# 75gal new progression thread



## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

So, I am back at it to try some plants again. Last time I had to give up on my planted tank and sell it since some personal things came up.

I got a huge piece of driftwood a day ago, it fills my whole tank up.. which I want, so I wont have to focus on too many substrate plants and more on the easier Java Ferns and Anubias's.

Plus my Bolivians are already pairing up in their new caves and crevices in the wood!

Video is still processing, so I gotta give it a few more minutes.

I was messing around and put some fake plants in there for now to see what it will look like a bit when I get my plants in, in the next few days.. maybe next week. I already got 14 10" Vals

A bit messy from me stirring up the sand.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Video: Bad quality.. lol so yeah.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

These guys have rarely ever colored up real nice for me, in the maybe 1+ month of having them.. now with this wood in there, they are all coloring up real well.


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## yamadog (Oct 7, 2012)

Great looking tank... Is that standard pool filter sand? Jason


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Quikrete sand from homedepot, in the finest grade.


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## ADG (Jan 2, 2011)

Love that piece of wood. :thumb:


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Danke!  ha

I got a question for you guys...

What are good schoolers for my tank?

I am hopefully soon selling the Angels, and looking for something colorful, that will fill the mid/top section of the tank.

I saw the other thread, and people were suggesting Rummynose's... but I am looking for something that I can get a bunch of... not sure if Rummies would work or not. Also, want something maybe a bit more colorful.


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## darkstar22 (Dec 13, 2010)

How about adding a school of Neon Tetras. Water parameters are the same for the Bolivians that you intend to keep. What is the lighting on your tank? I'm looking into a South American setup in my 75 as well! Nice setup !


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

darkstar22 said:


> How about adding a school of Neon Tetras. Water parameters are the same for the Bolivians that you intend to keep. What is the lighting on your tank? I'm looking into a South American setup in my 75 as well! Nice setup !


I have had Neon's before, and they are a very "looseish" schooling fish... :/

I have the 36" Odyssea* T5 Trio timer light. Cheap, but has worked for me for quite a long time!

And thanks!


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## darkstar22 (Dec 13, 2010)

Are you planning on keeping your tank low light planted to avoid Co2, Ferts, etc? That light is 3 x 39w, does that put you in a high light category? Just wondered, since I have been looking for lighting for my 75G South American tank as well. 
Although not South American fish...would Zebra Danios school?


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Not too sure yet.. but I will be running just two bulbs for the time being...

I will dose... but no Co2.

And I am not too sure 117W would put me at High lighting.. doubt it...


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Got my new camera.. and kinda went a bit much on the editing... lol


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## bluejack23 (Jan 23, 2012)

I have always like rummynose tetras and bloodfins school well also.


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## ADG (Jan 2, 2011)

The cardinal tetra in my 55gal BR tank school pretty closely. They certainly love to remain in a tight ball, especially if they perceive a threat somewhere. Then all **** breaks loose at feeding time and it is every man for himself.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

@ADG LMAO at that last bit!

Took some more pictures this morning.

Got in around 10+ vals yesterday, and expecting more today.

Here are some of the edited pictures from this morning.










May have done a bit too much editing on this one.. lol


















Here is my album that I will add to when I take pictures. Still trying to get a good video, I have yet to get down the basics to video taking.. lol also picture taking. haha

http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab9/HalfFrozen/75 BR paradise/


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## du3ce (Sep 11, 2012)

looks great but i would go with black substrate instead of sand, sand doesnt really look natural in a planted tank


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

I was debating doing black substrate again, but I much prefer the Bolivian Ram coloring when they are over a light substrate.

Sand is about as natural as you can get though... haha


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Bolivian smack down!


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

That's an awesome piece of wood you have in there. And the rams are looking very good. My guess is that they are responding to some tannins being released from the wood.

Have you considered adding some aquarium friendly leaf litter to the tank. Down here we use Indian Almond Leaves. Dwarf cichlids love leaf litter.

As for "schooling" tetras, I love Green Neon tetras, Rummynose and Lemon tetras. However tetras only school properly when they think there is a threat in the tank. Also the larger the tank, the more impressive schooling looks.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

du3ce said:


> looks great but i would go with black substrate instead of sand, sand doesnt really look natural in a planted tank


Hahahaha, that's so funny. :roll:

I'm sorry, but what is natural about a planted tank?

If you are doing a planted tank, you want to use proper plant substrate, which yes, tends to be black. But the point with planted tanks, are the plants, not the fish. Fish are just decorations. Dwarf cichlid tanks however, a fine white sand substrate is perfect, especially when the dwarf cichlids are sand sifters. After all, "in the wild", plants are most commonly found along the margins of to the creeks and streams dwarf cichlids inhabit.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

DeadFishFloating said:


> That's an awesome piece of wood you have in there. And the rams are looking very good. My guess is that they are responding to some tannins being released from the wood.
> 
> Have you considered adding some aquarium friendly leaf litter to the tank. Down here we use Indian Almond Leaves. Dwarf cichlids love leaf litter.
> 
> As for "schooling" tetras, I love Green Neon tetras, Rummynose and Lemon tetras. However tetras only school properly when they think there is a threat in the tank. Also the larger the tank, the more impressive schooling looks.


Great idea! Such a coincidence as just a day ago I had saw a thread about almond leaves and their added pros to a tank.

Now I just need to find someone who has a good quality leave for sale. How many should I get??

And for the tetras, I have never seen Green Neons.. will have to check that out.



DeadFishFloating said:


> du3ce said:
> 
> 
> > looks great but i would go with black substrate instead of sand, sand doesnt really look natural in a planted tank
> ...


My tank is about the fish for sure. haha I love my Bolivians!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

I was sick as **** yesterday... but all better today..

Also, yesterday, got home.. and EGGS!!


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Congrats!


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Your tank is looking awesome...great work...and those tetra's above (right?) they are so beautiful...love their lyre tail


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

guess that's not a true lyre tail but they look great anyway...


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Swimmers as of yesterday!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

So the babies all got eaten yesterday... of course.. yesterday morning I was in such a rush I forgot to feed all 3 of my tanks..  But I think the parents may had been bickering before hand anyways.

Since that all happened, I did a MAJOR re-scape.

These are just teaser photo's...


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Looks good! But this tank DEMANDS moonlights!


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## Pagancpr (Dec 14, 2012)

Wow excellent pics!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Thanks guys!

You know my fixture has 3 LED blue moon lights built in, but they went out along time ago, I left them on for probably 2 months 24/7 lol I programmed it wrong I suppose...  . I messaged the guy I bought it from off eBay last week and he said they wont be in stock till later this month.

I was thinking of putting some type of underwater light BEHIND the wood, and shine it upward, OR through the holes in it... since my tank is painted on the back, this will be a new "chore" of doing I am sure.. lol


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## Fish on Fire (Dec 13, 2012)

Nice setup. A school of 10-15 rummies would look awesome in there.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Exactly!

haha

I was going to see if my LFS still has their 5 for $5 going on.

Either rummy nose's, neon's or black neons...

Suggestions?


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## Fish on Fire (Dec 13, 2012)

I'm partial to rummies. Just love their red noses, silver bodies, tails, and the way they school together. Consider Roselines?


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

I am thinking I MAY end up removing the wood for awhile, and just go with rocks for now. And a WAY smaller piece of wood.

It really makes my tank get high nitrates since it traps so much ****... plus it makes it VERY difficult to scape.. :/

I come home every day and I am not satisfied with it in my 75.. It REALLY needs to be in a 72" not a 48", it it's self is close to 40"+


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## Fish on Fire (Dec 13, 2012)

Yeah, I think I would have done the same. I don't like decor, no matter how natural it looks, taking up even half of the swimming space in my tanks much less as much space as yours does, lol. Only way I would use that piece is if I had multiple breeding pairs in the tank and needed to block lines of sight, then that piece would be very useful. For what you have in mind though, it would look much nicer with more swimming space for the schooling fish.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

So... I took the wood out awhile ago. As well as all of the plants besides the Vals.

I had barely any really, and now, well.. I have close to 40-50+ stems all over my tank. haha

I had some unbalance in the tank with 8 Bolivian Rams, 5 Green Terrors and 4 Firemouths. So I removed the FMs. Green terrors were/are doing fine. But the other day I had saw that the Green Terrors had brought Callamanus* worms with them, and infected my Bolivian Rams. So treating them now, already looking like some good progress is being made.

Here is the tank as of last night:


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Ohhhhhhhh-kay.

So I haven't been here in quite some time now.... Been about 4 years since I was last here... doesn't seem like that long at all, but I had gotten into keeping bearded dragons for awhile and stopped keeping fish, sold my tanks for cheap to a local school and some other people around here and kept a few things. Thankfully. Because I knew I'd get back into aqua again! I bought a brand new 75 gallon tank w/ LED lights and stand. I already had a heater and Eheim 2217 canister.

I'm not sure what direction I want to go with this tank but it was started on Sunday night, it now has 5 mollies and Dr Tims One and Only to cycle this bad boy in a couple of days!

I am thinking of going with Bolivian Rams again to start up, probably a group of 10 or 12 and then a nice sized pack of tetras later on.

I am also thinking of going with several Red/Orange headed tapajos, I'm just not sure if they;d be okay with Bolivian Rams or not.

Anyways, I'm back!


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