# I love planted tanks - Dutch 75 gallon



## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Planted tanks are not easy to design, execute, and maintain. It's all worth it though. After a long day at work and couple hours redoing my 75 gallon, I'm looking forward to the development of this tank.

Before tear down. I had clown loaches make holes in the AR mini. As I removed the damaged plants, things started to look pretty ugly. Also the maintenance on this was getting too time consuming as there were just too many species in here. 


Just now. The next step would be to remove the Monte Carlo carpet and plant HC cuba as a carpet.


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Subscribed.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Planted some more. Going to try a free-standing bush with the rotala. 

*Left side top view.
*

*Right side top view.
*


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

1 week in: Tank starting to show color now. Changed camera from phone camera to Fuji x100. I don't know how to take a photo so that the carpet is not over exposed all the time...


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Looking good so far. Great job on the scape. 

Man it's going to be a pain to swap that monte for HC. I don't envy you.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Added some several bushy plants and one Tiger Lotus. Hopefully tiger lotus will shoot leave to the surface instead of form huge eye-sore mid level...
I'm seriously sorry for over exposed foreground plant. I will switch to dwarf hair grass most likely...



Added 30 White fin ornate tetras (Hyphessobrycon bentosi).


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## skylane (Sep 7, 2015)

I like the footprint on the 75g, it looks larger than life with the scape, really nice man!!!

Clem


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Weekly update. Not much happening. The tank is 2 weeks old and most of the plants are still growing out their root system. Also there is a bit of BGA which is from the previous aquascape - should've removed all the BGA from the aquasoil even though there were just little specs. I've been doing 50% water changes 3-4 times a week to make sure it does not get out of control. Also I'm manually removing it on a weekly basis.


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Looking great so far you did a great job with the scape.


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## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

Nice work Mike!


> 1 week in: Tank starting to show color now. Changed camera from phone camera to Fuji x100. I don't know how to take a photo so that the carpet is not over exposed all the time...


No expert - but maybe try exposing for the carpet plants?


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Thanks brother!

Weekly update: Definitely some noticeable growth since last week. To trim or not to trim.

Foreground is looking %$^&'d up.....


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## chakc888 (Feb 18, 2011)

Great job with the scape.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Thanks chakc888!

Finally got good amounts of HC cuba. Changed the carpet today - 2 hour job.

_*Before:
*_

*During:
*

*After:*


Will trim after this weekend.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Video of feeding frenzy:


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## skylane (Sep 7, 2015)

The Tetras look nice in a big school BTW !
I have an adult school of 6 Serpheas from my own personal tank if you would be interested and IMO would look awesome in that tank. I'm only offering this to you if you want them, I haven't decided to sell them , it was just a thought as I was checking out the video, we can work something out if interested.

Clem


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## skylane (Sep 7, 2015)

skylane said:


> The Tetras look nice in a big school BTW !
> I have an adult school of 6 Serpheas from my own personal tank if you would be interested and IMO would look awesome in that tank. I'm only offering this to you if you want them, I haven't decided to sell them , it was just a thought as I was checking out the video, we can work something out if interested.
> 
> Clem


Forgot the pics,


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Hey Clem

Nice Serpaes! THanks for your offer, would you trade the fish for plants??


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Chomped

Thanks to the planter for the additional blyxa and Wiccandove for the rainbows. 

What fish go well with rainbows?


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## slate (Nov 3, 2015)

What did you use as the substrate? Black sand?


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

It's netlea aqua soil


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## slate (Nov 3, 2015)

cb1021 said:


> It's netlea aqua soil


Did you buy it locally?


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

slate said:


> Did you buy it locally?


You can buy it at aqua inspirations in Markham it's on Kennedy road just south of steeles about 1/2 km on the east side.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

A quick snap.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

HC Cuba not growing that well.....Will increase light and see what happens.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)




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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

HC Cuba not growing after 2 months. Co2 okay, everything else growing...


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

It took a while to get mine going but once it started growing it did fine. I know that HC is not considered a difficult plant to grow but I've always had mixed results with it. Are you dosing ferts?


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Well well. Looking at this thread makes me sad. Those rainbows are so colorful. All dead from co2 poisoning.

I didn't think about replacing them and had planned to keep the tank with the few remaining survivors. But after seeing previous photos...looks like I'll be picking up some rainbows in the near future.


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

Sorry to hear about the fish. How did the CO2 poisoning come about? Hoping to prevent such things myself!


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Actually I'm not 100% sure. I came home to find 75% of the fish dead. I cannot recall if I had adjusted settings, accidentally bumped the needle valve, etc. I'm running a dual stage regulator but no solenoid. I didn't have a drop checker. 

The best way to prevent co2 posioning is a solenoid with a dual stage regulator (to prevent the "end of tank dump"). Also regular monitor of drop checker.


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## Wiccandove (May 19, 2012)

oh no poor rainbows  Did any of them survive?


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Yea I'm sorry for killing the rainbows. Quite a shame.

I became informed of some wild angelfish being avaliable. Couldn't pass them up. Got 5 of them. Also added my other favorite fish, German rams.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Camera phone is serious doo-doo.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Added some wild angelfish.


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

hey great pics cb,, nice to hear your still hard into it. If this is your first co2 death, you are doing pretty good lol, You have seen my clinic tank, I have done a 60 percent kill off 4 times already due to a bad milwaukee regulator. Surprisingly, the only fish that has servived the past 7 years was the caridnals... I can't believe they are still alive. they typcally have a lifespan of 1 years in the wild and 2-5 in captivity. I blame it on the low cal diet/neglect. 

Anyhoot, the tank looks great, I see you are struggling with the hc... its a tough plant in general without intense direct light and high nitrates... try that , if not, then I would switch to umbrosum monte carlo if you like the same look. I cant even tell them apart in my high light tanks anymore. Monte carlo grows 4x as fast and so much easier to grow... Let me know if you want any,,


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Yea thanks for comments. I'll see about monte Carlos. The tank is due for a rescape. No idea how to do it. Full carpet with e. Tenellus and driftwood might be cool.

Here's a cell phone photo.


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

always loved e tennelus,,, a good old classic amano plant. I like them in small specs in a nice a hc carpet.


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Looking good that a going to be some work if you decide to do a rescape. Are your leaves twisted and curling on your AR? I'm having that problem with mine and I haven't been able to figure out how to fix it. All of my other plants are fine.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Yea you're right. A lot of work, all worth it though. 

For the AR, I have a mix of Alternanthera reineckii Rosanervig and AR MINI. The Rosanervig curled at first then now curl now. The AR Mini grows like a weed, it's about 18" tall now. 

I don't use any ferts and I run only 2 x 54W bulbs. Pressurized co2, medium levels. I don't have a drop checker but I know i'm not cranking co2. I like the medium light setups. The high light tanks require too much tweaking and maintenance.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Couple of hours later. Water still cloudy. Let's see what happens in the next 2 weeks.

http://postimage.org/index.php?lang=chinese_simplified

Wow..looking at the pic, aquascape looks non-existent...................doh....plant hoarding like a n00b.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

http://postimage.org/index.php?lang=chinese_simplified

Wild angelfish, babies. GROW GROW GROW


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Looking sharp I'm really digging those angels.


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## slipfinger (May 11, 2016)

cb1021 said:


> Couple of hours later. Water still cloudy. Let's see what happens in the next 2 weeks.
> 
> http://postimage.org/index.php?lang=chinese_simplified
> 
> Wow..looking at the pic, aquascape looks non-existent...................doh....plant hoarding like a n00b.


Wow that's a major trim!

Now I see why your trim packages you have/had for sale were so large.

I am still amazed you get such good clean growth without any added ferts.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Woke up this morning to realize something seriously missing. 

My mission to find suitable hardscape for this tank has begun.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Some direct sunlight hit the room, didn't hit the tank but I noticed right away how it lit everything up. Perfect time for photo opportunity. I didn't adjust camera properly since I was on the phone but here are the results.

Perhaps next time the sun is at the right angle I will set up the camera properly for sharper photos.



























https://postimage.org/index.php?lang=chinese_simplified

Just imagine if I had some discus in this tank at this moment.


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