 2 of them, as it was too much light. Are you finding the same problem? My tank is heavly planted and has CO2 setup.
Thanks Jim! I'm no planted tank expert whatsoever to be honest with you. This is my 4th planted tank and have never had to deal with algae. All of my tanks have had 2 wpg, pressurized C02, and dosing dry ferts through the EI method. This tank does not have pressurized C02 as of yet. Still gotta refill my tank and build a C02 reactor. I'm going to be leaving either a 10,000K bulb or an actinic bulb in there so it doesn't drown the tank out with too much yellow color. So in my experience, no this is not too much light and have never had problems with anything around 2 wpg. The gentleman that owned this tank before me supposedly grew all the plants in there under 2x 10,000K and 2x Actinic. We'll see how changing the bulbs out will help. I've already seen a big increase in growth with only changing one bulb to a 6700K. Don't know if this helps at all. Hope it does!

Thanks again everyone!
 
#5 ·
Nice setup. I have a question about your lights, I have the same lights for my tank, but was told by several people on this board to remove 2 of them, as it was too much light. Are you finding the same problem? My tank is heavly planted and has CO2 setup.
 
#7 ·
Well I had a bit of a problem this week. Started with one of my rainbows getting a really bad fungus on the eye and one of the gills. I put him in a quarantine tank and am currently treating. After noticing that I started watching my other fish really close to see if anything else would happen to any of them. Couple days later I noticed two of my rainbows had ich. They each had 2 spots so I decided that night I would do a 50% water change and raise the temp up to 86* to see if I could kill off the ich. When I got the tank about 90% refilled I noticed the fish were starting to act weird. I checked the temp of the water and it was only 1* off. I checked the water parameters and got 0ppm Nitrites, 0ppm Nitrates, 7.2-7.4ph, and 1-1.5ppm Ammonia. I thought that was crazy after just doing a 50% and the weekend before after doing a water change my numbers were zero'd out as well. I checked the tap water and the ammonia comming from the tap was 1.5-2.0ppm. After doing some further research, this was due to the water company adding more chloramine to the water for the winter and my tap water conditioner wasn't enough to handle the spike. I'm now switching over to Prime to do my water changes to help account for the higher chloramine. First time this happened in almost 2 years that I've lived in this place. Well I learned the hard way as I lost 6 rainbows and 1 neon. All the other fish are doing well and the ich is beginning to drop. Here's an updated shot of what the tank looks like after 2 weeks:



Still waiting on the new bulbs as my LFS had a problem with shipment where they were all shattered. Should have them in this upcoming week...I hope. Once I get a chance to get out to my other LFS I'll be looking at getting some low lying plants for the front.
 
#8 ·
So I'm debating on if I should go get some Micro Sword Narrow Leaf (Lilaeopsis 'Mauritiana') or not. Right now I only have 1 6700K bulb but should have 2 more this week. I also have the temp raised to 86* to help with a small amount of ich noticed on 2 fish. Do I wait to add buy the plants and put them in or is it ok do add them now? Thanks for the help!
 
#10 ·
Yea I know...Me too...Those were the fish I didn't want to lose and that's why I did the 50% to ensure they had some clean water. Then it just ended up killing them. I have 1 boesemoni and I don't know what the other one. If it is even a rainbow either. I'll post a pic of it here in a little bit to have someone help me identify it.
 
#11 ·
Well another week has gone by. The remaining fish are doing better. No signs of ich anymore and will be keeping the temp up till Tuesday to be sure. I haven't seen it on any of them for 4 days now. Finally got two more 6700K bulbs and am currently working on making a C02 reactor using Tom Barr's design. Hoping to get that accomplished next week and hooking up the C02. I'm going to be hooking up a 24oz paintball setup temporarily until I get a 5# setup. Any ideas on how long it will last? I haven't been able to find any info for that.

Well here's an updated shot for now. Probably won't post any more pics until I get the C02 up and running fully and notice a big difference in growth.



I'm also looking to get some Dwarf Sag for the foreground as that's the only low lying carpeting plant I can find around here. Anyone from the Tampa area know of somewhere that has a better low lying carpet plants?

Thanks all!
 
#13 ·
Well I was planning on painting it black but got some feedback from my post that it may be a bad idea to paint it. So now I'm reconsidering everything. Don't know what I'm going to do now. I mean I doubt I'm going to get rid of the tank so that makes it worth to paint to me. But what about losing light reflections that are valuable to the plants? What if I don't like it painted. Ya know what I mean?
 
#14 · (Edited)
Just picked up 3 whisker shrimp today and added them in.

Got my cracked stand repaired and now am fighting a battle of BBA which the tank was completely covered in by the previous owner. I cleaned it up the best I could but it's starting to come back. So the battle begins...

Edit****

Just picked up 2 more whisker shrimp and 4 Siamese Algae Eaters to help with my case of BBA

Edit****
 
#17 ·
The day I went out to get everything I couldn't find Dwarf Hairgrass anywhere and ended up going with Dwarf Sag. I've had it before in 2 of my tanks and it grew like crazy. I bought like 8 pieces of it so we'll see how it fills in. If I don't like it then I'll pull it and drop it in another tank and grab the Dwarf Hairgrass.
 
#18 ·
It's been a little while since an update. I had my surgery on my arm so I'm stuck home for 3 weeks recovering. I want to get my wife involved in this tank to make it our tank. In the past she would say she liked a certain fish or a certain plant and I would tell her no because I didn't like it. So I don't want to do that anymore so we both can enjoy the tank. So we restocked the tank this past weekend along with getting a new plant. She saw it and really liked it and I did as well. Need some help on identifying it and where I should place it. It was in the Amazon Sword tank but it was green and white. Reminded me of a Hosta that you would plant around a house. Here's a pic:



I just temporarily placed it just to the left of the driftwood on the right side until I do a water change. Where should I place it permanently? Also, as asked earlier, anyone know what it is?

Thanks!
 
#21 ·
Once you get your Co2 up and running for a bit that dwarf sag is going to go crazy! Mine went from about 12 little plants (about a 12" "patch") to now almost having half of my 90 gallon carpeted. I love that stuff.

Is that a row of bronze crypts...the darker plants in the mid-front? Looking great either way!
 
#22 ·
I know! Both of my previous tanks exploded with the Dwarf Sag and pressurized CO2!

I honestly don't know all the plants. I'll get some more detailed shots of the plants I don't know when the lights come on. Thanks for all of your help too!
 
#26 ·
Thanks! I did some research on it the other night and had read that it could be grown either emersed or submersed. After reading your post I decided to do some more research and am now finding nothing but that it cannot be grown submersed. Kinda pisses me off as my lfs told me it was a form of amazon sword and that it would grow submersed. Paid $12 for it and now to find out it can't and that it's just a form of peace lilly. I guess what else could I do with it? I have a cat and peace lilies are poisonous to cats. I was thinking of getting a glass vase that I could put some substrate in and grow it emersed. Just place it high were the cat can't get it.
 
#28 ·
Well it's been quite a while since I've updated on the tank. Tank is slowly starting to fill in but looking good. Still recovering from my surgery on my arm so I've been doing a lot of planning on trying to figure out what I want to change about everything. Here's a pic of my arm when they removed my plaster cast and placed me in a metal adjustable brace:



A few weeks ago I had a discovery of 5 albino bristle nose plecos. I currently have them in a breeding net as I don't have room for a grow tank. They are still doing well and can't wait for them to get bigger! Restocked the tank finally and have updated the main post. Here's a quick shot of the tank.

 
#29 · (Edited)
Well I got my UV sterilized hooked up finally. Plumbed it in and run it at night only. It's only been one night so obviously won't notice much of a difference. I'm excited about it though as I like to think of it as an "insurance policy". Some may think its not necessary but I feel better having it. Thanks everyone again with my other posts asking about them. All your advice was helpful!

Also, my wife and I noticed that the male bristlenose has been hiding up in the driftwood for about the last week. I finally saw him moved out a little bit where I could see in the opening of the driftwood and saw 2 more fry. Don't know how many are actually in there but I'm excited! As of right now I have 5 of them in a breeding net in the tank. Thinking about just biting the bullet and purchasing a grow tank.
 
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