Planted Community Hex Tank

Jan 23, 2012
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Aurora CO
#21
Here are a few good pictures of the entire tank.








Let me know what you think of the progress?
Going to move the tank eventually and add in black sand and Eco Complete.
Just moved a few cuttings and 2 Cardinals to help start the bio in a 10 hex I have.
I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.
 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#23
Nice work. Black sand will look awesome.
The 10 gallon has been up and running for 5 days. Used a few handfuls of gravel to help seed the tank with bacteria from my other tank.
Decided on a few plant cuttings and a potted plant for adding live plants to get the system going.
Fished out 2 healthy cardinals from the main tank to help with the start of this project. Wish me luck.
10 gallon black hex tank
2 LED 19 watt Panorama modules (8K and 12K)
Eco Complete/ Black sand substrates
Bio wheel penguin 100
75 watt visi-therm Submersible heater












 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#24
Here are a few pictures of that new 10 gallon hex. The light was just to bright making algae bloom like crazy. Cut down to just one led strip of 8K 1 watter's.
The live plants have taken off growing in no time. They already need to be trimmed for cuttings.
Added a school of Peru Orange laser cory's from frank the breeder in nj. He is a first rate breeder of cory cats. A few shrimp have also been added. CRS crystal red shrimp, RCS red cherry shrimp and 3 other species.
Hope that helps.












 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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0
Aurora CO
#25
Here are a few pictures of that new 10 gallon hex. The light was just to bright making algae bloom like crazy. Cut down to just one led strip of 8K 1 watter's.
The live plants have taken off growing in no time. They already need to be trimmed for cuttings.
Added a school of Peru Orange laser cory's from frank the breeder in nj. He is a first rate breeder of cory cats. A few shrimp have also been added. CRS crystal red shrimp, RCS red cherry shrimp and 3 other species.
Hope that helps.










Here are a few of the 42 hex. Plants are doing great and the fish and other inverts seem to be happy.
Enjoy!


 

Last edited:
Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#27
Thank's Lauraf... Here are a few more after a quick water change. Got to do it more with shrimp. The fish love it too.
These Peru Orange laser cory's are so nice as they grow. You don't see them in most stores.
C-010



Orange Rabbit Poso snails are rare. Cool color and they leave the plants alone.


Sweet CRS




Local score on the RCS shrimp. A local breeder brought them in she was breaking down the tank. Nice size and use to the water PH.


Yellow shrimp hitching a ride on the Poso snail from sulawesi island indonesia.
 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#29
Thank's KC. Just chillin watching Tanked on the tube and was feeding some zucchini. This has been the first time my White King Tiger Pleco decided to show himself. Snapped a few pictures to share with everyone. He has been very shy but they say that is signs of a heathy pleco.
I picked this one out of a tank of 30 or so and he was the whitest one of the group. It might be a L-66 or an L-333 King Tiger. He is much whiter in color than the usual King Tiger.
Let me know what you think.
White King Tiger L-66 or L-333








With the flash an ISO of 400
 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#31
This might help you. plecoplanet: Identification of Hypancistrus I am not sure but by this info I would say its a 333 but you know how the info is on the net??!!
The pleco were a group of 30+ at thatfishplace a month or so ago. Out of all the King Tiger Pleco's in the tank only 2 appeared to have the white coloring to this extent. If they were collected in the Lower Xingo river then it could be a varient of L-333 White King Tiger. The pictures also match the L-399 and L-400. He is still young so it might be some time before this one can be identified properly. All the others had much more gold in the coloring and that is why I chose this one. He seemed to be the more rare white varient.
A very cool looking pleco to say the least.
 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#32
I'm new here , nice thread!
Thank's. Enjoy the site and welcome.
The 10 gallon was looking exceptionally clean the last few days. Seems like the water has finally cleared to almost crystal clear.
Here's a few more images of the progress. Just wish I could take better images.
If you look close you can see the endler up top. The last image was trying to get a close up.
I'll have to try a video because his coloring is superb.







Endler.
 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#33
Decided to take a few more shots of the progress on both tanks.
Quick update on the plants. The tanks need to be trimmed every few weeks.
The growth of the Rotela indica is explosive as is the narrow leaf Ludwigia (Ludwigia palustris).
The giant temple (Hygrophila corymbosa) has been trimmed twice now. Love the Hygrophila Corymbosa Kompakt. Stays short and stout.
The amazon sword seems to have found its grove and is growing nice big leaves.
The trouble plants have been the Mint Charlie (Clinopodium brownei) -Also known as Ground Ivy and the Chinese Ivy (Cardamine lyrata).
If they had driftwood to grow on they might have done better closer to the surface.
Hope that helps.
42 hex








 

Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#34
The 10 hex was trimmed back of the plants and many cuttings have been planted to fill in. Added in some baby tears in this one and pearl grass in the 42 hex.
Under the more intense light and high flow rate the baby tears seems to actually be growing. Think the sand substrate is helping.
Been adding in Black water by brightwell, Flourish excel and comprehensive every 3 out of 4 weeks.
It goes a long way so just a little is needed.
Let me know what you think.






 

se-r altima

Medium Fish
Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#38
Update 2013 Colorado

So I moved to Colorado and drove the tank half way across the country. Everyone made the trip and I used an inverter but the little water pump I had kept blowing the fuse on the inverter and then the car fuses started to go. Heater was no problem as I suspect an air pump would have worked. Luckily I had a battery air pump for the ride.

On to the pictures.
Here is how the tank looks now. Seems to be doing well for the most part.



Here are some of my buddies swimming and eating. The Orange lazer cory cats eating algae waffers. Really Orange.



 

se-r altima

Medium Fish
Jan 23, 2012
68
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Aurora CO
#39
Here are a few random shots of the tank and a few other special additions.
Some of the species are not available at regular pet stores. Try the better pet stores or breeders.



Pleco is finally out eating and joining the other fish.

Emporer Corys
 

se-r altima

Medium Fish
Jan 23, 2012
68
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0
Aurora CO
#40
Red Tail Shark Care

I saw someone was asking a few questions about Red Tail Sharks and here is a little info about them.
They like Spinach just like popeye. I have had him now for at least 15 years. They also love live food called black worms. Just don't feed him to much black worms and remember to rinse the worms every few days and keep them refrigerated. He also eats the algae wafers. Best to be kept without many other catfish or any other redtails.
Here he is the big ham.

And this is a new addition. A friend had one in his tank and I really like the color on them. They do well too in a community tank.

I grabbed a group of 3 of these guys the other day because someone was trading them in at the pet store. My last one really could use the company.


Hope that information was useful. I will post up pictures of the 10 Gallon Hex tank tomorrow. The plants in that thing have really taken off and I added a few more rare guys into that tank as well. More to come tomorrow.
Take care everyone.