Shroomerz420's 55 Gallon of Awesomeness

Mar 4, 2011
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#1
After months and months of planning and plenty of Doh! moments...here is what I came up with. I'm very proud of this considering the few "fish tanks" I had before this. If you could call them fish tanks. Probably more like tanks with water and fish in them. :eek:

None of this was spur of the moment. Everything...I mean EVERYTHING was drawn out on paper and planned out in my head in advance.


The pictures aren't the best quality, but they will do for now. I'll have some better ones up when I get some free time. These are from when I first set it up about 6 months ago. Let me know what you think. Questions, comments or advice is welcomed! :)


Here is when I had it all leveled up, cleaned, background installed and ready for gravel/decorations. Notice the crazy amount of shims. That's a basement apartment for ya. haha



Here is the sandstone retaining wall that I made.



With sand and gravel added. Surprisingly the wall worked! It even looks better than I hoped for.



With all plants and decorations added.



Finally...adding water.



Done!!! Gotta love all those stupid bubbles. *SUPERSMIL



Here a better front shot about 4 months after initial set-up.
 

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Mar 4, 2011
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#2
Here are some photos of my occupants.


GlowLight Danio - This took FOREVER to capture. They don't ever stop moving. haha



My Betta hiding out in his home. I put a Philodendron Vine in the corner for him to have a place to rest and he LOVES it. His name is Tarkus.



Close-Up of an Amano Shrimp



All 3 Amanos out playing in the sand. This is a rare sight to see all 3 out in the open during the day.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
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Northern NJ
#5
awesome tank dude. great idea for the betta too :)

but what's going on on the left side, in that sandbox? i see a tree root decor, but it kinda stops awkwardly at a smooth cut lol. meant to look like a stump? i dont grasp why the stump is in the sand? im guessing the sand is supposed to symbolize water? if not then please do explain lol.
 

Mar 4, 2011
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#6
awesome tank dude. great idea for the betta too :)

but what's going on on the left side, in that sandbox? i see a tree root decor, but it kinda stops awkwardly at a smooth cut lol. meant to look like a stump? i dont grasp why the stump is in the sand? im guessing the sand is supposed to symbolize water? if not then please do explain lol.
I thought the sand looked plain with nothing in it....So I added that stump. I know it doesn't really make sense but I think it looks good and it gives my Amanos a place to hang out. Eventually I will be switching to all natural, so all of the fake stuff will be gone.

No, the sand represents sand. Lol. You'd be surprised how often my fish congregate over it. Even my cherry barbs starting sifting through it. They look like little cichlids spitting out the sand. It adds a nice touch, not having all gravel. I think so anyways. :cool:
 

Mar 4, 2011
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#10
Your betta totally looks like my betta! Ha ha. I like your tank it looks gooood :) and I LOVE the Amano shrimp! *shrimp addict*
Haha. Maybe they are related. I've yet to see one with the same color pattern. I actually got him at a wedding in September last year. At the reception they had a betta bowl at each table. I felt so bad that I took one home with me. Lol. I would have took more but I don't have the room.

Thank you! :D Yeah I'm sort of a shrimp addict myself.
 

#11
Haha. Maybe they are related. I've yet to see one with the same color pattern. I actually got him at a wedding in September last year. At the reception they had a betta bowl at each table. I felt so bad that I took one home with me. Lol. I would have took more but I don't have the room.

Thank you! :D Yeah I'm sort of a shrimp addict myself.
They might be! Mine was actually red, white, and blue. But I found out he is a grizzly betta -- or something of the sort, and so he is constantly changing colors. Right now I think he is purple and a black-ish color and a darker blue, one time he was a turquoise and a white with a red face. So odd.

I would've taken one home too, lol.

At one point I think I had about 10 species of shrimp, it was fabulous. Right now I just have the RCS and Amano, still miss my CRS very much! Glad to see another shrimp addict around :):)
 

Mar 4, 2011
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#12
They might be! Mine was actually red, white, and blue. But I found out he is a grizzly betta -- or something of the sort, and so he is constantly changing colors. Right now I think he is purple and a black-ish color and a darker blue, one time he was a turquoise and a white with a red face. So odd.

I would've taken one home too, lol.

At one point I think I had about 10 species of shrimp, it was fabulous. Right now I just have the RCS and Amano, still miss my CRS very much! Glad to see another shrimp addict around :):)
That's awesome! I've never heard of a Betta changing colors.

Yeah right now I only have 3 Amanos. Unfortunately my LFS ran out awhile ago and still haven't got a new shipment. :(

And I have 1 Ghost Shrimp that hitch hiked in with my Amanos when I bought them. At the time I thought I was getting 4 Amanos. I had no intentions of keeping Ghost Shrimp but I fell in love with this one. He is so entertaining and completely homicidal. And he doesn't look like the other GS I've seen but has the same basic shape. He is larger than my barbs and danios and has big red claws. I call him Jeffrey Dahmer now. I bet you're wondering why? haha

Well...last Friday I bought 5 more because I figured he was lonely. At 12 cents a piece I thought why not. WRONG! haha. I watched him maul one to death as soon as I added them to my tank. It was insane. It looked liked he was drinking its insides. I thought, OK that shrimp must have pissed Jeffrey off. So as the week goes on I notice the other GS are slowly disappearing without a trace. So last night I'm looking over the tank, and I don't see any more GS except Jeffrey. I'm guessing he didn't like the intruders and ate them all. WTF!? *laughingc

Now that I think about it...They were called feeder shrimp. I guessed they served their purpose.
 

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Apr 16, 2011
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southern maryland
#17
your tank looks awesome!

what kind of light are you using on it though? it looks like a t5-ho or a power compact i think. it just doesnt look like the standard t8 the comes with those tanks. i ask this because i dont see any live plants in there, so why have a fancy light? lol
 

LAVMAN

Medium Fish
Sep 28, 2009
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#18
i really like the tank. ive been meaning to do what you did which is to sit down and really think on how to decorate\design a awesome looking tank.