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364 Posts
Current Tank
Introduction
I've introduced myself and asked a few questions and many of you have heard this story before. To quote myself in my introduction.
And here's the tank last week or so.
Forum user Greggz nailed it, "Neglect" and I'm now going to correct that.
I've been keep planted tanks for 20 years now, nothing fancy. The most high tech I got was using the Jello in the DIY yeast bottle. I didn't even know there were styles of tanks. I guess I had heard of Dutch and Amano but that was it.
So here's my plan.
Last weekend I started setting up the 65 gallon holding tank. Built a stand out of cinder blocks, got the tank out of the shed and filled it in stages.
Sadly, one of the bulkheads was a seeper. I pulled the bulkhead out and replaced it with a glass patch.
The silicone was one of the few that was not Mold/Mildew resistant. But it also says "not for underwater use." Huh? It's just 100% silicone. Anyway, It is only for a few days. I'll fill it tonight today for a leak test. Then drain it. Then fill it with mostly tank water, and fish, on Friday.

Introduction
I've introduced myself and asked a few questions and many of you have heard this story before. To quote myself in my introduction.
I'm Paul and I've decided to take my planted tank to the next level. What does that mean? I means I'm going to be less ad hoc and more pro-active. I've kept planted tanks for a bit more than 20 years now. I've always had decent success and, of course, decent failures. I enjoy building stuff, so DIY is really in my game.
Here's a picture of my my main tank, a 75 gallon from late 2018.

And here's the tank last week or so.

Forum user Greggz nailed it, "Neglect" and I'm now going to correct that.
I've been keep planted tanks for 20 years now, nothing fancy. The most high tech I got was using the Jello in the DIY yeast bottle. I didn't even know there were styles of tanks. I guess I had heard of Dutch and Amano but that was it.
So here's my plan.
- Put the fish and plants in a holding tank with the existing canister filter
- Wash the gravel removing almost a decade of mulm.
- Rescape as Jungle style using existing plants
- Buy new plants as the weather and LFS permit (It's winter here!)
- Pressuried CO2 (soon to be ordered)
- Weekly micro/macro
- Log here so I'm can't hide that I'm not doing my weekly water changes
- Same lights for now. Should be 4,100 lumens but one of the LEDS is old so it could be less.
Last weekend I started setting up the 65 gallon holding tank. Built a stand out of cinder blocks, got the tank out of the shed and filled it in stages.

Sadly, one of the bulkheads was a seeper. I pulled the bulkhead out and replaced it with a glass patch.

The silicone was one of the few that was not Mold/Mildew resistant. But it also says "not for underwater use." Huh? It's just 100% silicone. Anyway, It is only for a few days. I'll fill it tonight today for a leak test. Then drain it. Then fill it with mostly tank water, and fish, on Friday.