# 75g taken down and put back together



## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

So last weekend I finally got the ambition I have been wanting for a couple months to take my tank apart and put in some new driftwood I recently purchased.

This is what I started with:
*Note the downoi in front, and the fish I had taken out on top... used to have espei rasboras in there. Also some random stargrass that had some how gotten into my tank... still puzzled on that one, it just appeared one day.









Here it is after everything was taken out:
*I ended up doing 6 water changes and there was still dirt so it just stayed in after that and the plants can use up the nutrients in it









Here it is after placing the wood in:
*I got the wood from a guy who sells mainly dart frog stuff but sells the nice Malaysian driftwood for only $10 a piece no matter what size it is









Here it is right after I finished planting:
*Still a little cloudy, but everything is in and the tank is filled back up









Here is the final result:
*All of the water all cleared up, added in about 14 Galaxy Rasboras and got the roots trimmed that I didnt get planted, etc.


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## Gaijin987 (Nov 14, 2006)

Absolutely beautiful tank man!.......I'm getting into planted tanks mainly because of your (and Dippy's) tank shots.

Great job!


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)




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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)




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## HumanBurger (Jan 11, 2006)

wow man... stunnin lawn...

all the best


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## 2PiRaNhA~2FuRrY (Nov 1, 2005)

so mike what kind of gravel is that and what kind of light you're useing?


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

Beautiful


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

Gaijin987 said:


> so mike what kind of gravel is that and what kind of light you're useing?


It is Soilmaster Select Charcoal which IMO is the best substrate I have ever used, it doesnt compact like Eco-Complete thus allowing the roots to grow more freely and have a lot better structure IMO, and I really like the color of it, which is a key thing in keeping the look I want.

The light is a Nove Extreme HO T-5 light with white Lunar Lights for at night as well... I actually picked it up from Ex0dus a while back... right now I am only running half of the light it is capable of until I get the CO2 hooked up... which I might do today since it is supposed to be sleeting all day here. It is an awesome fixture... one thing I really like which some people may not is that it runs pretty hot, so I dont even have to keep a heater in my tank and it always stays up around 80 during the day and drops down to about 76 or so at night which works out perfectly IMO. I have tried just about every type of lighting out there, or have seen it being used, and nothing compares to the colors you can get with T-5 lighting, not to mention I truly think they are brighter and definitely keep their color longer than PC bulbs.

As a side note, most of these plants were actually grown when I was using one of my Coralife 130w PC fixtures... great fixtures and you can pick them up pretty cheap now as well.

One other thing... I started this tank many months back with only around 50 Blyxa each only having maybe 10 leaves max... after replanting, I am guessing I kept somewhere around 400 plants that would all have at least 20 leaves or more. Anyone could have a tank like this... just gotta have a little patience and a bit of time to take care of it.


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

Motivational








looks great Mike


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## Malok (Mar 26, 2006)

looks really good mike got any trimmings you wanna get rid of or some more of that tiwainin moss i got from you a while back


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## QWERTY1830 (Jul 26, 2006)

Tank looks killer and the fish looks beautiful.


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

Malok said:


> Tank looks killer and the fish looks beautiful.


Thanks you!


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

Nice tank and a great looking P


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## eiji (Sep 16, 2006)

you and dippy never cease to amaze me...just f*cking everytime!!!
BTW what is that grass-looking plant you have there?? 
nice P, nice setup, nice driftwoods..nice everything


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

fish lover said:


> you and dippy never cease to amaze me...just f*cking everytime!!!
> BTW what is that grass-looking plant you have there??
> nice P, nice setup, nice driftwoods..nice everything


The grass plant that is in most of the tank is called Blyxa Japonica.

The tall green stuff in the back is called Cyperus Helferi.

The Cyperus Helferi is pretty hard to come by and those plants are huge compared to others that I see people selling.. most people arent willing to part with them once they get them from what I have seen.

I love my Geryi... always a great eater too, will come up and grab it as soon as I drop it in. Driftwood is awesome... I got it from http://www.joshsfrogs.com - very cheap and he has pictures of all the pieces and will ship it to you!


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## NeXuS (Aug 16, 2006)

nice you did a good job


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

I love your tank, T5's are the way to go you've just made up my mind about something.....









What size and kind is that piranha you have in there does the lighting bother him how long do you leave your lights on?


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

bigshawn said:


> I love your tank, T5's are the way to go you've just made up my mind about something.....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you! T-5 is definitely the best lighting for a tank IMO... just gets the full colors out of everything and my plants seem to love them as well.

It is a Serrasalmus Geryi in the 9-10" range. He is pretty used to them now usually stays in the front of the tank, at night I will catch him swimming around occassionally, though he usually ends up going to sleep in the middle of all the blyxa, must be comfy for him to lay in or soemthing.

The lights on that tank are on for 15.5hrs a day.


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## Humper (Aug 7, 2006)




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## Vinny19 (Jul 16, 2006)

man i love that tank!! nice work


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## inspectahdeck34 (Dec 31, 2006)

looks very nice man good work


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

is that tall grass in the back mondo grass?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

WTF?! how is this the first time i've spotted this thread?! 
Damn Mike! That japonica is Crazy big! And I was just looking at mine thinking it was was outta hand but yours is off the chain!


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## itstheiceman (Oct 5, 2006)

hey mike thats a sick looking tank man, wow just blows me away...you and dippy's tanks are just pure amazing, great job


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

cueball said:


> hey mike thats a sick looking tank man, wow just blows me away...you and dippy's tanks are just pure amazing, great job


Thanks man... this is probably the easiest tank for someone to setup in terms of maitenance, etc.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

therizman1 said:


> WTF?! how is this the first time i've spotted this thread?!
> Damn Mike! That japonica is Crazy big! And I was just looking at mine thinking it was was outta hand but yours is off the chain!


You are a disappointment to me BS... no wonder why you didnt win MOTM :rasp:

Yea, my japonica is huge... funny thing, since I replanted it, it is actually gettting taller in some areas... couple more month and Ill probably redo it again. Within about two weeks I was already having to thin it out to keep those open areas in front open... right now they are completely full and there is even a bunch that floated up and I cant even tell where it floated up from. Thank god my LFS is buying 40 plants or so from me a week :nod:

[/quote]

yeah for sure. I suck at teh life.









haha. mine just recently decided they want to be trees so they are growing upwards. They are almost getting to the top of my tank. But I do only have them in a 20L. 
Anyways the tanks lookin good mike!


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## Round Head (Sep 26, 2005)

Simplicity is very beautiful.


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## russm4a3 (Aug 24, 2005)

Very nice work! Thank you for taking the time to share your pictures.


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

therizman1 said:


> is that tall grass in the back mondo grass?


The tall stuff in the back is Cyperus Helferi. Mondo grass is actually not an aquatic plant, it is a marginal plant. If kept completely submerged, it will usually wilt away in a month or two. Cyperus helferi is an aquatic plant though, and is also much nicer than mondo grass IMO.

[/quote]

if its not aquatic







mabe i got the first mondo plant that got over its fear of the underwater world... i bought the mothers last june about oct. the mother died but it had a small shoot with a big root coming off it,,, and guess what with the right care that shoots 2 inchs high,,and yes it is mondo grass,,,,


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

BlackSunshine said:


> WTF?! how is this the first time i've spotted this thread?!
> Damn Mike! That japonica is Crazy big! And I was just looking at mine thinking it was was outta hand but yours is off the chain!


You are a disappointment to me BS... no wonder why you didnt win MOTM :rasp:

Yea, my japonica is huge... funny thing, since I replanted it, it is actually gettting taller in some areas... couple more month and Ill probably redo it again. Within about two weeks I was already having to thin it out to keep those open areas in front open... right now they are completely full and there is even a bunch that floated up and I cant even tell where it floated up from. Thank god my LFS is buying 40 plants or so from me a week :nod:

[/quote]

yeah for sure. I suck at teh life.









haha. mine just recently decided they want to be trees so they are growing upwards. They are almost getting to the top of my tank. But I do only have them in a 20L. 
Anyways the tanks lookin good mike!
[/quote]

Yea, I would say some of mine are taller than what would fit in a 20L. I guess being a stem plant, given the space they will just keep growing up and out. Kind of interesting to see them this big since normally they never are allowed to really grow in most peoples tanks that I have seen.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

what plant are you using as your substrate cover, is it like a narrow chain sword or something?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

therizman1 said:


> WTF?! how is this the first time i've spotted this thread?!
> Damn Mike! That japonica is Crazy big! And I was just looking at mine thinking it was was outta hand but yours is off the chain!


You are a disappointment to me BS... no wonder why you didnt win MOTM :rasp:

Yea, my japonica is huge... funny thing, since I replanted it, it is actually gettting taller in some areas... couple more month and Ill probably redo it again. Within about two weeks I was already having to thin it out to keep those open areas in front open... right now they are completely full and there is even a bunch that floated up and I cant even tell where it floated up from. Thank god my LFS is buying 40 plants or so from me a week :nod:

[/quote]

yeah for sure. I suck at teh life.









haha. mine just recently decided they want to be trees so they are growing upwards. They are almost getting to the top of my tank. But I do only have them in a 20L. 
Anyways the tanks lookin good mike!
[/quote]

Yea, I would say some of mine are taller than what would fit in a 20L. I guess being a stem plant, given the space they will just keep growing up and out. Kind of interesting to see them this big since normally they never are allowed to really grow in most peoples tanks that I have seen.
[/quote]

for sure. It is easy to forget they are a stem plant untill you see them really take off.


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

Genin said:


> what plant are you using as your substrate cover, is it like a narrow chain sword or something?


All blyxa japonica.

If you want some for your new tank, let me know Joe!


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

hell yes i want some! it looks awesome.


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

Genin said:


> hell yes i want some! it looks awesome.


Well let me know when you get your tank going and we can work out a nice deal for ya... just sent ya a PM about your regulator as well.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

will do. thanks again Mike.


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## nswhite (Mar 23, 2005)

Great looking tank therizman1.


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