Social Feed

Hey guys, I've made a couple of yugang reactors some horizontal, some vertical (soda bottle with a hole in it).

I've noticed a reoccuring issue constantly in that it will eventually fill up with air (oxygen) from plants pearling.

Once the co2 + oxygen concentration gets high enough, Oxygen from plant pearling will eventually make its way into the reactor. After a few days, this severely reduces its efficiency.

You would think the oxygen just gets pushed out by the co2 coming, but plants pearling will kinda just refill it up extremely fast.

Is yugang better in lower light tanks where you won't get intense pearling? I usually find co2 misting much more consistent in this case and might swap back to just using a ceramic diffuser for consistency. I only have 10 gallon tanks... a ceramic diffuser is fine, its just easy to nuke your tank with too much co2 where yugang limits your co2 ppm based on reactor size.

We often talk about how fragile glass lily pipes are. I've only broken two of those, but today I broke my 4th (at least) drop checker. Maybe I need to start handling them more carefully like my lily pipes. It doesn't help when you're cleaning them over a granite counter top.

There is A LOT of history to this that is tied to some of the biggest names in the hobby's past. I tried to get them into the USA with Clause Christensen back in the 90s but no-go.

This would be big news for US hobbyists as availability of healthy, aquarium-ready plants is THE limiting factor in expanding the hobby in the USA.

Time to start a new thread.

I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.

90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.

Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.

I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.

Sounds like a joke question but for reasons unknown I cant get moss to grow period, Got a huge baseball of moss for free from shrimp breeder. I put some in 5g shrimp tank, low light no heater around 74 its dead. 3 other tanks 76 degree low to medium light its all dead or looks dead its grey color I'd say it's dead. water parms are pretty spot on no big shifts or other plants would have issues imo.

what do I need to do to grow java moss ? grew it for years no issues would take over now im lost! I can grow anything but moss?

I've seen several in the community mention purchasing an Archaea cabinet. I just recently purchased the 60x45 "Assembly Required" version in the Driftwood color and assembled it yesterday evening. It went together quite quickly without even downloading the instructions. I gotta say, I think it's absolutely a good option, if you're not wanting to build a cabinet yourself, but gag at the high cost of other aquarium cabinets sold by the high-end tank brands. I considered the slightly more expensive pre-built model, but it's cost doesn't include the freight shipping. Since this will be going in my living room, I didn't want to take chances on my own build and finishing skill. I think I made the right choice.

Archaea Modern-Nature Aquarium Cabinet

I feel i need to do a journal so I have a internet calendar on what's happened or Ill forget lol! This is now 4 months back into the planted tank world and I'm happy to be back yet lost on true aquascapingI I have a current 29g as a farm tank for future builds going. zrdr 4l co2 bought locally full setup for 40.00, 29g free. A 20long I just bought with metal stand, hygger decent new led light.new heater. few foam bubble filters, ar a nice dual air pump. some new stratum about 16lbs , tons of good food, etc etc and 6 live plants crypts, swords, anubis about 30 stems of rotundifolia 12" tall for 85,00 it was a decent deal with what is came with , I thought!
Original plans was a 29 and 20 long. Well 3 weeks forward to 3 days ago picked up a free 36 bow front with stand, foods.heater, some dragon stone, bubbler all working freeby deal of the year for sure! The tanks pretty clean, some light hard water stains lll razor blade off very clean. Did come with about 35lbs stratum and blk rocks mix.

I threw substrate in tank after light rinse. LOL it went to pitch blk even after 2 big filters with filter floss still blk water after 36 hours later its muck now the stratum is crap imo other than deeper substrate to cover up with build. I have no clue on any age of the stratum 2 months or 5 years no info was free on side of road literally. I decided today to dump the stratum its a dam mess! may strain the stratum with my several size buckets to strain out small materials away from the blk gravel and use it with eco!? Just got 2 20lb bags of eco complete for 55 shipped my 2005 go to, easy no breakdown and same cost as bulk gravel from pet stores in the end.
I Would do the blk blasting sand its cheaper but don't want all sand and in end as I still do some gravel clean monthly oops.. The eco complete last imo forever I have 20 year old eco now in tank. Yeah its inert but still whole rocks. I"Ill be posting many pics of the my dry scapes holy hell! And more as it goes. Its been 19 years since I've done a planted tank def not a newbie just don't remember as much as I did and things have changed any help appreciated for sure! Joe burr has been help sure thanks dutchscape god!

Posted few pics of old tanks 19 years ago when I didn't know what an aquascape was lol no co2 just dry ferts, metride 14 and power compacts it worked! algae was very null. Im calling my new tanks the cheap skape 20 and now 36g the freebie. I usually try to go cheapo as I can get Im not rich rather spend 30.00 on steaks at home than 30.00 on stems lol. I'm mr diy I only buy what I cant build usually.

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @Miro!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

New (for me) reading to add to the bookshelf. Been wanting Amano San's books for some time but the price, even for used, is quite high. Finally bit the bullet on a used copy of the Complete Works since it was a little less expensive than used copies of the individual Nature Aquarium volumes. It will be next to George Farmer's book.

What other books do you have?

I’ve had this idea in my head for a couple of years now and it’s finally taken shape. The inspiration came from a local conservation area/regional park. I wanted a tall nano scape with stone/wood hardscape with a pump/filter in the rear plumbed so the outflows exited at the top and trickled down the face of the scape. Primarily a moss scape dotted with some native accent plants.

Tank: 15cm x 15cm x 25cm ultra clea low iron nano tall with floating bottom.

Light: random plant light from local store.

Substrate: random top fin black pebble gravel that came in a bag with a marketplace tank setup.

Pump: random pump from my dad’s garage from one of my brothers super old tanks.

Plumbing: extra black RO 1/4” tubing and quick connect fittings from a reptile mist kit (for another project).

I started by building the frame with divider panels. There are two ledges that propped up the hardscape, and the whole frame was draped and buffered with 3d spacer mesh (Epiweb) to retain moisture and humidity near the top of the scape without needing a lid. The mesh also helps keep the wood in contact with water, and aids establishing moss.









3d spacer mesh:



Back filter installed:



And the dry fitment test. Had to file down the rock on both sides so it fit without being forced in there. I constructed it this way so the whole scape could be pulled out at once if I needed to reset it, or just the pump if it needed to be serviced. More 3d spacer mesh was wedged in all the crevices for additional wicking.



Topped up and testing:



Additional hardscape up top to help hide all the outflows, and provide space for the finishing flora (maybe some air plants and/or orchids).