# Greg's Planted Tanks



## greg

This thread was originally entitled "Greg's 145g Rimless Planted Tank System" as it followed me on my journey setting up my main tank in my living room. Since setting up the 145g tank in late 2012, I've continued to add additional planted tanks to my collection. They are all to be found on this thread, as I post about them as I add them and provide updates on an ongoing basis.

We have now reached a total of 8 planted tanks, so to make things easier to keep track of, I will keep a current picture of all of mine and SwimmyD's planted tanks on this first post.

I hope you enjoy my thread!

Greg

145g Community Tank with focus on Rainbowfish - first discussed in post 2









20g Painted Fire Cherry Shrimp Tank - first discussed in post 9









20g Red Coral Pencilfish Tank - first discussed in post 142 although this was my old quarantine tank









25g Brigittae Boraras Tank - first discussed in post 57









25g Fundulopanchax nigerianus Innidere Tank - first discussed in post 108









10g Office Tank - first discussed post 230









10g Blue Gularis Tank









40g Black Bar Endler Tank - first discussed post 199 and then post 223









Basement Fish Racks









__________________
*Greg's Planted Tanks* *Rainbowfish* *Killifish*


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## greg

*Main Tank Setup*









PlantedTank Flickr




























Tank is 145G rimless with low iron starphire glass. Dimensions are 63" x 22.5" x 23.6"

Overflow is contained within 3.5" x 6.5" rectangular corner tower in back left corner. Overflow drain is 1.5" and return is 1" which splits into two ¾" loc-line outlets.

I have also added an EcoTech VorTech MP40 water pump for additional circulation.

Cabinet is 29" high and same length and depth as tank. Cabinet is made of of 1" marine grade mdf with black matte laminate finish.

There is no plumbing or equipment in the cabinet except for drain line, return line and backup battery for MP40.

Lighting is from an ATI Dimmable SunPower with Controller. It's the 48" 6x54W version. Currently it is set to come on at 9:00 a.m. at 1% and gradually ramp up to 40% at 1:00 where it stays for two hours. It then goes back to 30% until 7:00 and then cycles down to 1% by 8:00. It stays at 1% until 11:00 for evening viewing, then shuts off.

The screen lid I made with aluminum window screen frame and 1/4" clear mesh. Its inset inside the top edge of the glass and has a tab on each end that rests on the glass. It keeps fish in, allows light to pass through freely and attracts no moisture.

Greg


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## greg

*Basement Fish Rack*










This is the basement fish rack. At the top of the metal shelving unit you can see the wood bracing I made to fit between the unit and the ceiling with bracing running under each floor joist. This will support the aquarium weight if the joists sag slightly. Given that the aquarium partially rests on the supporting wall visible at the back this is unlikely, however I didn't want to take any chances.

The top shelf is the sump which consists of a wet/dry filter on the right and equipment area on the left. The water recirculates with the main tank. I've also installed an automatic drip system which I have dripping about 18 gallons of day into the sump. Excess water from the main system goes out the overflow on the left side of the sump and down to my planted shrimp tank. From there excess water flows down to the quarantine tank and then out to the house drain.

Greg


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## greg

*Sump*



















The sump was purchased direct from Precision Marine and is their T36 Trickle Filter. Overall dimensions are 36" x 18" x 20". Bio-chamber capacity is a whopping 20 gallons. The only customization was elimination of the air intake slot in the bio-chamber to reduce CO2 loss. I have an airstone adding air below the bio-media to increase efficiency of the wet/dry filter.

The bio-chamber contains (starting from bottom) black bio-balls, 2" poret foam, Seachem pond matrix, 1" poret foam, ceramic bio-media and then 1 more sheet of 1" poret foam. Above this is a drip plate. The wet/dry is sealed with 3M Performance Plus duct tape. This tape is removable without residue for 6 months and water resistant. It creates such a good seal that the air and CO2 pressurizes in the wet/dry causing its water level to be below that of the reservoir on the left.

The equipment reservoir is a busy place containing:
Two eheim submersible heaters - 250w and 150w
Outflow for fertilizers
Continuous water drip outflow
PH probe for Aquaticlife PH controller
Sicce Syncra Water Pump 4.0 return pump - actual flow with 5' head about 600gph
Danner Mag Drive 3

The Danner pump has a fractionating impeller. CO2 from canister flows to a valve on the intake of the Danner Mag Drive. It is then pumped with water through a fractionating impeller. The water then flows out of the sump and through the UV filter and then back into the sump. I built a box out of acrylic for the sicce pump. The box has a hole cut near the Sicce intake to receive the outflow from the Danner pump line. This pumps in the diffused CO2 and water from the Danner and is immediately then pumped by the Sicce up to the main tank.

The two pumps are also set on top of another acrylic box I built. Height is such that in the event the main tank overflow were to be blocked, the pumps would run out of water and burn out, before flooding the main tank in my living room.

In between the wet/dry and equipment reservoir is a small area which came with black filter foam. I've stuffed some filter wool in this area to help polish the water.

Greg


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## greg

*Autodoser & Battery Backup*










Autodoser is GHL Profilux 4 pump system. It doses macro which I mix myself, Seachem comprehensive micros, additional iron and one additional port which I used to dose small quantities of excel during startup to help keep algae minimized. Everything is dosed daily at 8:00 a.m.

The backup battery on the right prevents water loss from my system during power outages. The water in my main runs about 1.25" above the bottom of the overflow. Any power outage would cause it to drain to the bottom of the overflow resulting in a 1.25" water level drop or 7 gallon water loss. Given that my sump overflows to shrimp tank and then to quarantine tank, this water loss would very quickly work its way through my system and out my house drain. Two intermittent power outages in a short period would cause my pumps to run dry and burn out. So the return pump is run through the battery backup and in the event of power outages continues to run uninterrupted resulting in no water loss.

Greg


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## greg

*Continuous Water Drip System*










I ran a ¼" line from cold water copper pipe through two carbon block system to eliminate chlorine from the water. There are no chloramines in Mississauga water supply according to water department. Magnesium is about 9 ppm for those interested which is a great level for planted tanks.

The carbon blocks consist of a 5 micron Matrix CTO block and a 6 micron Matrix CTO plus block.

The water flows out of this system at 40 gallons per day per specs and my tests indicate this is accurate. So I then run it through an irrigation rain dripper to reduce the rate. This is a big source of frustration as the 1/2gph drippers slow to about 2/5gph which is only 10 gallons per day and is less than I want. The 1gph drippers actually drip at 1.5gph and don't slow down and this is too high. So I'm still fiddling with this area to try to perfect it.

Greg


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## greg

*UV Filter*










You can sort of see the UV filter behind my shrimp tank (blue). Its combined with the CO2 system on the Danner pump which puts out about 350gph per specs.

The filter is a TMC Vecton with a 15W bulb. I have it plugged into a timer and run it for 6 hours a night. There's some speculation that UV bulbs can damage some of the fertilizer elements so this timing eliminates any potential problems.

Greg


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## greg

*Electrical*










I installed a dedicated line and GFI outlet to handle all the electrical. Its 15 amp and I figure my system uses a maximum of 1200 watts if everything is on at once, so I'm within the guidelines.

I've charted all the plugs to save me having to sort through the mess of wires if I need to unplug or change some equipment.

*Isolation Valves & CO2 Setup*



















I've installed shutoff valves which let me isolate any of the tanks from those below. The top shutoff valve on the sump lets me prevent water loss through overflow if I want to shutoff the return pump while trimming plants etc in the main tank.

CO2 is pretty straightforward. The 10lb cylinder is for the main. Currently I use an Aquaticlife controller for this tank. This is also on a timer so that it starts ups an hour before the lights come on and shuts off an hour before the light are out. I will probably eliminate this controller eventually and just use the regulator to control CO2 level (I'll still use the timer though). This regulator is a two stage and is very accurate and easy to control. CO2 diffusion is through a fractionating impeller as discussed previously.

The shrimp tank receives its CO2 from the 5lb tank which uses a cheaper Milwaukee single stage regulator to deliver CO2 24/7 at a rate slightly under 1bps. Diffusion is through a glass/ceramic diffuser.

Greg


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## greg

*Shrimp Tank*










The 20 gallon shrimp tank contains cherry red fire painted shrimp. It receives overflow from the main system which would contain fertilizers and receives CO2 directly. Its lit by a 24" T5 double bulb fixture.

Greg


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## greg

*Quarantine Tank*










The 20 gallon quarantine tank is the last tank in the system to prevent contamination of tanks above it. Its always turning over receiving about 18 gallons per day of aged tank water. So its always ready to accept fish, no cycling required. I kept 24 rainbows in the tank with an uncycled filter and with a quick 5 minute vacuum a day I was able to keep ammonia and nitrites at 0. Nitrates are never a problem due to water turnover.

Greg


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## greg

*Main Tank Hardscape*

Substrate is Seachem black flourite sand. Approximately 11 bags.

Ryuoh stone - approximately 60 lbs total. Rock grouping on left consists of 6 pieces fit together.

Wood roots and bog wood. Wood root grouping on right consists of 3 pieces attached onto a single piece of slate. (Separate from bog wood leaning against right aquarium wall)

Wood and rocks all sit on egg crate diffuser panels to raise their height and ensure that fish can't dig their way under rocks etc and collapse or shift them.

I spent about a week arranging and rearranging hardscape. I would leave each setup for a day to give me some time to consider it. Rocks and woods were in place prior to adding black sand.

Here's some pics focusing on hardscape:

Left End View









Left Rock Scupture









Left Wood Root Stand









Right Wood Root Stand









Right End View









Just found this phone pic of hardscape in process









And another...









Greg


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## greg

*Fauna*

6 Millenium Rainbowfish (Glossolepsis psuedoincisus) - 2 male, 4 female









5 Tuquoise Rainbowfish (Lake Kutubu, Melanotaeniidae lacustris) - 3 male, 2 female









5 Yellow Rainbowfish (Lake Tebera, Melantaenia herbertaxelrodi) - 3 male, 2 female









5 Boesemani Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia boesemani) - 3 male, 2 female









12 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish (Melanotaenia praecox) - 6 male, 6 female









4 Denison's barbs or Roseline sharks (Puntius denisonii)









2 Longfin Albino Bristlenose - 1 male, 1 female









2 Longfin Chocolate Bristlenose - 1 male, 1 female









16 or so Otto (Otocinclus)









1 Amano shrimp - rest decided to explore the overflow two months ago









Pics to follow.

Greg


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## greg

*Flora*

I've primarily been growing BBA, however also do have some of the following growing or trying to grow:

Ammania sp bonsai - not growing well for me so may need to remove it
Anubias barteri nana "Petite" - growing well, on ends of tank so light is lower
Aponogeton madagascariensis - growing well, 1-2 new leaves per week
Blyxa japonica - starting to grow finally after two months of hibernation
Bolbitis heudelatis - had a lot of algae problems with it but seems to be doing better now
Cryptocoryne wendtii "Tropica" - Just planted a month ago and so far doing well (knocks on wood)
Echinodorus tenellus - huge BBA problems on this one - may remove existing and replant same
Hygrophila pinnatifida - so slow growing leading to BBA problems, may remove
Hygrophila polysperma "Ceylon" - needed something quick growing to help balance the system so added this a month ago and its done its job well - now starting to remove it slowly as its just a temporary addition
Limnophila sessiflora - has grown very well from start, very little algae issues on it
Microsorum pteropus "Narrow" - Initial BBA probems seem resolved and its now growing well
Myriophyllum mattogrossense - wife loves this one but it seems to decay at bottom with only top looking nice - may remove
Nesaea crassicaulis - has grown well all along although the bottom 2" never looks that great, have removed and replanted tips twice
Nymphaea lotus - very slow growing as its in a very low light area of tank. Had some issues with rot but realized iron was way too low and now it seems to be doing much better
Staurogyne repens -hasn't done well at all for me. Down to a few stems
Vallisneria nana - growing well although tips still getting BBA
Vesicularia dubyana - initial algae problems seem resolved and now looking halfway good

BTW Rosaline sharks love green hair algae.

Greg


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## greg

*Tank Maintenance*

Maintenance is pretty low for the tank.

I am vacuuming the substrate surface twice weekly. I've been using airline tubing attached to a short pole. Suction is easily started using a syringe. Takes about 30 minutes to do entire tank bottom. I am using airline tubing to get in amongst plants and avoid sucking up substrate. I just use a 5 gallon pail to collect the water.

Weekly I scrape tank front and sides using a plastic razor blade (15 minutes), trim plants (15 minutes) , check CO2 level, add 1tsp of Equilibrium.

Monthly I replenish fertilizers, mix a new batch of macro and scrape the back wall of the tank.

I expect to have to clean the top sponge sheet in the biofilter once every 3 months and backwash the sump using a canister filter every year.

I also used Seachem fertilizer tabs in the substrate and will likely add new ones at the four month mark.

This adds up to under 2 hours work in an average week although I like to rescape small sections and look for areas to improve, so realistically I spend 5 hours a week on the setup.

Greg


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## greg

*Equipment Sources*

Amazon.com - Seachem fertilizer, Seachem Pond Matrix, Duracell battery backup
American Aquarium Products - UV filter parts
Angelfins.ca - Giesemann light bulbs, sponge filters, Seachem flourite sand, Seachem fertilizers, plants, 1/4" tubing
Aquacave - GHL Profilux auto doser, Sicce pumps, black tubing
Aquatic-Eco - UV filter
Big Als - food, thermometers, air pumps and many miscellaneous items
Bulk Reef Supply - Sch 80 PVC,, Loc-line parts, ceramic bio-media, 1/4" clear mesh
Camcarb - CO2 canisters and refills
Flex PVC - black bio-balls
Filter Guys - Carbon block filter
Green Leaf Aquariums - CO2 regulator (two stage), brass check valve, glass diffuser
J & L Aquatics - Eheim heaters, automatic feeders, Eco-Tech water pump
Oddballfish - rainbowfish and bristlenose 
Plastic World - acrylic and glue
Precision Marine - sump
Premium Aquatics - ATI light, Danne Mag Drive pump
Rumford Aquatics - landscaping tools
Shrimp-Tank.ca - painted fire shrimp from Igor
SOS Light Bulbs - ATI light bulbs
Swiss Tropical - Poret foam and filters
Second Nature Hydroponics - potassium nitrate (dry)
Uline - stand, marine duct tape

U.S. sources ship to UPS store in Lewiston where I pick up. Including fish! UPS store charges $5.00 to handle and hold the parcel ($10.00 for larger items) or you can rent a box annually. I find the customs official often waves HST if the order is under $150. Depends on day and mood I guess.

If you have any questions regarding items you see in pics that aren't listed let me know and I will give you the source.

Greg


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## greg

Please feel free to post comments, ideas, corrections. I'm very new to planted tanks and welcome all feedback, particularly ideas for defeating BBA 

Thanks


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## GAT

holy crap. I love your main tank. It looks extremely nice.


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## Jaysan

holy ba-jesus!
insane!
loving it


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## greg

GAT said:


> holy crap. I love your main tank. It looks extremely nice.


Thanks very much. Tank's been running since mid-October 2012. Still struggling with BBA but otherwise everything is going well.

Greg


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## solarz

Amazingly beautiful!


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## Kooka

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMNNNN, thats sweet  An autodoser for a freshwater tank, now thats something you don't see everyday.


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## greg

Kooka said:


> DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMNNNN, thats sweet  An autodoser for a freshwater tank, now thats something you don't see everyday.


Yes, if I could remember to fertilize regularly I wouldn't need it 

It will come in handy if and when I'm on vacation too.

Thanks Jaysan and solarz for the compliments.

Greg


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## ScottL

Thanks for the tour of your system. It looks like you have planned it all out quite well. I look forward to seeing more pictures as it matures.

How long were you planning this out before you actually built it?


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## greg

ScottL said:


> How long were you planning this out before you actually built it?


The tank setup took about 3 months to plan. I'm pretty new to planted tanks so there was a lot of learning required as well as research. A lot of the ideas came from marine tank forums such as Reef Central. One of the most difficult things to plan was the auto drip system and how to integrate it with an overflow, but not have flood or water loss issues when the power goes out. Other areas requiring extensive research were the use of a sump with a planted tank, EI dosing while having continuous water drip addition and how to add CO2 to a sump to keep the clean look in the main tank.

My first tank was a 72g bow front in March 2012. It was also planted and was great fun. I learned a lot and very quickly wanted to put my new experience to the test with a bigger more complicated project.

Luckily my wife likes fish too and didn't blink when I suggest drilling holes in the wood flooring to access the basement.

Here's a picture of new and old tank. Old tank has since been sold.









Greg


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## tom g

*planted tank*

wow awesome set up , very classsy ,love the detail in your post will be reading thru it very carefully to get some ideas
keep up the great work 
cheers 
tom


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## Jiinx

Beautiful tank! I love your crisp photos and hardly see any bba! It's like your fishes stop to pose - great photos!

Bba is such a bummer!


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## samiam

very nice setup, love the use of constant water changing...you dont see that too often. now if only it was that easy to setup on a salt water aquarium...


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## greg

tom g said:


> wow awesome set up , very classsy ,love the detail in your post will be reading thru it very carefully to get some ideas
> keep up the great work
> cheers
> tom


Thanks for the compliments. If you need further details on something or see areas I can improve, please let me know.

Greg


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## Kooka

Greg, how are you going about tackling your BBA problem? I've been in a similair situation in the past and it seems that high iron, phosphorus and inconsistent CO2 seem to have been the culprits.

Maybe the addition of a couple of SAEs and amano shrimp could help?

Read through your thread again and I love the autodosing setup, thinking about borrowing your design for my reef tank.


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## greg

Jiinx said:


> Beautiful tank! I love your crisp photos and hardly see any bba! It's like your fishes stop to pose - great photos!
> 
> Bba is such a bummer!


Thanks!

I avoided focusing on BBA in earlier pics. Here's proof I'm a planted tank newb.










and more...









Sorry for lack of closeups. No macro lens yet.

Greg


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## greg

samiam said:


> very nice setup, love the use of constant water changing...you dont see that too often. now if only it was that easy to setup on a salt water aquarium...


Thanks. Maybe Kooka (posted after yours) will blaze the path for you with marine constant water change setup.

Greg


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## greg

Kooka said:


> Greg, how are you going about tackling your BBA problem? I've been in a similair situation in the past and it seems that high iron, phosphorus and inconsistent CO2 seem to have been the culprits.
> 
> Maybe the addition of a couple of SAEs and amano shrimp could help?


I've tested iron and phosphate and they seemed to be on the low side, so I've been focusing on CO2. CO2 is hooked up through a controller so it should stay fairly constant. The drop checker indicates its well into the green zone. PH drop is just under 1.0 which for Mississauga water indicates a CO2 level of about 30. I adjusted the timer to turn on CO2 earlier to ensure its up to max by the time photo period starts. This seems to have helped a fair amount.

I also added some faster growing stem plants to help stabilize the system.

My light is set to a max of 40%. I've wondered if this is too low and if I crank it up and get plants growing faster. Plant growth seems slow to me, vals are just growing a couple inches a week for example. However, I used a light meter to measure par and its 120 mid-tank at 40% light capacity so this should be sufficient from what I've read.

I tried amano shrimp but my corner overflow has 4 grated intakes areas with slots a few mm wide and the shrimp keep going in and getting sucked down to the sump. I may try to figure out a way to cover the slots with black filter foam so I can reintroduce amano. Problem is I would need to attach the foam somehow which could make it a pain to remove to clean.

I had SAE's in previous tank and they didn't do a good job and were very aggressive so I returned them to LFS. I find my roseline sharks do a much better job to be honest on most algae, though not BBA.

I also have blue/green algae which I understand is a bacteria. Its only affecting a small area about 10" x 10" in total and seems to be kept under control through vacuuming although its persisted for over a month now.



Kooka said:


> Read through your thread again and I love the autodosing setup, thinking about borrowing your design for my reef tank.


I got my water change rate from www.hamzasreef.com 
I just plugged in hourly water change of .75g and whole system water volume of about 145g (tank + sump) and it indicates a weekly water change of 58%. Hopefully you could use the water change rate to calculate dosing for a marine system.

Greg


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## greg

Just completed first cleaning of sump at 3 month mark. Removed filter wool and rinsed out black filter sponge above it. Note to self - remove water first next time. A lot of debris came loose while removing it and was quickly transported to main.

Also removed lid on wet/dry and rinsed top sponge. Took about 1.5 hours including re-taping wet/dry to prevent CO2 loss.

Wondering how often I'll need to take apart wet/dry completely and rinse all filter media. Anyone have experience with this?

Greg


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## greg

Fire Red Cherry Shrimp in my shrimp tank hanging out with some longfin albino bristle nose. Shrimp came from Igor 










Greg


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## greg

Roseline shark showing egg spot and green colouring









Greg


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## greg

Water drip rate issues.

Okay so I tried several of the water drippers on the left first which indicates a rate of 24g per day. It actually drips 40g per day. The one in the middle specifies 12gpd and in fact only drips out 6-8gpd. So after much frustration I decided to try the airline control valve on the right which is a Two Little Fishies Micro Valve I got from J & L Aquatics. Its dripping at my desired rate of 18gpd and has been doing so for 3 days straight. Hopefully problem solved!










Greg


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## Jackson

greg said:


> Roseline shark showing egg spot and green colouring
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Greg


Very nice pic


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## hendy8888

Very nice set up, interested to know your bulb combination in your light when you took your pictures. Colors are very good.


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## pyrrolin

wow, just wow


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## balutpenoy2oy

great rainbows Planning to acquire some, how much did you pay for them? thanks. do not how to post links, try this one from The Planted Tank site, look at the algae forum then take the The "One-Two Punch" Whole Tank Algae Treatment. This a very interesting write-up, I will be trying this after my plants got establish.


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## greg

hendy8888 said:


> Very nice set up, interested to know your bulb combination in your light when you took your pictures. Colors are very good.


Lighting combination starting with back bulb:

Giesmann Midday
ATI Blue Special
Giesmann Midday
ATI Purple Plus
Giesmann Midday
Geismann Aquaflora

Thanks for comments, Greg


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## greg

Thanks for comments pyrrolin



balutpenoy2oy said:


> great rainbows Planning to acquire some, how much did you pay for them? thanks. do not how to post links, try this one from The Planted Tank site, look at the algae forum then take the The "One-Two Punch" Whole Tank Algae Treatment. This a very interesting write-up, I will be trying this after my plants got establish.


Rainbowfish were purchased from U.S. breeder online. Price $7-$10 each. I've dealt with this breeder several times and have been very happy with quality of the fish. Have had no deaths in transits or during 3-4 week quarantine period following. They are shipped overnight to Lewiston, N.Y. where I pick them up the day they arrive. I use UPS to receive the packages, however other services are also available.

Thanks for information on "One-Two Punch". Very interesting read. I am still focusing on improving CO2 stability in the hopes of eliminating the cause of BBA at this point.

Greg


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## greg

I decided to remove Echinodorus tenellus and replace with additional Blyxa japonica and Sagittaria subulata (new). I had a hard time keeping the tenellus looking good because the runners and new plants grew on top of existing plants, giving it a matted look. I hope to have more success with dwarf Sagittaria. Also the tenellus had been overrun with BBA, however new BBA growth seems to have slowed dramatically so hopefully removal of affected tenellus will speed up this trend.

I also took the opportunity to remove and replants tops of the Limnophila sessiflora which was looking pretty ragged at the bottom.

I've seen many posts complaining about Seachem black flourite sand causing a huge cloudy mess when rescaping. I find if you go slowly however, there is very little cloudiness resulting from replanting in this substrate.










Greg


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## greg

Just finished a replant. Planted Crypt parva on left side. Crypt tropica planted 5 weeks ago now visible behind it. Have upped the CO2 a bit hopefully eliminating BBA growth.










Close-up of Crypt parva added today.









Picked Crypt parva up from Menagerie Pet Shop. They have tons of small rasboras in stock, which got me thinking about setting up a small nano tank....

Greg


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## greg

Feeding Time

Cannot seem to embed video so here's a flickr link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plantedtank2928/8419708751/

Will work to improve quality. I'm new to the whole video thing...

Greg


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## greg

Shrimp Tank Feeding Time

Just click picture for Flickr link


Quality improving a bit. Make sure you set it to HD on Flickr screen.

Greg


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## greg

Shrimps Eating Spinach









Have had the shrimps just over one month and already have lots of shrimplets in tank. One of them was brave enough to join the adults (left side of spinach).

Greg


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## Fish on the Mind

Man this is one sick set up, look at all them fancy gadgets!


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## joel.c

*...amazing*

Awesome set-up(s) Greg!


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## greg

Fish on the Mind said:


> Man this is one sick set up, look at all them fancy gadgets!


Thanks. Most of the "fancy gadgets" are to make it easier to maintain and to overcome my forgetfulness. I can remember numbers from 30 years ago but do you think I can remember to put in fertilizer each morning - no chance.

I'll describe my latest forgetfulness incident soon 

Greg


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## greg

joel.c said:


> Awesome set-up(s) Greg!


Thanks Joel. Reason for selling 72g explained. Awesome signature!

Greg


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## greg

So yesterday morning my son knocks on my bedroom door at 7:30 a.m. and says there's water on the basement floor. I jump out of bed and race downstairs. Luckily there's just over a gallon on the tiled floor.

The day before I was extending the in-tank return nozzles by attaching some additional loc-line. They are close to the surface so I have to turn off the return pump to do this or i end up splashing water over the top. As previously described with my continuous drip system I have an overflow in the sump. Turning off the return causes 1" or so of main tank water to drain to the sump, about 7 gallons. So as not to lose this water I closed the overflow valve in the sump. I then made adjustments to the loc-liine, turned the return pump back on and forgot to open the sump overflow valve.

Meanwhile the continuous water feed keeps dripping water and the sump keeps getting fuller....

Sump level during normal operation with red overflow valve open









Overflow valve closed with top 1" or so of water from main tank drained into sump









And this illustrates why I have an autodoser for ferts. Algae tended to appreciate my forgetting to add ferts a lot more than my plants.

Greg


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## greg

*New Tank Addition*










Just picked up this Miracles tank to add to the system. Needed a tank 30" x 12" x 15+". This tank is 30" x 12" x 16.75" high. Its a little taller than I would have liked but it will work.

I will extend the overflow drip line so that it spills excess sump water into this tank rather than the shrimp tank. I will also cut a hole in the left side of this new tank and put in a bulkhead which will act as a new overflow to the shrimp tank.

I'm planning to put endlers into the new tank. Or move the shrimps to new tank and put endlers in old shrimp tank. Undecided.

Jarmila at Angelfins should have a new light, sponge filters and some Seachem Black Flourite Sand ready for me middle of next week.

Not sure of best source for endlers. I saw Menagerie had some although they were mixed (not a pure strain). May get them from U.S. Will see....

Greg


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## kyle

Wow outstanding set-up Greg. 

But you have taken all the fun out of work.

You get to to just sit back and enjoy. I like it


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## greg

kyle said:


> Wow outstanding set-up Greg.
> 
> But you have taken all the fun out of work.
> 
> You get to to just sit back and enjoy. I like it


Thanks Kyle.

Designing and building the system is tons of fun. I'm guessing from your setup that you feel the same!

Greg


----------



## greg

*Today's Update*

Hole successfully drilled in 
new 25 gallon - phew!









Nymphaea lotus planted in October finally starting to show itself in frontal
view of tank - just above and to the left of Crypt. wendtii "Tropica"









Greg


----------



## greg

Tentative 25g Hardscape









Will be using Seachem Black Flourite Sand in this tank as well. Also using Aquaclear 50 filter instead of sponge filter. Replaced supplied media with Poret 10ppi filter foam. Also covered intake with 30ppi Poret foam.

I've moved carbon block filter down below to ensure easy access (was previously behind 25g location).

Greg


----------



## greg

Sand and lighting in place









Greg


----------



## greg

Great day for working inside on the tank!

Adding water









Tying some Christmas moss on front right rock









Some narrow leaf java fern for the wood









Greg


----------



## GAT

looking good greg. How many tanks do you have? 3-4?


----------



## greg

GAT said:


> looking good greg. How many tanks do you have? 3-4?


Thanks!

145g - planted rainbowfish tank
20g long - planted shrimp tank
25g long - new planted tank - endlers probably
20g long - quarantine tank - currently holding a pair of emerald rainbowfish
Have a 50g sump servicing the 145g and overflowing to the other three.

10g tank - only tank disconnected from system - pleco and rainbowfish fry currently - my wife takes care of that one 

Greg


----------



## Kooka

Those are the nicest rainbows I've ever seen. Are you planning on breeding them Greg? Always a pleasure to see the progress of your tanks BTW!


----------



## Jackson

Very nice 

I like the whole sump design incorporating the other tanks.

I need to try that one day


----------



## greg

Kooka said:


> Those are the nicest rainbows I've ever seen. Are you planning on breeding them Greg? Always a pleasure to see the progress of your tanks BTW!


Thanks for stopping in again.

I'm undecided about breeding the rainbows. The fry are so small and grow so slow and reportedly have a pretty high death rate. It would be a challenge and quite a bit of work. We'll see..

Greg


----------



## greg

Jackson said:


> Very nice
> 
> I like the whole sump design incorporating the other tanks.
> 
> I need to try that one day


Thanks. It was quite a challenge to build it. Particularly dealing with water flow issues. Everything worked out pretty much as envisioned however, so I'm quite happy with the system.

Greg


----------



## greg

Aqua Medic 1000 CO2 Reactor









Just installed this last night. Previously CO2 coming into main tank as a fine mist. Now its not visible at all so I'm getting better CO2 diffusion into the tank. Main reason was to increase CO2 levels in tank and help stop BBA which is still giving me some problems. Lack of visible mist is an added bonus.

Current CO2 setup.
Have about 8bps going into intake of Danner Mag 3 Fractionating Impeller pump. It then goes through the new CO2 reactor where it picks up another 3 bps from a second CO2 line. It then travels through UV filter and then back into sump where outflow is in an acrylic box I built around the Sicce return pump, which flows up to main tank. The 3 bps will run 24/7 while the 8bps just runs during photoperiod (comes on 1 hour before lights).

I'm getting a 2" CO2 bubble at top of reactor. I think this is because the Danner Mag 3 is not putting through enough water. Its rated at 350gph I think, but is likely only putting through 250 due to head, turns, obstacles etc. I may need to upgrade to Danner Mag 5 unless anyone has other ideas.

Greg


----------



## greg

Addition to Fish Room Decor









Just picked this up online from Lisa's Lair bookstore.

Greg


----------



## greg

Shrimps enjoying some zucchini earlier today









Greg


----------



## greg

Update on 25g









Picked up some plants from Scott last night. Will plant later today in this tank.

Water is low right now waiting for 1" bulkhead to tie tank into system. Due to low water AquaClear filter kicking up silt so temporarily have a piece of acrylic preventing this from happening.

Greg


----------



## greg

Growing lots of BBA in 145g tank currently due to last weeks problems with low/unstable CO2.



















Have added a CO2 reactor and now waiting for a more powerful pump bought online, in order to increase and stabilize CO2. Switching from Danner 3 to Danner 7 with fractionating impeller.

Greg


----------



## greg

New Danner Mag 7 w fractionating impeller arrived and is now installed.
Hopefully high stable CO2 levels ahead....









Greg


----------



## greg

25 gallon tank is now connected into system.









Bought another 25g Miracles Aquarium to add to lower right which probably will complete my entire interconnected setup!

Greg


----------



## greg

*CO2 Diffusion*

I've received some pms about CO2 diffusion in my system over the past month so I will try to answer them as best as I can here. Please note although I've done a lot of research on this topic I am still very new to the hobby and by no means an expert. However, here goes...

CO2 diffuses naturally in water. If you've ever used an in-tank ceramic diffuser, you can see the bubbles get smaller as they rise and many disappear before they even hit the surface. The CO2 has dissolved into the water.

So in the most basic system aquarists may simply bubble CO2 into some filter wool contained in a plastic cylinder in the tank. As the CO2 makes its way up the filter wool it breaks apart into smaller bubbles which are then more easily absorbed into the water.

A step up is the use of an in-take ceramic diffuser such as the one pictured below in my new 25g tank. Placing it close to the bottom gives the bubbles more time to dissolve in the water before hitting the surface and being lost into the air.









Another method which I've used and it works very well is to feed the CO2 line into the intake of a canister filter. As the CO2 makes its way through the lines and through all the media in the canister filter, it is very effectively dissolved. The downside is possible CO2 bubbles in the canister which can be noisy along with suggestions by many, that the CO2 degrades the rubber seals etc. in the canister filter, shortening its life.

An alternative, when using canisters is to use an in-line ceramic diffuser such as the one pictured below. The nut is tightened onto the threads securing the tubing to the diffuser. CO2 is pumped into the small nozzle top left. Its very effective. One major drawback is the need to remove it from the line to clean it every few months or so.









Next on the list is use of a needle wheel or fractionating impeller. The impellers have spikes to chop up the CO2 or air depending on use. CO2 is fed into the intake of a pump with such an impeller, which breaks the CO2 up into fine bubbles. Pictured below is a needle wheel impeller and a fractionating impeller. My pump has an impeller inside the intake covering, similar to the fractionating impeller.
















Pictured below is my setup. CO2 is fed into the intake via a built-in nozzle. You can just feed it into the intake in any manner if your pump doesn't have a built in nozzle. The water stream and CO2 then exits the pump via the black tubing and runs through a UV filter. It then travels through a CO2 reactor (explained later) and then back into the sump where it exits the black tubing near the intake of a separate return pump that brings water back to the main tank. The CO2 is therefore broken up by the impeller and travels up out of the sump and then down through the UV filter. So the CO2 is broken up by the impeller and then has tons of time in the tubing to dissolve. For part of the run its going towards the ground (in the tube). This is very effective for dissolving CO2 as the gas wants to rise but is being forced down by the current in the tube. This type of setup is very effective and does not require any ongoing maintenance.









Despite all the time to dissolve my system still output a fine mist of CO2 into the tank. I have also had problems keeping CO2 levels high and stable. This is likely due to the use of a sump. My wet/dry portion of the sump is sealed, however the overflow out of my tank is not so I likely lose a lot of CO2 there. In addition I have a very high fish load so to ensure oxygen levels are kept high, I have a fairly good ripple on the surface of my tank, another area of CO2 loss. So to further improve CO2 diffusion I have added a CO2 reactor to my fractionating pump loop. Note that CO2 reactors are also considered very effective because the CO2 is being forced down the reactor against its natural tendancy to rise. This lengthens the time in the water increasing the diffusion of CO2. The reactor is also filled with bio-balls which break up the water current which also helps dissolve the CO2. Pictured below is the Aqua Medic 1000 CO2 reactor installed on my system.

Below is my CO2 loop. Water and CO2 come up out of the sump in black tubing, down through CO2 reactor, then into UV filter with the white fittings and blue body behind my shrimp tank, then back up into my sump.









My opinion is that an in-tank ceramic diffuser is sufficient for many smaller aquariums and even some larger ones that don't lose much CO2 through high surface water movement or overflows like in my case.

In-line diffusers, fractionating or needle wheel impellers and CO2 reactors are all very effective. For my large tank I've gone with the combination of fractionating impeller plus CO2 reactor. CO2 is very effectively dissolved and you have to look very closely to see the fine bubbles of gas within the tank.

Hope this helps. If I can improve this explanation in any way please let me know.

Thanks, Greg


----------



## Kooka

Greg, hope the stabilized CO2 will help your BBA situation. It seems fluctuating CO2 is the primary cause of rampant BBA growth; I've also found in my own experience that dosing too much iron, phosphates and micro ferts will also cause the BBA to spread. In freshwater tanks, the ordinary hobbyist lacks the ability to test for these substances in the water, and as a consequence doesn't know if he/she is adding "too much of a good thing." 

Since in your thread it says you dose these daily, perhaps try cutting back to 2 or 3 times a week, or lowering the daily dose considerably (although I don't know if thats possible with your setup). When you reduce these limiting nutrients, the algae will be less likely to further spread and may even begin to decline. I believe that if you do this, along with stabilizing the CO2, efficient removal of heavily infected leaves and spot dosing of H2O2 or excel, the BBA infestation should be greatly diminished.

Good luck Greg, keep up the fight!


----------



## greg

Kooka said:


> Greg, hope the stabilized CO2 will help your BBA situation. It seems fluctuating CO2 is the primary cause of rampant BBA growth; I've also found in my own experience that dosing too much iron, phosphates and micro ferts will also cause the BBA to spread. In freshwater tanks, the ordinary hobbyist lacks the ability to test for these substances in the water, and as a consequence doesn't know if he/she is adding "too much of a good thing."
> 
> Since in your thread it says you dose these daily, perhaps try cutting back to 2 or 3 times a week, or lowering the daily dose considerably (although I don't know if thats possible with your setup). When you reduce these limiting nutrients, the algae will be less likely to further spread and may even begin to decline. I believe that if you do this, along with stabilizing the CO2, efficient removal of heavily infected leaves and spot dosing of H2O2 or excel, the BBA infestation should be greatly diminished.
> 
> Good luck Greg, keep up the fight!


Thanks for the advice. If you have a chance to provide a bit more help I've gathered some information.

My daily dosing is:
Seachem Iron - 8ml
Seachem Flourish Comprehensive - 16ml
Macros - I mix 21 tsp of KNO3 and 3 tsp of KH2PO4 into a 900 ml solution and then dose 27 ml per day - this works out to 0.64 tsp KNO3 per day and 0.09 tsp KH2PO4 per day.

My tank is 145 g and sump is 50g - in total its probably about 145g of water. Water change is about 18g per day automatically and continuously.

Initially I was dosing half that amount of iron but lotus was melting and reds doing poorly so I upped the iron significantly. I was also dosing twice as much KH2PO4 initially but over the last week I've been measuring phosphates and they were in the 3-4 ppm range. So I redid the macros solution to cut phosphates in half and I also added Seachem phosguard to remove phosphate from the system. Phosphates are currently reading about 1.5ppm. Its possible that I don't need to dose them at all due to high fish load. Unfortunately my inexperience in the hobby means that I cannot determine levels are correct just by viewing plant growth etc.

Lighting is about 8 hours. Its a dimmable fixture, 6 x 48" T5 HO over a 63" tank. Par readings are 60 on sides and 90 in middle for all but a two hour burst midday when they rise to 75 and 120 respectively. This is just operating the fixture at 30% most of the day and 35% for the burst.

Any further advice is much appreciated.

Thanks, Greg


----------



## NuclearTech

I don't have any advice for you.  I'm enjoying your thread and I think that your set up shows an incredible amount of thought and research. Thank you for sharing your research with everyone. The photos are particularly helpful with your explanations. As someone who would like to add CO2 to their next set up, I'm very interested in your experiences.


----------



## greg

NuclearTech said:


> I don't have any advice for you.  I'm enjoying your thread and I think that your set up shows an incredible amount of thought and research. Thank you for sharing your research with everyone. The photos are particularly helpful with your explanations. As someone who would like to add CO2 to their next set up, I'm very interested in your experiences.


Thanks for the positive feedback. Hope my experience helps you and others. I've gained a lot of knowledge reading about others tank setups, so its payback time.

Greg


----------



## Kooka

greg said:


> Thanks for the advice. If you have a chance to provide a bit more help I've gathered some information.
> 
> My daily dosing is:
> Seachem Iron - 8ml
> Seachem Flourish Comprehensive - 16ml
> Macros - I mix 21 tsp of KNO3 and 3 tsp of KH2PO4 into a 900 ml solution and then dose 27 ml per day - this works out to 0.64 tsp KNO3 per day and 0.09 tsp KH2PO4 per day.
> 
> My tank is 145 g and sump is 50g - in total its probably about 145g of water. Water change is about 18g per day automatically and continuously.
> 
> Initially I was dosing half that amount of iron but lotus was melting and reds doing poorly so I upped the iron significantly. I was also dosing twice as much KH2PO4 initially but over the last week I've been measuring phosphates and they were in the 3-4 ppm range. So I redid the macros solution to cut phosphates in half and I also added Seachem phosguard to remove phosphate from the system. Phosphates are currently reading about 1.5ppm. Its possible that I don't need to dose them at all due to high fish load. Unfortunately my inexperience in the hobby means that I cannot determine levels are correct just by viewing plant growth etc.
> 
> Lighting is about 8 hours. Its a dimmable fixture, 6 x 48" T5 HO over a 63" tank. Par readings are 60 on sides and 90 in middle for all but a two hour burst midday when they rise to 75 and 120 respectively. This is just operating the fixture at 30% most of the day and 35% for the burst.
> 
> Any further advice is much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks, Greg


Just gleaned over the numbers you have and I think the problem does indeed lie with your fertilization regimen. You might want to try drastically reducing the nitrate and phosphate dosing in order to help starve out the BBA. The plants should do well enough with just the fish wastes dissolved in the water column. The reason I say this is because just looking at the plants you have in the tank, the majority are not really all that demanding in terms of fertilization. Your crypts and vals should do well with intermittent root tabs alone. As for the liquid iron dosing, I'd go with some root tabs placed strategically underneath your more iron-demanding plants like the lotus; that way the iron is mostly restricted to the substrate where the plants can absorb it through their root systems, instead of feeding unnecessary algal growth.

Like I said before, you are right about the CO2, but the spread of BBA is due to a variety of factors, and in my experience the one I mentioned above would be one of them as well.


----------



## greg

Kooka said:


> Just gleaned over the numbers you have and I think the problem does indeed lie with your fertilization regimen. You might want to try drastically reducing the nitrate and phosphate dosing in order to help starve out the BBA. The plants should do well enough with just the fish wastes dissolved in the water column. The reason I say this is because just looking at the plants you have in the tank, the majority are not really all that demanding in terms of fertilization. Your crypts and vals should do well with intermittent root tabs alone. As for the liquid iron dosing, I'd go with some root tabs placed strategically underneath your more iron-demanding plants like the lotus; that way the iron is mostly restricted to the substrate where the plants can absorb it through their root systems, instead of feeding unnecessary algal growth.
> 
> Like I said before, you are right about the CO2, but the spread of BBA is due to a variety of factors, and in my experience the one I mentioned above would be one of them as well.


Thanks very much for taking the time to look over the information. Your insight is very helpful. I am going to eliminate phosphate dosing to see how that works. I will also reduce iron dosing. Nitrates have remained steady at around 5ppm which should be okay I believe. Hopefully these actions combined with stable CO2 will turn the tide in my BBA battle.

Thanks again, Greg


----------



## greg

*Another Tank*

If you build it, they will come...









Here fishy fishy!

Yes another tank connected to the system. The last I think as there appears to be a lack of space for another. This is another 25g Miracles stock tank. I just drilled it and put in an overflow spout to the quarantine tank.

Greg


----------



## snaggle

greg said:


> I've received some pms about CO2 diffusion in my system over the past month so I will try to answer them as best as I can here. Please note although I've done a lot of research on this topic I am still very new to the hobby and by no means an expert. However, here goes...
> 
> CO2 diffuses naturally in water. If you've ever used an in-tank ceramic diffuser, you can see the bubbles get smaller as they rise and many disappear before they even hit the surface. The CO2 has dissolved into the water.
> 
> So in the most basic system aquarists may simply bubble CO2 into some filter wool contained in a plastic cylinder in the tank. As the CO2 makes its way up the filter wool it breaks apart into smaller bubbles which are then more easily absorbed into the water.
> 
> A step up is the use of an in-take ceramic diffuser such as the one pictured below in my new 25g tank. Placing it close to the bottom gives the bubbles more time to dissolve in the water before hitting the surface and being lost into the air.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another method which I've used and it works very well is to feed the CO2 line into the intake of a canister filter. As the CO2 makes its way through the lines and through all the media in the canister filter, it is very effectively dissolved. The downside is possible CO2 bubbles in the canister which can be noisy along with suggestions by many, that the CO2 degrades the rubber seals etc. in the canister filter, shortening its life.
> 
> An alternative, when using canisters is to use an in-line ceramic diffuser such as the one pictured below. The nut is tightened onto the threads securing the tubing to the diffuser. CO2 is pumped into the small nozzle top left. Its very effective. One major drawback is the need to remove it from the line to clean it every few months or so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Next on the list is use of a needle wheel or fractionating impeller. The impellers have spikes to chop up the CO2 or air depending on use. CO2 is fed into the intake of a pump with such an impeller, which breaks the CO2 up into fine bubbles. Pictured below is a needle wheel impeller and a fractionating impeller. My pump has an impeller inside the intake covering, similar to the fractionating impeller.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pictured below is my setup. CO2 is fed into the intake via a built-in nozzle. You can just feed it into the intake in any manner if your pump doesn't have a built in nozzle. The water stream and CO2 then exits the pump via the black tubing and runs through a UV filter. It then travels through a CO2 reactor (explained later) and then back into the sump where it exits the black tubing near the intake of a separate return pump that brings water back to the main tank. The CO2 is therefore broken up by the impeller and travels up out of the sump and then down through the UV filter. So the CO2 is broken up by the impeller and then has tons of time in the tubing to dissolve. For part of the run its going towards the ground (in the tube). This is very effective for dissolving CO2 as the gas wants to rise but is being forced down by the current in the tube. This type of setup is very effective and does not require any ongoing maintenance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Despite all the time to dissolve my system still output a fine mist of CO2 into the tank. I have also had problems keeping CO2 levels high and stable. This is likely due to the use of a sump. My wet/dry portion of the sump is sealed, however the overflow out of my tank is not so I likely lose a lot of CO2 there. In addition I have a very high fish load so to ensure oxygen levels are kept high, I have a fairly good ripple on the surface of my tank, another area of CO2 loss. So to further improve CO2 diffusion I have added a CO2 reactor to my fractionating pump loop. Note that CO2 reactors are also considered very effective because the CO2 is being forced down the reactor against its natural tendancy to rise. This lengthens the time in the water increasing the diffusion of CO2. The reactor is also filled with bio-balls which break up the water current which also helps dissolve the CO2. Pictured below is the Aqua Medic 1000 CO2 reactor installed on my system.
> 
> Below is my CO2 loop. Water and CO2 come up out of the sump in black tubing, down through CO2 reactor, then into UV filter with the white fittings and blue body behind my shrimp tank, then back up into my sump.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My opinion is that an in-tank ceramic diffuser is sufficient for many smaller aquariums and even some larger ones that don't lose much CO2 through high surface water movement or overflows like in my case.
> 
> In-line diffusers, fractionating or needle wheel impellers and CO2 reactors are all very effective. For my large tank I've gone with the combination of fractionating impeller plus CO2 reactor. CO2 is very effectively dissolved and you have to look very closely to see the fine bubbles of gas within the tank.
> 
> Hope this helps. If I can improve this explanation in any way please let me know.
> 
> Thanks, Greg


Where abouts did you get those? I would love to get some of those to try.


----------



## greg

snaggle said:


> Where abouts did you get those? I would love to get some of those to try.


I'm assuming you mean the impellers. Please let me know if mistaken.

The fractionating impeller is included with the Danner Mag series w fractionating impeller. Its available from Marine Depot or 123Ponds. I've bought from 123Ponds with no issues. Shipping is high though if coming across the border.

The needle wheels are available from a number of sources. Some models out there include ASM G-500, Sedra 3500 replacement needle wheel impeller. Most if not all are available in the U.S. There are also discussions online on how you can modify your own impeller into a fractionating/needle wheel style by adding screen or filter material to it. They aren't universal fitting parts of course so you need to make sure its compatible with the water pump you are using.

Hope this helps, Greg


----------



## greg

*Zebra Nerite Snails*

Six zebra nerite snails waiting to be placed in tank.










Greg


----------



## Jiinx

Get to work, zebras!


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> Get to work, zebras!


Haha, yes! Wonder where I got the idea 

Greg


----------



## snaggle

Thank, I was also looking at the in-line CO2.


----------



## greg

snaggle said:


> Thank, I was also looking at the in-line CO2.


The inline CO2 diffuser is the Atomic CO2 Inline Diffuser from Green Leaf Aquariums. I've tried other makes but Atomic diffusers have much finer bubbles than the cheaper ones. Orlando, the owner of GLA takes quality control seriously and it shows in product performance.

Greg


----------



## greg

Shrimp Tank Update 









Painted fire shrimp population has increased from 28 shrimp to over 100 in two months.

Shrimp fed a variety of food including: Spinach, zucchini, Omega One Veggie Rounds, Hikari Shrimp Cuisine and New Life Spectrum fish pellets.

Frogbits have increased from 3 plants to 60 plus another 20 moved to new 25g tank, plus more given away.

Sagittaria subulata, Lilaeoopsis brasiliensis, Christmas moss and Ammania sp bonsai all doing well.

Fertilization comes in with overflow from 145g/sump system.

CO2 1 bps through in tank glass/ceramic diffuser.

Greg


----------



## GAT

This tank looks really amazing man. I'm trying out a new shrimp tank too but lets see if i can get some forgbit from igor soon. 

no CRS yet?


----------



## greg

GAT said:


> This tank looks really amazing man. I'm trying out a new shrimp tank too but lets see if i can get some forgbit from igor soon.
> 
> no CRS yet?


Thanks. Getting my feet wet first with the RCS. I'm not sure if my setup would be suitable for CRS since they are more sensitive. I'd likely have to setup a standalone tank and chat with some of the experts in these forums.

I can give you half a dozen frogbit no charge, to get you started. They spread pretty quickly in the right environment. Just send a pm and we can set up a time.

I'm located in Erin Mills area of Mississauga.

Greg


----------



## GAT

sent you a pm. 

Egosangirl and LeD are raising CRS in tab water. I think they are low grade but i'm not sure about other parameters. 

I plan to keep hardy shrimps.


----------



## solarz

The shrimp tank looks great! I keep having trouble keeping my floaters alive. Would it be because my light is too close to the water line?


----------



## greg

solarz said:


> The shrimp tank looks great! I keep having trouble keeping my floaters alive. Would it be because my light is too close to the water line?


I'm still inexperienced with planted tanks, but I'll tell you my setup and maybe it will help you.

I have 2 x 24w T5HO 5" above water on a 30" long tank. Photoperiod is 9 hours.

Filtration is a sponge filter so very little water movement.

I had tried them in my 145g but the roots didn't seem to like the current and stayed less than 3" long and after initially going from 3 to 10 plants they stopped dividing. I transferred them to the shrimp tank and they started multiplying like crazy and the roots grow 12" long.

Greg


----------



## solarz

greg said:


> I'm still inexperienced with planted tanks, but I'll tell you my setup and maybe it will help you.
> 
> I have 2 x 24w T5HO 5" above water on a 30" long tank. Photoperiod is 9 hours.
> 
> Filtration is a sponge filter so very little water movement.
> 
> I had tried them in my 145g but the roots didn't seem to like the current and stayed less than 3" long and after initially going from 3 to 10 plants they stopped dividing. I transferred them to the shrimp tank and they started multiplying like crazy and the roots grow 12" long.
> 
> Greg


Ah, the water current could also be an issue. What's the distance between your light and water line on your 145g?


----------



## greg

solarz said:


> Ah, the water current could also be an issue. What's the distance between your light and water line on your 145g?


13" between light and water on 145g. My 145g is 63" long and my fixture is a 6 bulb 48" so light is fairly low on ends. I just measured corner surface light intensity at 45 par with a par meter.

Light at the surface in middle of shrimp tank is 125 par. However because its just a two bulb fixture and hanging so low, the light levels drop off quickly as you move away from the center. I measured 30 par in the corners for example. I'll cordon off a few frogbits so they only receive 30 par and see how they do over the next week.

Greg

Edit: Some of the frogbits are already in the corners and doing fine. I just can't be sure they haven't wandered a bit, as my frogbits somehow seems to do.


----------



## greg

Frogbit Experiment in Progress









The three on the left are cordoned off in a 30 par zone, using some fishing line and a suction cup. Hopefully the RCS won't choose these ones to munch on as they occasionally do graze on them.

Greg


----------



## Fish on the Mind

The shrimp tank looks amazing with the frogbit roots that long! they are like elevators for the shrimp!


----------



## GAT

I was just at his place... lets just say his pictures don't do enough justice to his setup. All of his tanks are amazing!!


----------



## greg

GAT said:


> I was just at his place... lets just say his pictures don't do enough justice to his setup. All of his tanks are amazing!!


Thanks very much. Glad you appreciated the mechanics of the system. Hope the frogbits do well for you.

Greg


----------



## greg

Fish on the Mind said:


> The shrimp tank looks amazing with the frogbit roots that long! they are like elevators for the shrimp!


Yes they like to move up and down the roots for sure! I have some rainbow rainbow fry in the same tank and when they are fed powdered food, the shrimp hang underneath the leaves picking food off the surface.

Greg


----------



## greg

*Update*

I'm still battling BBA, scraping the wood, trimming leaves, and spot treating with excel.

To gain additional insight I took the time to measure par values in my shrimp tank and compare with my main tank.

The 30"L x 12" x 12" shrimp tank has a 24" 2 bulb T5HO fixture 5" above surface, on for 10 hours per day. Par 25 in middle and 15 in corners - due largely to floating frogbits cover 50% of surface. Par value on the surface above frogbits in center of tank is 125. This tank was planted 3 months ago. Sagittaria subulata, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis and Christmas moss all in great condition although growing very slowly. This tank gets leftover fertilizer through overflow from main tank system.










The main tank is 63" x 23" x 23". Lighting is 48" 6 bulb ATI dimmable hanging 13" above water on for about 9 hours per day at 30% power with a 2 hour burst at 35% midday. Par values at 30% are 90 in middle and 60 on sides. At 35% its 125 in centre and 75 on sides. Fertilization is daily using EI direct into sump. Stopped adding phosphate a week ago as measured it at 2+. Seems to have stabilized at 1 which is fine, so I guess the high fish load provides enough phosphate. At same time started adding potassium sulphate to make up for removal of potassium phosphate dosing.

As you can see in the attached picture I'm battling BBA. I also have BGA even though oxygen levels are high due to the overflow to sump and the current is also high with the sump returns plus a MP40 providing flow. I do a quick 15 minute vac 4-5 times a week to keep waste to a minimum.










The entire bare part of the bog wood below was covered in BBA, so I removed it and put it in a diluted bleach bath to kill it off.










So given that overflow from the main tank with BBA and BGA flows into the shrimp tank which has none of these problems, I'm left thinking that I need to lower my lights dramatically in the main tank. I've start this process and will gradually reduce them over the next few weeks and see what happens.

Technically I should be able to leave lights at the previous higher levels or even higher and get great growth, but I don't know enough yet about the problems I'm encountering to manage the high light levels. Inexperience can be frustrating!

Note that CO2 levels should be fine. KH is 5.5 and PH during photoperiod is 6.60 through use of a controller. Drop checkers are green.

Greg


----------



## greg

*25g Tank Update*










On a more pleasant note, the new 25g tank is doing great. The guppy grass and "giant" dwarf subulata from Scott is doing well. I've added some Limnophila sessiflora in the front right, Hygrophila pinnatifida in centre back and just to the right of that some Myriophyllum mattogrossense. The Christmas moss on rock is starting to grow following some initial die back. Scott also gave me a small starter piece of S. wassertang which I've hooked onto the wood at the top.

I've added two of my albino longfin bristlenose fry who've done a fine job clearing out all the brown diatoms and are now enjoying the algae growing on the back and side glass which I will leave uncleaned. Also added are three dwarf neon rainbow - two females and one male I believe - they can be seen top right in the photo if you look closely.

Greg


----------



## NuclearTech

Looks good! It sounds like you've got a great handle on tackling the algae. I guess you'll know in a few weeks


----------



## razoredge

Hi Greg,
An incredibly well planned tank setup !! Congrats!


----------



## Jiinx

Greg, I love this thread. It's such a dream for me. I'll never do it most likely so I'll just live through you! you have everything you'd ever need and more! I'm still so impressed by your ATI dimmables. What bulbs are you using? Sorry if you mentioned that earlier.

Greg, I know we talked about this for a few minutes...but I think you just massively increase your plant mass. Not fancy stuff - just hygros and fast growers. What do you think? It really helps with this battle. 

I have a tooooon of ET that can help soak up some nutrients or what not.


----------



## greg

NuclearTech said:


> Looks good! It sounds like you've got a great handle on tackling the algae. I guess you'll know in a few weeks


Well the handle still feels a little slippery but I'm trying hard.

Greg


----------



## greg

Thanks razoredge!



Jiinx said:


> Greg, I love this thread. It's such a dream for me. I'll never do it most likely so I'll just live through you! you have everything you'd ever need and more! I'm still so impressed by your ATI dimmables. What bulbs are you using? Sorry if you mentioned that earlier.
> 
> Greg, I know we talked about this for a few minutes...but I think you just massively increase your plant mass. Not fancy stuff - just hygros and fast growers. What do you think? It really helps with this battle.
> 
> I have a tooooon of ET that can help soak up some nutrients or what not.


Thanks Sarah. Hopefully you can come see it in person one day. Your whole family is welcome to come over. The bulbs are 3 Giesemann middays, 1 Giesemann aqua flora, 1 ATI blue special, 1 ATI purple plus.

I had a lot of fast growing stems up until a few weeks ago. Perhaps I took them out too soon. I'm going to try to lower lighting levels for a bit. If that doesn't work I'll try some floaters to soak up nutrients, although I don't want anything with long roots. All those rainbows need lots of room to swim.

Greg


----------



## greg

*Another 25g Tank Ready To Go*










I will fill it up later today and let it run for a few days with filter floss in the AquaClear to remove any silt that gets stirred up.

Then I will extend the downspout in the top left corner of photo so that the overflow goes into the new 25g first and then into the quarantine tank through the drilled bulkhead.

The elbow attached to the drilled bulkhead can be rotated so I can easily set the water level I desire in the 25g tank.

Substrate is my usual Seachem Black Flourite Sand - thanks Jarmila!

Greg


----------



## Kooka

Glad to see you're beginning to turn the tide against the evil BBA  I would encourage you to follow Jinxx's advice and incorporate some more plant-mass into your main display. I would go with some floaters, perhaps mini water lettuce or some other floater with shorter roots. I find hornwort does a great job in removing nutrients from the water, even though it isn't the nicest looking plant you could try that for a while.

One question though, how do you find the flourite black sand? Does it blow around easily or does it compact? I have had problems with anearobic conditions developing in compacting sand substrates in the past.


----------



## greg

Kooka said:


> Glad to see you're beginning to turn the tide against the evil BBA  I would encourage you to follow Jinxx's advice and incorporate some more plant-mass into your main display. I would go with some floaters, perhaps mini water lettuce or some other floater with shorter roots. I find hornwort does a great job in removing nutrients from the water, even though it isn't the nicest looking plant you could try that for a while.
> 
> One question though, how do you find the flourite black sand? Does it blow around easily or does it compact? I have had problems with anearobic conditions developing in compacting sand substrates in the past.


Hi and thanks for stopping back into my thread.

I've been monitoring nutrients pretty closely the last two weeks and also been doing some research. My phosphates were too high and have been adjusted. Potassium too low and adjusted. Nitrates have been between 5 and 10 and although I've seen 7.5 ppm listed as an EI target and am dosing according to EI, it seems most keep nitrates higher. Tom Barr for example typically keeps his at 20 ppm. So I'm going to up my potassium nitrate dosing by about 50%. In addition I have lowered my light intensity to 28% so that the maximum par at substrate is about 90. (My lights hang 13" above the water. ATI lights are crazy efficient)

Hopefully these changes will pay dividends over the next few weeks.

Seachem Black Flourite Sand. I have no issues with it and really like it as a substrate. I carefully fill a new tank and have no cloudiness issues. When rescaping as I often do, I just take my time. Pull the roots half out, give them a gentle shake and then remove them all the way. My shrimps seems to enjoy the substrate, and my plecos like digging small hollows in it. The substrate is a maxium depth of 3" in my large tank, and 1.5" in the smaller tanks. I also put in fertilizer tabs when setting up a new tank since the sand is inert and will take awhile to build up nutrients from fish waste, particularly because I give the tank a quick vac several times a week.

I can't personally attest to there being no anaerobic issues since my tanks have only been set up for 4 months, however my research indicates that it shouldn't be an issue due to the shallow depth and the plant roots.

The main reason I used the sand is because of its longevity. Many using ADA Amazonia, eco-complete, or netlea replace their substrate every 1-2 years. They feel that redoing an aquarium from scratch is just part of the fun. Doesn't sound like fun to me though, since my rainbows can live for 5 years.

Greg


----------



## greg

Just to follow up again on Kooka's question about Seachem Black Flourite Sand, here's a picture of the tank taken just minutes after I finished filling it with water and started up the AquaClear filter.










Almost clear, just a slight haze as you can see.

Greg


----------



## GAT

How do you dose Iron in your main tank? Are you just dosing seachem iron?


----------



## greg

GAT said:


> How do you dose Iron in your main tank? Are you just dosing seachem iron?


Seachem iron plus Seachem comprehensive. Both daily.

Greg


----------



## NuclearTech

Greg, I just put flourite black sand in my tank last weekend and I made a mess! What did I do wrong??  I don't have a picture, but it took 2 days to clear. Did you rinse it first? I did. Perhaps I did a lazy job of it. I wish mine had gone as cleanly.


----------



## greg

NuclearTech said:


> Greg, I just put flourite black sand in my tank last weekend and I made a mess! What did I do wrong??  I don't have a picture, but it took 2 days to clear. Did you rinse it first? I did. Perhaps I did a lazy job of it. I wish mine had gone as cleanly.


I just put the sand straight in without rinsing. I do fill the tanks quite slowing, that's probably the trick. Fill rate was probably 10-15 gph. I also make sure the stream is not directly into the sand. Discharging the hose on a low lying rock, wood or kitchen plate works well.

I was less patient the first time I used the sand and did have some cloudinsess. However, I put some filter wool in the filter and it cleared up in hours.

Greg


----------



## Kooka

The fluorite sand looks to be very promising. My brother (LeD), just recently replaced the substrate in his tank with fluorite black for the very reasons you stated earlier. We rinsed it well before we put it in the tank (as is the practice with any substrate I buy) and it must have been the cleanest initial flooding of a tank I've seen yet! The water was clear with very little cloudiness. The previous substrate he had (ada Malaya) worked well but was incredibly messy; too messy to do any plant maintenance as any disturbance would send copious amounts of silt into the water column. As a standalone substrate for shrimp tanks however I believe it's excellent.

BTW, if you need any hardy CRS shrimp (yes they are hardy, bred in tapwater), give LeD a shout and he'll be glad to give you a good deal on some. The lower grade ones are good to start of with as they are less demanding and more forgiving of our mistakes. Once you get some experience you can then move on to the higher grade ones.


----------



## greg

Thanks for the offer on the CRS Kooka,

I'm hosting the next west GTA shrimpsters meeting at my place on March 10th. I'll probably learn a lot from some of the experienced members and possibly become exposed to their shrimp addiction bug. So we'll see after that...

Perhaps you and LeD can make it?

http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41020

Greg


----------



## Jiinx

Thanks, Greg! I'd love to come one day! 

Which site did you purchase your ati purple plus from? I'm thinking of replacing one aquaflora and one midday for a purple plus and ge starcoat..

How's the bba?


----------



## greg

ATI bulbs were purchased from SOS Light Bulbs - U.S.

Jury is still out on BBA. Have to give changes I've made some time to have effect.

Greg


----------



## Scotmando

Give Greg some reputation for this amazing thread on the GTAAquaria forum.

Just hit the icon







on one of *his posts* in the bottom left corner

Thanks


----------



## Kooka

greg said:


> Thanks for the offer on the CRS Kooka,
> 
> I'm hosting the next west GTA shrimpsters meeting at my place on March 10th. I'll probably learn a lot from some of the experienced members and possibly become exposed to their shrimp addiction bug. So we'll see after that...
> 
> Perhaps you and LeD can make it?
> 
> http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41020
> 
> Greg


Hey that sounds like a good idea. Good opportunity to scrutinize your setup and copy it for my reef tank LOL. I'll let LeD know, I'm sure he has some extra CRS and RCS he'd be willing to bring.


----------



## greg

Scotmando said:


> Give Greg some reputation for this amazing thread on the GTAAquaria forum.
> 
> Just hit the icon
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> on one of *his posts* in the bottom left corner
> 
> Thanks


Thanks!!! Greg


----------



## greg

Just picked up some Boraras brigittae otherwise known as chili rasboras, from Menagerie. 15 for $20!!! Acclimatized them for an hour and now they're in one of the 25g planted tanks. Fingers crossed, they are pretty sensitive I hear.

Don't forget to vote gtaaquaria *February POTM* 

Greg


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## greg

I don't have a macro lens so this Iphone 4 pic is the best I can do for now. Lights were just turned on 2 minutes before photo taken. Already colouring up nicely.

Greg


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## SignGuy

greg said:


> Just picked up some Boraras brigittae otherwise known as chili rasboras, from Menagerie. 15 for $20!!! Acclimatized them for an hour and now they're in one of the 25g planted tanks. Fingers crossed, they are pretty sensitive I hear.
> 
> Don't forget to vote gtaaquaria *February POTM*
> 
> Greg


Did they have many left? Been looking for some myself?


----------



## greg

SignGuy said:


> Did they have many left? Been looking for some myself?


Yes, they had quite a few left earlier today. They tend to go quite quickly. Last shipment they received 150 and someone bought the entire lot.

Greg


----------



## greg

My wife, SwimmyD, captured this photo yesterday at Menagerie, while I was busy picking out a few plants and the Brigittae boraras.










Pretty good iphone shot.

Don't forget to vote gtaaquaria *February POTM* 

Greg


----------



## Jackson

What was it eating? 

Those guys are so funny to watch


----------



## SwimmyD

A most delicious fishy snack! LOL 
Can't remember the type. Small. Tasty. I love frogs.


----------



## Fishyfishyfishy

solarz said:


> Ah, the water current could also be an issue. What's the distance between your light and water line on your 145g?


I have a few tanks, and my frogbits melts in my high light tanks. The tanks with lower lighting grows really well. Maybe it's the heat?


----------



## greg

Fishyfishyfishy said:


> I have a few tanks, and my frogbits melts in my high light tanks. The tanks with lower lighting grows really well. Maybe it's the heat?


Frogbits were 13" from light in main so I don't think that was the issue. In some of my other tanks they are just 4" from light and doing great.

Greg


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## greg

New dual stage regulator up and running









Greg


----------



## Jiinx

Drooool

Greg, that's a thing of beauty!


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> Drooool
> 
> Greg, that's a thing of beauty!


Yes it works well and looks great. It was the first build using new bubble counters by Orlando at Green Leaf Aquariums. Kept me in the loop with pics as the bubble counters went through their stringent quality control process for the first time. Great service.

Here's a pic of an Atomic CO2 diffuser I also picked up - amazing diffusion. Creates a very fine mist even at 1 bps.










Greg


----------



## greg

New addition coming this afternoon. 
Wife fell in love with pics on this site. 
Its a jumper apparently so just finished building a lid.










Greg


----------



## greg

Picked up some new additions today. Fundulopanchax nigerianus, aka Killifish. Hence the need for a tight fitting lid. Wife always been very fond of Killies, having had her first one 30+ years ago. She convinced me to buy them and put them in the tank meant for my endlers. So a new fish rack is soon to be in the works. Maybe she will want us to get a macro lens to take pics of the Killies - one can hope. Here's a few pics.




























Seller also gave me around 15 black bar endler fry - much appreciated.

Greg


----------



## Scotmando

greg said:


> Picked up some new additions today. Fundulopanchax nigerianus, aka Killifish. Hence the need for a tight fitting lid. Wife always been very fond of Killies, having had her first one 30+ years ago. She convinced me to buy them and put them in the tank meant for my endlers. So a new fish rack is soon to be in the works. Maybe she will want us to get a macro lens to take pics of the Killies - one can hope. Here's a few pics.
> 
> Seller also gave me around 15 black bar endler fry - much appreciated.
> 
> Greg


I have these Killifish as well and they're beauties. Enjoy the pair.

Love your Co2 setup!


----------



## Jiinx

Which tank are you placing the atomic in? 

Love the new fishes! Such vibrant colours!


----------



## greg

Scotmando said:


> I have these Killifish as well and they're beauties. Enjoy the pair.
> 
> Love your Co2 setup!


Yes its actually all your fault I think 

She saw your killifish and unknown to me has been looking at the buy/sell ever since for killies.

Greg


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> Which tank are you placing the atomic in?
> 
> Love the new fishes! Such vibrant colours!


Atomic is in the 25g "supposed to be endler tank", but now killifish tank.

Thanks. They really are quite colourful. The fellow we bought them from is a breeder. Very passionate and knowledgable about them. Had at least 70 small tanks/containers with killifish.

Greg


----------



## balutpenoy2oy

greg said:


> New dual stage regulator up and running
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Greg


Where did you got this metering valves and counter they look great ?? can you Pm the price


----------



## greg

*Update*

*New Endler Tank*
Since my wife took over the "Endler" tank for killies, I decided to turn the quarantine tank into an Endler tank. It was the last tank in the chain on my system. It's 20g long and I will plant it and add CO2. I've got a few extra 10g tanks around I can use for quarantining fish when necessary. I made a mistake and added to little Seachem sand and then filled the tank. I then added some more with the tank filled via a pvc tube to try to minimize clouding - didn't work to well!










Below is the lid for the Endler tank. The corner clips for framing usually result in very large inturns, whereas I only needed 1" or less for the AquaClear filter. After experimenting with various glues which all failed, I simply melted two cut corner clips together and this formed a solid bond, allowing a very narrow opening for the filter.









*CO2*
Orlando from Green Leaf Aquariums has spent a quite a bit of time corresponding with me via email, about my CO2 issues. Besides running the company he does a lot of system setups including planted tanks with sumps and hydroponics systems. He has reviewed my system and believes I am over dissolving the CO2 given that there are no visible bubbles. Combined with the high O2 levels in my tank due to the overflow, this apparently locks up the CO2 and makes it difficult for the plants to access it. He has suggested I put several ceramic tube diffusers in tank so I have a noticeable mist throughout the tank.

Jaysan from GTAA was over last night and surprisingly said pretty much the same thing.

So I've changed my CO2 setup. I've put in place two GLA Atomic diffusers in tank and will monitor this new setup. Already I've been able to drop my CO2 bps from about 13 during photoperiod to 9, while hitting the same CO2 levels as determined by a PH monitor.

Will see how this works over the next week or two. If permanent I will replace one in-tank diffuser with an Atomic in-line diffuser on the return line and keep one in-tank diffuser.

Right now I'm very hopeful that this was a major contributor to my BBA problems and I'm now on the road towards much reduced BBA levels.

GLA Atomic CO2 Diffuser hard at work









Greg


----------



## greg

balutpenoy2oy said:


> Where did you got this metering valves and counter they look great ?? can you Pm the price


Green Leaf Aquariums. Pm sent.

Greg


----------



## Jaysan

yay! new post on atomic diffuser 
Hope this works out great!
where in the tank did you end up putting it?


----------



## greg

Jaysan said:


> yay! new post on atomic diffuser
> Hope this works out great!
> where in the tank did you end up putting it?


Hey Jaysan. Thanks again for the great advice last night. It was a pleasure chatting with you. I put one under the MP40 and the second one is temporarily on the front glass, where the CO2 bubbles get picked up by the return current. I'll swap this one for an in-line diffuser if I'm satisfied with the results after a week or two.

I also lowered the MP40 by a few inches and upped the flow a little, to try to ensure all the Sagittaria and Blyxa show some movement from the current.

See you Sunday.

Greg


----------



## Bien Lim

That's the BEAST!!! I envy u my friend



greg said:


> New dual stage regulator up and running
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Greg


----------



## greg

*Endler Tank*










Finished planting 20g Endler tank yesterday. Fauna includes:

Bacopa caronliniana
Cabomba caroliniana
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Limnophila sessiliflora
Microsorum pteropus "Narrow"
Sagittaria subulata
Vesicularia dubyana

Forgot to put background on while tank was out  So I'll have to do it the hard way now.

Greg


----------



## greg

*Updated Shot of Basement Fish Rack*










My basement fish rack is full now with 4 planted tanks.

What you cannot see in the picture is the comfy sofa right in front of the fish rack, to sit and relax and view the activity in the tanks.

_Top left tank_ - 100+ painted fire shrimp (source Igor & AI)
_Top right tank_ - 15 Brigittae boraras, 6 amano shrimp, 1 longfin albino bristlenose pleco (source of Chillis was Menagerie)
_Bottom left tank_ - 2 blue eyed albino bristlenose plecos (source Jaysan), 1 marble self-cloning crayfish (1cm long - source prolific8) - (16 black bar endlers in my office will be transferred once tank cycles fully - source peterd)
_Bottom right tank_ - 7 Fundulopanchax nigerianus killifish (source peterd)

18 gallons of filtered water per day flows into my main tank and overflows into these basement tanks, from Brigittae tank to PFRS to Killifish to Endlers. I don't do any additional water changes and don't really do any maintenance other than clean the front glass. Dense planting plus constantly replenished water will hopefully be sufficient to keep tanks in good condition. I do not overfeed and I do check parameters occasionally.

Greg


----------



## SignGuy

Once again - truly amazing!


----------



## pyrrolin

Now that is how you set things up! If only we all had the option to do things this way, but can't really do it on city water


----------



## xriddler

nice aquascaping i really dig it


----------



## greg

SignGuy said:


> Once again - truly amazing!


Thanks!



pyrrolin said:


> Now that is how you set things up! If only we all had the option to do things this way, but can't really do it on city water


It is city water. I've just run it through a two stage carbon block filter to remove chlorine. We don't have chloramines added in Mississauga.



xriddler said:


> nice aquascaping i really dig it


Thanks 

Greg


----------



## Jiinx

Greg, 

The basement tanks look great. Everything is very happy as indicated by the berried shrimps! 

Did you drill through the floor? 

Either go big or go home! Lol i love the set up. The passion truly shines!


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> Greg,
> 
> Did you drill through the floor?


Yes. I removed two pieces of the oak flooring using a rotozip and then drilled through the plywood and basement drywall ceiling. I've already cut the replacement pieces for the flooring, for the distant future hopefully.

Greg


----------



## greg

*Update on 145g Tank*










Here's a current full tank picture. A few changes have been made:

Bobitis heudelatis has been moved from top left to center of the wood on right. It was picking up too much organic debris in the top left being right in the stream.

Anubias barteri and hastifolia added in place of Bobitis. Anticipated they would not collect debris and this has proven correct 

Myriophyllum mattogrossense removed from front right because it always looked ragged. Replace with Cryptocoryne becketti 'petchii'. Crypt is melting a bit but should recover.

Moved the return outflows to shoot along the back wall instead of flowing towards the front. Want to reestablish the circular flow. Have also moved MP40 significantly lower on advice of Jaysan to help combat BGA. Have almost no movement on surface of tank but O2 still high and no surface scum due to overflow system.

Trimmed Valisneria nana significantly. Just gets blown over with current return flow placement. Anticipate removing it and replacing altogether. Just testing out the new setup first before ripping it out. And not sure what to replace it with - Any ideas??

Removed Limnophila sessiflora from behind Java fern - back just right of center. Also does poorly with currently flow setup. Replaced with Bacopa caronliniana which has a sturdier stem and hopefully does better in high flow environment.

Have continued lowering light levels. Now running fixture at 27%. Par in center is 75 and on ends is 30-40.

Still battling BBA with excel spot treatments and scraping. CO2 levels are pretty high with good pearling on all plants except moss. Crypt parva remains the worst affected plant.

Greg


----------



## NuclearTech

It looks amazing. Really, the whole set up is fantastic.


----------



## Scotmando

Really a beautiful aquarium set-up. Your doing all the right things. When i had BBA My crypt parva was the last plant to get rid of it. Keep up the great efforts!


----------



## greg

*More Chili Rasboras*










Picked up another 15 Brigittae boraras at Menagerie yesterday. They were very pale in store, so a little nervous. Didn't see any health issues other than 1 or 2 with drooping spines so avoided those. They have coloured up quite nicely despite being in a pretty bare tank in my home office. I guess having lots of surface cover makes them feel secure.

Will add them in with other 15 in 25g tank, sometime in April.

Greg


----------



## greg

NuclearTech said:


> It looks amazing. Really, the whole set up is fantastic.


Thanks for the kind comments.



Scotmando said:


> Really a beautiful aquarium set-up. Your doing all the right things. When i had BBA My crypt parva was the last plant to get rid of it. Keep up the great efforts!


Thanks for the encouragement. I just did a 48 hour ph test. PH went from 6.5 to 7.7 after letting the tank water sit in a container for two days. So CO2 is creating a 1.2 ph drop which should be more than enough CO2. Using the KH, PH CO2 charts my KH is about 4.5 so again CO2 should be >30 ppm. Hopefully I'll win this battle soon!

Greg


----------



## Jiinx

Hi Greg!
I love the new scenery. Is the bba dissipating now? How do you know there is high o2 in your tank? 

It is a hard move to introduce any snails into your tank. I put just a few trumpet snails into my tank and now, I'm sure, there are hundreds. But I also know it's important to have the soil sifted by them to break those pockets under the soil. How are the nerites? I heard that they eggs on the wood that end up making markings on them...I haven't seen any unsightly spots yet and they're mostly on the glass so I'm relieved. 

Looks lovely..looking forward to seeing it in a month's time!

sarah


----------



## greg

*Bba*

Still battling BBA - staying on top of it but it continues to appear. CO2 has been very stable for several weeks and quite high.

I've added MTS (Malaysian trumpet snails) to help clear out the detritus that results from having such a high fish load. I do a quick vac 4-5 times a week but could still use additional help.

Also added some blue ramshorns after reading so many positive comments about them on the forums, including many declaring that ramshorns eat their BBA. All the snails were from Jackson and in great condition - thanks J.

Another idea also crossed my mind in the last few days. I've been following *Jiinx's 79 G Planted Garden thread* and noted she had changed her lighting. This got me thinking about wavelengths and BBA. After some research I saw that BBA particularly absorbs the blue wavelength. So I've removed my ATI Blue Special (15000k) and ATI Purple Plus and replaced both with bulbs without so much blue - ie. closer to 6500k. Thanks for the idea Jiinx 

Now to wait and see if this helps over the next few weeks.

Greg


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> Hi Greg!
> I love the new scenery. Is the bba dissipating now? How do you know there is high o2 in your tank?
> 
> It is a hard move to introduce any snails into your tank. I put just a few trumpet snails into my tank and now, I'm sure, there are hundreds. But I also know it's important to have the soil sifted by them to break those pockets under the soil. How are the nerites? I heard that they eggs on the wood that end up making markings on them...I haven't seen any unsightly spots yet and they're mostly on the glass so I'm relieved.
> 
> Looks lovely..looking forward to seeing it in a month's time!
> 
> sarah


Still battling BBA as per previous post. O2 is high due to overflow and I've measured it as well - runs at about 8.0 - well above minimum requirements for fish.

Snails added as per post - have not ever seen eggs from my nerites. Will likely start to see some from the blue ramshorns. Not a big bother for me - expect it to cause much less problems than the BBA.

I've now ripped out all the vals in the back left corner. Have replaced with an Echinodorus bleheri sword, which I hope will provide a better backdrop for the lotus and the wood in that corner.

Thanks for your continued support Sarah.

Greg


----------



## Jiinx

thanks for the plug, Greg! 

I haven't come across that. So interesting that bba absorbs cooler wavelengths. I guess I'll find out in a few days how the BBA reacts to the new lights!

It was your thread that I read to circulate my water a bit better so thank you for that.


----------



## manmadecorals

Hey Greg,

That is some serious high tech shiet!!!  

Pretty amazing setup i might add and thanks for all the amazing detail


----------



## greg

manhtu said:


> Hey Greg,
> 
> That is some serious high tech shiet!!!
> 
> Pretty amazing setup i might add and thanks for all the amazing detail


Thanks Yes I like the toys, although BBA just laughs  at the technology and moves right in anyways.


----------



## greg

*Chili Rasbora Update*










Chili Rasboras (Brigittae boraras) were picked up 22 days ago and are all doing well. They gather at the top whenever I'm around, hoping for edible handouts. I need to push the frogbits aside to feed them and they show no fear, swimming around my fingers as I swish the plants away. Really happy with them.

This first batch appear to be almost all males. The 15 I picked up last weekend and put in quarantine are all doing fine as well. This second group appear to have many more females than males, so its going to be a well balanced species tank.

Greg

Edit: Here's a closeup of a male Chili rasbora - all 12mm of him







[/url]


----------



## Jiinx

Very pretty! I wonder if you'll get babies from them!


----------



## xriddler

you make me want to add chili rasboras to my tank


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> Very pretty! I wonder if you'll get babies from them!


I sure hope so!



xriddler said:


> you make me want to add chili rasboras to my tank


They are great if you want smaller fish.


----------



## greg

*Killifish Tank Update*










The killifish are doing great. This species is less territorial than others but they still are aggressive. The dense root cover from the floating water lettuce allows the smaller males and females to escape, if they are being bothered. The smallest male has dug a cave under the rock on the right while the dominant male has dug a nest under the mop. They have completely uprooted all the Limnophila sessiflora that was in the back left corner, so I'll leave tank decor to them.

There is also a longfin albino bristlenose in the tank to help keep the hardscape clean. He's quite a bit more timid than usual due to the aggressive tankmates, but he's growing well so I think he'll be fine.

Male Fundulopanchax nigerianus









Female


----------



## greg

*Endler Tank Update*

Endler tank is coming along nicely. Plants have all grown substantially in last 3 weeks (page 15 has newly planted tank for comparison). Cabomba has melted a bit at bottom, possibly because its under the AC in back right corner.

Endler males are all starting to get colours. I think there is at least 6 males out of the 17 fry I received from Peter.




























I find them pretty hard to photograph due to their pale colours. They move too quickly for manual and don't present a lot of contrast for autofocus. I should learn how to increase the field of focus perhaps and try more manual shots - any tips?

Greg


----------



## Fishfur

The smaller the aperture is, the greater will be your depth of field, which would at least give you some leeway if the fish moves away or toward you. But you need quick shutter speed for the motion, and lower light intensity usually mandates a larger aperture. Lack of contrast is a bit of a pain. I'd guess only fixable using manual focus, which of course, takes longer. Try focusing on one area where the fish seem to show up, be patient, you may get one in the right spot and be close enough to focused to shoot it. Helps to use a tripod, it's hard to just stand there hanging onto the camera.

Most of my camera experience is with an old, only slightly semi auto SLR, and I haven't had time to play with my new DSLR yet. But I used to shoot rodeo with that old SLR. In midday sun, even with manual focus, I could get some amazing shots. Used the highest shutter speed, and a fairly small aperture. That's on horses running flat out, around 40 or more mph, and usually a long way from me. Didn't always work, but if I used a monopod, I could get some nice shots panning the camera.

Tank lighting, of course, isn't going to be nearly so bright as sunlight. But since overexposures are easier to tinker with afterward than underexposures are, maybe supplemental lighting would help. If the glass is really clean it'll help cut down on reflections.. you can play with positioning it to offset reflections as well. Maybe a screen of some kind over the exterior light to soften it ? A piece of sheer cloth would do the trick over a lamp.

Might try taking a sequence of shots, as quickly as possible one after another. Might get one or two that suit you, and the others are easily deleted. That was one way I used to get some nice rodeo pics, using a motor drive accessory, though it wasn't a very fast one. And if you have a tripod, do try panning the camera to follow the fish as it moves, which might give you more time to catch a shot. Hand panning is certainly possible, but if it's on a tripod, you only have to concern yourself with following the fish, rather than also trying to keep the camera stable.


----------



## John_C

*Wow*

Amazing operation you have going there!


----------



## greg

*More Pics from Endler Tank*

Marbled Self-cloning Crayfish









This 1cm long specimen was given to me by prolific8 at the last shrimpsters meet  I put him/her  in the Endler tank where it promptly disappeared and I assumed the worst. Then 3 weeks later it appeared having grown to about 3cm in length. No Endlers were lost in the process. Its now about 5 cm long and doing quite well. The claws are quite small and it doesn't appear to bother the Endlers. Quite the opposite actually, the Endlers swarm it and steal its food.

Male Endler clearly terrified of the much larger crayfish 









Female Endlers also hanging out by the crayfish









Couple of the boys showing their colours

















Parting Shot


----------



## Fishfur

Pretty boys.. look a bit like the one I lost. Wish the girls had some colour too, but you can't have everything.


----------



## Jackson

WOW!!!

Greg~

This thread is amazing. 
The pics of the livestock are just fantastic.


----------



## Scotmando

The self-cloning marble crayfish love to eat plants. In fact they'll eat anything. I put a softballll size of hornwort in my cray tank & they eat it up weekly. Keep an eye on it & keep it well fed.


----------



## greg

Fishfur - thanks for the photography advice. Still haven't had a chance to really sit down and learn the ins and outs of my camera.



John_C said:


> Amazing operation you have going there!


Thanks John. Its was fun planning and setting it all up 



Fishfur said:


> Pretty boys.. look a bit like the one I lost. Wish the girls had some colour too, but you can't have everything.


I agree. Really enjoy watching the Endlers -love the flashes of colours. Just wish the tank wasn't 6" off the floor.



Jackson said:


> WOW!!!
> 
> Greg~
> 
> This thread is amazing.
> The pics of the livestock are just fantastic.


Thanks for checking it out again. The snails are helping. Have been able to cut my substrate cleaning down significantly. Only wish they'd eat the BBA...



Scotmando said:


> The self-cloning marble crayfish love to eat plants. In fact they'll eat anything. I put a softballll size of hornwort in my cray tank & they eat it up weekly. Keep an eye on it & keep it well fed.


Thanks for the tip Scott. Will keep an eye out. May need another tank....just for crayfish 

Greg


----------



## greg

*Building Mesh Tank Lid*

A few people have asked for details on my tank lids which are made using mesh and window screen framing, so I've put together a few pictures to explain the process.

*Materials*
Rona - screen framing stock, screen frame corners, screen spline and spline fitting tool
Bulk Reef Supply - 1/4" clear mesh
Optional - black spray paint to paint frame prior to installing mesh - Krylon Fusion works great - adheres to plastic and metal well

Screen frame is cut to size with hacksaw, allowing for additional length provided by corner brackets









Screen frame is fitted together using plastic corner brackets.









Screen Roller tool is used to press spline laid on top of mesh into groove on back of screen frame









Nail punch works well for pressing spline into corners









Pen knife or utility blade used to trim excess mesh.









Fisnished product inset along inner edge of aquarium top trim









Adaption for use on rimless tank. I attached a strip of aluminum with epoxy and screws to the two ends of the tank mesh lid. The aluminum extends beyond the inner edge of the tank providing support for the mesh lid which then lies inset inside the rim of the aquarium.









Front view of mesh lid on rimless tank. Only the aluminum support strips on the ends show above the glass.









Tips
Measure twice, cut once.
Try to follow along the lines on the mesh when pressing in the spline on the long sides. The tendency is to pull the mesh too tight in the middle of the long sides resulting in the frame bowing in along this section. I've had to take several apart and redo due to this problem 

Advantages of mesh lid:
Light passes through freely as there is no condensation blocking it.
Lack of condensation allows you to quickly remove lid and set anywhere when working on tank. Ie. don't need to dry off lid or set on towels...
Keeps fish in tank.

Disadvantage: Need to top up tank due to evaporation.

Good luck with your projects.

Greg


----------



## manmadecorals

This should be added onto the DIY section as well.

Very impressive Greg...very impressive indeed


----------



## greg

manhtu said:


> This should be added onto the DIY section as well.
> 
> Very impressive Greg...very impressive indeed


Thank you


----------



## Fishfur

I hope any of the photo advice proves to be useful. What camera did you get, or do you have ? I got a T3i and have not yet had a chance to do anything with it beyond charge the battery. Maybe we could spend a bit of time figuring out tricks with our respective toys one day ?


----------



## greg

*Longfin Albino Bristlenose Pleco Pair*

The pair of them were sparring for quite a long time. They seemed to be jabbing their cheek spines at each other. I just added some NorthFin Kelp Discs for the first time - not sure if this prompted the excitement. The females not carrying eggs currently, so I don't think it was some sort of pre-spawnig ritual.


----------



## Fishfur

They really are very pretty fishies. Such sheer, lacy looking fins.


----------



## Jiinx

Greg,
Your photos are great! Your latest additions are very pretty. They look like flowers. Northfin kelp discs - is that food? 

As for BBA, you really can't tell you have any sort of algae in your tank! 

Awesome work with the DIY mesh..

Sarah


----------



## pyrrolin

I like the lid idea, keeps the fish in without blocking light. If only we could find a way of slowing evaporation without blocking light.


----------



## Fishfur

It is a shame we can't get some sort of membrane for tank tops, one that would allow for unimpeded gas exchange, but be clear, both to admit light and be able to see through it without distortion. Ideally something you could cut to size for whatever tank it was wanted for and either mount in a frame similar to the mesh screens Greg's made, or with some other sort of attachment device.


----------



## Scotmando

Fishfur said:


> It is a shame we can't get some sort of membrane for tank tops, one that would allow for unimpeded gas exchange, but be clear, both to admit light and be able to see through it without distortion. Ideally something you could cut to size for whatever tank it was wanted for and either mount in a frame similar to the mesh screens Greg's made, or with some other sort of attachment device.


Glass! I use glass & keep it clean. It does let a lot of light through and best of all keeps evaporation down to a minimum. I have all glass lids on most of my 20 tanks in my fish room to keep humidity under control.

I am a florist in Toronto & most of my growers in Ontario have glass greenhouses.

Greg's idea is amazing though for his 145g show tank, professional & clean looking & easy to lift off for feeding & maintenance. Also great for jumpers like Killies.


----------



## Fishfur

The main problem with glass, aside from the weight to handle it, if it's a bigger tank, is the condensation you'll get underneath. It can be a real nuisance. And you do have to keep it clean, because if you allow much mineral buildup it can cut the light substantially. But it's a bit of effort to do that, certainly for me, as lifting things is a big problem for me all the time. The screens Greg made are much, much lighter weight than glass would be.

A glass top is probably not going to be airtight. There's always going to be something like tubing or filtration for which spaces must be left open, so you'd get fresh air for gas exchange, so lack of that is not a problem. But condensation would be at times, unless air and water temperatures were virtually the same. And if you have to cool the temperature of the water, say in summertime, how are you going to do that with a solid top, short of investing in a chiller ? Fans are about the only practical choice for many, if they don't have a cool basement like Scott's. The joy's of apartment or condo living .

But the membrane I was imagining, being ideal of course, would allow excess water vapour to pass through as well as other gases. So condensation would not be a problem. Evaporation would be dramatically slowed down, making top ups far less frequent, which would be nice. But I don't think I mentioned water vapour in the OP.. sorry. It's amusing to imagine something like this..I'm sure if it did exist it would be frightfully expensive.


----------



## greg

*Invertebrates In My 145g Tank*

Micro invertebrates are the subject of this month's POTM, so its time for me to give some of my cleanup crew recognition as well.


----------



## Jiinx

amazing photos, Greg! I love the macro shots - the detailing on the snails is remarkable.


----------



## xriddler

what is that last photo of greg?


----------



## AquaticPulse

was that last photo a baby nerite snail? did you succeed in breeding baby nerites?! :O


----------



## greg

Fishfur said:


> They really are very pretty fishies. Such sheer, lacy looking fins.


Thanks 



Jiinx said:


> Greg,
> Your photos are great! Your latest additions are very pretty. They look like flowers. Northfin kelp discs - is that food?
> 
> As for BBA, you really can't tell you have any sort of algae in your tank!
> 
> Awesome work with the DIY mesh..
> 
> Sarah


Northfin is Canadian made fish food. The kelp discs are enjoyed by my shrimp and plecos.

Thanks for all the kind comments.



Scotmando said:


> Glass! I use glass & keep it clean. It does let a lot of light through and best of all keeps evaporation down to a minimum. I have all glass lids on most of my 20 tanks in my fish room to keep humidity under control.
> 
> Greg's idea is amazing though for his 145g show tank, professional & clean looking & easy to lift off for feeding & maintenance.


Agreed glass is great in many instances. Thanks for the compliment on the 145g.

I measure the humidity in my house to ensure that it remains acceptable. As I add more tanks I will likely start using glass to ensure no mold issues. We are up to 10 tanks now - 5 are mine and 5 are SwimmyD's!



Jiinx said:


> amazing photos, Greg! I love the macro shots - the detailing on the snails is remarkable.


Thanks so much! Your photos are awesome as well *Jiinx's 79 G Planted Garden thread*

In answer to xriddler and thinkshane's questions - last picture in invertebrate series is a blue ramshorn. These seem to be the hardest to photograph - something about the slightly translucent shell causes issues for my camera or perhaps its me 

Greg


----------



## greg

*145g Tank Update*









I've done a lot of plant rearranging and replacement since the last full tank shot on post #155.

The vals nana in the back left corner has been removed as it was a detritus trap and I also didn't like the backdrop it provided for the wood. It has been replaced with an Echinodorus bleheri which I think will highlight the wood better. It's still to small to be seen from the front so I added a picture of it down below.

The Hygrophila pinnatifida has also been removed as it's growth was very spindly and slow in my tank leading to BBA on all the leaves. It's been replaced with Bacopa caroliniana.

Another Bacopa, monniera has been added center right at the back - picture down below. The Crypt wendtii 'Mi Oya' in that picture is just a temporary addition as I bought one for the wood on the right but it was naturally divided into two clumps.

Nesaea crssicaulis has been moved from center middle about a foot left and a bit forward. I've added some of Jinx's Ludwigia sp red where it was.

Bobitus heudelatis has been removed from the middle of the wood on the right. It collected too much detritus and this resulted in constant BBA on it. I've replaced it with a Crypt wendtii 'Mi Oya' which cannot be seen yet.

There's also some Downoi between the Dwarf sagittaria and Blyxa japonica - got it for free - was pretty much dead - hoping it comes back for me.









BBA is still in the tank but its growth has slowed dramatically. About 30 minutes of scraping BBA a week keeps the tank looking good. I think the major reason for its decline is that I've gradually lowered my light levels, while keeping CO2 constant.









As you can see I'm still getting a bit of BBA on older leaves but nothing that cannot easily be pruned.


----------



## Fishfur

I'd never have guessed ramshorn for that last shot. I was wondering if it might be a FW limpet.. but clearly, not so. Amazing detail.. what kind of macro lens did you use ?


----------



## Jiinx

What a beautiful update. The differences between plant growth is remarkable. Your plants look lush and filling in nicely.

The photos are so crisp and clear!

Love the update. Please keep them coming..


----------



## rickcasa

greg said:


>


Totally in awe...I'd love to start a planted tank but too afraid of the amount of work to maintain. The best tank I've seen here, salt or fresh water!


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> What a beautiful update. The differences between plant growth is remarkable. Your plants look lush and filling in nicely.
> 
> The photos are so crisp and clear!
> 
> Love the update. Please keep them coming..


Thanks. Been pretty busy so not much time for pictures lately.



rickcasa said:


> Totally in awe...I'd love to start a planted tank but too afraid of the amount of work to maintain. The best tank I've seen here, salt or fresh water!


Thanks so much!

Here's a new picture


----------



## Fishfur

Note to Greg.. seeing as you're into rainbowfish.. you might enjoy a peek at this article I just ran across. Anyone else will enjoy the unreal enormous planted tank !

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5370


----------



## xriddler

greg have i told you i hate you but i also love you?

I hate you cause you are so talented at what you do and i love you because you are so talented at what you do. I also hate that you are so loaded with so many tanks im jelly jelly jelly


----------



## greg

Fishfur said:


> Note to Greg.. seeing as you're into rainbowfish.. you might enjoy a peek at this article I just ran across. Anyone else will enjoy the unreal enormous planted tank !
> 
> http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5370


Thanks for the link - that's one incredible planted tank!


----------



## GAT

Did you add another rack full of tanks?

Your last photo looks amazing. I can't wait to see your setup again on June 8th.


----------



## greg

GAT said:


> Did you add another rack full of tanks?


Yes two 40g tanks and four 5g tanks on the top shelf. The 40 gallons were such a tight fit I had to build the rack with only the bottom shelf in place - tip it on its side and slide the first 40g tank in place from the top, stand it back up, add second shelf and repeat process...! I've drilled the 40 gallons for overflow - I'll tee off the existing carbon block filter and drip about 8-9 gallons a day into each of the 40g tanks. Fertilization will be manual for the two 40g tanks - the 5's won't be planted - just bare bottom with floaters.

I like my black bar endlers so much and want them in a larger tank up off the basement floor - they are currently in the bottom left tank on the original rack. They will get the middle tank in the new rack.

Dominique (SwimmyD) is doing some research on setting up a community killifish tank in the new 40 gallon tank on the bottom shelf. She will also be taking the four 5g tanks for killies.

See you on the 8th


----------



## Fishfur

Glad you enjoyed the link. Aren't those plants amazing in that thing ? Guy had it custom built.. it's quite a show piece.

Btw, think there would be any chance of acquiring a few Black Bar Endlers at some point ? I agree, they are lovely,and I am fairly sure now that the male I lost was one of them. He unfortunately vanished from my tank, and I don't know if any of the fry my females have had were by him. They were all apparently pregnant when I got the small lot of them from the Peel Auction. The longer I have Endlers, the more I like them.


----------



## greg

*New rack update*

Plumbing is done!









Top of drain pipe has been left open so SwimmyD can vacuum her killie tanks directly into the pipe.









Inside elbow raises the water line up above the holes I drilled.









Tying into the existing drain line from the original rack









Still to add the killie tanks during the next water change and another shelf on the far right. Also need some sort of water container to hold 15 gallons of aged water to make the killie tank maintenance easier. I will put a water pump in the container and plug it into the power bar on the front right upright. Can then refill each 5g tank easily just by flipping the switch on and off.


----------



## Jaysan

so awesome!
Cant wait to see these in person


----------



## Fishfur

It's pretty mind boggling to see how neatly Greg has engineered this setup and it just keeps getting better.


----------



## BBXB

Very nice set up. Just wondering where you got the shelving (metal stand) if you don't mind sharing.


----------



## greg

BBXB said:


> Very nice set up. Just wondering where you got the shelving (metal stand) if you don't mind sharing.


Thanks. I got the shelving from Uline. You order online and specify a pickup time from their warehouse. 
http://www.uline.ca/BL_4030/Wide-Span-Storage-Racks-Wire-Decking


----------



## cape

greg said:


> Thanks. I got the shelving from Uline. You order online and specify a pickup time from their warehouse.
> http://www.uline.ca/BL_4030/Wide-Span-Storage-Racks-Wire-Decking


Thanks, would you say the build/structure is pretty stable for aquarium use?


----------



## greg

cape said:


> Thanks, would you say the build/structure is pretty stable for aquarium use?


Yes the shelves are rated such that you would need to be loading a material much denser than water to approach their limits - hope that makes sense.

The wire rack shelves are very strong as well - the only issue I have with them the support doesn't extend to the side edges. In the picture below you can see plastic shims I added to support the wire edge. The shelf rests on a third layer of wires which for some reason ends 4" from the shelf side edges - okay for pallets - not ideal for aquariums.

I also added a 3/8" plywood sheet to help distribute the weight on my 50g sump. I didn't do this with the smaller tanks.










The two 40g tanks on the new rack are the exact size of the opening. As a result I didn't need the wire racks or plywood - the aquarium frame rests securely on the horizontal supports.










I had drawn up plans to make a unit using lumber, for the my first basement tank rack. However, once I calculated the costs, I realized it wouldn't be that much cheaper than the Uline shelves, which are much stronger.


----------



## greg

*Update*

Here's a pic taken just after I finished moving the killifish tanks to the new unit.


----------



## xriddler

wow greg that is some fast work you do there.


----------



## greg

*Some New Fish*




























Picked up these new fish at R2O last week. They're in quarantine tanks currently. Got 6 of the Green Lasers and 10 Coral Red Pencilfish.


----------



## greg

*Endler Fry*

Just removed Endler Fry from the 20g Endler tank and am in the process of transferring them to my 10g office tank. In the future I'll just raise the fry with the adults, but in the short-term I am trying to increase the numbers more quickly, so this will enable me to ensure they are properly cared for and fed.


----------



## Fishfur

Good luck with the red pencils.. I've read they are harder to keep than the other two types that I have. Beautiful, beautiful fish.


----------



## greg

Fishfur said:


> Good luck with the red pencils.. I've read they are harder to keep than the other two types that I have. Beautiful, beautiful fish.


Thanks. I'm a little nervous. The only tank I had ready to quarantine them in was a 5g, with a well cycled sponge filter. I'm vacuuming every 3 days, have added almond leaves as well as water from my office tank which is yellow with tannins. I've also filled the tank with frogbits and guppy grass. So far they have adapted well and are eating frozen and pellet food.

They will take over the 20g Endler tank when I transfer the Endlers to the new 40g tank - in about a month or so.


----------



## greg

*Marbled Self-Cloning Crayfish*

My crayfish from prolific8 was chopping up too many of my plants, so she's found a new home in my sump. The other night found her hanging out on the acylic divider. She just rested on the ridge for 10 minutes while I watched - not sure which direction she was ultimately headed. The pump intakes are crayfish proof (I hope!)


----------



## greg

*145G Tank Shot*


----------



## Jiinx

how stunning. You're really coming along nicely with this tank. The contrasting colours from the fishes really compliment the bright green and lush plants. 

Lovely. thanks for sharing this crisp and beautiful photo.


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> how stunning. You're really coming along nicely with this tank. The contrasting colours from the fishes really compliment the bright green and lush plants.
> 
> Lovely. thanks for sharing this crisp and beautiful photo.


Thanks - you still need to come see it in person


----------



## greg

*40G Endler Tank Update*

Now that the BBQ has finished I've had a chance to add some more plants to the future home of my Endlers, which are currently in my 20g tank.










The Hyrdrotriche hottoniiflora has grown so quickly I just trimmed the top 8" off of each stem today.

I'm hoping to get every last node of Marsilea minuta Jiinx can spare this week to plant in the foreground


----------



## greg

*40G Endler Tank*

A few more views of the tank.


----------



## greg

*40G Endler Tank*










Just picked up some beautiful plants from Jiinx 

Tank plant list

Hydrotriche hottoniiflora

Hydrocotyle verticillata

Ceratopteris thalictroides

Hygrophila polysperma

Fissidens fontanus

Marsilea minuta

Hygrophila araguaia

Ludwigia sp. red

Cryptocoryne lutea

Ranunculus inundatus

Alternanthera reineckii

Microsorum pteropus "Windelov"

Limnobium laevigatum

Riccia fluitans


----------



## Jiinx

Greg, your tank is -so- clean - a bird could fly into that and not think there's glass there. 

I can't wait to see the mm fill in. It'll look so nice!


----------



## greg

*40G Endler Tank Update*



















I moved the Endler's into their new home last week - my 40g planted tank. I received my original fry in early March and they have matured and produced an additional 39 fry so far!


----------



## greg

*Coral Red Pencilfish*

I've taken my Coral Red Pencilfish - Nannostomus mortenthaleri - out of quarantine and put them into a 20g planted tank. This tank used to be home to my Endlers, who have since upgraded to a 40g planted tank.

I took the opportunity to do a bit of rescaping, removing plants heavily damaged by my self-cloning crayfish who now resides in my sump.

Here's some pics of them in their new home.


----------



## greg

*Thread Title Change*

Thanks Ciddian for the title change 

This thread has grown beyond my 145g system as I keep adding more planted tanks and the new title reflects this expansion. I've updated the first post in the thread to include relatively current pictures of all eight planted tanks.


----------



## greg

*Office Tank*

April 10, 2013









May 9, 2013









June 6, 2013









June 20, 2013









Flora - Ceratopteris thalictroides (water sprite), Anubias coffeefolia, Ludwigia sp. red, downoi, Fissedens fontanus (phoenix moss), Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce), Riccia fluitans (crystalwort)

Fauna - Black bar Endler fry, painted fire red cherry shrimps and golden ramshorns

Equipment - AngelFins 10g ADA tank and light, AquaClear HOB filter, CO2 diffused through GLA Atomic Diffuser. Substrate is Seachem black flourite sand from AngelFins.


----------



## Jiinx

Beautiful array of plants and fishes, Greg  

Your office tank must be very distracting.  The l. sp red is growing really well! Well done!


----------



## greg

*Longfin Albino Bristlenose Pleco Eggs*

Spotted the male guarding and fanning some eggs today.


----------



## manmadecorals

Cooool!!!!


----------



## greg

*Feeding Time - Black Bar Endlers*










It's been 5 months since I received 16 fry and they have matured into prolific adults - currently over 100 endlers in the 40g!


----------



## Fishfur

Wow. Those are really, really nice. Such pretty boys. Any chance you'd be selling any at some point ? 

My Neon Reds have just had a very few fry, hopefully might be more to come. 3 or 4 are in a small enclosure to prevent the other female and the Gold Ring danios from eating them. Hope there's a male in the lot. Fry from the first Endlers I got at auction are maturing, and the boys appear to have a lot of green colouring. Only a couple of boys so far. I'll try to get pics.


----------



## greg

*10g Office Tank Update*










Water sprite is gone. Primary plant is now Ludwigia sp red.


----------



## Jiinx

Greg, the ludwigia looks stunning and so healthy and lush! Great work!


----------



## arapaimag

Greg your tanks look great.

Also fun meeting you and Dominique at the Killie get together in July.


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> Greg, the ludwigia looks stunning and so healthy and lush! Great work!


Thanks. Must have been good original stock I received 

I moved my boring boraras into this tank, so it's my 'red' tank. They were in a 25g in the basement but always hid in the top right corner at the back, so I only ever saw them when they came out at feeding time.

So, I demoted them to a smaller tank where they have less room to hide and moved the coral red pencilfish into their old tank along with the green laser cory's.


----------



## greg

arapaimag said:


> Greg your tanks look great.
> 
> Also fun meeting you and Dominique at the Killie get together in July.


Thanks for the compliment. I would say we enjoyed meeting you except there was no exchange of gtaa usernames at the meet, so I don't have a face and name to attach to your username. I will send a pm requesting it


----------



## Sameer

Against the black background those reds really stand out. Nice work with bringing out the colours


----------



## John_C

*Wow !*

Stunning tanks! They look very natural and balanced... I love when planted tanks look more as they should out in nature, versus a lot of the "Gimmick" type high end planted tanks that are so popular now...

Where did you get that shelving unit? What type is it? I'm looking to expand the fishroom, and have been looking for units like that..

I really don't want to build it myself out of wood.. More effort then I want to expend.. lol. PLus my fish don't have that kind of patience, breeding too fast!


----------



## John_C

*Wow !*

Stunning tanks! They look very natural and balanced... I love when planted tanks look more as they should out in nature, versus a lot of the "Gimmick" type high end planted tanks that are so popular now...

Where did you get that shelving unit? What type is it? I'm looking to expand the fishroom, and have been looking for units like that..

I really don't want to build it myself out of wood.. More effort then I want to expend.. lol. PLus my fish don't have that kind of patience, breeding too fast!


----------



## greg

Sameer said:


> Against the black background those reds really stand out. Nice work with bringing out the colours


Thanks! I find it a difficult tank to photograph because the right one-third of the tank is covered with a dense mat of floating riccia resulting in very dark shadows.



John_C said:


> Where did you get that shelving unit? What type is it? I'm looking to expand the fishroom, and have been looking for units like that..


I purchased the shelving units at Uline http://www.uline.ca/BL_4030/Wide-Span-Storage-Racks-Wire-Decking

Thanks for the compliments.


----------



## greg

*40g Black Bar Endler Tank Update*


----------



## Jiinx

lovely photos as usual  So nice to "see" you posting again!


----------



## Annie2

WOW! Breathtaking tanks. Absolutely stunning.


----------



## Fishfur

That would make a pretty amazing poster, Greg. Eye candy, as usual.


----------



## PELIGROSOPYGO

That's one amazing fish room!!


----------



## Fishfur

You know, now I've looked at the close up a few times, that knob on the wood looks just like Toothless, the dragon in "How to train your Dragon", which was an animated film I got a big kick out of seeing. The fish doing a rollback looks like the dragon's eye, and another female makes a mouth! 

I need therapy I suppose but that's what I see.


----------



## greg

Jiinx said:


> lovely photos as usual  So nice to "see" you posting again!


Yes I've been pretty busy this summer and haven't had much time to post. Will try to become more active as soon as the fall cleanup is complete - takes up a lot of my free time picking up 5,000 apples from my yard 



Annie2 said:


> WOW! Breathtaking tanks. Absolutely stunning.


Thanks very much for the kind words.



Fishfur said:


> That would make a pretty amazing poster, Greg. Eye candy, as usual.


It's a crazy busy tank - I enjoy it!



PELIGROSOPYGO said:


> That's one amazing fish room!!


Thanks. I have recently added another pretty simple rack with 6 tanks for breeding killifish. Have yet to post a picture.

I did pick up some Apistogramma agassizii at Menagerie a week ago. They are in quarantine awaiting transfer to my planted tank with the coral red pencilfish and green laser corys.


----------



## greg

*145g One Year Update*










The big tank has been up and running for a year. The biggest issue has been the constant presence of BBA. I battled BBA pretty much from the beginning trying many methods to eliminate it - different CO2 diffusion methods, changes in fertilizer regime etc. In the meantime I set up a second planted tank, then a third....then finally eight planted tanks, none with BBA except the 145g. Eventually I came to the realization that it must be the ambient light causing the problem. The 145g is located in a room with 4 skylights and although it gets no direct sunlight, the room has enough ambient light to read on a completely overcast winter day. So gradually I have moved towards plants less affected by BBA. So out went all the stem plants except blyxa and in came more crypts.

My maintenance regime is pretty straightforward now. I vacuum it quickly once every week or so, and every second month I pull out hundreds of blyxa plants, vacuum the tank thoroughly, scrape BBA off the wood and replant 15 or so of the blyxa. At the same time I pull off leaves from the java fern and crypts affected by BBA. i still enjoy looking at the tank although I do dread the big three hour bimonthly cleanup.

Currently I am trying to figure out how to add an RO drip to my continuous water change system on the 145g so that I can soften the water. Ideally I'd like to add one drip of RO water for every two drips of filtered tap water. This will allow me to breed killifish more readily in the planted tanks connected to the system.


----------



## Sameer

That looks beautiful!!! I love it!

It seems BBA is the number one killer for everyone. Ive never had a problem with except for the slimy gsa. I think bba means low co2 levels?


----------



## greg

Sameer said:


> That looks beautiful!!! I love it!
> 
> It seems BBA is the number one killer for everyone. Ive never had a problem with except for the slimy gsa. I think bba means low co2 levels?


I agree that the usual culprit for BBA is low and particularly unstable CO2 levels. I have 8 planted tanks and my usual recipe for CO2 is 1 bps per 15g - so a 15g tank gets 1bps, a 30g tank gets 2bps etc. I fine tune from there if necessary, however it's usually not as my tanks are all set up with similar filters, lighting, substrate and fertilization.

The 145g is different in that it's much larger than my other tanks and has an overflow system that bleeds off a fair amount of CO2. As a result I crank the CO2 bubble rate to an unmeasurable amount and use a PH controller on that tank set to a PH of 6.5.

Out of curiosity this morning I used the probe on my other planted tanks and I found that they were all in the 6.5 to 6.55 range. None of these other tanks have had BBA issues while my 145g does, presumably with the same CO2 levels as measured by PH. KH should be constant since they all use the same tap water and in fact the 145g tank overflows to 4 of my other planted tanks. If I take a plant with BBA from the 145g tank and plant it in one of the 4 shared water tanks down below in the basement, the BBA disappears.

So with apparently similar CO2 levels my 145g for some reason gets BBA. The main differences with the 145g are:

a lot of ambient light for the 145g and pretty much none for the other tanks
a lot more water flow in the 145g
a shorter photoperiod from the aquarium fixture for the 145g (7 hours vs 9 hours for my other planted tanks)
I do shut off the CO2 at night on the 145g while it runs 24/7 on all my other planted tanks

I run the CO2 on the 145g from 8 am to 7 pm. My aquarium light photoperiod is 12 pm to 7pm. I think I will try starting the CO2 earlier in the morning. Perhaps the lack of CO2 during the early morning ambient lighting is causing some problems.


----------



## coldmantis

Hey Greg,

My only advise to you is to get a drop checker, I understand you have a standard bps vs tank size and you measure the pH+kh to determine if there is enough co2. But remember this method does not work if you use buffering substrate, if you put anything that changes pH is ial, peat etc..., or if you use r/o water. I personally use a drop checker in all my tanks, because they are all different. Different filters will agitate the surface differently, different diffusers work differently. For an example my 5.5g with hob at 3bps won't turn my drop checker yellow but my 10g long at 3bps will because it's using a canister filter. If the bba is not super bad a one time nuke of h2o2 and excel should kill of all the bba.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4


----------



## greg

*A few small changes...&#128296;*

I've made a few small changes to the 145g tank and the 4 connected tanks below.

First I added an RO system to soften up the water a bit. Should help in our efforts to breed killifish and the plants should enjoy the softer water as well. The original drip of regular filtered water remains and is set to add about 10 gallons per day. The new RO drip is set to add about 5gpd directly to the sump. I also ran a line to a faucet so I can use the RO water elsewhere as needed. TDS of my tap water is 160-180 and in my 145g which is fertilized daily it was stable in the low 270s. TDS with the new system setup in place for 8 days has dropped to 222.










I've also replaced the mesh top on my lower tanks with glass to reduce evaporation. Humidity was approaching 70 in the basement with all the new tanks I've added. The glass tops together with a small dehumidifier draining directly to a house drain have dropped it down to 50.

The new lids have to be killiproof of course which is a bit of a challenge when using an AquaClear hob filter. Here's my effort. (The tanks a little overgrown as I'm hoping to have some Aphyosemion ogoense fry 'appear')










The two glass panels on the left can slide back and forth on 'E' channel. The panel on the right is fixed although it can be easily lifted out when needed.

Here's a closeup of a panel cutout for the AquaClear and drilled for the water drip - I used a glass cutter, glass grinding bit and glass drill bit to make all the cutouts.


----------



## Fishfur

You are entirely too handy ! Got any clones I could borrow ? You still have a use for the mesh tops or would you want to sell them ?


----------



## Jiinx

Greg, I love your updates. Your talents are so limitless. Really well done with the cuttings and the lay out. 

You've converted into an RO water guy  I can't be happier..

Is it set up in your basement? How's your shrimp tank and your main tank going? Good job on figuring out the source of your algae. Ambient light was contributing to mine as well as mine is in the kitchen and at night I have the lights in the kitchen on. Now I'm a bit more careful and live in the dark a bit haha

Did you end up eating all your 5000 apples? 

sarah


----------



## greg

Fishfur said:


> You are entirely too handy ! Got any clones I could borrow ? You still have a use for the mesh tops or would you want to sell them ?


I am keeping the mesh top. When doing full tank maintenance it just takes seconds to put it on and take it off...so when I realize I forgot something in another room I can put it on so the killifish don't decide to go exploring....



Jiinx said:


> Greg, I love your updates. Your talents are so limitless. Really well done with the cuttings and the lay out.
> 
> You've converted into an RO water guy  I can't be happier..
> 
> Is it set up in your basement? How's your shrimp tank and your main tank going? Good job on figuring out the source of your algae. Ambient light was contributing to mine as well as mine is in the kitchen and at night I have the lights in the kitchen on. Now I'm a bit more careful and live in the dark a bit haha
> 
> Did you end up eating all your 5000 apples?
> 
> sarah


Thanks. I picked about 300 apples for our use and the rest go out with compost. We don't spray the trees so 50-90% aren't so great depending on the year and lots of them fall before I can get to them &#127823;&#127823;&#127823;

Regarding the RO, one issue is that I'm using a PH controller on the 145g to control the CO2 because the bubble rate is to fast to see and count. I'm assuming the RO water will lower the tanks 'natural' PH so I will need to set the PH on the controller lower. I've put my drop checker back in the tank so I can monitor and adjust the PH/CO2 over the next month or so. I've also got some of the tank water in a container degassing so I can see what the new 'natural' PH level is without the added CO2.


----------



## greg

*Planted tank updates*

The tanks were all cleaned last Saturday for the SOKS killifish meeting at my place this past Sunday. So here's a few pics to take advantage of the clean glass 

20 gallon Script. geryi tank









20 gallon A. ogoense tank









25 Peruvian tank









25 gallon Fp. gardneri tank









40 gallon Endler tank









40 gallon community killifish tank









145 gallon rainbowfish tank


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Holy cow! How you get that Glosso to grow in a straight line? Did you just plant individual stems in the 40 gallon Endler tank?


----------



## greg

It's actually Marsilea minuta, which seems to send off runners in a straight line.


----------



## Reckon

Wow! Thanks for the pics! All the tanks look great. I love the natural jungle feel.


----------



## greg

Reckon said:


> Wow! Thanks for the pics! All the tanks look great. I love the natural jungle feel.


Thanks! The first two in particular I am trying to keep very heavily planted, as I hope killifish fry (Script. geryi and A. ogoense) will start appearing.

So the tanks are all how I normally keep them with the exception of the 25 gallon Peruvian tank. The Hygrophila polysperma in that tank has uprooted and is floating - looks good still but it needs to be removed, trimmed and replanted.


----------



## jimmyjam

GReg, this has got to be one of the best technical setups in the city. Big props for the dedication. Here I am about to shut down shop, and your creating such a bad ass setup. Its making me think twice.


----------



## greg

jimmyjam said:


> GReg, this has got to be one of the best technical setups in the city. Big props for the dedication. Here I am about to shut down shop, and your creating such a bad ass setup. Its making me think twice.


Thanks for the compliment! Sorry to hear you are leaving the hobby. My wife and I paid several visits to your place early on for plant stocking and it was always pleasure dealing with your father. I really liked the huge school of endlers in your one tank and this served as motivation for me to set up my 40g endler tank.


----------



## greg

*Christmas in the Fishroom*


----------



## Kimchi24

greg said:


>


LOL! I'm sure the fish are now in the Christmas spirit


----------



## Jiinx

lol. Love it, Greg. The system and tanks look great. How's that BBA? All done?

sarah


----------



## FlyingHellFish

Where you get those shiny silver Co2 tank?


----------



## greg

FlyingHellFish said:


> Where you get those shiny silver Co2 tank?


I picked them up on a trip down to the U.S. They are from The Beverage Factory.

And for the very observant, that's a CO2 hose going across the ceiling, so there may just be another planted tank in the works!


----------



## Sameer

greg said:


> I picked them up on a trip down to the U.S. They are from The Beverage Factory.
> 
> And for the very observant, that's a CO2 hose going across the ceiling, so there may just be another planted tank in the works!


Everything better in the US (shopping wise)  I bought my tank from there as well.


----------



## charlie1

Sameer said:


> Everything better in the US (shopping wise)  I bought my tank from there as well.


Not necessarily true, I picked up my 20 lb certified fill with gas brand new for 160.00 txs in


----------



## FlyingHellFish

That is great price, Charlie! Can you tell me where that was? I'm looking for a 10 lb new "silver" if possible. 

Hey Greg, what this new tank?


----------



## charlie1

FlyingHellFish said:


> That is great price, Charlie! Can you tell me where that was? I'm looking for a 10 lb new "silver" if possible.
> 
> Hey Greg, what this new tank?


So as to not clutter Greg`s thread , I have replied via PM.
Regards.
Greg your attention to detail is evident in your pictures, great work with your tanks.
Regards


----------



## Sameer

charlie1 said:


> Not necessarily true, I picked up my 20 lb certified fill with gas brand new for 160.00 txs in


I dont know what company its from but my bro from US got it for under $80 certified (I think it was $60). You can bring your expired date tanks and they will give you a fresh certified one for free.


----------



## jimmyjam

Hey bud, thanks for the compliments. Im actually helping my pops close down his setup. He was never really into it, I just helped him pull some cash in for his retirement. Im gonna eventually setup a massive grow up in my basement. For now, I have a 49rimless, 75 at the clinic, and a new 10 rimless ready for shrimp in a few weeks. If you have time, take a few more pics of your setup, im impressed!



greg said:


> Thanks for the compliment! Sorry to hear you are leaving the hobby. My wife and I paid several visits to your place early on for plant stocking and it was always pleasure dealing with your father. I really liked the huge school of endlers in your one tank and this served as motivation for me to set up my 40g endler tank.


----------



## greg

*&#127876;Christmas photo&#127876;*


----------



## Jiinx

Did the fish get any gifts this year?!


----------



## greg

*Another Year Over*

A new planted tank, just begun










One more planted tank in the works. Dimensions 47" x 9" x 13"H, from Miracles. I just added the wood yesterday and some floating frog bits to get things started. At this point I'm thinking it will be all crypts as I find they all grow very well for me and require little maintenance, which is key with so many planted tanks.

The rocks behind are in an identical tank. I have room to place a black divider between the two if necessary, but for now will see how it looks to have them open.

Here's an update photo of the fish room












Jiinx said:


> Did the fish get any gifts this year?!


Well they did get the nice decorations. You can also see a new yellow Tripp Lite GFCI safety power bar and metallic power strip on the far wall as I'm updating all their electrical. GFCI for all submerged items and HOB filters. I don't put lights and air pumps on GFCI circuits as the light ballasts can cause them to trip and the air pumps are placed well above and away from all water. Regarding lights, they are secured well and the tanks have covers so the risk is minimized.

My son also donated one small solar powered hula dancer to entertain my fish (he got it from grandma on a christmas gift, but isn't too keen on putting it on his dash  )


----------



## jimmyjam

Greg, When you get a chance, please take some pics of tanks in its isles, I really wanna see what you got going on in the small tanks =) or maybe Ill have to just make a trip out there one day.


----------



## mikosoft

nice fish room! It's everything I've ever wanted.


----------



## Jiinx

Greg, that looks so impressive. Congrats on the new tanks -your scaping skills have really sharpened and you have a knack for placement of woods and such! Crypts! lol..you got the crypt bug! What kinds of crypts? Any fish?

Amazing set up, Greg. It's such an achievement.  I'm sure by the end of the year, you'll have even more tanks!


----------



## greg

*Big Melt Ahead❄☀?*










Planted my new tank - all crypts as I previously indicated. Picked up some beautiful specimens from TorontoPlantMan and added in a few from my other tanks. I've never experienced significant crypt melt and hopefully my luck won't change with this tank 

Varieties in this tank from left to right are:
Cryptocoryne lutea
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green'
Cryptocoryne lucens
Cryptocoryne affinis
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'brown'
Crytocoryne willisii
Cryptocoryn wendtii 'Tropica'
and some more Cryptocoryne lutea


----------



## jimmyjam

oh good ol crypts... love and hate relationships... love: the nice foliage, hate: how it ruins my foreground plants when they send out runner. They are awesome in their own tank... like this one.


----------



## TorontoPlantMan

greg said:


> Planted my new tank - all crypts as I previously indicated. Picked up some beautiful specimens from TorontoPlantMan and added in a few from my other tanks. I've never experienced significant crypt melt and hopefully my luck won't change with this tank
> 
> Varieties in this tank from left to right are:
> Cryptocoryne lutea
> Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green'
> Cryptocoryne lucens
> Cryptocoryne affinis
> Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
> Cryptocoryne wendtii 'brown'
> Crytocoryne willisii
> Cryptocoryn wendtii 'Tropica'
> and some more Cryptocoryne lutea


Awesome looking tank Greg. Everything is going to fill in beautifully, I'm super excited to see how this tank fills out. The only suggestion I have is moving the Pontederiifolia to the back of the tank as this plant can get quite large !

This is a sweet tank, I'm loving that it's only Crypts


----------



## greg

TorontoPlantMan said:


> Awesome looking tank Greg. Everything is going to fill in beautifully, I'm super excited to see how this tank fills out. The only suggestion I have is moving the Pontederiifolia to the back of the tank as this plant can get quite large !
> 
> This is a sweet tank, I'm loving that it's only Crypts


Oh good to know. Site I looked at suggested Pontederiifolia only gets to 5-12cm.

I've saved a prime spot in the front of the two pieces of wood forming the 'bridge' on the right for a future crypt - something special hopefully - any suggestions?


----------



## TorontoPlantMan

greg said:


> Oh good to know. Site I looked at suggested Pontederiifolia only gets to 5-12cm.
> 
> I've saved a prime spot in the front of the two pieces of wood forming the 'bridge' on the right for a future crypt - something special hopefully - any suggestions?


Oh wow really? Are you sure it wasn't in inches? I've seen it get up to 12 inches in height, maybe it depends on the height/lighting of the tank.

I'd save the spot in the front for something very special, try to get your hands on a very rare crypt and do not rush this process as it's not always easy. I have a contact who imports rare crypts but this requires splitting the cost of shipping, phyoto and any other importation fees which usually turns most people away as it can turn a 50$ plant into a 100$ plant but if this doesn't bother you then PM me and I'll give you the information. I'm just waiting for a CO2 cylinder, needle valve, and solenoid and I'll be able to hook you up with a "Cryptocoryne Nurii Pahang 'Mutated'" as it's already sending a runner but with the addition of CO2 it will speed up the process greatly. This plant would look stunning in the front of your tank.


----------



## greg

TorontoPlantMan said:


> Oh wow really? Are you sure it wasn't in inches? I've seen it get up to 12 inches in height, maybe it depends on the height/lighting of the tank.
> 
> I'd save the spot in the front for something very special, try to get your hands on a very rare crypt and do not rush this process as it's not always easy. I have a contact who imports rare crypts but this requires splitting the cost of shipping, phyoto and any other importation fees which usually turns most people away as it can turn a 50$ plant into a 100$ plant but if this doesn't bother you then PM me and I'll give you the information. I'm just waiting for a CO2 cylinder, needle valve, and solenoid and I'll be able to hook you up with a "Cryptocoryne Nurii Pahang 'Mutated'" as it's already sending a runner but with the addition of CO2 it will speed up the process greatly. This plant would look stunning in the front of your tank.


Yes for sure it was cm on two different sites. Although I'm sure you're right about seeing it at 12" as I see firsthand in our own tanks how much lighting affects crypt sizes. Our crypt balansae is only 9-10 cm long after several months and I understand that it can grow 60+ cm. In the same one-bulb tank we have lutea planted 7 months ago that is only 6-8 cm high. Just above it in an identical tank receiving the same dosing regime, but with two bulbs, the lutea is 25-30cm high, planted the same day. So I'm finding that unlike stems, crypts stay compact with low light and get larger with high light.

Let me know what size of CO2 tank you're after (if not already purchased) as I have some extra aluminum ones that I am planning to sell - I believe 5 lb and 10 lb size.

Crypt. nurii Pahang 'Mutated' would be awesome. I would also be interested in getting in on the rare crypt importation as I'm slowly letting crypts take over my 145g tank. I saw the posts about the possible import on your thread and have been keeping an eye out for further news on it in the forums.


----------



## TorontoPlantMan

greg said:


> Yes for sure it was cm on two different sites. Although I'm sure you're right about seeing it at 12" as I see firsthand in our own tanks how much lighting affects crypt sizes. Our crypt balansae is only 9-10 cm long after several months and I understand that it can grow 60+ cm. In the same one-bulb tank we have lutea planted 7 months ago that is only 6-8 cm high. Just above it in an identical tank receiving the same dosing regime, but with two bulbs, the lutea is 25-30cm high, planted the same day. So I'm finding that unlike stems, crypts stay compact with low light and get larger with high light.
> 
> Let me know what size of CO2 tank you're after (if not already purchased) as I have some extra aluminum ones that I am planning to sell - I believe 5 lb and 10 lb size.
> 
> Crypt. nurii Pahang 'Mutated' would be awesome. I would also be interested in getting in on the rare crypt importation as I'm slowly letting crypts take over my 145g tank. I saw the posts about the possible import on your thread and have been keeping an eye out for further news on it in the forums.


Thats the beauty with Cryptocoryne's, you can have them in high light or low light and they will still be beautiful, they'll just grow differently accordingly to their environment. The lower the light I've found them to stay much smaller, while under higher light they stretch upwards towards the light exactly as you mentioned.

I haven't purchased a CO2 tank yet, I was going to get a 15lb but if you have a 10lb that's good for me, I'll PM you for details.

As per the rare crypt's I'll keep you posted, and just keep an eye on my plant trading thread as "Altum" (not sure if he wants his real name out there) will be letting me know when he's going to do an import. He'll provide us with a list of plants to choose & costs associated to be split. I'll definitely PM you when I have something & my plants runners get larger.


----------



## greg

*Peruvian Tank Update*

Here's a few photos from my Peruvian tank. I've let the Sagittaria subulata go a little crazy, otherwise the pencilfish harass the green lasers when they are foraging for pellets.


----------



## charlie1

Thanks for sharing Greg, some amazing fish you have there.
Regards


----------



## jimmyjam

Sweet looking Apisto, it looks just like mine =) is it a rio *****?


----------



## greg

*10g Office Tank Update*

I redid my 10g office tank yesterday. Thinned out the downoi and windelov, and removed half the coffeefolia. Also added an Echinodorus 'Kleiner Prinz' which stays relatively compact for a sword. Should just reach the surface of the tank over time.


----------



## TorontoPlantMan

Awesome looking tank, I really like the downoi. Keep us posted on your crypt tank too I'd like to see how it's growing.


----------



## jimmyjam

loving the setups greg, Im looking to setup a similar setup whats your electricity bill like? Do you also use central heating to avoid heaters in the tank?


----------



## greg

*Endler Tank*

6 weeks between tank maintenance and things get a little crazy...


----------



## Reckon

greg said:


> I redid my 10g office tank yesterday. Thinned out the downoi and windelov, and removed half the coffeefolia. Also added an Echinodorus 'Kleiner Prinz' which stays relatively compact for a sword. Should just reach the surface of the tank over time.


That tank is looking pretty fantastic. I'm a big fan of the Coffeefolia Anubias. What are those red fish in there?
Also, any idea how many male coral red pencil fish you have in the other tank and are they territorial for you?


----------



## greg

Reckon said:


> That tank is looking pretty fantastic. I'm a big fan of the Coffeefolia Anubias. What are those red fish in there?
> Also, any idea how many male coral red pencil fish you have in the other tank and are they territorial for you?


The red fish are Boraras brigittae, otherwise commonly known as Chili Rasboras.

Here's a current picture - not much change. I've had to uproot and replant the tops of the downoi once as they were reaching the surface. The Echinodorus 'Kleiner Prinz' appears to be flowering.



















There are 9 pencil fish in the other tank. Originally 10 but one died about 6 months ago. I believe 8 are male and one is female. Have never seen any fry in the tank, but no surprise really since I have 5 green laser cories in there.


----------



## jimmyjam

Hey greg, any new updates on the fishroom?


----------



## greg

jimmyjam said:


> Hey greg, any new updates on the fishroom?


Just a small change 

I'm selling off everything in the fish room http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127610 and have already built a new system. Here's a picture. I'll be able to get a better frontal shot once my old racks and tanks are out of the way. All 9 tanks have continuous water drip feed and I plumbed them with overflows. Drips are either filtered tap or a combination of filtered and RO for the soft water fish I keep.

Only the top left tank is "planted" as I want ease of maintenance, although there are lots of ferns, anubias, bolbitus and floating hornwort in the others.


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## jimmyjam

wow thats awesome man. I will def let my network know about the stuff you have up for grabs. I really like that regulator, let me know if it doesnt sell, maybe we can work out a deal.


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## greg

*145g Update - Riparium*

I redid my 145g completely in early December. I was tired of dealing with ambient light related algae issues so instead of fighting the light, I decided to work with it. The ideal choice for this tank seemed to be riparium style as I also wanted to keep maintenance to about 10 minutes per week.

The plants were added 1 month ago.










Sorry for all the reflections - like I said - tons of ambient light in the room! I'm still using my ATI dimmable 6-bulb 48" fixture with the dimmer turned down to 25% and photoperiod increased to 10 hours. The fixture is now 23" above the water level and par at water level in the centre is low 60's.

The tank still gets automated water changes from a carbon block filter that also supplies my 9 basement tanks - it gets about 2-3 gallons per day - drip drip drip. Water level is 8" below the top of the tank - no more lid needed! In order to keep water level below the built-in overflow I used an air line inserted into a slightly larger tube to bring it up and over the overflow - very noisy but its on a timer and only runs during the middle of the night. The mechanism works the same as an air driven hang-on breeder box.

Filtration for the 60-70 gallons of water is simply two 5" poret foam filters. Not even sure if I need them once the plants start taking off as emersed plants are extremely effective water filters.

Here's a picture from the back.









The plants are on a glass shelf with glass supports I made. The shelf is topped with black acrylic to prevent algae from growing on the glass below the shelf. I cut a flagstone strip to replace substrate below the shelf, since this area would otherwise be hard to vacuum.

Plant list:
Acorus gramineus 'Ogon', Cyperus haspan, Dracaena sanderiana, Ficus pumila, Philodendrum pertusum (Monstera deliciosa), Scindapsus aureus "Gold", Spathiphyllum petite.




























Roots of the philodendrum are really taking off - I think it will give a mangrove look to that side of the tank eventually - those big roots are 12" long after just 1 month.









Most of the plants are in 3" clear orchid pots - the slits allow nutrients in and roots out. I put pebbles in the bottom of each pot for weight, then a layer of hydroton clay balls and finally a layer of the black gravel used in the tank, which is CaribSea voodoo river gravel. The ficus is a vine variety so it's attached to the cork. The philodendrum is attached to a rock - I removed all the soil and fert pellets from the pot it came in, rinsed the roots well, wrapped them around good sized rock and secured with zip ties.

There are no plants in the substrate (ease of maintenance requirements) and the plants on the wood are anubias and java fern. The wood is screwed to the flagstone slabs which I chiselled to appropriate shapes and then drilled. The flagstone rests on egg crate diffuser which in turn sits on the bottom glass.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of the new setup


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## Reckon

Looks awesome! There's so much light it IS an ideal spot for a riparium. I'm pretty envious of how the Ficus Pumila looks on the bark.
How about adding a black background to place more focus on the plants?

Also, you're totally right on emergent plants being very efficient in filtering the water - I've noticed that my riparium can bottom out on nitrates quickly.


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## hendy8888

Looks great! I think adding some more rocks to hide the flagstone with anubias 'nana' inbetween the rocks would look good too.


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## greg

*145g Riparium Update*










Just had a pm about my ATI fixture so thought I'd take the opportunity to show the plant growth since February.

I just did my first trim, but only on the split leaft philodendron as it was threatening to take over my living room. The leaves were literally projecting 4 feet out the side and front of the tank with individual leaves about 18" in diameter. So I cut each vine down to about 3-4" in length leaving just one leaf per vine. New growth has started.

Here's a few key points on the tank:



The bulbs are still the original - 3 years old now.

I add 5ml diy macro (0.15tsp KNO3 & 0.04 tsp KH2PO4) and 2ml Seachem comprehensive fertilizers every day.

Photo period is 10 hours and dimmer is at 27%.

Maintenance is 30 minutes twice a month - quick vacuum and clean the glass (trimming is every 8 months apparently)

Water change continues to be 2-3g per day continuous drip with overflow to house drain.

Plant list remains identical to original list in post 303.

I'd love to hear recommendations on a red plant which would be suitable for an open top riparium (and available locally). Another plant I haven't been able to find locally is Pilea cadieri (aluminum plant).

Thanks for looking,
Greg


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## greg

*145g Riparium*










The riparium was planted 1 year ago. The philodendrum was trimmed harshly in October and the pothos vines were all cut back in January as they were starting to take over my house with average length around 10'. I added a few more air plants (tillandsia) last week. I also added Pilea cadeirei (aluminum plant) last week beside the philodendrum but it probably won't be visible for a while.


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## default

greg said:


> The riparium was planted 1 year ago. The philodendrum was trimmed harshly in October and the pothos vines were all cut back in January as they were starting to take over my house with average length around 10'. I added a few more air plants (tillandsia) last week. I also added Pilea cadeirei (aluminum plant) last week beside the philodendrum but it probably won't be visible for a while.


Fantastic looking, the plants are looking very lush!


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## greg

*November 2016 Update*










Tank in this configuration was setup two years ago. After recently losing all 3 ballasts on the ATI, I decided to strip the shell and insert LED's. I also moved my Fp. gardneri Innidere killifish to this tank and switched the water pump from the MP40 to a Tunze 6040 to allow for slow water movement. The Tunze can be dialed down to a minimal 53 gph.


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## ksimdjembe

Any update photo for the fishroom, Greg?!


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