My Planted Community Tank Blog

[MissMTS]

This is a thread dedicated to my 75 gallon tank. It is a fully planted community tank. It is currently overstocked because I had to move fish over from my 80 gallon due to compatibility issues. They will be spread out between more tanks when they get bigger though. Right now they are all juvies It is a fun tank to watch with lots of activity!

Tank Inhabitants:
Platinum Angel Pair
Wild Scalare Angel Pair
Female Marble Angel
Blue Acara
Turquoise Rainbows
Boesmani Rainbows
Praecox Rainbows
SAE
Bolivian Rams
A. Hongsloi Pair
BN Pleco
King Tiger Pleco
Kuhli Loaches
Burmese Border Loaches

Substrate: Medium Sized Gravel and Playsand

Background: Black Cloth attached with velcro

Filter: Aquaclear 75 (planning on upgrading soon)

Plants: Amazon Swords, Crypts, Vals, Java Fern, Anubias

Here are lots of pics:

[MissMTS]

more pics....

[peacemaker92]

Beautiful tank! I love your Angels! They look very bright and cute!

[MissMTS]

Thanks The angels are deffinetly my favorites in the tank.

[agabr123]

looks great! i love your angels!!!

[jack--sos]

It looks amazing kate, i love the pleco and rams

[MissMTS]

Thanks Sos! My pleco and the rams are my most recent additions and so far they seem very happy The BN is tiny right now....only about an inch and a half!

I added some anubias plants yesterday and removed some of the driftwood. I'll try to take some new pics. I think I like the tank better with the changes.

I must say I am kinda jealous. I wish I had more of a green thumb to get plants to grow like that.

[MissMTS]

Awww don't be jealous! Let me just say this, for every aquatic plant that I suceed with, I kill a terrestrial plant. For some reason my green thumb only pertains to aquariums, lol. Correct lighting and liquid ferts also help though

[Regal]

So pretty! I know I told you in another thread but I am in love with your platinum angels. Is your bn a girl of boy?
Oh and I can't keep house plants alive either lol

[MissMTS]

Thanks I am not sure what sex my BN is.....he's still too little to tell. No bristles yet, but my other male didn't get them until he hit about 2-2.5 inches.

[Master Snake]

Wow. I'm speechless. What a wonderful mix of gorgeous fishes! This truly is a master tank if I ever saw one. I mean this tank is all I could ever ask for. You inspire me!

[Lucy]

Kate, your tank looks great!
I notice you have partial sand, how are you keeping it in place? I've entertained the idea of putting a glass dish of some sort with sand as I'd love to have some Kuhli's.
How are yours doing with the other substrate?

[MissMTS]

Originally Posted by Master Snake

Wow. I'm speechless. What a wonderful mix of gorgeous fishes! This truly is a master tank if I ever saw one. I mean this tank is all I could ever ask for. You inspire me!

You are so kind Thanks for the nice words! I still feel like the tank needs a lot of work, but I don't want to do anything more to the tank until after I move since I will have to tear the whole thing down anyways.

Originally Posted by Lucy

Kate, your tank looks great!
I notice you have partial sand, how are you keeping it in place? I've entertained the idea of putting a glass dish of some sort with sand as I'd love to have some Kuhli's.
How are yours doing with the other substrate?

Thanks Lucy!!! In order to keep my sand in place I didn't really do anything. Originally, I just had gravel, but I wanted to add sand for the Bolivian Rans. I just kind of pushed the gravel aside and dumped some sand in. I don't really move the substrate around much since I have so many plants in the tank. When I vacuum I more or less just skim the surface. That probably helps. My kuhlis do great in the tank. Honestly, I think they prefer the gravel more than they do the sand. They have been in a tank with only gravel until about a month ago, so I think they are used to it. The sand is more for my Bolivians because they like to sift it around

[Amanda]

B-E-A-U-tiful tank Kate!!

[MissMTS]

Thanks Amanda!

[Hwx]

I need to know what the floating plant in the top left picture is called?

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Girl, you need to come design my tanks for me! I'm always impressed by how gorgeous yours look.

[MissMTS]

Originally Posted by Hwx

I need to know what the floating plant in the top left picture is called?

It is moneywort. Its a stem plant that can actually be planted in the substrate. That's originally how mine was, but the fish kept uprooting it, so I just let it stay up there, lol. Its doing well and putting out lots of runners though.

Originally Posted by pinkfloydpuffer

Girl, you need to come design my tanks for me! I'm always impressed by how gorgeous yours look.

Thanks Pink I have added a lot more plants and changed things around, so I will have to get more recent pics up soon. When I moved it was impossible to put everything back in exactly the way it was, so I tried a couple different things with it. Your planted tanks are looking really nice too! I love your sorority tank and your DP tank It looks like your plant killing days are over

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Originally Posted by MissMTS

Thanks Pink I have added a lot more plants and changed things around, so I will have to get more recent pics up soon. When I moved it was impossible to put everything back in exactly the way it was, so I tried a couple different things with it. Your planted tanks are looking really nice too! I love your sorority tank and your DP tank It looks like your plant killing days are over

Aw thanks.
Don't say that, you'll jinx me lol

[Franklin]

Nice tank.I love your blue acara.It reminds me of a GT I have.

[MissMTS]

Originally Posted by Franklin

Nice tank.I love your blue acara.It reminds me of a GT I have.

Thanks GT's and Blue Acaras look so much alike as Juvies that it is almost impossible to tell them apart. They are both great looking fish

[MissMTS]

I figured I should update since a lot has changed in this tank.

I re-did the aquascaping after I moved and I like the change a lot more. I am still hoping to add more plants. I am looking for a "carpet" plant that can handle low light, but as of now, I haven't found anything that will work. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

My T-5 light fixture broke earlier this week, so I had to order a new one. I figured that since I was ordering a new one, I might as well upgrade the lights on my tank. I ordered this one from Pet Mountain:
http://www.petmountain.com/product/a...satellite.html

I got the 36 inch fixture, and I also kept the 40 watt 48 inch fixture on my tank. This gives me a total of 136 watts and 1.8 WPG. I really like that the fixture has moonlights as well. I just need to figure out how to set the timer, lol.

Here's an updated pic of the tank:

[Amanda]

Wow! The tank looks great!

[MissMTS]

Thanks Amanda

[LilMan]

Awesome!

I hope my tank looks at least 1/10 as good as yours does.

[MissMTS]

You are so sweet Thanks for the kind words.

[MissMTS]

Okay, so I know I already posted this in another thread, but I figured I should post it here to in order to keep my blog current

I moved everything out of my 75 gallon and put it into my 70 gallon tall. I changed the substrate to 2-3 inches of Organic Top Soil (Miracle Grow) and added 1 inch of pea gravel on top of it. I tied all of my anubias and java fern to driftwood so hopefully it will start growing better than it was before. I also ordered some new fish for the tank, and after a shipping fiasco, the survivors are doing great and are healthy and happy in their new home. I added 1 festivum, 2 Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Moliwe", and 4 CW21 Cories. The plants have really taken off in the new substrate. The organic matter in the substrate breaks down and produces bubbles of CO2 which naturally stimulates the plant growth. The first tank shot is when I first planted everything. The 2nd one is a couple weeks later.

[Shaina]

Looking good -- have you had any problems with using that potting soil?

[Angela_96]

Originally Posted by MissMTS

Okay, so I know I already posted this in another thread, but I figured I should post it here to in order to keep my blog current

I moved everything out of my 75 gallon and put it into my 70 gallon tall. I changed the substrate to 2-3 inches of Organic Top Soil (Miracle Grow) and added 1 inch of pea gravel on top of it. I tied all of my anubias and java fern to driftwood so hopefully it will start growing better than it was before. I also ordered some new fish for the tank, and after a shipping fiasco, the survivors are doing great and are healthy and happy in their new home. I added 1 festivum, 2 Pelvicachromis Taeniatus "Moliwe", and 4 CW21 Cories. The plants have really taken off in the new substrate. The organic matter in the substrate breaks down and produces bubbles of CO2 which naturally stimulates the plant growth. The first tank shot is when I first planted everything. The 2nd one is a couple weeks later.

I have 6 of those Pelv Taeniatus and they are in a planted tank, they LOVE IT! I am pretty sure I have one bonded pair now finally. They immediatly brightend up with the plants being put in the tank.