[atm424]

Hi all! This thread will hopefully serve as a place to keep the progress of a new project. I'll go into the technical details below and then follow up with some questions!


Equipment: (basically all recycled from a tank of mine 5yrs ago!)

Tank: 30cm Cube from Deep Blue Professional (unfortunately it is not low iron and has black silicone.:frown2
Filter: Ehiem 2213
Light: Finnex Fugeray Planted+ (12in)
CO2: 5lb tank with JBJ dual stage regulator and jardli pollen diffuser


Hardscape Stuff:

Substrate: either Aquaflora(inert) or Fluval Shrimp Stratum (i have the Aquaflora stuff, but I have some questions about which to use later)
Rocks: 20lbs Seiryu (Ryuoh) stone
Foreground: some sort of tan/whitish sand


Flora: DHG (I have about 20 square inches of it grown submersed in my main tank that I will be rescaping soon)


Fauna: Red Cherries and maybe a few Amano Shrimp


The plan is to get the DHG to fill out the background under high CO2 and EI ferts, then transition into a leaner and less intense setup as I get ready for the shrimp.

So here is where I need some advice! Am I shooting myself in the foot using the Seiryu stone? I really like the look and am willing to deal with the leaching as long as you guys think it wont be a complete disaster. Also, which would be better for the substrate with the Seiryu stone, inert or buffering?

Last night I took a 200g piece of the Seiryu stone and placed it into 250ml of my RO water. I measured the TDS of the water (my meter shows 3ppm). Over the next week I will keep track of the TDS just to have some indication of what I am dealing with. If it turns out to be a drastic increase I will try plan B, which might be crazy. My plan B is to try and seal the stones with a clear cement epoxy. I hope this will solve the leaching problem, but I am wary of how this will look aesthetically. If I determine to try this I will clear coat a sample of the stone and run the same TDS test as long as I think it looks okay underwater. Does anybody see any major flaws/risks with this? Cured epoxy should be inert.

Right now the tank is being used as a quarantine/grow out tank for some rotala orange juice and rotala cylon while they transition from emersed to submerged growth. Once I move these plants over to the main tank I will do a mock up of the hardscape in the tank and post some pictures. I'll also post a picture of the stones I got from my LFS for a great price!

Any comment, advice, or constructive criticism is more than welcome! Thanks for checking this out!

I'll update as I make progress.

-AM

 

[Asteroid]

what is your main concern about the Seiryu leaching, fish or plants?

 

[atm424]

what is your main concern about the Seiryu leaching, fish or plants?

Primarily the shrimp. I decided on the RCS and possibly Amanos due to the ability to survive in some harder water. My biggest concern is that I'm not really into sacrificing the health of the animals just for visual enjoyment. Even if the shrimp will live, I don't want them to be stressed from fluctuating parameters and would rather see them thrive. I have just read stories of Seiryu stone causing havoc, and I plan to put quite a bit into a small tank. I'm not jumping in blind, so I can at least be vigilant and keep track of the GH/KH and see where it goes before ever adding livestock. I would like this tank to eventually be three things: marginally low maintenance, an iwagumi, and not a total headache.

Thanks!
-AM

 

[Asteroid]

Reason I posted is because my 3 Ft Setup is very similar to what your doing. I have 18 pounds of Seiryu in a 12 gallon. It's low maintenance with mostly epiphytes. I started with 5 Sakura RCS around 8 months ago I now have well over 100. It also houses a few amanos and mislabeled amanos from Petco. My tap KH is 4 and the Seiryu increases the KH to 12 until I change the water. Other than rinse the Seiryu I did nothing else with it. I do run co2 to a 1 ph drop. The shrimp are colorful and healthy looking. I realize that this might not be ideal from a shrimp breeders prospective, but the shrimp have certainly thrived.

 

[atm424]

Thank you for the input! It is good to hear that using this stone isn't all doom and gloom. I am very consistent with water changes, so I don't foresee the hardness running out of control. I'm glad the shrimp should fare well in these conditions. Interestingly, I did find a forum post on a shrimp focused site where one person epoxy coated their seiryu stone and it seemed to stop the leaching while just barely changing the look of the rocks. So worst case scenario, there are remedies.

Reason I posted is because my 3 Ft Setup is very similar to what your doing.

I read through your 3ft tank journal (really awesome btw) and it gives me some good ideas on how to manage this style of tank.

I designed a stand for this tank (pic below) and I am lucky enough to already have nearly all of the materials. The frame will be 30mmx30mm extruded aluminum framing while the top and side panels will be black walnut or ash. The front panel will be held on by magnets, while the sides will be rabbeted to fit into the channels on the framing. I'll probably start construction of the tank this weekend. I'm not usually too good at posting work in progress pictures, but I will make an effort to post some.

I still have not determined whether or not to use the Fluval substrate instead of the active flora (inert). I'm leaning toward the Fluval just for plant health.

-AM