Im starting this blog for my 180 gallon planted tank to not only have a record of the evolution of the tank but for others as well. When I was first starting my tank there was not really any information from people with bigger tanks, especially on this site so hopefully this will help some of you out and feel free to ask questions. I plan on updating with a picture once a month. 

WEEK…

Alright so I finally got a 180 gallon tank. It is 6x2x2. My question is what kind of lighting do you guys with bigger tanks (125-220ish) have for plants? Im trying to do this as cheep as I can. Im taking down a 75 and a 55 to make room for the 180, so I have 2, 48inch dual t5s that I can put on there but I doubt that will be enough? Im thinking about running 85watt cfls (about four of them) as well since Ive had good luck with them and with two 48 inch strips the…

        Hey guys, I originally posted this in the DIY forum but because of all the spam nobody can ever see it so i decided to post it here as well. Anyway I am getting ready to set up a 20 gallon tank (with dirt) that I have just sitting around, and since it has no light with it im going to use some CFL spiral light bulbs because of how cheep and effective they can be. What I want to know is how you guys have done it, show me some pictures, what does your hood…

I was wandering if anyone has had a tank that they just leave alone because everything is perfect and balanced. I set up my first tropical aquarium 7 months ago and basically have been improving everything since. I have a 5 gallon which is great because I only have to trim it and stuff but my other tank is 15 gallons (this is the one i got 7 months ago) and set it up with no experience so when I set up my 5 gallon a few months later I got it what I thought was just right. Over the past two…

I have decided I want to change my 55 Gallon to a riparium. If you havent heard of them check them out here(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8TnMj_E5A&feature=plcp). I think they are awesome and will add something new to a planted tank. I wanted to add a African Butterfly fish but its something Ive never keep before. Ive done a little reasearch and know they will jump and have the potential to glide across the…

I am just getting  back into the Tropical Fish Tank hobby.  I have just set up the tank and planted it.  I did not do the dirt method.  Had I found this site prior to getting it set up I would have.  I am now waiting for the nitrogen cycle to get through then I will start adding fish.  Not sure yet what I will have for fish.  Has to be small and not a lot of them though because of being only 10gal.

Tom C…

So, i finally got my tank to a point where i actually like it.  Its a 10 gallon aquarium.

as far as plants go, there are: its a wisteria, amazon swords, java fern, ludwigia.

The fish consist of: an African knife fish, red tail shark, 4 angelfish, bolivian ram cichlid, powder blue gourami, betta, rubberlip pleco, and a african butterfly fish.  I know its extremely overstocked, but they are all still babies and will all be moved to an bigger aquarium later. 

With the…