Journal Many Lessons || 150x60x60cm, 140gal, Horizontal Reactor High-energy Aquascape Journal

[Rob23]

I've also had great success with two tanks in a row running zero biological media (only sponges/prefilters), so I'm currently using only a Netlea Prefilter G1 before an Oase Optimax 1420 pump.

Rocco, I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on placing the pre-filter before the pump as opposed to after the pump. Have you experienced any downsides to having the filter before the pump? Also, have you got around to adding the filter floss that you mentioned? If so, how has that been working for you?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Rocco, I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on placing the pre-filter before the pump as opposed to after the pump. Have you experienced any downsides to having the filter before the pump?

Sorry, maybe my post wasn't clear -- but I do have the prefilter before the pump, that's the "pre" part of the filter!

My setup (all 16/22mm aka 5/8" hosing/sizing) goes:
Intake lily pipe > Netlea Prefilter > horizontal reactor > return pump > return lily pipe

You definitely want the prefilter before your pump/filter.

Also, have you got around to adding the filter floss that you mentioned? If so, how has that been working for you?

I gave it a try! I tried fine filter floss pads, cut to the length of the prefilter internal pipe, then spiraled around until roughly the thickness of the original prefilter sponges. I kept it in place with two rubber bands stretched around.

It was amazing for water clarity, though not really much more noticeable than the original sponges. It also got dirty SUPER fast, and I was hoping it would be easy to clean... nope! It was nasty and I ended up throwing it all away. The sponges are awesome because they are reuseable and take a beating. I even bleach the sponges and swap them out for new ones, so that's the way it'll stay for me!

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Got some big news for this tank coming up, but in the meantime, I just pulled the trigger on a on-sale Lifeguard 3" diameter 55W Amalgam Pro-Max UV sterilizer. Lifeguard has really good reputation in the reefing community, and hopefully this is as close to a buy-it-for-life piece of equipment as you can get for a big tank like this!

I've been running sterilizers for a while now on my tanks, only for a period of the night right before daily dosing micros. They are not on 24/7, specifically to avoid interactions with micros in the water. If I dose micros at 8am every morning, the UV sterilizer is turned on from midnight until 7:55am.

I really do get the best water clarity when I use UV sterilizers. I know not everyone uses them, but after almost a year of use I'm a convert for sure. Daily dosing of micros, alternating periods of on/off, is important, IMO.

But the water clarity is hard to beat.

 

[Rob23]

You definitely want the prefilter before your pump/filter.

Is there no risk of cavitation in the pump with this configuration? I would have thought running the pump first as a push would be preferable to placing it at the end of the chain in a pull configuration. Sounds like it is working well for you this way. I'm just curious as to the reason for putting the pump at the end of the chain.

 

[Jeff Miotke]

Got some big news for this tank coming up, but in the meantime, I just pulled the trigger on a on-sale Lifeguard 3" diameter 55W Amalgam Pro-Max UV sterilizer. Lifeguard has really good reputation in the reefing community, and hopefully this is as close to a buy-it-for-life piece of equipment as you can get for a big tank like this!

I've been running sterilizers for a while now on my tanks, only for a period of the night right before daily dosing micros. They are not on 24/7, specifically to avoid interactions with micros in the water. If I dose micros at 8am every morning, the UV sterilizer is turned on from midnight until 7:55am.

I really do get the best water clarity when I use UV sterilizers. I know not everyone uses them, but after almost a year of use I'm a convert for sure. Daily dosing of micros, alternating periods of on/off, is important, IMO.

But the water clarity is hard to beat.

Thats interesting that you have water clarity issues. Is it bacterial bloom? I've never run anything beyond filter sponge and biomedia and water is always crystal clear. I'm wondering what the difference is?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Is there no risk of cavitation in the pump with this configuration? I would have thought running the pump first as a push would be preferable to placing it at the end of the chain in a pull configuration. Sounds like it is working well for you this way. I'm just curious as to the reason for putting the pump at the end of the chain.

No, there is no risk as long as the system doesn't get clogged somehow. A pump in a canister filter, like in the Oase Biomaster, is the last part of a chain! It's pretty common. We don't deal much with pressures in these filter systems, but lots of flow.

You REALLY don't want your incoming water to go straight into a pump, ever. That's one of the points of a filter, is to remove particles from the water before it reaches your pump's impeller. Otherwise you'll have snails, sand, leaves, poop, etc. headed straight into the pump.

In this setup, the only thing I can change is whether the pump goes before the horizontal reactor or after, but it has to come after the prefilter no matter what.

Thats interesting that you have water clarity issues. Is it bacterial bloom? I've never run anything beyond filter sponge and biomedia and water is always crystal clear. I'm wondering what the difference is?

I wouldn't say clarity issues! The water is still super clear. I'd even say crystal clear. Then, when I turn on a UV clarifier for a few days, I realize what REALLY crystal clear water looks like. Do I need it? Absolutely not, and I might not even use it. But I've had such good success the last few months, especially on my experimental tank, with UV that I'd like to lean even more into it for that glass-clear water.

 

[techman81]

I just pulled the trigger on a on-sale Lifeguard 3" diameter 55W Amalgam Pro-Max UV sterilizer.

A Waterbox 130.4 with cabinet is listed on FB Marketplace in KC for just $1750. It has a big UV sterilizer. I've been very tempted because the price seems great considering what comes with it and the fact that the photos look like it's in like new condition, but I already have too many tanks waiting to be setup. Items included:

Duetto Auto-topoff system to replace evaporated water
Full screen-style lid
Finnex Heater controller & heater
Two Ecotech MP40 pumps (need the "wet sides" replaced)
Battery backup for MP40 to maintain circulation in the tank during a power loss
Pentair Aquatics 40 Watt Smart UV Sterilizer
Two Ecotech vortech return pumps (one for the return, one for the UV sterilizer)
Eufy wifi camera mounted in the cabinet to help monitor things
Two sets of filter socks
Two power strips mounted on wall of cabinet
Free-standing "controller board" to hold the controllers for the two MP40s and two Vortech pumps
Power-brick holder mounted on cabinet wall for organization
I'll also throw in various Hanna Instruments test kits with whatever remaining reagents I have for testing parameters.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

That's an insane deal. If the glass isn't scratched I'd take it if I were you!

 

[techman81]

That's an insane deal. If the glass isn't scratched I'd take it if I were you!

I'm still very tempted but I've read that that particular sterilizer is notorious for failing at about the 4 year mark due to the plastic casing degrading. Even without that, it's a great deal.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Some thoughts on dosing (again, mostly for myself to remember!):​

Currently, I follow the same process with this big tank as I do my smaller experimental tank, where I dry dose my ferts via small cups.
After the 70% WC, I add the DIY GH booster, the initial recovery dose (20-6-26), and midweek after WC I add the booster dose (10-3-13).

However, it gets tedious measuring 2-3 amounts for each cup, multiplied by how many weeks of cups I want to make.
Instead, similar to my experimental tank, I'd like to consider making concentrated liquid ferts that I dose the exact same (20-6-26, with a 10-3-13 booster dose).

I'll keep dry dosing the GH powders (Ca/Mg SO4), as there's no good option for the alternative when you're working with 100 gallons of water.

The biggest issue with making a macro solution is that K2SO4 is the first limiting factor in terms of solubility. If you want to make a solution with K2SO4, you can only add a maximum of 120g/1000mL. For example, the solubility of KNO3 is closer to 360g/1000mL.

But in my macros bottle, where weekly total doses add 30-9-39, the KNO3 and PO4 already add 22.6ppm K naturally. I only need to add enough K2SO4 each week to add 16.4ppm, which brings the weekly total to 39ppm.

What if, to increase the concentration of my macros bottle, I cut out adding the extra K2SO4 in the macros solution, and instead included the dry K2SO4 powder in the GH cups? Each GH booster, delivered after WC, would add 20ppm Ca, 5ppm Mg, and 16.4ppm K.

This would allow me to create a 1000mL macros bottle that would last 11-12 weeks or more with only 90mL total weekly doses.

Has anyone ever tried this? Paging @Burr740 since we've been talking ferts a lot lately.

More thoughts on weekly dosing Potassium​

Interesting to run the numbers on this!

If I dose 39ppm K via a Macros solution in my 66% and 33% dose per week, with ~1.5ppm consumed per day, it looks like this:

39ppm delivered in two doses, one large, one small, via macros solution
​

However, if I were to only make a macros solution with KNO3 and KH2PO4 (no K2O4) and make up the difference by including the "extra" K2SO4 powder in with my water-change remineralization...


When dosing 30-9-X per week, the 30-9 already provides 22.6ppm K. That's 15ppm with the initial dose, and 7.6ppm with the booster dose.

I'd be including the "missing" 16.4ppm via K2SO4 after the water change, and only dosing 7.6ppm K via macros solution midweek:

39ppm delivered in three doses, one initial "reminerlization" of 16.5ppm K via K2SO4, then a double-dose of macros solution providing 15ppm K, for a total of 31.5ppm K after water change. Then a single dose of macros solution providing 7.5ppm K midweek.
​

It's interesting to see that with this method of making a N and P macro-only solution, (splitting the K dose between dosing macros solution, and dosing remaining K2SO4 alongiside RO Water change), it's actually MORE stable (at 1.5ppm uptake per day) than if I only make up 39ppm weekly K dosing via macros solution.

I'm sold! Slowly whittling down all of my personal preferences and discoveries, only to find that most of the legends I look up to already do it this way for a reason... oh well. I love the math of it.

Also, HUGE updates coming on this tank soon!

 

[CincyScaper]

I now expect both chemistry and math in all your journal posts and this didn’t let me down.

 

[Dousiii]

Gorgeous tank, could you give out the link for your co2 inline flow meter? saw it in a picture you post before

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Gorgeous tank, could you give out the link for your co2 inline flow meter? saw it in a picture you post before

I use a Dwyer RMA-151-SSV!

The RMA-151 is the model that has a scale from 0 to 50cc/min (more than 90% tanks will need). The SSV means it has its own needle valve, but it's not very accurate. If you have a good needle valve on your regulator already, you can get the regular RMA-151 without valve for around $90.

If you don't, and have one of the standard chinese regulators (FZone, GLA, UNS) you might want to use the SSV flowmeter to help control the flow in conjunction with your needle valve

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Just curious, you mentioned in this journal you would never do 11 bags of Amazonia again. What substrate would you go with if you started over?

I'll be answering this soon!

 

[BenB]

I'll be answering this soon!

Are we going to have a pole or bet or something? BDBS ?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

My last photo update was Sept 12th (day 225), and the tank looked like this:

Day 240 update, the final trim and using my beard trimmer on the Dwarf Hairgrass!​

Day 251 update:​

Algae on the old, twisted AR leaves. The new leaves finally became straight after using @Burr740 micro mix.


S repens hasn't recovered much.


DHG is out of control thick. It's genuinely so thick that you cannot run your hand through it. It's now 4-6" tall, and a complete mat of carpet.
The problem with this is, DHG needs room to spread out when creating new growth. If I trim this carpet, it literally doesn't have room to spread to send up new blades. This means that this carpet has reached the end of it's life; at least, in the sense that I can't really fix it without complete removal of the grass and substrate.

Might as well experiment!


I know just what to do for that DHG. Shoutout to waterproof Manscaped beard trimmers!

Trimming the DHG with my beard trimmer.



Worked way too well!


After doing large trims where you uproot plants, I always reocmmend a large water change. My WC is already ~70%, so I did one of those.
Cyperus Helferi is also super thick, but 100% of the emersed-grown leaves now have BBA . The only way to get rid of the BBA is to trim these leaves which is very hard to do unless you completely uproot each C Helferi crown.

263 days, pearling DHG:​

I also had an outbreak of internal parasites in many of my fish from something, so I treated the whole tank with Prazipro. And within 2 days got this crazy blue algae. Never really seen it before! It's not BGA/Cyano, and it's not GSA.

The final shots, Day 270:

​

I'm quite proud of this tank, and damn did I learn a lot!
The DHG reaching completely maturity/overcrowding took 270 days. The Cyperus needs to be uprooted to get fixed, and I haven't been keeping up as well with maintenance.

Thanks to the success of my Experimental tank, using pure inert sand (BDBS ) and only water column dosing, I think I want to re-try this aquarium -- with the same plants, same driftwood, and compare/contrast the results.

Many people reset tanks, but very few keep it similar enough to truly compare. That's what I'm gonna do!




Cyperus has roots 12"+ long, and has grown to a length of ~20" at longest.


I used a pocket knife to cut a few portions of DHG out from the center to use as starters for the re-do of this tank. That's right, DHG carpet in inert sand, baby!





I present, insta-scape! Only takes 15 minutes!
This 29gallon tank will be the holding tank for the fish and plants. Super easy to set up with a horizontal reactor made from a Netlea Prefilter I had lying around extra!



The final surprise of taking down the big tank: A BABY PEA PUFFER.
I didn't notice him until it was too late. This is him all puffed up and gone forever. May he RIP.

Things I learned from this tank:​

• Stop being afraid of "nutrients". They never cause algae on their own.
• Grow healthy plants, stop avoiding algae. Change your focus.
• Learning proper ranges for PPMs of all nutrients (Primary macro, secondary macro, micros) and how to dose them is critical if you really want to master this hobby
• Dwarf Hairgrass loves CO2. It will grow in pretty shaded areas if you provide CO2.
• Biological media is unnecessary in a setup like this.
• Water changes larger than 50% give you a serious mathematical leg up on algae prevention and plant growth -- IF you add a large "recovery" dose after re-adding your water
• I hate plants that spread via runners (**** you hydrocotyle verticillata, never again)
• I hate moss because of how it goes everywhere and infects plants like a parasite. Also never again.
• Rotala Blood Red is the maximum "speed" plant I can handle, and even then, I want to slow things down.
• Monte Carlo is super easy to grow as an epiphyte with non-limiting dosing (EI)
• Bristlenose Plecos would rather DIE than let themselves be captured while taking down an aquascape.
• Pea Puffers are not the species-specific fish all the puffer nerds think they are. They are THRIVING in a massive unheated community tank, with full bellies and literally breeding. Who knows how many baby puffers there were!
• And many more lessons.

End of "Many Lessons" Version 2, thank you for following along!​

 

[BenB]

It seems a couple of people are rebooting.
It was a great scape.
I look forward to the next incarnation.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Also currently watching MJ Aquascaping's tour of Green Aqua, and both he and Tommy refer to Skylights as some of the best lights, with the best and most natural color rendition. Very high praise from some modern legends in the hobby!

 

[techman81]

Wow! This was a great update and there are so many things I want to comment on. I'll just start with this for now:
One of the owner spotlight guests on Blue Friday mentioned this about her freshwater tanks "You can't put your mower in your aquarium."
You just proved her wrong.

 

[*Ci*]

I hear you on the bristlenose plecos! They are one of my “never again”’s