250G High Tech Tank

[Consigliere]

Just what I paid for them is all.  $35 + shipping.

[charlie]

Just what I paid for them is all.  $35 + shipping.

I might be interested in trying some, but i`m not quite sure about the spec of the netlea brown, some say it drives your GH down , have you experienced this since starting it?

[Consigliere]

Not sure.  Haven't tested any water parameters.

[Consigliere]

2 weekends ago I picked up all the plants I had ordered from the LFS, except for the anubias nana var petite. The plants direct from the distributor where in much better shape than the ones that had been hanging around the store for a while. Especially the parva. I got 15 pots of it and it was mostly full grown. I also got 6 pots of needle leaf fern, 5 pots of Windelov fern, a couple more pots of crypt ponderfolia, a couple more pots of crypt wendtii 'Red', 6 pots of crpyt cordata and half a dozen more anubias barteri. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera after this planting so no photos exist of the tank in the best shape it's looked since starting. After a week and a half the moajority of the crypts execpt the balansae, ponderfolia and parva have almost completely melted. Starting to see some growth from them now a week and a half after being transplanted. Here's a couple tank shots of what things look like now.



The floaters are some lobelia cardinalas that I bought but decided not to plant.  Was a whim buy and after looking it up I shouldn't have gotten it.  I don't think its the small form.  I'm going to just let it float for a while to see if it survives but I don't think I want it in the tank based on what I've read about it.

Here's the view I have from my desk.



A photo of the right foreground which will eventually be a parva lawn.  The 2nd round of parva are almost fully grown.  Compared to the parva I planted on the left side these ones look fully grown.



It will be interesting to see which side fills in more quickly.  The left side is planted more densely but the plants are very small where the right side is fully grown but not planted as thick.

This is all that was left of a 12-14 large crypt wendtii 'red' (as well as some diatom algae from starting up) and all that's left of about the same number of crypt cordata





With the tank fully planted and some of the plants having about a month in the tank I figured it was pretty safe to start introducing fish.  I previously had bought 6 otos to keep the startup algae at bay and they all died.  It's likely that the tank wasn't entirely cycled and some other stress reactions all worked against them.  I jumped the gun a bit on getting them, maybe I was too paranoid about a bit algae infested startup.

The last time I started up a bigger planted tank I didn't introduce any of the "show" fish until after the cleaning crew had been in for a few weeks.  I plan on doing the same thing this time.  I'll build up the cleaning staff over the next couple weeks and then will get the rest of the fish in.

So far, I'm pretty happy with what I've found in stock at the fish stores around town.  Introduced into the tank this weekend were:

6 otos, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 2 clown plecos, 2 rubbernose plecos, 9 panda corys and 120 ghost shrimp.  Here's a few shots of some of the new tenants:

Albino bristlenose pleco



Rubbernose pleco



Another rubbernose




Clown pleco



Ghost shrimp



Panda corys



After the first day I haven't seen the clown plecos around.  It also looks like one of the rubbernose plecos has some ich.  Hopefully it's alright and doesn't spread to the other fish.  Also, about a dozen of the ghost shrimp have bitten the dust.  Fairly expected considering I bought 10 dozen.  After the first day I haven't seen any more carcasses lying in the gravel so I think the rest have acclimated well. It's pretty cool to say about 100 ghost shrimp cruising around and doing their thing.  Makes the tank seem very active with almost no fish in it at all.  They are constantly eating something and it's noticeable that they are cleaning things up after only a couple days.

As far as the tank setup goes I'm pretty much finished.  I have a couple small odds and ends to complete and then build the cabinet to finish it off.  That will be the last major job and then the only work left will be maintenance.  Not all the way there yet but it's feeling much closer than it did 2 months ago.  There will be one more planting left for the tank, I just need to find the right species.  I need to get some anubias nana var petite it pretty large quantity to fill in the two sections of the driftwood (mostly on the left side) and I'd like a mid sized anubias strain for the left side as well.  I'm going to try and order some of them through another LFS and see how it goes.  Right now it's just wait for the crypts to come back and the ferns and anubias to starting spreading out.

[Consigliere]

Been playing with my camera. Finally spending the time to learn how to use it beyond point and shoot. This shot seems a bit underexposed still so probably will need to adjust some settings but it's definitely an improvement from before. Quick update on the tank, the wendtii 'bronze' is starting to grow back after completely melting. The cordata is basically still all melted. 2 plants have started to just shoot out of the ground but just barely. The balansae, ponderfolia and apongenton in the back has been growing well the last couple weeks. It's fully recovered. The anubias and parva have signs of growth but very slow as you would expect.


I've lost 3 panda corys and 2 otos. I've seen all the plecos except one clown pleco but no body so I think both clowns are still alive. About another dozen ghost shrimp have bit the dust so I figure there is about 75-85 left.

I've adjusted the drainage setup to eliminate some noise. I'll have a post on the new setup sometime soon. I'm also looking at a new return pump. The Quiet One 9000 I have is not so quiet. I'm looking at the Reeflo Snapper Gold to replace it but am still considering options. Any suggestions for quiet return pumps around 2000GPH?

[fischkopp]

That's coming along nicely!

Any suggestions for quiet return pumps around 2000GPH?

One question: why do you need such a high return rate? I run a 180 with an Eheim 1262 that moves 900gal/h and I find that more than enough in a planted tank. I have it running for a year now 24/7 and can highly recommend that pump, it is virtually silent. No noise whatsoever.

[Consigliere]

I have 2 check valves and 2 elbows in the return line and the return line is split into 2x 1.5" outlets into the tank from the single return pump.  With about 5 ft of sched 40 PVC on the return line and the return into the tank sitting 12" or so below the water line I figure that is about 6-10ft of head pressure.  Going by the pump curves that will knock the flow down into the 1000-1400 GPH range. 4-6x turnover rate per hour I'm happy with.   Should keep things moving around so not too much vacuuming of the tank is required.  If I feel the flow is too much I can always valve it back.  Better to have too much available than not enough and I need this tank to be low maintenance...so higher flow will help in that department.

I looked up the 1262...its rated for 900GPH as you suggested but at 5ft head pressure (pretty typical pressure for 100+G tank)  the rating is for ~400GPH. So you're at about ~2.25x turnover per hour.  Totally fine setup obviously.

I just am choosing to size mine towards the higher side and spend a few hundred extra to do it. 

[touchofsky]

I have a clown in my 38 gallon tank, and I never see him.  I have to move the little rock pile around, if I want to flush him out.

Your tank looks very good, and is filling in nicely.  Also, you picture is very nice.  I have to do some experiments with my camera, since all my photos are washed out.

[Consigliere]

I have a clown in my 38 gallon tank, and I never see him.  I have to move the little rock pile around, if I want to flush him out.

Your tank looks very good, and is filling in nicely.  Also, you picture is very nice.  I have to do some experiments with my camera, since all my photos are washed out.

Thanks.  The biggest tip I got was to play with the white balance presets.  My lighting is T5HO so I picked one of the florescent sunlight white balance and it brought the colours out much more accurately.

[touchofsky]

Thanks for that.  I will do some experimenting.

[Consigliere]

I finally got around to fixing my solenoid so I could put my pH controller online and control the CO2 a bit. Not really required to maintain the tank but saves some money on CO2 in my opinion. AFter taking the solenoid apart a couple times because it was passing, I finally figured out the actual problem. The outlfow orifice that the plunger seals against was corroded and irregular. I think the rubber on the plunger was a bit hard as well. So, I figured the CO2 must be passing through a small crack between the plunger and the orifice. I figured I could fix it myself using some silicone. The concept was to build a gasket surface onto the outflow orifice using tiny beads of silicone applied with a toothpick. Then I would form it into a continuous bead using the end of another clean toothpick. Here's the solenoid body after my DIY gasket:



Put my regulator and solenoid back together after the silicone cured and it worked like a charm. *My CO2 is back in action controlling from a pH *of 7.2 (measurement after two days of no CO2 injection) to 6.7.

I've also changed around the drainage setup to quiet things down and provide full return pump output. *Previously, I had only been draining without a siphon. *My intention was to startup without a siphon drain until I got comfortable a siphon setup. *Wanted to make sure 100% that during a power failure I wouldn't dump the tank on the floor. *I also realized a setup without siphon was going to be far too loud and I couldn't maximize the flow from the return pump. *The problem was that I needed to provide a setup to break the siphon in the event of a power failure. *After seeing the Beananimal (sp?) design I decided that capping my ABS drain setup at the high points (http://canaquaticgardens.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/drain-system-plumbing-dry-fit/) and installing tubing into the tops of the cap I could setup a drain under siphon and the other drain as overflow with the capability to emergency siphon should the tank level get too high. *Here's a couple shots of the new drainage, first the siphon drain:



and the overflow/emergency siphon:



The guards are DIY made out of plant pots I got when I bought some of the plants for the tank. *I tested what I figured were the full range of failure conditions and the tank/sump *never flooded. *I hoped I was in good shape and this is how the tank is setup today.

A couple notes on the plant care. *I've been dosing every other day 3/4 of EI amounts of Plantex CSM+B, K and P. *On the other days I've been changing 5% of the water, so roughly 15% per week. *Prior to starting dosing I took one of the lights of for 6hrs, significantly reducing the total light to the tank. *Now, about a week after dosing GSA growth is very low to none, diatom algae is very low and still receeding but hair algae has started in a couple spots. *So I figured I have a nutrient imbalance, and potentially a surplus from low lighting. *So, I turned the light on that I had turned off a week ago and will continue the EI dosing. *My current lighting setup is 0.7WPG for ~1.5hrs, 2WPG ~ 2hrs and *1.25WPG for *4.5hrs. Fairly low light, especially considering 3ft deep tank so I figured adding the light back in was the right thing to do.

Another note, since the dosing was started all plants have improved growth except the parva. *I think they have been limited by the lower lighting so adding the light should help with them the most. *I expect the rest of the plants will have a nice spurt as well.

Interestingly, after changing the drainage setup, I had a massive power failure at the host today. * Out for 10hrs followed by 1 hour on and then 2 hrs off again. *The setup held up perfectly. *The only deficiency is that after a power blip, the sump pump will pump out about 15G of water and the return chamber in the sump will go to low level. *The return pump will be pushing a bunch of air until you put more water back into the tank. *Considering that a power blip is likely to be followed by power failures, I'm OK with this being the worst thing that can happen. *I would much rather buy a new pump than a new hardwood floor. *During the downtime, the tank dropped about 6 degrees which is probably going to stress the fish a bit.

Since the last update I've added some new fish. *They aren't visible in this shot but I've added 6 albino corys, 3 bristlenose pleco, 2 clown pleco and 30 cardinal tetras. *I've lost my albino bushynose pleco and an oto since the last time I updated this. *The cardinal tetras have gone in the have been hiding in the back in the plants. *They are eating but not much. *The seem to be getting a bit braver and venturing to the front for food today though. *Here's the tank today:

[touchofsky]

I love your tank and that big piece of wood is fabulous. 

[Consigliere]

I love your tank and that big piece of wood is fabulous. 

Thanks very much.

[Lurch1]

Any updated pics?

[Consigliere]

No longer have the time to complete it or energy and effort to keep it going.  The commitment of this size was too much for me.  

[werehatwere]

So just out of curiosity, has it all ready been all taken down? What are you planning on doing with the equip/tank?

I have a 200g that I'm considering dismantling. Just trying to get some insight on how I should carry out this huge task and what to do with it all.

[Consigliere]

It has been a while.  Kids, work and other priorities have kept this project on hold.  As shown on the last few posts, I almost took this tank down...but didn't.

I had major issues with the sump filtration that were so frustrating I almost gave up on the whole thing. There first was the pump - a Quiet One 9000 that was not quiet at all.  It could be heard through the whole house and was a complete disaster. Unfortunately there were other issues as well with the drain design.  There were issues with power failures that resulted in 2 floods that were at least 50-60G on a wood floor. This was the point where I was ready to take the tank down.

After some time I decided to keep the tank going and put all the heating and filters into the tank.  Added some fluval u4 filters and power heads to the tank and got things under control.  The water change system still worked really well so this helped make up for the fact that the tank was under filtered. The only meaningful upgrade in this time was building the cabinetry for the tank.

Fast forward 4 years to today.  The tank has been stable for some time, but not flourishing by any means.  Plants have done pretty well, fish have been healthy but the tank has been mediocre at best.  It was time to finally fix this thing at hopefully realize the potential it has.

So I decided to go with a canister filter - ended up getting a fluval FX6 from homesalive.ca for $320 shipped and then added a FX gravel cleaner system for another $10.  Great deal.  To be able to get this sorted out I was going to have to take out the old 70G tank.  The demo was actually pretty easy and that freed up lots of room under the stand. At the same time I demoed the old pump and some of the plumbing that wasn't needed anymore.  I put back in a rubbermaid container and reinstalled the sump pump to maintain the auto water change.  After that I got the FX6 going and seeded it with the biomax from the U4 systems. Also redid the water supply and added a carbon filter to it to get rid of the chlorine and added a solenoid to it so i could put the changes on a timer.  Also built a DIY C02 reactor on the outlet of the FX6 for pressurized co2.  In process of repairing my regulator/solenoid setup for that.  Also cleaned up and re-organized all the electrical etc.  Has been about a month of steady work on the setup and have everything about done now. Also added a night light system.

Over the last week I have been updating the scape of the tank.  Removing some of the wood, pulling out some of the plants to clean things up and replanting some things here and there. 

After a week with the FX6 the tank is looking good.  Water is nice and clear and and parameters are looking good.  I used some seachem purigen in the filter to make sure things would do well chemically through the transition.  Couldn't be happier with this filter and kicking myself for not doing this originally.

My last steps are to get the pressurized co2 going again, hope to put a dosing system together and get the glass cleaned up with a new scraper/scrubber (Flipper just ordered from amazon). Also need to fight a |BBA battle to clean up some of the issues created there over the last few years.  Also Maybe a few more larger plants to start to fill out the background as well.  Probably some swords and/or balansae. 

Unfortunately don't have time to upload any new pics but i will get those up shortly. 

After a month or two of getting things stable and plants all going well again, going to start adding some livestock again. | have a few angels, a roseline barb, an otto and a few plecos in there and thats it.  will be time to really stock it with a large school of tetras, some corys, cleaners, shrimp and maybe eventually some discus which was the ultimate vision to start with. 

Will try and keep things up to date here over the next little while...been fun to have the time and energy to get back into this project;

[daworldisblack]

Oh man welcome back! Excited to see a reboot of this!

[Consigliere]

So some photos....here's the tank about a month ago before I started any more work and changes: (Apologies on the photos - I can't seem to embed them with google photos, only link to them)

https://goo.gl/photos/e4bU5PEsXpvRRJD1A

The tank was actually in pretty good shape but basically I was changing water often enough to keep it stable.  Probably changing about 50-60 gallons per week.  There were still lots of issues with stability but fish seemed to be doing pretty well and plants were growing OK.

This is the old sump that needed to be demoed to make room for the new setup:

https://goo.gl/photos/1UsLUckfmQeWLiHt8

Cut the tank apart at the seams and broke only the bottom (tempered).  Maybe someday will build it again with a plywood/fiberglass bottom but sounds like a lot of work right now.  Was a bit sad to do this...have had that tank for over 20 years.

Here's the setup all cleaned out, on the left is the plumbing for the sump pump to pump out water for auto water changing and on the right is the fresh water supply to the tank for providing new clean water.  You'll see a solenoid on that for timer capability.

https://goo.gl/photos/SJgrCpSFVaWwQBYv8


A bunch of upgrades went in - Fluval FX6 filter with stock components and 250ml of Seachem Purigen, installed a carbon filter on the freshwater supply to get rid of the chlorine, replaced my old 20lb CO2 with 5lb and repaired the regulator/solenoid on it, added a DIY CO2 reactor, have a rubbermaid and sump pump for the water changing and in general cleaned everything up.  New setup:

https://goo.gl/photos/VmacxfYWRxDvBP77A
https://goo.gl/photos/ScFevgkA6mU99V3z9

The CO2 and water change are on daily timers. The lights are only on for 5 hrs a day right now with only 1 of 3 lights.  Algae has always been a battle, BBA and green algae on the glass.  CO2 and ferts have never been steady so I am hoping to get the lighting on for longer with the CO2 and ferts more stable so the plants can outcompete the algae.

Last, here's the tank today after removing some wood, trimming lots of algae/dead leaves, removing a ton of the crypts, adding a few swords to the back and cleaning everything up and also a night shot with the blue LED night lights on.

https://goo.gl/photos/UDSqGAN4arzBgPAa6
https://goo.gl/photos/pNn6eAoVsKKf5Gfe9

The water clarity hasn't been as great recently and you'll see the green algae on the glass.  I have a large size flipper scraper/scrubber on order to get that addressed and again, CO2 and ferts hoping will resolve that.  On the water clarity, the purigen did a great job right away but recently seen a slide back a bit.  May need to clean the filter after doing a lot of work in the tank and stirring up lots of bottom junk.  Water parameters are all good - 7.2pH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 80oF

Items still to do before this thing is ready to take more fish and move over to maintain mode:
1) Big vac clean of the bottom - waiting a few weeks for everything that has been moved or new to take root
2) Get the snails - hundreds, maybe thousands, of trumpet snails in here and a few dozen assassin snails.  That bio load needs to be taken way down with a snail trap
3) Get the fert dosing schedule going and maintain - hoping to introduce an auto dosing pump for this in the future

Still a ways to go but the major work has been completed.