# Presentation of my 75g tank - Tropical community



## Monk21 (Feb 3, 2013)

*78.5 gallon tank (dimensions - 48" x 21" x 18")
*​glass tops (two plus two pieces covering 80-90% of the tank with the exception of a small piece at the back because of the equipment)
*48" coralife lights.​* Dual bulb 10.000K and 6.500K white lights (10 hours on a day)
*Co2 system with a 5lb cylinder with regulator, bubble counter and solenoid.​* (2-3 bps for 10 hours on a day along with the lights) Fluval ceramic diffuser. Fluval CO2 indication kit.​
*Filtration​*
fluval C3 (rated: 20-50 gallon tanks - 153 gph)
AquaClear 50 (rated: 20-50 gallon tanks - 200 gph)
AquaClear 50 (rated: 20-50 gallon tanks - 200 gph)
Aquaclear 110 (rated: 60-110 gallon tanks - 500 gph)
Total: 1053 gph
_*Each filter has a sponge, seachem matrix and/or fluval biomax. The QuietFlow currently has a new bag of carbon. 
_

*Decorations​*
67lb fluval stratum
several plants and a couple of moss balls
red lava rock and some grey rocks

*Additives/ liquids/ food used​*Seachem flourish (once or twice a week depending on the condition of my plants/ fish/ water)
Seachem Prime (with every water change or to remove ammonia if needed)
Seachem Stability (used to establish the tank, every time a new filter is introduced, every time media are washed/removed and whenever new fish are added)

*Food​*
Frozen blood worms
Spirulina enriched frozen Brine shrimp
Omega One freeze dried Tubifex worms
Aqueon tropical flakes
HBH 8 veggie flakes
Aqueon algae rounds
wardley spirulina discs

*Fish and other live organisms​*12 neon tetra
9 rummynose tetra
2 unidentified apistogramma
5 rosy barbs
6 red minor tetra
6 glow light tetra
6 lamp eye tetra
6 rasbora heteromorpha
5 mystery/apple snails
~100 baby mystery/apple snails (if anyone wants any for free let me know)
half a dozen or so Ghost shrimp
1 african dwarf frog

*Testing/ water changes​*API freshwater master test kit

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 10-20
pH - 6.4
co2 levels - normal (according to fluval co2 indication kit)

Water change every month or so since tests keep coming back normal.

*Pictures​*


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

Very thorough description and regime. The tank looks great!


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Nice
May I know why you opt for HOB filtration in your Co2 tank over canister filter?


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## Monk21 (Feb 3, 2013)

Thanks for the replies guys.

To answer your question rookie, it is only financial. I paid a total of $150 (actually my Hobs retail for that much, I paid a lot less) instead of the $250 the fluval 406 costs. Alao I have twice the circulation this way 750gph compared to 380gph of the fluval 406.

Other positives that I didn't take into consideration but still exist are

- if I want to change let's say my carbon, I need exactly 6 seconds now compared to the 5 minutes I would need with a canister (plus spilling, carrying, ducking under the furniture etc)

- I have a total of 3 filters which means 6 to 9 "places" to put media. So I have more options when it comes to choosing media. I can have an all mechanical filter, an all biological etc

- if one breaks, I don't need to worry. Imagine if the one canister we have breaks down. After 9pm. Disaster.

- never lose bacteria when changing cartridges/ media, washing them etc. One every week and you are golden.

- more agitation and aeration. Of course in a co2 tank that is not the best but as a general idea it is there


By the way, tomorrow I am pprobably adding another aquaclear 50


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## Monk21 (Feb 3, 2013)

UPDATE

I added an Aquaclear 50 and I removed the QuietFlow 55/75 and I added an Aquaclear 110. Things now are:

fluval C3 (rated: 20-50 gallon tanks - 153 gph)
AquaClear 50 (rated: 20-50 gallon tanks - 200 gph)
AquaClear 50 (rated: 20-50 gallon tanks - 200 gph)
Aquaclear 110 (rated: 60-110 gallon tanks - 500 gph)
Total: 1053 gph


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## Monk21 (Feb 3, 2013)

Water test Update Dec 14th 2013

Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 20-40 (weird for a fully planted tank)
pH = 6.6

* In other news, more and more snails keep getting sucked by the filters. Also, I seem to find less and less ghost shrimps every day in my tank. I haven't seen my dwarf african frog in days and one fish was resting at the bottom of the tank not looking great.


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

nice! it looks like you have a pair of apistogramma cacatuoides super red.. just my guess.. they look really nice..


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

This is very interesting the way you calculate the flow rate by adding all individual flow rates of each hob. I never thought about it this way. 
It just somehow does not sound right but I cannot really pin point it. Are you saying if I use five AC 50 (5x200gph=1000gph) I can get more flow rate / turnover than using a single FX5(954gph)?


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## Monk21 (Feb 3, 2013)

Of course. What doesn't make sense? The only two differences would be 1) amount of media 2) the fact that the more filters you have, the more "already clean" water will still be filtered as you have multiple intakes. 

On the positive side 4 intakes like I have are better distributed so the whole length of the tank gets filtered


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Why do you have so much filtration on a tank that's not even over-stocked?


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## Monk21 (Feb 3, 2013)

I can answer with a question! Why not! Some reasons are

1) you can never have too much
2) water changes less often
3) security that I will not stay without filtration if somethimg happens
4) ability to keep adding fish


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## Monk21 (Feb 3, 2013)

Not much has changed in the tank since the last update. Couple of things:

1) Many small snails got caught in the intake of the filters, especially the AQ110 and they died. I put some sponge around the intake
2) The Co2 system, might start giving off too much Co2 out of nowhere. I don't know why, but probably there is something wrong with the regulator.
3) I started feeding calcium blocks to the snails. When there is food in them, all the small snails go at it like crazy. The big snails don't care about it


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