Journal 120 Dutch Ft. Yugang Reactor (Horizontal CO2 Reactor)

[FrankZ]

@Burr740 Hey Joe, could you help me understand what Mr. Lauren’s meant here? Do I crop it out from the photo or use plants to hide the front substrate?
View attachment 3462
Or anyone who would know.

Thank you.

I think he was referring to sloping your substrate so it’s even with the bottom rim of the tank. Traditional Dutch style (like the ones in Holland where the judges came to your house) would have the tank framed like a picture. I’ve read of using easily removable wood frames just for picture time to hide the substrate on the bottom and the sides. Vin’s article on Dutch style aquascapes has a good amount of information on the subtle nuances that are easily missed. I’ll see if I can find the link, I know it’s on the Barr report forum.

 

[Unexpected]

I think he was referring to slipping your substrate so it’s even with the bottom rim of the tank. Tradition Dutch style (like the ones in Holland where the judges came to your house) would have the tank framed like a picture. I’ve read of using easily removable wood frames just for picture time to hide the substrate on the bottoms and the sides. Vin’s article on Dutch style aquascapes has a good amount of information on the stubble nuances that are easily missed. I’ll see if I can find the link, I know it’s on the Barr report forum.

Thank you, I know the article and I’ll go through it again.

 

[FrankZ]

Thank you, I know the article and I’ll go through it again.

I meant sloping not slipping LOL

 

[Yugang]

Do I crop it out from the photo or use plants to hide the front substrate?

Seeing you warming up already for next year's top spot? Love that

 

[Unexpected]

Seeing you warming up already for next year's top spot? Love that

For sure, I’m going to win it eventually.

 

[Unexpected]

Alright, living high off a good place in the AGA is over and it's back to business. I will be working on next year going forward. I never want to feel rushed again. It was extremely stressful for my wife and myself and this is suppose to be fun right?

I continue to have GDA problems but not nearly as bad as a month ago and have lost a few more fish recently. I believe the Camallanus did more damage than I understood. I believe they are wiped out now but time will tell. Several groups of fish are about 4 years old and maybe their age has played a part in recovery, hence some unexpected losses.

I lowered nutrients down to 20/6/30 and Micros down to between .35 to .4 Fe as proxy. All but one of my plants are growing well and my focus for the coming months will be plant mass more so than arrangement. I moved a bunch of older plants from a non CO2 tank that look terrible, but should be looking better in the coming weeks. My Ludwigia Glandulosa is extremely unhappy and I don't know why. I've never had a problem with it in my other tanks but it's clearly unhappy in this tank.




The tank looks pretty bad in these pictures, but my phone camera does exaggerate a bit. Trust me, it looks so much better than a few weeks ago.

I'm trying Hygrophila Serpyllum as a moss wall, but it was also in the non CO2 tank and looks terrible. Luckily, it's an easy grower and should explode shortly.

Water change tomorrow and a small trim to clean things up.

 

[gjcarew]

Is that rotala "SG blood red"? Love the color on it. Also, what is that interesting plant between it and the limnophila aromatic?

 

[Unexpected]

Is that rotala "SG blood red"? Love the color on it. Also, what is that interesting plant between it and the limnophila aromatic?

I’ve had that Rotala a while and I believe it is Blood Red.

Ah yes, this one is quickly becoming my favorite. She’s recently trimmed and is beautiful after perking back up, Cardamine Lyrata.

 

[Unexpected]

Got her cleaned up a bit. Didn’t fuss with the GDA on the substrate though. Just moved a couple of plants and that’s it. The Spatulata is starting to look good. That sucker was basically dead.

 

[Unexpected]

@GreggZ

I’m going to make the move to BDBS sooner than expected. I’m immolating your Macros levels currently. Is there any reason I should reduce them after the swap, for a period of time, or just keep doing what I’m doing once the BDBS is in?

 

[GreggZ]

@GreggZ

I’m going to make the move to BDBS sooner than expected. I’m immolating your Macros levels currently. Is there any reason I should reduce them after the swap, for a period of time, or just keep doing what I’m doing once the BDBS is in?

With inert the only thing in there is what you provide. So I would start dosing fully right away and get those levels where you want you them.

How are you going about doing the swap??

 

[Unexpected]

With inert the only thing in there is what you provide. So I would start dosing fully right away and get those levels where you want you them.

How are you going about doing the swap??

I think I’m going to just keep the tank running while removing then drain, add the substrate and fill. I’ll pull the plants and rap them then replant.

 

[GreggZ]

I think I’m going to just keep the tank running while removing then drain, add the substrate and fill. I’ll pull the plants and rap them then replant.

Yep for someone like you I would go the same way. With someone with less confidence and experience it might be a different story.

When I swapped mine I did it all in one day. Removed all the plants, wrapped them in wet paper towel, and put them in a cooler.

Then removed the old substrate. But be prepared, it does create a mess. Tank was hard to see through at times. Then put in the new substrate and did an immediate large water change. Kept the filters running the whole time except during the water change.

In a few hours the tank cleared up pretty well, and replanted everything.

Tested ammonia for about a week, and it never got above 0.50 or so. Nothing in the scheme of things. Did not break the cycle, and a bunch of large mature Rainbows showed no signs of distress.

I hope that helps1

 

[Burr740]

@Burr740 Hey Joe, could you help me understand what Mr. Lauren’s meant here? Do I crop it out from the photo or use plants to hide the front substrate?
View attachment 3462
Or anyone who would know.

Thank you.

I missed this until just now. Basically what @FrankZ said above. Traditional Dutch tanks have an encasement around them, or some kind of trim. Your substrate sorta jumps out being light colored, in Bart's eye there should be a trim piece going across the bottom to hide that two inch colored line from the substrate

I do it too, mainly for the sides because my sub is always black bdbs or dark aquasoil. What I use is 1.5" trim strips painted black, attached with double sided tape

You can barely tell the bottom of this one has it but it hides the moss panel ends on the sides, which would be very unsightly otherwise

Did it two years ago on the rimless 75P as well. The without picture is mostly cropped but you can see the difference it makes

Thats what he's talking about

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Get one of those powerhead pumps with a sponge attachment and maybe wrap some polyfil or filter floss around it and have it run.

If you have a spare cannister laying around, even better lol.

It'll help with clarity while moving stuff around and there might be less clean up work later with your sump.

 

[Unexpected]

Yep for someone like you I would go the same way. With someone with less confidence and experience it might be a different story.

When I swapped mine I did it all in one day. Removed all the plants, wrapped them in wet paper towel, and put them in a cooler.

Then removed the old substrate. But be prepared, it does create a mess. Tank was hard to see through at times. Then put in the new substrate and did an immediate large water change. Kept the filters running the whole time except during the water change.

In a few hours the tank cleared up pretty well, and replanted everything.

Tested ammonia for about a week, and it never got above 0.50 or so. Nothing in the scheme of things. Did not break the cycle, and a bunch of large mature Rainbows showed no signs of distress.

I hope that helps1

It does indeed. Thank you.

 

[Unexpected]

I missed this until just now. Basically what @FrankZ said above. Traditional Dutch tanks have an encasement around them, or some kind of trim. Your substrate sorta jumps out being light colored, in Bart's eye there should be a trim piece going across the bottom to hide that two inch colored line from the substrate

I do it too, mainly for the sides because my sub is always black bdbs or dark aquasoil. What I use is 1.5" trim strips painted black, attached with double sided tape

You can barely tell the bottom of this one has it but it hides the moss panel ends on the sides, which would be very unsightly otherwise

Did it two years ago on the rimless 75P as well. The without picture is mostly cropped but you can see the difference it makes

Thats what he's talking about

Ah, that’s brilliant. Thank you and will be doing this. I was asking myself just this week how I was going to hide the side moss walls.
Thank you.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

I think I’m going to just keep the tank running while removing then drain, add the substrate and fill. I’ll pull the plants and rap them then replant.

Yep for someone like you I would go the same way. With someone with less confidence and experience it might be a different story.

When I swapped mine I did it all in one day. Removed all the plants, wrapped them in wet paper towel, and put them in a cooler.

Then removed the old substrate. But be prepared, it does create a mess. Tank was hard to see through at times. Then put in the new substrate and did an immediate large water change. Kept the filters running the whole time except during the water change.

In a few hours the tank cleared up pretty well, and replanted everything.

Tested ammonia for about a week, and it never got above 0.50 or so. Nothing in the scheme of things. Did not break the cycle, and a bunch of large mature Rainbows showed no signs of distress.

I hope that helps1

My apologies for butting in here

When I did a deep clean of my soil a little while ago, I turned my filters off during the process. For about a month after the clean, the tank looked very good, water was crystal clear, plant growth was healthy... but now, I am experiencing diatoms. (I'd like to understand a few things if i may) I guess the beneficial bacteria needed to catch up again in the substrate, perhaps causing the diatoms? I had also wondered if leaving the filters off for too long, had maybe had an affect on the BB in the filters, (Gregg confirmed this wasn't an issue) combined with the substrate disturbance, causing my tanks cycle to crash, hence causing the diatoms.

Both you guys have mentioned leaving your filters on during the change of substrate...

Excuse my ignorance here, but what is the main reason for leaving the filters on during this process?

And, is it for this reason I haven't been so successful after a deep clean of my soil do you think?

I'd love to know how to manage my tank better during such a process, and try and avoid such issues, diatoms etc, if possible.

 

[FrankZ]

@Unexpected when I changed my substrate I followed what @Mr.Shenanagins did with his. I took out my plants in individual Tupperware with tank water, netted out the fish and put them in a bucket with a bubbler, and drained the tank of water as low as I could get it, with the filter off. I then used a shop vac to suck out all the old substrate, it took around 15 minutes to get my 75 gallon 95% clean of the old sub. I still had to wipe some out but it was a breeze. If you have a spare shop vac dedicated for nastiness I would recommend it. It made a painful job super easy. The Shop vac was pretty heavy after and since you tank has more substrate than mine you might have to dump it a few times.

 

[Unexpected]

My apologies for butting in here

When I did a deep clean of my soil a little while ago, I turned my filters off during the process. For about a month after the clean, the tank looked very good, water was crystal clear, plant growth was healthy... but now, I am experiencing diatoms. (I'd like to understand a few things if i may) I guess the beneficial bacteria needed to catch up again in the substrate, perhaps causing the diatoms? I had also wondered if leaving the filters off for too long, had maybe had an affect on the BB in the filters, (Gregg confirmed this wasn't an issue) combined with the substrate disturbance, causing my tanks cycle to crash, hence causing the diatoms.

Both you guys have mentioned leaving your filters on during the change of substrate...

Excuse my ignorance here, but what is the main reason for leaving the filters on during this process?

And, is it for this reason I haven't been so successful after a deep clean of my soil do you think?

I'd love to know how to manage my tank better during such a process, and try and avoid such issues, diatoms etc, if possible.

Purely to keep the water a bit clearer as I remove the substrate. It’s going to get cloudy.