Journal Trying to make a high-end aquascape from scratch

[gjcarew]

You'd have to build a custom setup for what you're looking for -- there are no stock flowmeter-attached-to-regulator setups on the market.

I currently use a RMA 151, too, and just built a 3D printed bracket to hold it to the cabinet. Is that how yours was setup?

Yeah, it was kind of a janky mount though. I didn't like the extra complication of regulator -> wall -> tank. It also doesn't help that I bricked it by forgetting to add back a check valve while troubleshooting a faulty regulator. Turns out they just don't recover when they get wet

 

[Bettatail]

Paging @Bettatail, @Bettatail to the white courtesy telephone please

View attachment 14948

something like this?

It is a porter 65mm flow meter with high precision HR valve #0 and A-125-3 tube, for 0-50SCCM flow control.

 

[gjcarew]

Decided to go with cardinals for this scape. I think it was a good choice.

 

[gjcarew]

...

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

How do you feel about cardinals vs neons?

 

[techman81]

Decided to go with cardinals for this scape. I think it was a good choice.

Love my cardinals. There's good reason why they are so popular.

 

[gjcarew]

How do you feel about cardinals vs neons?

I haven't ever kept cardinals before, so I couldn't say. I like neons. Green neons are probably my favorite but you'd just never see them ina tank this size

 

[gjcarew]

Did some maintenance today before I head out of town for a week tomorrow. Mostly getting rid of suboptimal plant matter. Everything that was grown in the old tank was looking pretty rough, so I did some aggressive trimming.



You can almost see some of the background plants. Rotala blood red, limnophila hippuridoides, myriophyllum matogrossense and ludwigia are in the background here. Still small, but growing well.


I planted an erio lineare that I've had growing emersed for a while. This is turning into a fun little rare specimen corner with nymphaea minuta and echinodorus iguazu 2009.

 

[Pepere]

To my mind one of the beauties of the horizontal reactor is the ability to use the regulators pressure knob as a fine adjustment screw. Since you do not need more than a about 0.5 - 1 psi to overcome head pressure from the weight of the water column, I crank my regulator to maximum before roughly adjusting needle valve.

Where adjusting below overflow mode, adjust it roughly until you are a bit over the ppm level you want to be at. Then knock back the regulator pressure 5 psi, wait for things to reach equilibrium, and then test again, dial back in 5 psi increments till you get where you want to be.

You cant do this with a ceramic diffuser as they have a designed pressure they need to be at…

 

[gjcarew]

Smart! It never occured to me to adjust the working pressure

 

[gjcarew]

Welp, flight was cancelled so I made it to the GSAS meeting today. Picked up some potamogeton gayi, stargrass, and cabomba piauhyensis.

 

[gjcarew]

Check this out

My bubble counter is not emitting bubbles at a regular rate... Very weird. Also, it used a 10 lb cylinder in about 2 months. Is that normal for a 10 lb tank? I don't remember having to refill very often before. I didn't find any leaks but they can be sneaky

 

[gjcarew]

Still very bubbly from a water change