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Mountains of Sawdust, take two

16K views 124 replies 21 participants last post by  jbrady33 
#1 ·
Hello TPT,

I will be using this thread to journal my next aquarium adventure. The exciting parts are probably at least several weeks or months away, but in the meantime I will post the "backstory" as I have time available. About three years ago, I started work on a large built-in aquarium with a heavy emphasis on DIY. The first iteration(s) of the aquarium can be seen in my build thread on reef central. The aquarium was initially built as a marine reef. While I loved and enjoyed building the system as a reef, it got to the point where owning/operating it as a reef wasn't really meeting my needs, so to speak. So, over the last month or two, I have been planning it's conversion to a planted freshwater aquarium.

More to come...
 
#71 ·
Rainbowfish awesome! Definitely be a good choice, and prettier (and more expensive) than danios. A large group of serpae or red minor tetras would also be great, and they add some permanent color to the aquarium. They aren't really a schooling fish, but they interact a lot with each other.

For some medium sized catfish, I'd go with bristlenoses. They get fairly big, are active during the day, are fun to feed (zucchini, vegetables), eat algae, and are so easy to breed. Males guard the fry. They will nibble on plants if they are hungry, but with fast growth rates, I don't notice it.

A dwarf cichlid would be cool. A dozen kribs? I've got some Apistograma cacuatoides that are also very cool.

Best of luck!
 
#72 ·
Otos are a good CUC. They stay pretty small. Pictus catfish will be your best bet for a cat that won't grow HUGE. I'm burned out on plecos. They are always messy and leave LOTS of poop around no matter which kind you get. The smaller species like bristlenose don't get big, but they're still messy. Must have a school of corys. They are very social and go well with just about anything. Some nice angels would do well in that tank. I like the blue zebras myself. Apistogrammas would be really nice to. There are some harder to find species (sp. hongsloi) that are beautiful.

Rainbows are nice, but they're kinda funny looking IMO especially when they are adults. They are VERY active though and will be all over that tank all the time. I like bosmani rainbows the best. Rams are always a good choice and they're very friendly. Mine haven't quite ate out of my hands yet, but a lot of ram owners have gotten theirs to eat out of the hand.
 
#73 ·
A huge group of Cory cats would be a lot of fun to watch. :)

I know this would be against the 'simple and easier' idea, but can you imagine a big school of wild/henkle type discus in that thing, with a giant cloud of cardinals?!

Plants: some of those criniums (spelling?) that get huge long crinkled leaves and flower would be cool. Some crypt balanese and sprialis too
 
#76 ·
Rams, group of cory cats, and possibly longfin BN plecos are all on the shortlist.

ARRRGGGGGG why did someone have to mention discus? :D I like the idea very much except (having never kept them) I have the perception that they are "difficult" and require a lot of attention, plus possibly tank conditions the rest of my stuff might not like (i.e. really warm water).
 
#78 ·
Dude, you've kept a reef tank. That pretty much assures that you can keep discus. Especially if you have an RO/DI unit. Adults are a lot less finicky than juvies are.

There are some really nice angels out there. I've fallen in love with my blue zebras. Here's a crummy phone pic that doesn't do it justice.
 
#79 · (Edited)
Unless I am mistaken, you already have everything you need for discus that scares away us lesser mortals :)

Soft, low ph water - you have RO unit
Stable, large water volume - that thing is how many umpteen hundreds of gallons?
Constant water changes (for 0 nitrates and growth limiting hormone removal - you have auto top off & change.
Stable warm water (mid 80s) - I'm sure your reef stuff can do it

The only things left is feeding, I've always understood that they eat flake but thrive if supplemented with frozen bloodworms and what not - still sounds a lot less complicated than feeding a reef

Cost could be high initially, last time i checked it was $30 a fish to start :O

On the plus side, both discus and cardinals to keep them company are brightly colored AND reflective, so will show up really well even in the back of the tank.

The natural/wild type are just so cool looking to, with the dark banding and blue patterning. Plus you'd get babies! :)

http://m792.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/FishVixen/wilddiscus.jpg.html

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&...GR6oDwDA&ved=0CAkQsAQ&q=discus fish&tbm=isch#
 
#80 ·
I'm going to pretend I don't see the pro-discus posts for now. :D

It looks like the first inhabitants are already there. Mosquito larvae. They must have hitch hiked in with the driftwood. Oh well, it's getting drained tonight or tomorrow for the first round of planting. :D Maybe I'll get a few cheap hardy fish to keep the wiggler population down until I decide on "real" fish.
 
#81 ·
Also, let me qualify my "too difficult" comment - I'm sure I could keep discus successfully. I'm not concerned about killing fish, I'm concerned about the stress and level of effort...

I sold the RO membrane and DI off my RO/DI unit, so now it's just a three stage filter (sediment, carbon, carbon). I really don't like RO as a technology (it's costly and wasteful) and I don't think I need it as my tap is pretty moderate in most parameters.

I did manage to get my hands on a solenoid for the auto topoff/water change system, which is the last piece of equipment I need to install. It's feeling great to have things this far along but also kind of anticlimactic in a way. I mean, this was just SO easy. :D
 
#82 ·
kind of anticlimactic in a way. I mean, this was just SO easy. :D
I think your 'hardest' task i going to be keeping the plants trimmed - which is kinds fun in it's own way - trims = more plants to fill in or RAOK out! :smile:
 
#83 ·
Once things are established and the slow growing plants start to expand, I will rip out fast growing plants and let the slowpokes take over. Thus, eventually, I won't HAVE to trim all the time. This is what I did in the 60g I posted near the beginning of the thread and it seemed to work really well.
 
#85 ·
Cool! You should consider some crypt balansae, retro, or spiralis in that back right 'no window' corner - an easy top to bottom forest!

I'm going to pretend I don't see the pro-discus posts for now.
You cannot ignore the HypnoDiscus, all hail the HypnoDiscus!


-----------------------------OBEY!------------------------------
 
#86 ·
I do have some balansae but I was considering them midground plants, do they really get that tall? By the time you account for substrate and actual water height, the 24" height of the aquarium probably equates to about 20" of water depth.

Better not threaten me with hypnodiscus or I'll go do something brash like fill the tank with guppies. :lol:
 
#87 ·
I believe the balansae can get to 2 feet normally, some people have posted pics of it even longer! - definitely background :) You can trim the tops like a haircut though.

With your huge floor space they would look cool in a clump back there

The HypnoDiscus does what he pleases, I have no control of it! :smile:
 
#89 ·
Planting is complete and things are settling in a bit. Water is still cloudy. I took some more poor quality cellphone photos.

The FTS:



Left to right across the front:







Long end FTS and close up:





Back window FTS and close up:





I have the blue LEDs on a separate channel, and the whites split into two channels, so I can get some variation across the tank in terms of intensity as well as adjust different areas to get a wamer or cooler look (and, of course, fade to imitate sunrise/sunset as well as other dimming effects). Compare this with the first shot:



I am still not sure what I prefer. The reefkeeper in me likes the cooler, blue look. The planted FW enthusiast in me keeps whispering that it's supposed to be a lot warmer. At least I can change my mind by pushing buttons instead of swapping equipment. :D

I definitely need to do a round two (at least) and replant. Most of the stems are just sorta plopped into empty spaces for now. And my favorite part is not really visible at all. I put a bunch of really nice swords (amazon and kliener bar) back behind the driftwood on the right end, and you can't see them at all from any angle. I may leave them there and see what it looks like grown in.

Also I have nothing that even resembles a carpet for the foreground. I'm hoping that at least one of the crypt species I have stays small, and I can just let it take over the foreground. If that doesn't work, does anyone have suggestions for a low-maintenance carpet? The area in question is fairly well lit.
 
#93 ·
Thanks. It's quite the milestone. I have to say, every day I am happier about my switch from reef to planted FW. I certainly enjoyed the reef and all, but this is just so much less stress.

And cheaper. My entire cost to convert (substrate, driftwood, plants, few plumbing and electrical odds and ends, test kits, fertilizers, fish) is going to be a tiny fraction of what the reef cost to set up. And ongoing operating costs are going to be much less, too.
 
#94 ·
And, I am back in action with CO2. The local welding shop swapped the non-hydro'd tank, no questions asked. The tank they gave me has hydro dates going back to the early 1960's. I guess that says something about the durability of a steel tank. :D

Last night I also finished rigging the auto topoff/auto water change system. This is probably my favorite part of the system because I think I've managed to hit the sweet spot of "simple yet effective." I've done all kinds of ATO and auto water change setups on marine tanks, but the flexibility of not having to maintain salinity means I can combine the two on this system.

I don't remember if I explained it in detail yet so here goes. In the basement below the tank, there's the remnant of my old RO/DI unit. Basically, just the prefilters - sediment, and two carbon blocks. This ensures the water has no sediment and really bad things (chlorine) are gone. A standard poly line runs from this filter up to the bottom of the stand, through a chaise I use for plumbing and wiring.

Inside the stand, the water supply line goes through a solenoid. The solenoid is on a timer. After the solenoid, the line runs up over the rim of the tank and is secured to the return plumbing from the main pump.

Inside the filter box (old overflow box), one of the 1.5" bulkheads in the wall of the tank is plumbed to a 90 that points straight up, with a very short length of straight pipe. This upwards-facing pipe terminates right where I want the water line in the box. It's covered with a home-made grille to keep fish/plants/filter media/whatever from getting in. On the outside of the tank, this bulkhead is connected to a standard hose bib that has a hose on it, which runs outside the house to a drain in the yard.

The solenoid on the water supply line is on a timer that I can set to run for a few minutes each day. I haven't dialed this in yet, but the eventual goal is to set it so it runs JUST longer than required to account for topoff. When it runs, the water level in the filter box rises. Once it hits the level of the drain, old water drains outside the house.

With this design, I can account for evaporation, AND perform very small daily water changes, with nothing more than a timer and a solenoid. No float switches to run the ATO! No complications! If the solenoid sticks shut, I have probably 5 or 6 days before the main pump starts sucking air, no big deal. If the solenoid sticks open, no big deal, extra water just goes down the drain. If the drain partially clogs, well - it's got a whole day before the water supply runs again to drain the small "extra" water. If the drain clogs 100%, I will have probably a week or two before the "extra" water builds up enough to cause a spill. If the drain clogs 100% AND the solenoid sticks open, I've got probably 6 or 8 hours before a spill. These are acceptable levels of risk in my book, and way way less risk than most people with ATOs or auto water change functionality seem to have.

If I want a large water change, I can just override the timer and let it run for whatever interval I want. The water enters slowly enough that I'm not worried about matching temperature. I will NEVER have to deal with lugging buckets of water or hoses or any of the typical mess associated with water changes! If I did ever decide that I needed to siphon detritus from the substrate, I can just unscrew the drain hose and start a siphon in it, suck things out, then override the timer and let the tank refill.
 
#95 ·
First fish are in! As of yesterday. Six otos, two red tail zebra sand loaches, one bushynose pleco baby. Figured I would start small.

Took about two hours of searching this morning with me and the kids, and we can find three otos, the loaches, and I finally got lucky and saw the pleco. I knew small camoflaged fish would blend in but man, this is hard work!

The lfs has a low tech planted 120, mostly crypts and anubias. They recently put a huge school of cardinals in. It looks AMAZING. One of the lamps in the florescent fixture is actinic, the fish practically glow. I've never seen an actinic lamp over FW like that. My RB LEDs would create a similar effect I bet. I may have to do a school of neons or cards after all.

Also I may take out the twiggy wood. I have been spending a bunch of effort trying to convince myself that I like it and I think it's time to give up.

PS, after putting the CO2 tank back on earlier in the week, my drop checker stayed blue. Spent a good while troubleshooting and found a kink in the line. Still no juice. Then realized the tank valve was closed. :D
 
#96 ·
Your tank looks great. Give the java fern some time to settle in and it will really fill out in time. Definitely get some Cardinals, I've got a school of 200 or so in my tank and they look amazing under RGB Leds. As for a super "low maintenance carpet plant"- I recommend planting some Staurogyne Repens. It grows into a very tight thatch and stays low to the substrate. I've had some growing in my tank for nearly 2 years now and it's never needed a trim. Given enough time, it's going to carpet the whole tank.
 
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