ua hua's 90 gal.

[ua hua]

I have been lurking around this forum and posting here and there so I thought it was time to share my tank. So here we go.


Equipment:
90 gal. Clear 4 Life aquarium
Eheim 2126
Amiracle Wet/Dry sump w/ Eshopps pf800 overflow
Mag Drive 7 w/ fractioning impeller
Hydor Koralia 550
Cornelius reg. w/ 5lb. Co2
Aquamedic 1000 co2 reactor
Milwaukee SMS 122 ph controller
Sunterra uv sterilizer Hydor hyrokable Hydor hydroset
Tek 4x54 t5(Geismann Aquaflora and midday, ATI blue special and purple plus
DIY led moonlight, sunrise/sunset light

Fauna:
Diamond tetra(Moenkhausia pittieri)
Rummynose tetra(Hemigrammus rhodostomus)
Roseline barbs

Flora:
Anubias barteri var. nana
Anubias barteri var. nana petite
Anubias var. coffeefolia
Bylxa aubertii 'Kimberley'
Cryptocoryne wendtii (green gecko, red, bronze, 'Mi Oya')
Eleocharis belem
Elatine triandra
Hygrophilia corymbosa
Hygrophilia angustifolia
Mesanthemum sp. 'Africa'
Microsorum pteropus 'narrow leaf'
Microsorum pteropus 'Trident'
Potamogeton gayi
Christmas moss
Fissidens

This tank has been set up for over 4 years but just recently tore it down so I could put my wet/dry filter back on and I needed to move the tank out 1 1/2" so the overflow box would fit on. Here are some pictures from hardscape to first planted.

 

[ua hua]

1 month later

Its been a little over a month since initial planting and everything is growing really good except for the rotala magenta. It got really stunted in the process of me trying to get the co2 dialed in a trying a couple different diffusion methods, not one that I'm settled on yet. The new growth has looked a little better but will probably get rid of this for some other red plant. I would like to put Ludwigia var. Patanal in it's place or rotala macrandra. The elatine triandra is a weed in every sense of the word. I have trimmed it a couple of times and you can't even tell 3-4 days later. I planted some Hygrophilia sp. 'Araguaia' and hoping this time my roselines leave it alone long enough to take root. I planted more than I needed in case they started ripping it out. They finally have left the dhg belem alone but I haven't seen much growth from it. It has put out some more runners but it is slow growing from my experience thus far. I will be putting 40 more rummynose in the next few months and will try to get my school back to the numbers they were before. Now for some more amateur pictures. One of these days I will learn to use this camera and take some better pictures. A big thanks to Gerry for the hygro. 'Araguaia'. I have been wanting to get some more of this ever since my roselines destroyed it before.

My favorite plant. Heres hoping my fish leave it alone.

 

[jerrybforl]

I like the way you built up the hardscape. I would say it needs more plants. ET is growing in nicely. I would add more anubias to the existing ones.

 

[ua hua]

My winter project and a few more amateur pictures:

 

[Tom Barr]

More plants, stem plants that creep etc, Rotala "green" come sot mind or the Rotala najasens etc.
More Anubias creeping over the plants, but make sure the Anubius are shaded some by the other faster growing plants.

 

[ua hua]

Thanks for the suggestions Tom. I just planted some Rotala sp. nanjenshen, Rotala mexicana sp. Araguaia, Hyrodcotyle sp. Japan, Ludwigia sp. Cuba. The P. stellatus that I got was mostly melted as it was shipped with paper towels wrapped around it and only about the top 3" were all I could save. There is a lot more anubias in there than the pictures show. There is about 6 anubias nana petite on the bottom sides of the rocks that I'm hoping will fill in over time. And the hair grass belem will more than likely get changed out for something different as my roselines have acquired a taste for the dhg belem and rip it out of the substrate and eat the roots off of the plants. I have planted quite a bit of it hoping it would take root and grow faster than they could eat it by I don't think that will happen. I added 50 more rummynose today as my LFS finally got them in for me. 2 weeks ago I got a call from them telling me my rummies were in and when I showed up I saw that they had ordered asian rummynose by accident. If I didn't already have 25 rummynose in my tank I probably would have just taken the asian rummynose home as I don't see them sold were I live very often.

 

[jerrybforl]

I love this hardscape. It's coming along very nicely. Where do you get lava rock like that? The wood is amazing as well. Very nice tank.

 

[ua hua]

Its been awhile since I've updated anything on my journal so here's whats new. I finally got my new regulator all put together and tested. It was about a 4 month process as I have been really busy the last few months and I ordered the wrong power supply and I finally found one from Hong Kong and it took almost 2 months to get here. So here's some pictures of the new regulator that was built with the helpful advice of Bettatail and Oldpunk. Also a few crappy pictures of the tank in its current state. I really suck at taking pictures and some day will learn how to take a decent picture of my tank but until then these will have to do.

 

[Tom Barr]

The Monte carlo is a real nice plant and can take the place of Gloss and ET, it's not as fast growing, but roots real well and can pile on top without as much melting issues, uprooting. The red stem type plant in the rear corners would be nice, or some yellow/red tetras,(Sunshines are popular and would look nice in there with the darker background etc).

Might consider some Mini pellia or moss on the stones.

 

[ua hua]

The Monte carlo is a real nice plant and can take the place of Gloss and ET, it's not as fast growing, but roots real well and can pile on top without as much melting issues, uprooting. The red stem type plant in the rear corners would be nice, or some yellow/red tetras,(Sunshines are popular and would look nice in there with the darker background etc).

Might consider some Mini pellia or moss on the stones.

I have been thinking about replacing the ET as it can be a pain to keep up with. I have not seen too many people selling the Monte carlo yet and I really liked the way it looks in your tank so that may be an option in the future. I definitely agree about adding a red stem plant but have been trying to figure out something that my fish don't like to munch on. I put some hygro brown in among the hygro 'angustifolia and within a day the roselines chewed up the leaves but have not bothered any new growth(yet). I really hate picking plants according to my fish tastes but I really have grown fond of the roselines. I think the Ludwigia red would probably be my best choice. I put the L. gigantea that I got from you on the left side along with a few stems of P. stellata broad leaf but it's hard to see in the pictures as my canopies sides block it in the pictures. As far as moss I put fissidens and christmas moss when I first started the tank and slowly it all disappeared. I see a few little strands of fissidens that have attached to the rock but it doesn't ever spread like I had envisioned. By the way what are "sunshines" as I have never heard of them. I have always wanted to put some Apistogramma nijsseni in their but that will be after the roselines get removed.

 

[Tom Barr]

The Red ludwigia is a good plant, well behaved, nice color and easy.

I am about the only one selling the monte carlo.
I suppose in a few months, everyone will.

Sunshine tetras, this is a common trade name but flame is sometimes used:

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/popular-name-photos/Hyphessobrycon+Fammeus

 

[Gerryd]

Sunshine tetras, this is a common trade name but flame is sometimes used:

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/popular-name-photos/Hyphessobrycon+Fammeus

I had a nice school of these years ago.. excellent and hardy/colorful community fish....I have always seen offered as the 'flame' tetra here in FL and NJ when I lived there.

 

[Gerryd]

I have always wanted to put some Apistogramma nijsseni in their but that will be after the roselines get removed.

Best dwarf cichlid I ever kept. Even had fry but did not get past the community fish in the 55 gal at the time. But had several broods and this was years ago..

The color dimorphism(?) at breeding is superb. The yellow/black of the females is awesome and the males are no slouch either. The care of the eggs and fry was excellent. Both took turns caring for the fry and patrolling the borders. Not afraid of any fish either. They took excellent care of the fry until the fry got older and drifted away. They got picked off then by larger tetras.

I heartily urge you to get some when you can

 

[Socket]

The Monte carlo is a real nice plant and can take the place of Gloss and ET, it's not as fast growing, but roots real well and can pile on top without as much melting issues, uprooting. The red stem type plant in the rear corners would be nice, or some yellow/red tetras,(Sunshines are popular and would look nice in there with the darker background etc).

Might consider some Mini pellia or moss on the stones.

Hey Tom, I don't want to get too far off topic, but will you have some monte carlo for sale soon?

Thanks!

 

[ua hua]

Best dwarf cichlid I ever kept. Even had fry but did not get past the community fish in the 55 gal at the time. But had several broods and this was years ago..

The color dimorphism(?) at breeding is superb. The yellow/black of the females is awesome and the males are no slouch either. The care of the eggs and fry was excellent. Both took turns caring for the fry and patrolling the borders. Not afraid of any fish either. They took excellent care of the fry until the fry got older and drifted away. They got picked off then by larger tetras.

I heartily urge you to get some when you can

In my opinion they are the most beautiful of the apistos. I actually like panduros a lot also. My dad used to breed all kinds of fish back in the 70's and 80's and I loved watching the apistos as a kid. Their parenting skills amazed me and would love to have dedicated setups to breed different apistos but being a dad and business owner leaves me with just enough free time for 1 tank and a water garden. Someday when I get tired of the roselines eating up on my plants they will be making a trip to the LFS for trade on these apistos.

 

[ua hua]

New scape with Aquasoil

I started a new scape a couple of days ago and here is the results. The roselines will be finding a new home and will be trying to acquire a group of Apisto panduro or nijsseni. The plants include, Anubias barteri var. nana, Anubias nana petite, Anubias coffefolia, Bylxa japonica, Hygrophilia corymbosa var. Angustifolia, Hygrophilia corymbosa, Rotala mexicana 'Araguia', L. sp. Red, myriophyllum mini, Pogostemon stellata, Hyrgro sunset, elatine triandra, Hygrophilia 'Araguaia', fissidens, christmass moss, crypt affins metallic red, crypt wendtii green gecko, mi oya, bronze, Cryptocoryne x willisii, ludwigia arcuata.




















































That's all for now. I still have about 2 dozen nice size crypts that I haven't decided if I will use yet or not. It's planted pretty heavy now except for the foreground which will fill up in no time as elatine is a weed.

 

[ua hua]

Day 18:

GDA is growing on the glass a couple days after cleaning it off and it's starting to get annoying. I noticed this brown stringy diatom looking algae but after every other day w/c it's gone. I will be adding 25 amanos and 10 otos next week before the rummies go back in. I have never had the best of luck with otos so I'm hoping for the best. Everything is growing really well and hopefully the algae will stay away. The elatine is such a weed that I don't know if it will stay but I like the color so much that it's hard to get rid of. I added some "true" sagitaria sublata to the front so that might eventually take the place in the foreground, but time will tell.

 

[ua hua]

Here is some pictures of the progress of the tank over 1 1/2 months.

DAY 1: Hardscape

DAY 1: Planted

1 WEEK:

1 MONTH:

Today:


And a few more pics.

 

[ua hua]

Here is a few shots of the tank as of tonight after a huge trim last night.

 

[AaronT]

Looking good. I love tanks that showcase healthy plants like this. Nature aquascapes are nice in their own right, but I prefer this style.