*Ci*
Tending water worlds since 1975!
Got the green light from spouse for a new tank … my biggest yet and going to do something completely different. Will keep you in suspense until I start a journal : )
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What did you do to your tank(s) today?
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That's awesome! You like to do different things with your tanks, and I like it.
techman81
Valuable Member
Water changes on all 3 active tanks plus some trimming. Finished scrubbing the new-to-me 90g tank but I think I'll move it down the list and finish getting the 25g and 16g tanks up and running first.
Worked on the output flow in relation to CO2 on my two high tech tanks (75G & 150G).
Both had different bits and pieces of algae. The 75G only really in the past two months coinciding with converting my fert regime to DIY. Which was a moderate increase in ferts as I was more lean dosing before. Haven't gone crazy but moved more towards the non-limiting dosing.
Now, I'm pretty sure in both tanks I have enough light, CO2 and ferts. But the tanks were clearly still a bit unbalanced.
So ignoring the algae, I decided to look at the plant health or lack of in certain plants to try and ascertain what was causing the issue/s.
I think part of the problem was lack of CO2 flow. Even though I was injecting plenty, it wasn't being distributed evenly throughout the tank. For example, in the 5ft tank, I would have different PH readings from one side to the other.
So for the 5 ft tank, I added a wave maker to push the CO2 from the outflow to the rest of the tank. I'm not convinced the flow pattern is right yet but its a start.
For the 75G, I think the problem was worse. The outflow was connected to a spray bar. In front of that spray bar was a bunch of hygrophila corymbosa which has grown quite thick over time. Guess what grows like crazy? So much that I need to cut it down each week. The problem of course, is the flow mainly stops there and minimal flow is distributed elsewhere.
My other error there was i had the outflow of the cannister at one end and the inflow at the other.
So I ripped all that out, picked up some lily pipes (including a surface skimmer on the outflow which also cleared up the minor surface issue). Positioned both inflow & outflow in the back left corner and added a wave maker to increase the flow - can already see is much better distribution but will probably take a bit of time to see results.
Both had different bits and pieces of algae. The 75G only really in the past two months coinciding with converting my fert regime to DIY. Which was a moderate increase in ferts as I was more lean dosing before. Haven't gone crazy but moved more towards the non-limiting dosing.
Now, I'm pretty sure in both tanks I have enough light, CO2 and ferts. But the tanks were clearly still a bit unbalanced.
So ignoring the algae, I decided to look at the plant health or lack of in certain plants to try and ascertain what was causing the issue/s.
I think part of the problem was lack of CO2 flow. Even though I was injecting plenty, it wasn't being distributed evenly throughout the tank. For example, in the 5ft tank, I would have different PH readings from one side to the other.
So for the 5 ft tank, I added a wave maker to push the CO2 from the outflow to the rest of the tank. I'm not convinced the flow pattern is right yet but its a start.
For the 75G, I think the problem was worse. The outflow was connected to a spray bar. In front of that spray bar was a bunch of hygrophila corymbosa which has grown quite thick over time. Guess what grows like crazy? So much that I need to cut it down each week. The problem of course, is the flow mainly stops there and minimal flow is distributed elsewhere.
My other error there was i had the outflow of the cannister at one end and the inflow at the other.
So I ripped all that out, picked up some lily pipes (including a surface skimmer on the outflow which also cleared up the minor surface issue). Positioned both inflow & outflow in the back left corner and added a wave maker to increase the flow - can already see is much better distribution but will probably take a bit of time to see results.
Are you using a diffuser or a reactor?
Inline diffusers, eventually I'll move to reactors as these tanks need them but even with reactors I would still have had the flow problem inside the tank.
The good news is that reactors really can help with even CO2 distribution, since you don't have small bubbles constantly rising to the surface! Combine your new improved flow pattern with a reactor and I bet you'll love the results.
Yes agreed. The reactors will be the last main piece of the puzzle.
gnatster
Active Member
Fed the Green Rasboras springtails. Once they figured out it was food they went nuts.
I spent way too much time rearranging rocks on a table while I wait for two new tanks to ship.
Kwyet
After every new tank—“This is my last one!”
I spent quite a long time getting the Dutch tank camera ready, and taking lots of pictures, only to find after I put all the equipment back on it that every single picture had a visible seam in one corner. I’ll try again this Saturday I think. Then I’ll just have to choose the best set.
techman81
Valuable Member
Swapped the M series Week Aqua with an L series on the farm tank (90cm). Now we're cookin!
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I'll be quite interested to see how you find it and the ratios you use for each rgb colour or if you use one of the pre-sets.
Still not quite sure what the UV option does. It only appears to influence the overall power fairly minimally.
Currently I'm on about 80% overall power with red 77%, green 74% and blue 31% and UV 30%.
Not convinced by any means these ratios are any good, just what I've settled on for the time being.
techman81
Valuable Member
I was using one of the presets on the M series but for this, since the wattage is essentially the same as my Chihiros WRGB 2, I'm testing the same custom settings I use with that: red 60-70 percent, blue a couple percent below red, and green 15-20 percent below red. I'm trying the UV at about 20-25 percent for now. With the Chihiros, when I'm not trying to push growth, I drop the red and blue down into the 50s.
Kwyet
After every new tank—“This is my last one!”
T
The UV is supposed to bring out more color on the fish and plants.
Its fert mixing day!
Been doing this type thing for decades, but today I want to blame this not-so-fun-ness on @Burr740 and @Naturescapes_Rocco
Been doing this type thing for decades, but today I want to blame this not-so-fun-ness on @Burr740 and @Naturescapes_Rocco
techman81
Valuable Member
3 water changes, glass cleaning, prefilter cleaning, some light trimming, and still working on cleaning up the used 90 gallon. I'm redoing the sealing on that one. If I continue setting up new tanks, I'll have to retire to have time for maintaining them.
My current tank is a temporary tank for a betta that needs a home. It is supposed to house him and farm some plants only until I get his current tank set up at work. Things got out of hand when I decided to set up a practice scape in this one, surprise. So now I don’t want to take all the plants out for tank two.
So today I started setting up a farm tank for my farm tank, and unboxed a bunch of plant purchases. It’s a sickness.
So today I started setting up a farm tank for my farm tank, and unboxed a bunch of plant purchases. It’s a sickness.
techman81
Valuable Member
I went from a 20g farm tank, to a 40g farm tank and now have a new 60g breeder that will replace the 40 and may be a "practice" Dutch tank.
techman81
Valuable Member
I had an Apec RO-90 RO system. I just finished replacing it with a BRS 6 stage deluxe 200gph RODI system. Did I need to? No. Will it calm my OCD a little? Yes. The Apec output 25ppm while the BRS outputs 0ppm. The BRS unit was on sale for $264 last week. It's back up to $344 now even though it's still on sale.
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