# Rebirth of my 79 gallon



## charlie1 (Nov 27, 2015)

had my 79 gln starfire tanks set up since 2011 with Fluval stratum, the tank went through several scapes and it was finally time for a complete tear down and re do.
I should point out that despite all the stories about commercial soil needs to be replaced annually or every 2 years, this tank with first generation of Fluval Stratum defied that way of thinking.
Here is a picture of the tank in one of it`s scapes.









After a good clean up and getting rid of the Fluval Stratum the tank was ready for it`s new life, I added the new soil (Netlea) and new hardscape (seiryu stone)
















added my plants
The plants are Rotala Rotundifolia 1 2 grow at the back,Elatine hydropiper i had growing emersed,Rotala 'Bonsai' from previous scape.Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini' ,Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' from one of my scapes, 3 x crowns Pogostemon helferi that survived a melt.









Skip 10 days later, the soil is cycled , thanks to me already seeded filters, i fed the Bacteria pure ammonia while the tank was out of commission and also borrowed another canister from another tank., at this point livestock was added - Ember tetras , more will be added this weekend, Siamese algae eater , Amano shrimp.

I will be adding 2 pairs of apistogramma panduro in a week .








Regards


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## Dou (Dec 4, 2015)

Following and looking forward to updates!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I'm looking forward to seeing it develop. Your manicured dome of Downoi will forever be engrained into my memory.


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## Bien Lim (Apr 21, 2010)

wow..very nice


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## Fishlover69 (Jun 9, 2015)

nice...always liked planted tanks


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## charlie1 (Nov 27, 2015)

Thanks for your kind words guys.
I will try to keep the updates timely.
Regards


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

Looking very nice so far Errol, do you use anything under the built up slopes to keep it from flattening out?


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## charlie1 (Nov 27, 2015)

The Guy said:


> Looking very nice so far Errol, do you use anything under the built up slopes to keep it from flattening out?


Thanks, there is retaining strips to help, hopefully it works.
Regards


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## charlie1 (Nov 27, 2015)

Latest update on the 79 gallon since it was totally redone in June 2017, had a melt of the Eltaine Hydropiper, trying to get it going again.
Thanks for looking


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Looks killer Charlie1. Is that rotala rotundifolia in the back? Can't quite tell from the size of the picture. I'm hoping it's Rotala Sunset...


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## charlie1 (Nov 27, 2015)

Reckon said:


> Looks killer Charlie1. Is that rotala rotundifolia in the back? Can't quite tell from the size of the picture. I'm hoping it's Rotala Sunset...


Thanks Reckon.
The Rotala is one of the new cultures added to the Tropica 1 2 grow line up , 
Rotala 'Vietnam H'ra'.


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