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Journal Jay's 40 Breeder Farm Tank
Starting a journal on my 40 gallon breeder farm tank. I originally threw together a 20 gallon farm tank to hold cuttings from my first scape but found I was quickly running out of space for new plants and a quickly growing population of Neocaridina shrimp, not to mention, the tank had become overwhelmed with bladder snails (yes, I know they can be beneficial). I had plenty of space for the plants I already had but wanted more for future plants for upcoming scapes. I planned to also use the tank as a temp home for fish. The new tank completed cycling about 7/20/25 and I began transferring the following week. Setup details are as follows:
Tank: Imagitarium 40 Gallon Breeder (half-off Petco special)
Filter: Oase Biomaster Thermo 350 (Only because it was sitting unused at the time)
Light: Week Aqua M900
CO2: Yes, inline diffuser
Skimmer: Oase Crystalskim 350
Substrate: ADA Amazonia 2
I purchased a used tank around the beginning of March that was fully scaped with a few fish and shrimp. I tore down the scape and moved the shrimp to the 20 gallon farm. I thought all I had were a few Amanos which I moved to my main display tank and about 7 Yellow Golden Back Neocaridina. The yellows quickly began breeding but I ended up with a lot of wild offspring so one of the original must not have been a yellow. I now have about 100 shrimp but really don't want to use them in an aquascape as mixed wild, so I will start to rehome them to keep the population in check. I've also moved Painted Platys from my display scape to the farm, as they were breeding as much as bladder snails. There are about 15 in the farm tank now and 2 still in the display tank (I think they're both female). I'll be rehoming the Platys as well. I have no interest in being a fish breeder so no more Livebearers for me.
I wasn't sure about wasting space in the farm tank with hardscape but went ahead and put in a few pieces for now. I figured I could use it for epiphytes and hiding places for livestock. Eventually, I'll probably install some 3D printed grates for the epiphytes. Things are a little disorganized to start. I welcome ideas on farm tank organization.
Tank: Imagitarium 40 Gallon Breeder (half-off Petco special)
Filter: Oase Biomaster Thermo 350 (Only because it was sitting unused at the time)
Light: Week Aqua M900
CO2: Yes, inline diffuser
Skimmer: Oase Crystalskim 350
Substrate: ADA Amazonia 2
I purchased a used tank around the beginning of March that was fully scaped with a few fish and shrimp. I tore down the scape and moved the shrimp to the 20 gallon farm. I thought all I had were a few Amanos which I moved to my main display tank and about 7 Yellow Golden Back Neocaridina. The yellows quickly began breeding but I ended up with a lot of wild offspring so one of the original must not have been a yellow. I now have about 100 shrimp but really don't want to use them in an aquascape as mixed wild, so I will start to rehome them to keep the population in check. I've also moved Painted Platys from my display scape to the farm, as they were breeding as much as bladder snails. There are about 15 in the farm tank now and 2 still in the display tank (I think they're both female). I'll be rehoming the Platys as well. I have no interest in being a fish breeder so no more Livebearers for me.
I wasn't sure about wasting space in the farm tank with hardscape but went ahead and put in a few pieces for now. I figured I could use it for epiphytes and hiding places for livestock. Eventually, I'll probably install some 3D printed grates for the epiphytes. Things are a little disorganized to start. I welcome ideas on farm tank organization.
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Journal Quantum Entanglement
My new scape. It’s been a while. I’ve been busy finishing my novel. It’s published now so back to scaping.
It’s a classic triangular scape and I’m calling it Quantum Entanglement. It’s a working title, so I might change that. Sorry mods.
The real star is the light. Off Amazon for around $130. Fully controllable with a remote. Great value. https://amzn.eu/d/0eRX5eCo
I want to plant it with mainly buces and small anubias spp. on the rocks and wood and MC carpet, with some crypt nevellii or C. X Willisii, and stauro in the shady parts and maybe a ludwigia mini super red highlight behind the last rock on the left.
It’s a classic triangular scape and I’m calling it Quantum Entanglement. It’s a working title, so I might change that. Sorry mods.
The real star is the light. Off Amazon for around $130. Fully controllable with a remote. Great value. https://amzn.eu/d/0eRX5eCo
I want to plant it with mainly buces and small anubias spp. on the rocks and wood and MC carpet, with some crypt nevellii or C. X Willisii, and stauro in the shady parts and maybe a ludwigia mini super red highlight behind the last rock on the left.
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I hadn't seen it mentioned by others that attended Aquashella, but if you hadn't already heard about it or seen it in Aquashella videos, ADA has come out with Amazonia Pro. It's not a replacement for Version 2, but an addition. It is essentially Version 2 on steroids with higher nutrients and of course the negative side effect of potentially higher initial ammonia leaching and, if your not prepared and skilled, more chance of algae. That's even from the mouth of Homma-san himself. The scaping competitors were using it in the competition and AFA was selling 9l bags at the show. They said it would be available on the website within the next couple weeks.
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I have read an awful lot of warnings and conjectures by people. And “I used bdbs and a shrimp died so I got rid of it…”…
My personal experience with the product has been uneventful.
I have put rare earth magnets through a quart sample with no hint of any attraction and then washed it with no hint of oil slick or dustiness and then added the rest of the bag to a new aquarium with no treatment, no ill effect…
I have probably employed 7 bags by now with no hint of a problem. Dozens of corys sifting through the stuff as well as khuli loaches and yoyo loaches…. No hint of problems with them…
Other than it self leveling itself and being totally incapable of holding a slopeI love the stuff. The black always looks great. It costs about 1/4 aquarium specific substrates. I really haventexperienced anything negative about it…
I know it is popular here…. Has anybody here had bad experiences with it?
My personal experience with the product has been uneventful.
I have put rare earth magnets through a quart sample with no hint of any attraction and then washed it with no hint of oil slick or dustiness and then added the rest of the bag to a new aquarium with no treatment, no ill effect…
I have probably employed 7 bags by now with no hint of a problem. Dozens of corys sifting through the stuff as well as khuli loaches and yoyo loaches…. No hint of problems with them…
Other than it self leveling itself and being totally incapable of holding a slopeI love the stuff. The black always looks great. It costs about 1/4 aquarium specific substrates. I really haventexperienced anything negative about it…
I know it is popular here…. Has anybody here had bad experiences with it?
12 Replies
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Journal 22 gallon long bookshelf
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.
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.
298 Replies
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33356 views
In my never ending quest to piddle around, I have been looking at setting up a nano eco tank/bowl with minimum maintenance. The main issue I have is controlling the temp. The temps in my house fluctuate between 68 - 71 degree regularly and can drop to lower 60s a few weeks in the fall and spring when we do not have the heater on.
Has anyone thought about or had success using an animal heating pad under the bowl/tank? While most are designed for reptiles and regulate between 100-120F, there are some for more mixed use that can be controlled from 68F and up. I don't think this would be too hard to set up. Could be to keep the inside of the tank clear of equipment. Radiant floor heating for your shrimp/fish.
Heating Pad
Has anyone thought about or had success using an animal heating pad under the bowl/tank? While most are designed for reptiles and regulate between 100-120F, there are some for more mixed use that can be controlled from 68F and up. I don't think this would be too hard to set up. Could be to keep the inside of the tank clear of equipment. Radiant floor heating for your shrimp/fish.
Heating Pad
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As some people may know I had a long running journal on another forum. Glad to see Art get this new site started. A fresh beginning and loads of possibilities ahead. I'll be updating with thoughts here but for today just wanted to share my latest tank pics.
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Like my no-tech bowl scaping thread where I have a list of inspiring bowl scapers, I thought it would be awesome to do the same with a Dutch-inspired / True Dutch thread! I have a ton, but I'll post them over time. If anyone else finds good examples of dutch tanks, post them here, too!
First up:
I translated the transcript and got as much info as I could. Here's the things I find interesting:
50% WC weekly
He front-load doses the incoming fresh water volume to:
If you were to look at it through full-volume dosing lens, it's:
Micros are dosed 3x per week, but nothing specific provided. Probably ~0.3-0.5ppm/week? He does say the iron is all gone/undetectable by the evening.
Beautiful tank! I love the balance of colors, textures, and plant groupings. That tiger lily is amazing. Very little algae, too!
First up:
I translated the transcript and got as much info as I could. Here's the things I find interesting:
50% WC weekly
He front-load doses the incoming fresh water volume to:
- NO3: ~30 ppm
- PO4: ~4.2 ppm
- K: ~34 ppm
- Mg: ~3.4 ppm
If you were to look at it through full-volume dosing lens, it's:
- NO3: ~15 ppm
- PO4: ~2.1 ppm
- K: ~17 ppm
- Mg: ~1.7 ppm
Micros are dosed 3x per week, but nothing specific provided. Probably ~0.3-0.5ppm/week? He does say the iron is all gone/undetectable by the evening.
Beautiful tank! I love the balance of colors, textures, and plant groupings. That tiger lily is amazing. Very little algae, too!
13 Replies
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Hello Welcome, tṛtīyāya
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @tṛtīyāya!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
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I understand that the process of aquasoil neutralizing kh is basically it turning it into co2 through chemical reactions.
However, in practice it just seems to raise the ph if the soil if the ph buffering capacity is exhausted?
If I pre-acidify RO water with HCL the aquasoil seems to raise the ph back up to around where it normally is after a day or 2.
However, in practice it just seems to raise the ph if the soil if the ph buffering capacity is exhausted?
If I pre-acidify RO water with HCL the aquasoil seems to raise the ph back up to around where it normally is after a day or 2.
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Hello Welcome, Forest Alex
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @Forest Alex!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
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