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Manik's planted 40b "Midnite" PIC UPDATE 2 months after planting

7K views 47 replies 18 participants last post by  manik 
#1 · (Edited)
Alright.... Here I go. This project has been in the works for the last 6 months. Time to hit the GO button on this and see if I've learned anything :icon_eek:.

SPECS

40 gal. breeder (spray painted background (on the outside))
DIY Aspen stand, modified to fit the 40b

Lighting
100W HO T5 (timed to 8.5 hours)
strip led for a moonlight effect
(taking it to the "rediculous" stage)

Filteration
RODI H20
Auto-top off
5.5 g sump
Cascade 500 canister

C02
5 lb. canister
Milwaukee reg with solenoid/bubble counter
4dkh drop checker
Glass diffusion

Substrate
Left over laterite on bottom
MTS- Vital Organics Potting soil with clay added
Organic Cheesecloth for separation
Black sand cap

Driftwood locally harvested

Plants
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Blyxa Jap. (if I can find it)
Limnophila hippuroides
Vesicularia montagnei
Pogostemon erectus

Livestock
Some kina tetra
Otos
Black mystery snail (possibly)
Angels (pending)

and... pics
 

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#2 ·
Here's some more shots. After tweaking the hardscape a bit from my previous thread, I fell for this. I removed quite a bit of stonework, Moved the DW a bit more centered. This will change slightly once I take the top off. This is after the sloping... added the DW and then meticulously arranged the cheesecloth (which I'm expecting to breakdown and feed the microbes after the HC has carpeted). Capped with the sand. I then filled it up a bit and covered it to keep it humid. Definitely don't want the DW to dry out and float.
 

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#3 ·
Foggers are cool

Got my fogger working :).. maybe I shouldn't flood it and keep it a vivarium :icon_eek:

Back to the build. CO2 is coming this week. Once I get that I'll be sourcing the plant life. I've been considering going DSM with this one... but seeing as how have been HIGHLY impatient to get to this point... I'm not sure if I can go DSM. Time will tell. Updates soon...

Thanks for looking! :)
 

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#8 ·
Yeah... that's a concern for sure. It's been wet this whole time. I'm thinking about flooding the tank soon, just to keep the DW wet while I wait on the plants. No lights,just to start the cycle and keep the DW submerged.

Very nice start.
Thank you! :)

heh the fog pictures look pretty awesome :)
The fogger was free :) It's got these cheesy LED color changing light on it. Otherwise, I was thinking about blacking those out and putting it on an extra tank and starting a riparium/vivarium (or whatever the name for those things is now)... but WITH FOG! :)
 
#11 ·
Great start! Love your hardscape.

Thank you both! Much inspiration was derived from what I've seen of you stuff.

I'm falling in love with it. I flooded it today, to keep the DW waterlogged and hopefully start some bacterial colonies. Oh man, 75 gpd RODI sure makes for a LOOONG fill up. Been going for 10 hours now! I've been entranced by watching the little "pearling" sand bubbles. Now... I just need that C02 to come in and some plants..

Who's got some plants for the cause?
 
#12 ·
H20!

As I mentioned in the last post. I've decided to flood the tank... after a rediculous amount of time... It's over. I ordered my green stuff today. This is whats coming:

Limnophila hippuroides
Vesicularia montagnei
Pogostemon Erectus
Blyxa Japonica
HC


I've added my first bits of life to the scape... bio from the previous filter and an air plant. I received my replacement parts from Penn-Plax today as well. The canister is back up and running. My thoughts on the Cascade 500. Good filter, does a good job. Cheap plastic parts are not cool, customer service at Penn-plax is great. Shipped $15 worth of replacements 2 day air, at no cost to me. So... until the plants are here the end of the week... this is what I've got.
 

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#14 ·
Thanks Hearnet :) Yeah, I'm digging the bromeliad too. Regarding the DIY PVC overflow. I have had one in my reef tank for about 5 months now, and just made this one for the 40b (I must like them, cause I made another one for a larger volume of water) I like them. I like not having to drill holes. They're pretty reliable. In my reef I had an issue of the siphon failing because of the air that gets trapped in the top of the siphon. It would, without fail, fail at almost 7:30 pm everyday. I had a run of this for a couple weeks. (Luckily, I had the water level right in the sump and the display, that it wouldn't overflow the tanks) To this day, I don't know why it would fail at the same time everyday. Possibly because it's nearly the same amount of water going through in that 24 hour period....

Anyway, I think the siphon failing because of air is due to the lack of flow going through the siphon (on my 20g reef, it's a slower flow), the pump going in wasn't as strong, the bubbles wouldn't get pushed through the siphon.

What I'm noticing with the 40 b... with higher volume of filtration (even though it's only been about 12 hours running) is that it's producing the gurgling noise. This starts at the outlet in the sump, the air trapped in the tubes gets flushed through occasionally, produces a gurgle then goes back to equilibrium with the return pump. It's not bad, just could be better. It hasn't failed yet. The thing with any siphon based overflow, is you've just got to check it every once in a while, to purge the air or micro adjust the valve. Other than that they're great!

I'm interested to see how well this filters the tank, as it's pulling from the top of the WC (NO BIOFILM!:wink: ) instead of the bottom, as the canister regularly would. Maybe more detritus... not sure yet. I'll let you know once there's plants and fish.
 
#17 ·
Alright folks... need your thoughts on this one. I've got my plants coming in soon, I've seen threads on various sites saying that it's possible to soak the plants in a bleach solution (to get rid of algae, snails?) I don't know how to feel about this... I don't like algae, that's for sure... especially when it's from someone else tank into mine... it's like catching a cold. What are your thoughts on this practice? Necessary, critical?
 
#20 ·
First Parameters taken

Anyone have thoughts on the above post?:help:

Regarding the tank...
I did fix the gurgling sound coming from the overflow. Cost me $1 of vinyl tubing. In the end, I just had to simplify the system a bit. Took two 90's out of the tube to the sump, straightened it and the gurgling is gone... (it's nice and peaceful now)

Parameters
10.24.12 (Tank started 10.22)

I haven't done a water change since the tank was filled. I think I'm going to take out 5 gallons tonight and replace it.

Temp 78f
Ph 7.6 (no C02 yet)
Gh 3 deg
Kh 2 deg
NH4 0ppm
NO2 0ppm
NO3 10ppm
PO4 .5ppm

I'm not sure what to think about the N03 being at 10 already. The tank shouldn't be cycled (although I did add a small bottle of Tetra Safe for sh!+s and giggles). I think this reading could be due to the MTS, possible nitrate leaching into the H20... or from the driftwood? That's all I can think of... I'm using RODI H20, so it's not from the H20. Any
thoughts? (Otherwise those numbers seem pretty great... I would be happier with a slightly lower Ph to start :icon_roll)
 
#22 ·
The good are in

Planted...

the pics are a little dark, I lowered the contrast on the shots. And now... time to learn to dose EI :icon_eek:
 

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#23 ·
GREAT START!!!

Love the drift wood too! I bet it is going to look awesome when the plants fill in!!!

I have never seen a overflow like that before, but I haven't used a sump in 10+ years. The only negative I see in the whole thing is the water level in the tank! It doesn't give you ANY ROOM for error! But again with not understanding how your overflow works it may be just fine!

I think the stand looks very nice as well!

Subscribed!
Drew
 
#24 ·
Thanks Drew! I'm stoked.

This overflow is something I picked up for my 20L marine tank, saw it online for a DIY overflow and tried it out. The one on the marine tank works like a charm. Power goes out, it'll start back up no problem. I hooked it up to a circ pump to keep it constantly primed, so it doesn't fail anymore. The one in this 40b has been a bit trickier to figure out. I definitely had a couple "UH OH!" moments finding the balance with the return. I've had the siphon quit cause I didn't have it tweeked right. I have the problem fixed now.... and need to play with the design, as I don't think it'll start back up if the power goes out... luckily my canister doesn't prime either, so I don't have to worry about that issue.

I worked out the H2O level in the display with what's in the sump to never allow it to overflow the display, as the intake for the filter will run out of water and suck air before that (siphon fails). If the if the power goes out, then the level of water able to pull out of the display will never exceed the sumps capabilities either. It also has the auto top off, which ensures the sump won't run dry do to evaporation. (see pic)

Next tank... I just need to get the cahunas to drill the tank, skip the trouble of the what ifs
 

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#26 ·
Got a drop checker question

I've run my CO2 for a couple of days now. I made a 4Dkh solution, installed the DC with the solution and about 2 drops of the Ph solution. After 8 hours of CO2 at about 2bps (which, btw is really difficult to count two different timings at the same time :confused1:) I'm still not seeing ANY change in the color of the solution. It's as blue as this fish -> :fish:

What's going wrong?
Can I verify the 4dkh with my KH test kit (n0ob question)
Would the Ph solution be inaccurate if it was old, about 2 years?

I'm going to bump up the bps for a few days (cause there's no livestock yet) and see if that helps.

Any other thoughts on why it's not registering?
 
#27 ·
From what I have seen of others who run a sump + CO2, they recommend sealing the sump to minimize off gassing the CO2. Something along the lines of a lid over the sump, taped shut. You want to minimize splashing as well.

I've run my CO2 for a couple of days now. I made a 4Dkh solution, installed the DC with the solution and about 2 drops of the Ph solution. After 8 hours of CO2 at about 2bps (which, btw is really difficult to count two different timings at the same time :confused1:) I'm still not seeing ANY change in the color of the solution. It's as blue as this fish -> :fish:

What's going wrong?
Can I verify the 4dkh with my KH test kit (n0ob question)
Would the Ph solution be inaccurate if it was old, about 2 years?

I'm going to bump up the bps for a few days (cause there's no livestock yet) and see if that helps.

Any other thoughts on why it's not registering?
 
#29 ·
Did a 10 gal water change today. Created a lid for the sump to try an keep some of the CO2 in the water. I'm not sure how well it's going to work. It's difficult to try and seal the tubes and wires going into the sump... we'll see.

Today's Parameters

Ph. 6.4
Gh 3
Kh 2
Ammonia 1 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 ppm (after a dose)

Apparently, the tank is starting to cycle... still waiting to see the nitrite spike happen. But at least there's ammonia.

All the plants are looking good. The HC is branching out a little bit, showing signs of growth. The Luminaria's old growth melted a little bit, but has a good centimeter of growth on the top (and it's growing in pink). The bromeliad on top is looking good too, new growth coming in is a reddish tint. (Not sure if that's a good thing or not)
 
#32 ·
New pics!

I just took these tonight. Everything is coming in pretty well. The first signs of algae have certainly appeared. I've cut the lights down 2 hours daily. The LFS didn't receive any ottos this week, so I my have to make a 3 hour journey next weekend to pick some up. The algae has limited to the glass and the top pieces of DW, close to the light. I'll do a water change tomorrow and make sure the parameters are all good.

Question: Since my drop checker isn't registering, I've been looking at the KH/PH/CO2 charts. My kh is at two... would it help the diffusion of CO2 if I bumped it up to 4? (Baking soda right?)
 

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#35 ·
Question: Since my drop checker isn't registering, I've been looking at the KH/PH/CO2 charts. My kh is at two... would it help the diffusion of CO2 if I bumped it up to 4? (Baking soda right?)
Really depends on what your target PH is. You want your target CO2 to be at least 20ppm, so at 4KH, you would target a PH of 6.8 to get 19ppm CO2.

I usually shoot for KH around 6, and keep my target PH at 6.9-7 which yields ~20ppm CO2.

If you are fishless, you can go higher to say 30ppm, but its safer to practice the level you are going to maintain long term.

and yes baking soda works fine to raise KH.

Looking good!
 
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