# Low light planted 113 Log



## killerbee

Well, the last 3 caribe i have in possesion will sell today. I was going to do saltwater but i've decided to put that on hold till i get my house in the future. So Naturally, i want to start a planted tank with many giant danios. I have 4 today will have a lot more if the buyer comes through today. Anyways, i plan to show weekly progress with pics, promise.

My tank is a 113 gallon. Dimensions are 72x18x20 (LxWxH). I have 2 emp 400's and a proclear aquatics 75 Wet/dry with overflow box.

My lighting will consisty of a PC Coralife 130 watts. Bulbs are 50/50 right now and thats what i plan to use of as of now. Should i see alage start growing i will invest in plant bulb. (already have one but don't want to spend $50 though for another). Depending if i can get a good price i will buy one, we'll see.

I want to go with low light plants and today i will be getting some amazon sword and vals for starters.

I don't plan to use Co2 either.

Substrate i have now consists of 60lbs of tahiti black moon sand and 75 lbs of black gravel. But i plan on adding two bags of eco complete two them mixing it up and see what happens. Here is some pics of the last inhabitants before i start this venture:


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## DiPpY eGgS

Those fish are awesome.. I remember though when I planted my 1st tank, I got rid of my 2 10" reds tho..
The tank is huge. It should work out great.
If you get an algea problem with that size tank.. there goes your sunday lol


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## killerbee

I ended up buying a 6700 bulb so i have 130 watts of plant light now, bought 2 20lbs of eco complete, and i got to work. Anyways here are some pics:

enter the eco complete [had to remove some gravel for the right depth, it would have been too deep if not] 









Here it is all in and water topped off:









After a little while of waiting:









Right now (still needs a little more clearing to do) Buyer did not come through this weekend until next weekend) :










I'll update another time


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## harrykaa

DiPpY eGgS said:


> The tank is huge. It should work out great.
> If you get an algea problem with that size tank.. there goes your sunday lol


Killarbee,
Exactly what 'DiPpY eGgS' said. I hope you do not get algae problems, because your bulb of 6.700 K is exactly what algae wants and needs to grow.
But if you do not plan to keep the big Pygos, you may not be in trouble with algae at all.

Regards,


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## killerbee

harrykaa said:


> The tank is huge. It should work out great.
> If you get an algea problem with that size tank.. there goes your sunday lol


Killarbee,
Exactly what 'DiPpY eGgS' said. I hope you do not get algae problems, because your bulb of 6.700 K is exactly what algae wants and needs to grow.
But if you do not plan to keep the big Pygos, you may not be in trouble with algae at all.

Regards,
[/quote]

Thanks, but i think he was talking about alage because of my 50/50 bulbs, the reason i ended up getting my 67K bulbs. And just a quick correction, its killerbee not killArbee.

Not trying to be rude just letting you know that i'm not member killaArbee.


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## DiPpY eGgS

I run 6700k bulbs? Not to disagree with what harry said, but that is what I use


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## G_execute

nice tank


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## killerbee

/\thanks.

I bought my 1st 2 plants yesterday. Amazon swords. Here is the tank as of yesterday with more plants to come. Suprisingly, my fish have not damaged them. That's the only reason i didn't buy more plants, but i think i'm still going to wait till i sell the pygos before i go all out. Here some pics:

full tank









left side









right side









BTW the driftwood is not yet aquascaped, i didn't want to scare my caribe because they might destroy my new plants. More to come in the future as i progress


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## BigChuckP

DiPpY eGgS said:


> /\thanks.
> 
> I bought my 1st 2 plants yesterday. Amazon swords. Here is the tank as of yesterday with more plants to come. Suprisingly, my fish have not damaged them. That's the only reason i didn't buy more plants, but i think i'm still going to wait till i sell the pygos before i go all out. Here some pics:
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> BTW the driftwood is not yet aquascaped, i didn't want to scare my caribe because they might destroy my new plants. More to come in the future as i progress


I would wait too, I was attempting a fully planted 75 with a HUGE cariba and two smaller natts, the huge guy dessimated a lot of my plants








I would check ebay for bulbs, I got 4 6700K 55W bulbs for 40 bucks.
Tank looks stellar, I hope you have better luck than my first planted tank venture.


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## killerbee

Update









Well, all is well so far but as i thought one plant had a hard time with my p's. Check this out though:

Left plant



























Right plant not so lucky, but still alive



























One full tank shot:


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## killerbee

Got some Jungle vals today.







Hopefully the p's don't tear them up. Also bought a light timer and set it for 10 hrs. From 12pm to 10pm.

Here's some pics for you guys:
Right side









Left side









Full tank shots:




























Driftwood is just temporary, i will move it where i want when p's leave because they freak out if i move them because their so big.


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## killerbee

The fish are definately going to be gone today, buyer just called me and set up time.







The sword on the right side didn't make it, freakin' p's









Problem soon to be solved though, much more plants, and 30+ giant danios







Love these little guys







I have a video of them taking down blood worms in a frenzy and their only 4 right now imagine later


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## bmpower007

noo, dont get rid of your caribes man.


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## killerbee

bmpower007 said:


> noo, dont get rid of your caribes man.


Thanks, but they are now gone. They were fun but my p's and plants did not mix









Here comes the good part aquascaping, new plants, and new fish. Today i'll have at least 20 more Giant danios if not more. And this weekend i will buy some plants. (swords and java fern) maybe some others, i'll keep ya'll updated


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## killerbee

As promised 20+ Giant Danios, 23 to be exact...I had 4 already. bought 19 but the salesman at petsmart hooked me up for the price of 13.







(i think, i can't count them they are too fast :nod: regardless, i want to add 10 more). Pics for you guys and plants to come on this weekend.

Acclimating:










Happier than in a 20 gallon at petsmart






















































Best Side Shot ever i had:










As you guys can see the aquascape has begun. Stay tuned!!!!!!


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## DiPpY eGgS

all u need now is about 50 more plants!


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## killerbee

well i made some more purchases this weekend:

Green wendtii (3) :





































Italian Vals:




























Amazon sword (another one):










Fish:

4 German Blue Rams:



















3 ottos:










The others are not so picture friendly, i guess. Sometimes they get lost to me in such a big tank compared to LFS







Anyways, last shot for today and i do have a plan for the right side of the tank and the other bare spots but patience is key:


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## pyrokingbrand

Looks like the beginning of a great planted tank. Too bad the P's had to go but the new guys look great! Keep us updated.


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## Pilsnah

Get some angelfish, those are real cool and easily kept.


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## killerbee

pyrokingbrand Posted Dec 18 2005, 09:04 PM 
Looks like the beginning of a great planted tank. Too bad the P's had to go but the new guys look great! Keep us updated. 
Thanks, i'm patient. We will see what happens.









Pilsnah Posted Dec 19 2005, 09:31 AM 
Get some angelfish, those are real cool and easily kept. 

I might get some of those but i'm afraid my crazy danios will stress them to death.

BAD NEWS: For some reason 3 of my new 4 blue german rams died. 1 is as healthy as can be though









GOOD NEWS:

More pics and more plants, i think that guy at petsmart just started throwing in whatever he grabbed.







Anyways my initial intent was to buy some water wisteria and some bacopa, but he also threw in two other plants.







I planted the wisteria in the back to start forming a wall and the bacopa in front of them because they only grow 10"...create depth in the future.



















The others he threw in:










(the plant in the back of the driftwood)


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## traumatic

good start! looks great


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## 33truballa33

how much were ur lights? i sorta wanna plant my rhom tank a bit before he gets here


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## killerbee

traumatic Posted Dec 23 2005, 08:15 AM 
good start! looks great

Thanks

33truballa33 Posted Yesterday, 06:30 PM 
how much were ur lights? i sorta wanna plant my rhom tank a bit before he gets here

In these pics above i have a 130 watt coralife pc fixture that i bought from someone local for $50. But one of the ballasts was faulty and i replaced it for a little over $20 brand new from hellolights. But i just recently upgraded light again







to 260 watts. (2 10K and 2 67K)...pics later today. I'll edit this post


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## killerbee

here's an update. New toys include 700gph pump for my wet/dry and 260 watts and new runners comming out the wood works from my italian vals


































































































New plants include Sagittaria subulata and Egeria densa.


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## bmpower007

Very nice, killa good work


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## killerbee

/\ Thanks.


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## Trystan

Looks really good. But why did you decide to get rid of your P's??? After all you did re-do that tank for them. Just curious.

Trystan


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## BigChuckP

Any signs of algae yet? The tank looks nice


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## killerbee

trystan said:


> Looks really good. But why did you decide to get rid of your P's??? After all you did re-do that tank for them. Just curious.
> 
> Trystan


Thanks. I know, but they did not get along with my plants. So i sold them to a fellow fishkeeper who is actually on this forum as well.

BigChuckP Posted Today, 12:59 PM 
Any signs of algae yet? The tank looks nice

Thanks, don't jinx me. No major alage, out of curiousity why do you ask about alage? Is there something i did wrong, lmk please.


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## Cobra

It sounds like u like plants more than piranhas









Too bad it didnt work out for u, those pygos were so nice and active.

Very nice new plated setup though








I love danios too, but mine always get eaten.

Try adding some java moss on the wood that is sticking upwards, it will look cool. And u could get some fancy plecos, caus it aint the amazon without plecos!


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## Morpheus

Cool tank , just curious, do you have any Co2 or undergravel heating cables in that tank? Im about to set up a new tank soon with plants so I'm interested to know your setup. Also what are the long leafed plants at the back they look like vallis.


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## killerbee

Cobra,

thanks, no plecos for me though.

Morpheus,

Thanks,. no co2 and no heating cables. The plants in the back are italian vals and they are spreading fast. I'll update this post with pics this week-end.

EDIT: teaser


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## BigChuckP

killerbee said:


> Looks really good. But why did you decide to get rid of your P's??? After all you did re-do that tank for them. Just curious.
> 
> Trystan


Thanks. I know, but they did not get along with my plants. So i sold them to a fellow fishkeeper who is actually on this forum as well.

BigChuckP Posted Today, 12:59 PM 
Any signs of algae yet? The tank looks nice

Thanks, don't jinx me. No major alage, out of curiousity why do you ask about alage? Is there something i did wrong, lmk please.
[/quote]
Dont worry about my comment I was just curious... newly planted tanks usually have some until things settle in. 
If you are able to you should get a serra for this tank, I am trying to plant my 38 with a small brandtii...things aren't working out at the moment, bg algae and my co2 tank setup didn't work out, but I'm working on it and sticking with it.


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