# 75 Gallon planted



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

So recently acquired a 75 gal tank... and with that... I got a coralife 48in 4 bulb T5HO fixture with 2 x 6700k and 2 x 10000k (4x54watt) lighting, a pressurized CO2 system, 105 lbs of flourite and a Rena XP3 Canister filter. Once everything is set up and running, I will be moving the current inhabitants from the tank I've posted about http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/member-photo-video-gallery-17/my-bolivian-rams-17217/ a while back. As my angelfish paired up and started laying eggs.. I will then use the 33 gal as a breeding tank ... while the 75 gal will be my main display planted tank.

Today was day one, and I went through the pain of washing the 7 bags of flourite dark I had for 5 hrs and then putting them into the tank... now the water is murky and I will wait till the stuff settles, do a gravel vac tomorrow before I run my filter. Hopefully everything will be up and running by Thursday and I can start moving my fish and plants on Thursday.

Here's a pic of the tank from after today's setting up... so this is picture for day 1


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

FYI for next time... you can place a plate (or any flat surface) on top of the substrate before you pour water in so that the water doesn't impact directly with the flourite and you will avoid all of the cloudiness

Sounds like it's going to be a pretty sweet set up! Keep the pics coming as you progress through!


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Day 3 update*

So moved driftwood and 3 plants over.. (2 new swords that I got plus one of my current swords) from 33 gal tank... and I think now the tank is just having a bacteria bloom after I moved stuff over but other than that... things are starting to look good.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Day 4*









Happy with the scaping of the tank... now just need to add some midground plants on the left, and some carpeting plants in the front of the tank


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Day 5*

posted wrong photo, so edited this post out... see next post


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Day 5*

moved in rest of my fish along with old filter media. Then also bought quite a few of the Staurogyne repens from jason and planted them in foreground. This is what my tank looks like as of now...


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## Ebonbolt (Aug 12, 2011)

very nice! How big are the angels? And can't wait till it's done =]


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

the angels are somewhere between 3-5 inches including tail length (most of them around 4 in) =) had them for about 6 months (for the the blacks and 5 months for the silver angels).


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Tank's looking good. You may want to replace the disk CO2 diffuser with a 16/22mm CO2 atomizer from Canadian Aquatics. That is the correct size for all XP tubing and it will significantly increase your CO2 diffusion at the same bubble count. JMHO !

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

thanks! Ill look into getting an atomizer. would also be able to save some space in the tank too without needing to have space for the diffuser


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

between today (day 22) and last time (day 6)... did some things to my tank... added a drop checker, and also a powerhead to increase the circulation in the tank a bit. been through an episode of green water where tank was just green pea soup... can't see 1in pass the tank... before that, did some trimmings of the bad leaves on my plants from the move. Tank cleared up again today, with the swords growing new leaves, the vals looking a lot nicer than before, and the carpeting plants actually rooting and browing... not to mention the moss on the driftwood grew a lot too...


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Looking good,like this layout and iam sure once it starts to fill in more it will look even better! Really like your Bolivian Rams? hope i got that right looks like them.Great colour and size! Thanks for sharing!


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Hi luke~! Thanks for your comment, and yes they are bolivian rams, I got 3 of them and apparently all three are males haha... raised them up from colourless juveniles... so really enjoyed the process of watching them grow


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Disease broke out a few weeks ago, and I've treated the tank and saved most of the fish, but 4 of the silver angels passed away =(. My bolivian rams, pair of black angels, clown pleco and all 3 ottos survived. Recently got two veil tail silver angels, 4 koi angels, 3 bolivian rams and a few more ottos to the tank and thinks are looking great so far. Plantes are looking great since last time I took pic.








following post will have pics of individual fish...


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

pics of individual fish
the survivors








































new additions (4 koi angels, 2 veil silver, and 3 juvi bolivian rams that haven't coloured up yet and look tiny compared to the original rams I got
















































for the juvi rams, since they all looked the same for now.. will just post one pic of one of them


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Added blue silver angels*

Update on the tank... here's an updated photo of the tank








and this is an updated picture of the koi angel that was on the 7th picture from the last post (the fish coloured really nicely since then!)
















now the pics of the newly added blue silver angels that I got from Fantasy. Was hard trying to take pics of all of them, so only got pics of some of them.. but they sure are nice! Still juveniles so not much blue yet but already seeing some nice blue shimmers and looking really healthy!

































Hope you guys enjoy. It seems like I've just over stocked my planted 75 gal with lots of angelfish... but rest assure, I got a 33 tank that I've set aside with divider so I can house 2 pairs of the fish when they pair up... and then after that.. possibly have to sell or trade in two of the rest of the angels and then have the rest of them in the display tank.


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

Looks amazing!!


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

more pics of my angels (mostly pics of the new silver blue and updated pic of my 3 other koi angels). The blue angels still looks more like regular silver angels than blue ones as they are still young but can start to see some blue sheen on them.

First off, side view of my tank








then pics of the blue angels








































now pics of my koi angels

























enjoy!


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

Nice i like it. I really need a good camera
Now i'm thinking of changing my 40g Community to an angel tank already have 6 Angels in there.. 
Anyways real nice pic's

Thanks.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Now that I am getting closer to graduating for University and have more time to do the maintenance for my tanks after December. I am planning to sell off all my angels eventually, rescape the tank a little bit (the Vals are getting a bit of a pain to trim as they are growing like weeds) and then start growing out some discus in my 33 gal tank (bare bottom). Planning to get about 4-6 discus to grow out and eventually instead of keeping angels and rams in the 75 gal, Id be looking at keeping discus and rams in the 75 gal. How does that sound?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

that sounds cool, look forward to seeing it! The tank and fish look great now btw!


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## jay_leask (Apr 22, 2010)

nice tank, i really like the angels.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

beauty tank man! those angels look pretty happy in there! nicely done


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Very nice! Great pics, too. 

Bolivian rams look great. You said you raised them from juveniles, where did you get the juvies from?


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Yes, I raised the bolivian rams from juveniles. I got them from PJ pets. and good news! The new bolivian ram I added was a female and even though she is just a bit over an inch in length, she spawned with one of males I have who is around 3 in in length. Don't think this brood would be successful but will try and breed the bolivian rams in near future!


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

jiayaw said:


> Don't think this brood would be successful but will try and breed the bolivian rams in near future!


They are supposed to be not too hard to breed. I had a small group for over a year, and I would have loved them to breed for me, but they never did. They're hard to sex that I don't even know if I had both M and F mind you. Anyway, good luck with yours. It would be great to have local juvies.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*took out all my vals*

So the vals were starting to be a pain... so I decided to take out all my vals and just got some stem plants today to replace the vals, will add more plants in the tank and tweak the layout as time goes by but here is what the tank looks like now.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*took out all my vals*

somehow my post got posted twice, ignore this


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## Sweetpea (Nov 7, 2011)

Beautiful!


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Some pics of some of the fish*

Took some pics of my fish earlier this morning before I headed out to work. Here are pics of a few of my fish (not all of them)

Two pics of two different blue silvers (still not a lot of blue, but can see a bit more blue sheen on them and they are quite a bit bigger now)
















Bolivian ram pair that decided to breed in the tank. Note that the female is 1/3 the size of the male!








One of the four koi angels I have, probably the most colourful of the four









Hope you guys enjoy!


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

jiayaw said:


> So the vals were starting to be a pain... so I decided to take out all my vals and just got some stem plants today to replace the vals, will add more plants in the tank


That is the nature of CO2 injection  I gave FW a crack about 10 years ago with 33g planted CO2 injected. Yes I did have rams as well which actaully laid eggs. The plant grew so fast I shut the tank down after 3 months. Still a bit hesitant to inject CO2 in my planted tanks because of that - lazy me 

Those stems plants should grow green and fast as well. Can always share the clippings.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

gordan, i barely need to trim my planted tanks, you just got to be selective on the plants you stock if you dont like trimming


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

not so much about trimming that I hated but the fact that their runners went all over the place, was quite a mess... it was fun when it filled background nicely and then just got out of hand quickly afterwards lol. So even if stem plants grow quickly, at least it will be in more of a controlled fashion


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

neven said:


> gordan, i barely need to trim my planted tanks, you just got to be selective on the plants you stock if you dont like trimming


I have to hang around you and Stuart more :lol: Or hire you guys to plant my tanks  It may sound silly. I have CO2 tanks all sitting by my planted tanks for months and I have not hooked one of up yet.

At least I am using one to test Stuart's regulator  Stuart, I think it's all good, held 20 lbs for weeks  May be I can drop it off and get a few tips and clips from you.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The ideal method to limit growth in planted tanks is the lighting. Once you dial that back, everything else is easy. High lighting usually degenerates into a runaway train of great growth, then an algae explosion as one gets lackadaisical about pruning, and then massive pruning and the cycle starts again. Did that with my 20 gallon for 4 years before I shut it down into low tech, no dosing, small water change pleco growout tank.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Update*

The stem plants seem to have grown a bit since I first planted them, starting to fill out space. I think now all that I am missing are some red plants to balance out the tank's colour. Here are some update pics of the tank and the fish

First off a picture of the tank









Next is a pic of some of my angels

























Enjoy =)


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## rich16 (Mar 25, 2011)

Wow, that looks really nice. Great looking tank!


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*update after hacking the carpet*

Did some trimming today and then took some pics afterwards. 
First a full tank shot








Black Angel








Veil silvers
















Blue Silver
















Koi Angel








































Bolivian ram 








Picture of the paired up bolivian rams (the female in front and the male in the back, notice the size difference haha








Hope you guys enjoyed =)


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Gorgeous looking fish and tank.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Full tank pic








Fishies are hungry








Lovely blue silver angel
























Clown pleco


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

absolutely stunning tank! i hope my bolivian rams get that colourful!  great job


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## target (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nice looking set up. Those Bolivian rams are very nice.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks Everyone for the kind comments



monkE said:


> absolutely stunning tank! i hope my bolivian rams get that colourful!  great job


Mike, as for the bolivian rams, I find that feeding them high quality pellets (omega one and new life spectrum) and also feeding them brine shrimps with spiralina really helped me enhance the colour of the rams as they grew. Same goes for my koi angels ... which have a lot more colour than when I first got them.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

A week after trimming the Staurogyne Repens, tank is having a small bacterial bloom so tank is a little cloudy but just took a pic after the water change, and so far the plants are all doing great, same with the fish. Haven't have time to set up breeding tank for my bolivian rams yet but they just had their second batch of eggs.. .and they are actually all at the wriggler stage now.. but don't know how long they will last in the community tank aha.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Quick update*

So the bolivian ram spawned again and one of my silver blue angelfish got too close to the fries and got nipped badly at the mouth ... now it is in a hospital tank by itself cuz the mouth got infected... that aside.. things are going great in the tank... and here are some pictures that I quickly snapped after I did a water change today.

































Will be getting some discus to my 33 gal that I will run barebottom with sponge filter this upcoming thursday, can't wait. I will have to slowly sell the angels in the 75 gal to eventually make room for the discus when they are ready to be moved to the 75 gal planted tank... will certainly be missing the angels aha.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*New year's eve update*

While other people celebrated for the New Year's Eve, I did my tank maintenance and took some pics


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Rescaped the tank with dwarf hair grass, echinodorus tenellus, took out two of my amazon sword leaving only one left in the tank along with some hygrophilia difformis and a new piece of driftwood. Hopefully carpet will cover the substrate soon.


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

and here are some pics of the angels in my tank
My peru altum, looks a bit rough when I took the pic as I jsut moved him out of quarantine and it got slightly injured from moving it.







and here is one of my silver blue
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/398196_10152202679225691_1630814700_n.jpg
and here is another one
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/429198_10152202679055691_1874232209_n.jpg


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

video of my fish feeding


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