Tiggity's Aqueon Evolve 8 Dirt Tank

[tiggity]

Update 3-1-13

Update 11-15-12

Update 9-27-13




Decided to tear down my Petco 6gallon bookshelf and picked up an Aqueon Evolve 8 for my office. Also, decided to do my 1st dirt tank

I used about 1" of Miracle Gro Organic potting soil and 1 1/2" of petco black sand.

Plants are:
Crypt wendtii green
Crypt wendtii red
Bacopa
Ludwigia Repens Broad Leaf
temporary Wisteria floating as an excess nutrient sponge

Very little cloudiness after filling it with water and I'm seeding the filter with the media (foam, bio modules, purigen bag) on my AC20 that was on the Petco bookshelf tank.

The Tank looks awesome and does not take up a lot of space. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

FTS:





Unboxing and Set up:





Filter chamber:



Driftwood I'll be using:



The dirt after straining it:



Added water till it is a thick mud, almost looks like a brownie:

[austin.b]

Looks great! Any stocking ideas yet?

[Drift Monkey]

is that a WIRED switch I see???

Looking good!

[tiggity]

Thanks!

I'm thinking of probably trying out:

Red Cherry Shrimp
CPD's
Endlers
Corys or Pygmy Corys

I already have 2 platies and don't want to go overboard with the stocking.

[tiggity]

Originally Posted by Drift Monkey

is that a WIRED switch I see???

Looking good!

Yes

[austin.b]

Originally Posted by tiggity

Thanks!

I'm thinking of probably trying out:

Red Cherry Shrimp
CPD's
Endlers
Corys or Pygmy Corys

I already have 2 platies and don't want to go overboard with the stocking.

Have you seen chili rasboras? Boraras brigittae. They're awesome nano fish with personality! lol Two platies in an 8G is kinda overboard already IMHO because of they're bioload. If you do go with corys, definitely go with pygmy corys.

[tiggity]

Originally Posted by austin.b

Have you seen chili rasboras? Boraras brigittae. They're awesome nano fish with personality! lol Two platies in an 8G is kinda overboard already IMHO because of they're bioload. If you do go with corys, definitely go with pygmy corys.

Yes, I agree that I am pushing it with the 2 platies in terms of bio-load. I may keep them as is for now and probably not add any more fish. I'll see in a month or two and maybe try some cherry shrimps.

[HunterX]

Your tank is looking good.

I just purchased the same tank this afternoon. I'm intend on it being a shrimp tank.

How is the stock light doing with your plants?

Have you had any issues?

How is the "Bacopa" doing?

[tiggity]

Originally Posted by HunterX

Your tank is looking good.

I just purchased the same tank this afternoon. I'm intend on it being a shrimp tank.

How is the stock light doing with your plants?

Have you had any issues?

How is the "Bacopa" doing?

The stock light I think is fine with plants but we'll see how it goes in the long run. Right now, the tank looks dark because my driftwood is leaching tannins but it's improving with a combination of water changes, purigen and activated carbon in the filter chamber. The bacopa seems to be doing well, I'm not noticing any change with it. I've had it grown in my other low light tank with no problems.

[tiggity]

Just a quick update on the tank:

The water was dark tea color on the 2nd day due to the driftwood but it is clearing up, I've been doing 2 50% WC's daily and have added Activated Carbon while my purigen bag is regenerating in its bleach bath. My crypts are starting to melt, but that is something I was expecting. However, my java fern is not doing so well, most of its leaves have dissolved and it's not even planted in the substrate, only shoved in the driftwood's crevice. My stems, bacopa and ludwigia looks ok and have not noticed any change.

I will be adding some MTS from my 37 to help mix and aerate the sand keep it from going anaerobic.


An observation regarding the filter:

I have it adjusted to only running 25% flow and it churns the water well. If I was keeping a betta in this tank, I would do some kind of mod on the outlet to slow it even more. The oveflow (intake) works well and filters floating debris nicely.

[HunterX]

How did you turn down the flow on the filter?

[TheBigSleep]

Originally Posted by HunterX

How did you turn down the flow on the filter?

The stock filter pump comes with an adjustable dial, and it's possible to cut down the flow even further by wrapping the pump in foam. I can't speak to Tiggity's methods but the Evolve makes it pretty easy to adjust flow

[TheBigSleep]

Excellent looking start & cheers to Evolve 8's!!!

Edit: If possible I'd love to see some pics of the modified filter media!

[tiggity]

Originally Posted by TheBigSleep

Excellent looking start & cheers to Evolve 8's!!!

Edit: If possible I'd love to see some pics of the modified filter media!

Thanks!

I haven't done any mods yet with the filter, still running the included filter media. All I did was take the media from my AC20 and shove it down the 2nd filter compartment, where the pump resides so that I can maintain the bio filter and seed the new one. Eventually though, I will use the "blue" filter pads and cut it to size and use the filter frame to hold it.

Hunter,

The pump's flow can be adjusted with a sliding lever.

[TheBigSleep]

Sounds good, keep us posted! I'm still tweaking my own setup so I'm lookin forward to seeing what you come up with. Keep up the good work!