Emmanuel's 100g Tank

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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Your 100 gal is understocked. Why not a huge school of Het Rasboras and some manly fish like REAL catfish and pl*cos.
I prefer to leave it understocked for now. Although, in the future, like a few months from now or so, I'll probably add a school of something - haven't decided what yet.

I'm not a huge fan of catfish. I was considering a couple BN plecos, but I prefer a school of Otos.
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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Man, I had no idea just how huge 100 gallons are!
Certainly a lot of room to scape. No idea it would take so long to fill either.... I need a python!!

I'm off to research other potential inhabitants for the future.
 

Lotus

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You'll definitely need a Python for water changes. It really does help with larger tanks.

Be careful with larger fish in a planted tank. Large plecos and other bottom dwellers can easily destroy your aquascape.

There's nothing wrong with not stocking a tank to the limits; in fact, if somthing like Ike happens again, a lightly stocked tank will do a lot better than one that's heavily stocked.
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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You'll definitely need a Python for water changes. It really does help with larger tanks.
It'll be an early Christmas present to myself! :)
My back and arms hurt from having to go back and forth with so many 5gl buckets to fill'er up... only to empty her back out b/c the water was too dirty from the sand, then to fill'er up again. The hardest part is over at least, well, until I finally move out and have to take the tank with me, that is. *laughingc I'm going to have the most expensive water bill ever!!! :eek:


Be careful with larger fish in a planted tank. Large plecos and other bottom dwellers can easily destroy your aquascape.
I think I'm going to stick with an army of Otos. I'm not a huge fan of large fish, although I do have some exceptions. :)

There's nothing wrong with not stocking a tank to the limits; in fact, if somthing like Ike happens again, a lightly stocked tank will do a lot better than one that's heavily stocked.
That's my logic for wanting understocked/overfiltered tanks. After losing so many fish and shrimp due to Ike, I don't want to go through that again.

I may try to find some type of South American schooling fish, have a small school, but that's about it. I say S.A. b/c I just realized that all the fish I have in the 100g right now (used BioSpira), are South American, so I'd like to keep it regional - although the current plants, and future plant list won't be; the ghost shrimp aren't either, but they're just there for the purpose of getting the detritus until they become angel-snacks, and the corys come in.


EDIT: Oh, and also, can the title of the thread be renamed? "Emmanuel's 100 gallon Tank" :) Danke.
 

emmanuelchavez

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Feb 22, 2008
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These guys probably won't come for another month or two, so I have time to decide... but these are my top choices (with top choices on the... top) for possible schooling fish.

1. Rummynose Tetra
2. Lemon Tetra
3. Bloodfin Tetra
4. Bleeding Heart Tetra
5. Pristella Tetra
6. Black Skirt Tetra
7. Red Phantom Tetra


Rummynose and Lemons are my absolute favorite of these, but I can't decide whether to go with a moderately sized school of one of these, or a small school of both of these. I need another 100g so I can have both :D.

Anyone know if either of those two will be fine with Angels?

I won't be adding any Tetras till I get plants in there, and I won't be adding very many plants till I get rocks and can define my hardscape.

I'll take a photo of the tank when I get home.
 

emmanuelchavez

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Feb 22, 2008
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I think a HUGE school of one type of fish would be AWESOME!!! I sooooo envy you right now....grrr....:p
:D I try my hardest to be the envy of people - it comes naturally sometimes. haha. ;)


I would like to thank the State of Texas for paying for this tank, and the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice for ensuring that I qualified to be a Texas Grant recipient. I would also like to thank the Federal Goverment, for making sure that my schooling is paid for, so that I may use my other grants and scholarships as I see fit. I'd also like to thank my parents for being Hispanic, and thus making me Hispanic, and thus qualifying me to be a recipient of a Hispanic Scholarship Fund scholarship - and concurrently, I'd like to thank Marathon Oil for making me an intern and telling me to apply for that scholarship (which they fund), which I got.... Yay!




You should get a lot of scholarships and stuff - they're awesome.
 

Jun 21, 2008
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Hahaha. That's great. They have a high school for law enforcement and criminal justice? Houston also has the high school for performing and visual arts, why wasn't I there during high school? Oh, well, I really don't enjoy the city, but it's clearly working out for you. Don't take this the wrong way, but I miss having an actual significant part of the population being Hispanic. Since I moved to Ohio, and now Kansas, it's just not the same. No good Mexican food either. Ahh, Mexican food, how I miss you. Anyway, have fun with your new tank. I personally go for variety, so I think that two smaller schools would be cool, but it's obviously up to you. And I agree, scholarships and stuff are awesome.
 

emmanuelchavez

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Feb 22, 2008
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How about columnbian tetras or Red Minors.
Columbians were originally in my top 5, but I think I took them out because I read they were slightly aggressive - I've gotta look into that again. I kinda considered the Serpae Tetras, but I already have red fish (my betta... and also the cherry shrimp), so I put them at the very bottom of my list, and eventually took them out - I'm not sure I've seen these at any of my LFS either.

I consulted the chief (my dad), and he said he likes the rummynose better (although he really kept emphasizing getting a shark, pft, yeah right!). So I'm going to get a school of 15-20. I then realized that my 29 gallon will only have a betta and 2 pygmy cories... so I could put a school of Lemons in there! :)


Hahaha. That's great. They have a high school for law enforcement and criminal justice? Houston also has the high school for performing and visual arts, why wasn't I there during high school? Oh, well, I really don't enjoy the city, but it's clearly working out for you. Don't take this the wrong way, but I miss having an actual significant part of the population being Hispanic. Since I moved to Ohio, and now Kansas, it's just not the same. No good Mexican food either. Ahh, Mexican food, how I miss you. Anyway, have fun with your new tank. I personally go for variety, so I think that two smaller schools would be cool, but it's obviously up to you. And I agree, scholarships and stuff are awesome.
They sure do have a school for LECJ - I believe there's also one in NY. My older brother actually applied to go to HSPVA. I was secretly hoping he wouldn't get in, b/c I seriously didn't want to go to that school (I was going to have to go to the same school as him to make my dad's life easier). If my brother would've gotten in, I could've gotten in too - we got "artistic" skills from our mother. Since he didn't get in though, he went to the law enforcement school, and I followed the year after. I hated the school originally, but things worked out great for me in the end.



So, I apparently deleted the photos I took of the tank yesterday in my sleepy stupor. I'll take more on Thursday afternoon, I won't be getting home till after 10pm today and tomorrow due to class. I easily got over $50 worth of plants yesterday for only $24 - so I'd like to thank the dude at the FS for the freebies. Along with all the plants I already have, that covered a little over 1/3, maybe 1/2 of the tank. I'm going to upgrade my lighting, but I can't quite decide what to get.

I'm thinking either one of these:
60" Orbit SunPaq

or two of these:
30" Satellite 1x65W SunPaq w/Lunar Light (Current)

1.3 wpg vs. 2.6 wpg. I don't want to go high-tech, not until after college... but it'll depend on what I hear from the plant experts.

These are the plants I currently have in the tank, I want to know if they'll do fine in 1.3 wpg without ferts and co2, or if I should just get the 2.6 wpg with co2 and ferts (I have lots of dry ferts available that I use for my high-tech 20gl).

Hygrophila Augustifolia
Ludwigia Repens
Anubias Barterii v. Nana
Anubias Nana Petite
Valisneria Americana? (Jungle Val? Not too sure which one, but it's the big one)
Java Moss
Microsword
Dwarf Saggitaria


I wanted to add some other type of stem plants, but I'll wait to hear some feedback on how to improve what I currently have.
 

Big Vine

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Feb 7, 2006
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I'm probably a little late on this, but I've heard positive things mentioned with regards to housing lemon tetras and black phantom tetras together in the same setup. They provide a nice contrast with one another, and they are not nippy at all (the black phantoms, in particular, are very gentle tetras which school together quite well---a sharp contrast to the black-skirts which I would avoid completely when dealing with a tank involving angelfish due to their nippiness and lack of schooling behavior).

Hope that makes sense, lol. ;)
BV
 

emmanuelchavez

Superstar Fish
Feb 22, 2008
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I'm probably a little late on this, but I've heard positive things mentioned with regards to housing lemon tetras and black phantom tetras together in the same setup. They provide a nice contrast with one another, and they are not nippy at all (the black phantoms, in particular, are very gentle tetras which school together quite well---a sharp contrast to the black-skirts which I would avoid completely when dealing with a tank involving angelfish due to their nippiness and lack of schooling behavior).

Hope that makes sense, lol. ;)
BV
I was going to get lemon tetras for the 29, and get the rummynose for the 100, but I may just go the otherway around. lemons and black phantoms in the 100, with the rummies in the 29. I may let my dad choose on this one though. I'll take him with me to the LFS, and ask him which he'd like better. I figure, if I get him a bit interested in the tanks, he'd gladly take care of them while I'm traveling next year.


Question though, for all the light gurus out there. Could I effectively use a 48" light strip on my 60" tank?
 

Lotus

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Aug 26, 2003
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I see you changed your mind about the low light thing :lol:

Remember that on larger tanks, you need less lighting than on smaller tanks. You could have around 2wpg and still be in the high light zone.

You could use a 48" strip, but you'd have to try to put the lower light plants on the edges. The spread isn't that great at the edges of most fixtures. If you had it raised up, you'd get more even light on the whole tank, but a lower overall level.
 

emmanuelchavez

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Feb 22, 2008
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I see you changed your mind about the low light thing :lol:

Remember that on larger tanks, you need less lighting than on smaller tanks. You could have around 2wpg and still be in the high light zone.

You could use a 48" strip, but you'd have to try to put the lower light plants on the edges. The spread isn't that great at the edges of most fixtures. If you had it raised up, you'd get more even light on the whole tank, but a lower overall level.
jaja, yeah, I'm prone to sporadically change my mind. I didn't like a lot of the low-light stem plants I found here in town, so I wanted to go up to medium, maybe high-light. I also have a ton of blyxa japonica coming in for my high-light 20 gallon, and I wanted to use some of the left-over in the 100. I may just go with 2 30" light strips, and stay at around 1.6 wpg. I have a week to decide what I want to do.

You think 1.6 wpg would support blyxa?
 

emmanuelchavez

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Feb 22, 2008
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Sneak Peak

Sneak Peak of the 100! This is the left 1/3 of the tank. I couldn't take doing anymore research for my petroleum geochem class for a while....

Hygrophila Augustifolia behind the dw, anubias on the dw, ludwigia repens to the right of the hygro, sunset hygro to the right of the ludwigia, and some jungle val right of the sunset. There's microsword and dwarf sag in between the rocks. You can't really see it, but to the right of the jungle val, there's a small sword I got with the sunset hygro. The person I got it from said her mother sword hasn't topped 12 inches. If it starts getting too big, I'll pull it out (I'll cut around it to get the roots first though, I hear swords develop monster root systems)

I need to get some ferts for the sand... can't decide what kind though... Root Tabs by API, or Seachem's thingamabops.

I decided to just go "high-tech" from the get-go, rather than just spending more money a couple of years from now. I'm going to get the stuff slowly though. I'm going to get a 30" fixture w/2 65w bulbs for this side, and then a few weeks later, another 30" for the other side... and then a few weeks after that, I'll get some CO2. Until I get the co2 though, I'll probably only be using one of the 65w bulbs...



And this big feller here is my current favorite angel. I got 3 more small angels to up my chance of getting a pair or two. I thought he'd be aggressive with them, but he's been protective of the three.

 

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
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Aug 26, 2003
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Looks awesome!

I like the Seachem Tabs. They seem to be the best ones.

You might find that once you add the lights and CO2 that the willow leaf hygro will grow too fast for your tank. In the meantime, it's a great nutrient sponge to help while your tank balances.

I have no idea about the blyxa and the lighting you're getting.
 

emmanuelchavez

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Feb 22, 2008
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Looks awesome!

I like the Seachem Tabs. They seem to be the best ones.

You might find that once you add the lights and CO2 that the willow leaf hygro will grow too fast for your tank. In the meantime, it's a great nutrient sponge to help while your tank balances.

I have no idea about the blyxa and the lighting you're getting.
Which one is the willow leaf? The augustifolia, or the polysperma? Well, both hygros are ridiculously quick growers, especially with high-light and CO2, or I've read at least.

I got them for their nutrient sponge-like skills. They've managed to keep my nitrates at 5ppm (or a little lower, it's not as dark as the 5 ppm, but it's not exactly 0). I had some of my floating hornwort in there for that reason, but I liked the look of the hygros better.

I remember how much growth there was in my tanks after I got back from spring break, and there weren't very many fast growers... I can only imagine how much growth there'll be when I go on more week-long field trips next semester. I'm dreading doing maintenance on my tanks after I get back from being away for 2-3 months next summer, lol... :eek:
 

emmanuelchavez

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Feb 22, 2008
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Woohoo! So I found out today that my GBR spawned!

I noticed my female GBR has been excessively aggressive to both of the Bolivian Rams for the past week or so. No matter where they were, if they were anywhere in her line of sight, she'd chase after them. And she spent an awful lot of time behind the DW w/the anubias on it.

So I came home to keep working on a paper of mine (rather than stay at school till after midnight, since we've been getting a lot of emails of muggings, attempted rapes and the such this semester), and I decided to feed the fish some "dinner," and I noticed some round, white stuff on the back of the driftwood (you have to look at it at a weird angle to see it), and it turns out they're eggs... Some of them look unfertilized. I'm not holding out for any fry, but I just thought it was cool! Now I have some fish that I could feature in December's POTM contest!!! :D


Now back to researching for, and writing my paper....