120 Gallon ADA "like", ditched, Dutch style with lots of color instead

[plantbrain]

The monte carlo Micrantherum is growing in nicely.

Mini A reineckii is doing well. Dwarf riccia on the branch will be expanded here and there.

Removed the Fissidens branch on the far right side and replaced with a thicker Mini pellia branch. I'll add more as I harvest of can buy more of the mini pellia to fill that section in, the branch will fill in nicely, but it'll take a couple of weeks.

[ehorn]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

what happens if the KH moves from say 18 ppm to 40 ppm if your tap water and you do not catch it?

You'll end up with dead fish if the CO2 is already high.

Murphy can teach you many things. pH does NOT measure CO2, it's only part of it.

Thanks Tom,

That would be a sharp KH move... Murphy would have been in full force that day... However, It happens... It's Murphy...

But indeed, KH must be baselined and checked to maintain safe ph limits.

Thanks again for your contributions,

P.S. The wife was looking over my shoulder the other day and asked what are these (red box)?



Are those Ludwigia sphaerocarpa? Whatever they are, she says they're gorgeous... THat means I'll have to watch the S&S for those.

Kind Regards,

-Jay

[akpoly]

Amazing as always. Your downoi are especially impressive compared to the ones I typically see.

[plantbrain]

Jay, I'm about the only one selling the L. sphaerocarpa, PM me. I tend to move the downoi around a lot, but I have not messed with this patch for a month or a little over. Starts to really thicken up.

[samee]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

Jay, I'm about the only one selling the L. sphaerocarpa, PM me. I tend to move the downoi around a lot, but I have not messed with this patch for a month or a little over. Starts to really thicken up.

Hey Im selling that too....in Canada

Your tank is not dense enough, tooooo organized.

[chris.rivera3]

Tom where is the Mini A reineckii? I don't see it any pictures

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

I hope you didn't pay $200 for that...

[plantbrain]

Originally Posted by chris.rivera3

Tom where is the Mini A reineckii? I don't see it any pictures

It's between the UG and the Mini Myrio on the side shot.
It's coloring up a bit better the last 2 days. I got it for free via sending someone a little bit of Rotala sunset.

It seems to do best shaded under a stem plant in the mid ground.
I've tried it in other locations, but it's been troublesome.
5 to 10$ a stem for now.....is a reasonable $ for it.

There are some new plants that will be about 50$ a stem in awhile.

They are not to market just yet.

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

That's good, though I wonder if they regret doing that if they were to see the prices they've been sold at. Have any pantanal to sell?

[plantbrain]

Originally Posted by ThatGuyWithTheFish

That's good, though I wonder if they regret doing that if they were to see the prices they've been sold at. Have any pantanal to sell?

I actually do not sell Pant from this tank, the left over rubbish is sent to the background on my 180 Gal, they sprout and grow up from there.

Since there's not much gardening going on back there and it does not look bad etc, that woulds as a temp farm of sorts for some species.

[ehorn]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

Jay, I'm about the only one selling the L. sphaerocarpa, PM me...

Thanks Tom, will do... We have a re-scape planned in a few weeks... .

Kind Regards,

-Jay

[tanksalot]

Tom:
The tank looks incredible, with the water totally, totally clear. I have a drilled 90 gal. (former reef tank) and a modified wet/dry filter, and your tank epitomizes what I'd like to have (and probably 99% of those following this thread would like to have.). A few questions, please, if you don't mind:

Looking at your sump, it appears you feed CO2 directly to the sealed trickle chamber. Is that correct?

Also, part of that water clarity seems to be due to the absence of O2 pearling from the plants. Is that due to the timing of the photos, or do you control parameters to keep the O2 from oversaturating the water?

The filter looks to be purple bio-balls and ???(shrimp-shaped pieces of ?) followed by very large sponge blocks. No Matrix, lava or other porous media? What does your filter cleaning consist of, and how often?

Thanks in advance!
Stan F.

[plantbrain]

Built in over flows have always had issues for me.

I prefer the hang on type, or I suppose you can build a hang on style permanently affixed. If you can modify to do a bean animal design with the built in(tough to get that many bulk heads in the small space in most of them), likely will be pretty good then.

I add CO2 near the suction side of the return pump, some tanks I sent the water to a reactor and then the outflow to the return pump, feeding the CO2 into a needle wheel powerhead that sends the CO2 froth to the reactor.
This removes most of the mist.

The pearling seems to enhance clarity, so good plant growth= better clarity. Even with the mist.......larger tanks, the mist can become an issue for clarity.
But a post reactor will solve that issue and improve CO2 use efficiency.

Still, CO2 usage, maybe only 1% at best actually goes to the plant, the rest is degassed.

Regardless of the method used to add CO2.

I use foam blocks only really.
The Bio bale (CPR stuff) and some bioballs are all I'll use.
Foam is from swisstropicals.com 20 ppi.

30 ppi clogs too much, I'll use 10 ppi on prefilters, sometimes 20 ppi.

If you demand more clarity, then using say a Nu Clear or OC canister filter on an independent loop(so when it clogs, the main filter flow does not drop) would be a wise thing. Water change flow up into/out of the main tank, or you can run it in/out of the sump.

These run at 20 microns, and clog after 1-2 weeks for many planted tanks in the 120-200 gallon ranges.

A semi clogged foam block is a VERY good filter for clarity though.

Very clogged= bad or newly clean= bad.

[tanksalot]

Thanks, Tom!

I'll set up a series of foam filters, and clean/change out half each time.

Before I drilled the tank, I had a hang-on overflow which would periodically lose its' siphon with air bubbles forming at the top. Then I drilled the tank and told my wife "no more floods". So after that a snail got stuck on the float switch shaft, and I got flood #17.

Tanksalot
Stan F.

[plantbrain]

I have 2 clients with flood proof systems.

You have an over flow with a bean animal design.
the tanks can never over flow this way since the 3rd pipe has the emergency open pipe to the drain.

The sumps are similar in design, they have a bulk head about 2" from the top edge and water also goes directly to the drain pipe.

They both have float switches, so they do not run dry. This way I can add a small pump on a timer to drain water from the sump to this drain pipe and do daily water changes.

Very simple.

These have run for 4 years without a single flood or issue.
I hired a plumber to add the drain, add the hot/cold water lines for the float switch, but everything else I added. I use a carbon prefilter for the tap water to remove Chlorine or Chloramine.