# A shot of my tank



## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

Pieced three images together, so that's why it looks so funky. I don't add any ferts yet, but might in the future. I'll get another shot of the tank in a month to let you guys see how it's looking.


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## 33truballa33 (Oct 18, 2004)

nice..i like it a lot


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## yorkshire (Jul 27, 2004)

thats a cool looking setup mate


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## Atlanta Braves Baby! (Mar 12, 2003)

Looks like you have a very nice tank setup there bro


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## shoe997bed263 (Oct 15, 2004)

great tank i am really thinking of gettin some plants


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## syd (Nov 6, 2004)

you got that crack doggy


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

thats a sweet tank
how many gallons


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

125. 140ish if you count the sump.


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## shoe997bed263 (Oct 15, 2004)

do u have a co2 set up


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## killerbee (Aug 18, 2004)

Very nice


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## Husky_Jim (May 26, 2003)

Nice tank man!I suggest you put some Vallisnerias in the back and fill it in the middle with some bushy plants like Hygrophylla or a nice group of Mirioophyllum!


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

> Nice tank man!I suggest you put some Vallisnerias in the back and fill it in the middle with some bushy plants like Hygrophylla or a nice group of Mirioophyllum!

Thanks! I threw some Vals in the back in a very high flow area, I'm anxious to go home this weekend and see if they've grown at all. I've also added some narrow leaf sag to the tank to fill it up. I've got a TON of Sunset Hygro, but I planted it horrizontaly for ground cover and it's forming a nice thick mat. I've got a question for ya Jim. All my hygro that's on the ground seems to be getting little holes in the leaves, looks like the work of some kind of bug. Do you think the snails could be doing it? If so, any suggestions on controling snails in a tank with P's? I have a feeling loaches would be out of the question unless they were great at hiding.

ShoeBed: you asked if I've got a CO2 set up. No, I'm not using one. I probably won't with this tank. I don't plan on it being planted heavy enough to need to use CO2. Also, I think CO2 would be kind of a waste in a tank with so much flow and a sump. In a CO2 system, you want minimal surface movement so that the gas actually stays in the water. CO2 is one of those gasses that is actually kinda tough to keep in the water. With as much flow as I have (1280 gph) and that wet/dry sump, a CO2 set up would be futile.


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## Gordeez (Sep 21, 2003)

Niiice looking tank man.


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## Little Waffen (Mar 13, 2004)

nice tank


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## SpAzZy (Mar 30, 2004)

sweet setup, that's a lot of room for 3 pygos.


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

There's quite a few more than 3 pygos in there. I've actually got 9 of them I'm aware I'll have to upgrade in the future, I've got no problems with that. The stand is actually built to hold a 180, so I should upgrade later. I might consider buying one of those odd footprint tanks from glasscages.


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## janus (Oct 28, 2004)

Awsome tank!!!


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## spawnie9600 (Nov 15, 2004)

Gumby said:


> There's quite a few more than 3 pygos in there. I've actually got 9 of them I'm aware I'll have to upgrade in the future, I've got no problems with that. The stand is actually built to hold a 180, so I should upgrade later. I might consider buying one of those odd footprint tanks from glasscages.


 you dont need to upgrade one will probally be massacered anyway


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## spawnie9600 (Nov 15, 2004)

im just kidding


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

spawnie9600 said:


> you dont need to upgrade one will probally be massacered anyway


 So far so good. No problems other than the usual fin nipping. They haven't even gone after my exodons. If my caribes weren't such bastards I could get away with keeping enough rosy barbs in there to keep the tank alage free. But oh well, caribes seem to love eating rosy barbs.


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## Fresh2salt (Jul 16, 2004)

AWESOME TANK


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## JesseD (Mar 26, 2003)

nice lookin tank oy uhave there, dude! I plan oin planting my tank with live plants when I get my pygos from Ash (whenever that turns out to be). my old reds would bite right through the plastic plants I had in their tank. so live plants will be much better cause they wont ruin my plants and the look a hell of a lot better.

do u have your lights on a timer so that they get the right amount of light each day??

is it hard to maintain a planted tank??

thanks


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## psychofish (Jun 5, 2004)

Very nice set up


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

I don't have the lights on a timer yet. I plan on getting them on a timer so that they come on one by one in 15 min intervals. I've got such intense light on the tank that the P's freak out and crash into stuff in the morning when I turn the lights on.

As far as maintaining a planted tank, it's not that bad. My biggest problem is bits of leaves clogging up the fish guard on my overflow. I have to trim the plants weekly and that's about it. I've got some plants that grew a foot in one week!

One advantage to a planted tank is the plants will absorb some of the nitrates in the water. You also don't have to gravel vac with plants because you really... can't... It'll tear up the root systems of the plants. I just make sure to stick the syphon into the dense plants so that I can suck out all the poop and bits of food that were trapped in the plants.

So far the tank is doing excellent. My next mission is to get some red plants and maybe a big ass sword plant. I'd also like to find some sinking Riccia, that would look nice with the java moss. I might attach some African Fern or Anubias to some of the driftwood as well(not a fan of Java Fern).


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Very nice set-up, man








Your fish are some lucky bastards!


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

Great looking tank man. What is the usual nitrate level in that thing? Are you thinking about painting it or putting a background on it at some point?


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## yonam (Apr 16, 2004)

Sweet setup man


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Gumby said:


> One advantage to a planted tank is the plants will absorb some of the nitrates in the water. You also don't have to gravel vac with plants because you really... can't... It'll tear up the root systems of the plants. I just make sure to stick the syphon into the dense plants so that I can suck out all the poop and bits of food that were trapped in the plants.


No sh*t, that's exactly what I was going to ask. I'm thinking about doing this for my rhom in the near future. The tank doesn't smell from bits of food in the bottom at all? That's my only real concern is fishy smell from not being able to vaccuum thoroughly as I'd imagine most of the nitrates get eaten up pretty quick.

Excellent tank, the distribution of plants is awesome


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

elTwitcho said:


> No sh*t, that's exactly what I was going to ask. I'm thinking about doing this for my rhom in the near future. The tank doesn't smell from bits of food in the bottom at all? That's my only real concern is fishy smell from not being able to vaccuum thoroughly as I'd imagine most of the nitrates get eaten up pretty quick.
> 
> Excellent tank, the distribution of plants is awesome
> [snapback]782878[/snapback]​


Only starts to smell if the larger pieces of food aren't removed. My mom feeds them during the week and shes afraid to stick her hand in the tank to remove excess food, so sometimes I do come home to a smelly tank. I can garuntee that over chirstmas break while I'm home to take care of them, they won't be stinking.


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## 351winsor (Aug 3, 2004)

wow,that looks pretty good.


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## 351winsor (Aug 3, 2004)

wow,that looks pretty good.


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## 351winsor (Aug 3, 2004)

wow,that looks pretty good.


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## sasquach (Dec 6, 2004)

i like it it looks good. send another in when its finished


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

sasquach said:


> i like it it looks good. send another in when its finished
> [snapback]784130[/snapback]​


Yeah, I'll give you guys an update pic either this weekend or next week sometime. I'm about to dump 25 more lbs of gravel in there so I can plant some areas I wasn't able to previously.


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

Here's an update as of 2 days ago:









My plans are to throw in some red and brown plants to complete the tank. I've been trimming/replanting weekly. Just started dosing with some ferts, we'll see how things go.


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

Great looking tank. Filter setup looking very professional indeed.


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## mr limpet (May 10, 2003)

Tank looks great.

Do you realize that only half of your bioballs are doing what they are supposed to do? You need to raise the floor of that chamber out of the water. The ones underwater are doing nothing, really.


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

Yeah, I did notice that. I think I'll probably just add more bioballs to the bioball chamber. Raising the floor would prove more trouble than it's worth.


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## illnino (Mar 6, 2004)

Phtstrat said:


> Great looking tank. Filter setup looking very professional indeed.
> [snapback]814662[/snapback]​


check out my sump, very pro... jk, but it does the job, check the diy sump link in my sig

-gumby- thats a beautiful tank


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## Gumby (Aug 13, 2004)

Just wanted to add a shot I took today with most of the piranhas out and swimming around.

View attachment 42201


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## mr limpet (May 10, 2003)

Great shot. Love it when they each find their place and just chill.


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