I forgot to start this thread so I need to make up for lost time. I started this about the first week of December so I will do my best on the time line.



Substrate in



Some DW added



A couple plants added and 4 Julii Cories about a week later.





Several Vals, Dwarf Sags and Pennywort plus a couple LF Albino Bristlenose Plecos plus a couple Double Red Cockatoos added the middle of the 3rd week

I added 24 Cardinals before the end of December.





I added the last of my stock the first week of January 6 more LF Albino Bristlenose Plecos. and what was suppose to be 12 Blue Platinum Angels turned out to be 19.





I have rescaped a couple times so far. I have lost 1 corie so far and thats it.











My little school of Plats



I am running 4 T-5 HO's 1 Fluval 304, 1 SunSun 302 and 2 PH's rated at 170 GPH each

Looks great so far, can't wait to see everything a bit more mature...especially the angels.

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--->Pictures of my 75g Amazon tank<----

Wow the angels are in more of a school than the tetras LOL.

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I'm so sorry I haven't been on the forum in so long! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this lovely website! I moved to a different county back in May 2011 and started high school in a totally different school district. So I'm still adjusting and studying hard, and don't presently have any aquariums. But once I do, I'll be right back on this forum!

Looks great! I love the look of pennywort.

I know Tyler but once the angels put some size on them the Cards should start schooling better.
I really like the looks of the Pennywort too Ryan, I cant wait for it to fill in that corner.

I am IN LOVE with your Cockatoo
Im going to try and see what i can find down here in Illinois for my planted 55g.

Thank you for the pictures

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Sean

I should have some new pics this weekend and those Apistos spawned once already and I think she is gaurding again. I might try to get them out because she gets real nasty and I dont want them causeing problems for my Angels. This pic really shows off the blue in his fins

better then ...

very nice build, superb quality.

Where in Michigan are you located?

I would love to find 3 of these adorable little guys for our collection.

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Sean

Great set-up!

I thought I posted some pics but I forgot to so here they are from about 2 weeks ago. I changed things up some and I will today also because I am going to get the Apistos out of it I hope even if I have to tear everything out and replant.

This is the new piece of DW I got

















I might even trade out the bulbs I am running for something a little more blue. I am not sure I like it with just the 2 GE 6.5k bulbs.

I managed to get a couple new shots so I thought I would post them up. I had to do some major trimming on some plants due to algea and some other issues but here you go.

My Amanos sharing an algea wafer with a pleco







A couple of my angels and FTS

C'mon archer lets see this bad boy in the contest! dmaaaaaax-u2!

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I'm so sorry I haven't been on the forum in so long! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this lovely website! I moved to a different county back in May 2011 and started high school in a totally different school district. So I'm still adjusting and studying hard, and don't presently have any aquariums. But once I do, I'll be right back on this forum!

Archer, very very nice, I think you just ticked me off enough to redo my tanks today, I am going to get another bag of gravel to build the back up a bit.

I to have a 2 dozen school of cardinals with my 8 angels the angels are bigger and they school really really tight but still hug the back glass. unsure what I am going to do about that but I am quite happy with your layout and am going to try and replicate it.

I got some of that same grass thats on your substrate, is it ok to cut the runners and plant the individual plants or better to plant with runners?

I have a 120g tank in my garage and you have the look I am going for. I have a large piece of driftwood and am using a native still river gravel. I am also going with live plants. I plan on a school of cory's, about 10-12 angels, and a school of cardinal's. If I can get mine to look half as nice as your's I will be satisfied. I have to 36 inch 96 watt cfl bulbs for mine so I will be going with low light live plants.


Edit
What method did you use to cycle the tank, or was your filter media already established. I was told that the angles and cardinals needed a tank that had been cycled and then established for a month or two. Just curious on how you did yours.
Thanks

Thanks I am going to try to get some better pics with the other lights on. I just wait till the plants have a good root system and then I cut them and replant.

I have been keeping Angels for close to 35 years and yes it should be well cycled IMO but I had all my fish added in 1 month (about 60 fish) and then I started to thin them out but I dont recomend that. I started it by adding a media bag of gravel from a friends tank and added about 60 plants then added the cories, apistos, plecos, cardinals, angels and then the otos. I think you might run into problems if you plan to keep more than about 6-8 angels long term because they tend to get aggressive. I had to remove the apistos and thin the angels down to 8 for now and plan on trying to get a breeding pair out them. My angels are bigger than 1/2 dollar size and they are only about 4-5 months old so they have alot of growing to do yet so I am hoping I can keep 6 when full grown.

My tank is the 120g long (72 inch) do you think 8 angels would be too many when full grown or does it depend on aggressions issues. I don't really want to buy too many and then have to re home them later. So I might just start of with 8 once I get them.
I have two bags of the ceramic bio rings for AC 110's that have been sitting in a 75 gallon tank (it is established) for a couple weeks. My plan is to get my gravel and decor ready let my AC 110's run for a couple days and then move the seeded rings over from the 75 gal into this tank. I know that likely won't be enough to instant cycle the tank but I am hoping it gets it going pretty good. I plan on dosing with ammonia once I add the seeded material and see how quickly it processes. Once it's cycled I plan on adding the corys, the cardinals, and the angels last.

I would pull some gravel out of the 75 and put it into the 120 unless you are going to use a different gravel because it will hold alot of beneficial bacteria. I would skip the ammonia and start adding a few fish each week but thats JMO. I would add plants first thing because that will help reduce any cycle you might have that is if you are going to use live plants.