My 75 Gallon Native Tank

I showed a picture of this tank in Bart's 90 gallon thread but I didn't want to hijack his thread so I though I'd start one of my own.

I started this tank back about 15 months ago now, after a long hiatus from the hobby. It's gone through some changes over the months.

The tank is a standard 75 gallon, I've got a 130 watt CF fixture over it, along with a standard t-12 40 watt, I only turn the 40 watt on when I'm home, about half the time of my light cycle (guessing).

I've got a big aquaclear HOB filter, a medium sized eheim canister, and a good sized power head with microfilter. No co2, I do fertilize though, macro and micro, I don't put iron in on a regular basis unless the leaves are telling me too.

Gravel substrate, gravel I found locally and washed, I didn't quite intend for this to be a planted tank when I set up. If I had to do it all over again I'd have a different substrate.

All the driftwood, fish, and the vals were collected locally. Not all of the plants are native.

I've had several types of fish in there over the course of the life of the tank. Here's a list. Not all of them are still in the tank, some have passed on and others I've given to other hobbyists.

Pumpkinseeds
Swallowtail Shiners
Banded Killifish
Mummichogs
Tessellated darter
Satinfin Shiners
Spottail shiners
Mud Minnows

For plants, I've had loads of different types but here's what's in there at the moment.

Bacopa
Wisteria
Vals
Two types of Java Fern
Bolbitis
Christmas Moss
Fissidens moss
Java Moss
Anubias (several types)
Crypt Wenditi


Here's some pics of the tank and critters.

Here's a shot of the tank when I first set up, I had a problem with this one jumping out of the tank so I bagged this and decided to fill it with water



Time to get serious, here's my initial set up, I can't believe how lousy it looks! 11/23/07



11/25/07 and I I must have gone rock and wood collecting, and plastic plants (yuck!)



12/18/07, I'd gotten hold of some hornwort! Heading down a slippery slope toward more plants.



3/16/08, I really don't have any full tank shots for a long period, but this lousy shot gives some idea of the way the tank was going.



9/14/08 Major changes, moss, vals, hygro, anacharis, java ferns and anubias, I'd taken a big leap!



11/1/08 Some new species of Java Fern and wood, Bolbitis fern under the HOB outflow, my picture taking skills are improving. I melted my vals at some point in here.



12/27/08 Lots of new growth, but not too much, one of the things I like about this tank is it's minimal maintenance.



2/24/08 The vals are starting to take over but I love the look.



I really never intended for this tank to become a planted tank. For the most part I put plants in from my other tanks and was surprised when they would grow!

I'm going to do the fish in a separate post.

Looks Great! Cant wait for my plants to start filling in more.

Gorgeous! And thanks for letting me know what that fish was. I'm pretty sure I've seen them in the creek that runs near my house. I'll have to see if I can find them in the part that's not in the wetlands preserve.

Quite the transformation and for the better. Great setup.

Looks great, Patrick! I'm totally jealous!

Brian

Very nice progression! Love the jungle!

Gorgeous! And thanks for letting me know what that fish was. I'm pretty sure I've seen them in the creek that runs near my house. I'll have to see if I can find them in the part that's not in the wetlands preserve.

Thanks everyone!

I'm pretty sure those Satinfin's are in most of the Potomac tribs around the fall line, even heavily urbanized ones.

Edited by pmk00001, 26 February 2009 - 12:20 PM.

Thanks everyone!

I'm pretty sure those Satinfin's are in most of the Potomac tribs around the fall line, even heavily urbanized ones.

If in the area and in any doubt at all, I would say that Satinfins are my most commonly encountered fish in both the Rappahannock and York drainages. Also they are the only Cyprinella, so that makes everything a little easier.

Wow. Looks great! I love seeing the stages of developement. Looks very nice.

If in the area and in any doubt at all, I would say that Satinfins are my most commonly encountered fish in both the Rappahannock and York drainages. Also they are the only Cyprinella, so that makes everything a little easier.

I took a couple satinfins home after I went out with Derek and Drew some months ago. They did not make it back (this was the cooler that smelled absolutely foul when I got home). Now I want to try again...

They are definately one of my favorite fish, they males stay colored up all the time and the mostly just bother each other rather than the other fish in the tank. In the evening I sometimes shut my main light off and just leave the smaller one on. They really like this and cruise all around the tank with their fins up. Great fish.