More tank pics, updated

Niki_up

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How do you keep your tank and decor so clean??? Looking through your photos the tank hasn’t built up any algae...do you sent large amounts of time cleaning the decor?
Congrats on nice setups and fish! You’ve displayed these fish well.
 

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Alligator Gar
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How do you keep your tank and decor so clean??? Looking through your photos the tank hasn’t built up any algae...do you sent large amounts of time cleaning the decor?
Congrats on nice setups and fish! You’ve displayed these fish well.
There's lots of water movement which keeps stuff swirling for the filters to catch. I have two diy internal powerhead filters that I angle for max circulation (was trial and error to get it right) so that water goes right back to the ACL 110s and their overflow. So there's surface agitation and water movement. I don't even get any turds from my O, everything dissolves and is sucked up. The Syno catfishes catch all stray pellets the other fish can't reach.

I aim the powerheads at the surface and towards the ACL 110 overflows, so it creates a vaccum from the bottom. I have had some small brown algae on the window side of the tank because I removed a paper curtain behind the regular panels, so more light has been seeping in. The filter pads are cleaned twice a week during water changes...the bio media stays untouched (bio bale).

It was definitely trial and error...at first I had the powerheads facing the side walls, but that made the sand pile up in the front and debris collect in the back, not what I wanted. So I moved their flow around until I got the best results.

Once my Oscar scaped his area of the tank he calmed down a lot. It's basically his apartment and I don't tinker with it at all. So he sleeps in his 'pit' which is bare glass surrounded by vines (like a bird nest). He places the large airdisk on one side as a partition wall with the bubble side facing away. I often have to adjust the heater because Brick slides it down near the bottom where he sleeps, lol.

Due to the sun angle in the late spring and summer I sometimes clean a bit of algae on the window side, only takes about a minute since I use a magnetic scraper.
 
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FINWIN

Alligator Gar
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And the QT buddies are doing great. Here's my zombie Acara Felix aka Chill, aka Bolt. Showing off for the camera. Not bad for an electrocuted fish that also took a dive bomb to the floor! He's growing and thickening up nicely after a month in QT. Eats like a pig and is friendly.

Felix.jpg
 

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Alligator Gar
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Pepper is less skittish and more outgoing now. He's also a greedy eater, and is a fat plug. I'm especially pleased with his progress since he will be more size challenged. By summers end I can hopefully get him to a 'safer' size overall. But he's gaining height which is a plus! He loves nestling in the plants toward the back.

Sometimes his tail gets a buttery yellow tint.

Pepper 2.jpg

Pepper.jpg
 

FINWIN

Alligator Gar
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Pic time.

Here's Bobo my Choc, showing off one of his many color schemes. In the second pic you see his thickness. He's about 1 1/2" wide. Hands down my calmest, most even tempered fish. The others are starting to run him around a bit now, so I will be glad when the rainbow and acara are ready to go in the main tank. Will stand up for himself but isn't a fighter by any means. He lets me pat his head sometimes. A solid 8" now.

Bobo.jpg

Bobo thick.jpg
 
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