[synaethetic]

UDGags; the tank is looking awesome. Love the plecos and all the inhabitants you've showed off. It seems your T5's are pretty high off the top of the tank, I'd bet that with the amount of plant mass you have, you'd be able to lower it a little for the plants and get away with it.

 

[Overfloater]

I've never had any problems with it spreading after a scrub it off. If I recall correctly, I don't think BBA will survive if detached from its substrate.

A lot of my BBA has actually turned green. Not sure if it's happy or dying.

 

[AquaAurora]

Lovely tank very ncie layout of plants/colors, really like the moss on the driftwood 'roots' and your 'lil pleco.

 

[Overfloater]

Nick,

How often do you trim? If you're open to it I'd love to swing by and check out this beast in person and possibly take some of your cuttings.

 

[UDGags]

Great thread. I too have lingering BBA issues. Reducing light and upping CO2 seemed to have slowed it down. Oddly enough, it only seems to grow on two surfaces; the stones and snail shells. I scrub it off the stones with a brush which keeps it well under control.

Overfloater; most of the snails in my tank have BBA as well. I'm thinking they are what spreads it! Consistant C02 definitely slows BBA down as well. I've never scrubbed any surfaces as I fear that will make it spread. I've noticed some BBA patches recede and begin dying off sometimes, this is without excel dosing so I am unsure what caused it.

I'm pretty sure my BBA is caused by organics. This is why I'm moving to poret foam this weekend. We'll see in a few weeks if I'm correct.

I can't go higher with CO2 (been 60-80 ppm) and I've tried low/high PAR multiple times.

UDGags; the tank is looking awesome. Love the plecos and all the inhabitants you've showed off. It seems your T5's are pretty high off the top of the tank, I'd bet that with the amount of plant mass you have, you'd be able to lower it a little for the plants and get away with it.

I mess with the lights all the time BUT I have them up high because if they are lower they get splashed by siphon break mechanisms (in case of power loss) in the return lines. I'm around 80-90 PAR at the substrate right now with the lights that far from the surface and can go higher if I wanted. Last year I ran around 125 PAR with them closer to the surface and a lower % on the dimmer but I had to wipe off the plexiglass covering once or twice a week.

Lovely tank very ncie layout of plants/colors, really like the moss on the driftwood 'roots' and your 'lil pleco.

Thank You!

Nick,

How often do you trim? If you're open to it I'd love to swing by and check out this beast in person and possibly take some of your cuttings.

Usually once a week I'll spend a good chunk of time for a good trim/water change/etc. but I mess with it daily if I see some BBA, dead leaves, etc. that need to be taken out.

My wife is not keen with random strangers coming over to see the tank. I had a couple last year and she let me hear about it. If I ever have a weekend home alone it might work but those aren't common since we have a 7 month old.

 

[Overfloater]

I understand completely. I have two little ones myself.

In about a month I will be looking to revamp the tank. Perhaps we can meet up at a place of your choosing and work something out for trimmings.

 

[UDGags]

My in-laws live in Canal Winchester so I get up to that area fairly often. Maybe we can meet on one of those trips.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[Overfloater]

I'm down with that. I'll be in touch.

 

[UDGags]

I installed the UVL red's today....very cool looking!

 

[The Trigger]

Looks great. Lots of variety in there. Love how it's coming along

 

[Ebi]

That lud pantanal I sent yuh is looking great already! Love the UVL Red. Really brings out the colors


Mike

 

[chayos00]

First of all I want to say awesome tank! Second I wanted to ask how's that much aquasoil working out/holding together for you? I have a 125g that I am trying to figure out what to do for the substrate, I don't want to spend hundreds on "soil", but if it lasts it may be worth it. Third I am also going to run a sump tank, 55g converted. I recently came across the foam that you are converting over to. I would love to hear you thoughts on the stuff. I know you just started with it though. Or do you have any sources where you found people loved it. As I didn't have much luck when searching for reviews on it for long-term use.

 

[UDGags]

Looks great. Lots of variety in there. Love how it's coming along

Thanks

That lud pantanal I sent yuh is looking great already! Love the UVL Red. Really brings out the colors


Mike

It was L. Glandulosa and yes, it looks great!

First of all I want to say awesome tank! Second I wanted to ask how's that much aquasoil working out/holding together for you? I have a 125g that I am trying to figure out what to do for the substrate, I don't want to spend hundreds on "soil", but if it lasts it may be worth it. Third I am also going to run a sump tank, 55g converted. I recently came across the foam that you are converting over to. I would love to hear you thoughts on the stuff. I know you just started with it though. Or do you have any sources where you found people loved it. As I didn't have much luck when searching for reviews on it for long-term use.

The aquasoil is holding up well...been over a year and I have no complaints. It should last a couple more from reading about others who use it.

I just put the foam in now and I am doing a water change. All the foam is 2" thick from Swiss Tropicals.

Here is 10ppi in the overflow. I left the top pipe of the herbie uncovered just to be safe.

Here is a picture and the reflection shows the UVL red

10ppi foam in sump (not sure if this will stay or not)

20ppi right below the 10ppi (The dog is Louie...Welsh Courgie/Boston Terrier mix)

2 layers of 30ppi below the 20ppi

 

[UDGags]

I ended up taking out the 10ppi (blue) in the sump. It was too high to get the correct flow. So I have 20, 30, 30 in there now with the empty tray above. If the 20ppi gets clogged too quickly I'll switch to 10, 20, 30ppi.

I also found 4 of the baby plecos in the sump I bought a few weeks ago....buggers were impossible to catch. I ended up covering the drain in the shower with the 10ppi foam and dumping them out catching them that way.

 

[Overfloater]

Wow that bulb certainly is red. Should really bring out the color in the plants.

 

[chayos00]

I ended up taking out the 10ppi (blue) in the sump. It was too high to get the correct flow. So I have 20, 30, 30 in there now with the empty tray above. If the 20ppi gets clogged too quickly I'll switch to 10, 20, 30ppi.

I also found 4 of the baby plecos in the sump I bought a few weeks ago....buggers were impossible to catch. I ended up covering the drain in the shower with the 10ppi foam and dumping them out catching them that way.

If you have the 10ppi, why don't you just do the 10, 20, 30? Or do you have something prefiltering it before?

For the fish in the sump, I thought you had a screen on your overflow to stop them from going through?

Also what kind of flow do you think you have going through the sump?

 

[UDGags]

If you have the 10ppi, why don't you just do the 10, 20, 30? Or do you have something prefiltering it before?

For the fish in the sump, I thought you had a screen on your overflow to stop them from going through?

Also what kind of flow do you think you have going through the sump?

I have the 10ppi (blue) in the overflow. You can see it in the picture above.

I do have a screen. My guess is they fit through the edge or when I cleaned it they snuck in. They were $2 a piece so I wasn't too worried. They were about the length of a dime when I bought them so very small. The foam in the overflow should prevent them from getting in there again (I think/I hope).

The Mag18 is 1800 gph so I'd guess something around there.

 

[chayos00]

I have the 10ppi (blue) in the overflow. You can see it in the picture above.

I do have a screen. My guess is they fit through the edge or when I cleaned it they snuck in. They were $2 a piece so I wasn't too worried. They were about the length of a dime when I bought them so very small. The foam in the overflow should prevent them from getting in there again (I think/I hope).

The Mag18 is 1800 gph so I'd guess something around there.

Ah didn't catch the 10ppi in the overflow. So depending upon the head height and how strong the pump is to handle head height so my guess would be 800-1200gph.

 

[UDGags]

Yeah, probably somewhere in there. I have a MP40 vortech as a powerhead...my goal was 20x+ waterflow when I set it up.

 

[chayos00]

Yeah, probably somewhere in there. I have a MP40 vortech as a powerhead...my goal was 20x+ waterflow when I set it up.

You would love the pump I have then. it's rated at about 3200 @ 0 head height and about 2000 @ 6 feet. I'll have to get the name for you tomorrow.