# 90P Driftwood Medium-Tech



## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

Hey, 

Firstly, I want to say that a huge amount of inspiration for this tank comes from Boogerboy's 90P. Thanks!

Secondly, welcome to the journal of my first medium-tech aquarium. 

Specs on the tank will be as follows:

-90x45x45 Starfire Tank (approximately 48 gallons/ 181 litres)
-Eheim 2028
-Dual T5HO fixture (one 6500k and one 7500k bulb)
-Netlea Brown Soil (3x9L bags)
-Some pretty snazzy driftwood
-Black Stand

Some form of carbon will be supplemented in the tank, this case in the form of API's CO2 Booster.

Fauna and Flora of this tank remains to be largely undecided, but we have decided a nice school of some kind is going to be a must. Please run all of your suggestions by me.

This is our first rimless tank, are there any differences between the two?

Tank, stand and light should be coming in tomorrow, i'll be sure to take some pics when everything's assembled.


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## Boogerboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Well that's very humbling  didn't think I'd ever inspire anyone hehe

Pics!


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## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

Alright, here's the well overdue update... 

On the contrary to the first post, the two bulbs in the fixture is one 7500k and one 10,000k. Each at 39W.

3 bags of Netlea looked like it was waaaay too much when the tank wasn't full of water.

So currently, the tank is kind of stopped dead in its tracks  . Let me humor you with a quick little story...

I brought the tank home about two Saturdays ago. First thing I did when I got the stand into the house was level it as best I could. I had no idea how unlevel my home's floor really was. I ended up using 4 shims in total to get it all ready. Next thing I did was get the awesome wood (thank to manny2024) out from the basement. It was washed as soon as it was brought home, so I didn't bother doing that again. After getting the hardscape just as I liked it, I commenced filling it with water. I was actually very happy with how things were going (very little debris coming from the soil), until the water level was about 5 inches above the substrate. Instantaneously, all the driftwood jumped up and started floating in the tank  . That was not cool.... but the worst part was that I didn't bother taking pics up until today.

Well, besides that, I can't help but stare at the tank everyday for at least a half hour. The darn thing looked so good even when it was empty  .

Like I said before, all comments and tips well appreciated


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## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

At this point, the tank is well established at about 4-5 months old, and it has been trimmed 3 times. I've never really been good at these journals 

For starters, i'm pleased to announce that the tank is no longer an uninhabited glass box. The driftwood has finally sank, plants have been planted, and fish have been added. It's a good thing the plants were planted early in the stages of the cycle, which I think made it possible to have fish in within 4 weeks of beginning the cycle. I read that low pH tanks can be a nightmare to cycle.

Fauna is currently:

1 Koi Angelfish
5 Rummynoses (getting more soon)
10 Harlequin Rasboras

Flora:
I really have no idea what the plants are to be honest. They were from a friend, so I didn't really ask for specifics. But I think I can safely say that one of the species is some type of Riccia.

The tank looks pretty empty at this point, even though it is pretty well planted.

The original plan for stocking was to have one centerpiece fish, and then two large schools of different species. The fam had a change of heart, and feel that there is a need to diversify. I know the angel will probably be the most limiting factor in choosing, but I just can't think of selling it. They really grow onto you 

Open to any suggestions for additions to the livestock.

Pics tomorrow for sure


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## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

*Pictures *

As promised, here are the pictures. I tried to get some decent pictures of the inhabitants, but the only good picture in my opinion was the last one of the angelfish.

In terms of additional stock, I was thinking about a pair of GBRs? Any thoughts?


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## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

*More PIcs*

About that stringy stuff in the backgrounds of each picture, yeah, it is hair algae. At first, I tried to get rid of it, by trying to find a specie that would eat it, but each of the options that I found were known jumpers and a topless tank+a jumping fish= a very sad fish keeper.

Now, I just try to make it part of the "scape" (if you could call it that  ) . I find it flows nicely with the current.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

That's not hair algae, if hair algae was white they'd be dead.
That looks like staghorn, very bad case of it. You seem to have staghorn mixed in with the fungus on the wood.
I've only heard of SAEs touching that stuff.. Maybe amanos would try too.
But SAEs do jump when not happy. Usually if a creature is happy and stress free they won't jump, if your water is bad or something is off, they'll leap.
Each fish is different, but I've seen SAEs kept in 5 gallon rimless just fine while young.
Nice scape, but becareful - heard that staghorn stuff could easily take over.


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## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

default said:


> That's not hair algae, if hair algae was white they'd be dead.
> That looks like staghorn, very bad case of it. You seem to have staghorn mixed in with the fungus on the wood.
> I've only heard of SAEs touching that stuff.. Maybe amanos would try too.
> But SAEs do jump when not happy. Usually if a creature is happy and stress free they won't jump, if your water is bad or something is off, they'll leap.
> ...


Hi Default, the stringy algae is much darker green when seen in person, but my camera kind of tends to wash out colours. However, I can't get an ID on what is on the wood in the foreground.

Params sit at this:

Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites all sit at 0ppm, and the pH is 6.5ish. The first three test results were so miraculous that I re-did them. Kit isn't expired (API Master kit) and is still showing those numbers. I'm guessing it's because of a combination of under stocking, a large canister filled with just mechanical and biological media, and lots of plants.


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## Sameer (Sep 30, 2007)

Its not algae. Its only on wood right? Ive seen cases of this before. Heres good info:



> I have mopani driftwood in my tank. I boiled it for close to 6 or 7 hours using a new batch of water every hour or so. I still got this white substance on the driftwood. It concerned me at first because it kept getting worse and worse. I would vacuum it during water changes and brush any loose bits off, but I couldn't do much without ripping apart my scape.
> 
> With some research, I found mixed information identifying it as mold, fungus or bacteria. Some say otos eat it, other say they don't. In the end, what worked for me was to vacuum the loose, dangling bits of it and wait it out. It has been just about 2 months since my tank setup and most of the white stuff is either gone or on its way out. Not sure if the otos eat it, but they don't spend much time there. My cherries do, but I haven't seen them actively eat it either.
> 
> In any event, the bottom line is it is not harmful to your water quality for plants or fish and shrimp. It is just ugly and nasty looking. Just vacuum the dangling extra bits of it as it "grows" and wait it out. It should eventually disappear. This was also an advice I came upon while researching and it has become true for me.


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32218


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## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

Sameer said:


> Its not algae. Its only on wood right? Ive seen cases of this before. Heres good info:


Some of it has actually appeared on the plants as well actually.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

It sure looks like staghorn. Its growing in branches in the pic?


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## Mau5 (Oct 14, 2012)

default said:


> It sure looks like staghorn. Its growing in branches in the pic?


The more I look at it, the more it looks to me like Staghorn. It grows predominantly on the wood, but also grows on plants. I have read that adding more fast growing plant mass will help to out compete the algae.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

You have fast growers. You need co2 and you need to remove them ASAP.
I'm almost 99% sure it's not hair and is definitely staghorn.
Is there direct sunlight from those windows?


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