90 Gallong Tropical going strong

[cartmanis]

Just thought I'd pop in and show off a few more pictures of my tank. I just added a real light hood yesterday. (compact florescent at 240 watts), so took some pictures trying with and without flash. There were the ones that came out the best in the "new" section on the link.

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Some of the plants are growing like crazy. I am dealing a bit with some hair algae - nothing in the tank currently eats it, and my lighting/co2/ferilizer etc.. are probably not balanced perfectly.

[hungryhound]

The tank seems to be coming along nicely. I like the powder blue dwarf gourami picture. You should think about entering it in the picture of the month competition.

[Lady Hobbs]

It looks wonderful and the plants are awesome. Super job.

[cartmanis]

The tank seems to be coming along nicely. I like the powder blue dwarf gourami picture. You should think about entering it in the picture of the month competition.

I'd have to figure out how first lol.

[Chrona]

Nice tank!

The only thing I would suggest is to make the substrate a little deeper. Unless the rim is hiding a lot of depth, it looks a little too thin for planting.

What ferts are you dosing btw?

[jeffs99dime]

I'd have to figure out how first lol.

send your pics to me. i'll post them for you if you want.--jeff
looks good by the way!

[cartmanis]

substrate at the front is probably about 1.5" deep or so. Deeper near the back.
Hoping to stop in the store in Truro this afternoon to see what the have in. I'd still like to find some loaches.

[Incredulous_Ed]

Your tank looks awesome kevin!!! The plants are looking good!

[cartmanis]

Growing like crazy as well, the one in the middle touched the surface of the tank this morning, it started out about half the hieght, so has grown probably 10" or so.

[kimmers318]

Very nice indeed! What is that in the front of the tank that is cylindrical and looks to be weighted down with a rock?

[cartmanis]

A rock... lol

Something I had from past tanks. I think they are core sample's broken up and sold as aquarium rocks. I have the river stone on top for no particular reason, though I've been thinking of attaching veggies to it now and then for the fish that might like em. It probably won't stay there, just something I did for the heck of it.

[gm72]

Looks very nice indeed. What is the filter you have on it? Just out of curiosity.

[cartmanis]

Rena Filstar XP3 for filtration. rated to something like 150 gallons, versus the tanks 90.

2 200 watt stealth heaters, and I just put the JBJ 48" compact Flourescent lighting on it, after not liking how the DIY shop lights were lighting it.

In one corner I have put one of these cheap CO2 cansisters in that you add the yeast/baking soda type stuff to sugar and water to generate CO2. Probably not enough for the size of the tank, but best I can do for now.

Main issues at the moment are the hair algae that is growing on things. The Bristlenose seem to ignore it, and I lowered the lighting hours a bit, but may knock another hour off to see if it makes a difference. 3 of the plants are high lighting ones, so trying to keep the light enough for it. Right now the light goes on at 7am, off at 8pm, probably a bit too much

[Chrona]

Rena Filstar XP3 for filtration. rated to something like 150 gallons, versus the tanks 90.

2 200 watt stealth heaters, and I just put the JBJ 48" compact Flourescent lighting on it, after not liking how the DIY shop lights were lighting it.

In one corner I have put one of these cheap CO2 cansisters in that you add the yeast/baking soda type stuff to sugar and water to generate CO2. Probably not enough for the size of the tank, but best I can do for now.

Main issues at the moment are the hair algae that is growing on things. The Bristlenose seem to ignore it, and I lowered the lighting hours a bit, but may knock another hour off to see if it makes a difference. 3 of the plants are high lighting ones, so trying to keep the light enough for it. Right now the light goes on at 7am, off at 8pm, probably a bit too much

That's too much light. You only need 10 hours really. Plants photosynthesize for about 9 hours in my tank (my wisteria closes up after that) Anything past 11-12 is just feeding the algae.

[cartmanis]

So I switched the light timer to do 8am to 7pm, and see how that affects things.

[AquaQueen]

Hey Kevin, Things are looking great!! I love the way things are filling up in there, now that your plants are growing. Great Job!!! Keep it up. Whatever it is you are doing is going just fine. BTW I LOVE the pic of your gourami he is soooo pretty.

[cartmanis]

Thanks, yeah, he is pretty. I'm hoping to get a good pick of my Beta as well, as I like how he looks, but he is pretty shy, and is usually off in a corner or plant. Though he seems to take little spurts of "play time" where he goes and rides the current from the filter over and over again, like a kid toboganning.

I like my Ram's as well, but same deal, they spend most of their time at the back of the tank in the plants, hard to take a pic of them that looks decent. The Guarami's are in your face type fish though, almost to the point of pushing them aside when sticking my hand in the tank to do something. lol.