The Planted Tank Forum banner

13 Stones-Now Defunct, PT2 link up top

12K views 72 replies 18 participants last post by  talontsiawd 
#1 · (Edited)
This journal is now defunct...Please follow the link for PT 2

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=3568129#post3568129





Most Recent Pics:







------------------------------------------


I have done a few journals here over the years. I stopped because I was bouncing around a lot, my recording studio was at my parent's house, I lived at my GF's apartment more often than not, couldn't keep things going the way I wanted. I just bought my first home, super happy, living with my GF, and hopefully will have time for both her, and my 2000 hobbies, lol.


Enter 13 stones. I am no Igwami expert. I love the style, to a point, but I also love mountain scapes. I really just love rocks with plants. I used 13 stones as 13 is my lucky number, it also breaks down to 4, a very grounding number. I did my best to make what I wanted, with limited stone. Don't get me wrong, I have 100lbs of this, it just doesn't have the same character as expensive Japanese stone.

My goal of this tank is to have something that looks nice and is interesting. My girlfriend may a requirement that it has to look good 100% of the time. I have done that before, but never with CO2. I have had plenty of lush non-co2 tanks. I have had lush CO2 injected tanks as well but every CO2 injected tank I have had in the last 3 years only gets about 48 hours per week of viewing, much less maintenance.

This will be my first "high tech" tank that I really have time to deal with in a long time. I really hope it works.


Equipment:
Standard 20 Long (top de-rimmed)
Eheim 2215 w 2217 impeller
Aquaticlife T5HO fixture (24x4) ((overkill))
Petco stand
Coralife UV Sterilizer
Fountain pump autodoser
Heater (if need be)
20lb CO2 tank (will be swapped out to a 5lb if I can fit everything under the stand)
Beverage regulator w/ Fabco needle valve
GLA inline diffuser

Plants
Thinking just HC for now


Initial picture (not all that interesting)





I would love any advice on arrangement. Not sure how fast I can get HC.
 
See less See more
2
#5 ·
I didn't plan on planting so quickly but I was out by Albany Aquarium, one of my favorite places to get plants. It's kind of far from me so I decided to stop by and get some HC.

I didn't separate out the HC as much as I usually do but I also have never started with this much. I will probably separate it out more. I don't foresee a long dry start, just enough to get it rooted. I don't care if it fills in before I fill the tank, I just dry start HC to make life easy. Once it's rooted I will likely fill.

Still have a lot to do in the meantime. I need to clean my pipes and glassware. Then I need to plumb my filter. I don't even have my CO2 stuff here but I may have to convince the GF to let me have a big 20lb tank outside of the stand because I have other financial priorities.

Feel free to give me advice on anything. The hardscape isn't necessarily finalized and I have a bunch more rocks. I am still messing around with it, not really noticeably.

However, here is a pic:
 
#8 ·
I like that alot, great hardscape man!

I'm also doing a dry start with hc and dhg, (link in my signature), it's been going for a month now, and i have nice growth, and deep roots. I'm JONZING to fill it though! lol
It's ironic because I was looking at your journal right before I started my hardscape.

This is my personal opinion on filling it. Do it when you feel like it. HC grows more quickly submersed to begin with. I like to dry start to get it rooted as it's a pain to plant but I have yet to let a tank totally fill in. I actually like seeing it fill in underwater myself.

I would up your CO2 at first and have a 5-6 hour photoperiod to avoid algae. It takes time for HC to transition to immersed so you almost want to treat a dry start tank as though it has no plants. Then extend the photoperiod and dial down the CO2.
 
#13 ·
I am seeing noticeable grow with the HC under my Coarlife T5NO. Nothing that would be noticeable in pictures, but I may decide to keep this fixture. I was really looking forward to having an open top tank with a raised light but my Aquaticlife T5HO fixture but if I can get HC to grow with this light, I know algae will stay at bay, likely getting not much ever.

I guess my point of this is I am pretty surprised how well this light works on HC. I just stuck it on because I hadn't built a mounting system for the other light. I am not a firm believer that HC needs high light, I have successfully grown it in lower light, even in a non-co2 enriched tank.

If this works, I will be very happy as I am not a huge fan of high light and can consider ditching the autodosing system which is bulky. Well, not so much the auto dosing but the constant dosing daily. I will have to see if this continues, especially after filling.
 
#14 ·
I got the filter in order. It was a bit challenging as I need to conserve as much space as possible. I don't have a crazy amount of inline stuff, just a UV sterilizer and an inline diffuser but I wanted it to take as little space up as possible. I have had some ugly plumbing in the past so I wanted to do this nicely. It also means I may fill it earlier than later, we will see.

Before I fill I plan to change the outlet to a GFIC. Already have it, would have done it today if it wasn't raining like crazy. My 20lb CO2 tank won't fit under my stand so I am going to get a 10lb or 5lb on next refill since I exchange. Hopefully I still have room for my autodosing system and some shelves. I may just do a macro autodoser since micros are easy.

First "under the hood picks"


 
#15 ·
This is more of a home owners thing but I STRONGLY recommend doing this. This is one of the most important things I am doing on this build. It only costs about $7, DIY, not sure how much professionally but its worth it.

I am sure many know but I am installing a GFIC (ground-fault circuit interrupter). I do this on all fish tanks, or anywhere there is water and electricity (bathroom/kitchen).

What this does, if you don't have one or don't know is it basically cuts the power to the outlet if you were, to say, drop the light in the tank and it fried. Oversimplified but the circuit trips before something bad happens.

Picture of what it is:


Didn't do a picture of what was there but it was UGLY. Had to remove some drywall. Somebody basically used some taping mud or similar and filled the receptacle in.

Ugliness on the floor...wish I did this before putting the tank in.



Done:


Sorry, I forgot to turn my phone sideways so it's different sizes.



Next, I am "downgrading" my 20lb tank to a 5lb. I wasn't sure if I wanted 5 or 10lb. Luckily, my local filling place only has 5lb, problem solved lol. Now that I installed the GFIC, I may fill as soon as tonight. Just got to hook the CO2 up first. I am using an inline diffuser but I also will use an in tank one at first. It's mostly for looks, I like glassware, but hopefully it's more flexible. I will see what I get done tonight.

Sorry for the kind of BS updates, I just want to be very clear on what I am doing for myself so when I look back on it, I know what I did and can compare.
 
#16 ·
Temp CO2 setup took like 3 min lol. I am just going to run full time as my tank is still really full and being replaced. Tubing is too long, will cut it to size when I go to 5lb. It could probably fit in the stand, especially if I took the bubble counter out but I hope to have some shelving in there.




Oh, and I think I am filling tonight. Hopefully the HC isn't a nightmare.
 
#19 ·
I should have waited to fill so hopefully I don't get much more HC pulling up. I tried to replant what came up but every time I would plant, more would come up.

The reason I filled early was the fact we are having family and I thought it would make our house look more "finished". All of our guests wonder when I am getting frogs lol.

I thank you for the interest in this tank. Unfortunately, I don't know if it will be interesting for awhile. I way try to get pics at different angles soon but the water is a bit "white" due to me trying something new. I am going to run my UV instead of daily water changes at the beginning as I don't want to pull up/loose any excess HC, be it in the substrate or floating.
 
#21 ·
I used a coralife T5NO fixture as well on my 30 gallon.. only difference was mine were 36'' fixture and i was given 39 watt bulbs with the fixture even though they can only put out 21 watts per light.

Anyway, i ended up doubling up with another fixture and it grew my HC very well. Made it pretty thick. As long as u are cranking the Co2, u shouldn't have any problems.. make sure u dose plenty of ferts too and u should be ok
 
#23 ·
I used a coralife T5NO fixture as well on my 30 gallon.. only difference was mine were 36'' fixture and i was given 39 watt bulbs with the fixture even though they can only put out 21 watts per light.

Anyway, i ended up doubling up with another fixture and it grew my HC very well. Made it pretty thick. As long as u are cranking the Co2, u shouldn't have any problems.. make sure u dose plenty of ferts too and u should be ok
I have another fixture if this isn't enough. This was just temporary but it was growing HC emersed so I figured I would give it a try. The HC is growing slowly, but I am hoping the trade off is less potential for algae. My other fixture has way more light that I would ever need.


GZ on the house, friend.

My personal challenge would be to not over-plant it.
If you want to try some blyxa in the left back corner, you know my Earthly location.
Yeah, it's hard to not want to go crazy with plants, especially when you have the resources of light, co2, nutrients, etc. I wanted something simple and understated as it is my first living room. Ironically, my GF wanted a lot of color so my next tank will like be Dutch. Next scape I should say, I am trying to limit myself to one "regular" tank and one "nano" tank, whatever sizes they end up being over the years. Having 5 tanks in two locations really wasn't very fun.

As for the Blyxa, I would love to meet up soon. I don't know if I will put it in this tank as I haven't really figured out my other plants. I could use some in my nano though. It likely would look great in this tank but I am holding off on anything until the HC grows in. The only other plant I know I am going to use is fissidens. I am trying to use the mountains behind Stinson Beach as my influence, off of memory of course.

I will PM you right now Oleg.
 
#22 ·
GZ on the house, friend.

My personal challenge would be to not over-plant it.
If you want to try some blyxa in the left back corner, you know my Earthly location.
 
#24 ·
I think the scape looks really cool. The HC will eventually root. It takes patience, but I think it is pretty cool when it eventually does. I don't think you'll need a crazy amount of light for it. I wouldn't add any amanos or mts anytime soon. (not sure if you had plans to) I'd wait until the HC starts to fill in. Amanos love to uproot a lot of your efforts, and even mess with your slopes. Anyway. Great tip about the electrical outlet. You have any pictures of your autodosing setup. What are your plans for ferts etc? Quick HC tip: be sure to trim it down low and try to keep it from growing too much ontop of itself. It can really take off. And if you get lazy on the trimmings the plant can uproot if the mat gets too thick. The top layer of leaves will outcompete the bottom layer when it stacks up and the bottom layer will die and lose it's grip in the substrate causing it to float up. Also, when you trim, make sure to put a piece of screening or sponge over your intake of your lily pipe. The HC leaflets can be a pain if they get into your filter. I love hc, but the annoying part for me was the frequent trimming and cleanup. It would take me over an hour in my mini m to trim and then collect. I found a fine net suitable for shrimp was the best plant trimming collector. Mine grew so fast it was hard to keep up with. But I accredit that to the high light and long photoperiod I was keeping. I was just going to post a brief comment. my bad. looks good. all the best, walter
 
#25 ·
Thanks for the compliment. This is not my first effort with an HC carpet. That's actually a major reason why I didn't care to fill earlier than later as I just don't enjoy trimming it all the time. The only reason I say it was "prematurely filled" is that I didn't let a lot of it root. I would say about 1/3 has ended up in my filter, 1/2 of what is left has been replanted, and 1/4 more should be replanted lol.


I don't plan on adding any livestock for awhile. The main reason is I need to reevaluate my fish care. I hate to admit but I am not as good at keeping fish as I would like. A lot of this has to do with the fact that for the last 3 years, I have been bouncing around a lot. I would stay at my girls house and we eventually kind of moved in together. She had roommates and then a small apartment. My parents let me keep my recording studio at their place so I never really had a steady place I would go home to every night. I was really good when I was home a lot so now that my girl and I have a house, I think I should do a lot better.

The second reason is I often have bought fish on a whim and just didn't like them. I really need to decide exactly what I want. I also need something I can get locally so I don't buy to much at once.

This filter is also not cycled so that is another issue in itself. I can seed it with mulm from my other tank and/or do fish less.


As for ferts, I am just doing EI doesing to start. The only reason I have an autodosing system is for the reason I described above. I tried to do a high tech setup when I wasn't around enough. It's not all that interesting, just two containers with fountain pumps on a digital timer that comes on for 1 min. per day. I haven't set it up yet but I will take pictures when I get to it. I am just dry dosing right now.



On another note...this fixture is pissing me off. Well, more so, I have 3 and they all are pissing me off. A bulb when out last night on the fixture above my tank. I went to hook another one up, just to see which bulbs were which color. The ballast is going out and the bulbs were flashing. One popped before I hit the switch. I remember now why I bought my other fixture, the bulbs are not reliable and I only have one brand to choose, 3 color choices. I think it will go soon.

The only reason I haven't swapped fixtures is my Aquaticlife needs to be hung. I have a few things I need to do to make a light bar work, which is the route I am thinking right now. I may also just put a shelf in, will figure that out once this months bills get paid lol. I wish the benders were easy to rent as I don't have a need to own one. Nobody seems to rent them anymore.
 
#26 ·
So, sometimes it's funny how you can't wrap your head around something. I really wanted to figure out this light bar issue but then it occurred to me...this is my house, not an apartment. I can do whatever ever I want lol. I have only had my own home for 22 btw.

I decided to just hang my other light of the ceiling. I have exposed rafters so I did not need to do anything special.

Looks a lot "beefier" than the Coralife, both the fixture and the mounting. I will swap out the chain for wire once I figure out the final height. I kind of just guessed on the height for now, will do some research soon.

Here it is though



I figured I would take some other shots. They are a bit blurry and the color is a bit off but it give you an idea. I haven't cleaned the glass, inside or out. The inside doesn't have algae, just plant leaves and stuff from the last scape.





 
#28 ·
Ok, actually got everything in. Just found out that I mixed up a fountain pump so I will not be using my autodoser until I find my other pump. Who knows how long that will take me to find lol.

Since I have everything in, I figured I would take an "under the hood" shot. You can see my regulator is kind of BS. I want to upgrade that soon, I am just going to build it as I have money and see things online.

I did make a mistake with the shelving. I forgot about the outlets so I only have one shelf. Stupid me, I should have put the filter/CO2 on the other side. It's all plumbed so I will deal with it. I will likely put my dry ferts elsewhere once I get my autodoser in order. I am proud of myself because this is by far the cleanest I have done things, outside the cords which I will deal with as it comes.

Sorry for the excessive updates, I just like to keep track of everything when I actually am on point and have time.

Last pic of the night:
 
#29 ·
Hey Matt,

Thanks for the detailed response. Light looks great hung from the rafters and the auto doser looks rad too. Congrats on owning your own home!! great updates and upgrades. I feel you when it comes to livestock...especially fish. crazy difficult to decide, and once you do, you come home to find the ones that jumped...and your lovely school of shoaling fish decreases in size...and then one day you tweak your co2 and come home to find the shoal even sparser. It is much easier to add them later. your tank is going to look great. looking forward to the updates. -w
 
#30 ·
Thanks, the light definitely makes the tank look more "substantial", for good or for bad lol. The woman has reitereated that the tank must look good 100% of the time lol.

I had an amazing school of Cardinals about a year ago. One day before a party, I thought it would look cool to fill the water to the absolute top of the tank. Woke up, not in my best state, to 2 left. Wasn't fun.

I am thinking about doing Cardinal Tetra's again. The thing I don't like is I will get a random death for what appears to be no reason. Then it will happen again, maybe in a week, maybe in 3 months. I just have never had consistency with them. Maybe someone more experienced than I would know what's going on, I could never figure it out.

I want something that schools well for sure. Rummy Nose Tetra's could work but I am wondering if they will be too "dull". They are not hard to find in my general area but not easy to find close. I said earlier in the journal that I want to stock super slow so I don't want to go somewhere 30-45 min away to get 3 fish lol. I haven't visited my local stores in awhile though, just because I haven't had the need. I am definitely only doing one species, maybe two but the second would be shrimp.
 
#31 ·
Non photo update (though I may take pictures later).

I kind of regret not doing a longer dry start, or planting the HC better, either would have been a good idea. I think I have lost about 1/2 to 2/3rds of my HC from uprooting.

On the plus side, HC has transitioned and is a bright green, rather than the dull green it has been transitioning out of. I get a tiny bit of pearling but not significant. I may lower the light, or have a noon burst, as I absolutely love seeing my plants pearl. I know it's fine if they are not pearling but I just like the effect. I do think the lighting will allow for a tank that isn't a lot of maintenance if I keep it as is. Writing this so when I inevitably lower the light and add double the light on a noon burst and get algae, I can say that I told my self so when I get algae.



I may make a thread on this but I have a weird thing going on. I had this black algae on a bunch of my rocks in another tank. Didn't bug me. However, I am getting a small amount of this on the rocks that had it. I didn't clean my rocks. I am wondering if this algae can survive and go dormant. I can take out the rocks that have it (all small) and bleach them which I may do tonight. Kind of strange. This algae only appears on rocks and substrate, never on plants, have no clue what it is. Not problematic yet but I would hate for all my rocks to be covered in this stuff.


I also am getting a lot of film on the surface. I am thinking it's from the substrate which I reused from a tank with the same issue, no rinsing as I was hoping I could keep some beneficial bacteria. Not sure why it's there. On my last tank, even if I used my surface skimmer, it would come back. It always was way worse when I started a tank and would just be kind of noticeable after the fact. I know it isn't the brand of substrate because I have used it a lot without issues, I don't know if it is the cause.


Anyway, not concerned, just have minor issues that are kind of odd to me. No pics because their is less HC than the last, though now everything seems to be rooted well. I may take pics later if I have the energy, had a super fun weekend with friends and family but paying the price today with a huge hang over lol.
 
#32 ·
I started this thread:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2107960#post2107960

I am just wondering if anyone wants to help give ideas for stocking. I honestly just don't know what to do, outside of Cardinals which I like but want something new. I have bought so many fish I don't like and having a single species makes that experience not so fun.
 
#33 ·
This update is kind of boring. The HC has continued to uproot so it actually looks like I am going backwards. In truth, I have a lot of HC that is just right at the substrate level and it's much more spread out that you would think in pictures. I have also been diligent in trimming any upward growth because I don't have a lot of light on this tank. I have a feeling that once I see some noticeable growth, it will fill in much more quickly than it looks. Still think it will take awhile but I will experiment with upping the light once I have more plant mass, now is too soon.

I bought 6 featherfin rainbow's. I did two things I told myself I wouldn't do. First is I didn't test my water before I bought the fish. I actually went to the store to buy a test kit but they didn't have a full one and were missing one critical one for me to piece together. The second was buying more than a few fish at once. I hate how stores make it significantly cheaper to buy in bulk but I just went ahead and got six. I am sure everything will be fine but I will feel bad if any die because it may be too early, and I told myself I would stock very slow.

On a positive note, I have yet to have much algae at all. As I said in another post, I was getting this black algae that I think was actually dormant and came back. It only gets on the rocks and I just took the two out and bleached them. I also have a very small amount of BGA. It doesn't seem to be spreading much and I pull what I can and have it go into my filter since my UV is on. I will just nuke it with Maracyn as I am 98% certain it came from my last tank and was in the substrate.


Here are some quick/ugly pics:

Front:



Close up of HC to give an idea of what is going on:

 
#34 ·
Simple update:
This tank has gone through a few cycles of algae. The first and most obvious is diatoms. That hasn't totally gone away but much better. I also got a fair amount of BGA. I think that was either already in the substrate from the last tank I tore down, or from the fact I just rinsed a really dirty filter sponge, along with quite a bit of dead HC. Either way, I conquered it for the first time without using Erythromycin or anything else. Just upped the nitrates and it went away. Lastly, I was getting some fuzz algae, kind of died off for the most part. I haven't treated or removed any algae so I think I am doing well, even though it's frustrating.

Now, the tank seems to be balancing it self out, but growth has been slow. I told myself I would not do anything sudden and I am trying to keep to that. The one time I didn't was filling to early and I lost probably 2/3 of my HC if not more. Filling to early wasn't the mistake, not replanting it was. Anyway, I am doing everything very slowly which probably isn't much fun to watch. I did lower my light about an inch, today, to see what happens. If it goes good for awhile, I plan to extend the photoperiod. If that goes good, I may try my second bank of lights for a noon burst. I will continue to move slowly myself but hopefully growth picks up soon.

Not super interesting yet but here is a pic:
 
#36 ·
It doesn't look that much bigger in real life. I have had tanks that actually look bigger so that's the only reason I say that. I do need to vacuum up some of the mulm I put in the tank though, I see it everyday so I didn't know how ugly it is until I see past pics.

As for CO2, I have been using Airgas in Concord forever. It used to be a bit of a trek for me when I was going to St. Mary's but now I am 2-3 min away, at most. I doubt it's the cheapest place but it only takes about 5 min and they have always treated me well.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top