Journal Joel Armstrong - My journey

Joel Armstrong

Joel Armstrong

Active Member
Supporting
Hospitality Award
Journal
Joined
Oct 31, 2022
Messages
364
Reaction score
442
Location
Maitland, Australia 🇦🇺
So, I've finally got around to creating a build thread.

Tank was dark cycled prior to planting. Planted the tank August 17th 2022 (4 months today)


Tank

Tank is a Cade-River 1200. Dimensions are 120cm x 60cm x 60cm. Empty volume is 403.8 litres.

Actual water volume after calculating for soil and water in canisters = 350 litres

Empty tank.jpg


In the cabinet

2 x Aquael Ultramax 1500 canister filters
Co2 bottle, regulator and reactor


Filters & Co2.jpg

Regulator from Alan Le

Regulator.jpg


Lighting
2 x Week Aqua a430 pro


Substrate
7.5 x 9L bags of ADA Amazonia new version II aqua soil



The tank has been through some changes since first planted. I had way too many species in the tank, (36 actually, what was I thinking?!?!)
I was also trying to grow too many plants in the one tank that had very different requirements, perhaps that is still the case.
The tank was also massively overgrown, and my vacuuming techniques were poor, resulting in BBA of some slower growing species, and cyanobacteria between the glass and soil.

2 weeks ago, I pulled all the plants, gave some away to friends, vacuumed the top inch or two of the soil whilst performing about a 300% water change and started again. I find it somewhat disappointing posting the following picture as I've had the tank looking better, it just didn't last long unfortunately.

My maintenance was just not up to scratch, particularly in regard to vacuuming the soil. My plant placement was, and still is terrible, I know this is an area that needs A LOT of work, along with trimming techniques. Understanding how certain plants grow and where they should be placed is something that comes from experience I guess.


Key points to focus on are;
- Vacuuming the soil
- Trimming techniques
- Plant placement


Here is a picture as of today

Current tank pic.jpg




I haven't been testing anything at all. Very recently though, I tested my tap water for KH and Ca, salifert tests indicated 3dKH and Ca at 25ppm.

I don't know what my pH drop is. Now this is just laziness as I've had a double junction Milwaukee pH pen for about 3 months now, still in the box.

Currently using tap water as mentioned. I'm seriously thinking on getting an RO/DI system.

I have learned how to use the Nutrient Calculator on Rotala Butterfly, and I'm about 5-6 weeks into dry dosing. My starting point, dosed to new water at water change has been targeted at;

N 24
P 8
K 32

Mg 5

I've been using Rexolin APN for micro nutrients dosed daily. (weekly accumulative - iron 0.39ppm)
*This may need to change as Rexolin APN is designed for agricultural and horticultural purposes.
 
Last edited:
Tank is looking good Joel - always a fan of those tank dimensions. Really like the rimless style with the water almost to the top.
Your Key Focus Points - always a learning curve for every tank!
Surprising (to me) your tap water is really not too bad. I am re-mineralizing my RO to CA-22 and 1dKH so not much different.
 
Wow, Joel! Beautiful, congrats. Something to be really proud of.

I love the Cade aquariums. Just clean lines and very well built. Really designed for long-term and to be showcased.

I don't have a lot of time now but will comment more later. What are you using for auto-top off?
 
Hey @Joel Armstrong good to see you start a build thread.

As I was reading your description I was preparing myself to see something of a real mess when I got down to the picture.

Well I was pleasantly surprised! The tank is actually looking pretty darn good to me. There is a LOT going right there, and most people would love to get to that level. Especially for a relatively young tank. It takes time for a tank to mature, and you can expect some rough spots in the early going of any tank.

And I agree with Linn that tap water of yours is pretty darn good.

Likely still too many species, but you'll figure that out over time as you practice and hone your presentation skills.

Keep the updates coming I am looking forward to following along.
 
Immortal1 said:
Tank is looking good Joel - always a fan of those tank dimensions. Really like the rimless style with the water almost to the top.
Your Key Focus Points - always a learning curve for every tank!
Surprising (to me) your tap water is really not too bad. I am re-mineralizing my RO to CA-22 and 1dKH so not much different.
Click to expand...

Thank you!

The rimless tanks do appeal to me. (to the wife also, which is super important!).

I appreciate you sharing what you re-mineralise your RO water to. Comments like this help me to improve my understanding of water chemistry/parameters, and whether or not I end up purchasing a RO/DI system in the future. I'm guessing this depends a lot on the species I wish to grow and what level of control I wish to have over the water quality?.

For now, I'll endeavour to improve upon those 'Key Focus Points'.

Thanks again!
 
Art said:
Wow, Joel! Beautiful, congrats. Something to be really proud of.

I love the Cade aquariums. Just clean lines and very well built. Really designed for long-term and to be showcased.

I don't have a lot of time now but will comment more later. What are you using for auto-top off?
Click to expand...

I appreciate your kind words, thank you!

I was searching for a quality aquarium, and Cade ticked all the boxes for me.

I'm actually not using an ATO. I've just been topping up with filtered tap water every few days if needed. I'd be happy to discuss this further though.

Thanks again Art!
 
GreggZ said:
Hey @Joel Armstrong good to see you start a build thread.

As I was reading your description I was preparing myself to see something of a real mess when I got down to the picture.

Well I was pleasantly surprised! The tank is actually looking pretty darn good to me. There is a LOT going right there, and most people would love to get to that level. Especially for a relatively young tank. It takes time for a tank to mature, and you can expect some rough spots in the early going of any tank.

And I agree with Linn that tap water of yours is pretty darn good.

Likely still too many species, but you'll figure that out over time as you practice and hone your presentation skills.

Keep the updates coming I am looking forward to following along.
Click to expand...

Thanks Gregg,

I also appreciate your kind words, very encouraging.

I thought that I still may have had too many species, I'll take that onboard.

I'll update as I go. I'll look forward to your comments and feedback.

Thanks again!
 
Art said:
Wow, Joel! Beautiful, congrats. Something to be really proud of.

I love the Cade aquariums. Just clean lines and very well built. Really designed for long-term and to be showcased.

I don't have a lot of time now but will comment more later. What are you using for auto-top off?
Click to expand...

A bucket
 
:ROFLMAO: Are you lifting said bucket into the tank or is there an auto-top off pump helping you with this?
 
LOL I get the same way but with scotch.

Ever thought of an auto-top off? Has saved my back.
 
Art said:
LOL I get the same way but with scotch.

Ever thought of an auto-top off? Has saved my back.
Click to expand...

Haha 😄 Hi Art,

I've not thought of one to be honest, not up until now anyway. I had thought they were mainly used in marine/reef set-ups, and never considered one for a planted tank. I can see how they'd be useful, especially while going away on holidays or for work. I'll have to look into one 🤔
 
CO2 reactor bubble noise.

I still haven't measured my pH drop as of yet, so I may need to revisit this again later.

I have the CO2 coming on at 12pm, 2 hours prior to lights coming on, CO2 switches off at 8pm.
Lights are on from 2pm - 9pm currently.

Livestock is 8 neon tetras and large colony of shrimp.

Tank has 2 x Aquael Ultramax 1500 canisters. They are both set up with 4 media trays in each. The bottom tray of each filter has a fine filter pad and filter floss, the remaining 3 trays are filled with Seachem Matrix.
One of these filters is powering the reactor.

When the CO2 comes on, I can faintly hear the reactor diffusing the CO2 bubbles. I'm guessing this is quite normal. However the sound progressively increases throughout the photoperiod, and toward the end of the photoperiod the reactor is producing quite a bit of bubbling noise, becoming somewhat annoying. The reactor has a valve to purge the air out, and I've been using the valve to purge the trapped CO2 once lights go out. I've been running the CO2 like this for 3 months now. I have quite a bit of surface agitation, and the fish and shrimp do not show any visual signs of stress.

I am guessing I probably do not have the CO2 properly optimised, especially since I haven't measured the pH drop!

I read somewhere on this forum (I believe it was on Ryan's Build thread) a comment about removing the fine filter pad and filter floss from the canister powering the reactor to increase flow and "to beat the CO2 into submission".

Is it normal to hear this "bubble noise" increase during the CO2 injection period?.

Shall I remove the fine filter pad and filter floss from the canister driving the reactor?
- In doing so, will this clog the bio media, and introduce dirt to the inside of the reactor?

I know I need to measure the pH drop, and the time frame that I achieve this drop.
 
Joel Armstrong said:
Could you share a picture of your ATO please Art?

Cheers
Click to expand...
Joel, sure.

Here is my reservoir. It's connected to the Tunze ATO and there is a tube from this reservoir to the back of my tank. The tank has a water level float switch in it that activates the pump as needed.

IMG_4235.jpg

And the dust on the picture is fake snow for Christmas. I saw the picture and thought I needed to dust!
 
Joel Armstrong said:
CO2 reactor bubble noise.

I still haven't measured my pH drop as of yet, so I may need to revisit this again later.

I have the CO2 coming on at 12pm, 2 hours prior to lights coming on, CO2 switches off at 8pm.
Lights are on from 2pm - 9pm currently.

Livestock is 8 neon tetras and large colony of shrimp.

Tank has 2 x Aquael Ultramax 1500 canisters. They are both set up with 4 media trays in each. The bottom tray of each filter has a fine filter pad and filter floss, the remaining 3 trays are filled with Seachem Matrix.
One of these filters is powering the reactor.

When the CO2 comes on, I can faintly hear the reactor diffusing the CO2 bubbles. I'm guessing this is quite normal. However the sound progressively increases throughout the photoperiod, and toward the end of the photoperiod the reactor is producing quite a bit of bubbling noise, becoming somewhat annoying. The reactor has a valve to purge the air out, and I've been using the valve to purge the trapped CO2 once lights go out. I've been running the CO2 like this for 3 months now. I have quite a bit of surface agitation, and the fish and shrimp do not show any visual signs of stress.

I am guessing I probably do not have the CO2 properly optimised, especially since I haven't measured the pH drop!

I read somewhere on this forum (I believe it was on Ryan's Build thread) a comment about removing the fine filter pad and filter floss from the canister powering the reactor to increase flow and "to beat the CO2 into submission".

Is it normal to hear this "bubble noise" increase during the CO2 injection period?.

Shall I remove the fine filter pad and filter floss from the canister driving the reactor?
- In doing so, will this clog the bio media, and introduce dirt to the inside of the reactor?

I know I need to measure the pH drop, and the time frame that I achieve this drop.
Click to expand...
Joel, for what it's worth, my DIY Cerges CO2 reactors do make some noise. Typically when the co2 turns on there is some initial noise as the co2 begins filling the reactor. After about 20-30 minutes the noise is gone (don't know exactly why). As I get closer to the end of the cycle I do get more bubble noise from the 75g reactor. The 40g reactor stays fairly quiet. Guessing the 40g just gets less co2.

One thing I did learn years ago - the greater the vertical distance from your reactor to the water line of the aquarium the better (head pressure). Generally more effective than trying to reduce flow with a valve on the output side of the reactor as canister filters generally don't generate much "pressure", just flow.

As for the 2nd question - your filter is listed at 395 gph. My FX4 is rated at 450gph. I have found that I get better overall performance by bypassing 40-50% of the filter output around the reactor. Slower flow thru the reactor seems to allow the co2 to absorb a little better???
So, will removing the fine filter material from your canister help with co2 issue? Maybe. Always worth a try.

Another thought, as you have 2 filters, is to pack all of your bio media into the reactor that does not power the reactor (include a fine filter pad ahead of the bio media). Then use the other filter more for mechanical filtration and powering the reactor. Just a thought.
 
Art said:
Joel, sure.

Here is my reservoir. It's connected to the Tunze ATO and there is a tube from this reservoir to the back of my tank. The tank has a water level float switch in it that activates the pump as needed.

View attachment 1079

And the dust on the picture is fake snow for Christmas. I saw the picture and thought I needed to dust!
Click to expand...

Haha got ya! Fake snow for Christmas 😉

Thanks for sharing that picture for me Art.
 
Immortal1 said:
Joel, for what it's worth, my DIY Cerges CO2 reactors do make some noise. Typically when the co2 turns on there is some initial noise as the co2 begins filling the reactor. After about 20-30 minutes the noise is gone (don't know exactly why). As I get closer to the end of the cycle I do get more bubble noise from the 75g reactor. The 40g reactor stays fairly quiet. Guessing the 40g just gets less co2.

One thing I did learn years ago - the greater the vertical distance from your reactor to the water line of the aquarium the better (head pressure). Generally more effective than trying to reduce flow with a valve on the output side of the reactor as canister filters generally don't generate much "pressure", just flow.

As for the 2nd question - your filter is listed at 395 gph. My FX4 is rated at 450gph. I have found that I get better overall performance by bypassing 40-50% of the filter output around the reactor. Slower flow thru the reactor seems to allow the co2 to absorb a little better???
So, will removing the fine filter material from your canister help with co2 issue? Maybe. Always worth a try.

Another thought, as you have 2 filters, is to pack all of your bio media into the reactor that does not power the reactor (include a fine filter pad ahead of the bio media). Then use the other filter more for mechanical filtration and powering the reactor. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thank you for your detailed response, I appreciate it.

My way of thinking was trying to increase flow to the reactor, but you're saying decrease it.

Thanks again!

Wishing you a safe and Merry Christmas
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top