# 40 Breeder : "Out of the Darkness"



## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I picked the name because, well it seems like many of the memorable tanks have a name so it's the thing to do. It's the name of a Michele McLaughlin instrumental I heard and liked.

This will be my FIRST real planted tank project. I have a 20 gallon high tank that is currently unplanted but at one point did have about 15-20 plants with EI dosing and Excel. That lasted a month+ before tearing it down to make it a "Bedroom Tetra" tank which the GF was interested in having... I knew I wanted a bigger tank and don't want to be concentrating heavily on two at once.



I spent June building a dual stage regulator (bubble counter still in progress as of now but will likely end up a DIY check valve / oral syringe setup, the one shown in picture failed nearly immediately during testing) - Ideal needle valve, Burkert 6011 :











And then spent August building a stand:
























I ordered an inline heater, 2 Eheim 2217s, and 5 bags of Eco Complete a couple of days ago and should get them this weekend. I have to rebuild a bigger Griggs reactor, a new bubble counter to see if the 4th attempt is the charm (keep having check valves fail; have a new model from an Asian eBay retailer on my shelf now). 

My first plants will be decided soon and I've posted some of my hardscape ideas in the Aquascaping section : http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/aquascaping/146887-hard-scape-lots-choices-40-breeder.html

I will likely purchase many "fast growing" stem plants for the initial planting, if I don't change my mind  And then after 6 weeks or more start switching out items as I figure out what I'm doing. I may do a little of both and have my final goal plants growing alongside more stems than I would plan to keep.


I like to type, a LOT.


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## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

Gorgeous, gorgeous stand! I love seeing the skeleton under it! Where do you find brackets like that - are they in the decking section by the lumber, or elsewhere? (assuming HD or Lowes)


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Thank you!! This is the first woodworking project I've done outside of some decks a decade-plus ago with my father and I am extremely proud of my results, presuming it holds up when I load a tank on : ) I am also the new owner of a circular saw, router, portable workbench, carpenter's square, etc etc... 

The brackets are found right at the end of one of the lumber aisles at either of those stores in my experience.

I was considering a build thread, but this is actually a very-near copy to the first couple that come up when you use a search engine for 40 breeder stand so I didn't think there would be too much value. As (at least) the third person to use such a design I think I incorporated some of the best parts of each and definitely found ways to improve for next time.

All visible parts (once tank is on, and eventually I will be making or buying doors - right now focusing on the tank itself) are Red Oak stained with a Gel Stain which I found incredibly easy to work with.

Because you mentioned the brackets I will let you know that the two elsewhere online and the one I made all incorporated the use of a router to allow all "skin" wood to have direct contact on the pine skeleton, ie we had to make room for the brackets and accompanying screw heads.

Here is a picture of my front face trim with the routing work done on it, you can see how for some parts I needed an L shape and others just a corner. The plywood skin on the left and right sides, as well as the bottom shelf, all had similar work done, just different shapes.











It wasn't as "flat" on top as I hoped it would be as I found some minor gaps when I loaded on the tank to test for fit etc, and Hoppy in the DIY forum suggested using strips of veneer, which comes in 25 foot rolls (or other sizes) for around 5 dollars. I ended up putting veneer on the entire upper face where the tank would contact, and then sanding down the high spots, in order to achieve a flatness I'm happy with. Only a few months with water in the tank will tell if I did it right I suppose....


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## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

Thanks!
I don't have a router, but I'm cosidering using the same poly trim I'm using on my windows/crown molding to cover the 2 x 4s on the outward facing sides. (black paint elsewhere). Easy to cut/carve, I could accomodate the braces.
oops, my ride's here, gotta go!


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I wanted to route it as I was gluing everything on (screws are in frame, and there's finishing nails to hold decorative trim on, but the face frame and side skins are glued).

I am fairly sure that you don't absolutely need to do that but I would put plenty of screws or nails in, in order for the skin to do it's job of preventing racking by connecting opposing and adjacent pieces all together.

The girlfriend gets home from a business trip today and I am sure she will give her own ideas on the hardscape. I like them all, seems like a lot of people think "#2" in that thread is the best, I will mess around with it again tonight, and also move some rocks around.

My filters and such might show up at my work storeroom tomorrow so if opportunity allows, I will head over there and pick up my stuff! 

I still want to do a few more coats of polyurethane so mid-week I should be loading the tank on the stand and filling it up...in the mean time i need to find some free time to make a 2nd co2 reactor, bubble counter, and investigate the plants and places to buy them. I'm not going to even think about fish until I get it set up, I'll probably make a ton of mistakes with CO2 dosing for the first couple of weeks as it'll be a first for me.


I've read it is questionable to fishless cycle a planted tank; however, I will hold off on a decision to skip that step until I make sure that my initial planting really did put enough mass in there to allow that decision and not put fish in harm's way, especially as I'll be busy for many upcoming weekends so daily water changes not an option.


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## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

I love threads that show someone's progress right fromt he start - like building your own stand - lol.
I was one of the people voting for driftwood position #2. Some of the other angles look like a human form crawling on the floor of the tank to me! ; ) 
In #6, which got positive remarks, I see an abstracted torso, legs, and arms, with one arm reaching upward. I promise you I don't drink or do drugs - LOL.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

My sister commented that my wood photoshoot looked like it came from Kama Sutra lol...


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Great job on the stand


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Thank you 2in10!!

I picked up the parts for a Grigg reactor today, 2" diameter.

Got some nice tannin action in my bath tub right now - I'll give the DW a week, so as to at least save the real heavy initial leeching, maybe I'll have to do a water change or two less a week once I get it in the tank.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Nice stand and tank layout! Definitely looking forward to this tank!


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Nice work! I was just reading about this stuff today as well. I'm trying to make sure I don't plug to many things up to a power strip. I was reading about the coralife powercenter and people talking about fires and what not. Some said it would have been preventable with a GFCI.


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## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

So many people have written about GFCIs taht I'm going to read up on it when I get home from work today. I live in a mobile home that was built in 1988, I worry about the electrical! (Hope I didn't jinx myself).


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I have decided against my performing a DIY GFCI contraption and have deleted the post.

Proceed at own risk but after all that (and I am sure my GF will kill me after we spent half a day on it), I have decided that for me the best option is to ask landlord to install a GFCI receptacle (I will give him the one I bought for the DIY solution).


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Doc7 said:


> and I am sure my GF will kill me after we spent half a day on it


:hihi:


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I did build another outlet, I used parts more suited to the task at hand this time (cord grip connector, waterproof cover). Still a proceed-at-own-risk/comfort-level type thing.

Anyhow - got some goodies in the mail today...











And just put on the last coat of poly. Tomorrow - tank goes on and leveling everything!


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Moving along nicely, nice supply order


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Still having trouble with CO2 system. Currently set up under the stand (reactor not running yet etc, just releasing to the air after bubble counter)

Failed 4-5 different check valves in DIY syringe bubble counters - oil or water (tried both) would siphon back THRU the check valve after the system turned off and left overnight.

Last night did the other style with a bottle with oil in it and tubing going through the top cap into fluid and another tube out of the top - again, siphoned back up the tube bringing the oil back up about 6 inches to my post-body check valve when I turned it off over night...

(this kind):

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRT6q4VflO3m5AF6AU6oET6bdh8VFw_tK2BDkzXHYnyz-gYW7VVzw


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I stuck another check valve inline above my bubble counter and that seems to be working - so now it goes Post-body including swagelok check valve, inline ebay check valve, bubble counter, inline ebay check valve, reactor.


Made a lot of progress while watching football today, next is shimming the stand and filling the tank...

The cords etc will all be run in much neater and more organized fashion once I get the power strips I'll be using long-term, later this week. They'll be mounted up on the left inside wall.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Water's in the tank, both filters, heater running. I'm going to have to wait until Monday or later to plant as I'll be away this weekend.

The eheim 2217 is as strong as or stronger than the 2215 (I have that impeller in the other 2217 body) even after going through a rex reactor so I will probably have to play with flows a bit. There's no doubt that ill be able to have the flow as strong as I want or throttle it down as weak as I want. Very happy to have 2 x 2217 with 2 2215 impellers in ready-reserve (well, ones already in one of the 17s now of course!)

Bonus of waiting till next week is that I also have carbon in the filter soaking up driftwood tannins. I'll want to take that out prior to planting.

Now we're getting to the next big stage of this tank : )

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## Hyzer (Mar 9, 2010)

Great work so far. You will be happy to have both canisters.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Tank's still empty - my next real update will be next week when I make my plant order and this thing takes off. The teaser will be done soon!

continuing testing of all this stuff as it's my first time with anything besides basic EI on a sparsely planted 20 gal: 

Running approximately 3.3 BPS yesterday (50 bubbles in 15 seconds, give or take) I had my drop checker a definitely green color within 2.5 hours and it got lighter over the next couple of hours. So I know my CO2 system works and am happy with that.

I had thought I was running at 3 BPS the day before and it wasn’t working but turns out that after it filled all the lines to the reactor etc it slowed way down and I had to adjust the needle valve back up.

It was still green this morning, 7 hours after unplugging it so I will likely be able to back off quite a bit more and/or stop injecting early. I will do extensive testing with this once I have actual plant mass in the tank as any more right now won’t really be informative. At that injection rate I did have very few mico-bubbles coming out of the spray bar, which was actually a good thing as I was able to confirm that CO2-enriched water was present in nearly all areas of the tank by watching them.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Can't wait to see it set up with plants. Mine is still empty as well, as I just realized there is about a 1mm gap between the tank trim and stand on to opposite corners. Trying to figure out how to fix it.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

What I did for mine was lay a strip of veneer all around the top and then sand down the high spots.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Doc7 said:


> What I did for mine was lay a strip of veneer all around the top and then sand down the high spots.


How hard was it to get it even? I'm scared I'll sand too much or something. lol


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

It wasn't too hard. Can be frustrating though...

Finally plants in the tank! Here is a video - planted them Saturday morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpft6Hoy3uA

I need to mess around with the spray bars when I get some time, some of the cabomba and the red ludwigia are bending over way too much.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Looks good! Should look really nice when it all fills in!


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Very nice, great selection of plants and colors, will enjoy watching it fill in.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Thanks all...

These are almost entirely stem plants and I'm not sure where the final stock will take me. Basically its a break-in period for now as I figure out flow distribution (needs improvement with some slow spots and other spots with plants uprooting a couple times a day)

Unsure how long it takes for stem plants to start re-growing in a new environment so naturally I'm somewhat nervous about my lighting etc until I see growth.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Obligatory HC Shot:











Tomorrow I get a nice shipment of a ton of stems in the mail and will likely be going back under-water one more time, to really pack this thing with plants.


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

GREAT LOOKING SETUP!!!

I just picked up a 40 Breeder today too!!! YEA!!!! So I will be watching your posts for a lot of great info!!!SO far Your tank is doing GREAT, and Good Luck with continued success!!!

Drew


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

P.S. 

GREAT WORK ON THE STAND!!! Router work looks VERY GOOD!!! Did You make templates and use a bearing guided bit to get the cuts you wanted, or what???


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

That's precisely what I did for the routing.
Thanks for the other comments!


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

newest fts:










Of course I'm just packing as much plant mass in as I can and this isn't supposed to resemble a beautiful aquascape, although I did try to keep it a little bit aesthetically pleasing. I got several dozen stems of Rotala today and didn't uproot the whole tank to plant them, instead putting them where I could make room.

Here's a closeup of the front left rotala green corner, I will have to work on my filter flow again ome more now that these are opposite the tank from the 2217 spraybar which seems to be aiming right for them! lol...











Finally here's a shot under my stand of my electrical setup - only one plug leaves the stand, the outlet installed at the bottom left there is a GFCI outlet which I wired up and plugs into a regular wall outlet. The two Rosewill RPS-200 strips then plug into that, and all my equipment plugs into those. That's the tank bottom directly above the strips.











thanks for looking!


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

This looks good. Im curious to see how this fills in.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

For the most part the stems seem to be settling in - over the weekend while I was away it looks like the red cabomba actually grew which was a pleasant surprise.

Surprisngly and disappointingly, the red ludwigia don't seem to be growing and the leaves are getting covered by diatoms.

Bacopa has new growth on top of most stems, some leaves looking bad down at substrate level though.

Rotala seems to be growing but hard to tell with it being blown over by filter.

Two stems of Elodea have reached to the water surface as the winners of that race. There are others that must just be getting shaded too much by the driftwood and aren't growing much. The crypt wendtii all are growing.

There's algae present on driftwood (I think much of it is actually "new wood fungus" which will go away - there are other parts which may be BBA I will need to post a pic). There may be stringy type algae on some of the HC I can't tell if its algae or just debris though. I will get up pics sometime soon.

I think the HC is sending out runners as well. I will be going away for 5 days so I might be able to better notice a big change before/after. I will probably add Amano shrimp when I get back though will need to dial back CO2.

Oddly I have an uncountably high bubble count through mineral oil right now (which would basically look like a rolling boil if I had water instead of oil I think) and the drop checkers with 4 dkh water don't get to yellow. I still am working on adjusting spray bars / aeration / filter flow so maybe that would change.

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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Came back from a 5-day vacation on Sunday night to find thread algae, green dust algae, and a lot of what i think is BBA in the tank (BBA is almost exclusively on driftwood and is different from the white junk that appeared when I first started out). I will get some pics up later. 

Someone had been dosing ferts for me (pre-measured, EI dosing) so at first I thought it had been caused by the water level dropping and impacting tank CO2 levels. Then around 10 PM that night I realized my lights were still on, I looked under the cabinet and sure enough my CO2 and 2 light timers (all three) were all stuck at 4:15 PM. Who knows how many straight days in a row my lights had been on!

From what I see in other tanks it seems like I may have taken “pack the tank with stem plants” more to heart than many others do – I am unsure how this impacts how much dosing I need to do for EI. I originally started off with the 20-40 gallon amounts and then after a weekend away when I double-dosed before leaving, I came back to much taller plants so I thought maybe the double-dose caused that growth. So I then switched to the next higher levels – now I’m back down to 1.5 times the 20-40 gallon amount and will stick with that for a while to see what happens. Seems like a lot of other tanks start off already with their final plantings in mind whereas I pretty much only have the HC of what I “know” will be in the future version of this set up and all the stems just to kick everything off.

After looking at some pictures last night I think I’ve been pushing a ton of CO2 in, more than necessary (my interpretation of Lime Green is a little different I suppose – that would make sense as to why my bubble count is absurdly high compared to others) – so I will back down on that over the next few days, slowly until I think I have it right with the drop checkers, in anticipation of adding livestock which will then be used to gauge the amount I need. I’ve never had a fish die on me in over a year of fish keeping (exception: one cardinal tetra died during the drip-acclimation after it was found lying belly-up in the bag after arriving home, almost assuredly due to the horrible handling of the critter by the pet store employee – she crushed them against the wall of the tank to catch them and then counted how many she had while holding the net up in the air) – so will be trying to be extra cautious with the first additions, which will be amano shrimp.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Added first livestock today! 3 Amano Shrimp - to be increased in numbers now that I know I didn't gas them yet.










Still fighting the algae!

4 Otocinclus are now in Quarantine, so they'll be going in in 4 weeks...Then I'll likely put a "show" fish such as a school of tetras or an Angel into the QT.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

At the risk of taking away some PAR I built light rails and raised my Coralife fixtures about 1" each tonight. Hopefully this will help even out the rate of growth along the spread of the tank (instead of the drastic difference in rotala immediately under the bulbs) and maybe combat string algae.

Yet to see how my HC fares, I'm starting to worry that it won't really make it in this set up.

An amano molted - scared the crap out of me when my girlfriend thought she found a dead shrimp when we were trying to spot any of the 3 in there...










I will cap the ends of the pipe with a carriage bolt when I get the time.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

Looks like it's filling in nice! I remember the first time I saw an amano molt I thought it died as well. haha


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Did my first major trim a few days ago and the new growth is definitely "leggier" than the growth used to be, unsure if that was bound to happen or due to raising the lights a mere inch. Everything's still growing and algae is nearly eradicated in the tank now, so while the plants won't win a contest they still look healthy so I will keep at it!


For future plans, I hope that the HC continues to do OK, and I will start clearing out the front left foreground area for a grassy type foreground plant. Looking at pygmy chain sword, or lilaeopsis, or dwarf sag. Not sure what I'll end up with yet, still looking at pictures everywhere of them growing under T5NO etc.

I know I want a tall plant area around the driftwood (latest FTS shows the Elodea growing in that area) but not sure if I want it to be a stem or something like Vals. Other than that and a low growing foreground I still need to look for ideas.


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

I just got 6 pots of lilaeopsis mauritiana or however it's spelled. It's taller than I expected, but I don't know if that has to do with how it was grown or what.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Added 7 cardinal tetras a few days ago, from my 20 gallon tank so they've been "pre-quarantined" in a way. 4 Otos currently in quarantine. I'm also now up to 8 amanos now...it had been 9 but sad story after the pic...











I added 6 more amanos 3 days ago bringing the total to 9.

The snow storm which hit New Jersey last night took out my power in my house from 2:15 PM until 5:30 AM Sunday morning. I floated hot water bottles and covered the tanks but in that time my tanks dropped down to the low 60s. (my house was in the low 50s)

I rinsed the canisters with tank water prior to restart when the power came back on, and 16 hours later the bio media is working as there's no ammonia in any of my 3 tanks.

No fish deaths yet (1 amano shrimp down) but I am still worried about a sickness outbreak over the next few days. Besides the 4 otos in QT (figures they need another source of stress), I have the 7 cardinals in the 40B, and 7 silver-tip tetras and 7 corydoras sterbaii in the 20-high. Keeping my fingers crossed!


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Well there were no fish deaths after that power outage - they were much more resilient to a 17 degree temperature drop than I thought they would be!

3 more days and the 4 Otos (100% survival so far) get out of QT and into this tank... So that will be fun to watch, they hopefully will enjoy swimming around in the plants. I've never had Otos before and the QT isn't really tailored to show their natural behavior so it will be interesting.

I was originally going to add 7 more cardinals to QT this weekend when the Otos come out but now I'm having "centerpiece fish anxiety" and holding off because I want to make sure I keep room for whatever I end up with. The tank is plenty active with just the 7 and the amanos (and soon to be otos) so there's no reason to rush.

I keep having ideas for more fish but find reasons not to keep them :
- gouramis want floating plants
-rainbowfish may be jumpers plus very active and dominating of the view in my mind
- rams/apistos etc want slower flow and caves (I saw a new fish for me yesterday called laetacara dorsigera which is like a curviceps... But found online that they want slow flow.. And the only place for that in my tank will be hiding out of view behind driftwood),
- angels will eat my shrimp and tetras... 

Ay yi yi! wish I could find that perfect fish tailor made for this set up! I've only been keeping aquariums for a little over a year and the only fish I've owned have been tetras and cories so I want to branch out!

Thinking of adding my sterbai cories to the tank to see how they do on Eco and with the HC lawn, but another possibility would be trying to source some of the pygmy varieties.

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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Had a jumper last night! Turned on the lights to do some trimming and a water change and must have startled a cardinal right out of the tank onto the floor. He's in my QT right now because he's swimming oddly as if he is wounded. From what I read this is often caused by an injured fin and he may or may not recover. I want to keep him in that tank for just a bit... The Otos and he will be removed to the 40 in the next few days... 

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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

The tetra, sadly, didn't make it another 24 hours from last post.  I do have 5 more cardinals on the way so soon that school will not only be back to 7 but at 11 : ) Also a bunch of Pygmy Cories will be going into QT with those cardinals, so in another month my tank should be pretty active.

Meanwhile, all 4 Otocinclus are now in the tank!!!










I had a mishap while putting them in... one was stuck in the net, so I futzed around with him. When I got him out there was only one in the bucket and I was sure there had been 2 left. I looked around the floor / in the tank / etc for 30 minutes and couldn't find the 4th.

2 hours later I look over and all 4 are sucking away on the glass. I was ecstatic :fish:


Doing a bit of tank-related DIY tonight and will post it up if it works out (may do some more mods and take an extra night)


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Got a shipment today!!

Came out to be 13 pygmy cories and 8 Cardinal Tetras (all in quarantine right now), as well as this guy which I added right to the tank after a rinse :











I messed around with my camera a little bit and got a slightly better picture than my previous FTS, still not a huge fan ... I will resist the urge to buy a better camera! I'm sure once I get the massive pile of bright green rotala out of the tank the pics will come out much nicer. There's quite a few air bubbles present in this picture which was taken immediately after a water change with my new little PVC contraption I built to do WCs all the way down to right before the filter inlet without having to stand there holding a siphon (cat not included)


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

home made fish food - the cardinal tetras went CRAZY for it!


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Big setback on new additions to the aquarium. My QT had a total wipe out in the last 14 hours as the entire school of pgymy cories and cardinal tetras died, half overnight and half in the last 4 hours I was at work. The fish weren't sick previously so I feel this is an outside-intervention caused issue, not a fish disease.

I am breaking down the quarantine tank until after the new year, so i won't have to worry about the holiday week coming right in the middle of a quarantine period or anything.

Unsure of the cause - defective heater, traces of some chemical on something that went in the tank (new heater, my hands from dish detergent etc no idea) but it's def shaken me up a little.

My 40B is A-OK...


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

MAJOR Trim Tonight - to add more foreground and remove some of the mass of rotala. For the next few weeks this thread will follow the recovery of the tank, followed by more rescaping I am sure.

Prior to trim :










Prepping DHG for planting:











DHG Planted in one area - there is more on the left side of tank to fully establish my "foreground" finally no longer a jumble of rotala:










The mass removed from tank:
( http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/swap-n-shop/156430-fs-major-trim-rescape-hundred-stems.html )










Post trim:












My immediate goal for the next 48 hours is to get my CO2 locked back in - I lowered it a ton after removing that much plant matter to try and avoid gassing my fish.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Just figured out that TinyPic was severely degrading my image quality. It's still not great but here's an updated FTS as it grows back in:


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Here are some shots of the growing in of the tank since that major trim:

11/30/2011:










12/02/2011:










12/11/2011:










12/19/2011:










12/27/2011:










1/1/2012:


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

My CO2 tank still has gas in it because the Low Pressure gauge is reading, but obviously I had a leak somewhere because the high pressure side is off the charts on the low end and the tank isn't heavy at all. Apparently I still have at least 15 PSI but this will change plans for my day off tomorrow as I need to go get a refill. Only been 7 days since I swapped in the new tank : /


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

I really like the way it's growing in. If it was me, I'd probably let the HC dominate as your primary carpet. It sorta looks like a green river which is cool. I don't think your hairgrass will look as good as your HC could on the left.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I want to do two things, unsure of it's a possible goal or not ... I will start an aquascaping thread later probably.

A) would like to add branchy wood that extends through some of the water column that fish and critters could swim in/around

B) want to make my tank look "bigger". I look at scapes for tanks that are my size or even smaller and they just seem much bigger than mine does in pictures.

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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I've done a bit with the HC, removed DHG, exposed the wood on the right more:




























(immediately after the mods and water change so please excuse bubbles/etc)


and some others...


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I like your tank but can't believe you have 2 2217 canisters on a 40B, I would think the outlets would just blow the plants over, any problems? I also like the size of the 40B and drove 30 minutes to the LFS tonight and decided to pick one up but I forgot my wallet, it hasn't been my day. I was actually driving my wife to get her hair done so she had rushed me out the door but I want to go back for that tank.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

I drilled out the holes a couple times over the original size on the spraybars : ) Slows down the flow. My plants do bend over near the surface but think that would happen with slower flow as well.

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## dbl_dbl17 (Feb 4, 2012)

Tank looks great Doc! Sorry to read about the fish pre new year, it's a tough blow losing so many so quickly like that.



Doc7 said:


> home made fish food - the cardinal tetras went CRAZY for it!


I might have missed it while browsing through the thread, but do you have a recipe? Just curious


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

(A post I made elsewhere about it)



FYI – This is a recipe I got off the web. I don’t have long term results. For my 2nd version I know I will be adding more variety of vegetable and seafood matter.

I first heard about DIY fish food a few months ago (about 8 months into the hobby at the time), and when I started planning a planted tank I knew I wanted to give it a try. After all I have only natural plants and wood, why not food?

Total cost for the recipe is around $15 and makes a lot of food as you will see below. This is only 1/3rd of the original recipe I found – I can hardly imagine making the whole thing.

I started with 10 oz shelled shrimp and 10 oz peas. I food processed this until it started getting mushy.










I dissolved 2 one-a-day multivitamins in some warm water. This went in the food processor with the peas and shrimp.










I added about 1 teaspoon of Spirulina powder (Found at Whole Foods)










I continued food processing.










I mixed up 4 packets (total of 28 oz) Knox Unflavored Original Gelatin in 4 cups of boiling water, and stirred/squished until all the chunks were dissolved.










I slowly stirred in the food mixture.










I let it cool for an hour or so on the counter and then placed it in the refrigerator over night.










With an assistant (she puts up with me and the fish), we sliced it into the same size cubes that come in store-bought frozen fish food packs. Pictured is the 2nd of what ended up being 3 layers on a cookie sheet. This is a TON of food.










I froze these 3 layers overnight and then bagged everything – a couple dozen cubes per zip lock bag made 15+ bags.

To feed – I simply drop a cube in the tank right out of the freezer most days. The fish pick at it a few seconds and then chase it to the bottom when the filter current knocks it down. These cardinal tetras never ate off the bottom in the first year of having them and now they eat this right off the substrate with gusto. A whole cube is way too much food for them but I’m hoping the rest goes to shrimp and plants.

Some eating off the bottom; I took a video but it was pretty boring 













That recipe post was a couple months old. Nowadays, I cut a cube in half, put half back in the freezer, put half in my mouth, crush it with my teeth and then put it in the tank.


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## dbl_dbl17 (Feb 4, 2012)

Thanks a lot. I'm going to try making something similar tonight!


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

The fish go crazy for it, and the shrimp love stealing it from them.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Just jotting a thought down.

This tank was running great with carpeting, minimal algae etc.

Then I did a major trim (shown up above) and in the process think I discovered the devil that is the inverse square law of lighting. The plants took a couple of weeks to recover from the trim, and when they took off, started slowly and then accelerated very quickly as they approached the lighting. The period of slow growth allowed a solid amount of BBA to gain a pretty good foothold in my tank.

This is why you may have noticed that despite my frequent praise of the Coralife fixtures for their low light low algae, I am now starting to look at lighting that I can suspend higher above the tank (and maintain low-medium lighting at substrate level). That should allow me to recover from trims quicker and maintain more consistent growth.

referenced:

http://www.aquabotanic.com/?p=1484
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/tank-journals/107626-athenry-40b-update-pic-12-4-a.html


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## Nate McFin (Mar 19, 2009)

Great start Doc!
I love the stand, great looking skin work you did there. 
I cant wait to follow this as it progresses!

-Nate


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Excited today. Yesterday I got 8 cardinal tetras thru quarantine and into this tank! That brings me to 14 and thus twice as big as any other "school" I've owned in my time fishkeeping. Lights and CO2 were off, so this afternoon I'll actually get to see it all come together. It looked fun even with the tank lights off though. Lots of activity going to be in the tank now.

I also acquired my first cichlids ever, bolivian rams, and moved them into the vacated QT (was acclimating them into QT at same time as acclimating the cardinals to the 40)

3 this QT period, 3 the next QT period in a month or so and then hopefully out of the 6 I end up with 1 or 2 pairs. Still unsure how I want to play it in the main tank, wish it was easier to tell M/F and I'd attempt a group/harem. The way it is, I just hope for a pair and then give away the rest I suppose.

Will get some pics up.

Yellow abdomens were on the bolivians so I guess they are mature fish?

Sent from my BlackBerry 9650 using Tapatalk


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## sketch804 (Mar 2, 2011)

great looking tank! I love 40breeders, the depth is the main reason, and ease of maintence! I have one also, but mine doesn't nearly look as put together as yous does! how long did it take to grow the HC carpet? Keep it up! Ya know we need a pic update ha!


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

This tank took heavy hits in Hurricane Sandy with 10 days of power losses, I am still rebuilding the fish population when I get time to quarantine a new batch.

I have 2 schools of tetras (Cardinals and Silvertips) as well as Amano Shrimp in here now. Anyone with any ideas for a center-piece type fish or school of fish? I'm thinking of adding Pygmy Cories. If it wasn't for the shrimp, I'd add an Angelfish.


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

I would go with a pair of Apistos. Anyway your tank looks great especially with that bunch of crypts.


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## Doc7 (Apr 7, 2011)

Thanks. Just swapped out the pic I just added for a different one. Still trying to get the hang of taking good tank pics, got a new iPhone 5 and it still doesn't make it easier for me  You can see I've taken several steps back in terms of species of plants since my last photo updates, after Hurricane Sandy this tank really became lower maintenance for me for a bit as other money needs came up. I'm hoping to add in another species or two of plants, particularly a carpet or at least low-growing item.


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