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Hi all! Excited to post my first thread. Hopefully this hasn't been answered elsewhere....

I have an Aquatic Life RO Buddie (50 GPD) that has served me well for my ADA 60P. I generally generate 5 gallons a week for a 40%-ish water change, and the TDS stays pretty steady at 0 for about 1-2 months. However, I do seem to be burning through my DI resin pretty quickly. I don't think it's much of a mystery why: the water feeding into the membrane comes from a water softener that uses sodium pellets. I was ready to suck it up and buy another cartridge when I came across someone who was buying bulk resin and refilling their DI resin cartridge for a fraction of the cost.

Here is my cartridge: https://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-Color-Changing-Cartridge/dp/B00DSP57BQ?ie=UTF8
And here is the proposed resin: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X92KOC?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Is there something I'm missing here? I'm a newbie when it comes to RO/DI systems, and the only thing that came to mind is that refilling might cause issues maintaining pressure through the column. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has done this, tried this, or knows this already to be a bad idea. Thanks in advance!

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.

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

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

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).

This thread is for the general discussion of the classified ad Easy-beginner Plants, 30+ Mixed Plants - $37 Shipped. Please add to the discussion here.

Ive reorganized the order of my tanks so I can better keep track of them ie. Tank 2 moss tank is now tank 3. This helps in any confusion I had when tracking tanks they are in a sort of order now. Rather than taking time editing my old journal id rather create a new thread. Pics will be current (for the most part) as they are posted. I am not aquascaping. I am just farming.

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I have a 4 yr old low tech 20g tank. Despite being an experienced aquarist of decades it was my first successful planted tank.

It has inert 2mm gravel (with small amounts of aquasoil underneath, injected in boluses, instead of root tabs) and amazingly most plants have done really well for most of its life. It has also housed a variety of shrimp and small fish, who have also generally thrived. It has been a lovely planted mixed display tank.
Here's a pic of it in its past glory


Sadly over the last 6-12 months some of the plants (definatley not all) have got harder and harder to keep going nicely and many of the shrimp have also been getting cloudy and passing away. GH/KH have remained rock solid stable. In fact nothing measureable has really deviated.
A real measure for me has been some Myriophyllum mattogrossense, which has lived in this tank for its entire life, growing superbly like a weed providing a lovely background stem jungle. However, recently even it is struggling, with dull colour, weak, thin stems and slow growth. I also used to have lovely Crypt wendtii, but the last couple now are simply holding on for dear life it seems. Growth is VERY slow.

Here's are recent pics


Its not a disaster. The java fern and buces are doing well but the crypts and Myriophyllum are hanging on (the pics don't really show the colour differences compared to earlier generations). However, the clearest indication for the Myriophyllum for me are the delicate, thin stems, which are definately a new thing.

The only things that have actually changed over the last year or so have been firstly (and possibly obviously) that the tank has aged another year, and secondly that I have converted to a new fertilizing schedule. Literally nothing else has changed.

My thoughts are ..................

1/ Maybe the build up of mulm and detritus in the substrate has become so much that it is increasing toxic dissolved organic compound levels, increasing the growth of nasty suspended bacteria, with negetive results on delicate shrimp (these are mainly softwater Caridina that are suffering. The Neos seem to battle on regardless). Maybe this same detritus build up is also affecting root growth and function in the rooted plants. Note - it certainly seems that my rhizome plants are still growing really well. Does this substrate and tank just need a jolly good clean out ? if I take all the substrate out and rinse it with clean dechlorinated water I should hopefully not completely wipe out the substrate microflora.
THis pic doesn't show the build up in the deeper substrate well but it does show that the substrate surface is really nice and clean. No detritus at all.


2/ Maybe this tank just doesn't get on well with the new fert schedule. This would be very surprising to me, as I use exactly the same chemicals and ratios (scaled up) for my large CO2-injected tank (again similar inert substrate with aquasoil injection) and the plant growth for virtually all in that tank is outstanding.

In this low tech tank I use weekly doses of 1.1g KNO3, 1.1g K2SO4 and 0.22g KHPO4. My micros are provided by a weekly dose of 0.21g of Solufeed Sodium-free TEC, which claims this composition ....

Element	Soluble in water (%)	Chelated by EDTA (% min)
Boron	(as polyborate)	0.92	N/a
Copper	(as CuNH4EDTA)	0.23	0.23
Iron	(as FeKEDTA)	8.4	8.4
Manganese	(as Mn2KEDTA)	2.00	2.00
Molybdemum	(as molybdate)	0.15	N/a
Zinc	(as Zn2KEDTA)	1.16	1.16

I change around 30% of the water weekly. Water is RO, remineralized to 6 dGH, zero dKH. COnsumer nitrate test kit tested levels in the tank seem fairly stable around 10-15 ppm.
I see no obvious signs of copper toxicity in the shrimp (any variety of movement disorder or spasms).

It will be a royal PITA to wash out the substrate and I don't want to do it unless its necessary.

If anyone had some words of wisdom I would be very grateful. I would love this tank to start thriving again

I recently set up my first big (to me) tank. I've been into this hobby for a couple of years but limited to a 20 gallon and a couple 10 gallon tanks in my office. I decided it was time to splurge and set up a nice 75 gallon system that can become a more appropriately-scaled Dutch tank. Here it is shortly after planting:



I like to save money where possible, so I ended up building my own tank stand as well as a Yugang reactor. I wanted to document these things to show everyone that it is quite attainable with a set of tools and a weekend of work.

So, here is the first post. Tank Stand Build:

When researching simple lumber stands, I found this great video:



I used it as a guideline to build a simple dimensional lumber stand. My stand is 49" long, 19" wide, and 28" tall. This gives approximately 1/2" of clearance around the 75 gallon aquarium footprint and keeps the tank low enough that I can reach over the rim and touch the bottom substrate without straining. As shown in the photo, I used 2x6 lumber for the upper frame so that I could avoid using a centerspan support. This makes it so much easier to access the space under the tank. I used two 8ft 2x6 and six 8ft 2x4 studs. Total cost at home depot was under $50.



Once the structural frame was complete, I started thinking about how to dress it up as a piece of furniture that I didnt hate to have in my home. I ended up deciding to do a very simple trim with 1x3 boards on the bottom and 1x4 on the top. The top trim is offset upwards from the frame such that it covers the plastic trim on the tank when it is on the stand. I also used a piece of scrap plywood from my garage to act as a back panel and shear support to prevent racking of the frame. The 1x3 and 1x4 boards came out to $15




To finish it off, I bought a sheet of 1/8" "utility board" plywood for another $15. I cut it to wrap around the sides and front.



Now how to access the bottom? I thought about this a lot and ultimately decided on the cheapest/simplest/most lame approach. I bought some magnets from Harbor Freight for $5. I lucked out and these magnets were nearly the same size as the heads on the screws I used, so I simply put them on 4 corner screws and then added matching magnets on the front plywood panel at the 4 corners. It actually works really well and makes it simple to take the front panel off for filter access. It saved me hours of work and the cost of building actual cabinet doors, and I like how clean the final product ends up looking.



Lastly, I stained using dark walnut stain. Pine needs conditioner, so I did that first and then did one coat of stain. I then did about 4 coats of spray on oil-based polyurethane to seal it up.



The last thing I did was add a sheet of styrofoam insulation on top of the frame to help even out any bumps in the lumber. I made it as flat as possible, but dimensional lumber is not meant for this kind of thing and has imperfections. The styrofoam is peace of mind for me to make sure the tank rim gets fully supported all the way around.



I'm really happy with how it turned out. Total cost for me was around $110, but I had some scrap plywood at home for the back panel and the bottom shelf where my filters sit. If you need to buy a sheet, figure another $40 bucks or so. Total time investment was maybe like 8 hours over the weekend and then the hours of waiting between coats of stain and poly. Tools used were a miter saw, circular saw, drill, driver, nailer, and sander.

The theme for this month's contest is: Best Stem Plant

Please take a picture of one of your stem plants. Be as artistic and creative as you like.

The rules:

• Submissions are allowed between May 9 and May 22.
• Voting will start on May 22 at 12:01 am Eastern time.
• Voting will end on May 31 at 11:30 pm Eastern time.

The prize:

A $50 store credit from BurrAqua thanks to @Burr740 and @JayP for contributing his win into this month!


Please post your pictures in this thread starting now. Good luck!