125 Gallon Tank

[Amunet]

Lol... trust me.. I really do suck at aquascaping heh. It's not all pretty and neat looking like a lot of the people here can do.
That's ok though

I really like our wood as well heh. We got it from Dr Foster & Smith. At first wanted malaysian driftwood, but it's too expensive, and finally saw that mopani is a lot cheaper and looked nice from the photos I've seen.
So ordered 1 medium and 1 large piece. I like the medium one more, but it colors the water a lot more than the larger one heh


Anywho! More photos! And a video! YAY!
Photos still aren't great, but oh well!

And I finally looked to see how many watts the lights are... and good god.... see for yourself

We're gonna have to do something about that, but I'm not sure what. We can't afford to get new lighting, so hoping I can find some DIY thing.

And finally the video
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPZLSbiraRA

 

[Amunet]

More fishies! YAY!

Got 4 more peppered cories, and the black ghost knife.
I think I'm in love with it already!
I think the people at Petsmart think I'm insane. I was going crazy.. OOing and Awing about how its face looks like a puppy's lol.

Anywho.. Photos!

First up are the plants that we got in the other day. Not great quality plants. Got giant hairgrass, dwarf hair grass, water wisteria, water sprite, java moss, 2 sword compacta.
Looks like the dwarf hairgrass wasn't grown fully submerged b/c it has pods instead of runners. Oh well, hopefully everything will be ok until we get our new lights.

Peppered cory still bagged. Really hate seeing the fish so stressed out in the bags....

And some bad photos of the BGK in the tank lookin around.. or er.. whatever it does lol. SO CUTE!!!
Just hope it hides in a spot that will be easy to feed it from.

 

[Amunet]

I am totally in love with the BGK.... I can't wait til it gets more confident and comfy in the tank and starts coming out more.
Right now it has found its home in the castle decor. SO CUTE!
Keeps popping its head out a little bit. Not confident yet, but hopefully soon.
Will be feeding bloodworms tonight, so will be fun to see if it will come out for those Gonna get the turkey baster and squirt a little where it is.
Hoping that it will eventually eat from the baster and then eventually be hand fed

 

[Joshwainwright]

Loving it,

Just a matter of interest, how much did the tank cost?
Saving up
Far from got enough though lol.

Can't wait to see it finished.

 

[Amunet]

The tank & stand cost around $900 together. That included hoods & crappy lighting.
You could probably find a cheaper one in your area. Just look at craigslist and ebay or in the paper for people selling stuff cheap.
Maybe even take trips around at garage sales and such.
I know our LFS has used tanks for a cheaper price as well, so you could try to find one around you that might have deals like that.

 

[lilfishie]

Loving the BGK

 

[FishBeast]

Nice tank so far man. Nice driftwood. How many watts of light you got for your plants?

 

[Amunet]

Heh.... the lights we have right now are only 17w... pretty much only there to barely light up the tank for you to see.
The room gets bright though so I think that's what the plants have been surviving on.
We should be getting some new lights on Weds... hopefully sooner. Each half of the tank should then be getting a little over 1wpg.

 

[fish are friends....]

Amazing!!
I want your external... they are pretty much a beautiful thing!

 

[Amunet]

All mine! MUAHAHAHA lol


So lets see..... we got some more fish today. 6 baby tiger barbs, and 2 rubberlip plecos.
We had wanted to get clown plecos from the LFS, but the tank w/ them in it was infested with ich. They also had neon rainbows (mislabeled as threadfin).. and BOY were they gorgeous! Of course, those were also in the same tank w/ the ich. So we didn't get any.
Maybe next time though if no more ich.
Speaking of Ich.... doesn't look like the clowns are getting any better which is hella frustrating! I feel so bad b/c I can't cure them of this. I really don't want anymore to die


Anywho...... on a lighter note... more photos! yay!
Fish look a bit out of it b/c I just went and turned on the lights after they had been off a few hours heh.
The BGK was looking around though to my surprise! But it quickly went back to hide in its castle. Poor thing, hope I didn't scare it too badly.

1 of the rubberlips... they are some weird looking plecos. Really fat heads

1 of the barbs. They are scattered all over the tank. Hope they're ok though. They were schooling together when the lights went out..

And bad photos where you can barely see the BGK lol..
This one is of the tip of his tail.... woo! heh

And this one is it behind the wisteria, or water sprite, whatever the heck it is It was trying to find its way back in to the castle

Random photo of one of the juliis. We were going to get 2 more from the LFS... but guess what? Yep.. they were ALSO in that same tank w/ the ich! How crappy is that.... 3 fish we wanted and all in the same tank infested! BAH!

2 of the skunk cories resting in the spot they seem to like at night. Also 1 of the rainbows. I think they're pretty. Their color isn't as vibrant as a pure one, but still impressive IMO. And FYI... it doesn't have red gils. This one and I think another have a red spot coloration on its "cheek" gil area

Another rainbow...

And finally full tank shot. Hasn't really changed. Really hoping the new lights (when we get them in) will help the plants. I want a lush tank dernit! lol I don't think we have the right plants for lush though.. sigh

 

[oliesminis]

Wow, that looks great

 

[Flute]

Stunning tank! It's been lovely to read the whole thread and see how its progressed ^^

You've done an amazing job

 

[Amunet]

Thanks
I'm surprised anyone would want to read through it with how much I can ramble on lol.

Really hoping the new lights will improve photo quality at night. I REALLY want to get some good photos of everything b/c I don't think the photos so far have done the fish justice.
Plus the better light will open up a few more plant options for us. Not many, but more heh.
I really want an update photo like some people have.
Their tank starts off simple, w/ small plants, and then a few weeks later, BAM lush overgrown beautiful tank! lol


Anywho, a few more photos today.
Did a water change and the danios and rainbows were all schooling and it just looked nice heh.
The killifish could've cared less He is such a weird little fish. Glad he's doing well in this tank though. Was so afraid he'd get aggressive or stressed, but as you can see in the photos, he's doing just fine

And just a neat pattern that the pond snails made on the tank wall during the water change heh.

 

[Amunet]

Well, bad news... found one of the plecos floating today. Poor thing.
Hope the other one is ok. So many spots to hide, that I can't make sure it's alive or not.

 

[Amunet]

We should be getting our new lights tomorrow! WOO! I'm so excited!!

Saw the other pleco earlier, alive and well, so very happy about that.
All fish seem to be doing great
The BGK def knows when it's time to eat. Always see it wiggling about in the castle looking for the food that I push out of the turkey baster heh.
The tiger barbs have made themselves at home. They are SO tiny and SO cute! We're so tempted to get more of them. I think we might be getting some green ones and albino. Depends on what DH wants to do

Really wish the loaches would get better though. Feel so so awful that they're not. I just don't know what to do for them any longer.
I adding in a little bit of salt, and am using Quick Cure again. They look so bad though. Spots all over them and hiding most of the day.

Also on a slightly lighter note...
Saw some brown algae on some of the anubias leaves. Is brown algae just inevitable in a new tank? *shrugs* Just hope it goes away quickly and doesn't get on everything.

Will update tomorrow when we get the new lights