125 Gal. B-day Present: 1/21 last update (56k)

[yikesjason]

The wood is oak from a near by oak grove. We have a lot of it around here.

[aquagardener379]

do you have any updated pictures? im bet you changed your tank somehow.
your tank looks so natural. The lighting in the middle is perfect, i think im might give it a try.

[sewingalot]

Beautiful, stunning and eye-catching. This is a lovely tank.

[Old Salt]

Beautiful tank.

[yikesjason]

I was planning on doing some pictures today. There are just some minor changes, but I thought I would do my monthly pictures. We will see if I get to it tonight.

As far as the lighting in the middle. I got a 4 ft light because it was so much cheaper. Originally I had planned to do an island of plants in the center and taper out to just bare sand on the edges, but it just didn't turn out that way. Maybe I will still do that someday though.

[yikesjason]

It is about time for the monthly general update.
There were only a few plants added to the tank this month. HC, HM, riccia, and a few random stems. I also did a little bit of rearranging to open up the front a little more and layer the plants a little more going toward the back of the tank.

FTS - In person it is not really that dark on the ends, it is just really difficult to balance the brightness in the picture.


The plants are all doing well. The aromatica is a beast. Pulling the plants and replanting the tops seems the best way to trim it, otherwise, the stems split into so many heads that it completely blocks out all light to the bottom. I am still not getting a lot of color from it yet though. The L. ovalis is coloring up so nice though.


The new wild angels are doing really well. They are growing fast and keep up with the bigger domestics in there with them. Up close, I like the wilds better than the golds, but from a distance they just fade into the background and the golds are what you see. Makes sense though for a wild fish to be less visible.


I have been working with my new camera, trying to figure it all out. I took a couple 100 pictures last night trying different things. I thought I would share some of them with you all.



This last one was the only decent picture I could get of the cardinals, they are tricky to shoot.

Enjoy, I sure do.

[chefbear]

A good read. Nice tank, Thank You!

[yikesjason]

Originally Posted by chefbear

A good read. Nice tank, Thank You!

Thanks. I grew up in eastern Washington, just north of the Tri-Cities. I didn't go to Walla Walla often though. Just a few times for the ballon stampede and the Whitman Mission.

[kali]

beautiful tank ...love the lay out and those fish .!

[yikesjason]

I have two observations from my tank that have created questions.

1. I have noticed that different plants seem to pearl at different times of the day. There are a few random plants pearling through out the day, but the blyca japonica really takes off pearling just an hour or two before the lights go out. Any ideas why?

2. For the first few months after I put in the lotus bulbs, they threw out new leaves every day. They would take over the surface of the tank in about a week. But now they don't seem to be putting out any new leaves and the ones that are still there are not growing at all. Is there some type of annual cycle that they go through? How do I stimulate the bulb to grow again?

[Tex Gal]

Your tank is beautiful! I've been seeing all these wild angles and loving them. I love your scape as well. I echo what others have said. It really looks natural.

I can help with #2. I trim my leaves all the time, taking the high ones off. I will at times, only leave one leaf on. When it begins to put out another one I will leave it alone unless it goes to the surface again. Eventually it will begin to only put out short leaves - like a dandelion that you have trimmed - now it only grow compact to the ground. I don't know how long it's been since you trimmed the top ones but give it a week. You can also put some plant tabs under the roots. They are great root feeders.

[yikesjason]

There hasn't really been any new leaves in about a month. I will try some root tabs though, that is a good idea.

[hydrophyte]

Your tank is really nice. This would be a great one to see in person.

I have wondered if lotus might have some kind of seasonality. I have the little red one (can't remember the name) and a little while back it just stopped growing all of a sudden and most of the leaves melted away. Now it is nice and full and growing again.

[Lymore]

Originally Posted by yikesjason

Angelfish are Pigs! When I drop a cube of frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp, it is like a classic piranha movie. It is fun to watch. And they see me coming from across the room.

Ahaha my angelfish watches me too, and follows me as I walk by, its like s/he is saying "Hey, hey, don't keep walking, feed me, feeeed meee!" Its such a pig too, I love my angelfish

Your tank is stunning! I could only hope to have a tank that pretty! I love it!

[yikesjason]

I had my first co2 scare last night. Everything all day. Then around 7:30 I saw all of the fish at the surface. They weren't gasping, they were very lethargic though. So I did a started an air pump though one of my power heads and did a water change. Some of the smaller fish started to bounce back right away. It took quite a while for everyone else. It was quite scary. I though most of them were going to die.

It was nice to see all of the fish though. There are some that I almost never see. Like all of my otos are always hidden as well as my zebra loaches and corys. I see my bushy nose plecos sometimes but last nigh they were all out were I could see them almost die. I was starting to wonder if I even had any otos left in there. The tank is so heavily planted that all of the low level fish kind of disappear.

The angelfish took quite a blow. My black angel fish was almost completely white. All of the wilds were more or less stripeless. All in all, I have not seen any deaths and this gives me a good example to show my wife that I really need to upgrade my co2 system.