# My 33 gal. set-up....2014 update



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

This tank has had a lot of activity over the 1-1/2 years I have had it now, So I figured I do a journal on it as I am sure it will see alot more changes in the near future. I'll skip the first 6 months it was set up and start it from where it went on a new stand and new wall, in our dining room area, last summer.
Found a nice 4' tall cherry wood bookshelf that was 36" wide x 15" deep and decided that it would make a great stand plus put it to a height that was easy to observe everything without bending over. Plus my girlfriends computer desk is on a wall to the right of the tank & she can easily turn around to see it. Of course I didn't realize how much of a PITA height would be for water changes lol I really need to invest in a Python.

*The Tank:*
Hagen 33gal 
36"x12"x19"
on a Cherry wood bookshelf/stand

*The equipment:*
Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel 200 HOB filter with DIY CO2 injected thru the intake
Hagen mini-elite with a spraybar for added circulation
*will be upgrading to a canister filter most likely
Marineland visitherm 200 watt heater
the substrate is Flourite Dark
the lighting was originally a 30" Coralife t5no dual bulb fixture, I sold it thinking I was going to get a different light, but work slowed down and can't afford another till work becomes steady again lol could kick myself in the butt for that move, since the original T8 fixture isn't doing much for plant growth.

*The Inhabitants: *
5 gorgeous German Blue Ram's
1 Black Skirt Tetra
7 Neon Tetras 
10-11 Glow-light Tetras
4 Black skirt Tetras
2 Clown Plecos
1 or 2 African Dwarf Frogs... not sure any more lol
a few Assassin Snails

*The Plants:* (unsure bout a couple lol)
Watersprite 
Sunset Hygro - Thanks to Smiladon. They have grown like crazy in any tank they go in have, I managed to stock 4 tanks from those few plants 
Red Tiger Lotus - Thanks to Karen (shrimpgirl)
Java Fern 
Oak Leak Watersprite
The needle leaf stuff on the left came from a few stems Thanks to Stuart(CRSfan) dunno know the name but it grows fast as well, have it in 3 of my tanks now
the sword plant was from aqua flora, not sure what kind it is either

*Where it started after the move to the new stand*








*couples weeks in , plants growing well*








*Bought a cool piece of wood from JP(Kbuntu) Which I liked better than the other piece I had in the center so it caused me to do a little rescaping. Relocated the fast gowing Water sprite to the back where it belongs and added a few more plants( crypts, and some sword plant) *
















*over the next couple months plants really grew in, I added a red tiger lotus and and some of Richards awesome GBR's and a algae covered skull cave for them (which the plecos cleared off in about 24 hours)& this is where it is today minus a couple large watersprite plants I had to remove in order to catch my 2-3" SAE's( which were faster than the speed of light) that took close to an hour to catch. Soooo glad they are gone lol The few small watersprite plants in the front are only there to grow out a little bit, not normally there , but the Rams do seem to like it lol The plants are a little unorganized but all the fish love their jungle far as I can tell*








*So much for that nice piece of wood lol but the clown plecos love it like that around the cave they have underneath it, they come out and hang out under the crypts from time to time *


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

*pano shot*


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

*some of the inhabitants:*
























*hand feeding Superfrog*








*The Clown Plecos*
























*one of the Assassin Snails:*


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

*
My Favorite fish in there...the Rams:*

















































*first eggs, got eaten tho, so have the other 18 sets that have been laid since I got them lol*


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Looking really good, John. The rams are gorgeous. Where/who did you get them from? Richard?


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## Sandy Landau (Jun 4, 2010)

Just a fantastic tank!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Love the glowlights. Might have to get some to compliment my black neons.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Fish look very happy.... if not gluttonous ! It's a jungle in there  Now I see why catching your SAE's would be a challenge.

Best regards,

Stuart


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice glowlight, it looks really fat! Great set up John!

Cheers,
Chris


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

effox said:


> Nice glowlight, it looks really fat! Great set up John!


thanks Chris..I have 2 that are fat like that lol little pigs...most likely females I am thinking


CRS Fan said:


> Fish look very happy.... if not gluttonous ! It's a jungle in there  Now I see why catching your SAE's would be a challenge.


lol Stuart it is definitely a jungle or atleast it was, thinned it out abit thanks to those SAE's. Some of these plants grow too friggin fast, I think it's time for a bigger tank :bigsmile:


2wheelsx2 said:


> Love the glowlights. Might have to get some to compliment my black neons.


Gary I have to agree 100% ...they would definitely look great in the cube with the black neons and rummynose. I had them mixed together with neons in my 10g, in my bedroom as well & the colors were just great together


Sandy Landau said:


> Just a fantastic tank!


Thanks so much Sandy


crazy72 said:


> Looking really good, John. The rams are gorgeous. Where/who did you get them from? Richard?


Thanks Franck...Yes the GBR's came from Richard. Got them back in mid November . I love these guys, they have amazing color and quite the personalities in the tank. Just wish I could get some of the eggs to hatch. I had noticed one pair had laid eggs last night before I went to sleep, woke up, they were gone and the other pair had spawned lol every 1-2 weeks same thing over and over...maybe some day I will get lucky lol


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## budahrox (Apr 21, 2010)

Great looking tank John 
Quite the green thumb you have there.
Would like to see it in person some time.
Cheers!!!!


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Don , not much of a green thumb really lol that tank literally does it's own thing. The DIY CO2 really did the job with the right light. That Watersprite is a crazy growing plant, grew like an inch a day. Plus it grows new plants off the ends of the stems. Always trimming something from it. A good plant to grow in any tank if you wanna fill it up quick. Took a couple plants out to regain some swimming area, but it will be back in no time I am sure lol Hope to see yours in person one day soon as well :bigsmile:


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## JohnnyAppleSnail (May 30, 2010)

Great looking Tank! I'm also thinking of getting a Frog for My Planted Tank,are they hardy? and are they hard to feed? I heard somewhere the food has to fall in front of their faces to insure eating.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

great journal john.
those rams are enticing. so vibrant they are.
keep the pictures coming


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

You guys should see the Rams that Charles has now, if you're into Rams.....got mine too early.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> You guys should see the Rams that Charles has now, if you're into Rams.....got mine too early.


I seen the video when he posted it up of them, definitely some beauty's



jobber604 said:


> great journal john.
> those rams are enticing. so vibrant they are.
> keep the pictures coming


Thanks Ming, they are definitely vibrant, especially when the sun shines on one end of the tank, they like to be in the sun & the colors are just amazing


JohnnyAppleSnail said:


> Great looking Tank! I'm also thinking of getting a Frog for My Planted Tank,are they hardy? and are they hard to feed? I heard somewhere the food has to fall in front of their faces to insure eating.


Thanks Johnny,,,,they seem to be pretty hardy if they don't jump out. Even though they are aquatic , I had one disappear when I didn't have it covered. As for feeding you just about have to put it in their face, as their vision isn't the best. Superfrog always hangs out at the top in the plants so he was easy to feed. The other always stays at the bottom somewhere, I see him come up for air once in a while, but most the time he is in the plants somewhere during feeding time. So he doesn't get alot of bloodworms since they barely make it to the bottom. Not sure what he eats, since I rarely see him to give him blood worms, but he is still alive so he must be eating from whatever makes it to the bottom lol. I read alot of people use turkey basters to feed them bloodworms when they are on the bottom. I just drop em in above him when I see him & hope he gets a few anyway. They are really cool to have in there.


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## JohnnyAppleSnail (May 30, 2010)

Thanks for the info. on the Frog John.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

*oops....a delayed your welcome Johnny lol

been a bit since I've did any updates to this tank. Why? Cause something stupid killed a few of my beloved GBR's. Then after I got the problem under control & was down to one breeding pair...the male took the leap of death one night, after I had fed them and left the lid opened. Must have shot up a little too fast for the food. So now I have one female left, looking to get another male for her soon. Anyway, I decided to revamp the tank & simplify things a bit. Mainly I pulled out all the water sprite and relocated a few plants in an attempt to be able to see the fish again lol I recently acquired a 1.75" Leopard Ctenopoma and he is in this tank to grow out a bit. I really like these guys and hope to get 1 or 2 more in the future. They are very hardy and have some cool color to them. Their eyes are really neat too. They are really cool to observe , whether it be feeding time or not. He is pretty active and always stalking around the tank. Luckily everyone else is too big to fit in his mouth right now lol At any rate do intend to get a couple taller background plants, just unsure what I want yet. Also looking for some floating fern, not sure what it's called , I was told it was Oak Leaf Water-sprite , but not too sure about that. Gave some away , but don't remember to who lol Anyway this is where it is now , I do plan to add some more wood and background plants in due time. The Clown Pleco's are the only fish you won't see but are still in there. Fat and healthy but always in the cave or in the darkest areas when the lights are on. Probably gonna get another pleco of some kind that I can see more often*









*a shot from the side*








*The new guy*
















*my female GBR*


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Nice new pics and videos. Loving the videos. Your critters just love the bloodworms. That Ctenopoma looks like in the same family as datnoids.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Ming...yea I can't think of a fish the doesn't like blood worms lol The frog in that vid is the one you gave me btw. Kinda funny you say that about the Ctenopoma resembling Dats. When I first seen a group of smaller dats they were all looking at me and all you could see was a thin line with eyes lol Seems alot of times I am looking in the tank for him & can't see him ...he's usually hiding close to a plant looking right at me but just like the dats ...a thin line with eyes is all i see lol makes me think about those dats everytime. I don't know if they are related but they have alot of similarities from what I can tell. Looking forward to when I can feed him some live food lol, they are pretty cool hunters from what I have read.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

I can't believe you still have that frog, well it's a literal frog. I'm going to do some more researching on that Ctenopoma. I"m pretty sure it's in the same family as dats. looks the same.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol I can't believe he's still alive either, to top it off I almost smashed him with a rock the other day...tuff lil dude! The Ctenopoma is part of the Anabantidae family and the dats are in the Coiidae family if that helps


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

wow John, great pics man, the tank looks great. Congrats on a beautiful set up! i love those german rams!


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Time for a few pix. Big mouth is growing & added a couple other fish plus a fire eel temporarily. More pix and vids of the Fire Eel can be found here: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/member-photo-video-gallery-17/my-fire-eel-22823/.


















































everybody want in the shoot (not the same vid from my fire eel thread):


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## cichlid (Jul 30, 2010)

Very nice! Its the kind of tank im gunna do if I go back to tropicals! Im kindaheading the other direction to saltwater!


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

That Cteno blends well with the lotus. Rams looking gorgeous.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

I like that Cteno. But are you afraid he will try to dine on a frog leg one day?

How many watts of light do you have?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

cichlid said:


> Very nice! Its the kind of tank im gunna do if I go back to tropicals! Im kindaheading the other direction to saltwater!


Thanks! I'm getting close to trying a s/w tank myself lol


jobber604 said:


> That Cteno blends well with the lotus. Rams looking gorgeous.


Thanks Ming! The Cteno seem to blend well with any plant lol but does look really cool around the lotus. Yea the Rams are really coloring in nicely, surprised they are not growing faster than they are, they are friggin pig's at feeding time lol


TomC said:


> I like that Cteno. But are you afraid he will try to dine on a frog leg one day?
> How many watts of light do you have?


Thanks Tom. lol dine on a frog leg eh....I was actually more worried about the smaller Tetra's. I see him when he yawns or stretches his lips or whatever it is he does lol and I'm quite sure he could swallow one of the smaller ones if he really wanted. Guess I'm keeping him fed well enough to not eat any fish, yet anyway lol He's going in a 75g with the Fire Eel in January so I don't have to worry about fish disappearing lol Just temporarily growing out in this one. Gonna get a couple more too. I really love these fish , they are just great to observe. As for the frog (which Ming gave me), he died recently. 
As for the lighting, I am just using the standard T8 light that came with the tank for now. Took a break from the fast growing plants plus the Ctenopoma and Eel don't like bright lighting. Before I was at about 2-2.5 wpg with DIY CO2, now maybe at 1 wpg. Will probably be getting new lighting after they get transferred over and be back to constant trimming again lol


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

that lotus has some amazing colour on it, beauty setup John!


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Mike! I wish the leafs (pun intended lol) grew to the surface like yours did, but it's been great for a mid grower as well. The one thing I like about the T8 light is it does make everything look a little more vibrant, as opposed to T5's I had


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

that's funny, cause I actually chopped mine all down trying to get it to stay low... it seems that as soon as one leaf hits the surface the plant just shoots more up quickly, but if you keep them low, they'll grow much slower, yet keep branching out. Unfortunately i didn't think it through and cut all the leaves off thinking that it would just grow out of the bulb - no leaves = no photosynthesis = sadface


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

sorry to hear that, I have to agree with your theory as mine does grow rather slow yet bushy. I did however pluck 3-4 smaller plants from mine and planted them in the same tank. Hopefully one of them will reach for the stars


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

couple recent pix and vids:


























































was surprized that spot is now hand feeding too, usually when my hand hits the tank , he flies to the nearest hiding spot lol:




also found out it's not good to skip a night of feeding him as he has made late night snacks of 2 glolight tetras lol RIP lil guys


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Picked up a couple new additions for the 33 a little over a week ago. I finally moved the Leopard Ctenopoma over to the 75. Bit later than I should have, as he decided to make my glowlight tetra population go extinct lol Anyway, picked up 2 more from IPU that are approx. 3/4"..... if that. Cute lil guys & eating everything available....lil pigs! They are gonna grow out a bit before seeing the 75. But that is their future home. For now they are an awesome addition to the 33 with their small size. They move around alot, so hard to get good pix of them. But here are a few of the better ones.


































Everybody loves that Fern...He'll be seeing the 75 real soon too


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Haven't updated this one ine bit. The Ctenopom's and Fire Eel are now and have been in my 75 for a bit and doing great! Haven't done much with it since. Had to do a rescape, mainly due to the fire eel made me damn near disassemble the tank when I went to catch him lol Currently housing a few assorted tetra's a female electric blue balloon ram, a guppy I saved from a certain death lol a 3/4 rainbow fish of some kind (was in a bag of some other fish I got lol and a couple of clown pleco's. It's kind of my Misfit tank lol. I have been meaning to get some more EBBR from Richard, just haven't had the time But here's the latest look, kinda starting over with it. Kinda miss the heavily planted look, may have to head back in that direction.


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

So john,

What you are saying is that you need some plants don't you ?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I think I forgot about this journal lol Was going to start a new one , but thought it would be better to keep the complete history of me owning it all in one thread. I have basically started over with it as of last weekend. I was down to a few plecos and was so busy this year and contemplating taking a break from the hobby... I rarely turned the lights on and most of that beautiful Java Fern died off due to that.
I have had this tank for around 5 years now and it has always been one of my favorites even if it is a pain in the butt to work on being so high off the ground. But being so high, basically at eye level, has always made it nice to view. 
So last week I went by King Eds and picked up some juvie Green Severums and a couple bunches of some kind or water sprite I believe. This of course inspired me to get the 33 back top where it should be. So when I got home I emptied it out completely, gave the Flourite a good long overdue rinse and started fresh. Not much has changed with the equipment , replaced the crappy visitherm heater with a 200w Ebo-Jager. Do not buy Marineland visitherm heaters, very unreliable and always failing! 
Thought I would try something different with the substrate so at the bottom of the bigger piece of wood there is a small cave like entrance. I put the light colored gravel there to maybe resemble a river flowing out of it. Didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked , but I am good with it. Added the plants and fish back and it is a tank worth looking at again. Took about 4 hours , but was worth it.

Current live stock:
3 wild caught juvie Green Severums growing out for the 75g eventually
2 clown Plecos (the fish I have had the longest)
1 long finned silvertip BN pleco
and about a dozen breeding assassin snails

Plants:
Java Fern
Water Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis)

Looking to get a red tiger lotus with the bulb and some more of the smaller crypts (in the earlier pictures) I used to have if I can find them.
Not sure what other fish I am going to get right now, the Severums are just in there to grow out as I wanted to try something different And I really like the green the adults get. They remind me of the juvie Discus I enjoyed growing out. 
Anyway here is what it looks like for now:









































one of the Clown Plecos I hardly everrr get to see


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nice John. Those are Wisteria or Hygrophilia difformis officially I believe. Fast nutrient uptake and easy to grow just like Water Sprite though. My red lotus all died or I could give you some. I have lots of Anubias and Java Fern though if you're interested. I do have a few crypts, but they grow slow as I don't put them in my CO2 injected tanks as they overrun the tank quickly with CO2.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Gary! The one thing I hate about getting plants at KE's...nothing has names lol plus you might bring home snails, but Im sure the assassins would enjoy that. But your right on with the ID, dunno why I thought oak leaf water sprite as now I remember the leaves are a bit broader . Would like some of that too for the 75 eventually. I may have to visit you soon and take some of those crypts off your hands  I know they are slow growers and I liked that with the ones I had. I'm probably good with the Java Fern, still have a bunch of smaller ones in a 3g I didn't feel like trying to attach lol that stuff is hard to kill which you probably already know. Im thinking about getting some of those Rams off Charles to add some quick color, plus I don't think with the wilds I would run into the same problems I did with the others and whatever stupid unknown disease that kept killing them off. If I do that I will try to plan a day to visit both of you.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Unfortunately, all plants have risks of having snails, but as you pointed out, the Assassin snails enjoy them. 

It's actually very easy to kill Java Fern. I kill them all the time. By bottoming the nitrates. But of course that only works in CO2 injected tanks. I had to start dosing KNO3 in large amounts to save the ones in my 125 gallon.

The wild rams are pretty tough, so you should have no problem with them. I might have a few crypts to spare which are not doing well in my cube but they don't general grow all that fast without CO2. I tried them in the 125 but the big plecos destroy any rooted plant pretty rapidly.


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

Diztrbd1 can I ask where you got your Hagen tank? Thanks.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Atom i picked it up off CL shorlty before finding BCA 5 years ago. Had a red tailed shark outgrowing a 20g that had me in a desperate search for an affordable 36" tank. After joining BCA i soon realized the $80 i paid for the tank light and canopy may been a bit high lol But it is a Hagen and though it has a couple small scratches it has managed to be one of my favorite tanks alongside my 75.


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm trying to track down a tank similar to this one, but no luck. It's looks really good with your scape and setup.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks.....yea i seen ur ad lol that cube Pat posted is pretty sweet....if your into cubes. I will keep a look out for one for ya


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