# My 125g Tank *LOAD WARNING*



## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Ok a little over 6 months ago I started talking to everyone about my 125g tank. This is what it looked like after it was set up. Dual overflow 125.










I wanted to go all black so I added some black sand :nod:










I added a couple big rocks and driftwood still trying to figure out what to do with the decor. I also added my 7 baby caribe.










After talking to a few people I loved the way the fancy plant bamboo looked so I threw a few of those in there. Notice the floating driftwood:










So I sunk the driftwood by pushing it down into the sand. It is sorta wedged in there so it looks like roots. I call that corner the grotto. I also added another fancy plant for more coverage for dithers etc.

*Notice the brown algae forming on the plant below. More on this later.










So I went to the LFS and found this







driftwood to take up the center portion of the tank. Here is what I have now:










This setup has been up and running for a while but I am having major problems with algae!!! I am getting big brown/black algae forming on the fancy plants like this:


















The algae is pretty unsightly and I have talked to a few people and they said since it is brown/black it is probably from too little light. I have my lights on a timer 12 hrs on, 12 hr off. I was thinking of upping it to 14. Any experience with this. I was also thinking of adding a few live plants in....

The caribe are always darting in and out of the holes in the wood. The wood is nice but the downside is they spend most of their time behind it. Here I caught one moving fast.










And here I finally got one to sit still:










The caribe are about 4-5 inches now! I got them at 1 or less than 1 inch.

So all in all I think I am done with the 125 decoration for now. I need to determine a way to get rid of this algae and add some live plants. I will problaby remove one bamboo and all the smaller fake plants to put live in to help with the algae. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks.


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## Mattias19 (Mar 17, 2003)

Live plants will help absorb a good portion of the nutrients in the water. Floating plants help as well (I use a lot of them, mostly duckweed now -- since it's hell to try to stop that from growing -- and water sprites.)

In my 125 I tried to keep the driftwood that would "block" more up against the corners or the back wall, leaving the fish little room to manuver and hide.

The "root" look that I've had has been monstrously successful in my tank. The fish rarely, if ever, hide. They (well, the dominant Cariba and Ternetzi) will sit under that root/mangrove formation between certain pieces that have branched down into the gravel.

Initially there were problems with algae growing on some hygrophilia, but that eventually subsided as they started to grow more in the tank. The only algae that's been growing that a actually like has taken up residence on nearly all the driftwood near direct light -- it actually looks like miniature pine trees that dot the wood, with a deep olive green "tuft" look.

Nice pictures! That reminds me.... I need to take new photos!


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## StuartDanger (Aug 7, 2003)

xenon your tank is my dream tank#: black sand with caribes (wild?)
the brown alage is from too little light, but them on for 14hrs, also you can buy algae control bags from lfs which just pop in ur filter media baskets.

beautiful tank! keep up the good work and keep updating us on the little guys.


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## tecknik (Jul 18, 2003)

Awesome setup Mike! I like the black sand too it brings out the red in your caribas!


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## CKY (Apr 14, 2003)

That is one of the best tanks I have ever seen


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## losts0ul916 (Nov 19, 2003)

AMAZING SETUP!


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

sweet setup mike
love the wood and the plants


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Mattias19 said:


> Live plants will help absorb a good portion of the nutrients in the water. Floating plants help as well (I use a lot of them, mostly duckweed now -- since it's hell to try to stop that from growing -- and water sprites.)
> 
> In my 125 I tried to keep the driftwood that would "block" more up against the corners or the back wall, leaving the fish little room to manuver and hide.
> 
> ...


 I will get some duckweed and water sprites from the LFS tomorrow. I will also get some potted live plants. Has anyone had success growing plants in black sand?

I will have to remove the large centerpiece driftwood when they get bigger but for now im diggin the crowded look.

I like the green algae. It makes the tank look unique and "broken in". The brown/black sh*t I hate though!


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Mattias19 said:


> Live plants will help absorb a good portion of the nutrients in the water. Floating plants help as well (I use a lot of them, mostly duckweed now -- since it's hell to try to stop that from growing -- and water sprites.)
> 
> In my 125 I tried to keep the driftwood that would "block" more up against the corners or the back wall, leaving the fish little room to manuver and hide.
> 
> ...


 BTW, thanks for your input. you are the god of 125g dream tanks!


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

Nice looking set up, I like the blacked out tank and the black sand.








What kind of sand did you use?


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## Noble (Nov 9, 2003)

Yessir, I like it.

Another example of how cool sand looks.

I wanna replace my plastic Bell with some driftwood but I can't find and good pieces around here.

Great tank and P's.


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## memen (Mar 14, 2003)

wow great setup Xenon








i love the roots in the middle !


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

winkyee said:


> Nice looking set up, I like the blacked out tank and the black sand.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 tahitian moon sand


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## mattmatt123 (Nov 13, 2003)

man your tank looks so sweet


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## Gordeez (Sep 21, 2003)

Indeed, thats a sweet looking set up.

Im probally going to fire up this other spare tank with some sand, im going too look around and see if i can some black sand as well. Ive had the white sand before, and it was neat. dont know why i got rid of it. I had live plants in there, and they were a success. I had play sand, so im guessing with the proper lighting, the live plants will grow with your blacksand.

awesome setup


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## Husky_Jim (May 26, 2003)

You got a beautifull tank there Mike!!!








The brown algae is cause probably by incorect lighting.Try to put bulbs for especially for plants and leave them on for 10 hours not 12.Plants lamps are usually less bright than the normal bulbs.
Are those plants all real?
Do you have any pleco there?
If not try add in there 3 small (hungry) common plecos and within 2 days your tank will be ok!You can also add there 10-20 Ottocinclus Affinis or 6 SAE (Siamese Algae eaters) wich both are the best algae eaters.

Good luck


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

My caribe do not let anything live in the tank. Literally they have at pretty much 80 dollars in experiment fish.


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## Husky_Jim (May 26, 2003)

Xenon said:


> My caribe do not let anything live in the tank. Literally they have at pretty much 80 dollars in experiment fish.


 Thats bad....









Jim


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## MR HARLEY (Aug 12, 2003)

Beautiful set-up.......Love it...


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

great set up Xenon. that tank looks great.

Joe


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## MStiers (Mar 21, 2003)

That is an awesome tank. I expecially like all the black. I think it helps to accent the fish more.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Wow, that's a bad-ass tank - great job, Mike...









Maybe you could try some small otocinclus catfish for your algae problem - they are very good algae eaters, remain very small (over 2" is already a monster), and love to reside in dense plant growth, which in your case may provide enough shelter to clean up a good deal before being killed...
Also, certain snails are very good against overabundant algae (don't know which species, though...)

And finally, like Mattias already suggested, live plants take up nutrients that are otherwise used by algae - depriving algae from their main food source is one of the key things to keep them in check.

Good luck, and once again, great job


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Thanks for the tips Juda. I think after new years I am gonna go try and find the 2 free floating live plants he mentioned because otherwise I do not think they can root in black sand.

Will those catfish reside so high? All the algae is right up at the top.

I have a few snails in the tank that are hitchhikers from another tank. They are FAT. They are laying babies like its their job but they all tend to get sucked to the overflows. My overflows are crawling with baby snails.


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## sccavee (Feb 11, 2003)

Great looking 125


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

sccavee said:


> Great looking 125


 thanks. When I bought this I was a complete newbie. Now by playing with it I am only partially newbie.


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## fury (Nov 30, 2003)

WOW!







wish i had that


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## KILLERLEXUS (Feb 3, 2003)

its phosphate that cause that green and brown furry spots on plants and tank. feed less and change water more often is the only solution.rock on


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## t_h_e_s_a_c_k (Nov 16, 2003)

Great looking tank!







Where do you get such great pieces of wood?? My lfs doesnt sell very good wood, they're all pretty flat and lame....


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## Lahot (May 20, 2003)

very nice showing the progression!


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Sweet tank Xennon!, I think i will use the moon sand in my new tank.
Did it give you the same probs as regular play sand?


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Xenon said:


> Will those catfish reside so high? All the algae is right up at the top.


 I had half a dozen otocinclus cats with my manueli, and some lasted for about a month. They mostly resided on the glass in the corners, high up the tank.

Just give it a try and get about 5 of them: they're very cheap and easy to come by, so if it doesn't work out, it's not that big a deal...


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

Raptor said:


> Sweet tank Xennon!, I think i will use the moon sand in my new tank.
> Did it give you the same probs as regular play sand?


 No the Tahitian Moon Sand comes MUCH cleaner than the play sand. Play sand needs massive amounts of cleaning and still wont get all teh damn dust out. Black sand needs to be cleaned just like regular gravel and the pieces are more coarse so there is less floating mess.


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## SiameseDream (Sep 7, 2003)

A bit too crowded with driftwood imo


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## phil (Feb 15, 2003)

Thats a nice tank








Your caribas look happy to


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

SiameseDream said:


> A bit too crowded with driftwood imo


 i agree. I am remodeling soon with live plants so stay tuned.


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## mr_meanor (Nov 5, 2003)

heck yeah with that bad ass tank I would put some live plants in too, I bet you get great flow and filtration with that dual overflow, I want the same exact tank to put a saltwater setup in


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## andymel (Oct 27, 2003)

Nice tank. Add some real plants to stunt the algea growth.


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

damn thats a nice set-up you have there mike :nod: looks like a chunk taken out of the amazon, love the driftwood dude, i would also throw in a couple chinese algea eaters, very cheap and damn good at cleaning in tough corners and are fast like hell, give your caribas a good workout trying to catching them. good luck and can't wait to see some updates later on with the live plants........


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

NIKE said:


> damn thats a nice set-up you have there mike :nod: looks like a chunk taken out of the amazon, love the driftwood dude, i would also throw in a couple chinese algea eaters, very cheap and damn good at cleaning in tough corners and are fast like hell, give your caribas a good workout trying to catching them. good luck and can't wait to see some updates later on with the live plants........


 NIKE once these bad boys get to be 6-7 inches (another 6 months or so) and I work out all these problems with algae, etc....what do you think I will be trying to do with it?

P.S. It is an all caribe tank.


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## NIKE (Jan 27, 2003)

Xenon said:


> NIKE said:
> 
> 
> > damn thats a nice set-up you have there mike :nod: looks like a chunk taken out of the amazon, love the driftwood dude, i would also throw in a couple chinese algea eaters, very cheap and damn good at cleaning in tough corners and are fast like hell, give your caribas a good workout trying to catching them. good luck and can't wait to see some updates later on with the live plants........
> ...


i have an idea







good luck hope you pull it off also :nod:


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## crazyklown89 (Aug 28, 2003)

That is one beautiful tank Mike.


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## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

Looks sweet mike!! 
That driftwood on the right, veeeery cool looking.
Those fish have gotten big and will need more open space soon!! Sucks about the algea, haven't a clue myself. Keep it up!!!


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## caseydog (Dec 9, 2003)

Xenon said:


> SiameseDream said:
> 
> 
> > A bit too crowded with driftwood imo
> ...


 Have you done the live plants yet? I am getting ready to do this to my tank also. I like live plants. I like the realism. I was just concerned that they would'nt live very long. I didnt really want to mix anything in with the sand either. I didnt want the sand to have a bunch of colors or different grain sizes. Fill us in if you have done the plants yet.


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

no update on the tank yet. I have not had time to work on it. I am going to overhaul it very soon though!


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## BAD ANDY (Oct 31, 2003)

YOUR TANKS KICKS ASS. WHEN I GET MY 240 ITS GOING TO LOOK SIMILAR TO YOURS.


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