Phish's 40g upgrade to 75g breeding Ram build

[phishfriend]

To start, If you haven't read my 40g ram breeder thread here is a link.

My 40g breeder ram build begins Check it out!!!

So, Last week a friend called me and asked if I would take a 75g setup (stand,tank and canister) off his hands for free! I of course couldn't say yes fast enough! We agreed that I would pickup the tank this passed Friday after work and in the mean time he was going to try to re-home some of his fish that I wasn't interested in keeping.

I go to pickup the tank and see it needs a lot of work to bring it back around. My buddy had lost interest in it awhile ago and it showed. It was choked with plants and algae. He wasn't able to re-home any fish.

Anyhow, We get it drained, catch as many fish as possible and get it to the house. Saturday morning I catch/bag all the fish I didn't plan on keeping. I had called a lfs earlier and they agreed to take them. Dropped off the fish. Grabbed a few things I would need. Went home got all the rams and other fish in a holding tank and got to work!

Here are some pics. Forgive the blurry(phone) pics. I will update with better pics tonight from the camera.

Tank when I first saw it.

Tank mid breakdown

Tank after. a bit cloudy

Huge driftwood. (rocks are to hold it down)

This morning clearing up!

So, there it is! I promise better pics to night! I will be continuing the ram breeding in this thread. Hope you enjoy!

 

[Rivercats]

Love the DW! Will be following!

 

[phishfriend]

Love the DW! Will be following!

LoL! I thought you might like that piece.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Love it! Like the black background better than befoer. Looks more natural. Also the tank before was a bit crowed, I like the way you made a good mix of decor and swimming space

 

[phishfriend]

Thanks!!

As promised a few better pics!

right side

left side and again I'm pining DW down with rock..But I really love this pc

A few of the

Pair one has colored up! the females belly is super red. I'm hoping i have a new spawn in the morning. More later!

 

[Convict2161]

Awesome! Simply amazing. Love the scape! Live the driftwood and the pictures are nice and clear. Awesome x10!!

 

[phishfriend]

thanks Convict!! Also Fancytail got the 40 breeder. wait till you see what see did with it!! It's really cool!

 

[Rivercats]

I know you've got plants coming in and want some cuttings but are you going to try to do some type of carpet? I've actually added a small area of Dwarf Four leaf clover in the 220g to see how it does.

 

[Rivercats]

Forgot to add I have the same little Rio Negro Pleco and it's as small as it was a year ago. Problem is I rarely ever see it!

 

[phishfriend]

I know you've got plants coming in and want some cuttings but are you going to try to do some type of carpet? I've actually added a small area of Dwarf Four leaf clover in the 220g to see how it does.

I have a few small patches of baby's tear that didnt do so well in the 40. Hoping it does better in this tank. If not I need to fine something. I think it needs it.

 

[Rivercats]

You know the way the DW pieces are shaped and at both ends using stargrass on each side starting at the front glass and using the corners to make a triange off of and then trimming the stargrass from low height to higher height as it goes back towards the DW would look really good IMO and would be great for the rams. It will need alittle more often trimming to keep it at the right height but the effect could be awesome. I'm using it in a similar way in the 220g to transition the lower front plants to the taller back ones. It all comes down to knowing how to trim it to make it look good.

 

[phishfriend]

You know the way the DW pieces are shaped and at both ends using stargrass on each side starting at the front glass and using the corners to make a triange off of and then trimming the stargrass from low height to higher height as it goes back towards the DW would look really good IMO and would be great for the rams. It will need alittle more often trimming to keep it at the right height but the effect could be awesome. I'm using it in a similar way in the 220g to transition the lower front plants to the taller back ones. It all comes down to knowing how to trim it to make it look good.

You know, now your going to have to learn how to post a video to YouTube. So you can show me how it should be done, right!? Lol!

I'm going to have to chance a plant order. My list is getting to long!

 

[Fresh2o]

The tank looks mah-vel-ous! Like the grille up top. What kind of lights are you using?

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Cool tank

That is a great looking tank and will be following!

 

[CharlieKlein]

So what's te current stock and future plan?

 

[phishfriend]

The tank looks mah-vel-ous! Like the grille up top. What kind of lights are you using?

Lol that grill is actually a extra shelf from one of those kitchen pantry shelves on wheels from Costco. I meant it to be temporary but it's a perfect fit and working out well! Plus I don't mind how it looks. So it may stay but Im thinking of painting black. The lights are just cheapo clamp-on work lights with the clamps removed. I painted them flat black. I'm using 23w 6500k CFL's from Lowes. They work really well and from what I can figure the par rateing on the 4 is somewhere between 40 and 60. So mid to high light.

 

[musicmarn1]

wow love the black gravel, what a brilliant job, looks amazing !!!

 

[Rivercats]

You know, now your going to have to learn how to post a video to YouTube. So you can show me how it should be done, right!? Lol!

I'm going to have to chance a plant order. My list is getting to long!

You do realize how many new types of plants I just put in don't you. As it is I toss most all my clippings into the goldfish tanks for them to munch on!

Trimming isn't hard once you get the hang of it and practice alittle.

 

[phishfriend]

So what's te current stock and future plan?

2 breeding pairs of rams.
6 huge Cory's that came with tank
4 oto's
1 long fin albino bn pleco
I clown pleco
One loach(soon to be re-homed

That's it for now. Going to wait on anything else. Want the rams to settle in and spawn like rabbits!

 

[musicmarn1]

i would really love to try and get something like this going when i get my big tank, is there anyway you can list the plants you used? until i become great at this would be brilliant if i can use your tank to try and model

I keep looking over and over at the pictures, simply stunning, what is the black substrate i get that you use here? you are tying some of the plants to the driftwood i take it?