13 replies to this topic

[smbass]

About a year ago I took down my old planted tank display which was a 40 breeder... 

 

 

I did this so I could put bigger tank in the same spot. I just wanted to use up all the available space and the biggest tank I could fit in this particular corner was a 48" tank. Biggest with that length I found was 24" x 24" x 48" 120 gallons. I also wanted to build my own stand so it would match the stand of my other three display tanks...

 

I decided to build a background for in this tank for the right end and back which both sit against walls. I went with the stiro insulation and coated it with silicon and then just smeared a gravel sand mixture into the silicon to give it a natural look. I wanted this to be a low pH soft water tank so I used all non-reactive substrate for the background and later in the tank...

 

I also ordered a rain barrel to collect water from my downspout so I would have free soft low pH water for this tank. Problem was when I first set this up we were having one heck of a cold winter that really lasted a long time, so I went out in the yard with a show shovel...

 

 

It took several days of melting snow into the tank to get it full, this first batch only resulted in about 2-3" of water above the substrate. Eventually though I got the tank full of water and it was pretty cloudy at first...

 

[smbass]

Within a few days it started looking better though and I added in some locally found driftwood...

 

I went with a fluval canister filter and fluval LED grow lights. I also have never used CO2 or plant specific substrate before but I decided to go all out on this tank and bought a rather large CO2 tank and actually bought all the substrate for this tank which is not the norm for me. Usually getting more gravel for a tank means a trip to the river with my shovel and some 5 gallon buckets.

 

For about the first 6-8 months I grew a lot of algae and it took a while to get this tank in balance but once I finally got enough plants in there to out compete the algae it has really become a great set up...

 

 

And some of the current occupants...

 

Juvenile Bluenose and Pugnose Shiners

 

Blackbanded Sunfish

 

Lake Chubsuckers

 

Over 100 H. formosa in the tank and more being made every day. These two males were sparing and moving around a lot but I still like this photo.

[smbass]

Female formosa

 

Elassoma okatie

 

 

Dwarf Crayfish Cambarellus shufeldtii

 

Also not photoed are a pair of Flagfish and several pairs of Pygmy Killifish

 

I have also been impressed by how well some local plants I have found grow in this tank compared to my past low tech planted tanks. I have two species of Pond Weed Potamogeton, a single American white water lilly Nymphaea odorata, Common water plantain Alisma plantago-aquatica, various Ludwigia sp., Valsinaria americana, Lizzards tail Saururus cernuus, along with various store bought typical aquarium plants.

 

Lizzards tail Saururus cernuus

 

My original plans for this tank were Blackbanded Sunfish and Flagfin Shiners. Still hoping to go collect some Flagfins myself or trade something I have for some. If anyone seeing this has access to them let me know and maybe we can work out a trade!

 

Now pretty much a year into this tank I am needing to thin out some of the faster growing plants on a regular basis. I'm interested in adding in other native slower growing species and I'm open to suggestions!

[Evan P]

Wow, this tank looks great, Brian. I love the broad variety of fish you have in there, as well as the overgrown look. That dense plant growth adds another layer, something that make it impossible to see the entire tank at a glance. It makes the tank look far bigger than 120 gallons.

[MtFallsTodd]

Nice looking tank!!!!!

[Betta132]

Very nice! I'm a bit jealous.

What's the cute little diamond-shaped fish with the stripes? A baby blackbanded? 

[smbass]

Yeah that is a little Blackbanded Sunfish. I just have a couple of these in the tank because I don't want them to eat all the formosa. With as much cover as there is and only a few tiny predators the little live bearers are reproducing in the tank with the other fish around.

[Isaac Szabo]

Awesome tank!

[loopsnj64]

This is like one of those planted tanks you see on the cover of Tropical Fish magazine... but with native fish, native plants and native everything! Great job!

[Sean Phillips]

Wow, now there's a great tank! Nice job on the build!

[smbass]

Thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed it! I have been meaning to get this posted for quite a while but it probably is good it took me so long so I could put the whole story up at once. Also I was pretty frustrated with it for  while due to how infested with algae it was. I changed the lighting cycle to two periods both about 6 hours long each day and added a bunch of snails and that seemed to be when the tide turned from too much algae growth to plants out competing the algae. Also could have been just length of time since I set it up but I do think those little tweaks had some effect. Hope this helps other setting up similar set ups. I am really enjoying some of the native plants. I have always liked the various pond weed species that are native but could never get them to grow before in a tank and I'm really happy to see it working now.

[Chasmodes]

Tank looks great!!!!

[Matt DeLaVega]

These photos don't do it justice. My son Seth and I recently lived with it for most of a week. It is much more impressive in front of you than anything Brian can show you in photos. Very cool, and CO2 is awesome!

 

 

Edit. I reckon these photos are not within the last couple weeks. Now it is a jungle. Brian thinks he needs to prune it, I like it the way it is. Say no to pruning unless it is minor. Meh. It will grow back, so no worries.

[Irate Mormon]

Nice Biotope.  The BBS don't really go in there but you're pretty much spot on with the rest.  H. formosa are not typically found in welaka habitat, but it's not too much of a stretch, really.  All you need now is E. swaini.