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Happy Friday, friends!
This is my first ever tank. It’s just an imagitarium 13.3 shallow tank. It has a fluval hob filter and currently a chihiros vivid2. I also have a skimmer on it. Originally it just had a betta in it and lots of low effor plants. It’s been one of my favorite tanks and it has changed soooo much since I first got it in January. I’m working on transitioning it to a more high tech setup and having an issue with c02 circulation. I read that putting it under the filter can help, I also positioned my skimmer so that the outflow could push around the bubbles but none of that is happening. I was hoping to avoid switching the filter on it if possible.

Video here!

If you've been in the aquarium hobby for a while, I'm sure you've created or picked up so valuable hacks that fall into the tips, tricks and time-savers categories. So, in an effort to compile and share them, let's post them here.

This site is about sharing knowledge and experiences so don't be shy, no hack is too small or silly.

Please post yours.

Hi all,

First of all thanks so much for the amazing threads and input from all the super knowledgeable and experienced scapers on here.

My question and apologies if this has been specifically discussed previously, but I'm wondering if an RO system would be a worthwhile investment for a high tech planted tank.

My town water which I currently use is not on the grid with the main city water supply that I used to access. Our town water is sourced from a creek, not a huge reservoir, and can vary from time to time, more than I would like. For example, the PH can be anywhere from 7-8, KH when measured some months ago was 4dKH, is now 6. GH 7dGH.
I know they are still within reasonable bounds though.

I could look at ways to just lower KH using HCL for an example but that doesn't fix the stability of the water supply for the other elements.

I'm also not able to obtain a water report.

I've just put in a plant order for my new scape (which I think I'll start a journal on soon) that includes plants like Syngonanthus macrocaulon which prefers lower KH.

Ro a good investment or am I over thinking it?

For 95% of people in this hobby, running an aquarium appears to be guess work, casual observations and not a lot of data driven applications.
That's where scapecrunch is amazing and so many like minded people here.

I love the tech side of it too which I'm only just starting to get into to help me progress the hobby further.
I was thinking about this as I was in our big box hardware store today just to pick up a minor plumbing item and ended up walking out the door with 90% of the material required for a Yugang reactor lol. Don't ask me how that happened! That will be another thread in the future I'm sure.

For now, my point is that when I get around to implementing the reactor, I don't want to rely only on CO2 kits to let me know what is happening.
I've seen some of you showing the PH charts which I think would be super helpful. Atleast to me as that is how my brain works best.

Which brings me to the equipment discussion. I was thinking about a PH probe (but not really as much to control CO2, just as a fail safe for that). More to log the PH data. Most stand alone PH controllers like Milwaukee do not log the data far as I can see.

Also, will be looking at fert dosing. For this I was considering something like the chihiros system.

I have a decent regulator to start with. Well I think it is lol. Also a flow meter (which i still haven't tested yet) so that side should be ok.

I also don't want to spend a fortune on an aquarium computer if I don't really need it. Most are starting at around $1,500 AUD here.

Do I just find a stand alone PH probe that will do what I want and the doser and call it a day?

What monitoring/automation systems do you use?

Hello fellow planters - im reaching out here because I can't seem to get a response from colin. For context- 75 gallon Aqueon with an fx2 filter and the 24 inch NA advanced co2 reactor. Would it make more sense to run this horizontally? I can't really seem to get a good grasp on how to be successful with setting this up vertically. Those with experience with this reactor, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Some of the other terrestrial projects I’m working on. Slowly building towards the halo project, an ebb and flow Florida wetland biotope utilizing a bell siphon for tidal management. These are almost all in my office. The bog biotopes are experiments for emersed growing species that are sensitive to shipping in fully submersed form (Sclerolepis unifloria, for example).

Just spent a little while browsing through this thread list. Was hoping to figure out a solution for fertilizing all of my tanks without spending so much money. I currently have 8 tanks at varying levels of complexity and am also brainstorming a bowl and at least 4 other tanks. So- lots of fertilizer. But man!! I feel like apt3 will not last me long. Especially if I’m front dosing (I think that’s what Rocco called it) like was recommended in my journal post.
After reading through some of these posts I wonder if I have the comprehension skills to be able to do some of these things I see resources for! I’m so glad to have found this site. Def wish the app worked for me though.

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.

The adventure begins...again. After a substantial absence from the hobby, I dunked my toe back in last fall with a small 60F shrimp tank, a Chihiros WRGB slim, and a Chihiros CO2 (citric/baking soda) system. A lot has changed since I started this hobby in the 90s, and it's been about 20 years since I tore my last tank down. 'Aquascaping' per se wasn't as much a thing back then. I didn't know anyone running CO2, and LED lights didn't really exist. The 60F was fun, and the shrimp seem happy, but I have been itching to get to building something with more elbow room.

I did happen to find a pic of my old 75 gallon bowfront tank a few weeks ago that was taken just before I tore it down prior to a big move. It ran great for 7 years. Was a simple low tech setup, with one hunk of driftwood, no rocks, plain gravel (no soil) a lot of simple plants (the sword plants did great), and some peaceful fish. Algae wasn't an issue, filtration was pretty subpar by current standards, but the tank did well despite that, and algae wasn't really an issue. Aesthetically blah by today's standards, and certainly not my goal for this build, but I remember being proud of how well this tank ran back then, and wasn't too demanding. Important as my life was very hectic back then.



So, the tech plan so far for the new 150U:


I ordered the tank and stand from UNS, and to my amazement, despite the worst mid-January winter storm we had in some years here, it was delivered on time by the freight company. I do not recommend trying to move a 5ft wide 400+lb tank and stand across snow and ice, down a slope, into to basement. Very thankful to have a tractor with forks, but still was a bit stressful getting this into the house. Miraculously we got it in the house in one piece, and I seriously questioned ever getting a tank larger than this in the future!



It did require disassembly outside the basement door to actually get it into the house around a berm of snow, along with some extra muscle from a few friends. (This was originally meant to be a 120P, until I realized the hardscape plan I had wouldn't quite fit. What's a another foot in length? )



Just getting the tank through the snow and ice was enough, and the base cabinet and tank just sort of landed in the room, and stayed there for a few days while devising a strategy for the next step. After recruiting a tall and strong friend, and sourcing some of those giant suction cup handles you use for moving shower glass walls, a few days later the tank was finally hoisted up onto the base.

As there is a dropped ceiling in the basement my plan was to hang the lights directly above the tank from the ceiling, rather than using a light stand. A few tiles were removed to investigate the structure above, and with some 2x4 extra bracing for the anchors, as none of the joists were in quite the right spot, two Chihiros Vivid 3 lights were installed directly above the tank. At this point I discovered that none of the electrical circuits in the basement were GFCI protected, so obviously that was immediately remedied. Too much gear and too much water to mess around with unprotected circuits.




With the ceiling open, I decided to run the lighting cables over the top of the wall to the left of the tank, and down into the mechanicals room there. The advantage being that the power cords are hidden from view after going through the ceiling tiles, and it's two less large power sources cluttering up the cabinet under the tank. Had to add an outlet in that closet, but I like how it turned out.

With the tank in position and leveled, and the lights finally installed, the next big issue is water. The well water here is liquid limestone. That was the initial mistake I made with the shrimp tank. Sure, neocaridina like hard water, but not THAT hard, and I quickly had to shift to remineralized distilled. I knew before even getting serious about planning this tank that the only reasonable option, for any future tanks here, is RO. The well water might be fine for Malawi Cichlids, but that's not my plan for this tank, but it will be great to have flexibility going forward. It's a big glass box, at just over 140 gallons, and it won't be the only one here (I hope), so the water part I want to get right from the start, and to make it easy to do water changes. The basement is a walkout, so draining water during water changes will be easy, and I would like to make filling it just as easy. I sourced two 70 gallon storage tanks for the RO water from Northern Tool, and ordered a Vectra S2 pump which will help with transfering water between tanks, as well as pumping it out through a hose to the aquarium(s) during water changes. Forgot to take a pic when I was done, but the pvc is all glued up now. I will finish installing the RO unit this weekend.



So, aquarium set up, lights in, and RO system with storage in progress. Next up? The exciting part. Hardscape! I have been hoarding Manzanita, Hakkai stone, and substrate for several months, so I'm excited to move on to the next step! Tank so far pictured below (although I have already removed the privacy film on the back in favor of adding the ARC RGB light screen in part due to the stair rail being visible and distracting. First screen was damaged in transit, so waiting on a replacement).

I’m excited to see how this grows and changes. It’s my first scape and setup that’s high tech. I’m hoping to get rid of the ugly filter intake and outage but haven’t found good info on what lily pipes to get and tubing and how to install them on my fluval 107 canister filter so that is next on my list. Stocking right now is 12 green neon tetras, 10 emerald dwarf rasboras and 6 amano shrimp. I’m currently not fertilizing because I’m struggling with high nitrates.