Tharsis' 75G Stumptastic Rescape ~5-22-12~

[tharsis]

Current FTS 5-22-12



FTS 4-7-12



FTS 1-11-12



FTS 12-27-11



FTS 10-30-11



FTS 10-19-11



FTS 10-02-11



FTS 09-08-11



FTS 09-07-11



FTS 08-28-11



FTS 05-24-11





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I recently moved from Indiana to Southern Colorado. I decided to leave my tanks behind but bring my fish and plants with me and combine three tanks (46/20/10) into one 75 gallon high tech tank.

The move went ok, i lost a couple tetras along the way, but my apistos and rams were fine. Unfortunately my plants did not fair so well. During the road trip I placed my plants in the hotel fridge over night to keep them fresh, when I woke up the next morning and checked on them, half of the plants had turned to icicles. Many of them died, and the rest certainly are worse for wear at the moment.

I had a brand new 75 gallon tank waiting for me at home (what a treat - I have only ever had used tanks in the past) and purchased a stand and canopy on craigslist. I was a little nervous since I was going to be setting the tank up without a cycle, but I figured that the plants would certainly help. I also kept all my filter media soaking during the trip thinking that the bacteria would stay alive.

The tank has now been up for two weeks, and it is going ok.







The plants are looking a little rough right now but they seem to be bouncing back slowly. I have an algae problem as well because I have no CO2 set up yet.

I am waiting for a 5 lb CO2 tank to arrive in the mail. i have a milwaukee regulator waiting to be attached. I plan on attaching the CO2 to a Cerges reactor attached to a canister filter.

Due to the frantic set-up from arriving with fish in transit, i neglected to paint the back of the tank. Today i made a black background by taping black garbage bags to cardboard. It leaves much to be desired, and I plan on fixing it soon.





Right now, my photoperiod is 4 hours, but i will ramp it up once the CO2 is set-up. I am also going to dose EI method.

[tharsis]

Specs:

Lights - T12 VHO attached to the canopy, will likely be replacing them with dual T5HO in the near future

Substrate - gravel collected from nearby beach with a playsand cap. I made some osmocote gel caps to place in the substate.

Filtration - Sun Sun canister filter and an eheim canister (can't remember what model)

Co2 - 5 lb aluminum tank soon to arrive, Milwaukee regulator set-up, connected to a cerges reactor which will be attached to the output of the eheim.


Flora:

anubias, java fern, dwarf sag, jungle vals, a bunch of crypts, java fern
dwarf hair grass, microsword, HM, creeping Jenny,
Hygro Polysperma, Hygro difformis, pogo erectus, alternanthera reineckii, rotala macandra, and a few others i can't recall the names of....

Fauna:

Bolivian ram pair
german ram pair
Apisto agassizzii trio
serpae, lemon pristella, tetras
tiger barbs
pepper corys
clown loach

The plants and fish are a little bit of a hodge podge right now since this tank is the combination of three separate tanks but I will slowly change things around to make it more cohesive. I am thinking of making this a rainbow fish tank eventually.

[AzFishKid]

That driftwood is super cool! Where did you get it?

Nice setup... really like the scape.

[tharsis]

Thanks! I have been planning a scape like this for a long time now and i am glad that I finally have a large enough tank to do it.

I got the driftwood from a beach near my house here in southern colorado. The beach is absolutely loaded with driftwood... Tons of stumps and rootwood.

[AzFishKid]

You're lucky that you have access to driftwood like that... that is one of the best pieces that i've seen in a long time. Lucky you!

[rickztahone]

subscribed

[tharsis]

I actually had this piece on the S&S awhile ago but the shipping for it is astronomical, and local pick-up is not an option since i am basically in the middle of nowhere.

So I just had to keep it for myself and wait until i had a tank big enough to house it.

[sewingalot]

This is a very nice use of driftwood. So many people try, yet fail. You succeeded.

[AzFishKid]

Originally Posted by sewingalot

This is a very nice use of driftwood. So many people try, yet fail. You succeeded.

So true.
Wise words said by Sara.

[Da Plant Man]

This tank is amazing! I <3 it!

[tharsis]

Thanks for the comments!

I was worried that it might look a bit rushed since it essentially was...I had been planning the layout in my head the entire 20 hour drive though so I guess the planning wasnt rushed, just the implementation.

I am hoping that the plants will fill out how I want them to. My goal is to have the sort of jungly driftwood portion on the left transition to a sort of dutch style clearing on the right with a nice carpet and two rows of stems in the back.

I lost a bunch of stems during the trip and all of my blyxa japonica (20+ stems) sadly. I was wanting to have the blyxa in the front left clearing and slowly tapering out into a DHG field. Time to start collecting plants from the S&S again.

I want my CO2 tank to arrive already!

[tharsis]

The algae is starting to get pretty bad, I may need to do a black out until the co2 tank arrives, I am just worried that that may be the final nail in the coffin for alot of my plants...

[fishykid1]

try taking out one or 2 of the t12 vho lamps. That should help as well. Less light= less demand for co2/nutrients.

[Tamelesstgr]

Looking good, that piece of wood is beautiful. You might want to try black posterboard, it comes in thicker sheets also, or just spray paint the back of the tank.

[tharsis]

yeah i think am going to go with black poster board...I want something with a matte finish. I wish i had painted it when i had the chance but it is a little too late now.