[ PREFACE ]

In this revision, corrections have been made to the grammatical mistakes and to the inaccuracies in the naming of some plants and fish in the first publication. In addition, there are now additional pages showing pictures of mostof the inhabitants of the tank and of the equipment used.I am not a biologist or an aquatics expert, but in my past couple of years of fish keeping, I have learned that eachtank you assemble

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each aquatic micro ecosystem that you attempt to recreate

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poses slightly different sets of challenges

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both during and after setting up. Yet whatever you learned from a previous tank project adds up overtime and would certainly help you through your next. What you are about to read is a story of the seventy-

five gallon aquarium which I have set up in my parent’s house

at the end of 2007; it has changed a lot over the years and I would like to share the experience of watching thisaquatic garden mature. This story is presented like a journal and not a full guide to setting up an aquarium; as such,the insights offered and steps mentioned appear occasionally only as they are relevant to the photographs, and notnecessarily in their natural order of execution. If after reading, you become interested in starting an aquarium inyour home or office, I direct you to the numerous setup guides freely available or downloadable over the Internet. With this paper, I attempt to share glimpses of the excitement and joys of beginning the hobby, the failures andfrustrations along the way

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and the rewards and satisfaction at the end of each day.Enjoy!May2009

This document was prepared in Microsoft Word 2007 then saved as a PDF file through the Save As PDF menu. Maiandra GD is the font used for the text.

SEVENTY-FIVE GALLON

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EVOLUTION3

[ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ]

The brand names of the aquatic and lighting products, imaging applications and document software mentioned inthis paper are properties of their respective owners. The respective companies may be visited through the internet.Nikon CoolPix digital still cameras S10 & P80 Sony CyberShot digital still camera H9Sera Substrate Fertiliser Jebo R338 aquarium ViaAqua 300 Canister Filter Precision PF850 Overhead Power FilterOmni 250w Halogen Lamp Firefly 50w Dichroic Halogen LampFastStone Photo Resizer for Windows v2.8 Adobe PhotoshopMicrosoft Word 2007I claim full rights to all the photographs used in this document.