# The Rainy Basin - 230 planted miracles project



## bobert_889

Hello All, I started this project over a year ago and learned a lot along the way. 230g from Miracles took a long time, but was well worth the wait. I live in an apartment so I had to build an additional stand to displace the weight.

*Tank Specs*

- 72 x 30 x 24" 
- 3 Sided Starfire
- 2" holes for 1.75" bulkheads
- Reinforced Steel stand
- External durso overflow and both returns on the left hand side. ( Personally I love the look of tanks where everything is housed on one side. It allows for a lot of flexibility, you just have to ensure that there is enough flow on the other end.)

*Filtration*

- 90 gallon DIY refugium sump
- Filter socks, sponge, small amount of bio media ( I wanted the majority of the filtration to be done naturally by the substrate and plants)
- Small compact fluorescent light on refugium filled with sprite & other stem plants ( if anyone needs stem plants, I can sell you handfulls for very cheap )
- The light runs in reverse cycle to my main tank lights (and a bit longer), this cuts down on my co2 swings, continues to reduce nitrates and algae.

*Equipment*
- my co2 setup for a tank this large involves a 20lb canister from camcarb
- milwaukee regulator
- Aquamedic 1000 co2 reactor powered by an eheim pro 2 fed into the sump right next to my return pump to minimize co2 loss.
- Coralife uv sterilizer. 
- DC Waveline pump, an awesome purchase, silent and easily adjustable
- Vortech Mp40 for circulation at the other end of my tank
- 2 x Maxspect Razors 8000k 160w Led fixtures, this is the first marketed led system that I can say %100 has yielded very positive results. I highly recommend this system as it will run you slightly more than a DIY from rapid led, but the design is just pure sexy.

*Plants* - there are many, many types of plants in here. I wanted to see which ones would do well under the leds and eventually simplify by reducing the variety
- anubias barteri, anubias nana, Anubias angustifolia, Bacopa monnieri, Cabomba, Cryptocoryne undulata, Cryptocoryne beckettii, Cryptocoryne
wendtii, Echinodorus 'Barthii', Echinodorus bleheri, Java fern wide, java fern narrow, java fern wendtii, Java moss, phoenix moss, flame moss, Lindernia
rotundifolia, Vallisneria nana, Vallisneria spiralis, Nymphaea
lotus

*Fish* - Having an abundance of algae eating fish has really helped keep my tank clean. A must for planted tanks. SAE are the best. 
- discus, roselines, white clouds, neon tetras, bushynose plecos, corys, siamese algae eaters, albino chinese algae eaters, clown loaches, black ghost knife, red tail shark.

Tank specs from miracles








DIY SUMP








catfish








tank in place








installing lights








Overview hardscape








Hardscape with lights sexyyyy- Grabbed the driftwood almost 6' long on a canoe trip last summer and cured it in my bathtub for a few months. 








Just planted & filled








Refugium Setup hard at work








Controls for waveline pump and votech mp40








eheim pro 2 running the co2 reactor








1 month








overhead balcony view








3 months









more to come once i get my slr up an running. please ask any questions that you have. Cheers!


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## characinfan

Aaargh, the pictures aren't showing up! I really want to see your tank!


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## bobert_889

a damn, i linked them from my gtaaquaria images folder. Do they have to be from an external site? I'll try to figure it out, in the mean time here is a link to the folder:
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/album.php?albumid=189


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## Jackson

Very nice this tank looks awesome!

Edit removed my question lol


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## bobert_889

Grabbed it on the missisaugi river way up north on a canoe trip last summer. The entire river was littered with beautiful pieces. I might be doing another run this summer to bring a bunch back. The problem is accessibility cause it's usually quite far from everything.

Are my pics showing up? I dont know why they aren't for me, i tried the urls from my gtaa album and from flicker, it's probably an easy fix anyone know?


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## Jackson

I looked through your album you linked to
The pics aren't showing up in the thread.

The forum has issues with links posted to threads or pics that are from Gtaa and they still haven't fixed it even though I've mentioned it many times. 

Try photobucket works every time and you just have to copy and paste the image URL no URL tags needed

I need to take a trip up north this year and go wood hunting lol


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## Jiinx

I really enjoyed your photos. I love the name of your tank, it's so fitting!

What a beautiful tank. I'll be sure to follow along to see how you develop it!


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## bobert_889

Thanks Jax! It works now!

More updates to follow soon.


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## kamal

Such a beautiful tank!


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## xriddler

those are some beautiful discus. the scape is amazing i really dig it especially the driftwood looks nice having it stick out of the tank like that and the way the pieces flow makes it most appealing. Definitely would like to see more pics


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## bob123

This is just amazing, keep the pics coming.


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## Jaysan

LOVE this setup!
so calming


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## pyrrolin

I really like the scape


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## MDR

Beautiful. The best driftwood pieces are never found in stores.


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## ReefABCs

Fantastic! 

Are you using tap water or doing anything extra to manage the hardness?
What is the PH and hardness out of curiosity? 

thx


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## bobert_889

Thanks! It's been all tap water since the start up. I haven't done anything to manage the hardness and it's been a while since I checked. I am setting up a RO unit soon for top offs and my nano rimless reef which will be on its way shortly . My PH after the massive piece of driftwood and co2 injection is around 6.4-6.6.


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## Yann

Gorgeous tank!
Love your selection and placement of the hardscape, keep the pictures coming


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## greg

Beautiful! Driftwood is very unique - an outstanding piece and worth the effort to bring it home for sure.

I agree that having an overflow off to the side usually shows the tank best.

How long has the tank been setup and planted?

Greg


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## bobert_889

Yeah my girlfriend wasn't too happy bringing that massive piece back in the canoe, but I'm glad I did. The tank is almost at the 6 month point now.


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## Tropicana

Beautiful tank! And cute cat. I gotta say a school of congo tetras would look great in there.


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## kiloman

*Very Nice Tank*

Excellent tank, but a few questions i feel like asking

1. with open top how much evaporation do u get and does the humidity affect your house in terms of mould / fungus / water drops in winter months?

coz it did to my place when i had an open top tank( or at least i think so)

2.Where did u get the driftwood - u mentioned somwhere up north - any general area ?

Keep us updated

Cheers


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## bobert_889

There is a fair amount of evaporation. I loose gallons every week its worse in winter when the heat is on. It's not too much of an issue and I have not had any problems with mould or wet patches etc. I will be putting in an auto top up soon. 

Mississaugi river up north way in the bush.


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## bobert_889

Some More fish shots
Clown loaches








GOURAMI








discus


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## John_C

*Wow!*

That's quite the operation you have there! high tech! WOuld make Takahashi Amano nod in approvement!


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## bobert_889

*Mag 5 and auto top off*

Thanks for all of the positive feedback on this tank everyone!

This morning I switched out my eheim pro 2 canister that was running my co2 and uv sterilizer with a MAG 5 pump for a closed loop system. It's running with more power and I can cut out nitrate factory building up in my can.

Building an auto top off system this week as well. I've been doing research and haven't found an ideal solution yet, does anyone know where I can obtain large rectangular, food grade, water storage containers? thanks


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## greg

bobert_889 said:


> Building an auto top off system this week as well. I've been doing research and haven't found an ideal solution yet, does anyone know where I can obtain large rectangular, food grade, water storage containers? thanks


Rectangular water containers are available in the camping section of various stores. I think they are 10 litres. If you need larger than that, why not an aquarium?

Alternatively here's a site with plastic rectangular water tanks ranging in size from 3 gallons to 200+: http://www.plastic-mart.com/category/12/rectangular-water-waste-tanks

Greg


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## Ryan.Wilton

Nice tank!


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## bobert_889

thanks for the link! those look great, a bit pricey though, there's a place up by eglington and dufferin called looney tooney club that has various sizes of food grade barrels for 10-20$ not the rectangular that I wanted but saves some money.


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