🏆 TOTY VOTE NOW - 2023 TANK OF THE YEAR TOURNAMENT 🐠🐡

POLL IS NOW CLOSED

PLEASE VOTE NOW

We're winding up another great year here on Tropical Fish Forums. The holidays are coming and we at TFF are going to celebrate in style.

Fishforums.net is proud to announce our 2023 TANK OF THE YEAR TOURNAMENT. We had 12 top notch winners over the last 12 months in our Tank of the Month Contests. We need your help to decide which tank is the best of the best! We are asking all members to vote for the tank that you feel deserves the title of 2023 TANK OF THE YEAR.

Prizes will be Amazon Gift Certificates
1st place will be awarded $100
2nd place will be awarded $50
3rd place will be awarded $25

This poll will close at 12:10 PM (US) EST on Monday January 1st, 2024. Please do your part and cast your vote for 2023 TANK OF THE YEAR!

Please view all 12 entries before voting. Then go to the poll at the top of this thread, click on your choice and then click the cast button. No comments about specific entries are allowed. Fishforums.net thanks you for your participation in our contests.

Entrants, please note:
Any attempt to influence competition results, other than by casting your allocated vote, is not permitted and may result in your entry being removed and / or further action being taken. You are not allowed to have friends or family join TFF for the main purpose of voting for you. You are allowed to vote for yourself (some do some don’t). This is a public poll so source of votes can be viewed. Our goal is to have an honest and fair poll for all participants.

You are allowed to change your vote if you wish.

Good luck to our 12 entrants. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all our fine members.
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MaritimeMermaid83 - January 2023 TOTM

This is my 20 Gallon Freshwater Community tank. I have 2 African Dwarf Frogs, a Khuli Loach, a Clown pleco, Nerite and MTS Snails and my Female Glo Betta named Buttons. I do weekly 25% to 50% water changes depending on how I feed (with community tanks I tend to over feed sometimes to make sure everyone gets something so I ended up leaving a day or 2 in between. Filtered by Sponge cant remember what the name of the light was that I got online Im pretty sure it was amazon.com Easy Green all in one Ferts no CO2 currently. Prime water conditioner and I will throw in egg shells every now and again for the snails This was my first "Large" tank (more then 5 gallons). A mixture of Anubias, Amazon Swords frogbit and Wisteria, Spiky Moss and Java Fern
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Brendonjw - February 2023 TOTM

This is my new Juwel 240 ltr tank that has replaced my old 200ltr tall one (this one gives me an extra 40cm in width which is great.)

I have painted the back black and removed the internal filter.

It has been setup for about 2 months now i guess with most things being bought over from the old tank.
The old one only had pea gravel in it so it have moved that over and capped it with sand. Scattered some API root tabs through out it.

The hardscape wood is from a dead tree i cut down in our front lawn for this very reason.

Water changes are 60ltrs every week. Filter gets looked at once every 3-4 months.

It is a low tech setup and i put 20mls of API leaf zone in after the water change.

Lighting is currently the factory unit with Nature and Day LED bulbs in, timing is currently 10 hours a day but i'm still tweaking this as getting a little bit of hair algae.

Planting is Java ferns, Anubius, Amazon Sword, crpyts, ambulia, Aponogeton undulatus, ludwigia, water wysteria, water sprite and some rotala

Stocking is 1 3 spot gourami, 11 venuzialian corys and a heap of male fancy guppies (I have another tank with females in and taking the boys out when they can be identified.) Ramshorn snails.
I want to change out the guppies for a nice school of Harliquin Resboras (maybe 40) in the future.
Feeding is once a day with a mix of flakes and sinking granuals.

Filter is a Aqua One Aquis Series 2 1250 with a spray bar pushing it from left to right.

Its just had a trim so some of the plants are still coming back in.
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connorlindeman - March 2023 TOTM

This is my 10g Walstad Style Tank.
The tank is 36 days old at the time of writing this.
Flora:
Temple Plant(front middle, front right and front left.
Bocapa
Ludwegia Repens
Hornwort(center)
Pygmy Chain Swords(front carpet)
Ricciocarpos natans(floating)
Fauna:
2 Amano Shrimp
8 Red Cherry Shrimp
1 Nerite Snail
Countless Pest Snails
(I plan to add 6 sparking gourami soon)
Substrate:
Quikrete Pool Filter Sand
Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil
Fertilizer:
No fertilizer is added to this aquarium.

The only equipment on this tank is a 50w heater. It's hidden behind all the plants. There is no filter.
I can't wait to see where this tank goes in the future!
I am documenting this tank's setup and monthly progress on my youtube channel. You can check that out here.
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Aquabarb - April 2023 TOTM

Hi folks,
This is the early stages of my 29g Keyhole Forest. Im lucky to be surrounded by beautiful forests and nature reserves where i live in the Uk so im always taking inspiration and ideas away from my walks. So this tank is based on those ideas to bring nature indoors

Tank setup:
*Substrate: Play sand with a base layer of Tropica soil.

*Decor: Redmoor sticks (tree trunks), Green angel rock, Alder cones.
*Plants:
*Cryptocoryne
Beckettii, Wendtii, Willisii, Balansae, lucens, Parva.
*Anubias Heterophilla,Lanceolata
*Sagittaria Subulata
*Frogbit Floating.
(Plants Fed with Tropica, root tabs and seachem flourish)
*Water Parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10ppm
PH: 7.4
GH: 9 gdh
KH: 7
*Maintance:
50/75% once a week
*Equipment:
Eheim air pump, 2x Eheim 150w heaters, Inkbird temperature controller, Large duel sponge filter, 6500k Nicrew light (on 8 hrs per day)
*Stocking
4x Keyhole Cichlids (Cleithracara maronii)
5x Fiveband barbs (Desmopuntius pentazona)

Thank you for looking and good luck to everyone
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Dogmanpaul - May 2023 TOTM

My 56 G tank.

This has been my project for the past 4 months.

Ciano 120 emotions pro with an Eheim external filter.

Plants
Anubias consensus, Hygophilia polysperma, Limnophila aromatica, Bucophalandra Theia, Microsorum Pteropus, Hygophilia Lancea, Echindoms Rose, Cryptocoryne nevelli, Bacopa Amptexmcoulis, Bolbitis heudelotii, Hydrocotyle Leucoceptia, Microsorum Trident, Villisneria Spiralis, Ludwigiamini super red.

Substrate, JBL volcanic lave, Aquasoil, dogwood and dragon stone.

I use Flourish and flourish excel for the plants.

Fish

Cardinal, neon, sepia, ember and xray tetras. Cherry barbs, various Corydoras and ottos. 2 x rabbit snails.
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Jacob the tank keeper - June 2023 TOTM

This is my 5 Gal betta tank, it's 12x8x12.
This tank is dirted, with a cheap 5 watt led.
I don't use any ferts, and this is no co2.
My betta named Artis lives here, he is a unique copper and is the only one with this coloration among his siblings.
I feed him betta food 2 times per day, fasting him on saturdays and giving him live treats on sundays (Mosquito Larvae, Daphnia, Brine Shrimp) depending what I have on my hands. I don't do water changes, I only top up whenever needed.
The plants I have here are
Jungle Val, Pearlweed, Hygrophilia Corymbosa Stricta, Cypt. Brown, Cabomba, and Microsword. The tank is exactly a month old today!
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Sharkweek178 - July 2023 TOTM

This is my 29 gallon tank. I started putting it together last October and started adding fish in February.

Water parameters - hardness: 136 ppm, pH: 7.2. Temperature is kept at 75 degrees.

Equipment - Lights: hygger HG-957 Programmable LED, Heater: Fluval M150 Submersible heater, Filters: Aquaclear 50 and Alegi sponge filter with an air stone, Air Pump: AquaMiracle with a lithium battery.

Hardscape - Quikrete Play Sand, Wood: Malaysian driftwood and Manzanita branches. And some pebbles (mostly for attaching column feeder plants to), homemade feeder rings to let more light in for some of the plants and to ensure the honey and corys have access to the surface for air, Indian Almond Leaves.

Plants - Jungle vallisneria (Vallisneria americana), Water wisteria (Hygrophila difformis), Moneywort (Bacopa monnieri), Java ferns (Microsorum pteropus), Anubias Frazieri, Anubias Nana Petite, Java Moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri), Amazon Sword (Echinodorus Sp Red Diamond), Cryptocoryne Usteriana, Bucephalandra Kedagang Red, Water spangles (Salvinia minima), Anacharis (Elodea densa)

Livestock - Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna), Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi), Pygmy corys (Corydoras pygmaeus), Amano Shrimp (Caridina multidentata), Assassin Snails (Anentome helena) and pond and ramshorn snails.

Tank Maintenance - 50-60% water change weekly

Fertilizers - Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Supplement twice a week and Flourish root tabs every 3-4 months.

Feeding - New Life Spectrum Flakes and Fluval Bug Bites for the honey and neons, Fluval Bug Bites Bottom Feeder formula and Omega One Catfish Pellets for the corys. I alternate this with frozen brine shrimp, baby brine shrimp, cyclops, daphnia and bloodworms. I've also started feeding live baby brine shrimp and mosquito larvae. Feeding schedule is four days of feeding once a day and then one fasting day.

I've made a few changes in the past few months. I removed a moss covered hideaway and a Seiryu stone. Which I think opened the space up. I also planted some more bacopa monnieri and added some java ferns.
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Rocky998 - August 2023 TOTM

Here is my 40g breeder river aquarium. It's been running well now for a few months now and I have added fish not to long ago!
This tank replaced my 20g tall tank which had 3 peacock gudgeons that got upgraded to this tank.
There have been some difficulties with this tank like a few algae issues, a "surprise fish", and a few other things. But this tank has turned out great for me so far and I hope y'all like it as well!


Hardscape:
Malaysian Driftwood
Grey river rocks
Quikrete Play Sand

Equipment:
-Fluval Aquaclear 50
-Fluval Aquaclear 30
-Fluval 150w Heater
-Hygger Sunrise/Sunset programmable LED light

Aquatic Plants:
-Amazon Sword
-Ludwigia Repens/ovalis
-Vallisneria
-Cryptocoryne Wendtii Red and Green
-Tiger lotus

Terrestrial/House Plants:
-Golden Pothos

Inhabitants:
-Corydoras Sterbai x14
-Peacock Gudgeon (Tateurndina Ocellicauda) x6
-Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus oblongus) x1 (came with plants as a surprise)  
-Bladder and Ramshorn Snails (of course)

More fish will be added in the future
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Myrtle - September 2023 TOTM

This is my Dutch inspired 12 litre.
Water: Rainwater
Ferts: Solufeed 2:1:4
CO2
Lighting 2 spare Superfish Day/Night
Inhabitants: Water slaters and Blue Velvet shrimp

Plant list:
Lindernia, Hygrophila siamensis, Ludwigia super red, Myriophyllum Guyana, Lobelia cardinalis, Rotala macranda Mini Pink, Litorella uniflora, Lysimachia nummularia, Bucephalandra and one whose name I forget.
It's just had a trim so not in perfect shape!
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rebe - October 2023 TOTM.......................click on video
So far, it's a planted 105L tank (28 gal) housing my lovely rasboras. This is my second attempt at keeping an aquarium and my first time creating an aquascape. I'm looking forward to adding more fish in the future!
A detailed description is below:

Aquarium set up: 11th August, 2023, (my tank is currently 7 weeks old)
Rasboras added: 14th September, 2023

Inhabitants:

• 14 trigonostigma hengeli (glowlight rasboras)
• Hitch-hiked ramshorn snails (belonging to the gyraulus genus, I believe)

Equipment:

• Aquael Leddy 75 (Tank) (105 L, 75x35x40 cm)
• Retrofit Day & Night (Light)
• Aquael ASAP 500 (Filter)
• Bonlux 100W (Heater)
• Zacro dual outlet (Air pump)
• Airstone, heater guard and homemade pre-filter

Hardscape and substrate:

• Mangle wood
• Seiryu stone
• Bottom layer of lava rock and Maflora light
• Top layer of ADA La Plata sand

Plants:
Foreground/Mid-ground

• Ludwigia repens 'Rubin'
• Cryptocoryne wendti ‘Broad Leaf’
• Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green'
• Cryptocoryne parva
• Lobelia cardinalis 'Mini'
• Rotala rotundifolia (dwarf rotala)
• Sagittaria subulata (dwarf sagittaria)
• Microsorum pteropus (java fern)
• Bacopa australis
• Hydrocotyle leucocephala (brazilian pennywort)
• Helanthium tenellum ‘broad leaf’
• Helanthium tenellum ‘red’

Background:

• Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort)
• Echinodorus bleheri (amazon sword)
• Eleocharis vivipara (dwarf hairgrass)

Floating:

• Salvinia auriculata (water spangles)

Water Parameters:

• Ammonia: 0ppm
• Nitrite: 0ppm
• Nitrate: 10ppm*
• PH: 7.8
• Hardness (German Degrees): GH 4.2, KH 2.3
• Temperature: 25° C

*Nitrate level equal to my tap water


Lighting:

• Retrofit Day & Night (LED)
• Aquarium light on for 7 hours each day
• 6500k (kelvin rating)
• 14W

Maintenance:

• Weekly water change of about 25%-50%
• Plants are trimmed regularly where needed
• Seachem Flourish Comprehensive used as recommended (for plant fertiliser)
• Uneaten food/debris removed during water changes

Feeding:

• Six days per week
• Oase Organix micro granules or flakes for breakfast
• Fluval Bug bites micro granules for dinner
• Starting to feed live moina macrocopa, that I've raised indoors

Due to their small size, the rasboras can't eat full bug bites (the size 0.25-1.00mm). They are also mid-water feeders, so they won't eat food sitting on the water surface or at the bottom of the tank. Here is my feeding method that solves both issues (for me at least):

1. Crush an appropriate amount of bug bites in a small container
2. Use a syringe to add a little tank water to the container
3. Stir until all of the bug bite pieces no longer float
4. Suck it all back up into the syringe
5. With the needle/opening just under the water surface, slowly feed the bug bites to your fish, by adding just a little of the water with bug bite pieces at a time.

By doing so you can control precisely how much food is in the water at a time, so the fish can eat it all before it sinks to the bottom.

You can see me feeding my rasboras using this method in the video at the top of my post.

Thank you for taking the time to read my entry.
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Mathew1991 - November 2023 TOTM

This is my 125l Roma tank
I have fluval 307 canister filter
Light is just standard that come with the tank
The tank is about 6 month old now
I have an inline heater

Hard scape is some drift wood and rocks

Plants
Jarva fern
Christmas moss
Jarva moss
Water sprite
Frogbit
And some more but can’t remember what they are
I dose with tropics fertiliser

In the tank is
16 cardinals
10 pencil fish
4 mollys
1 adf
7 panda corys
8 Amano shrimp
1 albino bristle nose

As some of you are aware I had a slight disaster. And lost a lot of fish a month or 2 ago
So I’m just back to getting things back to normal

With some advice from members in here I decided to go down the “root” of adding live plants, rather than plastic plants and plastic caves
And I’m in love with it
.................................................

MattW3344 - December 2023 TOTM

Hi everyone this is my Dennerle Nano Cube 60L
I started this aquarium on Sept 3rd, 2023. I used the majority of substrate, plants, wood, and filter from my old tank which allowed me to add fish almost straight away. I've had no major issues with this tank except for some algae. I'm still not 100% happy with this tank as the crypts and repens are not fully grown into the size I would like them to be (I'm Impatient ). The lighting is a DIY floodlight as well as my C02 system which is just a 2L water bottle containing yeast and sugar. My most recent addition was a monstera plant up top to help with filtration. I only do around 20-30% water change weekly so having even more plants is always a bonus. The fish and shrimp are doing very well even breeding among the sawbwa. Speaking of I also have 20+ fry in another tank which when grown up will be added to this tank (females only).

Fish -

3x Ottocinclus
1x Female Honey gourami (Wild type)
4x Sawbwa resplendens
3x Amano shrimp
1x Zebra Nerite Snail

Plants -
Rotala rotundifolia H'ra
Rotala Indica
Ludwigia Super red
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Hygrophila corymbosa compact
Myriophyllum mattogrossense
Cryptocoryne undulatus
Staurogyne repens
Bolbitis heudelotii
Bucephalandra Biblis
Limnobium laevigatum
Microsorum pteropus Trident
Anubias Petite
Cryptocoryne parva
Monstera 'monkey leaf'
________________________________
End of Entries

It was really difficult choosing ONE! (It also makes me want to have just a planted tank even MORE)

The prizes for the top 3 finishers of this tournament are made possible by the generosity of our administrators and our Supporting Members. They also help support the costs of running the forum.
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Mutt and Jeff are reminding you to be sure to vote in the Tank of the Year Tournament.

You better watch out,
You better not cry,
Better VOTE NOW,
I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is comin' to town.

He's making a list
And checking it twice,
Gonna find out
Who hasn't voted tonight
Santa Claus is comin' to town.

So if you want Christmas presents this year, you better VOTE NOW!

Good looking class of tanks! Tough decision but I cast my vote! Good luck to all the participants! Good job!

The poll is now closed.
CLICK HERE to view the winner's thread.