The 700 gal indoor sunken garden project

[H82LOS3]

I LOVE ur tank!!

Oh yea im from jakarta, indonesia too. Apa kabar?
I havent gone back to indo for 10 yrs, now im in college doing biology major. So anything new at Jakarta?

I miss indo, especially spicy masakan padang hahaha

[blair]

Wow! This is stunning! Awesome job

[bigpow]

Originally Posted by medicineman

@bigpow,
The colonial heritage days is numbered!

That's too bad. Everyone who used to live there in the old days would argue that the old days were, at least, 100x better (even the maids!). I was just looking at old Dutch map and photos of early Surabaya, and quite a difference with the state of things today. It's like looking at a nice Iwagumi style tank, that over time, has turned into clown-puke blue & orange gravel tank with red plastic plants.

[/nostalgic mode off]

[medicineman]

Here is a fuller shot as requested...

[brion0]

You're tank is so bad azz. As a personal goal in my life I want to make a tank better than yours. Cheers to you.

[kyle3]

stunning!!!!!!!!!!

cheers-K

[eyebeatbadgers]

Wow, very beautiful growth!

[lilhelper]

Absolutely Beautiful!

[@marko@]

i agree your tank is amazing. your fish must spawn all the time in such a natural setup (with lunar cycles and seasonal photointesity and photoperiods).

btw, did you get any blooms? i think that would look awesome, a lily flower on the surface of that tank.

[medicineman]

Thanks for the compliments.

So far, the only bloom I witnessed are of echinodorus and saggitaria.
This pond-tank after all is a bit restricted on natural sunlight (which I found is best to induce flowering). Not so easy to beat mother nature I guess.

Right now the setup is under a major maintenance.
Abnormal water loss is the cause. I've had enough with re-topping the setup each morning (and sometimes I had to do it at night to prevent the main pump from chugging too much of damaging air). It could be somewhere over 10 gallon water lost over a day period.
I found out that the filter box is where it leaks the most. There was this several hours blackout and water level in the filter dropped down, even after all excess overflow is drained automatically.

And so emergency DIY filter is set up and additional small powerheads installed while water level is lowered. Work on the filter box in undergoing, all material taken out, chamber torn down and all surface chipped out.
The leak is somewhere and a good, thorough chipping is necessary.

Adjustments will be made such as mending the source of leak, enlarging filter capacity, raising stationary water level and rerouting water way passing the chambers.

[lauraleellbp]

How are the discus doing?

[yikesjason]

I remember you have had leaks before. What do you have in place so that a leak doesn't erode or rot your subfloor?

[giraffe]

Wow sounds like a alot of work.

[kyle3]

good luck with your repairs!

cheers-k

[medicineman]

@laura,
Thanks for asking.
My discus are fine. The bigger ones would lay eggs every month or two. However my medium-hard water never allows the cluster to hatch into fry.
It is such a common sight, and the pair turns dark in coloration everytime they mate.

@yikesjason,
Any leak will seep down thru the ground and into the water table. The house floor itself is safe from any permanent spill.
The base of the pond may have simple foundation and is poured with concrete, but below that and surrounds it are not. There is also a rather big drain next to the system, allowing channeling of excess water.

@kyle3,
Quite some works it was. But it all just worth the wait, expense and sacrifice.


Now that the filter is repaired.
It has improved design. Better self drain. Increased filter capacity. Elevated water level. Rerouted filtration chambers.



This might not look or sound much. But believe it does to some extent.
Increased filter capacity is good.
Better (and secured) self drain allows more excess water to overflow when passive water change is done - and the plumbing is also clog proof due to easily cleaned, coarse pre-filter mesh.
Rerouted chambers allows for better water distribution and gives the filter more spare water - good thing when no one will/willing to be topping up for a long time.
Elevated water level means now the filter is almost at the same level of the pond, and this means less waterfall effect. Leads to reduced CO2 loss.

Elevated water level at the filter (and also redesigned overflow path) means the working water level at the pond is elevated as well. You got to love this, and especially when the pond is filled to the brim of self drain lips, the pond almost appear it has no glass and that body of water afloat.



Check out the inset for a close look. Milimeter away from overflowing. But it never will, as any excess liquid than this level will be self-drained.


Lack of flow, sligtly lack of light (the pond is closed using wooden boards whenever the filter is being worked) and underfiltered for some time does take a toll. Though not bad I'd say.


To compliment the new filter, I also did some rejuvenation on the backdrop. Some of the spots could be better with more/replaced plants.


I'm happy to say now the leak is much more manageable. I'd say the loss of water now is more to how the vines are sucking in all the water they need out the tank rather than some minor leak. Massive root formation dangle around the backdrop edges for moisture and nutrition.
Over 24hrs period the loss would be relatively small, a 1-2cm drop in filter water level (that is probably equal to less than 10g). That would be a week and even more before the water level is low enough to let the main pump start sucking in air mixture.