# New layout for my 120cm tank



## Martin in Holland (14 Mar 2016)

The previous layout was getting overgrown and I had to do something, either get plants out and prune them or do a total make over....I went for the make over. I wanted to make it more suitable for Discus fish thus crowded. I also wanted to do the make over without completely emptying the tank which at some point in time I thought that I had bit off more than I could chew, but I was able to do it.

It started with removing plants and stones from one side of the tank, placing plants on stones and dump them back in the tank where ever there was some space and siphon the old substrate which actually worked like a charm without clouding the tank.



 
On one of my visits to the fish/pet market I found a nice piece of wood....  


 
but that had to be able to sink, the only option I had was to dump it in the tank, a small stone was enough to keep it submerged and I already removed some plants, but the tank was a mess.


 
Slowly kept siphoning the substrate out and remove the stones every day.

This weekend was set to rescape the tank, I ended up in getting most of the fish out (the ones that were going to another home), removing all plants , wood and stones, got about 90% water out (kept just enough for the remaining fish and shrimp) and start scaping. I think I was done with the hardscape under 30 minutes, refilled the tank with water, waited for the water to clear up some more and replanted. All plants are tight or glued to stones, so replanting was a breeze, this also will make maintaining the plants easier as I can just pull them out.


 
I did get some new in and outlets, the black once I had didn't fit in this clear look, need to do a little bit of cable work at the back and I will probably mess around with some plants.
Now seeing the end result, I'm not sure if I will get Discus fish, I have to ponder about that a bit longer.......


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## Alexander Belchenko (14 Mar 2016)

Wow, that's looking great. Steel pipes blend so well, but in the same time just great looking per se.


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## Berlioz (14 Mar 2016)

Wow, that looks utterly fantastic; the wood is amazing!


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## Nelson (14 Mar 2016)

Simply stunning Martin .


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## Martin in Holland (14 Mar 2016)

Discus...yes or no?




Also could use some help with a name for this scape.


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## Alexander Belchenko (14 Mar 2016)

About your light units: do you use simple outdor LED flood lights?


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## Martin in Holland (14 Mar 2016)

Yep...simple outdoor flood lights....3 x 20W, 6500K


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## Berlioz (14 Mar 2016)

Martin in China said:


> Discus...yes or no?
> View attachment 81408
> 
> Also could use some help with a name for this scape.



I think the discus look really good in there, Martin.  I could also picture them swimming under some nymphaea lotus, if you ever added them along the back.

If you didn't go with them, would increase school sizes or perhaps add another fish?


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## Martin in Holland (14 Mar 2016)

The tank indeed has some Nymphea at the back, they need to grow and reach the surface. The schools sizes are already pretty big (40 cardinals and 18 hockey tetras), they are just hiding at the moment, it was their first day at school.


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## Worshiper (14 Mar 2016)

Stunning!


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## dean (14 Mar 2016)

I'd definitely go with the discus 

How about 
Discus DLight


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## parotet (14 Mar 2016)

Personally I don't like big fish, they don't look so good in a small space. A huge shoal of medium sized fish would look awesome and their behavior much more natural... But of course this is my opinion 

Jordi


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## gareth777 (14 Mar 2016)

im liking the more industrial look with the metal pipe work


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## alto (14 Mar 2016)

Martin in China said:


> Discus...yes or no?
> View attachment 81408


Yes!!!
as those are my favorite discus  
(forget the painted varieties )

Besides it looks like an awesome scape for discus - congrats on that wood find, it's a stunning piece


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## zozo (14 Mar 2016)

Wow!? That's a complete rebuild?? I kinda liked that picture where it was placed in the corner with it branches sticking out emersed. Kinda thought that was the plan. 
Didn't expect to see this, very nice work Martin, even without growing in further it already looks very natural..  Also the lamps and pipework..  
Did you photoshop the discus in? With the question Discs or not? They are stunning fish, but i do not know if the tanks height realy is that suited for large discus. Personaly i'm i bit with Jordy on this.. I regularly visit http://www.discusshop.nl/ not far from me,, to buy goodies, they breed discus, if i see the adult size in his tanks, they get big fellows, wouldn't be my choice under a 1000 liter. But jaw dropping nice looking fish, they certainly are.


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## tim (14 Mar 2016)

If it were mine Martin (and I wish it was ) I would add a nice shoal of Congo tetras and leave the discus in the shop


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## FIsh i (14 Mar 2016)

Very clean all round, just stunning and of course lots of small fish


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## dean (14 Mar 2016)

Discus Discus Discus Discus Duscus Discus Discus Discus 

Great to see a set up where you don't have to use a macro lens to actually take a pic of the fish 


Regards
Dean


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## Chris Jackson (14 Mar 2016)

Love it! No discus is my vote..


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## Martin in Holland (15 Mar 2016)

zozo said:


> Did you photoshop the discus in?


Yes, those are photoshopped in there....
I am not going down the Discus fish route, I don't want to go there for a couple of reasons, first; I think that a big fish like that would make the tank look to crowded and small, second; they are slow to come to food which would mean that with the small fish being fast to eat all the food, I would need to feed much more and vacuum the substrate after every meal, third; the water temp. needs to be higher and plants don't really like that and I do not like to loose plants or get algae because of more plant debbry in the water.
Maybe I make the school I have now a bit bigger, add some nice shrimp and call it a day.


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## rebel (15 Mar 2016)

How about some Torpedo barbs....they are in the same price range as discus, at least in Australia.... 

Very beautiful layout and masterful execution to make it slowly transition from previous scape.


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Mar 2016)

Torpedos! I was about to suggest the same!


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## flygja (15 Mar 2016)

I've had discus for a few years now. I've had individual specimens that were slow to come to food, some were gulping nonstop from the surface, so it really depends on each fish and how they were raised. I never vacuumed up their uneaten food, I have cories for that. What I usually do is feed Tetrabit first while defrosting the frozen bloodworms. The small fish will go for those, some discus will go for those as well. 15-20 mins later, drop in the frozen bloodworms which sink to the bottom. Since the other small fish have been fed, they don't go for the bloodworms much.

I'm more concerned with open-topped tanks and discus. I've had 4 discus jump out of the tank when no one was around and die. I've had 2 that jumped while I was around and they were saved. Now I have 6mm acrylic panels covering most of the tank, except for a 10cm x 50cm space for my cooling fans. And one discus still managed to jump out and die last week 

Your tank just keeps getting better and better! The stainless steel pipework looks so good. Do you know if the shops you buy from in Shenzhen have any online presense?


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## AnhBui (15 Mar 2016)

One vote for a school of Rainbowfish






closer look


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## Martin in Holland (15 Mar 2016)

flygja said:


> Do you know if the shops you buy from in Shenzhen have any online presense?


They don't have a website or anything remotely like that, I did buy those pipes online though, here we have a very much used website for this, you have to be able to read Chinese, but the stuff you can find is unlimited.
I did considered Torpedos and Rainbows before, but they are sure to jump out and this jumping was also a concern of mine regarding Discus... thanks all for helping to find the right fish, but for now I'm pretty happy with the open space and swim room for the fish that are in there.


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## Martin in Holland (15 Mar 2016)

flygja said:


> Do you know if the shops you buy from in Shenzhen have any online presense?


They don't have a website or anything remotely like that, I did buy those pipes online though, here we have a very much used website for this, you have to be able to read Chinese, but the stuff you can find is unlimited.
I did considered Torpedos and Rainbows before, but they are sure to jump out and this jumping was also a concern of mine regarding Discus... thanks all for helping to find the right fish, but for now I'm pretty happy with the open space and swim room for the fish that are in there.


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## flygja (15 Mar 2016)

You mean Taobao? I rely on google translate to translate to chinese so I can search it. A friend of mine orders stuff regularly, so I just hitch in with the shipment whenever he does.

https://world.taobao.com/item/526122032961.htm?spm=a312a.7700714.0.0.1i42wi#detail


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## Neil Blowfield (15 Mar 2016)

Looks amazing Martin, beautiful tank - very jealous indeed! That wood is a right find, well done!


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## Martin in Holland (16 Mar 2016)

flygja said:


> You mean Taobao?


Yep...that's the one, I also use google translate, but to know more in detail I have to ask my wife to translate or chat with the shop owner.
The steel in- and outlet came from the same shop as your link, they are pretty much OK, just not bend enough so they aren't as parallel as they should be, but for that price I am happy.


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## zozo (16 Mar 2016)

Shrimps also is a risk with discus is seems, said a discus keeper i lately talked to.. They seem to be specialy atracted to red color, red shrimp are chased and eaten for sure he says. That's another reason to take in consideration.. But indeed as you say, it would in contrast make your scape look way smaller.. I'm not sure if Discus sp. come in different size, i believe not and all grow up to +/- 20cm.  That's way bigger than the size you shopped in if that's a 120 cm tank..


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## Martin in Holland (17 Mar 2016)

No worries Marcel, I'm not going for Discus. Probably some black and white shrimp and leave it as it is.


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## Martin in Holland (25 Mar 2016)

I made a small impression with my android.

Hope you enjoy it.


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## Alexander Belchenko (25 Mar 2016)

Wow, very nice layout and wonderful plants. Some buces are simply super!


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## AnhBui (25 Mar 2016)

Enjoyed and like it.  how about adding tiger lotus in the back ground?


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## zozo (25 Mar 2016)

Very clean!! Nice job..


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## Mot (25 Mar 2016)

I really like this layout.  I just love how the fish dart around the island.


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## tim (25 Mar 2016)

Superb layout Martin, love the colouration of some of the bucephlandra you have, thanks for sharing the video gives a real impression of how tranquil the scape is, top job mate.


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## mlgt (25 Mar 2016)

Lovely layout and so clean. Im off to Zhongshan in May. Fancy meeting up in HK or ZS?.


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## Martin in Holland (25 Mar 2016)

AnhBui said:


> Enjoyed and like it.  how about adding tiger lotus in the back ground?


There is a lotus at the back, just needs to grow to the surface.


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## Martin in Holland (25 Mar 2016)

mlgt said:


> Lovely layout and so clean. Im off to Zhongshan in May. Fancy meeting up in HK or ZS?.


For sure, always nice to meet people and if they are a little bit aquazy  even better.


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## Martin in Holland (26 Apr 2016)

A small update. The Anubius petit didn't like his bleach treatment very much (4 minutes in 5%) the leaves don't look healthy anymore, but the new growth is fine.
The Lily still doesn't want to grow its leaves on top of the water, I guess he is happy with the provided CO2 level.




In the evening I'm only running 1 light (out of 3) for 30 minutes. 



 
View from the side.


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## Dantrasy (26 Apr 2016)

Billiant pic of a brilliant scape! You got the lighting spot-on. Are you tempted to add more moss to some dw?


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## rebel (26 Apr 2016)

Amazing how the sand is so clean! Do you get any algae growing there?


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## zozo (26 Apr 2016)

Wonderfull Martin..  I spray my anubias whit peroxide, with such a small cosmetic despenser spraybottle. They take it very well, even have a few growing emersed and a few times tho they don't need but but just received an unintentional dose, i didn't see it affect the leaves negatively. I guess peroxide only reacts supperficialy for a short periode and becomes inert water again. less agrisive than bleach..

What lily are you growing??  Do you feed it additionaly with roottabs? I don't think it's co2 related, maybe rather species related and fertilization. My lily in the co2 tank was rather fast with growing emersed leaves but also took a few weeks. Any way if you haven't shove a nice clay roottab under it's tuber..


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## Martin in Holland (26 Apr 2016)

Dantrasy said:


> Are you tempted to add more moss to some dw?


Not as much, I like to look at the twists and turns of the wood.



rebel said:


> Do you get any algae growing there?


Fingers crossed, but so far no algae.

@zozo I bleached the Anubius when they came out of my old layout to start fresh and algae free, I actually forgot that I still have H2O2, I will use it next time, thanks for the reminder.
The Lily is placed in a container (like the once you get from a fast food Chinese restaurant) with soil and I added some clay, the plant is really doing great, just no leaves shooting for the surface yet....yes, I know, patience Martin, patience....BTW my guess is that it is a Nymphaea Rubra, I have to guess as they never have names here.


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## zozo (26 Apr 2016)

Martin in China said:


> BTW my guess is that it is a Nymphaea Rubra, I have to guess as they never have names here.



Yes most nymphaeas we get our hands on are most likely cultivars, but if it is the rubra and once it starts to make floaters you have to see hairy stems and hairs the underside of the leaves.. This is typical for N. Pubescens and a way to identify, if it's a rubra it should have purple leaves and red flowers..  Lilies do not like strong flow and will produce little to no floaters if the current is to strong even the smallest amount of flow can prevent them from flowering. I reduced my flow significantly to get it to float sooner and even reduced it further to make it flower. But i only managed the make her flower once. I was able to keep the flow this low for almost a year but it was still to much, till the rhizoclonium took over, this was the only algae i could not tackle once it got established. Now since i encreased the flow again to get a more stable co2 distribution i see the lilly making less floaters, usualy she grew about 2 floaters a week. Now i'm already waiting for over a week and i stil do not see a new floater comming.

If i remember correctly it was Edvet, saying he waited over a year to get his lily to float.. My best educated guess is, the high flow in our high tech tanks are not suitable for floating lily. The other thing is, if it stars to grow floaters it will stop making submersed leaves, the old ones finaly will die off.. Then you'll have to wait for a runner, which will form new submersed leaves as a seperate plant. .


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## Greenfinger2 (26 Apr 2016)

Hi Martin,  Stunning scape Love it


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## Martin in Holland (22 Sep 2016)

A small update of this tank....

I replaced the Anubius petit with a more light green Anubius to give the scape a bit brighter overall look now that the Lily is growing so well.


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## alto (22 Sep 2016)

Such an amazing bit of wood 

I like those new anubias

but WHERE are the discus photos


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## Martin in Holland (22 Sep 2016)

alto said:


> but WHERE are the discus photos


 Soon, I have to take some new once...they grow like crazy.


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## Alexander Belchenko (22 Sep 2016)

In my area similar anubias is sold by name anubias nana "golden" or "gold". It really stands out on dark background.


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## Manisha (22 Sep 2016)

Just read through - beautiful tank & rescape, Thank you also for explaining how you achieved it with moving plants at the start (useful for future reference perhaps...) I really like your pipework & clean substrate. Love the bright look to the tank


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## woodster (22 Sep 2016)

Lovely scape.


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## Eduard18 (22 Sep 2016)

Lovely scape ! Keep up the good work !

Envoyé de mon SM-G935F en utilisant Tapatalk


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## Tim Harrison (22 Sep 2016)

Really like the negative space around the island it works well to promote a sense of depth and space. It kinda reminds me of a coral atol.


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## Greenfinger2 (24 Sep 2016)

Hi Martin, Still looking amazing How do you keep the white substrate so clean mate


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## alto (24 Sep 2016)

Which fish are in this tank at present?

I still think Discus would look awesome in the set up


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## Martin in Holland (25 Sep 2016)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Martin, Still looking amazing How do you keep the white substrate so clean mate


Once a week I vacuum the sand while doing a water change, that's it.



alto said:


> Which fish are in this tank at present?
> I still think Discus would look awesome in the set up


About 50 or so Cardinals, 8 Penguin tertas, 8 Cherry barbs, 1 pleco, 4 SAE and a few Otos and Amano shrimp.... The most of those fish would become an easy meal for the Discus so for now I keep my Discus in the other tank.


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## Martin in Holland (6 Nov 2016)

I often feed my fish the leftover beef heart mix from the Discus fish, I though it would be nice to make a little video of it, so I did....


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## Greenfinger2 (6 Nov 2016)

Hi Martin, Looked like the fish really love the beef heart. Cool video and nice to hear your voice too


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## cosmin_ruz (7 Nov 2016)

Happy fish!  Nice video!


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Nov 2016)

Really great tank. Interesting to see combination of anubias and buce. Need to try it at home.

[Enter text here] lol


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## Martin in Holland (7 Jan 2017)

Photographed some plants while they were immersed during a water change.


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## themodernchap (9 Jan 2017)

Really lovely tank that. Looking to you for inspiration for my 120 by 60 by 65!


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## Martin in Holland (12 Jan 2017)

themodernchap said:


> Really lovely tank that. Looking to you for inspiration for my 120 by 60 by 65!


With your tank size you are able to do a lot.


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## themodernchap (15 Jan 2017)

If I can make it look half as good as yours I will be very happy. I'm going to start a tank thread, but it will be slow going.


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## Martin in Holland (17 Jan 2017)

It starts to get a bit overgrown, I leave it for a few months more until I find new inspiration for a different layout while re-using most of the plants I already have.


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## Martin in Holland (3 Mar 2017)

Robbo4551 said:


> Beautiful scape, i notice those flood lights you are using, what power would you suggest for a 50l cube? Ive found them on ebay for around 5 quid, hard to not buy them!



I would probably start with a 30W first, as they don't come with a dim function, but it will depend on the plants you want to grow.


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## Martin in Holland (28 Jul 2017)

This tank has been shut down and now looks like a horror show. I'm waiting for new substrate to arrive, all plants will be replaced as the next layout will be something completely different.


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## alto (28 Jul 2017)

Looking forward to the next iteration 

What substrate did you order?


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## Tim Harrison (28 Jul 2017)

Lovely scape Martin...but I guess the urge to move on and create something new is irresistible. Good luck with the new scape I'm sure it'll be fantastic.


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## Martin in Holland (29 Jul 2017)

alto said:


> Looking forward to the next iteration
> 
> What substrate did you order?


The substrate is a ADA like substrate, but made here in China. I used it before with good results in some costumers fish tanks, now it's time to use it in my own tank. It has been a long time since I used something else than sand.


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## alto (29 Jul 2017)

Martin in China said:


> substrate is a ADA like substrate, but made here in China


As is ADA


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## Martin in Holland (7 Aug 2017)

The substrate only comes in one size, well actually in many different sizes, just all in one bag together. I am thinking of sifting some to get a smaller size (powder) for the top layer. Although, I might be to lazy to do this


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