# * No more algae * DIY 50 Gal (56k warning)



## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Hello,
As difficult as it is the wait.. hehe, I would not spend a dime on any plant's yet, I would start by getting a good substrate, these day's the ADA Aqua Soil is just as cheap and a far better substrate than anything on the market, you will also need a good canister filter, the HOB is fine for a lowtech tank, but will not be good enough for a hightech tank. 
Pressurized C02 system, and figure out what you want for light system.
and last but not least Fertilizer..
www.gregwatson.com has it all.
If you already have the tank and stand then the above is what is needed next.

Keep reading, learning and asking as many question's as you like, that is what we are here for....

Welcome to TPT


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

:] well i'm a total DIY guy ... so unless the DIY is much worse in comparison to the stuff that is sold... I'd go with the DIY stuff..



> As difficult as it is the wait.. hehe, I would not spend a dime on any plant's yet


I wanna try them to see which I can grow with the setup before I plan a layout with it and have it not grow



> these day's the ADA Aqua Soil is just as cheap and a far better substrate than anything on the market


ADA is not locally available and well I'd like to try something new... would this combination cause any problems though "peat moss, schlutz aquatic soil, soilmaster select"?



> you will also need a good canister filter, the HOB is fine for a lowtech tank


Yeh.. I forgot to mention that... I plan on having everything outside the tank.. not sure if i'm gonna go with DIY on this one since it's mainly just for mechanical filtration



> and last but not least Fertilizer.. www.gregwatson.com has it all.


yup... read rex grigg's guide on it... seems like a good way of doing it.. can't start without the plants though 

oh yeh.. I'll try posting pictures of what I have so far tomorrow ..


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

*ODNO Lights*

Okay... finally getting around to doing something  

Here is my $60 ODNO setup, the outside cover is a textured black color.. ~125 watts for this setup.. The width of the fixture is about 1 feet across (tank will be 13 inches across)

Side view:









Top view:









Lights on:


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## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

I think what Craig was trying to say is that ADA soil is cheap these days-- order it from ADG. BTW-- how can you "test out what grows" if you don't even have the substrate yet?


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

^_^... I have a small grow tank with a similar setup to what i will have so i want to see if i can grow the plants first. ADA..... hmmm... if the current setup doesn't work i'll go with it i guess...


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

*Update 5/26*

Well, finally got some things finished today. I went with my ODNO lights and profile for the substrate since it was the only thing decent available locally.

Here is the setup with the DIY stand and filter.

Please help with aquascapings this tank. I have no idea what to do. Just trying to grow the plants right now.

Front:









Side: 









Stand:









Open:









Filter: no media yet, probably just something for mechanical filtration and the heater will most likely go in here also.


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## shuks (Jul 10, 2005)

cool filter.. Now thats some serious cost cutting, great DIY project. 
I hope that hose is attached to the powerhead very tightly.


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## Nightshop (May 12, 2006)

I love where this is going, kudos to keeping it DIY!


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

*Growing Phase*

I tried running the DIY pump and it was quite powerful so I'm using a HOB filter until the plants get established.. Things are starting to grow out now, but i'm having problems with the new growth being too yellow.. Here's an updated picture, no scape yet, just seeing what grows :thumbsup:


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## dakotaice (Apr 8, 2006)

Sorry if I missed it somewhere, but do you dose ferts? If you don't, you'll be in a mess of problems until you do, along with CO2.

Oh, and great hopes for this tank. =) Good luck!


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

thanks shuks, nightshop, and nicksgirl7705.. I hope it will turn out decent also 

nicksgirl7705: I have diy co2 and dosing everything but iron, i guess that is the problem so hopefully that will fix it 

I'm running low on $ though, no job for the summer... so I'll prolly use some rocks from my yard for the hardscape.. any ideas on how to shape the tank up a bit??


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

*Flowers!!*

My aponogeton natans is flowering!:thumbsup: Looks like it likes the higher light level since it never flowered in the 29 gallon. The stem grew like 1.5 cm an hour... crazy..


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

You need to add some plants to that tank, fast growers are always a plus in starting a tank. Load that thing up to avoid algae problems As far as the yellow growth what plants are yellow, what your PH and KH


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

Nice job on DIY stuff, I am really impressed with the lighting.....I bet you could make a ton of money making and selling those. You should probably move up to pressurized, though.


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

> You need to add some plants to that tank, fast growers are always a plus in starting a tank. Load that thing up to avoid algae problems As far as the yellow growth what plants are yellow, what your PH and KH


All the new growth are yellowish.. not sure what the PH and KH are currently.. I'm still looking around in the Swap n Shop for things to buy  I can't get anything here locally.



> Nice job on DIY stuff, I am really impressed with the lighting.....I bet you could make a ton of money making and selling those. You should probably move up to pressurized, though.


Thanks , it's easy enough to make though, just a quick visit to Home Depot and you have everything you need for that setup. I'll move up to pressurized eventually, don't have the cash to invest into it yet.


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

*Need Help Aquascaping..*

I decided to add a couple of rocks to my tank... any ideas on how to improve it?


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

*More stem plants*

Just added some sunset hygro, wisteria, e. latifolius, and a tiger lotus to the tank yesterday.










A quick DIY internal reactor to use until I can use the external reactor. I get about 95% of the CO2 to dissolve with this so it's good enough


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

Still growing... what do you guys think of the rock placement?


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## jeffboyarrdee (Aug 25, 2004)

try to get your hands on some rotala indica, and some more fast growing plants if you can, or what your budget can permit. i say worry about the REAL aquascape as time goes on. adding some fast growing plants first will help stabalize the tank and reduce the algae growth. then you can start scaping.


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

An updated picture:










Dawn/dusk and moonlight:


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Good Job. Kudos on the DIY!


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

*Update*

It's been a while since I've updated this tank.. I just let everything grow out a bit and added a piece of driftwood... not sure if it belongs there though.. what do you guys think?


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

i think its looking good!

-=- fish newb -=-


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## gonefishy1981 (Jul 31, 2006)

looks really good, you could diy a backround for it, black backround would set off your tank, good job on the diy, no sense buying it if you can make it


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

I moved some things around trying to create a little bit more order to things..


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

gonefishy1981, Fish Newb -

thanks guys.. I'll try a black background on it when I get a chance.. and yes.. DIY all the way


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

Well after months of having problems with mild green water and diatoms, they have finally subsided  
Added the black background and the driftwood just sorta fell over.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

Wow- it looks great! 

I know that when I was starting the hardest part was figuring out what plants would do well and mix in with the scape I had already. You could add some L. sessiliflora (ambulia) which is very dainty and feathery and maybe some compacta swords to give a nice contrast with the leaf shapes you have goning on now- maybe also some java moss for the mid ground and a couple red wenditii crypt, I think you'd be ready to show up in the competitions.


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## LS6 Tommy (May 13, 2006)

The tank looks great! I like your DIY lily tube. Can you give any info on making one? I'm moving up to an _Eheim_ 2126 from an _Emperor_ 400 soon and like the idea of using a lily tube.

Tommy


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## yoink (Apr 21, 2005)

Beautiful tank, it has come a long way.


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

I was looking at your progress pictures and i realised that your tank has really filled in alot and it is looking really very beautiful. Well worth the patience and every bit of effort that you have put in.


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

i definitely need to get a black background.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

tanks looking great!... but i do miss your old light blue backround.... i think it made the tank look MUCH brighter and bigger... but heck thats just me...

good job!

- fish newb -

ohh and watch the SAEs i had 2 in my 55g and they ate all the tips of my plants... well that was the end of them....


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

Thank you everyone for your kind words .. The tanks is only getting better thanks to what I've learned from reading everyone's post over the past few months and learning from your experiences.



turbosaurus said:


> Wow- it looks great!
> 
> I know that when I was starting the hardest part was figuring out what plants would do well and mix in with the scape I had already. You could add some L. sessiliflora (ambulia) which is very dainty and feathery and maybe some compacta swords to give a nice contrast with the leaf shapes you have goning on now- maybe also some java moss for the mid ground and a couple red wenditii crypt, I think you'd be ready to show up in the competitions.


I'm still only learning to arrange the plants right now.. so if i get those plants where should they go? I have some taiwan moss on the driftwood, but the SAE have been snacking on them and haven't grown much with the hot weather. :icon_conf 



LS6 Tommy said:


> The tank looks great! I like your DIY lily tube. Can you give any info on making one? I'm moving up to an _Eheim_ 2126 from an _Emperor_ 400 soon and like the idea of using a lily tube.
> 
> Tommy


The DIY output is just a .5 liter water bottle cut diagonally :thumbsup: The surprising thing is that it actually works.. I can see the mini vortex that it creates on the surface of that water which sucks any debris down.



Fish Newb said:


> tanks looking great!... but i do miss your old light blue backround.... i think it made the tank look MUCH brighter and bigger... but heck thats just me...
> 
> good job!
> 
> ...


The tank does look a bit darker now.. but the plants stand out a lot better in person. As for the SAE so far they have only snacked on the Taiwan moss. But now I'm trying to keep some shrimps and feeding them boiled spinach so i throw some in for the SAE also and they seem to love it too.

I've been trying to grow in a carpet also however, that's the only thing that isn't working right now. I have dwarf hairgrass, glosso, and pigmy chain swords in there right now, but nothing is growing like what i've seen in other tanks. It's really slow and thin.. :icon_cry: what could be causing this?


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

giving hairgrass a "haircut" helps it send out more runners... also just keeping it healthy. i somehow grow it in very low light with lots of sunlight. i dont have a super thick carpet yet... but there is deffinatly a LOT more than i started with.

- fish newb -


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

I love the DIY aspect, nice work. However, how do you service your filter?


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## darkfury18 (Apr 1, 2006)

fshfanatic said:


> I love the DIY aspect, nice work. However, how do you service your filter?


Well, I just pop off the top and remove the "filter media"/CO2 reactor inside and clean it. I'll post some pictures this weekend when I clean it.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

It just doesnt look that easy from this pic.


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## the_noobinator (Jun 10, 2006)

the DIY filtration is nice.


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