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Tiggity's 40B Dirt Tank

9K views 38 replies 15 participants last post by  bigred87 
#1 · (Edited)
Update 8/27/13Clickity Click



Update 4/11/13 Clickity Click






Update 2/15/13 (Clickty Click)







Hooray for Petco $1/Gallon sales!

Picked up a 40B (I've always wanted one) and retiring my old 37g.

Specs:
Tank: 40 Breeder
Stand: Petco Brooklyn Metal Stand. I wanted to build my own but this was on sale and was cheaper and safer than making one (I don't trust my wood work ;) )
Filtration: Fluval 306 and [STRIKE]Fluval C4[/STRIKE] Penn Plax Cascade 700 (New!)
Heater: Aqueon Pro 200W
Substrate: Miracle Gro Organic Potting Mix (MGOPM) / Pool Filter Sand Cap
Lighting: 3 Clip on CFL, 23W Daylight - on 2 different timers (30 mins apart) and on a 5-4-5 schedule
Plants: Ludwigia Repens, Bacopa (carolinia?), Rotala, Hyrgophila Angostifolia, Hyrophila Difformis, Crypt Balansae, Crypt Wendtii Red, Java Fern, and Red Tiger Lotus
Fauna: 5 CPD's, 5 Cherry Barbs, 3 Endlers, 1 Fancy Guppy, 4 Platies, 3 Otos, 4 Cory Aneus (1 Albino, 3 Bronze), 3 Cory Paleatus (Peppered), 1 Pomacae Brigdesii and a few MTS


Water has a yellowish/brown tint to it but I have been doing 50% water changes daily. I have mature bio filter media on both filters to help support the fish but I'm still relying on the WC's.

Plants are sparse right now, I salvaged most of them from my 37g. The stems will grow and I can propagate from them and as usual the crypts are starting to melt.

Pics:

FTS




RIGHT SIDE





LEFT SIDE


 
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15
#9 ·
Great start.

I'm thinking your yellow tannin tint is from the driftwood (Mopane?). Water Changes will help you can run some Carbon to help for a while. The big pc of Mopane in my 40 took almost 2 mod to finally leach out but it is very thick.

I like that Petco Brooklyn Metal Stand. I'n thinking about moving my 10g into a 20L I'll most likely buy that stand,
 
#11 ·
Nice start! I'm a huge fan of all the various java ferns, so I always smile when I see some : )

I'm also a big fan of the metal Petco stands - I have two of the "Manhattan" stands, which I think have been discontinued. It's very similar to the Brooklyn, and they are rock solid.
 
#15 ·
Update!

Finally added all the plants and inhabitants over from my old 37g. There has been some nice growth (trimmed the ludwigia's and bacopa's already) and the crypts are slowly showing new growth. I planted a couple of rotalas and wisteria in the back that was only 1" long and it has almost tripled in size.

Got some new plants also from here and hopefully do well. Lastly, took advantage of Petsmart's $1 fish sale and added 12 neon tetras. They are doing well and looks great overall :)

Picture time!






The lights just turned on this morning and the fish are bright and up front looking for breakfast :)
 
#17 · (Edited)
Growth update. Everything is looking good! Plants are growing, slowly, but growing. Added some plants from some sales here :)
The water is super clear thanks to a combination of polishing pads, 2 bags of purigen and a bag of Bio-Chem Zorb (overboard, I know).

The only setback I have was my beautiful Java Fern Bush started melting :( I had to hack away the dying pieces but found some sprouts coming out and it is growing back.


FTS (please excuse the glare):


Center:


Left side:


Right side:
 
#18 ·
Tank is looking great! Not my scaping taste but hey that's what it's all about on the forum. (Nice to see what I don't have here.) (imo) A great balance of colors and it looks busy enough to keep you looking back to see what's happening.
 
#20 ·
I just got a 40B from PetCo during their sale and am in the process of setting it up. question about the Miracle Gro Organic Potting Soil, did you just dump it in and add the sand substrate or did you do any preparation to the potting soil?

edit: also, where did you get the clip on CFL's and what is the rating on them? ie: 6,500k? seems cheaper than LED's/T5 route
 
#21 ·
question about the Miracle Gro Organic Potting Soil, did you just dump it in and add the sand substrate or did you do any preparation to the potting soil?
If you buy the "ORGANIC CHOICE SOIL" (read the bag) You're into the wrong stuff for an easy starting tank using orgainic rich soil. Every bag I've seen (looked at a bunch in 5yrs.) they all contain cow manure.

Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix is the bagged 'dirt' product I use.
MGOCPM (potting mix) contains soils and a large portion of organic material (55-65% by volume).
Listed as containing Sphagnum peat moss, composted bark fines, leaves, twigs, wood chips, etc. and "pasteurized poultry litter" (cooked chicken crap).
0.10-0.05-0.05
The chicken crap is cooked to eliminate the bacteria it's commonly known to contain.
0.10-0.05-0.05 is one of the lowest NPK ratios you will find on a bagged product and part of the reason the initial spikes reported by many using other stuff is reported at a minimum using MGOCPM.

Get the right bag and have zero point zero added chemical ferts to be concerned with no urea, no wetting agents and no cow maunure.

Remove any big wood chips.
1.5 to 2" max depth on the soils layer.
1 to 1.5" of your sand or other capping material.
Flood slowly to about 3" of water above the total substrate and use your hand to pat the base to release any trapped air.
Fully plant the tank and filler it up.
After a week change 50% of the water if the tannins stain it more than you can stand for.
Run the lighting 6-8hrs per day and watch for algae issues and reduce lighting if needed. Floaters are something I add to most new tank starts.

grow baby grow :smile:
 
#24 ·
hmmmm makes me want to try something different instead of buying 3 bags of flourite from amazon and adding root tabs every 2 months or so. It will probably be a fraction of the cost as well and if it doesnt work out I can always dump the poting mix in my garden and the sand in the trash or something.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Been a while since I updated this journal, but the tank is doing really well. I was dosing KNO3 once a week with Iron and started to get some algae issues. Cut that regimen out and now just relying on the dirt fully and no CO2 supplementation. I figure the break down of the soil and my fish stock is providing some CO2.

However, algae issue under control and the plants have grown in. The rotala 'bangladesh' is my fastest grower. I would hack it down and it would just grow back a a couple of weeks.

FTS:



 
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