[nalu86]

Hi People,

I'm really bad at Journals, but I will do a try

Like I said in my past post, When I move into my new house, I will set up a new 125 gallon tank. This is something new for me, my old tank is a 75, but this one has 4 bulkheads and I had to plumb it... I think I did an ok job, not the best one but ok (see pictures). I also decided to make my own stand. The stand is not finished yet, but I ran out of time and decided to leave it this way until I have more time to finish it.

Tank size: 125 gallon (72x21x18)
Substrate: MGOPS + Top Soil capped with Black Diamond Sand
Light : 2x GLO ballasts 4x GLO T5HO 39W with DIY Aluminum Reflectors and Hood
Filter : 2 x CFS 500
Heater : Hydor Inline 300W heater
CO2 system : Aquatek Regulator + 20LB cylinder
Diffuse system : Injected into inline reactor.
Dosing : EI

Flora:
HC
DHG
Ludwiga Repens
Rotala
Hygrophila corymbosa 'siamensis'
Amazon sword
Water Sprite
Banana plant
Tiger lotus
Anubias
...

Fauna:
Discus (10) Future
Philippine Blue Angels (11)
German Blue Rams (10)
Neon Tetras (30+)
Harlequin Rasbora (45)
Bronze cory (1)
Green cory (5)
Peppered cory (8)
Skunk cory (3)
Reticulated (net) cory (3)
Oto (I don't know how many I have)
RCS




DSM:

Filled 01/10/2012

Couple days later:

1/22/2012:

2/12/2012

Here is the tank and the stand with plumbing stuff.

Firt plumbing under the stand, made holes in the wall, so I can keep all my filters in the garage.

Level and Plumbed in the front.

Plumbing under the stand.

First plumbing in the garage

Filling it up to see if stand is strong enough and plumbing holding it...
Cat was to curious and had to check it out.

Tank is filled, all 125 gallons are in there... but, tank is not level anymore.
There is a slope of 1 cm from right to the left corner... Is this bad?

Emptying the tank. And also almost finished with the plumbing.
(great stuff is good for more than just making backgrounds )

Stability Question and pictures about the frame of my stand.
I made the frame out of 2x4s, here are the pics:
2x 4 posts over the with (both sides)his is ome of the middle posts.

Corner ( all 4 corners are 2x4s in L shape.

Is my stand strong enough, or should I add an extra line of 2x4s on front of the 2x4s? The frame of the tank is actually resting next to the support of the 2x4s ... is this a bad thing? Hope you understand what I mean.


Tomorrow I will do some more plumbing, but for now its waiting on HC (that I will get from Sampster5000 unbelievable ROAK, Thanks a lot!! Will be in the mail tomorrow morning, hopefully ) I'm also waiting for the driftwood (manzanita) that I will receive from PC1


This tank will be a dirt tank like all of my other tanks. I already have a bag of Miracle gro organic and 2 bags of Top Soil laying in the trunk of my car for over 3 weeks ( felt like I had more stability in the Audi TT Q lol). I will probably cap the soil with Diamond Blasting sand, or the same gravel I used in my 75 ( from a stoneyard black and red small gravel)
There will also be CO2 added, first I will use my old paintball setup, but over time I will buy a regulator. I will probably have to add ferts too overtime, because I really want to try high tech with a dirt tank. I will use my original light fixture from mu 75 gallon; Odyssea 4x 54W T5HO 48" fixture. I know I wont have light enough over the whole tank, but I know discus, corys and GBR's don't really like High light, so there will be shade for them.

Main inhabits will be GBR's, Corys, Lots of schooling fish and overtime Discus ( when my future juvies reached adultish size)

Pants selection will be everything from my old tank + some newer plants. I'm really bad at remembering the names of plants, so If anybody could help me ( in the future) to name my plants, that would be greatly appreciated!!

I think thats it for now, Thanks for watching and till the next post/ update.

 

[Jeffww]

1cm is bad. You need to re level it. Is the set up sitting on the slab? Or is it hollow underneath. In any case check to make sure your floor is solid underneath and then relevel... your stand is plenty strong. A 2x4 can take a lot of weight lengthwise

 

[nalu86]

1cm is bad. You need to re level it. Is the set up sitting on the slab? Or is it hollow underneath. In any case check to make sure your floor is solid underneath and then relevel... your stand is plenty strong. A 2x4 can take a lot of weight lengthwise

Yea, I know 2x4s are really strong, but I just wanted to have another opinion.
Its sitting on the concrete slab. Its the concrete slab that slopes 1 cm over 6 feet... Maybe I can put some cork tiles under it.

 

[aXio]

Very nice start so far. I noticed that you live in Ksaw... I'm in Woodstock =). Are you going to the Atlanta fish auction on the 25th?

 

[nalu86]

Very nice start so far. I noticed that you live in Ksaw... I'm in Woodstock =). Are you going to the Atlanta fish auction on the 25th?

Thx, Yes I'm going to the auction, looking already forward to it for months
Are you on AAAA (Atlanta Area Aqua Association Forum)? If you are not, you have to join

 

[nalu86]

Today's progress, went to pick up Black diamond blasting sand. Bought 6 bags... 4 to much, I really tought that I needed 6, when I filled up my 40 breeder I used almost the same amount of sand, weird.

Picks of the progress: I decided to do a dry start for the HC to grow in nicely before I fill up the tank, So I didn't see a reason to waste my time to make MTS.

Bought 2 bags of Top soil and 1 bag of Miracle Gro Organic.

Potash + crunched coral;

hmm weard, Tinypic doesn't work...

 

[nalu86]

So I signed up for photobucket seems like this is easier... should have find this years ago, lol.

so Potash + Crunched Coral:

Layer of Miracle Gro Organic;

Layer of Top soil on top of the Miracle Gro Organic;

Cap of Diamond Blasting sand;

And filling it up, ready for dry start method;

Hopefully those are the last boring pictures.

I hope tomorrow the HC will be here. Thank you Sampster5000!!
I also expect a CFS 700 in the mail tomorrow.

Cant wait to start planting the HC

 

[ibmikmaq]

looks pretty cool! I think you should fence off the walk thru for the cat or the cat may be doing a little fishing while nobodies home and a few of those discus might mysteriously disappear!

 

[driftwoodhunter]

I had to laugh at the second pic with the cat in it...they really can contort themselves when they want something! It's a beauty - is it a Bengal?
I'm curious about your choice of substrate, since I'm getting ready to set up more tanks. I used MGOCPS in a 55 - have you used the Garden Soil and topsoil combo before? I was under the impression that the Potting Soil was preferred over the garden soil. I like the idea of adding plain top soil - how has that worked for you?

 

[nalu86]

looks pretty cool! I think you should fence off the walk thru for the cat or the cat may be doing a little fishing while nobodies home and a few of those discus might mysteriously disappear!

Lol, Before I moved I had a 75 gallon and she would always jump on the tank and go for a swim. She is not interested in the fish other than watching them. She is more fascinated by the water, lol.

I think I will let the stairs open for now, until I see naughty behavior.

 

[nalu86]

I had to laugh at the second pic with the cat in it...they really can contort themselves when they want something! It's a beauty - is it a Bengal?
I'm curious about your choice of substrate, since I'm getting ready to set up more tanks. I used MGOCPS in a 55 - have you used the Garden Soil and topsoil combo before? I was under the impression that the Potting Soil was preferred over the garden soil. I like the idea of adding plain top soil - how has that worked for you?

Haha, yeah she is a Bengal, awesome wild behavior. She is a full time job, lol

Well, Its the first time I try Miracle gro and Top soil in combination, Heck I never just poured top soil in a tank, I always made MTS.
I decided to do this after I read some things around the forum, and the Walstad method... I think this should work, and I will do a dry start for over a month, so actually is almost the same as making MTS.

I ordered the CFS 700 with the UV bulb in it, if something goes wrong with algae or green water, I can fix it fast hopefully.

 

[londonloco]

Subscribed!

 

[ibmikmaq]

I am definately curious on how this Dry start method will work by just adding miracle grow and top soil in tank because I am starting my 300 gallon as soon as my extension is done and I was planning on doing the the dry start method myself and already made a 5 gallon bucket full of MTS but definately need to make more so if this works then I can just do the same.

 

[tuffgong]

Nice work so far. I have a feeling this is going to be a really nice tank. Keep us posted please.

 

[nalu86]

Today the HC arrived, after 4 days in the mail it still looked pretty good.
Sampster5000 also putted some dwarf hair grass in it, thank you

Also my CFS700 arrived, when I opened the package, I noticed glass on top of the lid... was already thinking, this is not a good sign... As I opened the filter and took out some of the media, I saw right away that the UV bulb was broken... .

Here are pics of the planted HC and DHG.

little question, is a temp of 85F high in the tank?
also i couldn't find 6500K CFL bulbs at home depot and bought daylights 5000K. Are those bulbs ok or should I try to find 6500K's?

Thx

 

[rickztahone]

that k temp is fine. Those lights will create a lot of heat though. What lighting do you plan on using eventually, or are these the lights you will keep?

 

[nalu86]

that k temp is fine. Those lights will create a lot of heat though. What lighting do you plan on using eventually, or are these the lights you will keep?

I will use my odyssea 4x 54w T5HO fixture when I flood the aquarium. I just didn't break down my 75 yet and have a lot of high light and co2 plants in there. Thats why I use those light right now.

Is 85F to warm? I can always make a frame inside the tank thats lower so the lamps won't be covered anymore.

 

[sampster5000]

Glad to see the plants arrived well. These particular HC and DHG went through a dry start for many months so they are used to it Lol. Make sure that you keep the soil filled with water and mist at least every 1-2 days. Keep a good seal on the top so that all CO2will stay inside. I recommend mixing a small amount of ferts into your misting bottle.

Dont worry about the temp. Its going to be hot since you are not allowing air flow in and out of the tank to the room. My 5.5 gallon got HOT during the dry start.

Dont worry about the kelvin temperature. I grew mine under 10,000k and 6500K but as long as you stay at 10,000 or under you'll be good.

 

[nalu86]

Glad to see the plants arrived well. These particular HC and DHG went through a dry start for many months so they are used to it Lol. Make sure that you keep the soil filled with water and mist at least every 1-2 days. Keep a good seal on the top so that all CO2will stay inside. I recommend mixing a small amount of ferts into your misting bottle.

Dont worry about the temp. Its going to be hot since you are not allowing air flow in and out of the tank to the room. My 5.5 gallon got HOT during the dry start.

Dont worry about the kelvin temperature. I grew mine under 10,000k and 6500K but as long as you stay at 10,000 or under you'll be good.

Thank you for the advice, and again thank you for the plants
I won't use any ferts in my water to spray with, just because there is enough soil in the tank that will give off enough nutrients. Am I correct? I poured a little bit of Excell in the spray bottle.

Ok about the temp, and the bulbs, thats a trouble less

 

[nalu86]

Pics of the broken CFS 700.
The lid with the broken glass on top... weird.

The broken UV bulb inside the filter, was so disappointed...

The filter

Should I ask for a new one or should I ask for a replacement bulb?
Is the powder inside the UV bulb dangerous or whatever is inside a UV bulb. I just set the filter at the side from the moment I saw the bulb was broken.