Planning aquarium rehaul, need some ideas.

[Miltonic]

I was thinking earlier and thought about rehauling my FW aquarium because ever since setting up my 90g reef tank my poor freshwater community aquarium doesn't really have that "hey come look a me appeal" that my reef has. I really don't don't want to get rid of it so I want to make it better so I can have the best of both worlds in my house. I decided to post here because I want to see what you guys think and to give me some ideas for this project. I was thinking of making planted but I really don't want to go very high tech with CO2 injections and all that stuff. I also would like to change my stocking a bit and get rid of some fish add others. Edit: I also want to do this partly because I have to almost empty the tank to move it since its close to a window where we put our AC during the summer.

here's info about my tank;
~44g Pentagon corner tank
~Two hang on back filters an AC 70 and Biowheel 250, I kinda want to get rid of one and get a canister filter but their price is a turn off, if anyone knows where to get some cheaper ones appropriate for my tank feel free to tell me.
~The tank is lightly planted with some stock fixtures for lighting but I would like to get a better fixture, again feel free to recommend some to me.
Stocking: *WARNING This is a mess :/ but they all get along
~Six Angelfish, they all get along since I never got a pair but I would like to get rid of two or three but it's hard considering I like all of them :(
~One male GBR and looking for a female for him.
~One yoyo loach maybe get rid of him or give him friends.
~One sterbi corycat, I know I need to add more of him I tried but they died for no reason :/ I've had this fish for like 3 yrs by himself.
~One Betta fish, I got this fish thanks to my little brother who wante and kept it in a bowl for a few weeks until I decided it wasn't nice and added him to my tank. I honestly don't him anymore, sorry little brother.
~Four Cardinal tetras, one of which I've had for more than 3yrs, it looks so old.

I think, I've covered most of the important parts and here's a picture to give you all an idea of how the tank looks like.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/100_1847.jpg

[OscarFan]

Maybe moving everything towards the back with the wood in the center

[Miltonic]

yep I thought that would look better but the substrate really makes it hard for me to get the plant to stay in place. I forgot to mention that I want to change the substrate to sand or eco complete.

[OscarFan]

I would reccomend ecocomplete or Estes makes a black flourite sand. The silica sand in my 10g also looks nice but is a pain and the fish dont like it.

[Sir Tristen]

I would also recommend layering your planting, tallest in back, shortest in front. A black substrate would look best imo. Maybe you could add a little more hardscape.

What are the dimensions of the tank? Hard to recommend a light without knowing how it would fit. For low tech though, I would recommend no more than 1.5 or 2 wpg.

[Miltonic]

sorry I forgot to mention that also here's a picture of the top and the dimensions are 22x22x24, the shape of the tank really makes it hard to position the lighting :/

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/100_0802-1.jpg

[MCHRKiller]

Having owned a 70some gallon pentagon in the past I understand the difficulty of making it interesting. I think your best option would be to build your decor from the back point of the tank and have the front be open. Id look into a 24" PC lighting fixture somewhere around 55watts would be nice. I would personally build a manzanita tree and have it fanning out from that back corner building rock up around it and attaching anubias between the rocks, have some java ferns attached to and around the manzanita and maybe have some vals along the back of the tank. Very simple scape but it will empasize the height and give you a pleasing scape and give your fish plenty of room to move. Some crypts along in front of the wood and rock pile would look nice as well.

Personally I would move out all but 3 of your angelfish, and beef up your cardinals to atleast 10....and definatly get atleast 3 loaches. Id also add a bristle nose or rubbernose along with a couple of otos for algae control.

[Miltonic]

wow thanks! your idea sounds amazing but I have no idea what I could use to build something like that. can you tell me what I would need?

[MCHRKiller]

Of course :)


Id get a nice package of sandblasted manzanita wood, www.manzanita.com has some and its not horribly expensive. For rockwork some lace rock or black lava or even river stones would look nice piled up around your "tree". Do note when you get your manzanita it will just be a bunch of twigs branches and sticks its up to you to arrange it into a scape. As for plants you have alot of them I mentioned already. Really thats it...Id invest in some Flourite substrate. Id go for either the black or the dark, I personally use the dark and love it. Flourite is IMO a higher quality than EcoComplete these days as Ecos quality has taken a fall lately.

[Miltonic]

Thanks! I love this idea I'll have to start getting everything ready so when the time comes to move the tank I can rescape it too. I'm already looking all over ebay for a fixture and canister filter. I want to try to keep things cheap. I also have to find a home for the extra fish I have, the LFS would be great but they only take fish as donations and don't give any credits or anything :/

[RaHarmakis]

I have a 55 Gal Pentagon tank that I am a pretty happy with that might give you some Ideas.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/data/500/medium/P1020246.JPG

In the center I have a Store Bought Fake Tree Bol thing that has is basically a big cave in the center with multiple openings. And surrounding it I tried to match the plastic plants that came on the tree with taller version.

I think that the Tree Bol is covered with enough plants that it does not look compleatly fake.

[Miltonic]

well my rehaul has begun sort off I got a new fluval 405 canister filter on ebay for $127 :19: I also got a current usa outer orbit lights that give my tank about 3 watts per gallon of light for $51. Now all I need is the new substrate, driftwood/rocks and some plants. (I will be trying to do what MCHRKiller suggested) thumbs2: