My 72 Gall Planted Aquarium

[Neo8223]

Hi All

So this is my 2nd attempt at a proper planted aquarium. I tried about 5 years ago with decent equipment, an eheim ecco 2332, uv filter, 1.9wpg t5, EI and homebrew CO2. I had pretty good success, with the obvious bba and hair algae problems along the way and overcame it, adapting to new ways of keeping tropical fish and plants both happy at the same time. I had to shut down the tank as there was no longer space for 2 large tanks in the house.

Since then, I have had various nano tanks, (and currently have a 5 gall or so tank in my room) but I wanted a big challenge.

Enter my 72 gall tank.

Right... this has possibly been the most poorly planned tank setup ever... well its all been done from something i thought up about a year ago but never investigated into.

Heres the tech spec:

Tank: 72 gall 3x2x2 ft (i think)
Lights: 60 Watts on for 8 hours a day
WPG = 60/72 = 10/12 = 5/6
Substrate = Uncleaned gravel from the last setup in the tank so should have lots of "compost"
Ferts = EI
CO2 = 0.8 bubbles per second on a CO2 regulator
temp= 27C
Water pH = 8 (but will decrease with CO2)
Massively overpowered filter + spray bar.

Future Additions
+ Moonlight. - Its in all my other tanks and looks great!!
+ Drop Check

So I wanted to build a tank around an arc shape. I wanted there to be two pieces of drift wood. Unfortunately, I could only find one out of the 2 pieces, so its in the tank now. Im going out to my lfs to get some more tomorrow. Ive left the tank cycling for about a week, however, with so many plants in the tank, the ammonia cycle will not really have so much of a hand in the cycling of the tank. Additionally, the uncleaned gravel will also be home to bacteria.

I bought a CO2 regulator and a CO2 bottle from Ebay:

fire extinguisher: http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130705224748?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

CO2 regulator with solenoid: http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300704377102?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I fitted this along with a non return valve to my tank and added a timer so the CO2 is pumping for 12 hours a day. (no point in the evening!!)

I added some plants from Ebay which came in a pack for £12. That was probably my biggest and only mistake. The plants are not healthy and half of the nicer looking ones have disintegrated. I will be getting replacements soon!!! I will also stock the tank with some of the specimins from my nano tank as i often have to throw away the excess from that tank

Im going to have about 30 cardinal tetras, 5 clown loaches, 8 bristlenoses, 3 mollies (already have them) 20 zebra danios, 10 red sword tails, 2 khullie loaches, 10 shrimp and then i think the tank will be just about half stocked!!!

Finally, I am growing some christmas moss in my upstairs tank. I will be growing moss caves to put in the other tank at a later date, but they should grow faster in the nano tank as its more wpg and more nutrients.

Anyway, pics to follow tomorrow.

 

[D4n.gr33n]

Id Suggest more than 2 Khuli loaches as they do better in bigger groups maybe 6/7 for a big tank like this. But that's only from personal experience

 

[Neo8223]

upped to 7 I know they like caves and im putting in 5 breeding caves in the corner by the filter in. This is because I intend to breed my bristlenoses. Im wondering if its going to be enough for so many cave dwellers.

 

[Neo8223]

Hi All

As promised. Here are the pics.

Here is the tank when emptied after getting rid of all of the fish (re-homed them)

After filling and putting plants in, it looked like this:

There were some plants which i didnt know where to put, so i let them float and soak up a few extra rays.

Next, enter a CO2 unit

and we have bubbles!

Unfortunately, some of the plants didnt survive the post... crap quality (never buying form ebay again! notice how many non-aquatic plants are in there too!!)

This morning, I got a new set of tyres for my car and then gave it a test drive to none other than maidenhead aquatics! There i bought some hornwart (whilst the other plants grow), Straight Vallis (i think its giant) and some more bogwood. I boiled the bogwood to make it sink but to also kill any nasties that I didnt want in the tank.

I gave the plants a rinse and then put everything in, along with some cuttings from my 4 gall tank straight in the middle.

I added some more fish as its been a week since I first set up the tank.

I now have, 8 baby BN's, 3 Cardinal Tetras (full adults) 2 mollies. I'm going to wait till sunday night to add the clowns and khullies as they are less hardy.

Enjoy!!

 

[Man of fish]

Im going to have about 30 cardinal tetras, 5 clown loaches, 8 bristlenoses, 3 mollies (already have them) 20 zebra danios, 10 red sword tails, 2 khullie loaches, 10 shrimp and then i think the tank will be just about half stocked!!!

I'd say this would be about dtocked actually, mainly because of the 8 bn that have the potential to reach 6 inches or 15 cm. These things also produce a huge bioload and I've seen warnings against having 2 in a 55 gallon......
As said before kuhlis need more than 2, and also clown loaches can get over a foot long, and I'm not really sure if this tank is suitable, as the adult specimen need 6 ft tanks, but I'd say 5 ft is adequate. If its not 5 ft why not a group of 10 zebra loaches or 20 of some type of cories? I'd also cut the swordtails a bit then call it stocked.

 

[Crossfire]

I hope you plan on switching to sand for those loaches.....kuhlis have sensitive whiskers and that gravel will shred it for them and can cause problems

 

[Neo8223]

Im going to have about 30 cardinal tetras, 5 clown loaches, 8 bristlenoses, 3 mollies (already have them) 20 zebra danios, 10 red sword tails, 2 khullie loaches, 10 shrimp and then i think the tank will be just about half stocked!!!

I'd say this would be about dtocked actually, mainly because of the 8 bn that have the potential to reach 6 inches or 15 cm. These things also produce a huge bioload and I've seen warnings against having 2 in a 55 gallon......
As said before kuhlis need more than 2, and also clown loaches can get over a foot long, and I'm not really sure if this tank is suitable, as the adult specimen need 6 ft tanks, but I'd say 5 ft is adequate. If its not 5 ft why not a group of 10 zebra loaches or 20 of some type of cories? I'd also cut the swordtails a bit then call it stocked.

My cousin owns a lfs. Good question, and for that I have a long term plan. I'll be moving out in 2 years and setting up my 4ft tank which is picking up dust. They wont reach that size overnight but i didnt consider the zebra loaches. It might be worth the swap around. Ive got 2 for now, both under 2 inches so perfect for the tank as it stands.

Really dont like cories

I hope you plan on switching to sand for those loaches.....kuhlis have sensitive whiskers and that gravel will shred it for them and can cause problems

Hmmn, never knew that! However, its not sharp gravel. I got given the two about 5 years ago whilst i had my other tank and has been in the 72 gall tank when it had the bigger fish. they were fine back then so should be fine now. I'm more worried about hiding space as they LOVE to hide during the day!

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[Neo8223]

Hi All

So it seems that my EI has been doing the trick and the hornwart that I have in the tank has now just flowered! (didnt know it was a flowering plant!) However, on top of the flowers, it seems to be growing normal leaves. Not what I'd expect!

Has anyone seen that before? Co-incidently, the plant is closest to my CO2 diffuser too!!

My cousin who runs a maidenhead aquatics shop came over today. I spoke to him about the clown loach issue and he recommended a shoal of dwarf chain loaches for my tank as the clown/zebra loaches will just eventually rip the tank to pieces. I currently have two clown loaches which i'll keep until they outgrow the tank and will just have the dwarf chain loaches to keep down the snail count.

 

[Neo8223]

Hi All

So quite a few updates. Parents said that I need to get rid of the nano tank as the bill was too much... Fair play. So i've got a radical change of fish.

I now have:

10 baby BN's
2 kuhli's
2 clown loaches
2 african dwarf frogs. (ill get onto these in a min)
8 neon tetras
3 cardinal tetras
6 glowlight tetras
3 mollies
2 ottos

I've yet again changed what i want in terms of loaches. I am now going for 4 pakistani loaches. These only grow to 10cm over time. I need these for snail control as the clown loaches aren't eating fast enough.

The tank is looking happily populated and once I buy these, although the tank/filter has the capacity for more, there is no need.

Before I put the frogs in, as they need air, I did some research into the natural habitat of the frogs. They were going from a very shallow tank to a very deep tank. I read that Congo forest floods yearly to a depth of 24 or more inches and as my tank is 22 " at max, I thought it would be fine. Bizarrely the frog with only 1 arm found this a doddle. The fat frog however was another story. I had previously filled the tank to the top so that some parts of the glass lid were touching the water. This freaked out the frog so i lowered the the water level in the tank by 2cm and within 10 minutes, it was happily trawling the bottom without a care in the world. 3 days on (today) and it was loving some frozen bloodworm that i added.

So anyway, Because I got rid of 1 tank, I had loads of spare plants going from the old tank so I planted!!!!

Because this tank was a nano tank, it had lots of low growing plants, which was great because i had a pretty poor foreground/midground. Also, incase you were all wondering, why the pipes... I put the pipes there incase there was not enough aeration in the tank. I then have a huge airpump which blows bubbles out into all of the required areas. I didnt use an airstone as wanted the biggest bubbles (hence more surface agitation) (agree/disagree, comment below)

Anyway, to the pics

If anyone knows the names of the plants in for foreground i'd love to know. I was quite un-impressed with the root structure to these, I thought they would have grown much more. However, based on the plant growth in this tank, I think there should be no problem with them growing.

This is what the tank looks like now:

As toy can see, the drop check is pointing out a ph of about 6.6

In the last tank, I was growing a moss wall. This picked up surprisingly well considering that it was practically bare 3 weeks ago, however, It doesnt look right so I;m growing it to put on both of the logs. I only want to put it on one part ofthe logs to make them look like its slowly taking over.

Heres another pic of it. Not looking so impressive, but hopefully will do in about 2 months time.

Heres my glowlights. They are absolutely massive and were the only non-bottom feeding fish left in the tank. I am curious if they would have tried breeding as the tank they came out of was pretty much a jungle!

Heres the hiding caves for my fish. I have another 3 more which im going to put in when my bn's come of age to avoid territorial problems. The clowns have taken over the bottom one, and so far 1 bn has taken over the top cave. I was surprised that the kuhlie loaches took refuge under the wood.They are happy though .

next pic is of the otto munching at the wood. Pic looked great on my camera... bit crappy here..

Now for the frogs... This frog rarely stay still, both frogswill perch wherever and are not seemingly territorial. This one has a sort of white patch on it. I've taken it out of the water to inspect it when I first noticed it about a year ago, but it seemed happy so I left it. It never stops eating

Next one... wheres froggy... This frog on the other hand (the 1 with one arm) is a lot more dosile. I occasionally used to feed it manually as it is a little underweight, but as this new tank is so big, it might not be possible. Ideas?

This was the centerpiece of the last tank. The root structure is massive (over 30cm each direction) I buried the lot. Its got a tad of algae on it, but im hoping the BN's will make light work of it.

So any comments/suggestions would be great.

 

[Man of fish]

Pakistani loach actually reach 15 cm and need groups of 6 as any loach does. I'd up the kuhlis to 6 and get 6 zebras, they only get to about 9/10 cm. Also up the cardinals to at least 6 and the otos to 3. Then I think your tank is pretty overstocked, but doable. If it were my tank I'd get rid of the 2 clowns, as this tank is only suitable for them for about a year more max, and I'd get rid of the neons or cardinals then up which ever other shoal to 12. I'd also remove a few bn. Maybe have 6. The stocking list I'd have would be this:

6 baby bn
6 kuhlis
6 zebra loach
2 ADF
12 cardinal tetras
8 glowlight tetras
3 mollies
3 otos.

The otos also really only eat algae and I've found them difficult to feed. You may want to get rid of them as well.