# 65 Gallon Planted, Lots Of Pics.



## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

So yes, after all this time of wanting to do a planted tank.. I finally got around to it. Pics are at various stages... tank was already filled, just moved the fish and took everything out.

First I started by removing everything, and putting a 20 pound bag of cheap gravel at petsmart as the bottom layer (sloped towards the front):










Then, ugh, after washing for quite a while, I added the flourite (one bag):



























Then I ended up siphoning out about 50 gallon of water :/










Still turned out cloudy.










Let it sit for a while, then I planted it:





























All I need now is vallisneria for the backs, and the chance to do something with the smallmouth bass in it :0. I hope you like it. Pretty bored so i thought i'd update and share. I'd also like to thank Kristin (Justonemore20) for a large amount of the plants that are now in this tank .


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## Guest (Apr 9, 2007)

Your tank looks great Dylan! I love it!


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## Guest (Apr 9, 2007)

Awesome job, Dylan! Looks really nice.

Id take the bass if I had an extra tank. You know how much I love those kinds of fish. :razz:


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

Looks great Dylan


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2007)

cool!!my 55g will look like that soon


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

sweet setup, wish mine looked as good as that =P


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Nice start. 

Just a few things you will want to keep in mind................... (I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention them)

Your left side will decay. You are teasing them with the light on the right. Even if some grow, they will grow sideways, not upwards.

Your gravel will eventually mix with the flourite. Fact of life 

Need more foreground plants 

Great start though. Keep it up.


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Hehe thanks everyone!

No problem Damon, taking all the help I can get hehe. I know the gravel with eventually mix, but I just tried that for now. I'll probably end up buying more flourite later on. I just ran out of money then and didn't think I needed that much for the amount of plants I had. I should be getting in a new light soon. I have that light on there, and a smaller one on the other side ATM. The only thing that's having problems is the lily- but those always do when they get moved like that. Only thing on that side are two amazon swords (which have been moved) and a large thing of java moss. I hope to upgrade this as I go along. When the bass is out. (if I get my 210) i'm thinking of using this as a grow out system for small dats and gars.. otherwise i'm thinking of a small oddball community. I don't really know. The bass is amazing in this set-up, but it has a tendency to crash through this when I throw in feeders.


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## Plyr58 (Mar 7, 2007)

FYI. You don't have to wash the Flourite. IT is gonna lud the water if you wash it for a week, and all you are doing is washing out nutrients. Didn't hurt anything, but thought it might help in the future.


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Yes, I know . I only washed it, because, otherwise my tank would _never_ get clear. I've heard people using all of the crud that came with it, but i'm not going to try that with a first real "planted tank setup". I took a large portion of the silt that came with it, and let it settle on the bottom of one of my ten gallons (which had plants in it) but that's about it.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

FLourite (as well as every other substrate except eco complete) is calcinied clay. The dust is the substrate rubbing together and wearing down (like a big dirt clump). If you can find Turface or Soilmaster in your area use that. Same stuff and cheaper ($12.00 for 50lbs)


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2007)

Looking good, Dylan . Nice job!


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