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125 Amazon Tank Photo Journal

10K views 29 replies 8 participants last post by  porksnorkel 
#1 ·
just documenting my tanks progress, so please enjoy the pics.

DIY 125g stand and canopy w/ marineland 125 tank

filtration.....twin emperor 400's and fluval fx5
lighting.......twin 96W AH Supply PC's on single ballast w/ 10,000K bulbs
cooling.......DIY mini fan from Skycraft Surplus
heaters......twin Stealth 200W's
timer/pwr....Coralife single digital and Leviton power strips
backround...exterior black paint
substrate....white play sand from Home Depot
rock...........Tennessee river rounds from Pebble Junction
wood..........grapewood and unknown

flora..........Jungle Vallis [to be planted]

fauna[current]........2 angels
9 silver dollars [8 in QT]
5 silver hatchets
2 marble hatchets
1 clown pleco [to be removed if possible]
1 whiptail cat
2 spotted coris
1 glass cori
1 bolivian ram
2 ghost shrimp

fauna[to come]......1 whiptail cat
3 to 4 glass coris
6 bolivian rams
2 discus
10 to 15 small tetras of some sort [may not have room]

















 
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#3 ·
oh man i wanna go some day. yeah i know it's pretty muddy, but that doesn't do much for the home aquarium,lol.

should have some plants on the way in a few weeks. i'm thinking potted jungle vals from arizona gardens...assuming i can hide the pots. not sure if they'll do well in the sand, even w/ the peat underneath.
 
#4 ·
porksnorkel said:
oh man i wanna go some day. yeah i know it's pretty muddy, but that doesn't do much for the home aquarium,lol.

should have some plants on the way in a few weeks. i'm thinking potted jungle vals from arizona gardens...assuming i can hide the pots. not sure if they'll do well in the sand, even w/ the peat underneath.
Not muddy, per se, but dark from vegetative decay and roiling from current. Just a heads up on your stocking: the silver dollars will view the Vallisnerias as a salad bar. Would keep a bunch of them if they were such plant lawnmowers. View them as vegetarian piranhas, you get the idea. Though it chaffs me to say it, because I do only well-planted tanks, if you want to keep silver dollars, the plants should be silk. Sheesh. And you should stock up on Romaine lettuce (only Romaine), leaf spinach and other leafy vegetables in the produce isle at the grocery store as for optimum health and color of your SD's, they gotta have the greens.

Dave
 
#5 ·
I actually made my Amazon a blackwater tank. Not being a purist by any stretch of one's imagination, having "safari'd" to the Mecca of South American fishdom, I couldn't stand having my water THAT clear. lol I added some hard woods, teak and oak, some blackwater extract and Voila!!! (that's french by the way) my tank was at least closer to being Amazonic.

If one ever makes the trip to the Amazon, I must recommend that you make sure the expedition goes to the Rio ***** and it confluence with the Amazon. The difference in water color is pronounced. And the mixing of the two waters is amazing. Quite a site to see.
 
#7 ·
well dern mon. i'm suprised i hadn't found that in my research, or maybe i did and forgot intentionally. but...gotta have the plants and the silvers can be replaced w/ something else. or perhaps i can find room in a non- planted tank.

[/quote]Not muddy, per se, but dark from vegetative decay and roiling from current. Just a heads up on your stocking: the silver dollars will view the Vallisnerias as a salad bar. Would keep a bunch of them if they were such plant lawnmowers. View them as vegetarian piranhas, you get the idea. Though it chaffs me to say it, because I do only well-planted tanks, if you want to keep silver dollars, the plants should be silk. Sheesh. And you should stock up on Romaine lettuce (only Romaine), leaf spinach and other leafy vegetables in the produce isle at the grocery store as for optimum health and color of your SD's, they gotta have the greens.

Dave[/quote]
 
#8 ·
herefishy said:
I actually made my Amazon a blackwater tank. Not being a purist by any stretch of one's imagination, having "safari'd" to the Mecca of South American fishdom, I couldn't stand having my water THAT clear. lol I added some hard woods, teak and oak, some blackwater extract and Voila!!! (that's french by the way) my tank was at least closer to being Amazonic.

If one ever makes the trip to the Amazon, I must recommend that you make sure the expedition goes to the Rio ***** and it confluence with the Amazon. The difference in water color is pronounced. And the mixing of the two waters is amazing. Quite a site to see.
i like a bit of blackwater myself, but my wood seems to be running low on tannin. it was darker a few weeks ago, but i've had this wood for a few years now. i actually had collected and scrubbed a mess of dead cypress and oak, but it made a huge mess. i guess the wood was to soft. here's a shot at my original set up in this tank...

i would have included the shot originally, but i didn't want to make confusion. i have multiple threads running on my 2 -125 tanks.

i have seen the 2 rivers mix on that BBC show 'amazing amazon'. good show and some great habitat info.
 
#9 ·
GeegaFish said:
It looks very pretty Snorky, but I'm confused. Is this the same tank you were working on before with the slate, foam, wrong silicone fiasco? Just curious....don't want to bring up bad memories for you.
this is the first tank Geega. i have 2- 125g tanks on identical stands/canopies. the tank u mentioned has been cleaned, but i need more substrate. also letting any remaining trace caulk, soften for a final scrub down. once i set it up w/ the new stuff, i'll put my tester fish [pair of rosy barbs] in for a week or 2, to start cycle, and make sure everything is ok for fancy fishies.

[pardon the baby birthday stuff]

oh...no bad memories...only learning experiences and new things to conquer!! let's call it a "bittersweet victory"
 
#15 ·
yeah...not sure why it would be a fire hazard? most of that equipement is low wattage, save the lights and heaters. everything is drip looped and the strips are elevated in case of flood. should be ok. 3 of the plugs will go, [from the 10g Q tank], and then be promptly replaced bt nano hydor pumps. should be ok i think.
 
#18 ·
ty guys. i have rearranged things, as i felt the set up was to cluttery, and left little room for plantings. much of the rock has come out as well as the wood. not sure how i feel about the last piece of wood at this point. i'll have to see it w/ the plants in.







as u can see, there are some nice cory and ram caves. hopefully some will be convinced to spawn at some point.

i have added 2 more angels and the 5 cories that were in Q. also picked up 17 rummy nose tets, 8 scissortail tets, 4 bolivian rams, and 3 more panda cories. all the later are in Q.

on a different note, the last of the clown plecs was traded in, as well as all the silver dollars.
 
#19 ·
Looking good so far Porky! I see what you mean about the driftwood....looks a little lonely in the middle with rocks to either side. I think it will look better after some plants are added. That will hopefully make the wood seem equally proportioned to the rocks.

How's the other tank coming? I've been really curious to see what you're going to do with it.
 
#20 ·
going well thus far geega. i've added 2 angels, a few more cories and 9 scissor tail tets. also have 3 panga cories and 14 rummy nose tets waiting in Q. as far as plants go, i just don't know where to order from AAZ but i hear they have a bad rep, and their method of billing is scary. by that i mean, they don't tell how much shipping will be, until it's already on the way.
 
#26 ·
I've just noticed you have an algae magnet on the front of the tank. Just a quick heads up, and you probably don't need reminded - but be very careful with it. I had a magnet in one of my tanks and some grains of sand got caught between the magnet and the glass. It got really badly scored when I was cleaning it.
 
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