Digsy's 105g Starphire - Photo update 5/17

24455 Views 166 Replies 44 Participants Last post by chris.rivera3, Sep 8, 2011

Digsy

Discussion Starter · Sep 5, 2009 (Edited)

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, C-220
Heaters 2 Hydor ETH inline, (1) 200w, (1) 300w
Water movement: Hydor Koralia 1
CO2: Aquariumplants.com regulator, Fabco NV-55 needle valve, Cal Aqua inline diffuser
Substrate: CaribSea 'Peace River'

Current Fish:

20 rummynose tetras
6 black neon tetras
4 zebra loaches
6 kuhli loaches
6 otocinclus
3 yellow, blue-eyed BN plecos
5 Corydoras sterbai
6 Amano shrimp

Plants:

Needle-leaf java fern
Java fern 'trident'
Nymphaea micrantha
Flame moss
Peacock moss
Hygrophila sp. 'bihar'
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
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...

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hydrophyte

· #2 · Sep 5, 2009

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

· #3 · Sep 5, 2009

beautiful tank

fish-aholic

· #4 · Sep 5, 2009

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

· #5 · Sep 5, 2009

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

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 5, 2009

hydrophyte said:
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. :hihi:

Down_Shift said:
beautiful tank

fish-aholic said:
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.

paulrw said:
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!

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Digsy

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 6, 2009

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.

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Indignation

· #8 · Sep 6, 2009

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

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 6, 2009

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

· #10 · Sep 6, 2009

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

RipariumGuy

· #11 · Sep 6, 2009 (Edited)

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

Digsy

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 6, 2009

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

1,000th post! Woo hoo!

JakeJ said:
I cant wait to see the finish product!

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

SteveMcQueen

· #13 · Sep 7, 2009

Looks awesome, hope to see it progress well.

Digsy

Discussion Starter · #14 · Sep 7, 2009

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.

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Bmac

· #15 · Sep 7, 2009

Very nice !!!

Indignation

· #16 · Sep 8, 2009

This tank is already looking amazing Digsy, I really like the substrate. Its easy to lose a sense of scale when looking at these pictures, until you look to the fish/equipment for scale.

Digsy

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 9, 2009

Thanks Bmac and Indignation. I'll have some updated pictures in the next couple of days but am anxiously awaiting some more stem plants so that it looks a little more filled in. It's looking a little bare right now.

Digsy

Discussion Starter · #18 · Sep 11, 2009

Small photo update. I still haven't gotten my stems yet but I got everything I had planted and the water has cleared up quite a bit. Now to clean off the back glass! I'll update again once the new plants arrive.

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hydrophyte

· #19 · Sep 11, 2009

Cool. That looks like maybe Hygrophila "angustifolia" (I don't know the real name for that one)(?). That's a nice plant. It looks really cool with lotuses, which contrast it really well. It looks like you have some sort of different crypt there in the background. What kind of gravel is that?

kid creole

· #20 · Sep 11, 2009

hydrophyte said:
What kind of gravel is that?

Looks like Flourite to me.

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