# 150 gal pics



## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

This is an Oceanic reef-ready 150 tall that I got for cheep on Craig's List. I covered the drilled holes with 1/4" glass pieces (all except for one that is plumbed for easy draining of the tank), painted the stand and hood, and transferred the contents of my 55gal to it. I want to thank everyone for their help with getting this tank ready to go.

It has Quikrete Play Sand substrate, and except for some cabomba and a couple of swords, all of the plants are from the 55. I cannot believe how stuffed with plants that tank was! The rock pile on the far left hides a PVC pipe that is capped and has holes drilled all around it, plumbed to a hose spigot on the side of the tank stand. This way I can attach a garden hose to it and run it out the door, draining the tank for water changes without sucking any fish or sand out with it. It is filtered with a Fluval XF5 (this thing is the size of a shop vac) and the Rena Filstar XP4 that was running on the 55. This will stay as is while the new filter (Fluval) builds its colony of biobugs, then I am considering filling the XP4 with peat to lower the pH. This is just an experiment - nobody in this tank is suffering from my water as is - the rainbows and white clouds are 5-8 years old. 

Inhabitants include 8 Boesemani rainbows, many, many Endler's and guppies, white cloud minnows, and a dozen Corydoras trilineatus. I plan on a few rubberlip (Chaetostoma sp.) plecos or bristlenose (Ancistrus sp) plecos, and hopefully some angels if I can find some wild types. So, another community planted tank for me! I do have plans to branch out - I've sold off my Africans in the 40 gal and have redone the tank in preparation for 3 South American puffers.


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## andy1450 (Jul 30, 2008)

Very nice :fishRed:


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## jaysinnva (Jan 2, 2009)

Wow, those are some awesome Boesmanis, I was looking at those just yesterday. Excellent job on the new tank!


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

The interesting thing about the Boesemanis is that I had never seen them from the front-on view before, like swimming directly towards me, because in the 55 they tended to swim side to side only, like prisoners in front of their bars - back and forth, lol. Now they have room to swim and they could not be happier. I am getting much better activity from them now with all the room. Now they can swim towards me and I get a much better look at them, and how fat and bumpy they are. I love 'em.


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## jaysinnva (Jan 2, 2009)

You know, I think my Silver Dollars will be that way once in a bigger tank as well. Even though they're still quite small, they always go back & forth, except when hiding from my arm in the tank lol.


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

Very, very nice!


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

jaysinnva said:


> You know, I think my Silver Dollars will be that way once in a bigger tank as well. Even though they're still quite small, they always go back & forth, except when hiding from my arm in the tank lol.


Yes, I think you will be very pleasantly surprised when you move them. After keeping a 55g for so many, many years I think I must say it is my *least favorite* tank ever! The 55g is so narrow that I'd rather stock a tank with fewer gallons but with a wider footprint. My 40g breeder has much happier fish than the slim 55. No offense to die-hard 55g owners - it is an extremely popular tank size - but the narrowness causes fish to be unable to behave in a natural manner. JMO!

My 55g is now home to a breeding pair of tokay geckos - they are thrilled with their new digs, and it makes a much better terrarium than aquarium.


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## eaglesfan3711 (Nov 16, 2008)

Very nice Boesmani Rainbows. I keep australian rainbows and they are amazing and hardy fish...Good Luck!


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

How come the shot of the whole tank has such low resolution? I've got a 10 megapixel camera but I'm not getting that kind of clear shot of the tank. Any advice on the settings I should use?


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## saddison (Jan 9, 2009)

The tank looks wonderful!
I hope mine ends up looking half as good as that!


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## APoirier594 (Jan 25, 2009)

Wow, that looks amazing, wish my old FW tank looked so nice


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Uhm, I think you deleted the pictures because I can't see them xD


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

sorry about that! I fixed it.


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## saltydad (Jun 27, 2008)

Beautiful! Nice work. I agree the 55 is just too narrow while a 75 has the same footprint side to side.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Stellaluna said:


> sorry about that! I fixed it.


Oh, wonderful!

Now I can see the setup!! I love the sand  although are you thinking of getting tetras later on?? instead of rainbows? how do you keep the water so clear? I am still trying to make my water clear again  but it is taking a long time.


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

I already have a smallish school of cardinal tetras in there now, added since I took the pics, but there is tons of room still. I am still building on the inhabitants. In a tank this size there is no reason not to keep the rainbows along with a school of tetras. 

In my 20+ years keeping aquariums, when tanks are cloudy they are overstocked (remove some of the fish), experiencing a bacterial bloom (wait it out, do nothing), are going through some sort of mini cycle (ammonia or nitrite will register, at least a trace, on test kits, and the fish are not behaving normally), or you are going to have a green water bloom, which is due to excess nutrients in the water column, cured by blackouts or preferably a UV filter, followed by a more rigorous PWC regimen in the future. It can also be due to inadequate filtration for the tank, partly related to how the tank is stocked.

Here is a pic of a few of the cardinals, half of the school I added (they don't always stick together). There are also some cuttings of plants taken from other tanks, including water wisteria, sunset hygro, and moneywort that I recently added.


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Looks great!

Be very careful adding fish to a tank this size. I would go with a 1 week holding tank (lightly medicated 10-20g) before moving them over to this tank. 

What kind of lighting do you have on this? The reason I ask is because you are going from a 55 to a 150 tall. Now that the depth has changed, watch for changes in your plants and possible algae blooms depending on your lighting.


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

I will certainly be careful - I am using my 40-gallon as a Q-tank. Melafix for about 10 days and then slowly adding them to the 150. 

As for lighting, I am using the 4x65w CF Coralife fixture that used to be on the 55 when I was using pressurized CO2 and daily dosing of ferts:










This regimen (plus daily hacking back of the plants) got to be too much of a chore so I cut back on the lighting and sold off my more persnickety plants, and went to about 1.5 wpg.

Now, the 4x65w is not quite adequate for my needs, especially since it is mounted up in the hood, a little over a foot away from the surface of the water. I am going to add pressurized CO2 to this tank, even with the lower lighting, because it always helps, but I am probably going to add the 1x65w cf fixture I have lying around, which I will try lying directly on the 1.5' glass brace that runs across the center of the tank. 

I do not like the old WPG rule since there are so many variables - the plants at the bottom of this 2' deep tank are very far away from that light fixture. I need to use my plants as a gauge, and I think I need more light, lol. I am dosing a comprehensive plant fert now (Tropica Master Grow - not called that anymore - "Aquacare" but it will always be TMG to me!) and will likely go back to PMDD, since I still have all these dry ferts and it is SO much cheaper to mix them yourself. I have a lot of watching and testing to do to see what the needs of this tank will be. It is still settling in.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Stellaluna said:


> I already have a smallish school of cardinal tetras in there now, added since I took the pics, but there is tons of room still. I am still building on the inhabitants. In a tank this size there is no reason not to keep the rainbows along with a school of tetras.
> 
> In my 20+ years keeping aquariums, when tanks are cloudy they are overstocked (remove some of the fish), experiencing a bacterial bloom (wait it out, do nothing), are going through some sort of mini cycle (ammonia or nitrite will register, at least a trace, on test kits, and the fish are not behaving normally), or you are going to have a green water bloom, which is due to excess nutrients in the water column, cured by blackouts or preferably a UV filter, followed by a more rigorous PWC regimen in the future. It can also be due to inadequate filtration for the tank, partly related to how the tank is stocked.
> 
> Here is a pic of a few of the cardinals, half of the school I added (they don't always stick together). There are also some cuttings of plants taken from other tanks, including water wisteria, sunset hygro, and moneywort that I recently added.


Oh thanks for the information 

I will give some of my fishes away. I am pretty sure that they will take my silver dollars, and my paradise gouramis.

I have this giant angel in the tank which is pretty aggressive, but it's huge. So I can't do anything about it's behavior. 

I think you are right about the bacterial bloom. I had a feeling of that, because I have a 10 gallon and it's only got 3 fishes in it and they are small, and the water is crystal clear water 

Mainly because it is 2 puffer fishes and 1 plecostomus.

But my 29 gallon has about 25 fishes. Which is probably the cause of all of the problems.

So then since I had that problem in my tank, I remembered it must of happened to my friend before and he has been raising fishes for about 20 years just like you too 

He told me to get rid of a few of the fishes, and he said for me to give the fishes to Big Al's AQUARIUM Services  

So I will do that tomorrow.

He told me to get some live plants too, and he gave me a bunch and also told me to go and buy some more.

So I did and it seems to not do much... but I do know from taking plant biology on both aquatic plants and land plants. That the aquatic plants absorb nutrients and some other stuff that can be harmful to the aquarium.

But it goes at a slow speed in one day. So it probably might take some time..

But I hope things will go well when I remove some of my fishes 

Don't worry, I will never kill my fishes by flushing them down the toilet xD it's cruel.

Also, I hope that you can post videos on your fishes 

150 gallons is HUGE  but compared to a 1,000 gallon. It's not big big xD

I love your tank decor 

Oh, and if you have anymore good advice please let me know


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

WOW. The sand add just the perfect touch. im setting up a 55 gallon sometime soon for a science project. I need it to look good so i think i might use sand. I also plan on using cardinal tets and A. Rainbows, but after seeing those B. Rainbows i might change my mind. What would u say is good? or can i mix them?


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

Stellaluna said:


> ...This regimen (plus daily hacking back of the plants) got to be too much of a chore so I cut back on the lighting and sold off my more persnickety plants, and went to about 1.5 wpg.
> 
> Now, the 4x65w is not quite adequate for my needs, especially since it is mounted up in the hood, a little over a foot away from the surface of the water. I am going to add pressurized CO2 to this tank, even with the lower lighting, because it always helps, but I am probably going to add the 1x65w cf fixture I have lying around, which I will try lying directly on the 1.5' glass brace that runs across the center of the tank.
> 
> I do not like the old WPG rule since there are so many variables - the plants at the bottom of this 2' deep tank are very far away from that light fixture. I need to use my plants as a gauge, and I think I need more light, lol. I am dosing a comprehensive plant fert now (Tropica Master Grow - not called that anymore - "Aquacare" but it will always be TMG to me!) and will likely go back to PMDD, since I still have all these dry ferts and it is SO much cheaper to mix them yourself. I have a lot of watching and testing to do to see what the needs of this tank will be. It is still settling in.


Yeah, that is why I was asking. People typically just try to match w/g instead of realizing that the depth has changed so LUX/Par (light intensity) come into play. I always have a hard time trying to get a good gauge on that especially with the T5s. I am currently running ~2w/g T5 on my 75g. I have tried to reduce my CO2 bubble rate a bit and slow down my ferts to slow down the amount of pruning I do weekly. I am dosing KNO3 only with water changes then using Flourish complete and Excel for micros/macros instead of Plantex CSM+B. So far it looks pretty good.


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

petlover516 said:


> I also plan on using cardinal tets and A. Rainbows, but after seeing those B. Rainbows i might change my mind. What would u say is good? or can i mix them?


You could certainly mix them. Rainbows are most excellent community fish, and many of them are quite striking.


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

Dmaaaaax said:


> Yeah, that is why I was asking. People typically just try to match w/g instead of realizing that the depth has changed so LUX/Par (light intensity) come into play. I always have a hard time trying to get a good gauge on that especially with the T5s. I am currently running ~2w/g T5 on my 75g. I have tried to reduce my CO2 bubble rate a bit and slow down my ferts to slow down the amount of pruning I do weekly. I am dosing KNO3 only with water changes then using Flourish complete and Excel for micros/macros instead of Plantex CSM+B. So far it looks pretty good.


I just ordered a 48" T5 for an additional 108 watts (2x54w), and we will see what happens with that on the 150. As far as plant growth is concerned, cutting back on light, I believe, is going to be the best approach to limit growth. If you still have the same light but limit nutrients, then you might give algae the advantage. 

This is just what I have noticed playing with lighting for the the past several years. I went way high on the 55, then backed it off gradually, removed the CFL fixture altogether and used a combination of T8 fixtures on the glass tops. I've also done high light in small tanks, like 5-10 gallons, then when it got out of hand (not hard to happen) I backed off on the light and plants grew, but just not so incredibly fast. 

I've got a pile of light fixtures in the closet - retrofitted fixtures, T12, T10, T8, CFL, you name it! Different combinations of light spectrums and Kelvin ratings. For a good long while I was using a couple of shop lights (4 tubes) from Home Depot on my 55, since it fist perfectly, though is not terribly attractive, but a very inexpensive way to light the tank. 

My husband thinks I'm fickle and it was all a waste of money, but I do go back and use all these fixtures in a rotating manner for various tanks. I just pulled out of the closet one of those All-Glass fixtures that comes with the hood of a 55 that I retrofit to hold two 13 W CFL bulbs, and added that to my 40, replacing a 15w fixture (there are two other fixtures, so now I am at 1.78 wpg), just to bump it up a bit and be able to have more flexibility with plants. 

I have a 1x65w CFL fixture with a moon light that needs a new ballast, and once that comes in the mail I will use that plus the 2x13w fixture on the 40, which ought to be just right for what I want to do. The other fixtures will go back in the closet, lol!

If you go and read some of the articles about how the same wattage of a T5 versus T12 versus CFL will deliver different effects on the same tank, you can really get technical about it, but I get confused, lol! There are so many options these days. I prefer to use my plants as a gauge. In my 150 the plants are not growing as well as I'd like, so I'm going to up the lighting. If it is too much, I'll use only one T5 and see how that does. I'm just not the type to create a spreadsheet for this kind of thing, though if I want one I can certainly find it online.


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## paronaram (Jul 12, 2008)

Awesome tank! Good Job!
What type of sand is that? 
How is corydoras with plants in the send, I have seen them digging out the roots, and eventually entire plant.


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## Stellaluna (Jan 20, 2009)

The sand is play sand, like what you put in the sandbox for the kids, packaged by Quikrete. 

The cories DO root around in the sand, but that is the reason I have sand and not gravel - I have never been able to keep any kind of catfish alive for as long as they should live, and I feel certain it is because of the unnatural substrate of gravel. This play sand is soft and smooth (look at it under a microscope!) and is not sharp, nor does it collect debris that would promote bacterial issues with sensitive catfish barbels. 

There is one particular sword plant that seems to have exposed roots regularly, which I am SURE comes from the cories rooting around, but I just scoop sand back over the roots as needed. The other rooted plants do not get dislodged like you would think. It is a very minor issue- not a problem at all.


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