[iano7000]

I recently moved to a new apartment, and with that, I had to downsize to a smaller 30c. I started by using all the equipment from my 28 gallon and have been rapidly updating it to ADA and DoAqua gear. I switched over to these products after breaking two co2 diffusers, one of which didn't even make it into the tank before the plastic failed.

After that disappointment I started down this road by buying a simple, yet expensive, doAqua diffuser. I quickly fell in love with the look and quality of this product. My ADA product list quickly grew to what you see in the pictures.

Tank: 30c 7.2 Gallon
Light: ADA Aquasky 17W
Substrate: Eco-Complete
Filter: Fluval 206
Heater: Hydor 200W 5/8" fitting (Perfect match for the Fluval hose replacement)
CO2: Green leaf Supreme CO2 Regulator + 10lb tank
Diffuser: DoAqua Music Glass Mini 10mm dia
Pipes: DoAqua Violet Glass Mini Outflow 10D + Violet Glass Mini Inflow 13D
Control and Timers: Custom Built Arduino based temperature and PH controller

My first goal with this tank was to provide a more compact living space for my existing fish which includes 7 neon tetras and 3 oto's. My second goal is to build an established setting with great water conditions for CRS shrimp. My third goal is to have an aquascape worthy of at least submitting to competition without embarrassment.

Below are some iphone pics of my progress, and of course, fish tank equipment porn. Higher quality pics to follow.

New 30c

Old and new size comparison

Goal 1 done.

So for my first step of goal 2 and 3 was to build a nice wood centerpiece with some emerged branches. This happened about 2 weeks after the first couple images. For those of you that were wondering about the growth potential of the Aquasky, you can see how my tank was being consumed by the fast growers. I'm going to put tree to tank in a couple days. I would like to thank Complexity for this post on how to build this. I didn't have to use hot glue, but I started with a piece of slate (2$), I drilled it out using a masonry bit. I smashed it with a hammer to get a 4" x 4" piece of rock. I then drilled two more screws and put it all together.http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=165989

 

[John Simpson]

so sexy

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Very nice! Looks like your Hydrocotyle tripartita really took off and can use a trim. Maybe a little glass scrubbing too?

 

[keep_on_keepin_on]

glass scrubbing...u mean that is required :hihi:

 

[Brian_Cali77]

^^ haha... I was trying to be nice keep_on! Yes... Scrub that glass! Can't have your shiny new ADA looking scruffy my friend

 

[Green_Flash]

Looks great! How do you like the do!aqua pinsettes? Is the tension alright to handle a variety of plants? I have used pinsettes that when pressed, flex and the tip opens, thus resulting in not being able to grip the plant.

 

[Smitty06]

The do! aqua pinsettes have enough tension to hold the plant but not to crush it.

 

[iano7000]

The do! aqua pinsettes have enough tension to hold the plant but not to crush it.

I played around with them for the first time this weekend and I found the same thing.

 

[iano7000]

I finally got around to putting it all together. I managed to finally finish the fertilizer pump setup after getting some ADA bent glass tubes. I'm still contemplating getting them cut so that I can just directly hang them off the tank without the need for suction cups. This would make them more of an upside down J rather than a U shape. I'm not quite sure where to get that done though.

I still plan on getting 3 more plants to complete this setup. I'm going to fill the foreground with Hemianthus Callitrichoides. I'm going to tie on some Christmas Moss (Vesicularia montagnei) to the tree and on part of the branches resting on the substrate. Then i'm going to plant Downoi (Pogostemon helferi) on the left side of the tank.

Finally after getting moss in the tank to lower the PH a little, I will get some CRS. I just want to make sure i'm setup before getting those little guys. I hear they can be fickle at times without using some RO to soften things up.

You can see by the little curling of the ludwigia that i'm just not getting enough CO2 from the doAqua defuser. I'm keeping my plant mass down just to ensure all the plants are getting enough. I'm probably going to go for a inline reactor or inline Atomic defuser. I'm just hesitant of going to plastic after so easily shattering two of their products. Let me know what you guys have found.

 

[iano7000]

I have recently had some troubles with my tank. My plants have started to turn to crap, and I recently added a school of pygmy cory's to the tank. Unfortunately they all met their demise. As I was trying to figure out what's going on I thought, "At least I still have all my original fish in fine health." The next day I found one of my 2 year old oto's had kicked the bucket. It's time for serious action!

To try and fix this problem I poked the eco complete substrate to free up any ammonia bubbles. This freed up a few. I have been doing small water changes every two days instead of a 50% water change once a week. I'm going to continue to do this until it starts to smell like a lake again. The smell has been off recently.

I turned off my auto dosing system. This system gives me almost two months of auto fertilizer dosing, but near the last two weeks the plants started to look shabby, and I started to get green algae throughout my tank. The solution to this was to add some KNO3 which eliminated the algae problem. So as I prepared my next batch of fertilizer I decided to add extra KNO3 and excel to clean out the tank. It's my suspicion that the high levels of excel killed off the new and still un-hardy cory's. I'm going to toss my old fert batch and make a new one that is identical to the first. Keeping a log book made it easy to whip up the original batch.

Finally, I re-plumbed my filter. There was a number of kinks in the line that was limiting flow. It was unorganized, and unsightly. It took about 20 pumps of the primer to get it started again if I turned it off for cleaning. After buying 60$ worth of brass angle brackets I mounted them to the back wall with drywall anchors making sure to place any fittings below the outlets. First rule of electrical, put all water below electrical. On starting up the Fluval 206 pump for the first time after the draining and re-piping, I found that no priming was needed. I get about double the flow, just from widening the pipe and eliminating kinks.

Pictures to follow.

 

[iano7000]

I'm determined that the cause of my fish and plant problems is from too much excel. Dosing so heavily also did a number on my mosses which have been turning slowly brown. I was overcompensating with excel to combat algae which I believe was caused by insufficient flow. To fix this I re-plumbed my filter. I don't have a fancy fish tank stand. So rather than struggling with how to mount and route hoses, I just mounted them to the drywall behind the tank. I used small dry wall screws and plastic clamps that loosely hold the brass piping in place. I found an interesting solution for DIY inline PH sensor. The 1/2 plastic fitting from home depot seals perfectly. You can easily remove the sensor for replacement or cleaning if needed. The plug is where my temp sensor will go, i'm just waiting for epoxy to dry before connecting it.

 

[tropicalmackdaddy]

Cool build!
Im curious as to what exactly you used for the cool glass pipes for the fertilizers, because I was planning on doing that but have not yet sourced any glass tubes.

 

[talontsiawd]

Cool build!
Im curious as to what exactly you used for the cool glass pipes for the fertilizers, because I was planning on doing that but have not yet sourced any glass tubes.

I saw the same and was wondering as well. I have seen some similar stuff for diffusers but you have to buy the diffuser as well which makes it not so cost effective.

 

[Green_Flash]

What is the green probe for? Temp or pH?

 

[iano7000]

The glass tubes are ADA u joints. ADA Joint Glass JG-001(Inside dimension 11mm)
The green probe is for measuring PH without using some kind of litmus paper.

 

[talontsiawd]

The glass tubes are ADA u joints. ADA Joint Glass JG-001(Inside dimension 11mm)
The green probe is for measuring PH without using some kind of litmus paper.

Thanks for the info. I like your "manifold" setup for your plumbing as well and may have to copy that for a future tank.

 

[Green_Flash]

Oh that is cool, I have seen those, mostly on SW setups, useful for shrimp tanks too.

 

[manzpants92]

sexy

 

[Snakeblitz33]

Very nice high tech tank. I'll be following.

 

[iano7000]

So after many problems I decided to reboot my 30c. After seeing the success of those using the DSM method I decided to try it myself. This hobby is all about learning new things! For the DSM I salvaged some plants (Anubias nana and a crypt) which responded well to DSM. I then planted HC and dwarf hair grass. The moss and stem plants came just before flooding.

These photos are taken after about 5 weeks of dry start. I was surprised how infrequently I had to use a little spray bottle for keeping things moist. A single 500ml spray bottle of just tap water was used for the whole 5 weeks.

I just flooded it this week and I'm about to implement my fertilizer regiment. I'm looking for help as this is where I struggled before. Some pictures show before flooding and just after.