antwan

Looking good!

great work!

This would be the main reason why you shouldn't need a bubbler. The plants will release a lot of O2 thoughout the day and the rest should be taken care of with the movement of the water.

not sure about the rainbow cichlid but we have salvini which looks kinda similar

I would suggest you fill your tank to the max with plants right from the get-go or you'll have algae problems!

I agree, I've been watching it online and I think the big (really big) tanks are cool. It's just a shame that they put gimmicky crap in them. They've only done one tank with corals so far, which was a bit average (about 10 clownfish per 1 or 2 anenome's). I couldn't believe they actually made that skateboard ramp tank, how horrible for those fish to put up with that. Like others have said it's just another american show...

That looks like a nice one, just not a good photo (not in focus and stressed colouration). Should look pretty good when it's happy.

Nice work! I haven't done a tank taller than 600 but LEDs will be very cool. I think you would have made a mistake buying those fluoro's. Maybe check out the forum part of plantedtank.net . There are a lot of people over there that will be able to help you get the right lighting. For $2500 I'm sure you could get a really nice kit.

Such an awesome build, nice job! I like your idea of using rope to make roots, very cool

Cool build, I look forward to pics! To start off, I would ditch the carbon and replace it with more filter media. Carbon is only necessary when removing meds really. You'll love the FX5, they're an awesome canister. Make sure you plug it in after hours though as every 24 hours it stops and lets any bubbles out, wouldn't want that every day during office hours! I can't say I've used t5's before however I think at 800 deep you would need a few more tubes to grow carpet plants. Have you considered looking in to metal halide lighting?

negatory

They can be a little hard if they are stressed, however I think they're relatively easy. Females always have a pink belly and that's how I judged these ones, also not as long dorsal and pelvic fins, however the latter is obviously not as easy as it could just be a young male. The first pics where the colours aren't as nice are pretty much what they looked like in the shop (minus a bit of intensity) so the belly was still noticeable. Eggs are now wrigglers

Got some way better photo's last night when the tank lights were off. Using the flash showed off their colours that I normally see under the tank light, which the camera doesn't capture very well. Eggs are still there too, a few have fungus but I can see little eyes in the rest of them!

I raised a few when I was younger from a pair, I was quite lazy with water changes though which I think is why I lost so many. I just fed them on microworms and eventually brine shrimp.

Nah they're just in a wee tank with a few other fish, so if some survive good on them!