Journal 1000 Gallon High Tech Planted Tank

[RickyV]

Do you mind explaining your culture setup?

Of course! The tubs have clean water flowing to them from the main tank, and overflow right back into the display. So water quality and water changes are not something I worry about in these cultures. These tubs can also be easy to setup on smaller tanks, I have one here on top of a 20G tank. Those HOB breeding boxes would also work, but this is much cheaper to make.
I used a thin layer of sand because it's what I had at the time. But I've learned they really love the filter sponge so I don't think it matters to much. The sponges can contain a crazy number of worms in them. I cut up the sponges to increase the surface area to volume ratio since they like sticking their tails out. Unfortunately though I don't believe they do do much self splitting this way. But it keeps them happy and encourages them to stay in the culture and not leave into the display (don't want them leaving to fast). I may try another tub soon with sand only, it would be nice to have a better idea of the population if I can see them all. They can hide so well in the sponge sometimes the culture looks empty.

I feed algae wafers almost every day, they go through them fast. I place them next to the sponges and they'll come out and clump all around the wafer. When they're all clumped out I can easily collect with a turkey baster. I collect as many as I can and put them in a cup of a water where I cut them up quite a bit with my aquascaping scissors. I place the cut up worms back into the culture. By the next day most have retreated into the sponges, some do not survive this but majority do and grow up to be full size worms. I do this once a week.

That's pretty much it, they're honestly the easiest live food I've cultured. If connected to a bigger tank all you gotta do is feed them, and cut them up once a week or as needed(not sure on best frequency but this has been working).

I also managed to grow some greenwater for my daphnia culture, so that will also be fun. All I did was leave a jar of tank water, earthworm castings, and snails under the tank lights and it soon turned green. Just need to find a better space to really get some serious green water/daphnia cultures going. Has anyone tried connecting the greenwater to the daphnia culture? So that greenwater very slowly drips in the daphnia container and overflows back to the greenwater culture like a sump? I wonder if setup right you could have an automatic daphnia culture. I want to soon try a scud culture, and maybe try culturing all those copepods I keep finding in the moss. Ive been bitten by the live food culturing bug, this is almost funner than the acutal tank lol.

 

[Count Krunk]

Thank you @RickyV ! Genius idea with the worms. Reminds me of the breeder box that Dean of aquarium coop invented.

 

[Count Krunk]

As far as possible from his wife

So anyway that's why we need to grow worms wifey.

 

[anewbie]

I have two questions; what sort of pump do you use to get the water to flow into the blackworm culture and how do you deal with an aquarium that is 4 feet deep (do you climb into it?). I have two aquariums of similar size but limited to 2 feet deep since my arms aren't able to reach 4 feet down

 

[RickyV]

I have two questions; what sort of pump do you use to get the water to flow into the blackworm culture and how do you deal with an aquarium that is 4 feet deep (do you climb into it?). I have two aquariums of similar size but limited to 2 feet deep since my arms aren't able to reach 4 feet down

I use these tongs that I attach to scissors for trimming plants in the deepest parts. But the major trimming happens in the top 2 ft where I have my stems. Bottom two feet has mostly slow growing anubias/buce. For algae wiping I use a big magfloat. The thick bracing on the edges allow me to really lean into the tank if I need to get closer without the tongs.


For the blackworm culture and all the other small tanks, I use these connected to the 1/2 in tubing that comes from a bypass on the primary pump.

 

[RickyV]

Short update on this tank... Nothing major has happened I've mostly just been working on refining my aquascaping skills. Also have a pump that now blows lots of air in my reactor, so I only get 0.7 pH drop. But this hasn't caused any problems. On the bright side I've noticed water clarity has significantly improved with the pump keeping the water fully saturated with oxygen.

Unfortunately this ludwigia super red bush just keeps uprooting itself no matter how careful I am with it.

This was a week before it uprooted itself.
I will see if I can somehow fix this without having to restart the bush again and wait a long time only for it to uproot itself.

I've also been working on the camera view scape. Live video stream

 

[Phish Tank]

Love the live stream! Especially the shrimp and rasboras zooming by up close.

 

[gjcarew]

I'm watching you do maintenance as we speak haha

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I'm watching you do maintenance as we speak haha

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

This is one of the best live streams I’ve ever seen, so clear and no lag.

Your super red is beautiful, idk I can’t get it to grow without stunting. I’m not sure what about my tank it doesn’t like, my Ludwigia diamond does great.

 

[gjcarew]

This is one of the best live streams I’ve ever seen, so clear and no lag.

Your super red is beautiful, idk I can’t get it to grow without stunting. I’m not sure what about my tank it doesn’t like, my Ludwigia diamond does great.

There are two different species known as 'super red', ludwigia natans and ludwigia palustris. I find ludwigia natans more temperamental than palustris.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

There are two different species known as 'super red', ludwigia natans and ludwigia palustris. I find ludwigia natans more temperamental than palustris.

Glad you pointed that out. Natans I believe is what I’ve failed with, it may prefer softer water or have an issue with higher macros/micros idk.

 

[BenB]

How have I missed your build? I looked a the first bit and then skipped to the end. I love how is has gone more earth tone with Anubius and Buces. I hope it continues to do well.

 

[RickyV]

Fixed the uprooting bush by adding a lot of plant weights throughout the bush. Though I weighed it down more than I would have liked. But hopefully the weights keep it from getting too buoyant. I will add more as the bush grows up.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

How has the reception been with this tank? Are the staff happy with it? Just curious if it has sparked a stronger interest in having more planted displays and if people continue to stop and inspect it

 

[RickyV]

How has the reception been with this tank? Are the staff happy with it? Just curious if it has sparked a stronger interest in having more planted displays and if people continue to stop and inspect it

I think it's been received well. Whenever we have vistitng institutions/organizations I'm often told the tank was really enjoyed by them. My boss tells them "don't expect all the other exhibits to look like this" . Guests really like getting their pictures taken with the tank. Some don't care too much though, "oh it's just baby fish" and walk away lol. But the tank is off to the side in a resting area so I think most guests miss it.

I had someone local reach out to me asking for help with setting up a planted tank. He was telling me how all the fish stores told him they don't do planted tanks. I think most businesses/aquariums are intimidated by planted tanks. But I think it's also an issue of it being a very niche skillset in the states, unlike in Asia/Europe.

 

[anewbie]

On the right front middle what is the plant with the red leaves. It almost looks like an echinodorus of some sort.

 

[RickyV]

On the right front middle what is the plant with the red leaves. It almost looks like an echinodorus of some sort.

Not 100% sure but I think its a red melon sword.