The new and improved 45 gallon, with pics!

[severum mama]

As many of you already know, I had a plan in the works to combine a couple of tanks and downsize my FW tanks so I can sell off a couple of them to make way for a large reef setup (75 gallons or more).

Over the weekend, I did it. I merged my 45 and 55 gallon SA/CA tanks into the 75, and tore down the 55. Today, I tore down the 29 and moved the fish from the 29 into the 45, and moved over the yo yo loaches as well- I don't think they would do so well with the yellowtail botias (they are pretty aggressive). So now the 55 and 29 are torn down and are for sale, and the 45 moved from my BR into my LR. It looks awesome, I just hope I can keep the plants alive!

Anyway, here are the pics!

and a loach:

This tank took the spot that my 29 used to be in. It's really cool, as it is right next to the couch, so when you sit on the end of the couch it pretty much takes up your whole field of vision. Awesome! As always, any 'scaping suggestions are welcome!

Stock list is:
1 big angel
3 yo yo loaches
2 keyholes (maybe a pair!)
1 nannacara anomala
1 clown pleco
6 gold pristella tetras
1 glowlight tetra (the last one left)

I love it, so far!

 

[black hills tj]

looks great severum

 

[severum mama]

Thanks dude, let's hope the plants will survive under less wattage.... I guess it remains to be seen whether it works out!!!

 

[black hills tj]

Here's for the best! By the way, did you see the pics of the 20g I got setup this weekend? You can see the slate caves i made in the pics as well.

 

[rich311k]

Nice looking tank, Mama. I think the plants will do ok.

 

[severum mama]

I hope so. All I have over the tank is a twin-tube NO flourescent, 50 watts. This worries me because the vals and crypts came from my discus tank, which has 130W CF over a 55 gallons. It worries me because the 45 is 2 feet tall, a lot taller than the 55 that the plants came out of, which makes me consider light penetration. If I have to, I can add the strip that was on my 29, which is probably about 20 watts. A lighting upgrade is not in the budget right now, so this may be necessary. Of course, any advice is welcome!!!

 

[An t-iasg]

I really like the 'scape! Is the large plant on the left an anubias? That's one big, awesome anubias!

 

[Zagz]

Oh I like the way it is looking. Keep updating this thread as the plants grow.

 

[kennef]

nice work!

if you are concerned about the amount of light, i can share what i did with my 45. Since i also only had an NO striplight, what i did was pick up a 10 gallon incandescent striplight at a garage sale (in the free box) and retrofit it with 2 20W cf bulbs @ 6700k daylight.

Even if the restrike takes away from the efficiency, you cant beat 7 bucks for 40 watts...

 

[severum mama]

Thanks for the compliments. I'm really looking forward to the plants filling in.

Is the large plant on the left an anubias? That's one big, awesome anubias!

It's actually 2 anubias plants, I just thought they looked better right next to each other. I got the plants a few years ago and they have been in my 29 gallon ever since. It got to the point where the 29 was completely full of anubias. Some of the leaves don't look too good because Stretch (RIP) used to chew on them.

 

[An t-iasg]

Two big awesome anubias plants! Cool!

You can trim off some of the rattier-looking leaves. I trim leaves off my anubias plants occasionally, usually the oldest leaves when they get algae-covered, but you can trim off the torn leaves. It will probably stimulate the plant to put out new leaves.

 

[severum mama]

Cool, I was planning on doing that, but I'm quite lazy about pruning and trimming a lot of the time.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Hey lookin nice! First time I've seen someone else with a 45 tall as well. They are such a pain but yours looks awesome!

 

[dvanv]

Wow, what a great looking tank. I love the way you positioned the plants. It will only look better with time. I only hope my tank will someday look that good.

 

[courtnee]

Looks beautiful! Good luck it all works out well.

 

[Gplayerz]

Tank looks great man, Hope that the plants thrive as you want them to.