Son of Kahuna (56K!)

[scolley]

I rescaped the tank over the Christmas holidays. But I'm afraid that it's gonna look a LOT like the old 'scape. Sorry. It actually took 10-15 hours, but you'd never know to look at it IMO. I wanted to accomplish a few things:

1) Keep the quantity of plants about the same, but lighten up the look of the tank, making it brighter, and hopefully the fish would follow in their own coloration. That worked. They are lighter and more colorful now.
2) Lose the anubias. I've had it with the GSA, so I ripped most of it out.
3) Shift the Jungle vals off to the right, and bring in 2 big Ozelot swords to bring in more color. And provide better balance to the center of the tank.
4) Bring in more red Cryptocoryne wendtii, and red Echinodorus ‘Rubin’, also bring in more color.
5) Lose the lotus, as the were playing heck with my sand. Using sand as a substrate for it to grow in just wasn't working.
6) Get EVERYTHING in pots.
7) Add another 70 lbs. sand to cover the pots.
8) Expose more driftwood.
9) Open up the center a bit more.

You can't tell, but I took out about 1/2 of my driftwood, making it possible to push the plants further back, making more room for the fish, and fewer places to hide. So now they are all out, all the time.

You can see that it still has the open area on the left - to attract fish to that side of the tank (it does), but the area is more open now. And the cluster of crypts on the left tries to hide my filter sponge that protects my water pressure sensor from snails and such - see if you can spot it. It's big, but it blends in well.

I'm trying to achieve a flow from a high left to a low right, but it's going to take some grow in to get it to look right.

And this new scape exposes one of my inflows. I'm sure you'll see it. But since it's black on a black background, I'm not too troubled by it. It's not too noticeable IMO.











































This was taken a couple of weeks ago. It looks different now. The big Ozelot swords look worse, as they are shedding their terrestrial leaves and growing aquatic ones. But the crypts are looking a good deal better IMO, along with the red ruben swords, which took a beating in the planting process. I'll take more pics once everything grows in.

[plantbrain]

I opted to not use the sump and over flow, at least not right now.
So I have a fully pressured loop and 2 Ocean clear canisters run in series, I suppose I could run them in parallel.

One pump then split to two rather than one after the other =>series.
Then one loop for venturi/actually I'll have both a mazzei and a needle wheel using a Mag drive 3 pump. I can play around and evaluate better this way.

One loop(mazzei) will be on one side, the other will have a suction needle wheel loop.

Then a heater for the Mag drive mod impeller side and then back to the tank.

Fairly easy.

For light, I want to leave for a week or two, I raise the sucker up 12" and turn just the PC's on. I can always put a gravity fed container up, or pre mixed stuff for a helper to add.

I like OC filters, they are much easier to clean and deal with than the Ehiem or Fluval large canisters. I do not have to remove much, just the insides or backflush.

I just keep an extra set of media/cartiages handy so I can swap and then bleach them or replace etc.

I did not like the look in this set up of the over flow and I am doing larger water changes weekly anyway. This way everything in every tank except one has it all self contained.

I like labor saving stuff, however, I am not going to spend 1$ to save a dime there either. Water changers?
Heck yes!
Backwashing filters?
Yes!

Auto feeding fish and dosing?
Not really.

It's the part I like to watch.

Gardening?
I like that as well, as long as I can get in/out easy.

I think you can always improve your plumbing scheme, however, your own thoughts and desires change as you progress on any one tank.
So there really is no one perfect scheme.

So you can engineering redundancy into your set up, so water on the floor never happens.

Having back ups for critical parts of your system is wise.
The design and stuff can get away from you though.

Even reef folks have less complexity in many cases as this tank.
However, they have their tech folks with every bell and whistle also.
But, trying to figure what and where something went wrong and fixing t also becomes a lot more painful.

You might be better off hiring some kid in the area and pay them to do the work while you are gone.

That's what kids are for
I washed tanks at the fish gallery when I was a kid, cleaned parrot poop, etc, then came home and washed dishes, did the laundry and took out the trash.
I was paid little for it, but I still got some $ to do and have the things I wanted. I never really minded it. Still don't but I get paid better these days.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[plantbrain]

Tank looks good, looks like a good home for the fish.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[ummyeah]

scolly, do you prefer man made strains of discus to wild ones?

[kzr750r1]

# 6 makes me think of the plant of little shop of horrors. FEED ME!

Thanks for the pics of the new scape Steve.

Have any of them pared off yet?

[scolley]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

I opted to not use the sump and over flow, at least not right now.
So I have a fully pressured loop and 2 Ocean clear canisters run in series, I suppose I could run them in parallel.

One pump then split to two rather than one after the other =>series.
Then one loop for venturi/actually I'll have both a mazzei and a needle wheel using a Mag drive 3 pump. I can play around and evaluate better this way.

One loop(mazzei) will be on one side, the other will have a suction needle wheel loop.

Then a heater for the Mag drive mod impeller side and then back to the tank.

Fairly easy.

That sounds like a pretty rational setup Tom. And by splitting the put into two OC's in series, you get to put on some ball valves to shut one side - or the other - down for repair. I like it.

And I'm glad that going sump was not a "no brainer", gotta do for you. Lot's of good things to be said for sumps. Lots of compromises too. I don't see any clear cut choices in that debate.

Originally Posted by plantbrain

Tank looks good, looks like a good home for the fish.

Well... not as good for discus as a breath taking 1600g Behemoth! Quite a bit more cramped actually. But it seems to do.

Actually, it looks a LOT more crowded in pics than in person. I guess you just don't see the depth (front to back) and the darn fish tend to crowd up front when I'm in the room. IMO, this 180g is just about as small as I can imagine having 9 full grown discus like this. But they do seem well adjusted and happy.

Originally Posted by ummyeah

scolly, do you prefer man made strains of discus to wild ones?

I'm not fond of wilds from an aesthetic perspective. Or maybe that's not fair... I like them, but I don't think they look as dramatic visually to the average "non-fish" person. I want people to go "Wow!" when they see one of my tanks for the first time. Having very colorful fish has that.

But one of these days... I'll be getting myself a nice set of wilds. It's something I'd love to try.

Originally Posted by kzr750r1

# 6 makes me think of the plant of little shop of horrors. FEED ME!

Thanks for the pics of the new scape Steve.

Have any of them pared off yet?

In this new setup I've got less pairs than the past - not sure why that is. But I've got two regularly breeding pairs, and one intermittent pair.

And yeah! Those shrimp are some brave little scavengers!

[tacks]

Hi Steve the tank looks great, I like the open areas, I am setting up a 150 tall so I am going to try and keep some open areas. Less wood seems to be helping you also. Keep up the good work Ed

[Ukrainetz]

Wow, what a jaw-dropping job! Everything looks terrific and esthetically pleasing! I don't even want to try to interpret your plumbing for now...simply not enough time. I bet you're enriching uranium and simply using the aquarium as a cover up LOL.
Something is telling me when I get my own house, I too will probably be spending top dollar for good equipment. You just can't beat it otherwise! Very very nice!
~Cheers!

[sNApple]

you make me want discus

[ikuzo]

get more plants Steve. your algae problem will reduce.

[scolley]

Originally Posted by tacks

Hi Steve the tank looks great, I like the open areas, I am setting up a 150 tall so I am going to try and keep some open areas. Less wood seems to be helping you also. Keep up the good work Ed

Thanks Ed. Good luck with the 150. I'm not sure if the pics show it, but ripping out 1/2 the wood really allowed me to push the plants back, and reduce the hiding places. And the fish seem much less skittish. Something to be learned there...

Originally Posted by Ukrainetz

Wow, what a jaw-dropping job! Everything looks terrific and esthetically pleasing! I don't even want to try to interpret your plumbing for now...simply not enough time. I bet you're enriching uranium and simply using the aquarium as a cover up LOL.
Something is telling me when I get my own house, I too will probably be spending top dollar for good equipment. You just can't beat it otherwise! Very very nice!
~Cheers!

Milford huh? We're not far off... I'm in Westport, but frankly I think I'd prefer Milford. At least you have an Archie Moore's for good wings! And yes, as far as I can tell with regard to equiptment... if you can afford it, get it. Makes things much easier... if time is a precious commodity for you too.

Originally Posted by sNApple

you make me want discus

Everyone should try IMO, if you are so inclined. They are beautiful, fun, and loaded with personality. But once I conquer this algae, it's threatening to get one of those "been there, done that, need something new now... " kind of feelings. I'll be surprised if this is a discus tank 1-2 years from today. Or at the very least, not one anything like this.

Originally Posted by ikuzo

get more plants Steve. your algae problem will reduce.

Yeah thanks. But that's the easy answer. We all know the easiest way out of algae is to stuff a tank with plants. This scarce layout in a tank full of big fish, on the other hand, is a challenge. That's what I want - a challenge.

[scolley]

It's interesting that there have been recent discussions on Ocean Clear filters here, because mine started to clog up in a hurry. The pressure gauge started showing a rapidly progressing increase over time. So I knew I had to do what I've been avoiding... opening it up and cleaning that filter.

So I removed the filter media, soaked the micro filter in a chlorox water mix (after hose-blasting off all the gunk), and rinsed the bio-filter portion in water from the tank. Both were absolutely filthy.

As it turned out, my fears of leaking were unfounded. Once I put the cleaned media back in, everything went back together without leaking a drop. Cool.

And the pressure reading on the pressure gauge dropped a lot too. Not as much as when it was new, but much lower, so I know I'm getting good flow. But will eventually have to invest in a new cartridge - which are expensive for these things.

The whole process kicked a ton of crap into the water in the tank, and I said "Hey, what a good excuse to do an 80% water change!". Big mistake I think.

As you may know, I've been fighting both GDA and GSA for a while. The GDA has been particularly bothersome. But lately, it's been pretty good.

Now Tom Barr says it's a life-cycle things. Others say it's the natural outcome of healthy water. Some point to certain ferts. Well I've go a bit of observation to share...

My GDA EXPLODED! And GSA kicked up too!

I've never seen GDA so bad. It's almost out of control.

I change my water constantly - enough everyday so that it's 50% every three days. So this shouldn't be about water chemistry difference. But I'll bet it has to do with water biology differences. I'll bet when I cleaned the filter media, plus changed most of the water, I trashed significant portion of my biofilter. Granted, I've got plants, but it's not a heavily planted tank. And I have a Eheim Pro II running too. But it's somewhat small relative to the tank size. And the filter surface area I cleaned this weekend was monstrous.

And that could have a lot to do with why people associate GDA with tank maturity. Maybe it is... or rather it is best held at bay when you have a mature, and substantial, biofilter. And I just gave mine a major setback.

Anyway, it seemed a great learning opportunity. Everything was pretty good, then I clean my filter and did an 80% water change... and the GDA explodes.

There's a lesson here somewhere.

Well, that's my speculation anyway.

[fishman9809]

I love this thread, I always used to look at it for fun! It looks so colorful, lively, and exotic.

[eyebeatbadgers]

The new scape looks like it could be in one of the new AT&T commercials, with the "more bars in more places" theme.

[gmccreedy]

Wow Scolley that is very interesting with the GDA and GSA. This tank has been up for a while too.

Out of curiosity, did you have similar problems with the original Kahuna? Can you possibly attibute it to the intensity of the metal halides?

BTW...I love this thread. Your plumbing is one to aspire too. I love the techy stuff! Well Done.

Your discus are wonderful too. Love their coloration in the MH's. Such a clean look to them.

I like the "openess" you have created by removing some of the DW. Although it looked great before, I believe that it took away from the fish a little. Now, they both seem to compliment better IMO.

Keep up the goods bro!