Journal Experiment Tank || 90x50x36cm, 39gal, Horizontal Reactor High-energy Aquascape Journal

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Main idea/inspiration:​

Since my main 150p aquarium is in our front room and is the first thing we and our guests see, I can't afford to experiment much with it. I also spent like $600 on aquasoil to fill it, so I thought I'd like to try something different.

This tank will be 100% BDBS substrate, no fertilized substrate. No root tabs (yet), no aquasoil. Only water column fertilization, to challenge myself to see whether I can grow plants well without aquasoil or not! Inspired by the @Burr740 BDBS journals and many other amazing inert-substrate aquariums out there. This isn't a dutch style, only a general "garden" style tank.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Aquarium: Landen 90S, 39-gallon "shallow" tank (available on Amazon). 90cm long by 50cm deep by 36cm tall. I don't plan on using this as a shallow tank -- instead, I plan on using this like an extra deep (depth wise) tank, much like the diorama aquascapers do!

Stand: ADA/UNS style, built and designed by me! Waterproof "tub" base for spills, tons of smooth access holes for pipes/wires/tubing, soft close doors, etc.

Computer/Outlet/Timer Controller, + Auto Top Off and Level Sensors:
GHL Profilux 4 with an IKEA Samla 6 gallon tub for an ATO reservoir (manually refilled each week with RO water upon water change),
Two GHL Float Sensors in parallel on a DIY 3d printed bracket for dual-water level monitoring. Some small 4w pump for pumping the auto top-off water to the surface, with custom 3d printed tube holder.

Light: Skylight Hyperspot FL, installed into ceiling.

Filtration (all 16/22mm):

1. Stainless Steel Lily Pipes (with skimmer)
2. Netlea Prefilter (Small/G1)
3. DIY Horizontal CO2 reactor (another Netlea Prefilter, on its side, with a small RO tubing bulkhead for CO2 injection)
4. Oase Optimax 560 inline pump

CO2 injection:

1. 5lb CO2 tank
2. Custom @Bettatail regulator with very precise needle valve
3. Brooks Sho-Rate Flow Meter 1350EJ2CCFP1A, 8.94-89.4 sccm, set to between 10 and 15 sccm
4. Three check valves, into a 1/4" bulkhead (installed with a silicone gasket I had lying around for airtight) drilled into the lid
5. Netlea Prefilter Small/G1, with a hole drilled for the 1/4" bulkhead

Substrate: 1.5 bags of Black Diamond Blasting Sand (BDBS ). Completely inert, wash thoroughly!

Fertilization: Chihiros 4-channel Auto Doser, dosing KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4, and CSM+B all separately. All tubes dosed into aquarium with a custom 3d printed 4-tube holder.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Building the stand:​

Here's this 90S, 39-gallon tank next to the 150P, 140-gallon tank. I wanted the stand to be much taller so it's more comfortable to look at while standing, but still lower than the armpit-level height of the 150p (which I have to get on my tiptoes or a small stool to maintain!):

Planting:​

Ok, BDBS is pretty awesome. MUCH easier to plant in than aquasoil (way way cheaper too!), doesn't have any insane ammonia spike/release upon first use, and looks pretty good.


Foreground (left to right)

• Staurogyne repens
• Monte Carlo
• Crypt parva

Midground:

• Penthorum sedioides
• Crypt wendtii 'Brown'
• Blyxa japonica
• AR Mini
• Eriocaulon vietnam

Background:

• Rotala Blood Red
• Pogostemon deccanensis
• Rotala bonsai

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

10 day update:​

What happens when you set up a new tank? You have to go out of town, of course! Every damn time.

Diatom explosion occurred:


I'm not worried because it's just diatoms (they completely disintegrate when squished between fingers). They happen in every one of my tanks at the beginning, but this is a particularly bad case. Maybe because I didn't keep up with a few initial water changes (due to travel) or because there are lots of silicates in BDBS? Maybe @Burr740 could chime in with his experience with diatoms and BDBS.

I don't have a cleanup crew in there. Usually a few amano shrimp, cherry shrimp, otocinclus, and a few snails will decimate any diatom algae within a few days, but this one likes to keep coming back even after manual removal.

Same tank, just an hour later:




Mounted the auto doser to the top of the left door for easy access and viewing. Taking even small annoyances out of the way makes this hobby so so much more enjoyable for me.



I designed and 3D printed holders and brackets for all my testing equipment! Salifert Freshwater NO3, PO4, and K test kits, as well as my trusty Hanna CO2 test kit and a holder for my 10mL, 5mL, and 2mL syringes with stainless steel luer lock needles.


Designed and printed a bracket for the Brooks Flowmeter. This thing is SOLID, thanks to @Bettatail for the recommendation. Each line is ~5 sccm. The valve on this is good, but the needle valve on the regulator is better so I just use that to adjust my CO2. This flowmeter is much nicer and less "bouncy" than my Dwyer 151-RMA flowmeter I use on my large 150p tank.

More updates to come later!

 

[Jeff Miotke]

So awesome. It is really cool to see your selections in gear. I still can't figure out how you are having half the CO2 reactor full of gas. I fire up my system based on yours tomorrow. Thanks for all your help!

 

[Count Krunk]

Awesome build. I used bdbs, partially rinsed, on my wife's 10g shrimp tank. I say partially rinsed because nothing was coming off it so i said screw it haha. Didnt experience any diatoms.

In that tank its a ~1.75" cap over some compost. Has worked out very well.

Very easy to plant in, agreed.

Here's the tank. Following this as id like to use 100% bdbs on my future planted tanks.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Awesome build. I used bdbs, partially rinsed, on my wife's 10g shrimp tank. I say partially rinsed because nothing was coming off it so i said screw it haha. Didnt experience any diatoms.

In that tank its a ~1.75" cap over some compost. Has worked out very well.

Very easy to plant in, agreed.

Here's the tank. Following this as id like to use 100% bdbs on my future planted tanks.

View attachment 9011

Love this, thanks for sharing. At $13/bag it's so much cheaper than aquasoil. Very hopeful I can get growth like yours!

 

[Count Krunk]

Thank you! I think you'll get great growth.

 

[Art]

Absolutely beautiful! @Naturescapes_Rocco, are you an engineer? All of your setups have been amazingly clean and organized. Really awesome!

Mounted the auto doser to the top of the left door for easy access and viewing.

I have the ugly Apex DOS as it was available way before the Chihiros products. It's been tested for years and does a good job.

How do you like the Chihiros doser? May I ask what you have in each of the 4 containers?

You planning on getting their new Hub?

Taking even small annoyances out of the way makes this hobby so so much more enjoyable for me.

Me too! I once wrote a ScapeFu post about this - Don't beat your aquascape with the ugly stick! Wow, almost 14 years ago!

I designed and 3D printed holders and brackets for all my testing equipment! Salifert Freshwater NO3, PO4, and K test kits, as well as my trusty Hanna CO2 test kit and a holder for my 10mL, 5mL, and 2mL syringes with stainless steel luer lock needles.

You need to get into business for this. You have readymade customers here! What's the saying? "Shut up and take my money!"

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Absolutely beautiful! @Naturescapes_Rocco, are you an engineer? All of your setups have been amazingly clean and organized. Really awesome!

Thanks, Art! Not an engineer but I did study biochemistry and love a good clean setup. If it wasn't for your awesome forum I'd never post them anywhere.

How do you like the Chihiros doser? May I ask what you have in each of the 4 containers?

So far so good! I've been using two different dosers every day for about 1.5 years now. No failures, they stay calibrated, the app is very easy to use, etc.

I have macros in 3 and micros in the last one.
Each bottle gets 450mL warm RO water with 0.2g Potassium Sorbate and 0.4g Ascorbic Acid.
I use Rotala Butterfly to calculate what I need in each and dose, but I wanted it to be super easy to remember. Since the tank is ~36gal of actual water, I made each bottle concentrated so that:

1mL of the KNO3 bottle = 1ppm NO3 (and 0.6ppm K!)
1mL of the KH2PO4 bottle = 0.1ppm PO4
4mL of the K2SO4 bottle = 1ppm K

These numbers are super easy to remember, I have them written on each bottle as well as the recipes for each bottle in sharpie to make refills super easy! Unfortunately K2SO4 isn't very water soluble, so 4mL/1ppm means I'll have to replace the bottle ever 20-30 days. I'm thinking of just front loading the K2SO4 with each water change, since I already do that with CaSO4 and MgSO4.

You planning on getting their new Hub?

I hadn't seen this! That would be super nice. The nicest thing would be being able to see what the bottles have left from another room, rather than having to use bluetooth nearby to check how many days the app estimates you have left.

Me too! I once wrote a ScapeFu post about this - Don't beat your aquascape with the ugly stick! Wow, almost 14 years ago!

14 years and still as relevant as ever! In the US in particular our scapes are seen as a hobby, not art, and I'm bummed by it. But it feels like the aesthetic/art side is growing more popular in the US thanks to youtube, forums, and availability of stands/equipment/rimless tanks.

You need to get into business for this. You have readymade customers here! What's the saying? "Shut up and take my money!"

I'll think about it! @Kwyet was my first 3d printed customer ever for some dosing tube holders. I definitely know others could enjoy what I create!

 

[Yugang]

So awesome. It is really cool to see your selections in gear. I still can't figure out how you are having half the CO2 reactor full of gas. I fire up my system based on yours tomorrow. Thanks for all your help

It is really interesting to see the hardware of vertical bubble reactors now used in horizontal position to use it as a horizontal reactor. What I suspect is that for many hobbyists doing this the reactor is then actually too powerful for the size of the tank, and using it in overflow mode would give an unacceptable pH drop for livestock. In this case the flow of CO2 can be limited by the regulator, not using overflow mode, and the reactor will only fill partly, not necessarily to 50%. We now have the reactor in what I called "regulator mode".

When the reactor is used in regulator mode, some gasses will diffuse back from the tank water into the CO2 pocket. (This happens also in vertical bubble reactors, but very few hobbyists have correctly understood what actually happens when they see the gas pocket on top that needs to be manually purged). For the horizontal reactor this means that the gas pocket will gradually grow, CO2 percentage less and less, until there is an equilibrium with 50% of the reactor filled by CO2 and a mix of other gases (mainly oxygen and nitrogen). Note that in this situation the CO2 injection rate is set by the regulator, not by reactor geometry in overflow mode.

@Jeff Miotke don't want to hijack this thread, please send me a PM or open separate thread if any further clarification would be needed.

 

[Pneumonicsonic]

I designed and 3D printed holders and brackets for all my testing equipment! Salifert Freshwater NO3, PO4, and K test kits, as well as my trusty Hanna CO2 test kit and a holder for my 10mL, 5mL, and 2mL syringes with stainless steel luer lock needles.

Seriously your equipment is like a work of art. You’ve given me something to strive for

 

[Koan]

You need to get into business for this.

Ditto, for the stand! Holy cow

Seriously you could sell them as flat packs, pre-installed with your 3D printed bits, and marks on the inside for where all the cool automation and testing pieces go

 

[Phish Tank]

Ditto, for the stand! Holy cow

Great idea! I'd definitely order a stand

 

[Kwyet]

These are the dosing tube holders. I had said 12 mm glass, and it’s really 10 mm, and I put a 2nd one on the neighboring tank (going from the same Chihiros doser) with even thinner glass. I had some black stick-on weatherstripping, so I just cut off a couple of slivers of that to make them snug. The tubing is very snug. I like these a lot better than the holders that came with the dosing system.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Glad you were able to make it work! The downside to this design is the glass has to be exact. I measure with digital calipers, but it's a good idea to make them larger and let the user add layers of something to fit them snugly!

 

[Jeff Miotke]

Could you share some close-ups of your horizontal reactor, including the CO2 injection setup and parts used?

 

[gnatster]

Impressive set-up. Put me down for the Salifert Kit Holders, should you decide to make some.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Could you share some close-ups of your horizontal reactor, including the CO2 injection setup and parts used?

Full cabinet. Flow goes from filter inlet (with skimmer) to Netlea Prefilter (Small, 16/22mm), then to the Oase Cleartronic 7W UV clarifier, then to the horizontal reactor I made from a Netlea Small prefilter, then to the Oase Optimax 560 return pump and back to the aquarium lily pipe.


Commissioned @Bettatail regulator to the Brooks Sho-rate flowmeter with a check valve


From the flowmeter to 2 more check valves, then a purge/release valve (all 1/4" RO tubing parts), to a 1/4" ro bulkhead that I drilled into the lid of the Netlea prefilter. Here's the ones I used:


Inside the "reactor", I ran a curved piece of 1/4" tubing upwards so the gas is added to the very very top of the reactor. I tried adding the gas to the reactor with an old inline CO2 diffuser with the ceramic piece removed, but the flow of the water through the tubing atomized/swept up the bubbles and they often exited the reactor before they could reach the top gas pocket due to the flow. By adding the curved piece of tubing upwards inside the reactor, the gas is basically gently "placed" in the upper pocket rather than get swept away downstream.

My reactor is not used in overflow mode. I run it in "regulator mode" as yugang refers to it. This means that over time, the gas pocket above the water won't be pure CO2, as some oxygen and nitrogen (and maybe other gasses) find an equilibrium within it. It's still true that 100% of the CO2 gas I inject gets dissolved into my water, I just will always have a bubble of gas at some point during the day. It's less in the morning right before CO2 injection, and largest in the afternoon when CO2 injection has been running the longest.


You can see the upwards-curved tubing inside the reactor circled in green.

Let me know if there are any questions!

 

[Jeff Miotke]

This is exactly what I needed. Thanks! Im doing the inline diffuser minus ceramic and it works ok and I can see the bubbles collect into the gas pocket. Without getting sucked out. My issue is it gurgles. Beyond annoying so I'll have to either drill that hole and install the bulkhead or figure out something else.