Journal Kwyet’s 125G Nature Tank

[hamfist]

Nice tank. I agree that it looks even better with the wood removed.

Can you explain how you feed these plants. Any substrate nutrition ? Water column ferts ? Or just fish poop ?

 

[Kwyet]

Nice tank. I agree that it looks even better with the wood removed.

Can you explain how you feed these plants. Any substrate nutrition ? Water column ferts ? Or just fish poop ?

Thank you very much!
I just dose the water column. I was doing ppa-pro with a once a week dose, but a month ago I installed a Chihiros autodoser to use for both the Hillstream tank and this tank. Since I already had the liquid solutions of BurrAqua on hand, I used those at half strength. The tank gets a 30% water change weekly. At last testing there were 24 ppm nitrates in the water, which seems good. Previously the tank was bottoming out on nitrates, but after removing most of the floating plants and changing ferts I think it’s in a better place. He now has an all-in-one for low-tech though, so when this runs out I think I’ll switch to that, which will open up 2 more heads on the autodoser for me. With that, I can reach the remaining tank that is on the next wall and I want to try an auto-topoff for the Hillstream tank with the last head.

 

[Kwyet]

Since the last post, I did switch to @Burr740 ’s all-in-one for low-tech for all of my low-tech tanks, and with then unused heads was able to set up an auto-top off of sorts for the Hillstream tank and send ferts to the quarantine tank. I think I may need to up the dose for this tank, because my Java ferns are getting a lot of black spots, but I forgot to check nitrates. I’ll check them tomorrow to find out.



I had 2 fish deaths this week, one somewhat expected and the other unexpected. The skimmer on the right side had gotten sucked down below the water level, and one of the gouramis got pulled into it tail-first. It was too big to go down the pipe, but apparently couldn’t free itself either. The other death was the Glo-fish Rainbow Shark. It had been getting steadily thinner along with a very curved back, and doing a lot of resting on rocks and plants. I had tried treating with Prazipro a couple of times with no effect. About the time I was thinking about euthanizing him, he passed away on his own. I think he may have just been a victim of Glo-fish bad genetics. I won’t be buying any more of those, ever.

I raised the outflow pipes to create more agitation and put mesh into the lids in hopes of getting shimmer from the lights. It did improve, but is still pretty subtle compared to the Hillstream tank. With the added surface agitation, I don’t think I need a skimmer, so I capped it.



I also cleared out more Leopard Val because I wanted to see the big Red Rubin Sword better. Now it looks odd though, like a big, blue rectangle there. I moved one of the smaller Crinum calamistratum in from the Hillstream tank to see if it will do well and if I like it. I’m getting a little tired of keeping up with the Val, it’s so aggressive, so I’m considering alternatives.



The sand, well, I’m not sure, but I think there might be blue-green algae in it. Either that or it’s regular algae, but I see some below the substrate surface so I’m suspicious. I treated it today with Blue-Green Slime Remover. If it clears up, then I’ll know.



I think that’s it for now. Any suggestions to improve this tank are welcome. Thanks for reading!

 

[Koan]

skimmer on the right side had gotten sucked down below the water level, and one of the gouramis got pulled into it

So sorry Would it help to stuff a core of 20 PPI foam down into the intake?

 

[Kwyet]

So sorry Would it help to stuff a core of 20 PPI foam down into the intake?

Maybe? I was really surprised that something as large as a gourami would get stuck in the first place. After that I counted all the Cory cats to make sure they were all there (they were). I don’t think I need a skimmer though, with all of the extra surface agitation.

 

[Kwyet]

Now the fun begins! And man is this thing tall!


Now, you guys already thought this was a steal (and it was), but wait, there’s more! @Naturescapes_Rocco took another $800 off, to make the whole set-up an even $1000, and threw in dosing holders and lot of testing supplies, because it was going to another ScapeCrunch member. That was just about the cost of hiring movers plus a tip, so it worked out really well.

Now to get to work! Anyone want to come take a free 125g Marineland with an eroding seam off my hands?

 

[techman81]

If only @Naturescapes_Rocco had thrown in one of those nice Hyperspots to make it an even better deal.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Looks awesome, I can't wait to see what you do with it!

 

[Kwyet]

If only @Naturescapes_Rocco had thrown in one of those nice Hyperspots to make it an even better deal.

I know, right!

 

[Kwyet]

The hardscape is done. It doesn’t exactly match my imagination, but I think it isn’t terrible and when the plants are added they’ll help a lot. I put one of the filters on it, and just put a bubbler in that Rubbermaid container. I think that will be fine for the night and then I can check levels tomorrow. I did put 1 bag of Amazonia 2 in the island section, so I have to see if the filters can handle the ammonia before I start adding the fish. I chose that because I’ve read it doesn’t put out as much ammonia as some other aqua soils, although it does put out some. Later I thought maybe I should have gone with Controsoil, but this was already bought.

I have to come up with a solution for the lights. The light brackets won’t fit over both the tank rim and the backlight, so I spent a long time today looking for better brackets, some kind of rod suspension setup, or an easy way to hang them from the ceiling. I even looked to see if there was a full-length Week Aqua light. I didn’t really find any good fixes, and I wanted to get busy setting up the hardscape, so I’ll look at it more tomorrow, and then I might post a picture. I could just take off the backlight, but I don’t want to if I can find a better solution.

Btw, do you remember when you were a kid and an adult assured you that the refrigerator light would turn off when you shut the door? And you were like “how do you really know?”
Well, each section of the stand has an individual internal light that turns on when you open the door, and there are cutouts between the sections so you can see that they’re really turned off. Maybe that’s just me, lol! I think it’s cool.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Koan]

looking for better brackets

Lots of folks on Etsy might be up for designing a custom bracket for you just be sure to have them use PETG filament, not the usual PLA.

I made that mistake, PLA can't handle the shear stresses from the weight But PETG does great!

 

[Capraquaria]

Now, you guys already thought this was a steal (and it was), but wait, there’s more! @Naturescapes_Rocco took another $800 off, to make the whole set-up an even $1000

Wow, that is a steal! I may have missed it. Is this is a 120? 180? I empathize on the tall tank. They are bit trickier to reach, but possibilities are endless. Congrats!

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

150, same dimensions as your 150U!

 

[Capraquaria]

150, same dimensions as your 150U!

Awesome! I wondered when I saw the stand had 3 doors, and yes, that tank is tall! I can't reach into mine without a step ladder...but I am a bit vertically challenged Looking forward to seeing it scaped, and the plant choices for this one, too!