My 125 Broke, So Now I have a 90 [Archive]

yikesjason

01-25-2010, 01:09 AM

Some people here are are familiar with my 125 gal birthday present. It split a seam on December 11th and this is the 90 gal tank that I replaced the broken tank with. Since the tank has been up for about a month already, I have quite a bit of info and pictures, so it will be broken into a few posts.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3650/img0153qm.jpg

Tank Info
62"L x 14"D x 24"H glass
Rena XP3 canister filter
Marineland C360 canister filter
pressurized co2
EI dry fert dosing
Catalina Aquarium 4x54watt 48" t5ho ligh
soil caped with turface caped with pool filter sand
2 large pieces of manzanita wood
airstone that runs at night

Plants
I have collected a lot of plants from local swaps.
crypts
anubias
Limnophila aromatica
L. ovalis
L. Brevipes
L. Glandulosa
giant hairgrass
dwarf hairgrass
lace, narrow, needle, and regular java fern
ammania bonsai sp.
marsilea quadrifolia
blyxa aubertii
blyxa japonica
downoi
Lobelia cardinalis 'Small Form'
Aponogeton
christmas moss
and some other unknowns

Fish
7 Brilliant Turquoise discus
5 wild Peruvian scalare (angelfish)
3 baby gold angelfish
3 german blue ram
2 albino lf bristle nose pleco
3 standard bristle nose pleco
a bunch of chocolate otos
some black otos
tons of common otos
6 rummy nose tetras
30 - 40 cardinal and green neon tetras
3 zebra loaches
10 julii corys
3 bronze corys
5 zebra and tiger nerite snails

I have recently added 2 riparium planters
one with petsmarts famous non aquatic ribbon plants and some crypts in aquarium gravel
one with peace lilies and purple waffle plants in pea gravel

yikesjason

01-25-2010, 01:12 AM

I have always wanted discus, but was too unsure about my aquatic skills to spend that much money. I was starting to have a lot of plant success and was selling quite a bit of extra plants. My tank paid for a few of its own upgrades and I figured I would try my hand at discus around Dec. or Jan. I bought a few sad discus from a local guy just to give it a try and was able to nurse some sick discus back to health. That gave me a big confidence boost, but the discus were very stunted already.
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9788/img9996j.jpg

When my big tank broke and I had to buy a new one, I thought I wouldn't be able to pay for discus for a while. But my Christmas gifts were generous and I was able to get 7 beautiful brilliant turquoise from Discus Hans last week. It was quite the upgrade. I got rid of the 4 stunted discus and 9 angelfish to make room.
http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/6476/img0136vn.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5138/img0129j.jpg

I love the way these discus school, way better than the angels did. They are just stunning. Thank you so much Hans.
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3707/img0132vo.jpg

They are still pretty shy and jumpy, but they are curious and eating. They make me nervous though because they bolt for the surface when they get spooked. I really hope they settle down soon.

Spardas

01-25-2010, 01:59 PM

Great setup, but did you QT the new fishes? When did you get them because I can see tears in the tail. Was it there when you got the fish or did it happen after you introduced into the tank? Usually if they're burns from shipping, with a bit of salt, my fishes would recover within a few days but you said you got them for a week. So I'm just curious and hoping that it's not a developing case of fin/tail rot.

yikesjason

01-25-2010, 02:08 PM

These discus arrived on Friday. These are the the fish in this tank, so it was the tank that needed to be QTed.
I know, it is probably a dumb new guy thing to say, but I have to try and work around my wife and she says no more tanks. It is something I need to work on.

If you are talking about that first picture, that is one of the sick discus that I had before, not one of the new ones I just got.

Spardas

01-25-2010, 02:20 PM

Tell your wife it's better to spend a little money now to do it right rather than waste more money fixing the problem later. Give her a hint that with some money saved, maybe you can get her something nice, lol. Maybe that'll change her mind.

Back OT:

No, I know the first fish isn't the one you just got. I was talking about the last 2 pics showing the new fishes that you got. So are these pictures recent (like today or yesterday)? I just don't want a case of developing fin/tail rot if you haven't qted them yet. If they're from burns during shipping, then a bit of salt will heal them up. Those plants should be able to withstand some salt for a short period of time.

Sharkbait

01-25-2010, 02:20 PM

.. but I have to try and work around my wife and she says no more tanks. It is something I need to work on.

Believe me, my friend, you're not the only one. I don't even have a hospital tank. Once we move, and have more space, that's going to be part of the bargain.

yikesjason

01-25-2010, 02:33 PM

The pictures are from Saturday and Sunday.
I am thinking some salt might be in order.

daboo

01-25-2010, 05:31 PM

They are still pretty shy and jumpy, but they are curious and eating. They make me nervous though because they bolt for the surface when they get spooked. I really hope they settle down soon.

Don't worry they will settle down. Just think of what they have been through. I saw your other post on Hans' thread. Within 1-2 weeks they should seem less skittish. As time goes you will see them develop their own personalities. All my discus are different strains so I can readily tell them apart. I know how each behaves, which are the pushy ones to eat, which are more timid, which one likes to pick on another specific one. Study their markings and you will learn your fish this well also.

Did I understand this right that you had a 125 gallon for less than 2 months which already leaked?

I'm interested to see how well things go for this 90 gallon tank. It is heavily stocked with fish but you also have lots of plants to help out. Do you have any problem with nuisance hair algae? What tricks do you do to keep your plants so healthy?

yikesjason

01-25-2010, 05:46 PM

I bought the 125 tank used and it was pretty old then. I used it for almost a year before it failed.

I have had several bouts with minor algae outbreaks in my big tank. Nothing to big though. I have a 2.5 gal tank in my office that has a lot of problems with thread algae. Balancing the light, nutrients, and co2 is the best way to deal with algae. Excel and h2o2 help to deal with problem spots, and algae eaters help out too.

ChloroPhil

01-25-2010, 09:58 PM

Very very nice Jason. Great choice of fish!

yikesjason

01-28-2010, 04:37 PM

The discus are settling in better now. I raised my lights off the tank some and that helped right away. They were getting just a touch of fin burn and I did an extra water change and salted the tank and they seem to be doing better.

They are also not bolting as much, but they are still hiding a lot. I look forward to seeing them more and more.

dbfzurowski

01-28-2010, 11:12 PM

Well you got some nice looking fish, i'm new to keeping discus(2months) and i regret not geting mine from one of the sponsors here.
4 out of the six i got were stunt, the other two are gonaa be monsters! I hope :)
anyhow good luck

yikesjason

02-07-2010, 11:00 PM

I finally got the back of my tank painted. My discus have darkened up somewhat so I needed to do something to lighten up the tank. They spend a lot of time in the dark corners because they are afraid of my rambunctious 2 1/2 year old. He loves to play with the fish and see them swim away when he scares them. I am working with him on that.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7866/img9020f.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2566/img9008.jpg

Disgirl

02-07-2010, 11:21 PM

Beautiful tank and discus! Can you tell me how the plants that are above the water are attached? Are they growing on wood or in pots? Very nice setup!
Barb:)

yikesjason

02-08-2010, 12:17 AM

Thanks Barb.

The plant on the left is some kind of giant anubias that is tied to a piece of wood. The plant on the right is a peace lily in a riparium planter. It is something similar to hyroponics, were the plant adapts to having its roots in water instead of soil. Not all plants can do it, but peace lilies are pretty good at it.

hedut

02-08-2010, 12:30 AM

nice plant tank, how much you pay for those discus, that must be LFS quality:p:p:p:p.

yikesjason

02-08-2010, 12:34 AM

These are primo Hans specials.

I am very happy with these discus. I don't have any crazy diets, so they won't be giants, but they are going to be very nice.

yikesjason

03-03-2010, 07:27 PM

I have been working on a project to add to the aquarium, but I am not really sure what to call it. I have been calling it a backdrop. I guess you could call my tank a paludarium now. I should have done a journal of the build, but I didn't know if it would work out or what it would look like in the end. I knew there would also be some people always asking for updates on some of the other sites I post on.

It is basicaly one of those diy rock wall backgrounds. I carved it out of pink insulation foam and covered it with thinset cement. To get the bumpy part I added a coat of thinset with peagravel in it. The black comes from concrete pigment. The brown is latex paint. (this the the part I am least happy with.) I peeled some bark off of a dead tree for the tree trunk, it already had the moss growing on it. I attached some lace rock to make planters. Coco fiber is glued to some of the ground areas to make it look like dirt. A lot of the plants and all of the moss came from my backyard, the others I bought at the store. It is all lit with 2 x 150watt metal halide pendants. I was hoping to use the halides to light the tank from that high, but it just didn't work, so the t5ho light is still on the tank.

Enough chatter, here are the pictures.
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/193/img9642.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9185/img9632d.jpg
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/6149/img9625.jpg
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4687/img9617w.jpg

Some closer shots of the plants.
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4992/img9620b.jpg
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/3117/img9619b.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9686/img9618g.jpg

All of the fish were a little nervous after I had spent time working on the back drop, so they didn't want to be part of the pictures until I bribed them with a treat of frozen bloodworms.
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7541/img9644k.jpg

I would love to hear some comments or suggestions. I am pretty excited about this. If I were starting it over, I would probably do it differently. But I like this for my first shot.

theblondskeleton

03-03-2010, 09:43 PM

That looks great Jason! Again, I love the color and texture - especially the trunk. Give us a list of the terrestrial plants you have in there.

I like the little ground cover plant in particular. Now you can build a tank background that carries the wall into the tank :)

I think you mentioned considering a waterfall effect... or maybe that was my imagination... do you think it could be done? It'd look great trickling over the pea gravel portion.

Spardas

03-03-2010, 09:59 PM

A 3-d background for the tank and a waterfall would be stunning. I'd love to see you come up with something like that, :D.

Great job and very healthy stock. Everything looks good. I hope the discus are eating nicely and that they're less peevish now. I only see 2 out and about. Are the other 5 playing hide and seek? lol

What's your feeding regiment now?

Disgirl

03-03-2010, 10:01 PM

Very artistic Jason! I love it. But I agree, if there is a way to blend that down behind the tank too it would look even better. Maybe take off the paint on the back and do a similar background outside the tank? Not necessarily with plants but carry the rock wall on down. Lots of work I see and well worth your efforts. Hope your son stopped banging on the tank?
Barb:)

yikesjason

03-03-2010, 10:22 PM

I don't have a good list of the terrestrial plants because a lot of them are just plants I dug up out of the back yard. The ones I bought are Areca Palm (the grassy plant), purple jew (a hanging basket plant that isn't looking so good), and mini Kenilworth ivy (Stepables brand ground cover with the little purple flower). Most of the rest of the plants are ground cover plants that have taken over a lot of the back yard, especially the moss.

As far as the tank background, my tank only has 14" of depth, so if I were to add a 3-D background in the tank, I wouldn't have much space left. Also, most of those backgrounds are pretty dark. I just did a big trim on the the background plants. When they fill in again, they should help make that transition better.

All of the fish were hiding while I was working above the tank. All 7 discus are doing well though. I feed them hi-pro waffers and shrimp sticks about 3 times a day. frozen bloodworms once a day, and tetra flakes once or twice a day. I have some color bits on the way from angels+ and will start them on that too. I work from home so I am around to feed them a lot. Pretty much any time I am around the tank and the discus aren't still nosing around for leftovers I feed them again.

yikesjason

03-03-2010, 10:26 PM

One of the ideas I was kicking around was a waterfall. But I ended up keeping this as simple as possible. I will do a waterfall if I ever build another one.

Disgirl

03-03-2010, 10:46 PM

Jason, I meant to bring the rockwork down the outside back of your tank. Yes, it would take up too much space inside the tank. Is there enough space in back between the tank and your wall?
Barb:)

yikesjason

03-04-2010, 12:34 AM

Jason, I meant to bring the rockwork down the outside back of your tank. Yes, it would take up too much space inside the tank. Is there enough space in back between the tank and your wall?
Barb:)

There is space behind there, but there is no light there. There wouldn't be much light from the tank that would get through the glass, off the rocks and back through the glass again. A picture background might work. Some day when I can afford to do it right I will use a bigger tank and have a 3d background and a better backdrop.

yikesjason

03-09-2010, 03:19 PM

After one week, the backdrop is doing fine. Most of the plants are growing and doing well. Some are not doing so well. I expected as much since I mostly just dug up what ever looked good out of the backyard. The miniature ivy with the little blue flower that I bought hasn't worked out, nether has the clover I got out of the yard. The moss doesn't stay moist enough, especially on the tree, but it is still hanging in there. Every thing else is growing and doing well. I was going to do some pictures, but my wife took the camera with her to take her sister to the dentist to have her wisdom teeth out. I think she is hoping for some goofy pictures of her sister on drugs.

The discus don't much like me working above them when I am spraying the backdrop. I do it about 3 times a day and it has made the discus skittish again. I am going to have to work with them some more to get them to relax a bit. Some fbw by had worked well before.

I also got my first anubias flower this week and my peace lily has its first flower coming up. It has been a good week for my plants. Maybe I can get some pictures up soon.

Disgirl

03-09-2010, 03:54 PM

Jason, see if you can find some Creeping Fig to go on that "rock". It will grow well and fast there, small green leaves (1/2") and is evergreen. It puts out tiny roots that will stick to the rock as it grows.
Barb

yikesjason

03-09-2010, 04:03 PM

yikesjason

03-19-2010, 03:38 AM

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9025/img0176sm.jpg

Everyone is doing pretty well. The discus were not showing as much color as they should have been so I ordered some deworming flakes from AngelsPlus and they have improved quite a bit. (I also got some color pellets from AngelsPlus and was very pleased with my order.)

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5964/img0184pu.jpg

Everyone loves the color pellets and it can create quite a feeding frenzy. Even some of the shyer fish make an appearance.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/1843/img0193dl.jpg

I have focused a lot on the discus since I started gearing up to get them about 4 months ago. But my wild angels and some of the other fish are pretty nice too.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7763/img0183s.jpg
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/4686/img0208eh.jpg

My plants are doing well too. My orchid is blooming and my peace lily should have a flower opening any day. I am pretty happy with the tank right now.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/719/img9799f.jpg

Eddie

03-19-2010, 08:24 AM

Gorgeous tank! Love those blues!

All the best!

Eddie

yikesjason

03-19-2010, 11:56 AM

Thanks Eddy.

ChloroPhil

03-20-2010, 09:37 AM

WOW! Just...wow. That's fantastic Jason.

yikesjason

03-20-2010, 08:51 PM

WOW! Just...wow. That's fantastic Jason.

Thanks Phil. When do we get to see some new pictures of your big tank?

gwrace

03-20-2010, 10:22 PM

ChloroPhil

03-31-2010, 09:26 AM

Thanks Phil. When do we get to see some new pictures of your big tank?

That's a great question. :D It's a bit of a mess right now. It's just substrate, one piece of wood, and a bunch of floating ferns. Oh yeah, and some nasty string algae as well. Once I get the wood, which should be in the nearish future, I'll post a picture series.

Cheers,
Phil

yikesjason

03-31-2010, 12:01 PM

That's a great question. :D It's a bit of a mess right now. It's just substrate, one piece of wood, and a bunch of floating ferns. Oh yeah, and some nasty string algae as well. Once I get the wood, which should be in the nearish future, I'll post a picture series.

Cheers,
Phil

Well, at least we know that you are still alive. I was starting to wonder.:D

yikesjason

04-22-2010, 05:31 PM

Not a lot of change. I did swap the halides for 65w CFL floods from Home Depot on the backdrop. I like them a lot better. There have been some minor changes to the plants and the discus have grown some more. But nothing major.

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/4430/img0077ne.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8140/img0061rk.jpg

waters10

04-22-2010, 05:55 PM

Discus look great! Seems like they not only grew a lot, they are a lot more colorful.

Seems your foreground is thicker now, but hard to see on the pics. Have one showing that?

Wahter

04-22-2010, 07:38 PM

That tank is looking very nice. Thanks for the update.

Walter

yikesjason

04-22-2010, 07:48 PM

Discus look great! Seems like they not only grew a lot, they are a lot more colorful.

Seems your foreground is thicker now, but hard to see on the pics. Have one showing that?

Thanks. The colors have improved. My 11 month old son is crawling a lot now, so we had to put up gates. The gates don't just stop him, they also slow down my 2 1/2 year old in the area of the fish tank. I think the discus appreciate the new relative calm. The deworming flakes I got from AngelsPlus also did their job.

Here is a close up of part of my marselia quadrifolia carpet. I took this picture to show what a quadrifolia carpet looks like. I have to remove runners every week to keep it contained.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/1452/img0062hy.jpg

waters10

04-22-2010, 09:09 PM

Thanks. The colors have improved. My 11 month old son is crawling a lot now, so we had to put up gates. The gates don't just stop him, they also slow down my 2 1/2 year old in the area of the fish tank. I think the discus appreciate the new relative calm. The deworming flakes I got from AngelsPlus also did their job.

Here is a close up of part of my marselia quadrifolia carpet. I took this picture to show what a quadrifolia carpet looks like. I have to remove runners every week to keep it contained.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/1452/img0062hy.jpg
I know what you mean about kids and fish tank!

Your carpet looks awesome! Do you have any problems with food getting trapped there, since it's right in the middle of your tank?

yikesjason

04-23-2010, 02:40 AM

The carpet does collect a lot of garbage, but it cleans up well when I siphon it.

erikc

04-23-2010, 07:43 AM

Wow, I really love your tank and appreciate the fact that you have only one colour of discus. It's been maturing slwoly and will be a real stunner, the colours work so well to enhance the blues of the discus !

Those discus are going to be stunning, congratulations !

theblondskeleton

04-23-2010, 09:44 AM

The background looks great, Jason! Glad to see you sorted out the halides. just from the pics, I like the CF's better. I agree that the discus look a lot more colorful. That carpet looks great! Maybe I should reconsider some Marsilea instead of my glosso...

By the way, I found another stem of downoi that was hidden under the mess in the foreground. How is the rest of ti doing for you?

yikesjason

04-23-2010, 05:15 PM

For some reason, the downoi isn't taking off really well. But there was one little sprig of glosso in with the downoi and it is taking off. Go figure.

If you do want to try the quadrifolia, just let me know. I have plenty of it.

Foxfire

05-04-2010, 09:57 PM

Very, very beautiful and your work (huge) really paid off! Your skill and dedication are outstanding.

Did you say your angles are wild? Should they not be with tank-raised discus? Besides diseases, and parasites, don't wild angles have an attitude that would overwhelm a tank breed discus?

yikesjason

05-04-2010, 10:09 PM

I got the angels when they were pretty small still, and they are still not that old. So aggression has been a very minor problem. As for parasites, I seemed to have a bit of an intestinal worm problem when I first got my discus. Some dewormer flakes from AngelsPlus took care of that real quick and the growth really took off.

yikesjason

06-11-2010, 02:11 AM

Time for a monthly update.
Not much change. Some good filling in on the jungle wall. The discus are getting bigger. I have one that is really emerging as a favorite. And I added another orchid.

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/5721/img0100.jpg

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/4720/img0131x.jpg

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/8491/img0154.jpg

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/6867/img0172.jpg

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8717/img0175b.jpg

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/8390/img0187.jpg