Social Feed

Well... thats it! Im tired of watching you guys have all the fun so figured it was time to start my own journal to document this new scape Im working on, and also to talk about other plant happenings. So here goes

For this year's AGA Id been planning on using the 75P again. Love the dimensions, 30"x18"18" about 37 gal. Its in the living room along with the 75 gal ex-Dutch.

I try to keep these two a little more display-worthy than the back room back tanks but it doesnt always happen. Here's the 75p currently. Plants closed up its the middle of the night, I just flipped two bulbs on to take a quick pic

Ive been tossing some ideas around but it nothing has really inspired me lately



So I decided to try a couple things in the 75 gal and see if the almighty elusive muse will show up

I rarely have a plan going in, usually just an idea or two like maybe a street or focal points, and from there I just start sticking things around and see how it looks. Usually with just whatever plants I have enough of, even stuff that I know I wont end up using just to plot out general areas and color

So here we go starting about two months ago, with basically two streets and a focal point. Pics are 3-4 weeks apart. I'll spare you the details of every little plant move, basically just adding/moving stuff around between then and now

*ignore the weird color filter on these first few pics




Couple weeks later



Trying to find a place to use this dynamite Blyxa sp Red. Not to be confused with the "sp Red" currently being offered by a couple larger retailers. Those are likely to be other aubertii variants that may or may not actually turn red. A good rule of thumb for blyxa (since most cant grow emersed) is if it aint red when you buy it, dont count on it turning red. This one is like a tall Novoguineensis, tops out around 12"-14" with good vertical leaf formation, and stays red under most light



Added Ludwigia white to the front right corner



Dont like the Blyxa in the focal spot either. It'd need a bright green behind it, which would make all the other background groups need repositioning based on color. Plus the Blyxa is too tall for what Im trying to do here, I want this focal spot low in the tank, not high


**Continued next post, image limit reached

@Bettatail You Legend , you Genius genius man !!
Thank you !

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

Hello Everyone. After a short 2 month wait, I finally received my 6', 235g Planet Aquariums tank. I've decided to document the build here as a way to document it's growth as well as, and maybe more importantly, seek advice as I've already stumbled onto a few 'problems'. So, without further ado, here is what I have so far:

Tank - 235g Planet Aquariums Mega Matrix (72" x 30" x 25")
Sump - 60g Breeder
Lighting - Skylight Hyperspot M (x2)
Mechanical Filtration - RedSea ReefMat 1200
Additional Filtration - Poret Foam (yet to purchase)
Return Pump(s) - Jebao DCP-10000
CO2 Reactor - Yugang from ARC
Dosing - Chihiros 4-Head with Magnetic Stirrer
Heater - 500W Titanium
Controller - Neptune Apex with pH and temp probes
Auto Feeder - Avast Plank
ATO - XP Aqua Duetto using a 35g Brute container filled with RODI water as source water.
Hardscape: UNS Controlsoil - Brown
Pacific Driftwood
Black Sieryu Stone

As a general thought at this point, the Apex will have some basic functions - control the temperature (77-78F), monitor the solenoid on the CO2 regulator should pH venture outside of acceptable ranges, and control the auto feeder. A 'feed mode' will be activated which will turn off the return pump prior to the auto feeder running so that the food is allowed to be eaten rather than washed into the overflow and into the sump filter. Aside from that, not much more is necessary other than simple on/off control for the return pump as the lights are on their own controller.

Controller and board:



ReefMat in sump:



Full shot of rear:


Current Scape - Half Complete:


That's about all I've gotten done so far. Still working on fiddling with the hardscape on the right and then start on the left side. I'm open to any suggestions thus far and thanks for following along!

I’m often out and about working in the field and stumble upon breathtaking examples of often overlooked and under appreciated slices of nature that Florida has to offer.

My neck of the woods is filled with marsh/wetlands ripe with both native and invasive wildlife of all flavors; I want to start a thread where I can document and share.

I’ll update this thread whenever I capture something noteworthy. Much of what catches my eye is aquatic flora, but I try and document anything captivating. I hope you find this as beautiful and fascinating as I do.

This is a response to @Capraquaria's post regarding looking for some new pipes that are more user friendly but also better for shrimp. I say shrimp proof rather than safe, because the shrimp don't really seem to mind living in the filter from what I can tell, but of course, that's not where we want them.

One of these newer Jardli hybrid style pipes was posted by @Koan back in July and I've since purchased it and several other models that have different inflow styles with micro holes rather than large slits, although the Jardli hybrid glass inflow does still have slits, they're just super thin. Here's what I have and some notes and thoughts plus one that I haven't purchased but am considering. Since these are newer designs, their availability on amazon is spotty. In fact, the first Jardli set that I just started using came from Ebay as a new open-box item.

• Jardli 17mm long SS Lily Pipes (holes do seem small enough to be shrimp safe) These are what I just installed on my farm tank. I placed a small cap over the skimmer because I’m now running a powered skimmer on the farm tank. The plastic end cap from a Biomaster spraybar fits perfectly over the skimmer port.
  
  
• Jardli 13mm SS Hybrid Lily Pipes with Skimmer (slots in glass do seem small enough to be shrimp safe on 13mm size but not sure if they would be on 17mm though Jardli’s description states they are with no distinction between sizes.)
  
  
• Fjarde 17mm Outflow Lily Pipe with Skimmer (an unusual skimmer design) I’ll be starting with these on my 22g long. See mounted photo below.
  
  
• Fjarde 17mm Short Inflow Lily Pipe (Holes also look small enough to be shrimp safe, but the number of holes is higher than the Jardli inflow) Link is to 13mm as 17mm appears to be out of stock now.
  
  
• Landen 16/17mm ? Lily Pipes (perhaps same as Aquapro on Aliexpress) (haven’t purchased these yet but holes may be similar to the Fjarde. Hard to tell from photo. No outlflow skimmer option, although, Aquapro has one on Aliexpress. I have other Aquapro outflows with skimmers though and I don’t really care for them).
  
  
  
  

The Tonina and Syngonathus continue to grow straight and tall. Based on Dennis’s posts and reading online, it appears that I would have to wait for them to branch out before splitting. But they don’t seem to branch out, anything to be done or just wait?

For anyone wanting a walk down memory lane, I’ve run across episodes of “Guppies to Groupers” on a PBS affiliate website. For the many of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, “Guppies to Groupers” was a PBS program in the mid 70’s hosted by Paul Spiece promoting and providing education on the aquarium hobby.

I’m 64 years old and received my first aquarium when I was 8 or 9. I lived in an area where we were fortunate, if you can call it that, to receive the TV signal from the local ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates. Our closest PBS station was too distant. I only knew of “Guppies to Groupers” by the description in TV Guide. Years later I was finally able to watch the episodes and for whatever reason during a sleepless period last night it popped into my head. It’s really enjoyable to be reminded of how the hobby was when I was first introduced to it. I used most of the equipment shown at one time or another and seeing a corner box filter really takes me a back to a piece of my childhood.

Here’s the link.

I can’t get Scapebid to accept a bid. I’ve entered an amount, and checked the disclaimer, but the Place Bid button won’t turn live. What’s the secret?

Edit: I guess it went through. I thought it would be listed in recent bids. Sorry!

This thread is for the general discussion of the Article Yugang CO2 Reactor - A Guide. Please add to the discussion here.