# oldpunk's low-ish tech 29 gal(updated 4/4/09)



## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

still no pressurized co2 (diy) and relatively low light. low dosing as well. started at the beginning November. i have a journal going, but no one ever really comments so i thought i would give it a go in here...


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## Flashy (Jan 4, 2009)

Hi I'm new here.

Looks FANTASTIC. What's your light and Co2? And how long has this been set up?

I have 130w on 55g with the Red Sea biogenerator. Everything looks good from across the room but up close there is some algae on the plants but none on the glass since I started adding barley tea.

I'm curious to know how you don't have algae and what you're doing to maintain and how you're mixing the Co2, etc.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

Flashy said:


> Hi I'm new here.
> 
> Looks FANTASTIC. What's your light and Co2? And how long has this been set up?
> 
> ...


welcome!

for lighting i am using a 2x24w t5HO retro that sits as far up in my canopy as i can get it (about 7" above the water) and it's on for 7hrs a day.

i'm still trying to figure out the co2, lol. right now i have 2 one gallon jugs going. they are about 3/4 filled with water, 2 cups of sugar and a 1/2 teaspoon of regular old yeast each. i rotate one out once a week. i am also using a hagen mine elite as my diffuser. i was using a regular old power head for diffusion but made the switch after i had to add another power head for flow issues. 

i am dosing excel daily. i also found that i need to dose ferts as well. i bought some dry ferts and mixed some solutions comparable to seachem's line and am following their dosing table. seems to be working pretty good so far.

this has been running for about two months now and is my 1st attempt at a planted tank.

thank you for your words of encouragement!


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## skabooya (Apr 15, 2005)

ooo looking very good. I do like the aquascape and it will look lovely when everything fills in. But so far it all looks very lush.


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

Tank looks good! Let me know how the dosing works on keeping algae at bay. Our setups are very similar now.. I think my tank is a few inches deeper than yours but I don't think it matters much. You have your light hung a little higher than me..


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

skabooya said:


> ooo looking very good. I do like the aquascape and it will look lovely when everything fills in. But so far it all looks very lush.


thank you



rpayer said:


> Tank looks good! Let me know how the dosing works on keeping algae at bay. Our setups are very similar now.. I think my tank is a few inches deeper than yours but I don't think it matters much. You have your light hung a little higher than me..


so far the only algae in there is a little bga and a little diatom(sp?) algae. i think i've figured out the bga (low nitrates and low flow). and the other stuff seems to be alright with excel+diy co2+snails and otos.(pond snails seem to eat a lot!)


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

oldpunk78 said:


> thank you
> 
> 
> 
> so far the only algae in there is a little bga and a little diatom(sp?) algae. i think i've figured out the bga (low nitrates and low flow). and the other stuff seems to be alright with excel+diy co2+snails and otos.(pond snails seem to eat a lot!)


Well that's good. My only problem is with bba and I know that is a telltale sign of low C02. I'm gonna have to bite the bullet..

Try a Koralia for the flow if your powerhead doesn't seem to be cutting it. Mine works great for moving a broad stream of water.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

rpayer said:


> Try a Koralia for the flow if your powerhead doesn't seem to be cutting it. Mine works great for moving a broad stream of water.


i've been meaning to give the Koralia's a try but i couldn't justify spending money on something that i have ten of laying around.


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

oldpunk78 said:


> i've been meaning to give the Koralia's a try but i couldn't justify spending money on something that i have ten of laying around.


I hear that... It may be worth a try though. You can aim it alot more directly at your plants with blowing 'em all over.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

i finally got around to taking some better pics. you can really see all the equipment now. i added new plant and did some trimming. along with that, i also removed one of my reflectors and changed one of the 6.700K k bulbs to a 18,000K bulb. i hope it doesn't look all washed out any more. all comments welcome.








and the diy co2 doing it's thing...








thanks for looking.


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## amano101 (Dec 21, 2008)

nice tank x10. i agree that it looks very lush. no fishies? i'm also curious what exactly your fert dosage is. like exactly how much of what ferts you put in and how often. are you just following ei method or something different?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

It looks nice and the plants are growing really well. :thumbsup:

I think it will look great once the background plants have grown in to disguise the equipment.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

amano101 said:


> nice tank x10. i agree that it looks very lush. no fishies? i'm also curious what exactly your fert dosage is. like exactly how much of what ferts you put in and how often. are you just following ei method or something different?


^ there are fish. 7 rummy-nose tetras (working up to 13-14), 1 german blue ram, 1 oto, and a bunch of ghost shrimp. also there is a rasbora(sp?) that i can't catch to move and a bunch of pond snails.

ferts - 

i am using flourish comprehensive, flourish excel, and have mixed up some dry ferts to the same as flourish potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorous. this is pretty close to what seachem recommends for 29g.

day 1 - nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium (@ 2ml). excel, flourish (@ 2.5ml)
day 2 - excel (@ 2.5ml)
day 3 - excel (@ 2.5ml)
day 4 - nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium (@ 2ml). excel (@ 2.5ml)
day 5 - excel (@ 2.5ml)
day 6 - flourish, excel (@ 2.5ml)
day 7 - 5% water change



lauraleellbp said:


> It looks nice and the plants are growing really well. :thumbsup:
> 
> I think it will look great once the background plants have grown in to disguise the equipment.


^ thank you! 
once the rotallia(sp?) reaches the top of the tank, it creates a huge flow problem for me. i have to hack off like 4-6 inches a week. it should come in pretty bushy after the next few weeks though.
as fare as the equipment goes, i don't think that i'm going to be able to hide it. i am going to have to get a better canister so i can ditch the power heads and the spary bar. and once i can save up for a pressurized co2 unit, i can hide the reactor behind the tank. right now, i'm not worried about it. the stuff in there just reminds me to plan things out better next time...


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

Wow...that looks great!

I just hooked up my DIY C02 today...


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

^hahaha, now your hygro is going to grow twice as fast!

what did you set up for the co2? how are you going to diffuse it?


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Love 29Gal tanks! You've done this one justice! Nice job!!!


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

thanks ed!


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## starrystarstarr (Sep 6, 2006)

one great looking tank!


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

oldpunk78 said:


> ^hahaha, now your hygro is going to grow twice as fast!
> 
> what did you set up for the co2? how are you going to diffuse it?


Hey as long as it isn't covered in algae!

Well I originally set it up with a 2l coke bottle and a 20oz "catch can" but I had a leak I couldn't find so I am just running it straight from the 2l into my koralia. I am pretty apprehensive at this point...


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

^you are going to need something inline to get the nasty stuff before it makes it's way into the your tank. it's only a matter of time before it happens. i hope your are smearing silicone right now trying to fix the leak. and make sure you have a check valve up near the top of the tank. it will save you a big mess if you get another leak. the smallest brass fittings at lowes (i think they are 5/16) work great for me. you just drill your hole, screw them in and let the silicone dry. no leaks yet.

and thank you starry! nice heels, btw...


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

Why did you change your 6700K for a 18000K? 6700K is what the plants like. Even though you only have 2 wpg they are T5's so you have plenty of light. Your tank looks very nice. That's quite a spray of CO2 you have there. Can you lower it in the tank? Niko came up with a cute cheap way to do CO2 with an small $9 internal filter. It could take the place of your powerhead on the left and do your CO2 at the same time. Then you wouldn't have a problem with the height of your back plants. You also wouldn't see all that CO2 spray that you see now. I use it in my 29g. It works great!


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

oldpunk78 said:


> ^you are going to need something inline to get the nasty stuff before it makes it's way into the your tank. it's only a matter of time before it happens. i hope your are smearing silicone right now trying to fix the leak. and make sure you have a check valve up near the top of the tank. it will save you a big mess if you get another leak. the smallest brass fittings at lowes (i think they are 5/16) work great for me. you just drill your hole, screw them in and let the silicone dry. no leaks yet.
> 
> and thank you starry! nice heels, btw...



I know but the real reason for pulling it out was more process of elimination. Now I'm thinking something isn't right with my mixture. I pulled the line out of the tank last night and just set it in a 20oz coke bottle. It still isn't making any bubbles... What are the ingredients for your C02 mixture? I did 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 tsp of yeast.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

i followed the recipe in here:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/2653-diy-c02-article.html

make sure your water isn't more than warm or you could kill your yeast...

edit - these things really make it easy to ensure that you don't get any leaks:


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

Tex Gal said:


> Why did you change your 6700K for a 18000K? 6700K is what the plants like. Even though you only have 2 wpg they are T5's so you have plenty of light. Your tank looks very nice. That's quite a spray of CO2 you have there. Can you lower it in the tank? Niko came up with a cute cheap way to do CO2 with an small $9 internal filter. It could take the place of your powerhead on the left and do your CO2 at the same time. Then you wouldn't have a problem with the height of your back plants. You also wouldn't see all that CO2 spray that you see now. I use it in my 29g. It works great!


a lot of people really like this bulb:








here is the one i added:








not that much difference. i just wanted to bring out the reds and blues so it didn't look so washed out.

the co2 is where it is because that was the best spot get it even all over the tank evenly. i tried just putting it one side and the co2 stayed on that side only. the spay bar forces it down and it gets pretty well distributed that way.

why does everyone hate on the equipment so much? lol it has a purpose.


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

oldpunk78 said:


> i followed the recipe in here:
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/2653-diy-c02-article.html
> 
> make sure your water isn't more than warm or you could kill your yeast...
> ...


Well i'm going to pick up a few of those and start over.. I did something wrong.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

make sure that the silicone is DRY before adding your mixture. i thought that i could get away with not letting it cure all the way and got a leak. i would also set up two bottles for co2, one won't be enough.


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

FYI for you water temp for your yeast. My nephew did a science experiment to find out what in which water temp yeast grows best. He found that 110 F was the best. That's pretty hot to the touch.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

thanks tex gal.

i wish i had room under my stand for a bucket big enough to fit 2 one gallon containers in.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

update: i added a piece of dw(small, you probably can't even make it out in this photo) and moved the blyxa(sp?) i think things have grown... lol


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## rpayer (Jun 9, 2008)

oldpunk78 said:


> update: i added a piece of dw(small, you probably can't even make it out in this photo) and moved the blyxa(sp?) i think things have grown... lol


Your crypts are really nice...


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

^ thank you. they are one of my favorite plants so far. the "bronze" ones are taking over my foreground. i did not think they would grow as quickly as they do.


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## LeTigra (Nov 25, 2008)

That looks really nice.
What is that big crypt (?) right in the middle at the front? Its huge!


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

^ cryptocoryne wendtii 'bronze'

edit - after looking it up, it would seem that they are two different things. i guess the ones in the tank are:Cryptocoryne wendtii v. ‘Tropica’


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## Cactus Bastard (Jun 5, 2007)

oldpunk78 said:


> day 1 - nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium (@ 2ml). excel, flourish (@ 2.5ml)
> day 2 - excel (@ 2.5ml)
> day 3 - excel (@ 2.5ml)
> day 4 - nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium (@ 2ml). excel (@ 2.5ml)
> ...


Is that a typo? You'll end up with unbalanced nutrients (among other problems) if you're only actually doing 5% changes.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

no, no typo. i am actually under dosing a little. i am following the seachem guide. there is a dosing calculator for their products at the seachem website.


edit - whoa, someone rated my thread... cool


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

a little update:

i cut out a ton of the rotala and added some ludwigia repens. most of the crypts are too big and hide it for now. once it grows in a bit, i think it will look pretty good. 

also, i tried to hide some of the equipment. there isn't a whole lot to hide it with though, lol.

anyway, here is what it looks like now.










does anyone have any suggestions/comments? they are always welcome.


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

I really like the looks of this tank.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Your tank is looking awesome oldpunk. I think that once the ludwiga grows out you will really like it.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

Trallen44 said:


> I really like the looks of this tank.


thank you. 



Homer_Simpson said:


> Your tank is looking awesome oldpunk. I think that once the ludwiga grows out you will really like it.


i think you made a good suggestion homer. thanks!


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

here's an update:

not much has changed. i've done a trim and the ludwigia is starting to fill in. the blyxa was removed along with leaves that had bba on them. after checking the ph the other day(something that i never do...), i have somehow managed to make enough co2 to drop it from the 8.4 that it was at to now 7. i guess it was the co2(4 gallons worth), i haven't changed anything else... anyway, i will probably not be posting updates any longer in the low tech forum. i have come to the conclusion that with the t5ho lighting (be it only something like 1.6wpg - i know the wpg rule doesn't apply) and the possible 30ppm co2(i need to get a drop checker i guess) i really can't say i'm low tech anymore. although, all of the plants are low light and i'm not doing any ei dosing or big weekly water changes...

on another note, the two crs that i through in there back in December had babies! i thought they both died and i just couldn't find them - well a week ago i saw both of them together and later some babies scattered around the tank. 

if anybody can think of a reason to keep this thread going, let your opinion be known.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

oldpunk78 said:


> here's an update:
> 
> not much has changed. i've done a trim and the ludwigia is starting to fill in. the blyxa was removed along with leaves that had bba on them. after checking the ph the other day(something that i never do...), i have somehow managed to make enough co2 to drop it from the 8.4 that it was at to now 7. i guess it was the co2(4 gallons worth), i haven't changed anything else... anyway, i will probably not be posting updates any longer in the low tech forum. i have come to the conclusion that with the t5ho lighting (be it only something like 1.6wpg - i know the wpg rule doesn't apply) and the possible 30ppm co2(i need to get a drop checker i guess) i really can't say i'm low tech anymore. although, all of the plants are low light and i'm not doing any ei dosing or big weekly water changes...
> 
> ...


That is an absoultely beautiful tank and you have made remarkable progress. While I understand and can appreciate your reasons for not wanting to keep the thread going, why not give us a progress report after 6 months or 1 year. I don't about others but I would be really curious. I suspect that the tank will be even more beautiful by that time.


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

I would like to still see updates on it. Maybe one of the Mod's can move it over to the tank journal section and you can still keep it going and all of us updated on it.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

Homer_Simpson said:


> That is an absoultely beautiful tank and you have made remarkable progress. While I understand and can appreciate your reasons for not wanting to keep the thread going, why not give us a progress report after 6 months or 1 year. I don't about others but I would be really curious. I suspect that the tank will be even more beautiful by that time.


-thanks homer! 



Trallen44 said:


> I would like to still see updates on it. Maybe one of the Mod's can move it over to the tank journal section and you can still keep it going and all of us updated on it.


-no need to move it. if you go back to the 1st post i made mention that the only reason that i put this in the low tech forum was because i wasn't really getting any feedback in the general journal section. at the time, i felt that i was pretty low tech and just put it over here too.


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## amano101 (Dec 21, 2008)

kinda late, but i also like the tank's progress. why do you want to shut the thread down? how are the baby crs doing?


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

amano101 said:


> kinda late, but i also like the tank's progress. why do you want to shut the thread down? how are the baby crs doing?


well... to answer the the 1st question, it seems like i've gone beyond 'low tech' and just don't feel right keeping this thread going in the 'low tech' section. as i stated earlier, with 4 gallons of diy co2 and t5ho lighting my co2 and lighting levels probably rival those of traditional 'high tech' set-up's. i started off with all low light plants and just dosing excel and minamal ferts. so, even though i don't do the whole ei dosing and pressuriezed co2 thing i'm just gonna keep the other thread going in the regular journal section...

2nd question - turns out they aren't low grade crs but are actually red bee's. (oldpunk = newb...) 










and as far as i can tell, they are doing just fine. i never see them though... i guess they don't like being around the fish in there...


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

update time - 

i decided to still keep this going after all. just not as many updates. 

after struggling to keep algae at bay(bba went to town on me), i made the decision to re-do the whole thing. basically, what happened was too much light and not enough diy co2 at consistent levels. one of the mistakes that happened was trying to see if i could pull it off w/out excel. turns out i needed it, lol. the lighting is still 48w of t5ho but i have removed one of the reflectors this time to keep the intensity down. i messed around with it before but kept trying to figure out ways to put it back. lesson learned, i hope. also this time around i will have aquasoil as the substrate.

so here is what it looks like as of now:










i'm still waiting for some more stems to be delivered along with some narrow leaf java ferns.

thanks for looking 

edit - i just changed my diy co2 stuff around and modified the mixture a little bit. here's what it looks like now. i'll probably have to tone it back down after the fish go back in...


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

:thumbsup:
That looks absolutely amazing. So, I take it the Elite Mini with the limewood diffuser that you built in to enhance c02 bubble breakdown, is working well.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

thanks homer, your comments are too kind. and yes, the limewood/mini diffuser combo seems to work really well. the only thing i don't really like about it so far is having to clean the slime of them every week. it's also a lot quieter than just using the mini elite you don't get that annoying bubble smashing sound.


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

oldpunk78 said:


> thanks homer, your comments are too kind. and yes, the limewood/mini diffuser combo seems to work really well. the only thing i don't really like about it so far is having to clean the slime of them every week. it's also a lot quieter than just using the mini elite you don't get that annoying bubble smashing sound.


Do you get a lack of Co2 bubbles if you don't clean it every week? I am only familiar with it in a reef tank for a air pump. I used to clean it once a month or so.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

Trallen44 said:


> Do you get a lack of Co2 bubbles if you don't clean it every week? I am only familiar with it in a reef tank for a air pump. I used to clean it once a month or so.


ya, it seems to need more pressure for bubbles to come out after it gets all slimy.


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