75g Mostly completed

[mortikahn]

Here is a picture of my 75 gallon tank, after it is mostly set up. Most of the plants are real (except the one front right, and middle far left). The plants are new, just a couple of days in the tank. I'm waiting for either some dwarf tears, or some ground clover to come in a t the LFS, as I desperately need ground cover. Pay no attention to the scuba diver in the front right, the girlfriend kinda insisted, whats a guy to do?

Occupants of tank:
1 Sailfin Pleco
2 Red tail Sharks
2 Bala sharks
2 Swordtails
3 glass cats
3 neon tetras
~6 Ghost shrimp
?? ramshorn snails (food for the GSP in my brackish tank)
?? Malaysian trumpet snails
2 Anubis Hastifolia (either side of the castle)
1 mystery sword plant (behind castle in middle) supposed to grow big and bushy

This is a low light tank, with ~1.5 wpg using the formulae found on this sight. The substrate is a mix of 40lbs eco complete, 40lbs of pool sand, 1 pound of argonite (for the snails...calcium etc)

So thoughts comments, suggestions..

Link to full size image
http://www.infernious.net/images/75Gal%20After%20Setup.JPG

 

[mortikahn]

I'm going to assume that after a week with no replies that I must have done it all perfectly.

 

[Zagz]

My apologies, I haven't been online as much as I would like. I love the castle! The substrate blends together really well. I hope you continue to post pics as the plants grow.

 

[mortikahn]

Each of the anubis...annubi (plural) show a brand new sprout coming up from the center. This is a good sign me thinks, only a week, and I allready have new growth showing on 2/3 plants.

I still can't find an lfs with dwarf tears or ground clover...

 

[haykay]

did you already get all the sharks? If not that may be a bit much. Balas need t be ina school adn do best with at least 6 also get super big! I would leave this out and get just 1 redtail as they can be a bit territorial and grouchy especially with fish that look like them..
I would also up your school of neons.. they really do enjoy a large school!

Swordtails get pretty large and can be moody with mollies and their own specices and if you get one male and one female he will likely pester her to breed more than she alone is capable of

Now YOUR TANK:

Beautiful set up! Love the castle and the substrate together! Of corse the scuba dude is "alright" btu you gotta keep the partner appeasied!

Update on the plants?! Maybe another picture????

 

[mortikahn]

Well the swordtails are Mom and single surviving fry...So it should be some time before breeding is an issue. The Neons have been upped to a total of 7.
The sharks are here allready, Might have to get another Bala, and another red tail, as everything I've been able to find says either get 1 red tail shark or get 3...never 2 and another Bala couldn't hurt since they like to school as well.

Thanks to some articles I found on here. I have upgraded my lighting using some cheap aluminum reflective tape, and an additional ballast. So now I am running 2 32watt 48" T8 bulbs @ 2x ODNO (6500k Daylight)Now if I got the formula right
2 x 32 = 64

T8s have a multiplier of 1.58 (due to the watt /gallon formula calculated against t12 bulbs)
64 watts times 1.58 multiplier = 101.12

Now because they are now ODNO they are at ~150% output
101.12 x 1.50 = 151.68 Watts over a 75g tank which yields

2.0224 watts / gallon which is right on the cusp of needing CO2 injection.
Hopefully I don't need any CO2 injection, and my plants should love me.

I might be making a trip to the LFS soon, as I ordered my tears, will update with pictures then.

 

[mortikahn]

Updated Pictures

I thought I might update this thread with some more pictures, and data.
First, thanks to all the great information I found on this site, I was able to overdrive my lights, and get my light into the 2watt/gallon area, and here are the results.

Here are a couple of photos taken near the beginning of August.

And some pictures taken just a couple of days ago.

 

[mlennox]

tank looks fantastic love the castle!

 

[black hills tj]

That madagascar lace fern is turning into quite the tank buster...it is huge! I'd say that is very impressive growth for 3 months.

 

[mortikahn]

yes it is absolutely insane growth. I can't imagine the amount of growth you folks get with more lighting and CO2 injection. We are seeing a new leaf shooting up from the base at a rate of about 1/week. It has also put up 5 flower pods, sadly only 1 of those actually bloomed.

The Annubis have also grown quite nicely, and now reach just over 1/2 way to the top of the tank, and doubled the number of leaves.

I removed the dwarf tears, as my pleco was mowing them nightly. I have replaced the dwarf tears with some java moss, on the waterfall of the castle, and on the front rock on the left side. the java moss is growing insanely fast as well.

 

[black hills tj]

Java moss will work well for sucking up extra nitrates, but its not the prettiest. Christmas moss and flame moss are much more appealing to the eyes IMO. If you want a nice carpet, you may want to try Hemianthus micranthemoides(pearlweed). I had a huge carpet in my 29g tank a while back and none of my pleco's or snails messed with it at all.

Unfortunately, I did a huge trim on my HM, and afterwards I got caught up in other things and the remainder of it died off.

 

[Ziggy953]

Very nice! I lave the Lace!

 

[smn723]

That castle is really cool. I've never seen that large of one. Nice tank.