- Thread starter
- #121
No worries there. I am just happy I got to that point in all honesty.Just press on with your positive attitude, we are all learning together
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Journal SkaleyAquatics Re-attempted Dutch
- Thread starter SkaleyAquatics
- Start date
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- Thread starter
- #122
Bear with me this is a longer update than intended.
So plants come in from cherriesna. Originally many of these were to fill out a new 40gal breeder but that tank is not ready and did not want to put them in with no co2 since my tank ran out on Wednesday last week and have not been able to swap it yet.
Added the following:
crypt wendtii sindoor
crypt wendtii flamingo
rotala sp. bangladesh
rotala indica 'bonsai'
crypt crisputala var. tonkinensis
Also ordered
pogostomemon helferi
crypt sivadasanii
riccia fluitans
I will also go ahead and preview upcoming changes.
This tank will actually be converted to a low tech no heater display for either a wild type sword or a goodeid that I currently own. The new main display/competition tank will be a 180gal(72in x 24in x 24in) that I have had laying around essentially since May of 2023 when we bought our house. This should be coming together by the end of this month/early February. I only need wood to build the stand and to get the reactor for the tank. Already have the heater and filter. In terms of lights it will have 2 - WeekAqua P900's on it which I currently own on 2 separate tanks, mosstly this will be a place holder until I am able to order WeekAqua A430's most likely. I am huge fan of the WeekAqua lights and there price is slightly better than Chihiros. In terms of substrate I am going to stick to the BDBS . So thats the rundown of the new display tank.
Now in terms of farm tanks I currently have 3- 40gal breeders setup. 2 with plants and 1 almost completed its dark cycle. These are located in my 7' x 10' fishroom. Well this come March I am offloading a good portion of the fish and will be tearing down all those tanks. The room is in a basement and is uninsulated. Electric is too expensive to heat the room and keep it in the 70's especially in the winter when it gets down into the the 50s on really cold days here in Indiana. The plan is to take everything out install exterior walls with insulation and insulate the basement walls and ceiling. I will also be leveling the floor and apply an epoxy floor to this room. When I start putting tanks back in it will be like a galley kitchen with walls of tanks on both sides with a walkway down the middle. The right side will sit 4-40gal breeders all used as farm tanks to grow plants out of. While the other side will house 10- 10gal and 9- 20gal for breeding purposes. I could potentionally have an additional 5- 10gals but the lower rack I am going to use for growing some terrestrial plants and will be setting up some wabi kusa's. This is probably a late summer/early fall goal. It might get pushed back into the winter we will see.
Lastly I have roughly a 14' x 10' area that sits my desk, a low tech 75, the current 40gal competition/main tank, and 2- 55gal drums for water storage. All that will stay and I will be setting my 14gal cube here and a 5ft 4/5 tier emersed growth setup with an ebb&flow system. If you are unaware of this system I highly recommend this video describing it. I will also be adding 2 more 55gal drums for water storage as my total soft water needs will increase with 354 gal of water on soft water. This will also be a project as I am going to plumb the bottoms of them adding a 3-way T for a drain, so I can easily clean the barrels. This will require me to raise them off the ground to do so. I will also be adding an external pump that will control moth circulation and filling duties for the tanks. I will attach a garden hose off a shutoff valve to achieve filling duties. These projects(water storage upgrade and cube tank) ideally will be done about the same time the 180 gets setup. The emersed setup will either be fall/winter or a next year project.
EDIT: Forgot to add that I will be ordering Burraqua's mircomix kit to mix my own micros' I will be cloning his micro mix but with 354gal of water needing ferts I need alot and the packs are no longer going to cut it for me. I was going to order all the salts separately but then did the math on how long 100g of Ni will last me 377 years.... that'll long outlive me and that was almost half the price of his kit.
EDIT 2: I'm also going to cuatom build 3 regulators for my co2. Ultimately I want numbers to be as consistent as physically possible and after spending 20 hours researching how to, it's not that hard and used regulators can be had at a good price honestly the metering valve will cost me more the the regulator body. Another this is im going to be building pH monitoring boxes with raspberry pi's. Again I want to be consistent. And this option is much more affordable then the alternatives.
So whew and if you read this all and made it to the end pat yourself on the back you need it as this was quite a long one.
So plants come in from cherriesna. Originally many of these were to fill out a new 40gal breeder but that tank is not ready and did not want to put them in with no co2 since my tank ran out on Wednesday last week and have not been able to swap it yet.
Added the following:
crypt wendtii sindoor
crypt wendtii flamingo
rotala sp. bangladesh
rotala indica 'bonsai'
crypt crisputala var. tonkinensis
Also ordered
pogostomemon helferi
crypt sivadasanii
riccia fluitans
I will also go ahead and preview upcoming changes.
This tank will actually be converted to a low tech no heater display for either a wild type sword or a goodeid that I currently own. The new main display/competition tank will be a 180gal(72in x 24in x 24in) that I have had laying around essentially since May of 2023 when we bought our house. This should be coming together by the end of this month/early February. I only need wood to build the stand and to get the reactor for the tank. Already have the heater and filter. In terms of lights it will have 2 - WeekAqua P900's on it which I currently own on 2 separate tanks, mosstly this will be a place holder until I am able to order WeekAqua A430's most likely. I am huge fan of the WeekAqua lights and there price is slightly better than Chihiros. In terms of substrate I am going to stick to the BDBS . So thats the rundown of the new display tank.
Now in terms of farm tanks I currently have 3- 40gal breeders setup. 2 with plants and 1 almost completed its dark cycle. These are located in my 7' x 10' fishroom. Well this come March I am offloading a good portion of the fish and will be tearing down all those tanks. The room is in a basement and is uninsulated. Electric is too expensive to heat the room and keep it in the 70's especially in the winter when it gets down into the the 50s on really cold days here in Indiana. The plan is to take everything out install exterior walls with insulation and insulate the basement walls and ceiling. I will also be leveling the floor and apply an epoxy floor to this room. When I start putting tanks back in it will be like a galley kitchen with walls of tanks on both sides with a walkway down the middle. The right side will sit 4-40gal breeders all used as farm tanks to grow plants out of. While the other side will house 10- 10gal and 9- 20gal for breeding purposes. I could potentionally have an additional 5- 10gals but the lower rack I am going to use for growing some terrestrial plants and will be setting up some wabi kusa's. This is probably a late summer/early fall goal. It might get pushed back into the winter we will see.
Lastly I have roughly a 14' x 10' area that sits my desk, a low tech 75, the current 40gal competition/main tank, and 2- 55gal drums for water storage. All that will stay and I will be setting my 14gal cube here and a 5ft 4/5 tier emersed growth setup with an ebb&flow system. If you are unaware of this system I highly recommend this video describing it. I will also be adding 2 more 55gal drums for water storage as my total soft water needs will increase with 354 gal of water on soft water. This will also be a project as I am going to plumb the bottoms of them adding a 3-way T for a drain, so I can easily clean the barrels. This will require me to raise them off the ground to do so. I will also be adding an external pump that will control moth circulation and filling duties for the tanks. I will attach a garden hose off a shutoff valve to achieve filling duties. These projects(water storage upgrade and cube tank) ideally will be done about the same time the 180 gets setup. The emersed setup will either be fall/winter or a next year project.
EDIT: Forgot to add that I will be ordering Burraqua's mircomix kit to mix my own micros' I will be cloning his micro mix but with 354gal of water needing ferts I need alot and the packs are no longer going to cut it for me. I was going to order all the salts separately but then did the math on how long 100g of Ni will last me 377 years.... that'll long outlive me and that was almost half the price of his kit.
EDIT 2: I'm also going to cuatom build 3 regulators for my co2. Ultimately I want numbers to be as consistent as physically possible and after spending 20 hours researching how to, it's not that hard and used regulators can be had at a good price honestly the metering valve will cost me more the the regulator body. Another this is im going to be building pH monitoring boxes with raspberry pi's. Again I want to be consistent. And this option is much more affordable then the alternatives.
So whew and if you read this all and made it to the end pat yourself on the back you need it as this was quite a long one.
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Please keep us in the loop with these, I’m looking to grab some of these too but I’m extremely apprehensive with TC lately.
- Thread starter
- #124
So was able to finally plant my 3rd farm tank last night as ammonia was finally below 1.0ppm after having it cycling for almost 2 months since it was setup on 11/24/24. So ensued a ~100% water change and planting commenced. 
Thinned out the number of plant species in the other 2 farm tanks without trying to crowd this one as they were extremely dense. Only 1 TC went in and that is the crypt sivadasanii in the front left corner. Also the back left val I am unsure 100% if it is Daly river or yabba creek. I believe its Daly river as it looks very similar to leopard and @Burr740 advised to not put those two together cause they are impossible to differentiate when they mix. Also yabba creek does not get as wide or as dark as it gets taller compared to the other two. Plus I have close up of all 3 from the person who collected the yabba creek and they do not look anything alike. So hence my reasoning on it being Daly river. But note to everyone else wiser than me don't mix collection location species.
This tank has the same Netlea professional soil in it as what @Unexpected is using. One thing I like about this the 1 time I have worked with it over the ADA is that it seems to have a heavier grain weight and makes it much easier to vacuum detritus up. Huge plus side to me there.
Also an update on the non-co2 cube with ADA v.2 as I provided it to someone else earlier:
This tank is now receiving 2x a week water changes as I have not been able to get the thread algae to stay away. I have added and removed species last Wednesday. This tank has been more trouble for me than all of my co2 tanks. Right now things grow very slow almost a stand still. This is likely due to the water temperature being 62.2F/~17C. Also believe that the rotala rotundofolia 'Blood Red SG' and H'ra are not as intense red because of this. I removed the 3 species of Ammania I had in here due to it doing terribly, was able to save a stem from each to grow in my emersed bin for now.
I want to show off this diplis diandra though. It has extremely short internodes and reminds me of a fine leaf r. tulu which I absolutely love the look of this. It does not have this short of internodes in the co2 tank.
Thinned out the number of plant species in the other 2 farm tanks without trying to crowd this one as they were extremely dense. Only 1 TC went in and that is the crypt sivadasanii in the front left corner. Also the back left val I am unsure 100% if it is Daly river or yabba creek. I believe its Daly river as it looks very similar to leopard and @Burr740 advised to not put those two together cause they are impossible to differentiate when they mix. Also yabba creek does not get as wide or as dark as it gets taller compared to the other two. Plus I have close up of all 3 from the person who collected the yabba creek and they do not look anything alike. So hence my reasoning on it being Daly river. But note to everyone else wiser than me don't mix collection location species.
This tank has the same Netlea professional soil in it as what @Unexpected is using. One thing I like about this the 1 time I have worked with it over the ADA is that it seems to have a heavier grain weight and makes it much easier to vacuum detritus up. Huge plus side to me there.
Also an update on the non-co2 cube with ADA v.2 as I provided it to someone else earlier:
This tank is now receiving 2x a week water changes as I have not been able to get the thread algae to stay away. I have added and removed species last Wednesday. This tank has been more trouble for me than all of my co2 tanks. Right now things grow very slow almost a stand still. This is likely due to the water temperature being 62.2F/~17C. Also believe that the rotala rotundofolia 'Blood Red SG' and H'ra are not as intense red because of this. I removed the 3 species of Ammania I had in here due to it doing terribly, was able to save a stem from each to grow in my emersed bin for now.
I want to show off this diplis diandra though. It has extremely short internodes and reminds me of a fine leaf r. tulu which I absolutely love the look of this. It does not have this short of internodes in the co2 tank.
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I’ve built my own pH monitoring with stuff from aliexpress: an ESP32, a pH probe and module and a 16 bit ADC. This stuff is relatively cheap indeed. Wrote my own code including a 3 point temperature dependent calibration. Was fun but not easy.
Please be aware the pH probe/module is very sensitive to electro magnetic interference which create noise. I had to do major investigations where a lot of signal noise was coming from. Other nearby 230v wirings and a flow pump were the causes of it. You probably need to use a galvanic isolated dc/dc converter to eliminate any electronic disturbances, like I did. I denoised a lot by taking 200 measurements per minute and take the median. And even then I have signal noise of 0.07 pH. But the daily trend in pH is very clear:
I can even convert this to an estimated CO2 value by taking in account the pH. And compare this to the measured CO2 in an isolated gas chamber, where CO2 of the water in the aquarium can diffuse in. And compare this to the measured ambient CO2 near my air pumps. And plot the measure d light intensity in my aquarium hood. And you get a very interesting graph about CO2, but that's even more off topic. (I might start a separate thread about monitoring tank metrics):
Good luck in building your pH sensor. If you need help, let me know.
Cheers.
BTW, nice thread and tanks you have!
How are the Sindoor and flamingo doing?
- Thread starter
- #127
The flamingo is doing good. The sindoor is doing fine. I'm getting new leaves but have been losing leaves too.
- Thread starter
- #128
Update Flamingo super slow growing but doing good sindoor, ive lost quite a bit of but I still have probably half of what I bought.
- Thread starter
- #129
Okay so I have reached a dilemma with this journal that I need some input on. Do I start a new journal for the 180gal build and use this for the farm tanks and other planted projects? Or do I continue to use this journal for all of my projects?
We can do this voting 2 ways you can respond or we can have you react for which you think since it appears I cannot create a poll.
We can do this voting 2 ways you can respond or we can have you react for which you think since it appears I cannot create a poll.
I think you should do whatever is easier for you
- Thread starter
- #132
So things are moving at about the right pace for the 180 setup but I am thinking it will be closer to the end of March before all is said and done. I need lids for the tank due to a couple issues, 1) evaporation since the room at times/most of the year will be cooler than the tank and 2) keeping a cat from getting the fish. I got quoted on custom cut 3/16" glass for it since it has weird dimensions and the charge would've been $500+ so that was out of the question. I am being given some leaky 55gal and am going to cut the glass myself for them. Originally I mentioned I would be doing BDBS for substrate but have decided instead to get Netlea aquasoil. I have been extremely pleased with how well plants grow in the farm tank with it and also the density it is not as light as ADA and is much harder coated allowing for me to gravel vac it. Originally I was going to paint the back of the stand but @Burr740 showed a comparison of a painted back and a vinyl static sheet. The vinyl static sheet won out. Stand is built and was able to get the tank on the stand this past weekend. My water storage pump is expected to finally be delivered today after being in transit for 10 days from a destination only 2 hours away 
. Tank still needs a good cleaning. Only waiting to order aquasoil basically now. I may be able to order the 3x WA a430s at the same time which would be great.
. Tank still needs a good cleaning. Only waiting to order aquasoil basically now. I may be able to order the 3x WA a430s at the same time which would be great.
Just double check to make sure what your cutting isn’t tempered
these mass produced tanks are not all the same- Thread starter
- #134
That is fair. I don't believe 55s were ever tempered but we will find out. I know 40 breeders the bottom is usually tempered now.Just double check to make sure what your cutting isn’t tempered
Agree with the tempered concern.
Also, if you know a stained or fused glass hobbyist, they'll have a glass grinder to easily smooth off edges after cutting, and grind an access indent for any power cords or airline tubing that needs to run into the tank
Also, if you know a stained or fused glass hobbyist, they'll have a glass grinder to easily smooth off edges after cutting, and grind an access indent for any power cords or airline tubing that needs to run into the tank
- Thread starter
- #136
I have not given much of an update to my actual tanks so lets do that.
The main 40gal:
This tank has been extremely easy going. It is over due for a trim obviously but that will happen this weekend/next week as I have the week off in between jobs. The only thing that has done poorly for me is the crypt sindoor. At first it was growing fine then slowly started melting back. I think if I tried it again I'd give it soil and see how it does. The nymphaea has exploded, I think this might make a good alternative to a brown crypt in traditional dutch scapes. Limno aquatica has had some weird mutation going on with 1 or 2 stems, it almost looks like hygro. difformis if you check the left 2 most stems of that bunch.
14g Cube:
This tank is a disaster, partially because I have slacked off in its care. I am trying to decide what I want to do with this tank. Personally this style tank is not up my alley, I have not enjoyed doing the maintenance without the lack of results. I have thought about converting it into a nature style display, also contemplating using it for a wabi kusa. Just haven't decided which. I need to get it off the rack it is on and finish the stand but the 180 and related projects has been the focus.
Farm Tank #1:
This tank has done absolutely marvelous since I planted it in mid January. Needs a trim as do the others but I am very pleased with the overall growth in this tank.
Farm Tank #2:
This tank has been doing very well. The green lotus has take over and I have needed to pull the massive leaves every few days so that they do not shade everything else.
Farm Tank #3:
While the picture does not show it this tank has been an absolute algae farm. It needs a thorough uproot and cleaning.
The main 40gal:
This tank has been extremely easy going. It is over due for a trim obviously but that will happen this weekend/next week as I have the week off in between jobs. The only thing that has done poorly for me is the crypt sindoor. At first it was growing fine then slowly started melting back. I think if I tried it again I'd give it soil and see how it does. The nymphaea has exploded, I think this might make a good alternative to a brown crypt in traditional dutch scapes. Limno aquatica has had some weird mutation going on with 1 or 2 stems, it almost looks like hygro. difformis if you check the left 2 most stems of that bunch.
14g Cube:
This tank is a disaster, partially because I have slacked off in its care. I am trying to decide what I want to do with this tank. Personally this style tank is not up my alley, I have not enjoyed doing the maintenance without the lack of results. I have thought about converting it into a nature style display, also contemplating using it for a wabi kusa. Just haven't decided which. I need to get it off the rack it is on and finish the stand but the 180 and related projects has been the focus.
Farm Tank #1:
This tank has done absolutely marvelous since I planted it in mid January. Needs a trim as do the others but I am very pleased with the overall growth in this tank.
Farm Tank #2:
This tank has been doing very well. The green lotus has take over and I have needed to pull the massive leaves every few days so that they do not shade everything else.
Farm Tank #3:
While the picture does not show it this tank has been an absolute algae farm. It needs a thorough uproot and cleaning.
- Thread starter
- #137
Well I was not planning for this to happen today:
The 180 Display is officially setup and planted. Here are the details.
Equipment:
180gal 72" x 24" x 24" (180cm x 60cm x 60cm)
54L of Netlea Aquasoil - 2" Depth
2- WeekAqua P900 - 30" from substrate
300w Jager heater on inkbird controller set to 75F/~24C
Aqua Rocks Colorado Yugang Reactor
20# Co2 Tank
Homebuilt stand
The light settings are just the baseline and will adjust as needed from here. I will check par at somepoint this week and upload my findings. I originally thought I was going to order WeekAqua A430 for this tank but I want to see par data before I make that choice. I was impressed with the output of the 2-P900
Plants:
Fertilizer:
N: 30ppm
P: 10ppm
K: 40ppm
Ca: 35ppm
Mg: 7ppm
Micros: 0.45 Burrs Micro Mix
This has been my standard macro mix for the past 6 months practically and it has worked extremely well for me.
The 180 Display is officially setup and planted. Here are the details.
Equipment:
180gal 72" x 24" x 24" (180cm x 60cm x 60cm)
54L of Netlea Aquasoil - 2" Depth
2- WeekAqua P900 - 30" from substrate
Settings:
40% Red
45% Green
30% Blue
50% Overall Power
Fluval Fx6300w Jager heater on inkbird controller set to 75F/~24C
Aqua Rocks Colorado Yugang Reactor
20# Co2 Tank
Homebuilt stand
The light settings are just the baseline and will adjust as needed from here. I will check par at somepoint this week and upload my findings. I originally thought I was going to order WeekAqua A430 for this tank but I want to see par data before I make that choice. I was impressed with the output of the 2-P900
Plants:
- heteranthera zosterifolia
- crypt undulatus 'red'
- linderia sp "india"
- crypt crispulata var. 'tomkinensis'
- myriophyllum 'roriama'
- lobelia cardinalis 'mini'
- hygrophila difformis
- nymphaea garderiana 'Santerem'
- rotala macandra var 'Mini Type IV'
- bylxa japonica
- hottoina palustris
- crypt wendtii 'flamingo'
- limnophila aromatica 'mini'
- rotala indica 'bonsai'
- limnophila aquatica
- rotala macrandra 'Bangladesh'
- crinum calamistratum
- aponogeton longiplumulosus - bulb
Fertilizer:
N: 30ppm
P: 10ppm
K: 40ppm
Ca: 35ppm
Mg: 7ppm
Micros: 0.45 Burrs Micro Mix
This has been my standard macro mix for the past 6 months practically and it has worked extremely well for me.
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Joel Armstrong
Active Member
Do you front load the ferts, and what is your water change schedule?
- Thread starter
- #139
So I do a double dose after water change for Macros and then a dose on Tu, Th. Micros are dosed M, W, F. ~50% Water Changes every Sunday.
That looks great. I'm glad someone got something done. Today was water change day for me, and I didn't get crap done. I really needed to get it done to work on combating my green dust algae.
