# Journal: 100G custom pentagon (56K warning)



## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

I've been working on this for a while, and I have to say thanks to everyone on this forum for lots of helpful info that they have posted in regards to their tanks. I hope you all realize that there are a lot of people out there that get great information from your posts. Hopefully some people will get some good information from mine.

I've just received the tank. It's a large 40" pentagon but fairly shallow at 18". It's open on all sides so I had a tough time designing a scape, but finally decided to keep mostly foreground/groundcover plants. Probably Marsilea minuta and Hemianthus callitrichoides. I might have a few midground type plants in the back. Maybe some glosso or dwarf cardinal plant. There will be some floaters in the back also to provide some shaded area and more hiding places.

Hi-tech ... because I'm that kind of guy.
Tank size: about 100 gallons after subtracting hardscape, substrate.
Light: 496 watts lighting: 400 watt dimmable 10K metal halide and 96 watts 6500K T5.
EI fertilization schedule: automated with peristaltic pumps and Aquacontroller.
Water changes: automated with solenoids and Aquacontroller, probably 10% daily.
Water parameters: straight RO for now, because my GH is 20 and KH is 16.

Over the last day I've created a slate barrier wall or retaining wall and poured some shallow 1" ADA Sarawak sand on one side and ADA Amazonia on the other. There's a cool cave that's built in to one side of the slate wall. There are lots of little crevices so maybe any fry might have a chance to hide before getting eaten.

I've got a mini "Ode to Iwagumi" on the right side and an old curved piece of Mopani functioning as a kind of retaining wall for the slope. And for something to chew on for the plecostomus. I know wood and rock are tough to combine, but I'd like to give this a shot. The rock is petrified wood anyways, so it is kinda wood 

Pics to come ...


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

The tank is in between the kitchen and family room on a big counter, of which half is tank :biggrin: 









I siliconed the back side of the wall and used silicone as mortar to strengthen. It's pretty sturdy.









The cave is made out of siliconed Lexan from the local home improvement store. The wall and cave are siliconed to a rubber mat that I purchased through marinedepot. They sell it by the foot. I bought it to use as a floor liner in the cabinet where all the plumbing is so spills are easy to clean up and water doesn't damage the wood. This piece was leftover and worked out just right. I trimmed it to about one inch on both sides of the wall and cave and will serve as a base so that dirt/sand pushes on it and holds it down ... kinda like landscape edging that you might have in your yard.


















The "point" in the wall was inspired by a place that I've had the pleasure of spending some time in. Montserrat, British West Indies. Beautiful island. There's a corner of it that is shaped like this with sheer cliffs and beach on the sides. It's called Bransby Point. It might not be there anymore, because of the Soufriere nearby ... a now active volcano. They had some cannons there also that I didn't try to imitate  There is a big field on the top that should be simulated pretty well with some low groundcover.


















Side shot of the cave entrance. Some loose rocks camouflage the plexi pretty well. It's pretty dark in there even with 500 watts up above.


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Sounds cool to me. A tank like that would be begging to be put dead center in the room.

I've always dreamed of a circular aquarium sitting in the middle of my living room.

edit - You posted before I did. 

It looks fantastic even if you didn't put it in the middle of the room. :wink: I like your slate wall. I think "manicured" walls in planted aquaria look great! I've always wanted to try some sort of natural colored paving stones to form a terrace in one of my tanks.

It also doesn't appear to be a true pentagon, it looks like it has two long sides and three shorter sides. Cool tank. Where did you get it?


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## retoid (Jan 2, 2007)

Looks good so far. I can't wait to see the final product and the rest of the stages in between. Very exciting.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

EdTheEdge said:


> It also doesn't appear to be a true pentagon, it looks like it has two long sides and three shorter sides. Cool tank. Where did you get it?


It has two 40" faces, two 26" faces, and one diagonal 20" face. It's basically a 40" square tank with a diagonal 20" corner cut out. I got it from a LFS (Alamo Aquatic Pets, San Antonio, TX) but it was made by Deep Sea Aquatics in Houston ... apparently one of the remants of Oceanic after they got bought by AGA.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

That looks really cool! Very unique for sure!


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## mickeyirish (Feb 8, 2007)

maybe a stupid question but what is the hexgon little tank inside of the slate wall?


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

wow this is pretty darn neat! I can't wait to see the next steps. 

I think the hex tank is the cave that was talked about. I could be wrong though!


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

subscribed~ Very interesting idea. Can't wait to watch it take shape~


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## SuRje1976 (Feb 2, 2006)

dipan said:


> automated with peristaltic pumps and Aquacontroller.
> Water changes: automated with solenoids and Aquacontroller, probably 10% daily...


Now you're talking! Looking forward to watching this one...


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

SuRje1976 said:


> Now you're talking! Looking forward to watching this one...


It's pretty neat, but I'm sure it's not going to be as neat as your chem lab setup, Mad Scientist! :icon_twis 



mickeyirish said:


> maybe a stupid question but what is the hexgon little tank inside of the slate wall?





Wingsdlc said:


> I think the hex tank is the cave that was talked about. I could be wrong though!


Yup, that's the cave I was talking about. I was going to make a few smaller ones, but this worked out better, I think.


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## PasD (Sep 2, 2006)

I can't wait till you get this tank going. The border between the AS and sand is very unique. I don't think I've seen anyone do this before.


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## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

REALLY interesing project. VERY original. I LOVE seeing something different!

I'd say is that I'm not a fan of your wall-- I would be, if it wasn't so artificial looking. You need more variation in the slope of the wall and the bends in it. It's too even.

Hardscape (petrified wood and mopani) is WAY too small. ESPECIALLY if you're going only foreground plants It's a big tank (really in ANY tank), you need tall elements to bring it together, in the form of tall hardscape or at least tall plants. It's odd seeing really different looking stone pieces, especially if they're not mixed (as in the wall of slate and layout petrified wood). I'd say get some huge pieces of slate. Also, what's the mopani FOR from a DESIGN perspective? From your commentary it seems like a "I had it lying around and my plec likes it" deal. You mentioned that you know combining wood and stone in a scape is not easy. When something is not easy to use, that means its use in design needs MORE thought, not less.

Sorry for being such a rag. When I see a project that interests me/excites me I just REALLY want to see it come out GREAT. Nothing erks me more than seeing brilliant hardware set up followed by a bad looking aquascape. :icon_lol: 

Really, it is an impressive and exciting start-- that's why the advice! roud:


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## Harsh (Jan 14, 2007)

A very interesting project, i'll agree.. Bt i am with steven on the symmetry thing, doesn't look very natural. 

Subscribed!


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

Steven_Chong said:


> REALLY interesing project. VERY original. I LOVE seeing something different!
> 
> I'd say is that I'm not a fan of your wall-- I would be, if it wasn't so artificial looking. You need more variation in the slope of the wall and the bends in it. It's too even.
> 
> ...


Thanks Steven ... This is really GREAT help. It's nice to hear what people like, but it seems to be natural tendency for people to hold back from saying the things they DON'T like. I especially am happy to get some suggestions for improvement from someone like you who I know is really dedicated to this stuff. And I'm a NEWBIE. So I need the help.

The petrified wood does look rather small. I was hoping it would "pick up the colors" in the sand. Great, now I sound like an interior designer. I will look into getting some big pieces of slate, as you suggest.

The mopani is there for some functional purposes. It is good for the plecostomi. It's not just that they like it, it's good for their health. I have to get it or some wood in there for this reason alone. It also functions as a retaining wall so all that Aquasoil doesn't wash down over time. I was hoping that plant cover would obscure it enough that it doesn't look like a piece of wood just thrown in there.

The wall ... I was excited about the idea, and the inspiration of Bransby Point. That's really somewhat the shape of it in real life. Here's an aerial pic of Bransby Point ...










Perhaps the unnatural shape of it is what made it memorable to me. It really was a neat place to just look at the curvature of the earth over the atlantic ocean! The sheer walls are much bigger when your standing at the point.

I also was not totally happy with the pieced-together look of the slate wall. It was pretty difficult for me to get it to look that continuous. The rock wall lines are continuous horizontal lines in real life at the Point ... like rivers carve out walls of adjacent rock over centuries/millenia. Perhaps I was trying too hard to simulate that which takes nature so long to make, and it ends up looking too artificial. Maybe pieces sticking out more, more irregular, like piled up rocks would have been better. Maybe I can put some loose pieces of irregular slate on the sand near the wall to break up the "even-ness" ...


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

So I was up late last night doing some wiring. I needed a power outlet in the ceiling for the light ballast to plug into. I also wanted it switched so that I could power off the lights as needed from below. I've done some electrical work before, but it never ceases to amaze me as to how long it takes me to do something as simple as this. I guess that's why electricians are paid so well ...

I really want to fill this up with water, but I have to deal with some of these ancillary issues before the tank is totally fixed in place and loaded with water.


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## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

Good thinking, but the wall is too big to give the same impression as that island. If you zoomed closer in to the shore, I'm sure you would see more grooves, ridges, and variation in the coastline.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

Steven_Chong said:


> Good thinking, but the wall is too big to give the same impression as that island. If you zoomed closer in to the shore, I'm sure you would see more grooves, ridges, and variation in the coastline.


Cool ... the tallness of the wall should be pretty easy to de-emphasize with some more sand. I've got some extra. That and some more slate stones might do the trick. I'll play around with that some ... I'll have to visit a local nursery/landscape supplier to see if they've got some big pieces of slate also.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

Wow. That was a lot of Hemianthus callitrichoides. Thanks to bigstick120 ...

Tough plant to plant. I broke it up into small pieces and planted clusters everywhere I'd like a carpet ... which is most places.

I went to a couple landscape supply places and no one had a really dark gray/black slate in chunks that I could get. I ended up getting some pretty big pieces of something called "moss rock" from one of the places. It passes the vinegar test and doesn't appear to be affecting pH as of yet.

Tank is really cloudy and will take some more pics to update the journal soon ... after the cloud settles. Guess that's the Amazonia that's making it cloudy.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Good to hear! Keep us posted I want to see this tank shape up


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

Sweet! BTW: a pentagon is a polygon with 5 sides, they don't have to be equal.
you got that from alamo? how much? I know they have a 90 gallon "waved" front tank, but it's like 30" high.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

dufus said:


> Sweet! BTW: a pentagon is a polygon with 5 sides, they don't have to be equal.
> you got that from alamo? how much? I know they have a 90 gallon "waved" front tank, but it's like 30" high.


Yeah, it's a pentagon, but just not equilateral. Twelve Benjamins ... they wanted three times that for low-iron (Starphire) glass. I wanted it, but it was too much for me to handle.


It's pretty tough to aquascape. It's my first attempt at aquascaping and I have to get a tank with four sides viewing. Sheesh. Shoulda tried something simpler first. My wife is helping me, though, and I've got to say that I don't know if I've got the knack for aquascaping. I hope it turns out alright ... center of the room and all ...

On another note, the lily pipes that I've received from CalAquaLabs are really neat looking, but not particularly functional for my tank. At least the outflow isn't. The inflow works just fine and looks sweet. The outflow looks sweet, but it is pointed down too much for a shallow tank like this. Even with the pump choked down, I had Aquasoil being swept around. I've ordered an ADA one so hopefully this can be avoided. I need to turn up the flow some more for a tank this size, but if I do it, the substrate gets blown around.

I also managed to break one of the Fluxus suction cup mounting points. I knew I shouldn't have applied that much pressure when trying to take the suction cup off! Stupid mistake. Crazy glue also doesn't seem to work well with borosilicate glass ... as in not at all.

I'm away from town this weekend and the tank will be doing automated 10% water changes daily while I'm away. Hopefully it goes OK. I did test it and it works fine. Details to come on that ...

Hopefully also the Hemianthus callitrichoides starts looking better when I get back. It seemed pretty sad after I had broken it up and planted it. I hope it does OK.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

I would put a nice looking *stack* of wood in the middle, amano style kinda, and scape it from all sides.


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

nice man you should put some blue led lights where the *water* is surpose to be =D it would look nice


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## silver7621 (Mar 16, 2007)

cant wait for more pictures


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

Can't believe it. I came back and virtually all (a lot) of the HC has melted away totally. I wonder if the bristlenose pleco was eating it. I hope some of it bounces back, but I'll have to look for some more now.

I planted another area with Marsilea minuta ... thanks to flounder ... hopefully it fares better. Maybe I should take that pleco out.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

yea, especially before the plants are growing in.


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

Feed that pleco somthing else as well.  Cool tank. Look forward to seeing some plants.


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## PeteyPob (Apr 26, 2004)

great work! This setup is quite different from the rest! 
Did you get this tank custom made form Alamo? Usually they contract thier custom made tank to Forever Pets on San Pedro and Basse. They guy that owns the place is a great guy. He wont carry live plants but he loves to hea all about them. 
Anyways, Cant wait to see this planted!


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

PeteyPob said:


> great work! This setup is quite different from the rest!
> Did you get this tank custom made form Alamo? Usually they contract thier custom made tank to Forever Pets on San Pedro and Basse. They guy that owns the place is a great guy. He wont carry live plants but he loves to hea all about them.
> Anyways, Cant wait to see this planted!


Yeah, from Alamo. They ordered it for me from Deep Sea Aquatics in Houston, I believe. Maybe it was Dallas. I dealt with Alamo and provided a detailed drawing, etc. I've been to Forever Pets also. Nice place and friendly people, I agree.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

My experience at forever pets was not well, they had a lot of dead stuff. but they did have different tanks.


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## PeteyPob (Apr 26, 2004)

I dont really shop at forever pets. Just go their for tank repairs and/or custom tank options. Ok enough about LFS lets get this tank planted!!

I am leaving town for two weeks, and going to miss my tanks! I also have setup an automated WC system for my trp...my brother 

You might have already said it in your previous posts but are you using SA tap water?


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

PeteyPob said:


> I dont really shop at forever pets. Just go their for tank repairs and/or custom tank options. Ok enough about LFS lets get this tank planted!!
> 
> I am leaving town for two weeks, and going to miss my tanks! I also have setup an automated WC system for my trp...my brother
> 
> You might have already said it in your previous posts but are you using SA tap water?


Straight RO ... I have a separate line plumbed in case I need to mix in some tap. This is my first attempt at an RO setup. Only my second tank though!


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## PeteyPob (Apr 26, 2004)

Good stuff. I think your plants will love it being that SA tap water is rock hard.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

Some new pics of the filter/electrical that's all under the tank ...

I'll edit this post with some more descriptions later ...

I told you all this would be a high tech tank 

This pic shows the Rainbow Lifegard filter system. There are two parallel circuits with ball unions isolating each circuit. This comes in handy for filter maintenance as there is no need to shut down the pump. I can also service the inline pH probe (recalibrate) with relative ease. Each parallel circuit has first a mechanical/chemical combo module first. One circuit has a UV filter (front) and the other a heater module (back behind UV). An inline grounding probe and pH probe are after these. The front mechanical module has a modded lid with a brass barb added to receive CO2. This appears to work really well as a CO2 reactor. The pH probe is inline with the other circuit (not the CO2 reactor) so the measured pH is tank pH, not pH directly after CO2 injection. You can also see the water lines on the left entering into the bottom of the cabinet. There is one filtered line, one straight tap line (both 1/4" polyethylene), and one drain line (3/8" polyethelyne). On the bottom left behind the pH probe there is also two serial stainless solenoids (from autotopoff.com) for the tap line. The Oceanus topoff controller handles the filtered water line. This unit has two very sturdy looking serial solenoids as well. The serial setup is for redundancy. On the off chance that one of these fails in the "on" position (they are normally off with no power), there is another as a backup so I don't end up with a flood. I suppose I'll have to test these periodically to make sure both are working.









The pump is a Blueline Velocity T1. This is a very high head pump, and ABSOLUTELY silent. The drawback is that it runs hot. It keeps the water at 80 to 81 degrees. Minimizes the need for a heater ... and makes it more likely that this will be a discus tank  Just to the left of the pump is an intake manifold. There are some John Guest fittings there that the clean water lines attach to (RO and tap). There are two open spots where peristaltic pumps will dump ferts. Each of the four lines has a John Guest check valve.









The whole deal from the left. The green pump is an Iwaki MD-15R from my PC water-cooling days. Yes, you can water cool a computer. It's job is to be turned on for 10 minutes at midnight to pump 10 gallons of tank water to drain. I will probably reroute this to the garden in the future to put this water to use.









The whole deal from the right.









The electrical cabinet with the Aquacontroller Jr on the right. There is a DC8 and a DC4HD for stuff that needs to be controlled. The programming language is very flexible and Neptune has great customer service ... they have helped me to get the programming just right for many things.









The CO2 canister is visible on the left of the electrical cabinet. The plumbing and electrical cabinets are right next to each other.









Closeup. You can see the UPS that the DC8 is plugged into for battery backup. The AC Jr is also battery backed. We rarely get power outages, but do get occasional brownouts.


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## RandyB (Mar 15, 2007)

Wow, quite the setup.


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## fredyk (Jan 2, 2004)

You certainly know what youre doing in the high tech area!


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## natx (Jun 6, 2006)

The only problem with all that kit is you won't have any excuses if anything goes wrong.


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

damn that alot of equips for a autowaterchanger? as i assume

im not smart enough for this yet lol


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

natx said:


> The only problem with all that kit is you won't have any excuses if anything goes wrong.


Sure I do ... this is my first attempt at anything like this. There could be worse things to spend money on. I do hope it turns out well, though ... I'm happy with it so far.


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## Badcopnofishtank (Jan 20, 2004)

Nice equipment. Hope this tank works out for you.


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## LondonDragon (Mar 15, 2007)

WOW now thats what I call hightech! wanna do mine next?? hehehe
Keep us posted, great work


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## Color Me Blue (Nov 10, 2005)

Men and their toys....hehehe :hihi: Here I thought setting up my canister filter was an accomplishment. :tongue: I feel like I'm looking under a car's hood and trying to understand all the components of the engine and such. Here's what you would be seeing ----->  

Very nice setup though; at least I can see that. I can't wait to see your entire setup in action!  Pics, pics pics.....maybe some video? :tongue:


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

speaking of cars, I bet that setup costs more than mine! But I bet it will look real nice once the plants start growing. top notch!


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

So I had the initial greenwater but it was very short, because of the UV, I'm guessing. I was initially dosing about half EI, but now have switched to full EI. A drop checker is green with 5 dKH water in it. I've been dosing Excel daily also. Despite all this, there's a nice layer of flat green algae on the rocks, especially directly under the light. I might have to take them out to clean, but figure I'll get the fert/light/CO2/water change balance stable before I do. There's a BN pleco in there but I don't think he can clean this stuff off the porous rock surfaces. The rock is called "moss rock" and it really looks mossy now ... Anything other than mechanical cleaning that can decrease this algae?

The HC carpet is starting to grow, I think. A red Lotus in the center is growing and pearling like nuts. Some beautiful plants that i got from ianiwane are doing well also. I've got to post some pics soon ...


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## MiSo (Oct 26, 2005)

tank looks awesome!
can't wait to see it finished.


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

How did I miss this one? Nice work on the hardware! What a unique tank. Great idea on the plec cave, or whomever it is for. Looking forward to watching this develop.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

Betowess said:


> How did I miss this one? Nice work on the hardware! What a unique tank. Great idea on the plec cave, or whomever it is for. Looking forward to watching this develop.


It's getting very easy to miss really interesting posts lately, no? Great forum with TONS of useful info. Just had to become a supporting member because I've learned so much here ...


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

BTW, you will love the Marselia. Its a nice tough plant. Slow at first, but like a freight train with growth torque.


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

> BTW, you will love the Marselia. Its a nice tough plant. Slow at first, but like a freight train with growth torque.


 I 2nd that. Once the stuff takes off you best get your trimmers out! I had the stuff growing up the back side of my tank!


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

Wingsdlc said:


> I 2nd that. Once the stuff takes off you best get your trimmers out! I had the stuff growing up the back side of my tank!


Hrmmnn ... thought that would be a slow grower and the HC fast. Oh well, I don't mind trimming. I got the Marsilea from "flounder" on this board with some Utricularia graminifolia mixed in. The latter is somewhat brown right now, but I'm hoping it will bounce back. The Marsilea is taking root nicely (I pulled up a cluster to check), which is more than I can say for the HC. I'm trying to be patient with it.

I'm not super happy with the layout right now. I've got some good size rocks but I'm having a hard time making it look good from all angles. Maybe some of you more talented than me (not too hard) aquascapers can give me some more suggestions after I post more pics. I would really appreciate that. The only things I'd like to keep is a majority carpet type area. I may have to abandon the 360 degree view to get some tall plants in there. I don't think I can achieve a really lush look without some taller plants.


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

When I see it, I think some kind of centerpiece rock or Manzanita would be nice. And you could work all the way around it 360 degrees. Look at Senske's latest or some of the other tanks like Pjan who had a large amount of HC surrounding one Manzanita center piece and a few plants working up the sides of the wood cernterpiece.... He won best of large tanks in 2005 at the AGA.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

New pics after planting and some replanting, scaping and some rescaping. Still not really happy with it. From the back there is a jungle type look with tall stem plants on one side, Crypts on the other, and a small area in the center where fish can hang out in the jungle with a stone backdrop. There is a patch of Marsilea minuta in there as a foreground. I have what appears to be a tiny Anubias, maybe nana petite, that will go in there also. Some strands of Utricularia graminifolia is in there also.

From the front there is mainly a grassy field (of Marsilea) after the sheer wall. I haven't decided what to do with it to de-emphasize it, if anything. I'd like to change the rest of the hardscape to similar color stone, but with all that algae on there, it may be hard to tell. The algae situation seems to be improving, though.

Some nice midground plants (thanks Ian) make the transition from the Marsilea to the stone ... Eriocaulon 'Goias' and Hygrophila polysperma 'Aragauia'. The Eriocaulaceae sp (Type 2) is overgrowing the rock. It needs some trimming.

Brown tint to the water is pretty persistent. Waiting for that to die down also. Seems like it may take some time.











... "Back" of the tank.










... Another shot of the "back"










... Right side.










... Right side zoomed out a bit.










... Diagonal front pane.










... Zoomed out a bit from the diagonal pane.










... "Front"










... Left side ... only business end.










... Flash photo to show the room a bit.










... Another










... Albino brushynose (female) trying to make a dent in the algae. Swarm of Micropanchax scheeli barely visible. I don't know how you guys take such beautiful photos of fast moving fish. Next time I'll try to use a polarizing filter to reduce glass reflections.


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## Roc (Mar 16, 2007)

thats an amazing tank. I bet that pruning will be a bit hard though.


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## tropicalfish (Mar 29, 2007)

Looks really cool, but the water is a bit cloudy!


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

dipan said:


> I don't know how you guys take such beautiful photos of fast moving fish.


For clear, undistorted pics of fast swimming fish you really need off-camera flash and a camera that can sync with a fast shutter speed. You want to keep the lens perpendicular to the tank face with the flash firing into the tank at an angle so that the reflection of the flash is directed away from the lens. But even better is being able to fire the flash from above the tank.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

iroc said:


> thats an amazing tank. I bet that pruning will be a bit hard though.


Thanks ... Pruning is not too bad. It's open top and I can reach in from any side and reach the bottom with relative ease ... only 18" high ...



tropicalfish said:


> Looks really cool, but the water is a bit cloudy!


The water's been cloudy since setup, but now that I put a pillow of Purigen on the glass lily intake, it's cleared up significantly. I hope it continues to improve. I guess it's the ADA Amazonia substrate that's contributing to the cloudy water, like others have chimed in the forums about ...



bharada said:


> For clear, undistorted pics of fast swimming fish you really need off-camera flash and a camera that can sync with a fast shutter speed. You want to keep the lens perpendicular to the tank face with the flash firing into the tank at an angle so that the reflection of the flash is directed away from the lens. But even better is being able to fire the flash from above the tank.


Cool ... Thanks for the tips. I don't have an off camera capable flash, but this will give me an excuse to pick up a Nikon SB-800 smart flash ... maybe in a few months. I'll play around with shutter priority mode a bit and bump up the shutter speed as far as I can and see if the aquarium lights can give me enough for a decent exposure.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

I think I need some help with algae issues. I'm getting tired of the green algae on the glass and esp slow growing plants like the Eriocaulon goias and even the foreground Marsilea minuta. I think it may be too much light. Its 400 watts metal halide 10K and 48 watts T5 6.5K. Both run for about 8-9 hrs per day. The light is not particularly flexible. It ramps up MH intensity over 1/2 hour starting at sunrise and then the T5's come on. The T5's go off about 1/2 hour before sunset and then the MH dims to off. The MH reflector is pretty good at diffusing the light over a large area and the T5's fill the rest in pretty well. That's about 4.5 watts per gallon.

I was initially dosing EI but cut back to about half EI because of large amounts of the green algae on the grass and rocks. Cutting back seems to have helped a little, but I'm worried that I might run into deficiency.

So, should I try to resume EI now that the algae situation has improved in this new tank, or should I try to cut down on the lighting? The only way that I could really achieve the latter is to decrease the intensity of the MH. I can have it run at 50-75% intensity and see if that helps. I'm guessing I shouldn't do more than one thing, though ...


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## boink (Nov 27, 2006)

id cut down on the lighting....try running the MH for less time, like 2-4 hours around midday and see if it helps


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

Yep. Diagnosis on the algae is typically less light, more CO2, correct ferts in that order.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

boink said:


> id cut down on the lighting....try running the MH for less time, like 2-4 hours around midday and see if it helps


I won't be able to do that though. The lights cannot be controlled in that way. They're pretty complicated, but I wanted a more or less autonomous lighting system. I could cut down on the intensity, though, to like 60% of full brightness.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

ianmoede said:


> Yep. Diagnosis on the algae is typically less light, more CO2, correct ferts in that order.


So I guess I'll cut down on the light first for a few weeks. The CO2 is appropriate. I've got a drop checker with 4dKH water in it that says it's OK (30ppm). I've even had green with 5dKH water in it (40ppm). Besides, the level is teetering on too much in regards to fish health. Many of the fish come up to the surface if I increase even a little. I wanted to make extra sure that CO2 was enough because it seems most peoples problems with algae are due to insufficient CO2. I guess I'll bump the ferts back to full EI in a few weeks.

Thanks for the help!

I'm open to any other suggestions as well ...


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

Tank is ACE:smile: :thumbsup:


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## silver7621 (Mar 16, 2007)

tank is very nice


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## Adrian (Aug 17, 2005)

Impressive hardware and hardscaping


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

yoko said:


> Tank is ACE:smile: :thumbsup:





silver7621 said:


> tank is very nice





Adrian said:


> Impressive hardware and hardscaping


Thank you!


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

dipan said:


> So I guess I'll cut down on the light first for a few weeks. The CO2 is appropriate. I've got a drop checker with 4dKH water in it that says it's OK (30ppm). I've even had green with 5dKH water in it (40ppm). Besides, the level is teetering on too much in regards to fish health. Many of the fish come up to the surface if I increase even a little. I wanted to make extra sure that CO2 was enough because it seems most peoples problems with algae are due to insufficient CO2. I guess I'll bump the ferts back to full EI in a few weeks.
> 
> Thanks for the help!
> 
> I'm open to any other suggestions as well ...


Tank is very cool. roud: I agree cutting down on the intensity and keeping the photoperiod a little shorter, not longer ~ 8 - 9 hours maybe. Since it seems you can achieve 50% intensity, can you run it full at midday for a couple hours - but 50% (or 70%) the other times? The 48 watts of T5 is just for dawn/dusk and I can't imagine that having much impact at all so obviously you are focusing on the MH. 

Another possible option... Can you raise the fixture higher to some degree? Isn't it a fairly shallow tank? I really imagine the algae issue is more light driven than nutrient driven if you are dosing EI. One has to take into account plant volume and type for EI, however. Just some ideas here.

I know I usually fare better with less light to control algae issues, assuming there are no major limited nutrients. 

BTW, way cool house and tank environment too! :wink:


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Time to resurrect this one. Any updates?


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

MrJG said:


> Time to resurrect this one. Any updates?


Been busy working ...

The tank is nicely automated. Everything is very reliable. I'm happy with it. Every 4 weeks I mix up a new batch of ferts. I ought to be changing the pleated paper filters on the mechanical filter modules more often, but c'est la vie. The tank is pretty clean now, but I recently had a massive outbreak of BBA because, I believe, CO2 ran out. The tank is kinda hidden under the cabinet, so it was difficult to see. Plus the drop checker was being neglected for a few weeks. The water quality is great. My tank TDS is <100ppm while tapwater TDS is around 350 currently. Aside from non-dissolved solids (fish poop!), a glass of water from my tank is actually cleaner than tap. Tastes pretty good too (I drank some by accident a few times while trying to create a siphon for this or that.

Feeding is automated for bare minimum quantity with an Eheim feeder. I'm feeding flakes and Hikari discus pellets. I almost always feed some frozen food daily as well.

Inhabitants are four discus, two young adults and two juveniles. They're pretty happy. Young adults have paired off and are spawning often. Last time I actually saw fry, but they never made the transfer to their parents. The current spawn is right onto my water inlet. I suspect the fry may not be able to make it off. I've also got a dozen green fire Tetra, a dozen rasboras, half a dozen orange stripe cories, several otos, some cherry shrimp, some rainbow shrimp, and at least one black shrimp (they hide pretty well). There is a messload (technical term) of peacock Endler's also. One spotted rubbernose pleco and two albino brushynose pleco's.

The hardscape has been modified with several large pieces of black obsidian stone in the center in place of the grey moss rock. The plants have been recently redone mostly. I'm not sure what I'm going to do right now with final layout, but I have some ideas. I recently changed the metal halide bulb to an Ushio 400w 10000K. Man these things are bright, especially when new. I also have four new Aquamedic Plantgro 24w bulbs on order because a couple of my current bulbs blew.


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

Thanks for the update. Been wondering how it went. Glad to hear it's going well.

Edit:
I'd like to see your hardscape change.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

If you can find some cheap peanut-slaves for your camera that you can set up around the room, you might be able to get better pictures. I can't imagine them costing too much these days and it will defs help you out alot.


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## dipan (Dec 3, 2006)

SearunSimpson said:


> If you can find some cheap peanut-slaves for your camera that you can set up around the room, you might be able to get better pictures. I can't imagine them costing too much these days and it will defs help you out alot.


Interesting that you mention it. One of the other hobbies I'm playing with recently is strobe photography. I have a nikon DSLR and flash that I'm just starting to play with off camera flash ...


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## k-maub (Oct 13, 2007)

Holy cow!

Just saw this thread for the first time after being tipped off by the guys at Alamo that there was a cool tank like this in San Antonio. I'm there often enough since I'd rather give them my tank clippings then throw them out.

Do you have tanks that use San Antonio's tap water? Mine are, and I've found plants that work and plants that don't work with this hardness. Can you notice a dramatic improvement in everything's peformance with the RO water? Is it worth the expense to switch over for a little 30 gallon?


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## deleted_user_16 (Jan 20, 2008)

nice


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## trace_lynn (Apr 15, 2003)

Any update on this one <<<pictures>>> ?


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

Very cool tank. Gotta watch and see how this one turns out.


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## mizu-chan (May 13, 2008)

Amazing tank.
Can't wait for updates!


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