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Hey all,

I’m setting up a new tank in Tasmania, Australia. I’ve had planted tanks many years ago in Sydney. To say the selection of equipment and plants here is limited, would be generous. While I can get lighting and filtration online, substrate is proving difficult. I’m going for a 90P (if I can get a low iron glass one here) so I need enough substrate to do the job. My options would be inert sand/gravel with root tabs or try an aqua soil of some variety. The only thing I can find locally to avoid huge shipping costs is Aqua Earth - which is stocked by a local fish supplier at about $60 AUD/6L.


Has anyone used this product before or have any reviews?

This tank is planned to have a few stem plants, various crypts, tiger lotus and hopefully a small carpet area of Monte Carlo or Marsilea and some pygmy chain swords (echinodorus).

Cheers
Chimera

Inspired by the thread on CO2 controllers, and @Art experiment with modified pH probe / drop checker, I came up with what is to the best of my knowledge a new approach for our hobby.

I am not strong on the chemistry of CO2 in water, so it would be great if others chime in and comment if this approach makes sense.

Use the principle of Henry's law and fill the space under a closed aquarium lid with the correct concentration of CO2, using an affordable 65 USD sensor or similar with solenoid to release CO2 above the water. Control CO2 partial pressure so that the tank water will reach equilibrium with this gas pocket at about 30 ppm in the water. This would allow for very stable CO2 in the tank, and a big saver in CO2 as we don't rely on the outgassing via surface agitation to achieve stability. Besides that, it will be only weakly dependent on water chemistry (this may need to be tested and/or confirmed/quantified by chemists, as the chemistry and temperature do have some influence on CO2 solubility?).





Notes:

• My first thoughts/estimations are that one can reach 30 ppm in the tank water very fast, and have probably more than 90% savings on CO2 consumption. As we now measure CO2 in the gas pocket, independent of water chemistry, it would (hopefully) also be the first time that we can forget water chemistry as a major factor, complications with pH probes and using pH as a proxy, and indeed know the real water CO2 ppm more accurately and with less risks of misinterpretations of measurements.
• We don't need a precision expensive CO2 regulator anymore, no diffuser or reactor, no pH probe or drop checker. Just a sensor with electronics that switches a solenoid on and off. It would probably be good to have a simple air pump added, so that O2 and other gasses can exchange, but this would give very low CO2 losses.

From a physics and chemical perspective the approach is very similar (in reverse) to what professional dissolved CO2 probes do (see attached: measure CO2 concentration in a gas pocket that is in equilibrium with water), so that gives me some confidence that the above will work. However I am not confident that my understanding of chemistry of CO2 in water is good enough, and I may miss important aspects. Hope others chime in, and help to quantify if the chemistry is a minor or perhaps a major complication.

Attached file: Datasheet explaining the principle and use of a dedicated dissolved CO2 meter (for most in the hobby too expensive, but similar scientific principles applied as in above ideas).

I'm back with another new setup! Well, sort of new. I ran out of space in my 20g long farm tank, to the point that I had bucephalandra suction cupped to the tank walls. Not only that, but the buce wasn't as happy as it should have been with inert sand, as I felt it isn't fast enough in regards to nutrient absorption that it was able to take what it needed just from the water column.

The buce that I keep are all rare collectors species as well, which really benefit from a more acidic environment to reach their full color potential. Taking those things into account, I knew my collection would benefit greatly by swapping over to a tank with aquasoil and RO water.

Here's the details of the setup:
Landen 90p (44 gallon)
36"×18"x18"
Netlea AT5
Netlea soil capped with Samurai Soil
Inline co2 diffuser
Oase Biomaster 350

Current water parameters:
76F
pH of 6.5, gH of 7, kH<1

The lights are currently running 8 hours, though I wish I could afford a PAR meter rental right now. For what it's worth, my Netlea app says my custom setting is at 70 watts. I'm aiming to run this tank at about 100 watts eventually, but since the buce is going to need some time to settle, slow and steady wins the race on this one. I did dark start the Netlea soil for about 2 weeks, using cycled filter media. When I break down the old farm tank, I'll be taking my Fluval canister off and adding it to this new tank and running 2 filters, to keep flow on the moderate end. I also made the decision to run my co2 24/7, to keep things as stable and consistent as possible for the buce. The only inhabitants I'll be keeping in this tank will be some ramshorn snails and my CRS colony.

Currently I have a little over 40 rare to incredibly rare species in the tank, though I do have more on the way as you can see, I'm already running low on floor space.



I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ID stakes I made, truthfully I'm able to ID them by leaf shape and size, but I thought it may make things look more organized. That being said, they're itching my brain in a bad way, so I may end up removing them.

Here's some photos of species that managed to maintain some good color even in a more alkaline setup, so it can only get better from here! I've spent countless hours translating articles and posts in Chinese to figure out what kind of parameters the Chinese collectors use to get their crazy colors and leaf forms, so this will be a very interesting experiment for me!

I came into some Hygrophila polysperma "white" by Tropica recently. Grew it out and it seems to be able to be shaped into good midground bushes so I decided to create a layout to showcase it. Contemplated whether to use it as the only white plant in the tank, but decided to use some Anubias white petite as well so that the white polysperma doesn't stand out awkwardly.

Era of AI slop is truly upon us. Firstly, no one holds the Oxyguard analyzer's probe as it takes 15-20mins to get a reading.
Size of the box is wrong and no shadows below the box, caps missing and a strap that goes nowhere. Aquarium looks fake as well. Real pic below for comparison.

I don't know where I saw it, but I read somewhere that the US imports its CO2. So people were reporting not being able to get it because it is stuck in the Straight of Hormuz. Who knew? Seems weird to me. Anyway, yeah, it's open now, but it might take awhile to get back to normal supply levels. You might want to check with your vendor if you're getting low.

Tried to open the app to change a setting. Goes to a login screen. Checked Chihiros support, and it seems to be an issue with the latest version of the app. The issue appears to be widespread.

Discussion on the Chihiros site.

My work tank was brought home for the summer. It is neat seeing these 2 tanks side by side. They are identical tanks but have very different looks.

Sadly, I can’t keep them both. I just have to decide which one to sell.

After a bit of hiatus from the hobby, I'm jumping back in with a high-tech UNS 60S as a pond type scape. Normally one would have a nice set of images next with the initial setup. Currently mine is an empty tank and shelves of parts and equipment. I'm determined to take it slow, research each bit and have everything on hand before adding water.

I've found the in the past ~20 years there has been quite a lot of change in the hobby. So many more products available, my last high-tech tanks was T5's and Metal Halides. My have things changed.

My Plan

Tank /Stand​

UNS 60S

Lighting

Chihiros WRGB II Pro 60
Chihiros WRGB II Pro 60 Light Shade /w Mirror
Chihiros WRBG II Pro LED Light Hanging Kit
Week Aqua Arm Stand /Black (L Stand)

Filtration​

Oase BioMaster 2 Thermo 250
Oase Shutoff Valve 16/22 mm - x 2
FZone 3M Grey Tubing 16/22 mm
Stainless Steel 16/22 to 12/16 reducer
FZone 3M Grey Tubing 12/16 mm
FZone Mini Lily Pipes w/ Skimmer

I found that to use Lily pipes that fit this tank size, I'll need to use something small, hence the reduction in tubing size.

CO2​

5 LB CO2 Tank
CO2 Art Dual Stage Regulator /w Bubble Counter and Solenoid
FZone CO2 Proof Line
CO2 Check Valve
NilocG CO2 Drop Checker /w Solution
Timer
Qanvee M2 Inline CO2 Diffuser

Lucked out with CO2, found someone on Facebook Marketplace selling 2 complete CO2 systems. With full tanks, for less than the price of a new CO2 Art Regulator. Snapped them both up.

Hardscape​

Rock - Black Lava Rock
Wood - Dragon Wood

Substrate

APT S - Base layer
UNS ControBase 2L
APT Jazz Caps
UNS ControSoil Black Fine 10L
UNS Mojave Extra Fine 8L- Open areas
UNS Sequoia 3L - Accent Rocks

Plants​

Rear Middle
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Ludwigia palustris var Super Red

Under Wood and Rock
Cryptocoryne parva var Mini
Bucephalandra (assorted varieties)

On Rock at Water Line
Micranthemum callitrichoides var Cuba

Left and Right Sides in Sand
Eleocharis acicularis var Mini
Hydrocotyle verticillata

Floaters
Red Root Floater

Livestock​

Wish List: at this time, nothing is set in stone
Shrimp
Pygmy Cory
Otocinclus
Exotic Pleco
Red Neon Blue Eye Rainbowfish
Badis? Once plants grow in
Goby
Snails

That's the plan.

Started collecting bits in April, then found out I'd have to be in Dallas for most of May for some family matters. While in Dallas, Aquashella was in town along with an aquascaping demo of an LFS, Fish Gallery, by MJ Aquascaping of YouTube fame. Being my plan is based on the Guppy tank MJ created, I could not miss this opportunity. Learned a lot and had the opportunity to ask MJ a lot of questions.

My intention is to Dark Start, then plant.

I'm held up by the need of one part. The Week Aqua Arm Stand /Black (L Stand) base is too wide for this tank. In need of a 3 mm spacer. My neighbor, a metal shop, made me one out of ABS plastic. It works perfectly, only they made only one. I need two. My fault for not being clearer. I'll hit them up once they are back in the shop after the weekend.

More to come...

This is made for pond Lily's and pond plants. Looked at the label and it seems pretty ideal.


Anyone tried it? It's fairly cheap for our use. I don't think I saw too big a difference when I used it but I also only added a few dozen pellets to a 20 gallon.