Digsy's 105g Starphire

[Digsy]

I'm tearing my 58 gallon tank down tomorrow and hopefully getting my 105 gallon going. I plan on taking pictures as I go along and will post them in the next few days. The layout is going to be the same as my 58 gallon, only I'm going to add quite a few more pieces of Manzanita.

Tank specs:

Tank: 105 gallon Oceanic Starphire (48.5 x 18.5 x 29)
Lighting: Tek 48" 4x54w, 2 Giesseman Midday bulbs, 2 Aquaflora
Filtration: Marineland C-360, Rena Filstar XP3
Heaters 2 Hydor ETH inline, (1) 200w, (1) 300w
Water movement: Hydor Koralia 1
CO2: Aquariumplants.com regulator, Fabco NV-55 needle valve, diffused through Hagen Elite mini-filter
Substrate: CaribSea 'Peace River'

Current Fish:

• 5 wild green tefe discus
• 20 rummynose tetras
• 6 black neon tetras
• 4 zebra loaches
• 6 kuhli loaches
• 6 otocinclus
• 3 yellow, blue-eyed BN plecos
• 5 Corydoras sterbai

Plants:

• Dwarf water lettuce
• Lobelia cardinalis small form
• Needle-leaf java fern
• Ludwigia inclinata
• Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia'
• Nymphaea micrantha
• Flame moss
• Peacock moss
• Hygrophila 'angustifolia'
• Hygrophila sp. 'bihar'
• Echinodorus 'vesuvius'
• Anubias Barteri Var. Nana
• Anubias Barteri Var. Coffeefolia
• Cryptocoryne retrospiralis
• Cryptocoryne spiralis
• Cryptocoryne undulata
• Cryptocoryne wendtii green
• Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green gecko'
• Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green x hybrid'
• Cryptocoryne wendtii 'florida sunset'
• Cryptocoryne wendtii 'mi oya'
• Cryptocoryne wendtii Bronze
• Cryptocoryne cilitia
• Cryptocoryne walkeri
• Cryptocoryne cordata 'Rosanervig'
• Cryptocoryne parva
• Staurogyne sp. 'Porto Velho'
• Clinopodium cf. brownei
• Echinodorus Kleiner Bar
• Echinodorus Indian Red

The empty tank:



I can't believe how small it makes the 58 gallon look!




More updates to come soon...

[hydrophyte]

Nice! What a fun surprise. That will be a good shape and size for lots of stems. Watch out for collectoritis--there's a lot space in there.

That tank is trimmed pretty nice and the stand doesn't look too shabby either.

This will be a fun project to watch.

[Down_Shift]

beautiful tank

[fish-aholic]

Thats a nice looking tank there! 559 is a pretty good deal for a staphire tank of that size and shape.

Is only the front staphire or 3 sides?

Cant wait to see some progress.

[paulrw]

awesome tank i thought it looked small until i saw it next to the 58g. hope you got a step ladder! haha can't wait to see this come along. good luck!

[Digsy]

Originally Posted by hydrophyte

Nice! What a fun surprise. That will be a good shape and size for lots of stems. Watch out for collectoritis--there's a lot space in there.

That tank is trimmed pretty nice and the stand doesn't look too shabby either.

This will be a fun project to watch.

Wow, you already called my collectoritis. I've been fighting it with my 58 gallon and now, there's so much space to play with! I should stop trying to keep it under control and just admit that I have a problem.

Originally Posted by Down_Shift

beautiful tank

Originally Posted by fish-aholic

Thats a nice looking tank there! 559 is a pretty good deal for a staphire tank of that size and shape.

Is only the front staphire or 3 sides?

Cant wait to see some progress.

Thanks, I love the dimensions of this tank. Only the front panel is Starphire.

Originally Posted by paulrw

awesome tank i thought it looked small until i saw it next to the 58g. hope you got a step ladder! haha can't wait to see this come along. good luck!

Yeah, I was a little concerned about the height myself. I'm hoping that with the step ladder, I can avoid going for a swim every time I need to trim.



Well, I have a lot of work ahead of me and I'm procrastinating a little already. At least I have the excuse that I'm waiting for friends to arrive in a few hours to assist with moving everything!

[Digsy]

Well, I got it almost completely setup last night and this morning. Three people took 6 hours last night and it took me another 2 this morning. The fish spent the night in a Rubbermaid tub because there was a 6 degree temperature difference once I got the tank filled and I didn't feel like drip acclimating after all the work yesterday. This morning there was a 1 degree difference between the tub and the tank so, I just netted everyone out and dumped them in.

I just have to add that I LOVE my new Rena XP3! I can't believe how easy it was to setup. This one takes the cake on quick, easy setup and priming!

There's still a ton of bubbles on the glass so, there are no pictures with it completely filled and I still have about half of the plants still floating so, those pics will have to wait a few days. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, I was always in the middle of things so just took quick snapshots.

[Indignation]

I've drooled over this exact tank at a LFS before,I'm excited to see your progress. I'm curious about how well the T5s will do with that deep of a tank.

[Digsy]

I did a lot of research on the lighting and it seems like a lot of people are doing well with T-5s over similar depths. I had no intention of buying a tank when I went to my LFS but it was too good of a deal to refuse!

[hydrophyte]

Hey you have just two more posts before you hit 1,000.

[JakeJ]

I cant wait to see the finished product!
EDIT: WoW...

[Digsy]

Originally Posted by hydrophyte

Hey you have just two more posts before you hit 1,000.

1,000th post! Woo hoo!

Originally Posted by JakeJ

I cant wait to see the finish product!

Thanks, neither can I. Hopefully I can get everything done soon. I'm a little worn out today and taking a break.

[SteveMcQueen]

Looks awesome, hope to see it progress well.

[Digsy]

Here's the next two pictures of my progress. Everything is still looking pretty cloudy and I didn't bother getting everything planted today so, I still have a lot of work to do. I also have a some driftwood floating that refused to sink so, I need to rearrange that a little too.

[Bmac]

Very nice !!!