# My 75



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

*This is one of 2 journals I will be starting this week. So a few months ago I posted a LF ad for a 75 to 90 gal tank. I had gotten several replies that were a bit out of my price range at the time, when out of nowhere I received a RAOK offer for a 75 gal tank, stand, glass tops & light from one of the awesome members here. Needles to say that's a hard offer to pass up lol. I had to wait a couple months as he had Daniel (Target) building a 6' stacker stand for his new project, Then there was a delay on my getting it picked up, but it's finally here & I can definitely say it was worth the wait! My biggest tank to date, slowly climbing the ladder lol Before I go any further I want to thank Ed (hp10BII) for his generosity...Thanks again Ed!  He truly is an awesome guy!! I can't even express how happy I am with it, I love everything about it! I wanted to get it going today but I accidentally turned on Forrest Gump and have pretty much been glued to that lol Such a great movie. Anyway,when Ed opened the door and I seen it I was in awe. It's a flawless 75g Perfecto tank (48"x 18"x21") with black silicone (which was a bonus to me as that's my personal fav.) plus it included the glass tops. It also has a nice Stingray stand that was in great condition & a 4' Coralife PC light fixture. This is going to be a work in progress for a while as the budget is a bit tight right now, But I can tell you it's first residents are going to be my Red tail black shark and rainbow shark (taking a chance with this lol) My Fire Eel (possibly a second one) and 2 sailfin plecos, as well as my Leopard Ctenopoma. Planning to get 2 more Ctenopomas & God only knows what else, but I think that's probably a good start w/o over stocking it too much. Hoping to get some dense planting going in the near future as well as lots of driftwood. Anyway, that's the plan. Here it is sitting in the living room right now. Figured it would be a good time as any to start the journal & Thanks again Ed!*










*Stay tuned for more....*


----------



## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Don't you have Discus to pick up? 

Veeery nice tank. I'm looking for something just like it in a few months. looking forward to your progress!


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol Jason... thanks and yes I do  Unfortunately, this has been waiting much longer than the Discus, though I am dieing to get them asap as well lol Was hoping to get them today, but my friend that was going to take me there is having some car problems so it's going to be later in the week before I can get out there. Bit too far to take a bus lol don't wanna stress them anymore than necessary. This tank actually had Discus in it for a few years as I understand. Ya just never know, this tank might be a future home for my group when they grow out  It'll give me a reason to get a 5' or 6" tank for everything else


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow, that's a great RAOK and a nice pickup for you, John.


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

looking good John! keep the updates coming! You just wait, a 6 footer is just around the corner now!


----------



## bigfry (Apr 21, 2010)

Congrats! good karma has come to you, and soon it will be Ed's turn.


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Nice new tank setup and with a nice matching stand. Hope you can "slowly" stock it up without splurging haha. Pics pics and vids!

Sent from Samsung Mobile via Tapatalk


----------



## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

Waita minute! I thought you came by for a 2.5 gallon chipped and cracked betta bowl from me, and now my 75g tank and stand is gone too! 

Glad to do it, you give more to the community than you take from it and one less fish tank for me to deal with. The inside seals of the tank bottom could probably be replaced and the stand did have some water damage from a leaky canister filter, but John's pics hides it well.

Good luck on you new setup and discus challenge!


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Wow, that's a great RAOK and a nice pickup for you, John.


Thanks Gary, I couldn't agree more 


monkE said:


> looking good John! keep the updates coming! You just wait, a 6 footer is just around the corner now!


Thanks Mike & will do.... I'm thinking more in the lines of an 8'er 



bigfry said:


> Congrats! good karma has come to you, and soon it will be Ed's turn.


Thanks, I totally agree, Ed is a Great guy , hopefully he hit's the lottery lol


jobber604 said:


> Nice new tank setup and with a nice matching stand. Hope you can "slowly" stock it up without splurging haha. Pics pics and vids!
> Sent from Samsung Mobile via Tapatalk


Thanks Ming! According to the budget I will have no probs slowly stocking it lol other than what I am already transferring to it


hp10BII said:


> Waita minute! I thought you came by for a 2.5 gallon chipped and cracked betta bowl from me, and now my 75g tank and stand is gone too!
> 
> Glad to do it, you give more to the community than you take from it and one less fish tank for me to deal with. The inside seals of the tank bottom could probably be replaced and the stand did have some water damage from a leaky canister filter, but John's pics hides it well.
> 
> Good luck on you new setup and discus challenge!


 lmao Ed! I thought the rimless around the corner was the one I was getting  Thanks again for the great set-up and kind works! You're the best! The little problems you listed are nothing, from where I stand this is a 10/10  Some unfortunate circumstances came up and I felt it best to drop out of the Discus grow out contest and pass the opportunity along to someone else. But atleast I have this  I finally filled it with water today *& the sand clouded it up so it's filtering right now. I acquired a nice log and spent a long time trying to figure out the best position for it. It's pretty big and not many choices lol Here is a couple pix of it before I filled it. More to come soon


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

HOLY CRAP JOHN! i want that wood! lol that's going to look amazing!!!!


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

more pics needed immediately!


----------



## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Looking good John. Ed is a great guy and glad you were able to find your latest dream tank at a bargain price. Now to filter it !

Best regards,

Stuart


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Stu, I am definitely in love with it. Filtering as we speak  Can't wait till it clears lol Looking forward to getting fish in it and some plants going on it it.

lol Mike, it is a cool piece indeed. It's like 36" x 21" x 18" almost had to squeeze it in there. the 2 pieces in the back came from the other tank which both my Sailfin plecs have destroyed. Decided to put them in there so hopefully they will continuing to eat those and lay off the big dude lol Plus It needed some branchyness. Gonna be a bit before more pix, if you can imagine slightly muddy water , from the playsand that just didn't seem to rinse out too easy. I have 2 HOB's and a canister working on it full time right now. Soon as I clears I will get some more, can barely see the wood right now lol


----------



## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Yike! John, did you cut down a tree. That stump is massive. Now you have effectively a 50g 

Looking forward to more progress pics.


----------



## Flygirl (Jul 23, 2011)

Waaa Hooo... that is one honkin' piece of wood!!!!!

Looks pretty impressive - what type of critters are you thinking to allow to cohabit with that chunk???


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

That's a nice piece of wood. If you can run open top, I'd saw some off the base and have it upright and coming out of the water. I love that look.


----------



## dinherz (Aug 30, 2010)

Really nice wood & Tank!


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

gklaw said:


> Yike! John, did you cut down a tree. That stump is massive. Now you have effectively a 50g
> Looking forward to more progress pics.


lol Gordon, luckily I found this one before I did cut down a tree. I think your probably right, I think 55 gal of water is what it now holds lol



Flygirl said:


> Waaa Hooo... that is one honkin' piece of wood!!!!!
> 
> Looks pretty impressive - what type of critters are you thinking to allow to cohabit with that chunk???


that is one way to describe it lol. Right off the get go, it will be housing 1 Leoapard Ctenopoma, 1, hopefully 2, smaller Fire Eels, 2 sailfin plecos, my Red-tailed Black Shark & maybe my Rainbow Shark. In the future I hope to have 2-3 more Leopard Ctenopomas and we'll see from there



2wheelsx2 said:


> That's a nice piece of wood. If you can run open top, I'd saw some off the base and have it upright and coming out of the water. I love that look.


Thanks Gary. If I could do an open top I would have it upright as I love that look as well. Unfortunately I have to have it sealed tight as I have a fire eel who like to try to get out. Was limited in the ways to put it in there and that is the best it gonna get for now. Till I go bigger  lol



dinherz said:


> Really nice wood & Tank!


thanks so much 

OK update time.... pic from after it was filled and the sand had been added. I was going for the natural flowing SA river look lol:










I do not recommend play sand from Rona....very dirty and impossible to rinse out as you can tell from the pix. I tried everything to rinse it out for like 2 hours and from what I can see, it was a useless effort. I ran 2 Aqua Tech 20-40 HOB filters ,stuffed with whatever I could get in them, for 48 hours and finally can see most everything, it really did look like a flowing muddy river until then lol

yesterday









today

















by Thursday I think it will be good enough to add the fish to it, they gotta be hating that tote by now. After that I will work on getting some plants going on and final scaping ....more wood and a couple rock caves. Taking my sweet time with this lol


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

john banned for finally posting new pictures! 

oh wait wrong thread  

Looking good man, can't wait to see that with some plants around the wood... let me know if i can help with a plant donation for the new tank


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lmao Mike banned for being nut! Thanks Mike, I can't wait myself. One day at a time lol I may take you up on the plant offer here soon, will give me a chance to see your masterpiece as well


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

I'm loving this natural river scape. I would even say no rocks as the look right now looks good with places for hiding. That's a piece of stump I'd like to have in the future.

Sent from Samsung Mobile via Tapatalk


----------



## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

WOW really nice setup, love that wood  
what will be the live stock?


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

jobber604 said:


> I'm loving this natural river scape. I would even say no rocks as the look right now looks good with places for hiding. That's a piece of stump I'd like to have in the future.
> 
> Sent from Samsung Mobile via Tapatalk


Thanks Ming. the only actual rocks I will be using are actually reptile caves that look like rocks, just a couple for the sharks and eels if they like. Other than that a couple more pieces of wood and a few plants. I like the river scape myself and trying to keep it as natural looking as possible buddy. Hey I seen a couple wood here you might be interested in: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/fres...fs-driftwood-pieces-small-medium-large-25853/


arash53 said:


> WOW really nice setup, love that wood
> what will be the live stock?


Thanks Arash! the first few things in it will be My 3" Leopard Ctenopoma (going to get a couple more in the future) My 6"Fire Eel (maybe a second), a 5" Red tailed Black Shark, a 4" Rainbow Shark, and a couple 5-6"Sailfin Plecos for now.


----------



## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

John I have some plants for you as well. The tanks coming together nicely


----------



## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Absolutely glorious tank and river scape!


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Roberto Luongo said:


> John I have some plants for you as well. The tanks coming together nicely


Thanks Alessio
I'll be ready for some before too long


Morainy said:


> Absolutely glorious tank and river scape!


Thanks Maureen 

Well I decided to wait a few more days before adding the fish back.thought it would be a good idea to help get rid of any unwanted anything from the big log. I ended up draining the water 95% and refilling. Adjusted the KH and had an ingenious idea for acclimating the fish. While the canister was still running on the tote with the fish, I decided to run the outflow up to the tank. I then took my gravel vac and ran it from the tank to the tote , pinched the hose in half for a slower flow. Then adjusted the outflow from the canister to the main tank, to match what was coming into the tote. Let it run like that bout an hour and then added the fish with no problems


















I got rid of the parrot cichlid, thanks again Peter for giving him a great home  The only fish added thus far are 2 sailfin plecos and my Red Tailed Black Shark. I am going to add a couple reptile rock caves at each end before I add any plants. They are quite natural looking and I think they will look great in there while providing extra hiding spots. Not sure when I will be adding the fire eel and leopard ctenopoma but it will be real soon. Not sure what else I am going to put in there, probably some smaller Plecos. The sailfins will be up for sale real quick as they make a big mess, not too mention I don't want them destroying that big log as they have pretty much the rest of my wood. I removed the HOB's and adder the XP2, probably going to add another soon or get an XP3 instead. Perhaps I will get one of the large Aqua Novas from IPU. Also added a Hagen Mini Elite with a spray bar to the left side fur added circulation. Anyway here is where it is now.


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

looks great man! slick move running the filter/vac through the tote!


----------



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

John, I'm not sure how I missed this! I LOVE it! Really like the way that big stump dominates. Simple and effective. One of my preferred scapes that I've seen recently. Great job.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

monkE said:


> looks great man! slick move running the filter/vac through the tote!


lol thanks Mike! I hate to admit this , but I thought it was a good idea too until 39 minutes into it I had added a little more pinch on the hose to the tote, sat down and was playing with my Ipod for a minute when I started hearing water overflowing from the tank lol Needless to say I stayed with it the rest of the time lmao Good thing I had pretty low flow going. A nightmare in the making lol



crazy72 said:


> John, I'm not sure how I missed this! I LOVE it! Really like the way that big stump dominates. Simple and effective. One of my preferred scapes that I've seen recently. Great job.


Thanks so much Franck! I have been dying to do a scape like this. It all about finding the right piece of wood. When I seen this one I knew it was perfect. Just the same as that awesome piece you have in yours  Simple is what I am going for. Some tall plants in the back corners some floaties, Java fern on the wood plus a couple pieces of floating wood. Taking it slowly but it's finally coming into focus. Everything revolves around that log


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Time for an update....Moved Spot into the 75, He wasn't too happy so I put his fav skull cave in there for now till I get some more plants going on it there to make him happy again. I did pick up a plant that didn't have a name when I got it. Rather than plant them in the sand. I decided to use these 1.5" x 3" glass things as pots. I broke off a small piece of a fert stick in first, then added the plants and filled them with flourite from the 50. the pots are easy to bury in the sand as well as remove if I decide to go with a different substrate. Plus they will be harder to uproot in the glass planters.I picked up 2 thumbnail size Ctenopoma's which are growing out in http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank-journals-16/my-33-gal-set-up-3-21-a-14399/ for now. And hope to add my fire eel by the end of the weekend. As well as have some more plant life going on. Thats all for now....stay tuned

the unknown plant









the glass pots, knew they would come in handy for something other than tea light candles lol









Spot









Full shot









slowly getting there......

_________


----------



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Love the plants. The skull? Not so much.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol Franck, it's only temporary. I'm not too big on it either, but it was Spots safe place & my shark won't let him under the log. Gotta keep em happy


----------



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Ha ha I agree. Fish first.


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

hey john that plant looks like Wisteria to me. let me know if you want some trimmings to fill your tank in a bit more.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Yep, that looks like Wisteria, or Hygrophila difformis, to me.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks for the Plant ID guys...........Mike thanks, will probably take you up on that soon.
Man can you believe this gorgeous weather?? Spent a few hours yesterday,helping Aquaman (Bill) out & also got a bonus of meeting Ibenu (Lisa), both awesome people! I returned home with an XP2 Bill gave me (Thanks again Bill) for this tank... to find something awful. For some reason my Ctenopoma was acting funny ...he was swimming close to the surface really sick. He seemed to be breathing heavy and trying to take big gulps of air or perhaps trying to get something out as if he swallowed something too big. He only gets fed flake food and bloodworms so I am baffled as to what the problem was. I put my hand in there and no reaction to that and when I touched him he kind of fell to the bottom and just sat there. There other fish appear perfectly fine & test results were fine so I just don't know, he's been fine the 2 weeks he's been in there till now.. I moved him back to the 33 as I was sure he was too far gone to save anyway, woke up around 6:30 to find he passed...second fish this week grrr  This tank was for him to begin with....how frustrating. Thought about adding the 2 juvies from the 33 as well as the fire eel this weekend, but kind of afraid to now. The remaining fish in here are being rehomed tomorrow. So it may be fishless for a bit till I get more plants and a few other thing adjusted the way I want.
Well here is a couple pix of Spot in a happier moment...RIP buddy!


----------



## Sweetpea (Nov 7, 2011)

Sorry for your loss. Fishy deaths are always so sad.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks...yea it was sad indeed, felt sorry for the lil guy as he looked so helpless and nothing I could really do for him. Makes me wish I'd left him in the other tank. It Happens...... atleast I still have the juvies, they should look good growing out in it when I get more plants.


----------



## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

Update?

I'm loving the setup you've got here john


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Derek! working on it today, transferring some fish into it so I will have some updates later today on it


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

*Update 5.5.2012*

*well I guess I'm overdue for an update, so here it is. I got a couple more plants and another reptile cave to add. I really like the natural rock look of these caves. I think I may bury the one on the right somewhat and build up a mound for some more plants on that side. Currently have a group of zebra danio's that I have had in another tank and a pair of opaline gouramis I picked up at IPU the other day. They appear to be quite happy in there. So I am going to transfer the juvie Ctenopoma's and Fire Eel from the 33 today as well now that I have some life in there. Still work in progress and a long way to go, but here is where I am at right now: *










































*In time hopefully the plants will thicken up a bit, plus I will be adding some more. Looking to find some oakleaf watersprite and some kind of broad leaf floating plant as well.*


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Nice natural 'scape. Wish I could keep my tanks as simple and natural looking 
The fish must be loving it in that tank. Hope you get some spawning in there.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Ming....I have a feeling it wont look so simple before too long lol The current fish are definitely enjoying it in there. Need to get off my butt and get the rest in there lol I don't think I will have much of anything to successfully breed, but that just means a revamp for the 33  I think if anything were to hatch in there they would become Ctenopoma snacks anyway lol I must admit, I almost wish I went for a less aggressive community with this tank. But really like the fish going in there  The eel is going to love it. He's been burying himself in the flourite in the 33, so he's gonna love the sand I'd imagine. Really cool when he does that, just has his head stuck out and looking around lol


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

It's truly hard to keep a tank simple ;D
Sand does wonders for the fish. I would just keep the plants to a minimal. I think what you have in there right now is perfect especially as the wisteria starts to pick up in growth. Less maintenance the better. Allows you to enjoy the tank that much more. If you have the itch to mess around the tank...my best suggestion...do a water change.haha


----------



## krehzie bunny (May 6, 2012)

cant wait to see what it looks like finished.


----------



## dssv (Jan 1, 2012)

Great looking Tank.I'm enjoying these journals picking up some pointers to maybe do my newest tank.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Ming , at a given point, it is indeed hard to keep it simple lol I don't think I will be doing too many more plants. I hope these plants do ok, I was lazy with them when I got them. I do want some java fern in it and maybe some needleleaf java fern as well & definitely a tiger lotus but that will probably be it. I do feel I need something with broad leaves. Less maintenance is better is right! lol

F.B. : me too! :bigsmile:

dssv: Thanks! The journal section is probably my favorite section here. There is alot of knowledge, help & inspiration to be found there. Look forward to seeing yours in the future.

Well I finally moved the Ctenopomas and Fire Eel over Saturday night. While the Ctenopomas were easy enough to catch and transfer, Lee the Fire Eel wasn't lol Thought I would share this experience. I only wish I had a camera handy for it all. SO lately, in my 33, Lee has been redecorating things a bit. He knocked the skull cave over so he could tunnel underneath it. In the process, of that he has apparently perfected his skills at burying himself in the substrate to where just the first 1.5e" of his had and body are poked out . The substrate in that tank is Flourite., which is fairly jagged and hard so I was surprised he was doing this. Anyway when it came time to catch him, I thought it would be easy enough to do while he was swimming around expecting food. I thought wrong....once he realized the net was for him .....it was game on!

I underestimated his escaping abilities and strength he already has at 6-7". If there is a way to escape, explore something further or anything of the sort, they will find it. He used to climb up under the wheel in my bio-wheel filter and hang out there till I finally put a small grate in front of it. Then he crawled up the bypass on the filter and got inside the filter....sneaky lil bugger lol Anyway back to the transfer, got him in the net and sure enough as I was pulling it out he slithered over the top and shot straight to the substrate. AT this point things happened soooo quick it was hard to catch if you blinked. He appeared to dive into the substrate lol He literally dove into it, wiggled about a dozen times in a 10th of a second, then literally disappeared. All you could see was a nose and eyes. Was the same thing a stingray does except , faster & more efficiently. Wish I had the camera for this lol Anyway, after coaxing him out of the gravel it took about 15 more minutes to finally catch him. I have this pitcher I was using to transfer and acclimate them. works very well as the handle allows you to hang it on the side of the tank and 2/3 of the pitcher is immersed in the water. When I did this with him I obviously left the large net over the top. When it was time to catch him out of there, soon as I put the net in he did one lap in the pitcher and straight over the top, onto the carpet floor. Obviously couldn't pick him up as he is slimy, squirming and wiggling everywhere. Got him in the net and in the tank finally lol. I think he may have been upset for a minute till he realized wow this is way bigger than the other place lol plus some bloodworms sparked some forgiveness. They are all doing fine now and appear to be happy. When the plants get thicker they will be much happier, as will I lol.

Heres a couple crappy vids for now, sorry for the dirty glass. I should note the reason for the low water level is Lee. Until I know the top is sealed perfectly I don't want to give him higher water to explore any cracks or crevices


















next up is the rainbow shark from the bedroom tank....I see a full tank dis-assembly in the near future lol


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

couple more vids......


----------



## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

I just can't get over the size of that log, John. Are you running any Purigen in your filter? It would help with the yellow tinged water. Just a suggestion .

Best Regards,

Stuart


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

CRS Fan said:


> I just can't get over the size of that log, John. Are you running any Purigen in your filter? It would help with the yellow tinged water. Just a suggestion .


That yellow tinged water is great for blackwater species!


----------



## Danw (Feb 26, 2011)

sorry to hear about spot. but you have made an extremely beautiful tank. on another note, if you want i have a lone 3 or 3.5 inch Leopard Ctenopoma who is in need of some companionship...


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Some good looking piece of lumber in the tank. Sure is leaching quality tannins in your tank. Looks very natural. Fish seem to be very happy.

Sent from my Samsung mobile using Tapatalk


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

CRS Fan said:


> I just can't get over the size of that log, John. Are you running any Purigen in your filter? It would help with the yellow tinged water. Just a suggestion .
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Stuart


You should have seen me carrying the monster home on my Mountain bike lol can only imagine what people were thinking. I do have purigen, but have been too lazy to clean it. Plus I am not minding the tannins for now. When it gets too bad I will slap the purigen in there. I think the tinge is actually more due to either the lihghting or my camera settings. It's pretty clear when you see it in person, 


2wheelsx2 said:


> That yellow tinged water is great for blackwater species!


I think it will look cool too when the plants get thicker, I'm just glad everyone is healthy now which is mainly why I have left the purigen out 


Danw said:


> sorry to hear about spot. but you have made an extremely beautiful tank. on another note, if you want i have a lone 3 or 3.5 inch Leopard Ctenopoma who is in need of some companionship...


Thanks Dan, he was like one of my favs in there. I would gladly give your loner a new home  I'll send you a pm later to discuss it


jobber604 said:


> Some good looking piece of lumber in the tank. Sure is leaching quality tannins in your tank. Looks very natural. Fish seem to be very happy.
> 
> Sent from my Samsung mobile using Tapatalk


as always thanks Ming! I am trying to keep the natural look. considering how big the log is, I am surprised the water isn't brown yet lol The fish appear extremely happy. Added a couple clown loaches yesterday for more color and help remove the slowly growing snail population


----------



## waterbox (Nov 26, 2011)

What a great tank! You've got some real characters in there. 

Looking at those Ctenopomas, I already miss mine, which I sold so that I could keep some smaller species.

Starting to think I made a mistake.

My condolences on Spot.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks WB! Yeah I wish I would have gotten yours to go with mine. I really love the Ctenpoma's.

Ok quick update. Picked up a few new fishes for my B-day presents last week. Finally found a pleco I liked and could afford from Fantasy. It's a L128 Blue Phantom. Also picked up a Bumblebee catfish and a Raphael catfish from IPU for some variety. Things are pretty stable in the tank and everyone seems to be happy. Plants are doing so so. Looks like I need to start dosing some ferts. Kind of have them spread out a bit to get the best lighting but plan on rescaping the plants soon. Here's a few pix for now.

the Tank:

















L128 Blue phantom

























Bumblebee catfish









Raphael catfish

















misc shots


----------



## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

Awesome pleco, awesome cats and awesome leaf fish... Nice choices on tankmates, that tank looks great.

Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Love that wood, amazing! Love the look of wood and the sand. 
Is that just play sand from Rona...I never tried to plant anything in play sand, how does that work out? Do the plants float up easily? Do you vacuum?


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Foxtail said:


> Awesome pleco, awesome cats and awesome leaf fish... Nice choices on tankmates, that tank looks great.


Thanks so much! Can't wait till the plants get a bit thicker, I think the fish will like it much better too 



Fish rookie said:


> Love that wood, amazing! Love the look of wood and the sand.
> Is that just play sand from Rona...I never tried to plant anything in play sand, how does that work out? Do the plants float up easily? Do you vacuum?


Thanks Rookie! It is play Sand from home depot. Everything is still pretty new so I'm still up in the air as to how good it is with plants. If they aren't planted deep enough or have good roots, they will float up, but so far thats been a minimal problem. I believe the unfortunate thing about the sand is that it's kinda compact so the fish waste doesn't get down in it to provide nutrients, so I am either going to have to start dosing ferts or use root tabs. I do like the look of it, but it doesn't give the plants anything useful. As for vacuuming it, most everything stays on top , so pretty easy to vacuum w/o tanking out a bunch of sand. But I have an extra bag to replace the lost sand from time to time.


----------



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

It is just like what the bottom of a river would look like in my mind. 
Simple yet awesome looking tank. Thanks fro sharing.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks again Rookie!

So no major updates, everything is still alive, getting bigger and plant's took over the tank, so no new pix till I do a major trim lol
there was short vid I wanted to share though. I dont see enough of this fella , pix and vids are pure luck when I do get them lol
I call this vid "now ya see him, now ya dont" lol


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thought I'd update this journal a bit. Picked up a new 4" L264 Sultan pleco Saturday/ I barely get to see him lol so the only pic I have thus far of him is the crappy one in the bag. Hope to get some good pix soon, he is a beauty! Plants took over the tank over the last couple months so I did a big trim this weekend Since I have made the mistake of leaving the light on over night a few times, algae too advantage of things as well. really need to invest in timers lol SO here it is with some new pix and vids, Really looking like a river bottom now lol The current list of livestock is:
2-3"ish Opaline Gourami's
2-3'"sh Leapard Ctenopoma's
2-3"ish Clown Loaches
1-3" fat Raphael Catfish
1-4" BumbleBee Catfish
1-2.5" L128 Blue Phantom Pleco
1-4"ish L264 Sultan Pleco
1-10" Fire Eel


































































Felt lucky to get any shots of my L128










They know what time it is lol


----------



## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

nice updates ! 

that is a FAT Ctenopoma!


----------



## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

jeez john . for some reason i never thought you kept larger stuff, those leaf fish are awesome, in my head i see you surrounded by bettas lol like 55 of them haha
nice tanks , nice eel too


----------



## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

I stopped in at kramers in guildford yesterday... They had a brazillian leaf fish... Really cool looking fish. Looks nothing like the affrican. 

Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Algae Beater said:


> nice updates !
> 
> that is a FAT Ctenopoma!


Thanks Kevin lol yea he is a pig, should see him after he feeds himself a tetra in the middle of the night lol



macframalama said:


> jeez john . for some reason i never thought you kept larger stuff, those leaf fish are awesome, in my head i see you surrounded by bettas lol like 55 of them haha
> nice tanks , nice eel too


Thanks Shawn! lol @ 55 betta's. Wish I had the room , but glad I don't ....dats alot of tanks to take care of lol



Foxtail said:


> I stopped in at kramers in guildford yesterday... They had a brazillian leaf fish... Really cool looking fish. Looks nothing like the affrican.
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T959D using Tapatalk 2


Yea the leaf fish are cool but a totally different family then the Ctenopomas. Ctenopomas are actually from the same family as Betta's and Gouramis. The are more commonly known as bush fish rather than leaf fish. What kind of price did the leaf fish have on them?


----------



## jay_leask (Apr 22, 2010)

nice fire eel. mine has been inhaling scallops lately, hes getting thicker. its cool when they come out and eat out of your hands.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Jay. Haven't tried scallops with mine yet. He's more so loves the blood worms even when I add prawns lol And I am glad he isn't growing as fast as I read the do. It is definitely cool when they come out to feed from your hands. Still one of my fav fish I have.

SO been awhile since I did an update on this, will get some pix after I do a good w/c and some over due maintenance. Since I last posted here, it has acquired a couple more occupants. Most recently I added my rainbow shark, who surprisingly seems to love it in here and I have yet to witness any aggressiveness from him. Or from anybody for that matter. Has been a pretty peaceful community tank for the most part. I also rehomed a beautiful Festivum from Pamela, that is the biggest fish in there currently and has been an awesome addition. Thanks again! Here is a couple pix of him after I got him:


















The real reason I wanted to update it was because of this pic I snapped a lil bit ago. Shows the real meaning behind Christmas I believe...which is sharing and peace amongst everyone lol:










The Raphael catfish is so fat he barely fits thru that opening lol This used to be the Fire Eel's hang out, but for some reason the catfish started hanging out there recently also. And for whoever was asking about tannins, you can see my water is quite saturated with them currently. And everyone is happy as can be. I will be re-adding my purigen after the w/c though.


----------



## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

The Festivum looks great John! I love that pic of the Raphael catfish & the Fire Eel :bigsmile:


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Pam! the festivum is doing great...even eats from my hands  very friendly when there's food involved lol As for the eel and catfish, lol that is a everyday sight. Poor Lee the Eel has no choice in the forced roommate situation lol Definitely cute but quite sure Lee would rather have a less fat roomie as the catfish takes up most of the entrance lol

OK quick update....Ever get tired of plants just not doing what you like? Or finding them floating all the time cause one of your fish is apparently somehow causing them to uproot at night? lol well I did! Before this tank, my biggest planted tank was a 50 gal. Well between this one having playsand( poor substrate for plants) and things not growing as well as I was hoping, mainly due to my laziness with it lol I decided to do some DIY planting with this tank. I came across a big fake Fern and a fake tree ( real wood with plastic stems and silk leaves) and thought to myself "those would really add some life to my 75. So they got a good cleaning and became part of the aquascape. Looking at the fake plants at the LFS, I found the larger plants were pricey and really would look any better than these is why I decided to go this route. They may not look like natural aquatic plants, but I'm happy with them for now and the fish seem to really appreciate them so all good! 
In the process I did a huge W/C and re-add my purigen to get rid of the heavy tannins that kept the tank looking like a river lol I know the fish probably like them, but the tank looks much cleaner with clear water, plus the fish look nicer when you can see them clearly lol Anyway, it's work in progress as usual. If you decide to criticize my genius aquascaping lol, keep in mind.....I have the ability to ban you butt :bigsmile::lol:
Here some crummy pix and vids of it for now, gonna get some pix of the livestock later today if I can.












not sure what the fuzzy algae is growin on the wood, but its been there forever and is impossible to scrub off. Decided to leave it as it looks cool & kind of natural anyway lol
Soon I need to find a cheaper priced tank with a 6'x18" footprint to rehome all the fast growing fish to now that I have room for that sized tank. Then this will probably become a real planted Discus tank, until then ....it is what it is lol


----------



## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

The tank looks good John, but you know what would make it look even better ...platies ...about 20 of them ...like I said I'll even deliver them to you :bigsmile:


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Pam! lol just replied to your PM and funny you suggested that as I was thinking the same thing when I read your PM. I think they would be big enough to not get eaten by the Ctenopmas. Though if they ever bred the fry would be fast snacks. Nothing wrong with free treats I guess lol The endlers on the other hand would be food for sure in there, they'd have to go to the 33 which would be fine.


----------



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Nice tank John.
Cant wait to see when your discus are all grow up swimming in this beautiful planted tank. I always feel that it is very cool to see discus with festivum together.


----------



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Very nice, John. Honestly I think these fake plants look great! They fill up the space very nicely. I agree that the ones at LFSs are typically quite expensive, especially of this size. Excellent idea there!


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Fish rookie said:


> Nice tank John.
> Cant wait to see when your discus are all grow up swimming in this beautiful planted tank. I always feel that it is very cool to see discus with festivum together.


Thanks Rookie! I doubt I will have the festivum in that tank when I upgrade to a 6' tank for these guys. He plays nice with this group and needs a bigger tank so he will go in the 6' tank and hopefully I can find a mate for it then. When the Discus make it to the 75 it will have a new layout with some branchy wood and more live plants then fake.



crazy72 said:


> Very nice, John. Honestly I think these fake plants look great! They fill up the space very nicely. I agree that the ones at LFSs are typically quite expensive, especially of this size. Excellent idea there!


Thanks so much Franck. I thought it was a great idea as well, look much better than I thought they would & definitely fill areas that were bare. I as well as the fish are really liking them so everyone is happy lol Picked up some free plants from RickWaines the other day and added them so looking forward to see how they do.

SO now I have 11 platys in the tank. I also added another 3.5"-4" Ctenopoma ....with one more coming this weekend. With the Platys this was a risky move with the Ctenopomas in there. I believe they could really eat the smaller ones if they wanted to. I think the platys know this too because whenever I turn all the lights off you can hear the whole group freaking out and looking for a hiding place lol So for them I leave a night light on haha. They are all still alive & hopefully stay that way. I see the Ctenopomas giving them the eye and licking their chops form time to time. Though I also see the platys swimming a lil of everywhere, so I guess it's swim at your own risk lol
Anyway grabbed a few vids and pix to add to my thread

My L264:

















My hard to get a pis of L128 Blue Phantom, flash made him look green in the one pic

















random shot:









Mr. Big Mouth:









this is Dyson, can you guess how he got his name? lol





Finally caught my L264 out in the open





Rarely get to picture him this good as he always darts away when I have a camera handy, but this is my L128





the calm before the storm, anticipation of feeding time





the Ctenopoma doing his pre eating lip stretches lol





FEEDING TIME!!


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Diztrbd1 said:


> Rarely get to picture him this good as he always darts away when I have a camera handy, but this is my L239


I see a spotted L128 in the vid. Am I looking at the wrong spot?


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol Im surprised you can see him. If you see something clinging to the bottom of the log, that would be him. Whenever he is out in the open or on the wood in good lighting I try to literally creep up to the tank, Im talking crawling on my hands and knees lol but soon as I get close and start to lift the camera up to the tank ....he's gone!! Barracudas and Mako Sharks look slow compared to this fella lol One day I will have a great vid or pic of him, but I may have to catch him ( that seems very unlikely) and put it in a bare bottom tank to do it lol

I just realized I put 239 instead of 128...wth was I thinking....guess it was wishful thinking lol


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Hahaha...yeah, you should get an L239 to keep him company.

As for seeing him, I'm used to spotting hiding plecos.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Lol I am sure you are an expert at spotting them. I do plan on getting one and a L200 and a few dozen others, but that will be after I upgrade to a 6' tank. The next pleco on my list is a small group of the L204's when they become available again.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The L204's are a tough nut to crack. I haven't been able to keep any alive and I've given up on small panaque. The only reason I mention the L239 is that they stay quite small. They're full frown at about 3". Not much bigger than the L134, but chunkier.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

well I guess I (or should I say we )will find out in due time lol, just glad they aren't stupid expensive lol hope to get 5-6 of them eventually. As for the L239 I definitely want one of those, like to keep the smaller ones anyway. Don't need any miniature whales like you have lol


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

The big juvie and big panaque seem to tolerate a wider diet while the bigger panaque seem to be able to tolerate poorer water conditions. Because of the number of panaque I had in the tank, even though the water was crystal clear I had a nitrate issue and they caused them all to eventually decline. I would think with a bigger tank and understocking, you would have no problems, but I don't have that option. Or I should I say I can't choose that option as I'd have to rid of all my big guys or go to continuous drip or daily wc's and I'm not willing to do that, as I'm already doing that in the discus tank almost.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol Gary, I know what you mean. Finally got that bigger tank, a 125 (6'x18"x23") :bigsmile: so guess whats happening in the near future, when the budget allows me to get it set up lol Sucks to have something you've been dying to get & when you finally get it , you can't set it up right away lol grrrr had to hide it from myself ,in my storage locker to fight any premature temptations to set it up lol

So ...good time for an update as it may be the last one before this tank take a new direction.
If you noticed in a previous post I had to leave a night light on in the tank so my 11 platys didn't freak out. After a couple weeks, none had became food, I thought it might be safe to turn the night light off. Baddddd idea lol when I turned the light on the next morning this was the first thing I saw:










I was actually in shock when I turned the lights on....have no clue how he got it in his mouth or expected to swallow it, which he never was able to do. TO top it off 1 other was dead, while the 4 Ctenopomas and Festivum was playing mouth hackysack with another & trying to devour it. All 3 Platys died for no good reason as nobody could successfully eat them.
Needless to say the night light stays on now as it appears half the fish in there are true night stalkers and proved it.
Anyway no more platy deaths since then lol Sorry Pam.

Moving on I picked up another spiny eel from IPU a few weeks ago. They had the zig zag eels on sale and I couldn't pass up the price. Been wanting another and I really liked the pattern on this fella. He is roughly 4" and settled in great. Plus the Fire Eel seems to get along fine with him so I am happy happy happy lol Here's some pix and vids of it 



































Other news; 
So I was helping out Anthony the other day in his garden. While doing some digging I came across some smaller earthworms and thought , man I bet the fish would love those. So I started collecting them to give it a try.
Yesterday was the first day they were fed their first live earthworms & wow did they love them lol With the price of live food, I think I may put together a smaller DIY worm farm. I imagine they are just as good for the fish as blood worms or blackworms, not too mention a heck of alot cheaper lol I will also hunt for them when I can, as you can never have too many lol I'll try to get a vid of a worm feeding soon, was very interesting to watch


----------



## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

Wait for rain John... Then just collect the worms off the sidewalks. . the best places are parks with a paved path...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

On another note... You got a 125 and didn't set it up? Storage locker?  shameful buddy... Shameful lol. Just kidding... You have way more will power than me, I'd have it set up in front of the 75 using the 75 as a precycled refugeum lol

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Foxtail said:


> Wait for rain John... Then just collect the worms off the sidewalks. . the best places are parks with a paved path...
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


lol hoping the rain is done for awhile. Yea I was an avid fisherman growing up and spent many many hours worm collecting lol no stranger to that. Plus I have a few tricks I can benefit from in the wooded area next to my place. I don't imagine I will have any probs having a good quantity on hand 

as for the 125 ...I found a helluva deal that couldn't be passed on. Thanks to my buddy Kevin (Kcairns) who I can't thank enough, I was able to scoop it it within 15 hours of the ad being place on CL. Very very excited!! Trust me, any other time it'd done be up and going lol but some circumstances have made me have to wait....it ain't easy ....believe that! lol I imagine it will be going by June, so it give me time to prepare and practice patience lol
The 75 is going to become a community & Discus tank I believe.....lots of fun coming up lol


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Just get one of those red wriggler kits from the home agriculture places. I got tons in my compost. I don't use them as I no longer have any big mouthed fishes, but I used to feed them to Oscars all the time. They're probably on par with blackworms in nutritional density and way more nutritious for the fish than bloodworms which are mostly water.


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks for the input & suggestion Gary. Been doing alot of research on the Red Wrigglers and gonna put together a couple DIY composters. Blood worms are getting expensive for all the big mouths I have now lol but I think night crawlers are too big for most of them still. The wrigglers seem to be a perfect size and hopefully the breed like crazy as I will be using a couple doze every 2-3 days lol Probably gonna post a thread in the DIY section with some useful info and links as I am sure Im not the only one that needs a bigger worm for the big mouths.


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

looking good John!!! so nice to have that big tank eh? keep the pics coming buddy


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Darn. Dyson the nightstalker. Raphael catfish has quite the appetite for livebearers. 
That's going to be quite the sight seeing the eels and Ctenopomas, and cichlids go after red wrigglers. Make it happen!...get the 125g rolling. Perhaps already starting the process with the hunt for an xp4?


----------



## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

i think you should do a salty setup with the 125! that way i can see how you did it and do the same to mine! lol


----------

