# Mr. Aqua 48g - Practice, practice, practice!



## gmoses (Sep 22, 2012)

Oh man tare it down... start over.


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## gmoses (Sep 22, 2012)

Ok ok... i was kidding. Still love the lighting. As for the set up i realky like the added red plants... looks good. If i am being picky i would move that one in front of the middle rock either over into the crack or some where else... my two cents.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

gmoses said:


> Ok ok... i was kidding. Still love the lighting. As for the set up i realky like the added red plants... looks good. If i am being picky i would move that one in front of the middle rock either over into the crack or some where else... my two cents.


Hah, thanks man! I'll give that a look tonight while acclimating the tetras. I still have a few stems of the A. reineckii in the old tank that I can move into this one also.


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## colaudrey (Oct 4, 2013)

i love the texture contrast between the blyxa and alternanthera reineckii. i agree with @ gmoses about moving one of the rocks around, maybe wait until the plants settle and grow out more to see how you like the placement.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

what are you using to back light the back and have the color effect


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

colaudrey said:


> i love the texture contrast between the blyxa and alternanthera reineckii. i agree with @ gmoses about moving one of the rocks around, maybe wait until the plants settle and grow out more to see how you like the placement.


Thanks, appreciate the feedback! I think I'm going to let it grow out a bit like you said to see what I want to move and where. 



sbarbee54 said:


> what are you using to back light the back and have the color effect


RGB LED tape lighting. Got mine from amazon. They have a few different brands available. I used etched glass vinyl on the back of the tank with a white foamboard to reflect/baffle the LED.


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## Tyrone (Nov 22, 2013)

Everything looks good as in planting. IMO I would trade places of the two rocks on the left, the larger one to the back. Then I would increase the slope in the back, maybe to the corners or off-centered. 

Keep in mind those Blyxa will grow bigger, so I would place the ones in the front to the back and keep the Alternanthera Reineckii 'mini' in the mid-ground.

Other than that, it looks pretty cool! I like the sunset effect too.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Tyrone said:


> Everything looks good as in planting. IMO I would trade places of the two rocks on the left, the larger one to the back. Then I would increase the slope in the back, maybe to the corners or off-centered.
> 
> Keep in mind those Blyxa will grow bigger, so I would place the ones in the front to the back and keep the Alternanthera Reineckii 'mini' in the mid-ground.
> 
> Other than that, it looks pretty cool! I like the sunset effect too.


Thanks, this is the kinda info I was hoping to get when starting the journal. I'll take a look at those rocks when I get home too and see how they can be moved. I do realize the Blyxa will get bigger, but how much bigger? I've never grown it before. Maybe I'll move it to the back so that the Reineckii can kinda border each Blyxa.

Also, I had a hell of a time trying to keep Eco-Complete with a slope. Any tips? Doesn't seem to want to stay. I think I'd need to have some support under the substrate and since I'm planted and fish added I think that ship has sailed.


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## Tyrone (Nov 22, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Thanks, this is the kinda info I was hoping to get when starting the journal. I'll take a look at those rocks when I get home too and see how they can be moved. I do realize the Blyxa will get bigger, but how much bigger? I've never grown it before. Maybe I'll move it to the back so that the Reineckii can kinda border each Blyxa.
> 
> Also, I had a hell of a time trying to keep Eco-Complete with a slope. Any tips? Doesn't seem to want to stay. I think I'd need to have some support under the substrate and since I'm planted and fish added I think that ship has sailed.


No problem man. Didn't know you were using Eco-Complete, the coarseness of it is too much, it wouldn't have been my choice of substrate. ADA Aquasoil is the best in my IMO. Just make due of it. What I did to maintain a slope, was getting those cheap chopping mats from Bed Bath & Beyond or wherever you can find them. They come in a multi pack. Just cut to height. They can also be used at the same time as barriers to keep plants from mixing, but I really don't care for that. I like the chaoticness of nature and let it take it's course. Just keeping it check at times.

If settled in and conditions are right. The Blyxa can and will bush out. At the most the height it would reach would be half the height of your tank or more, towering over your rocks. But I think it would look nice. 

Good luck man, can't wait to see it fill in! I could see it already...


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Tyrone said:


> No problem man. Didn't know you were using Eco-Complete, the coarseness of it is too much, it wouldn't have been my choice of substrate. ADA Aquasoil is the best in my IMO. Just make due of it. What I did to maintain a slope, was getting those cheap chopping mats from Bed Bath & Beyond or wherever you can find them. They come in a multi pack. Just cut to height. They can also be used at the same time as barriers to keep plants from mixing, but I really don't care for that. I like the chaoticness of nature and let it take it's course. Just keeping it check at times.
> 
> If settled in and conditions are right. The Blyxa can and will bush out. At the most the height it would reach would be half the height of your tank or more, towering over your rocks. But I think it would look nice.
> 
> Good luck man, can't wait to see it fill in! I could see it already...


Hmm, I'll look into it, not sure I want to disturb that much in the tank now. Maybe if I just slop the corners only it wouldn't be so bad. I do have an extra bag here so I have more substrate I can use if needed. I didn't want to do aquasoil since it breaks down over time and I moved to this style tank to do less maintenance, not full teardowns after a year or two.

Cool I imagine the Blyxa will definitely get full. I bought 5 a month ago from someone on here and in one month of my other tank waiting for this each of them threw off a daughter plant so now I have 10.

My Star Repens was growing a bit weird in the other tank, some stems grew nice, some had a stunted leaf here or there, and some just melted away. Kinda odd how they all grew a bit different. I'm hoping I have better results in this tank cause I love the look and think the it will compliment the glosso nicely.


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## thor79 (Apr 15, 2014)

I've been trying to figure out how I want to put a backing on my first planted tank...and I think I found my solution. Already have LED strips that I used to backlight my LCD monitors....which I'm no longer using. Looks like I just found a use for them.

Based entirely on what I've read and seen of Iwagumi...the rocks look a bit small for the tank. My understanding is the Rocks are supposed to be prominent when the plants finally grow in. From what I see it looks like the plants will overgrow the rocks unless kept in check. The top half of the tank doesn't have anything in it. This is entirely based on no person experience of course...just see the link in my signature. I've been doing a lot of research on planted tanks in preparation for the tanks I want to setup, including Iwagumi style.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

thor79 said:


> I've been trying to figure out how I want to put a backing on my first planted tank...and I think I found my solution. Already have LED strips that I used to backlight my LCD monitors....which I'm no longer using. Looks like I just found a use for them.


Cool glad I could be of assistance haha


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## husonfirst (Sep 12, 2009)

Out of curiosity, how thick is the glass on the Mr. Aqua?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

husonfirst said:


> Out of curiosity, how thick is the glass on the Mr. Aqua?


Not sure off hand, but I can measure tonight when I'm home from work.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Nighttime shot with red led. Pretty cool effect. Plants are coming in nice week post a shot tomorrow. Lots of growth and pearling from the glosso. 










Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk


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## Crazy4discus (Jan 30, 2014)

Clean tank!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Update here since it's been a while. Since I was new to blyxa and stauro I let them grow a bit out. As others mentioned, the blxya ended up blocking some of my stones. I also decided to get rid of the glosso and go for a stauro carpet and I'm growing out some downoi to use as accents around some stones.

Here's how it looked prior to rearranging Saturday.










And here it is cleaned up with with glosso removed and stauro growing in.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Just a quick update. Been battling a bit of BBA growing on the edges of the stauro and some older blyxa leaves. I think it was due to excess O2 in the water throwing off the CO2 levels. I had my koralia pointed pretty high causing a lot of surface agitation. I've lowered that a lot now, been treating with peroxide and it's going away. Had to hack down a lot of the stauro in the corners. 

Blyxa is all growing in well and the crowns of downoi I got are growing nicely too, gotta decide where to move them to. Was thinking of bordering my stones with them....

A. Reineckii grows awesome for me, having a slight issue with stunted growth on one for some reason though.

Also just finally got around to updating my Apex controller to the new Fusion interface. Man that's so nice compared to the old web interface. Highly recommend for anyone with Apex controllers. I also finally set up an outlet for my skimmer. Have it set to turn on for an hour at various points in the day to help add some O2, clean the surface, and gas off at night. Some current pics below, comments and suggestions welcome!


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## gmoses (Sep 22, 2012)

I think we need to get you a couple of big stones to add to the tank... get it done.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

gmoses said:


> I think we need to get you a couple of big stones to add to the tank... get it done.


I take monetary donations from local people 

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk


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## gmoses (Sep 22, 2012)

if only there were any other planted tank guys in the area... too bad


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## popimac (Jun 3, 2014)

Maybe you can consider changing the foreground plants to glosso, HC or monte carlo for better carpet? Just a thought. 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

popimac said:


> Maybe you can consider changing the foreground plants to glosso, HC or monte carlo for better carpet? Just a thought.
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


I started with glosso, but I wanted to go in the stauro direction. I think once it fills in denser it will look good, if not, I have a lot to sell :icon_bigg


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## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

Tank looks nice and clean. I've found s.repens to be better suited for mid foreground, and not quite a good foreground plant. Like glosso, s.repens needs strong light to grow low and compact IME.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

exv152 said:


> Tank looks nice and clean. I've found s.repens to be better suited for mid foreground, and not quite a good foreground plant. Like glosso, s.repens needs strong light to grow low and compact IME.


Thank you! 

I actually run dual BML lights so I got very strong lighting. Hopefully the stauro stays low. We'll see! 

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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Bumping this thread up to try to get some ideas.

I can't keep this annoying fuzz algae off the ends of my blyxa. My S. Repens is growing great, but getting green spot algae like crazy. I do run dual BML lights, but have then at only 55 percent intensity. I am dosing full EI.

I'm not really happy with the planting of the tank and am open to doing another direction. I am going to move some rocks around to get some more height to the tank also.

Recommendations for plants? I love blyxa, but it grows so fast and just overtakes the tank. I'm looking to keep this nice and clean and easy to maintain, not a lot of cutting. The plants I have now do fit that bill, just not happy with the GSA and fuzz growing on them.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

So it's been forever on this one and the tank has gone through changes. I just couldn't get the algae to go away with the previous setup and the blyxa took over and made my tank a forest.

I restarted and went to stems again. Here's some photos and then a current photo. Same equipment, but the tank is now algae free and growing awesome.

So on to the progression pictures. Still working out what is growing best, fullest, etc.

First replanting on 9/22









Second change on 10/7









Trying some new things out on 10/28









11/5, moved some things, some things growing more.









12/2, more moving, more growing, we're filling out more!









12/6, just growing!









12/21, It's a jungle!









1/13, Moved plants around, did a cut about halfway down, going to let things get lush now.


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## Kntry (Dec 26, 2013)

Every change has been an improvement!


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

Looking good! 

It's been said already but I love your background


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Kntry said:


> Every change has been an improvement!


Thanks! I'm getting there. Slowly learning what grows well and what doesn't in my tank. Going to see how this setup grows out now and next month move/fill in with some other stuff.



dru said:


> Looking good!
> 
> It's been said already but I love your background


Appreciate it! I got sick of the black look and love this. Sometimes I think about going back to darker. I'm thinking about getting some black poster board to put behind the etched background and seeing how that looks just as a quick change up.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Took some random cell shots yesterday of the tank currently and it's inhabitants and figured I'd share. This is roughly 1.5 weeks after a trim.

























My male apisto. Pretty sure he's just reaching maturity now, coloring up real nice. He's been super black since I got him.








Female showing breeding colors


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## zachxbass (Jul 6, 2008)

Awesome tank! I love seeing the progression. Nice fish too. Maybe i missed it, but what do you mean by "etched background". I get the LEDs behind the poster board, but what do you mean by etched. Just never seen that term before used like that.

Sent from my C5155 using Tapatalk 2


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

zachxbass said:


> Awesome tank! I love seeing the progression. Nice fish too. Maybe i missed it, but what do you mean by "etched background". I get the LEDs behind the poster board, but what do you mean by etched. Just never seen that term before used like that.
> 
> Sent from my C5155 using Tapatalk 2


Hey Zach, thanks! Still working on the best plant mix, but I'm learning less species seems to work easier for scaping.....getting there slowly haha.

The etched glass film is what I have on the tank. Makes the back opaque and works really nice with the posterboard and LED's to baffle the light.

This is the one I used, home depot sells also but much larger sizes.
Amazon.com: Etched Glass Window Film 24-by-36-Inch: Home Improvement


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Looking great! That's a slick idea, with RGB LED strip lighting to illuminate the frosted window film background.

Adding the driftwood to the original stones was a good call, too. It needed something else.

The one thing I would consider changing ever so slightly is those plants in the front left corner. You planted them in very precise rows that look really artificial. If you can move them around slightly (probably literally grab them with your fingers stabbed into the substrate, and shift each 1-2" in random directions), it would look a lot more natural, I think.


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## Culprit (Nov 6, 2012)

Beautiful aquarium and orange flash cac !
Good luck with the fry when they appear


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

kman said:


> Looking great! That's a slick idea, with RGB LED strip lighting to illuminate the frosted window film background.
> 
> Adding the driftwood to the original stones was a good call, too. It needed something else.
> 
> The one thing I would consider changing ever so slightly is those plants in the front left corner. You planted them in very precise rows that look really artificial. If you can move them around slightly (probably literally grab them with your fingers stabbed into the substrate, and shift each 1-2" in random directions), it would look a lot more natural, I think.


Thanks! I'm going order black posterboard soon also to see how that looks with baffling the light. If it looks good I can just swap white/black in and out for the mood I'm in  Really my favorite backing I've done. When the lights are dimmed to 10% at night with the red background it feels like a sunset. That's the way I relax at night, just watching that.

The left corner has been kinda a grow out corner. I just kinda threw the downoi there to add more life to the reluctantly growing rotala vietnam. For some reason I keep getting stunted tips with that plant, can't figure it out. Once that experiment runs it's course (I'm getting to the end of my patience with it) I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I was thinking about some limnophila aromatica and rearrange some things.

Agreed on the wood. Tank needed some height. Problem is those wouldn't sink! Real deal driftwood. I had to screw some slate to them and they still didn't want to sink. So I basically dug the slate into the substrate and added more over it to keep it down. Problem is I don't have deep substrate where the slate is now which makes planting in certain places challenging.



Culprit said:


> Beautiful aquarium and orange flash cac !
> Good luck with the fry when they appear


Thanks! Love that guy, he's really bright and is the king of the tank. He just patrols all day and keeps everyone on their toes. I doubt my tank will have surviving fry to be honest, between the cories, bumble bee gobies, and plecos the fry would have a major challenge.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Here's a tip for driftwood: Too late for this tank, until you tear and start over, but next time you're prepping a new clean tank, put in a full layer of that plastic egg crate / office light diffuser stuff at the bottom. Cheap at Home Depot/Lowes. Then put your gravel or soil or whatever over that. The substrate will hold the panel in place nicely, and you won't even know it's there. BUT, you can use it as a frame to ziptie wood whereever you want it to go, and it will stay. All but the floatiest of wood will be kept down by all the weight of the gravel holding that panel in place.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

kman said:


> Here's a tip for driftwood: Too late for this tank, until you tear and start over, but next time you're prepping a new clean tank, put in a full layer of that plastic egg crate / office light diffuser stuff at the bottom. Cheap at Home Depot/Lowes. Then put your gravel or soil or whatever over that. The substrate will hold the panel in place nicely, and you won't even know it's there. BUT, you can use it as a frame to ziptie wood whereever you want it to go, and it will stay. All but the floatiest of wood will be kept down by all the weight of the gravel holding that panel in place.


Thanks! Yeah I was tinkering with that idea previously, but i just did not have the time to do a full tear down. I added the wood with fish in actually. Got a baby coming now too so a full tear down won't be for at least a year probably haha. 

I'm toying with the idea of adding a bit more active-flora to the spots that have trouble with substrate depth due to the slate. I think I have enough to add to make some hills that will give me 2" of depth at the least.


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## Powerclown (Aug 17, 2014)

you need to clean the tubing and pipes.....rest looks good


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Powerclown said:


> you need to clean the tubing and pipes.....rest looks good


Hah, thanks. That's this weekends cleaning. Full filter and pipe cleaning.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Just snapped a quick pic. Still deciding on what plants I want to keep and where to keep them. Wife wanted to see purple tonight.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

OK new scape coming soon. Will be reusing most plants, just going to hack down and start over. 

Removing all seiryu stone, don't like hard water. I have apisto's and tetras who will appreciate softer water. Also, the scape currently effects flow negatively. I'm hoping the new scape will correct this. Below is the wood that will be going in to the tank. Thsi will be positioned on the right side and the left I hope to be dutch-ish.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Got the tank set up on Sunday with the new driftwood. I ended up removing all Seiryu stone because I wasn't happy with how it was changing my water hardness. Added about 5 pieces of Malaysian driftwood. All my plants bottoms were ratty so I did a huge hack and replanted tops. Now that I have more planting space I am going to add some different plants once the weather warms up a bit and I can ship.

Here's a pic from right after I finished. The water is a bit brown from tannins but I'm leaving that since my apistos love it. The apistos LOVE the wood on the right. The way it is laying on each piece made a massive cave in the middle.


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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

Yeah, that stone is murder on the water hardness. Looks like a good start to this tank. You will love the Mr Aqua 48G dimensions. I love mine.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

That careful initial placement was pretty quickly overrun. With dutch-like that's especially problematic, your hardscape is taken over and unseen. If you know what final result you want I say go for it (but that's hard w/ different plant species doing different things and turning different colors at different heights, ugh), otherwise hold the hardscape and start with the plants. Just my 2 cents from being in a perpetual state of flux.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Overfloater said:


> Yeah, that stone is murder on the water hardness. Looks like a good start to this tank. You will love the Mr Aqua 48G dimensions. I love mine.


The stone really was. I think it was the reason I had trouble with all rotala's and random stunting. It's been out since Sunday and replaced with just that new malaysian wood and already I see great new growth on the rotala vietnam. I've struggled with that since I got it, grows ok, stunts, off shots a new stem that gross ok, stunts. The new growth I have on the stems I've kept though are way bushier than they ever were. I'm hopeful I can move back to some rotala's now.

The tank is amazing though, I've had it for a while now, the 17" width is my favorite part.



xenxes said:


> That careful initial placement was pretty quickly overrun. With dutch-like that's especially problematic, your hardscape is taken over and unseen. If you know what final result you want I say go for it (but that's hard w/ different plant species doing different things and turning different colors at different heights, ugh), otherwise hold the hardscape and start with the plants. Just my 2 cents from being in a perpetual state of flux.


Thanks for the advice . I did discover that on the first run. My problem the first time, which I'm correcting now with the wood I used, is that the driftwood initially used was unsinkable. So I had to use slate and I added it after the tank was set up.....so I had to push the slate under hte gravel rather than bury it. So the hardscape was not moveable and had very little substrate over the slate to plant. This malaysian wood sunk on first try, isn't held down, so I can adjust as needed. I think I'm going to reduce the number of stem species and just focus on bushier groups. I really like rotala for that, so hopefully it grows now. Going to softer water was my last big move I think. First I fought lighting and co2 issues which cleared up my algae. Now it's just picking the final plants since everything else is good to go now!


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

bsantucci said:


> Hey all,


Love it, especially the change in the back of the tank. What did you put on the back of your tank?

Wonder if you BBA was lack of calcium. For with Co2 promoting growth they may have been absorbing more nutrients.


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## jrygel (Jan 29, 2014)

Looks great! following your progress, I just bought the Aquatop 48g rimless to replace my standard 30g.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Hilde said:


> Love it, especially the change in the back of the tank. What did you put on the back of your tank?
> 
> Wonder if you BBA was lack of calcium. For with Co2 promoting growth they may have been absorbing more nutrients.


I'm using an etched glass vinyl with white foam board behind that. Two LED RGB strips between the two and I can change the background to any color basically. Cheap and easy way to make different effects. 

I don't think bba was from lack of calcium. I haven't really added any extra. I think it was just lighting and co2 fluctuations. CO2 I have nailed now. I know my lowest point and set my apex controller to cut it off when it hits that point. It stays pinned there all day now.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

jrygel said:


> Looks great! following your progress, I just bought the Aquatop 48g rimless to replace my standard 30g.


Thank you! Is that tank the same dimensions as mine? I'm not familiar with it. Mine is 36x17x17.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Tyrone said:


> What I did to maintain a slope, was getting those cheap chopping mats from Bed Bath & Beyond or wherever you can find them. They come in a multi pack. Just cut to height. They can also be used at the same time as barriers to keep plants from mixing, but I really don't care for that. I like the chaoticness of nature and let it take it's course. Just keeping it check at times.


Which you had a thread on it. Got a link to a pic of it?


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Hilde said:


> Which you had a thread on it. Got a link to a pic of it?


Watch this video by the Green Machine on setting up a tank:






The guy uses commericial substrate supports to help keep the slope (start listening at approx 2 min 30 secs in). You can make your own by cutting up stripes of thin plastic, as Tyrone recommended.


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## jrygel (Jan 29, 2014)

bsantucci said:


> Thank you! Is that tank the same dimensions as mine? I'm not familiar with it. Mine is 36x17x17.


Yep, exactly the same size. This will be a long time planning and buying parts a bit at a time. Planning have everything in hand to set it up next Christmas :icon_smil I'm planning on using a lot of the same equipment at you as well: will be moving my Apex and CO2 over from my 30g and planning on running a BML MC series Dutch light with it (new color changing series). Probably will stick with my API canister - I love the big rectangular baskets - you can put anything in there.

Do you feel like you need the two BML lights for coverage or would one do it? I'm not terribly concerned about light levels; a single BML will still be much more powerful that what I've grown accustomed to and I'd like to run a single light to keep the setup minimal. The one I am looking at is equivalent to their XB series, but it can be dimmed in three separate groups of colors (reds, blues, and white/green)

-Justin


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

jrygel said:


> Yep, exactly the same size. This will be a long time planning and buying parts a bit at a time. Planning have everything in hand to set it up next Christmas :icon_smil I'm planning on using a lot of the same equipment at you as well: will be moving my Apex and CO2 over from my 30g and planning on running a BML MC series Dutch light with it (new color changing series). Probably will stick with my API canister - I love the big rectangular baskets - you can put anything in there.
> 
> Do you feel like you need the two BML lights for coverage or would one do it? I'm not terribly concerned about light levels; a single BML will still be much more powerful that what I've grown accustomed to and I'd like to run a single light to keep the setup minimal. The one I am looking at is equivalent to their XB series, but it can be dimmed in three separate groups of colors (reds, blues, and white/green)
> 
> -Justin


Nice! You'll love the BML. I like the idea of the MC, but the cost is crazy high, so I'm sticking with just my ramping options.

You're going to need two lights, for sure. You won't get the right spread with just one cause this tank is extra wide. If you stick with one you'll have really low PAR in front and back.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

I just ordered a new CAL Labs Efflux G3 from GreenLeaf Aquariums now. Going to compare that to my current jet pipe to see which I prefer. The jet is great, but has my limnophila mini vietname bending a bit on the other side of the tank. I used to have this same pipe but I cracked it. I think it should work better the way this tank is set up with less hardscape.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

kman said:


> Video by the Green Machine on setting up a tank:
> The guy uses commericial substrate supports to help keep the slope. You can make your own by cutting up stripes of thin plastic, as Tyrone recommended.


Thanks for the video.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update since it's been a while. The tank is now a jungle, literally. My daughter was born on 3/25 and I haven't had a ton of time to dedicate to the tank. I've fully switched over though from my Fluval 406 to a CPR overflow and wet/dry filter. That got completed yesterday. I have 3 new manzanita branches en route and I plan to change this to something a bit easier on the maintenance now that I have a kid.

Some thoughts are going with the hygro angustifolia and pinnatifida I have already mixed into the wood and making the open space more for slower growing crypts possibly. I also want some Cyperus Helferi for the corners I think.

Some shots of the wood I have coming below.

Any recommendations on slow growers that get lush let me know. Maybe giant masses of ferns on the wood?


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

Love this tank


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

bpb said:


> Love this tank


Thank you!

Here's the jungle it's grown into. Probably going to sell 95% of the plants in it now to reboot.


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

Seeing a few of the same plants I keep in there, but with much better color and health from yours. What's your method of CO2 injection? Sorry didnt read every word of the thread. I'm a picture looker lol. Do you have anything under your gravel at all? Dose DI ect?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

bpb said:


> Seeing a few of the same plants I keep in there, but with much better color and health from yours. What's your method of CO2 injection? Sorry didnt read every word of the thread. I'm a picture looker lol. Do you have anything under your gravel at all? Dose DI ect?


haha no worries!

I was using a GLA inline diffuser up until yesterday. I just started using a cerges reactor now since I moved to a wet/dry filter and overflow setup. I expect the same results though.

The biggest thing for me was realizing that even when I thought I had maxed my co2, I hadn't lol. So I just kept increasing and increasing until my bolivian rams were basically laying on the floor. Then I let up a bit. I will have to tweak this now since the wet/dry loses a bit of co2, but I'll get to the sweet spot in a day or two I'm sure.

When I set the tank up I used root tabs, but I haven't added any since. My substrate is nicely fertilized from the mulm I believe. I haven't seeny any difficiencies and all heavy root feeders I have grow like weeds. I recently sold a crypt nurii from there that I received with 3 leaves. When I sold it there was like 12-13 leaves and 5 daughter plants.

I also dose EI, but strict to the gram using a scale. I like to know I'm right where I need to be. I haven't had a spec of algae since I got serious with measuring ferts and maxing co2. I expect even better growth now moving to the wet/dry and getting more o2 in the water.


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

Do you feel like tank age has anything to do with algae clearing up? I understand you can measure your ferts and do the math with tank volume to the point you dont even need to test becasue you know exactly how much you're adding. Do you test or just know exactly how much to add?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

bpb said:


> Do you feel like tank age has anything to do with algae clearing up? I understand you can measure your ferts and do the math with tank volume to the point you dont even need to test becasue you know exactly how much you're adding. Do you test or just know exactly how much to add?


Nah I don't feel it has to do with the age. I think it's more just me learning and understanding. Forgot to mention I also handle my lighting much better now. I was all about the high light when I started, MORE LIGHT was my mantra. Now I run my two BML lights at only 55% most of the day. I do have a 1 hour 85% burst of high light, but aside from that just nice medium lighting. 

Here's the things I changed basically.

Lowered lighting with a burst now
Got consistent and steady with amounts of ferts (was just using teaspoons before)
Increased CO2 to definite maximum
Bought SAE's and Bistlenose Pleco's to take care of the little fuzz type algae I had left

I'm also fairly certain the plant mass I have will out compete most if not all algae. I haven't seen a spec of BBA since increasing CO2 though and making sure flow was good through all the tank.

When I reduce plant mass with this next iteration I'm going to have to be careful with everything else. I may lower my lighting even more and make the burst a bit longer to make up for it. The new wood comes next Monday so I'm thinking Father's day will be the day for the new scaping.


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## simonyee (May 15, 2012)

*This is mine*

Hi,
This is my tank in Malaysia.
Hot weather put CPU casing fan









Hey all, 

Started last July with a 46 gallon bow front and planted anything and everything in that. It was more of a naturalistic looking tank. Learned the basics of EI and lighting and decided that it was just too much maintenance with the high growing stems, cutting and replanting. I'm hoping the Iwagumi style is a bit easier to handle for maintenance.

Equipment:
Mr. Aqua 48g
Fluval 406
GLA Supreme CO2 system w/5 pound tank
GLA Atomic Inline Diffuser
CAL Labs Eflux intake 
Borneowild SS Jet Pipe
BML Dutch 6300k 36 inch
BML 10000k 36 inch
Apex Neptune System for controls
RGB backlighting

Flora:
Alternanthera Reineckii Mini
Staurogyne repens
Ludwigia Red
Downoi
Ludwigia Brevipes
Ludwigia Repens (not sure)
Limnophila Vietnam Mini
Limnophila Repens Mini
Crypt Nurii
Rotala Vietnam

Fauna:
Bolivian Ram pair
Apisto Cac pair
Ember Tetras
Peacock Gudgeons
Bronze Cories
Otos
Zebra Danios (too much of a pain to catch so they get to stay)
Bumble Bee Gobies
SAE's
Albino Bristlenose Plecos

















[/QUOTE]


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

love the backlighting!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update. Transitioning the tank to something a bit more easy to maintain. Working out the right plants not, but pulled the full tank, switched driftwood from malaysian to manzanita and laid some ground work. I'm planning to eventually make the left side just a carpet or S. Repens possibly. The right side will eventually have a background of Cyperus Helferi which you can see me growing out on the left. 

Thoughts and suggestions welcomed.

Before:









After:


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

The flux continues!!

I wasn't too keen on this look. I promised my wife I'd move to easier maintenance plants, but this is boring. haha. 

So I bought an Aquaticlife T5HO, 4 bulb fixture, but that was tripping my GFIC switches non-stop at home so I returned it to Amazon. Still not content, I went to BML and purchased 2 Dutch 6300k MC units to replace my current Dutch and 10k units (original). I have an Apex system so I can't wait to get to messing with the color spectrum and create different profiles for sunrise, sunset, storms, clouds, etc. 

And with this new lighting I am going to pick up some new plants. Just have to come up with an idea of a scape I want. The giant hygro just grows too quick, great looking plant, but would be better in a taller tank I think. The blyxa above has basically tripled in size, I need to sell or RAOK some. I have 4 crypts you can see front left which have all tripled in size too. Still super red ludwigia which I'm going to keep. 

The manzanita is actually two pieces, I'm wondering if I should pick one and just run with a single branch, it looks a bit noisy in there I think as it stands. I have a ton of malaysian wood too. I'm not sure what wood would look better. 

Any ideas or opinions are welcome.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update. Changed some hardscape and am growing out some plants now to switch to a more organized look. New Dutch MC BMLs are arriving this weekend also. 






























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## Chubbi (Mar 21, 2015)

So copying you [emoji12]


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

I'm so jealous of you people who can;

1. Have a nice, open top tank out and not fear that your kids are going to smash it, break pipes, yank co2 lines, ect...
2. Can nice photos of it.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Chubbi said:


> So copying you [emoji12]
> 
> Haha all good, feel free! You'll have half the plants in there anyway soon.
> 
> ...





oldpunk78 said:


> I'm so jealous of you people who can;
> 
> 1. Have a nice, open top tank out and not fear that your kids are going to smash it, break pipes, yank co2 lines, ect...
> 2. Can nice photos of it.


My kid is only 4 months right now, so we'll see how this plays out as she gets older :hihi: I have a feeling I'm going to have to put up fences in my condo when she's mobile. 

Photo credit goes completely to my Samsung S6. I didn't even bust out my nice camera on this one. I appreciate the kind words though!


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

if only the S6 was waterproof *cries*, Still beautiful pics for a phone (gotta love technology)

Definitely love the new layout from switching from seiryu stones to malyasian then to manzanita.

is that 2 or 3 inches of substrate?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Vermino said:


> if only the S6 was waterproof *cries*, Still beautiful pics for a phone (gotta love technology)
> 
> Definitely love the new layout from switching from seiryu stones to malyasian then to manzanita.
> 
> is that 2 or 3 inches of substrate?


Hah, guess you lost one to the water gods? 

Thanks for the compliments! I think I'm nearing where I want to be. I added the slate to the back right, it's a fairly deep cave that goes to the bottom of the aquarium. There is slate behind it also so I was able to add substrate behind it to plant things. I think the AR Mini is going to end up there on my next adjustment.

Substrate is 3 inches. Just works better for me with planting in my opinion. I have tons of MTS so I have no issues with anaerobic spots.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update. About to do a new scape again. Going with black lava rock as a border of sorts in the middle and will keep stems behind that and a carpet of some sort in front.

Been struggling with some plants lately, I suspect it was due to using my Apex as a co2 controller. I don't think I was getting the right co2 saturation even though I was hitting my target pH. I turned off the Apex from controlling it, reduced my rate of co2 and starting today with steady co2 delivery.

I've just been getting lots of curled leaves and SLOW growth on my AR and other plants. I dose EI and am positive it's not a nutrient issue. I have great circulation, can follow fish food in a full circle around the tank, all plants sway. Lighting is plenty good and not too much, so that leaves co2.

We'll see how I fare this time. Will post updates once re-done.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Photo update. Added a new light hanging fixture. Got a replacement BML Dutch MC light. One of the 2 I ordered was flickering on channel one. BML took care of it very quickly.

Growing some plants out so arrangement isn't great. Hoping to get my rescape done this weekend.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

bsantucci said:


> Photo update. Added a new light hanging fixture. Got a replacement BML Dutch MC light. One of the 2 I ordered was flickering on channel one. BML took care of it very quickly.


What is BML?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Hilde said:


> What is BML?


BuildMyLED, the manufacturer's of my lights.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

looking good


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

klibs said:


> looking good


Thanks klibs. Hopefully more so with the new scape. Going to be a lot more organized.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Alrighty, so I rescaped yesterday. Went pretty quick. Doesn't look like much now since I topped everything to start fresh and it's all very short.

I do plan to add a carpet of some sort in the open space on the left. In the rear I have Ludwigia Glandulosa left most in a tight group (if this ever grows right for me, always has crinkled leaves). Rotala Colorata (small bunch, letting it grow out and will top and replant to increase mass. It's only been in my tank for a week now. Ludwigia Rep and then Ludwigia Cuba. Blyxa to the far right over my slate cave for the plecos. Up front we have Star Repens and AR Mini which will both be mowed to the substrate this week to reset it.

I have some Trident Java Fern coming to attach to a couple of the lava rocks to hopefully flow forward on it. Ordering some more Anubias Petite for the base of some rocks also. 

Opinions welcome.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Pic in the above post does not work for me


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## Chubbi (Mar 21, 2015)

Can't wait to see it bud, fix that pic!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

klibs said:


> Pic in the above post does not work for me





Chubbi said:


> Can't wait to see it bud, fix that pic!


Very odd, does this show? The photo shows in my link above. Not sure what's up.


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## Chubbi (Mar 21, 2015)

oh, wow you really changed it up. It looks much smaller to me now, but i guess you just topped everything. Planning to grow the left corner up substantially? Clean that intake


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Chubbi said:


> oh, wow you really changed it up. It looks much smaller to me now, but i guess you just topped everything. Planning to grow the left corner up substantially? Clean that intake


Yes, everything is topped, give it a couple weeks and it will be full 

That colorata on the left will form a nice bush eventually and so will the ludwigia red, so yeah, the whole back will be full and lush. I will prob keep the L. Red trimmed neat and to bring the tank to a V shape in the middle. We'll see as it grows out.

Intake, I know, I know. With my 5 month old girl it's tough to get the time to do a scape and cleaning at once. Maybe I'll do it tonight when I get home.

Also added a 1 hour 100% intenstity burst on the lights to try to bring out color in the cuba and colorata.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick ten day update. Stopping the use of a pH controller was the best thing I could have done. It was really limiting the co2 in my tank. Wasn't even close. I let it go down to 6.10 thinking it was 30 ppm based on pH. Well I run it steady now and the pH drops to 5.80. I also switched from a koralia 240 to a 420 and placed it on the same side as the violet pipe to help the flow. Seems both have really helped. Stunted plants are starting to get new growth and perk up. Rotala colorata and Ludwigia glandulosa are the two taking longer to respond. The colorata is surprise since I thought it was a pretty easy plant. Maybe a bit longer and it will turn around. 

Foster sold me an awesome trident Java fern. Really amazing plant he sent me. Hacked down my star repens and AR mini. Both had lots of green spot algae from slow growth. S repens is already coming back. Getting gsa on lobelia also. Dimmed my lights back to 45 percent with a 100 percent hour burst midday. Lights are now 24 inches from the substrate. 


















































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## HBdirtbag (Jun 15, 2015)

Looking great!!!!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

HBdirtbag said:


> Looking great!!!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks! 

Did a trim on the colorata and Ludwigia red. Topped my Ludwigia Cuba. Waiting for S. Repens to grow in and get lush again. AR is coming in better after a big back job. Still some gsa algae on it and can't figure out why. 




























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## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

Very nice!! Try adding more kh2po4 (phosphorus) for the GSA.


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## spiderguardnano (Aug 8, 2015)

Awesome tank man 
So many different scales already 


I'm thinking of renscaping my tank and it's only been up like 2 weeks now planted 

How do you rescape do you leave your fish in and just go ham or what's your game plan?

Also what is your co2 schedule to your lights on and off?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

hbosman said:


> Very nice!! Try adding more kh2po4 (phosphorus) for the GSA.


Thanks. I've done that actually. I'm roughly at 3ppm now. May try raising in a few weeks. I like to go like 3 weeks with each change to see the results.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Picked up a betta today and put together a new fluval spec v. Always wanted to try one of these. Cool little tank. 

Love the betta but don't know much about them. This guy has nice reds and his body has a blueish sheen to it. Will that change as it ages? 



















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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update for my records. Was way overdosing ferts for a long time. For some reason it never dawned on me to account for water displacement from substrate and rocks. 

Had my water tested by a member here and it turned out my tank was excessive in everything and toxic on some. I'm dosing considerably less now and seeing results. No more algae on sloe growers, gda that is. Leaf curling is almost non existent and colors are coming out. 

Some pics below. 

Nailed Ludwigia Cuba 


















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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Picked up a betta today and put together a new fluval spec v. Always wanted to try one of these. Cool little tank.
> 
> Love the betta but don't know much about them. This guy has nice reds and his body has a blueish sheen to it. Will that change as it ages?
> 
> ...


I know its been a month but no one's replied on you question: Your betta looks to be stable and should remain red with those irids. Bettas with the marble gene (yous does not appear to have) can go any which way with their coloring, its kinda fun .. but frustrating if you buy one for its color at*that exact moment* because it doesn't stay that way. I own 8 bettas and my husband has 1 (all in their own tanks) 3 of the 9 bettas in the house are marbles, they change to different colors at different speeds.
Anyways I babble, how is your betta doing?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

AquaAurora said:


> I know its been a month but no one's replied on you question: Your betta looks to be stable and should remain red with those irids. Bettas with the marble gene (yous does not appear to have) can go any which way with their coloring, its kinda fun .. but frustrating if you buy one for its color at*that exact moment* because it doesn't stay that way. I own 8 bettas and my husband has 1 (all in their own tanks) 3 of the 9 bettas in the house are marbles, they change to different colors at different speeds.
> Anyways I babble, how is your betta doing?


Hah, I figured no one likes betas!

Thanks for the info on that though. We love the color so happy to hear it will stay stable. He's colored up tons since we got him. Super active fish. I'm amazed how smart they are, I had no idea. Really enjoying him.

I'm growing some stems in my high tech tank to move to his tank soon so I can really make it nice for him. Right now he's just with an anubias, some crypts, and anacharis to keep his water healthy.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Hah, I figured no one likes betas!
> 
> Thanks for the info on that though. We love the color so happy to hear it will stay stable. He's colored up tons since we got him. Super active fish. I'm amazed how smart they are, I had no idea. Really enjoying him.
> 
> I'm growing some stems in my high tech tank to move to his tank soon so I can really make it nice for him. Right now he's just with an anubias, some crypts, and anacharis to keep his water healthy.


There is a _bettafish _specific forum where many betta owners go, its not as knowledgeable on planted tanks as this one though. 

Bettas tend to loose color while they sit in the store cups-cold and ammonia filled, but perk up within 24-72 hours in a good clean warm tank.

A lot of people on here discount bettas as low quality fish and not the best for community tanks. But when kept in a warm cycled filtered tank they are like underwater puppies! 

They're active and interactive, trainable (several youtube videos for this-I'd personally advise against training them to jump out of the water to get food of you finer though this may lead to jumping out of the tank), and most can even be petted in time (my husband's female betta loves getting petted (like a dog), mine just tolerate it (more like a cat thats not to interested), and a few (newest ones) don't quite let me pet them yet). Always have clean hands and be gentle with petting, better to let he fish rub against you than you push on it-they're so small its easy to knock them around. 

They're so addictive and with so many tail and color variations you can have such variety! I've had a hard time restraining myself as I went from 1 to 4 in about 6 months than to a total of 8 in another 9 months >.>" I don't allow myself to browse aquabid (sells a lot of overseas bettas as well as other fish species, plants, and supplies) or got into my lfs anymore...too tempting to get "just one more".


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## gtgwin (Oct 22, 2015)

Nice tank! which light fixture are you using?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

spiderguardnano said:


> Awesome tank man
> So many different scales already
> 
> 
> ...


Sorry don't know how I missed this!

I leave fish in for rescapes, they are fine. I drain half my tank, rescape as I want, drain a bit more to suck out the dirt floating, then just fill. I always clean my filter the week after since I figure it gets real dirty filtering the mulm I stir up.

CO2 is on 1.5 hours before lights on and off an hour and 45 min before lights off. I have a really dim blue/green night mode I run for a bit longer than normal at night.



gtgwin said:


> Nice tank! which light fixture are you using?


Thanks, appreciate it.

I run 2 Build My LED Dutch MC lights, suspended about 10 inches above the water. I have a pretty cool custom ramp to simulate early morning sunrise. Lights go from blue/green only to a big burst of red for sunrise, white lights come in to even out. Sits around 45% all day with a 1 hour 100% noon burst and then ramps down the same way it ramps up.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

In keeping up with the flux, I am thinking of moving back to some malaysian driftwood. I want to build a nicer tank for my apistos. I don't have enough hiding spaces for them and I hate the coconut caves I have now. 

So I think I may create two islands of malaysian driftwood stacked on itself to make a nice cave area on both side for the harem. Figure I'll cover it with the massive amounts of trident fern I have and reduce the number of plant species I have. Going to try to use some negative space this time also.

Tank as it stands today.


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## shrimpNewbie (May 6, 2011)

bsantucci said:


> In keeping up with the flux, I am thinking of moving back to some malaysian driftwood. I want to build a nicer tank for my apistos. I don't have enough hiding spaces for them and I hate the coconut caves I have now.
> 
> So I think I may create two islands of malaysian driftwood stacked on itself to make a nice cave area on both side for the harem. Figure I'll cover it with the massive amounts of trident fern I have and reduce the number of plant species I have. Going to try to use some negative space this time also.
> 
> Tank as it stands today.


Wow very nice

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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Did some light maintenance. I'm kinda torn between adding some extra Malaysian driftwood and making some nice caves for my apistos and changing this up completely or doing some adjustments to this one to incorporate more caves. 






























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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Some big changes here in the last few weeks. Completely rescaped the tank about 2 weeks ago. Still a work in progress but I moved from manzanita to Malaysian driftwood stacked so my apistos had some natural caves. 

Just finished switching from the Dutch MC BMLs to 2 Aquatic Life Halos. I really like these new lights. Too early to give growth reports, but my Ludwigia glandulosa is turning a gorgeous deep red. My Ludwigia Cuba is struggling right now with almost all stunting. AR mini is growing leaves that aren't twisted so I'm positive now it was a micro toxicity since I'm only dosing flourish with some extra DPTA iron to a total of .2. I'm going to up iron to..3 this week since the AR mini and Mermaid weed are losing color. 

On to the pics

With the BMLs right after rescape 









With one Halo. Had too many dim areas so I bought a second. 









Moonlight mode with single unit. 









Today with the second fixture running. 




































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## Mattymo92 (Feb 3, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Some big changes here in the last few weeks. Completely rescaped the tank about 2 weeks ago. Still a work in progress but I moved from manzanita to Malaysian driftwood stacked so my apistos had some natural caves.
> 
> Just finished switching from the Dutch MC BMLs to 2 Aquatic Life Halos. I really like these new lights. Too early to give growth reports, but my Ludwigia glandulosa is turning a gorgeous deep red. My Ludwigia Cuba is struggling right now with almost all stunting. AR mini is growing leaves that aren't twisted so I'm positive now it was a micro toxicity since I'm only dosing flourish with some extra DPTA iron to a total of .2. I'm going to up iron to..3 this week since the AR mini and Mermaid weed are losing color.
> 
> ...



Beautiful tank man!

Quick questions... What is that broad leafed green plant middle left in front of the drift wood?

Thanks,
Matt M


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Mattymo92 said:


> Beautiful tank man!
> 
> Quick questions... What is that broad leafed green plant middle left in front of the drift wood?
> 
> ...


Thanks Matt! 

That is lobelia cardinalis mini. I'm not sure of it there yet. It hides the wood a lot so it may get moved a bit. 

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## Mattymo92 (Feb 3, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Thanks Matt!
> 
> That is lobelia cardinalis mini. I'm not sure of it there yet. It hides the wood a lot so it may get moved a bit.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


I agree that it does cover the drift wood but if there was a way you could maneuver the drift wood to take up more vertical space or add more driftwood to achieve more vertical sprawl I think it would look perfect there. Just my opinion though. :smile2:

- Matt M.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Mattymo92 said:


> I agree that it does cover the drift wood but if there was a way you could maneuver the drift wood to take up more vertical space or add more driftwood to achieve more vertical sprawl I think it would look perfect there. Just my opinion though. :smile2:
> 
> - Matt M.


Worked the driftwood and moved some plants today. Also added Cyperus Helferi to the back right. 










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## Mattymo92 (Feb 3, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Worked the driftwood and moved some plants today. Also added Cyperus Helferi to the back right.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The tank looks great man! I like the changes you made to it. I'll be interested to see how it looks as it grows in.

Thanks,
Matt M.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Mattymo92 said:


> The tank looks great man! I like the changes you made to it. I'll be interested to see how it looks as it grows in.
> 
> Thanks,
> Matt M.


Thanks Matt! Going to let this one grow out for a while to see how it matures. And my wife will be happy with my hands out of the tank :laugh2:


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

bsantucci said:


> That is lobelia cardinalis mini. I'm not sure of it there yet. It hides the wood a lot so it may get moved a bit.


I'm going to have to go out on a limb and say that's not the 'mini' variety. I had some for awhile and it looked tiny compared to what you've got growing there.

Regardless, I think it looks awesome in your tank.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

vanish said:


> I'm going to have to go out on a limb and say that's not the 'mini' variety. I had some for awhile and it looked tiny compared to what you've got growing there.
> 
> Regardless, I think it looks awesome in your tank.


You know, it was sold to me as mini and I've always suspected it wasn't. It doesn't send our side shots like mini does and it grew rather tall.

Now it's going to drive me crazy that it's confirmed and I'm going to have to try to locate some mini. It grows quick enough that it's problematic for using mid-ground.


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## Mattymo92 (Feb 3, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Thanks Matt! Going to let this one grow out for a while to see how it matures. And my wife will be happy with my hands out of the tank :laugh2:


Oh so it's all women that seem to an issue with that?! I just thought it was only my girlfriend! :grin2:

- Matt M.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Mattymo92 said:


> Oh so it's all women that seem to an issue with that?! I just thought it was only my girlfriend! :grin2:
> 
> - Matt M.


Lol. My wife is pretty good about it. She just needs to drink a bottle of wine after from chasing my daughter around all day. 

Looks like only 4 of my Ludwigia Cubas are going to start growing again. Thinking about floating the bad ones to try to get some side shoots. The 4 that are growing already have orange tips which they never got before. 

Front shot update. 









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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Last update until this weekend. A bunch of plants have really been struggling, and I suspect it's my substrate at this point. I got Osmocote happy a while back and I think it's just toxic now. 

I have 90lbs of Brightwell Aquatics FlorinVolcanit coming and I'm doing a complete tear down and substrate change. Pictures to follow once it settles down Friday.

Here's three shots from yesterday.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

So it's been a while and I've made a bunch of changes.

Redid the tank with Florinvolcanit aquasoil since I'm fairly certain my eco complete was toxic from too many root tabs. Growth is infinitely better now. Here's a few shots.

Right around the beginning:









About a month after:









Trim from Sunday:









Also redid my betta tank since I had left over aquasoil. Added about 7 tangerine tiger shrimp too, 3 are berried already!









And lastly, redid my dart frog tank too, this one is coming along nice, excited to see the growout now.


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

WOW!!!

I just read threw the whole thread, and you have some MAD SCAPING SKILLS!!! Your tank looks awesome in all of the different scapes it has been threw!!! 

I have a question about your lighting though. Why did you switch out after having the BML for so long? The Aquatic Life Halos look awesome, but the BML's did as well! Honestly both are out of my price range, but I would like to know just encase I run into some $ and I am able to get some nice LED lighting one day! One thing I do knotice in the pics with the Halos is there is much less light spill over into the room compared to the BML. 

Also are the micro bubbles coming from the Lilly pipe Co2? If so are you still using the cerges reactor? I would very rarely get bubbles from my cerges, but you may be flowing more water or Co2 into yours compaired to me!

You have a BEAUTIFUL Tank and I am Subscribed 4SURE to see how it develops from here!!!

I also Love the Betta tank, as well as the Dart Frog setup!!! Dart Frogs are AWESOME critters to have, and to watch them interact with each other and hunt down their food is soooo cool!!! 

Take Care,
Drew

P.S. Congrats on your first little one!!! Man, Kids will CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR EVER!!! IN A GOOD WAY!!!! At least till their Teenagers! LOL


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

BoxxerBoyDrew said:


> WOW!!!
> 
> I just read threw the whole thread, and you have some MAD SCAPING SKILLS!!! Your tank looks awesome in all of the different scapes it has been threw!!!
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind words Drew! 

I switched lights cause I'm a techy person and always want to at least try the latest and greatest. I loved the BMLs, both version I had, but just wanted to try pendants. I knew Kessils didn't produce the color I wanted, but a member here confirmed the spectrum of the Halos was much better so I gave them a whirl. Very happy I did. Aside from color and growth, the pendants are just a cleaner look in my opinion. There still is light spill from the Halos, you're just not seeing it. They come with an 80 and 110 degree lense. I'm using the 110 since the 80 is super direct and intense. I'd most likely fry the tank and cause an algae farm. Still may try it though lol. The 110 lense is a nice spread so it covers every inch inside, but there is spill beyond the tank, you're just not seeing it. They produce an AWESOME shimmer though. Really pleased and can't recommend them enough. Some people have complained of the fan noise, but it doesn't bother me. The tank is behind my living room area and it's white noise, don't even hear them anymore.

Yep, you are seeing micro bubbles. I went back to an inline atomic diffuser. I ran the reactor when I ran a sump, but switched back. I could never keep the reactor from getting a huge pocket of air in it. With a Fluval (what I run now) or an Eheim (in my closet) I feel like there isn't enough flow when connected to a reactor. What do you run yours with?

I'm planning to run the tank like this maybe one more month or two. I want to switch back to more of a nature/jungle tank. Just feels more natural. I love the colors like I have now, and love trying all these new plants, but I want a more natural environment for my fish.

The dart frog tank is awesome and currently taking my attention. That's a complete rescape from last week. I have a bunch more air plants coming tomorrow to mount on the back wall. I've had these guys, well guy and gal, for a year now since they were babies. They love their fruit flies, but i can't get them to touch phoenix worms yet.

My daughter really did change my life, in every way and it's great. She turns 1 tomorrow and is the most amazing little girl. Walking and talking already. At least when she's a teenager daddy should be her favorite and mom will get all the crap....at least I hope haha!


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

bsantucci said:


> My daughter really did change my life, in every way and it's great. She turns 1 tomorrow and is the most amazing little girl. Walking and talking already. At least when she's a teenager daddy should be her favorite and mom will get all the crap....at least I hope haha!


lol Hilarious! The plant growth you're getting is amazing! The Halos look awesome on the tank. How did you figure out the combination of intensity and colors? Just playing around with it?

The frog tank looks pretty neat, too.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

bereninga said:


> lol Hilarious! The plant growth you're getting is amazing! The Halos look awesome on the tank. How did you figure out the combination of intensity and colors? Just playing around with it?
> 
> The frog tank looks pretty neat, too.


Thanks! The growth is great now. I struggled for months with my old eco complete and the only thing I can assume is it was oversaturated and toxic with nutrients. Since I switched substrate things are booming again.

The Halo is super easy to set up. That's half the reason I stuck with it over the BML multi channels. The BML controller was kind of a nightmare. It was janky, small screen, and not user friendly. The Halos on the other hand have just one master light to use with two knobs. One knob for spectrum and one for intensity. Doesn't get much easier. 

So the spectrum side, you have from middle to left as the cooler, full spectrum grow side, which is says is for anthocyanin stimulations. Per their manual, LED included: UV 400nm x1, UV 420nm x1, Royal Blue x2, Cool White x4, Red 625nm
x1, Cool White x8.

From middle to right, you have the warm white light for flowering and harvest. LED included: Warm White x8.

I keep my knob to the middle most of the time. I feel it's a good mix of both lights. My plants turn insane colors, so I guess it's working!

Below is a top shot I took yesterday. The mermaid weed is insanely colored.


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

Thanks for the info! I think you've sold me on Halos if they're still being sold in a few years. They look to be overkill for a 12" cube I'm about to setup, but look perfect for a tank around 50g. I think the spread looks pretty even for the tank of your size.

I've heard of FlorinVolcanit and wondered how it compared to ADA Aquasoil. I've used Aquasoil before, but not FlorinVolcanit.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

bereninga said:


> Thanks for the info! I think you've sold me on Halos if they're still being sold in a few years. They look to be overkill for a 12" cube I'm about to setup, but look perfect for a tank around 50g. I think the spread looks pretty even for the tank of your size.
> 
> I've heard of FlorinVolcanit and wondered how it compared to ADA Aquasoil. I've used Aquasoil before, but not FlorinVolcanit.


Nice, another convert! they are definitely not good for small tanks. Had a discussion in another thread with a person who has a 60p and it leaks light everywhere. I believe Aquatic Life states one light is good for a 24x24x24.

The FlorinVolcanit I went with because I was changing the substrate in an established tank with fish. I couldn't chance high ammonia hurting my livestock. This FlorinVolcanit doesn't have ammonia leeching from it. Overall, it's growing things great. Only difference I see from ADA is you have to do full EI dose from the beginning.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick one week update since last trim. Massive plant growth, everything is reaching for the surface again. 

Added .4ppm CSM+B this week since the tank handled .3 fine last week. .4 is apparently too much, getting twisted leaves again in the glandulosa and mermaid weed. Doing .3ppm this week and an extra .1ppm DPTA Fe.


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## vision (Sep 29, 2015)

looks great, keep up the good work!


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## switch26 (Jan 25, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> Quick one week update since last trim. Massive plant growth, everything is reaching for the surface again.
> 
> Added .4ppm CSM+B this week since the tank handled .3 fine last week. .4 is apparently too much, getting twisted leaves again in the glandulosa and mermaid weed. Doing .3ppm this week and an extra .1ppm DPTA Fe.


Hey I have read your journal and had bml led starting out my new 40 gallon build, and had amazing growth initially until I started dosing EI. I've never had issues with it before but this build I built up a lot of rock so there is a lot of displacement. So I assume I had some form of a toxicity issue as well. My co2 was cranked then over night after dosing my wallichi looked like it was torched. 

Did you just stop dosing plantex or how did u handle it? I've been dropping my dosing down to 1/2 EI dosing for a 20-40 gallon, but have thought about getting a scale to weigh in grams like you mentioned too.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

switch26 said:


> Hey I have read your journal and had bml led starting out my new 40 gallon build, and had amazing growth initially until I started dosing EI. I've never had issues with it before but this build I built up a lot of rock so there is a lot of displacement. So I assume I had some form of a toxicity issue as well. My co2 was cranked then over night after dosing my wallichi looked like it was torched.
> 
> Did you just stop dosing plantex or how did u handle it? I've been dropping my dosing down to 1/2 EI dosing for a 20-40 gallon, but have thought about getting a scale to weigh in grams like you mentioned too.


Hey switch,

To be sure I was having an issue with plantex I stopped dosing for about 2 weeks. In those two weeks my plants all grew much better, stunting stopped and leavers weren't twisted.

I slowly increased my dose over time till I hit .4ppm last week. That amount brought back the symptoms in the plants I mentioned. So this week I'm back to .3 ppm iron from planted and another .1 from DPTA iron. I wasn't getting the reds out in my plants with .3, but .4 last week got my aromatica and macrandra much more red. 

So we'll see how this goes. You really have to just test and see how the plants react. don't change more than one thing at one time to be sure what is doing what.


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## switch26 (Jan 25, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> switch26 said:
> 
> 
> > Hey I have read your journal and had bml led starting out my new 40 gallon build, and had amazing growth initially until I started dosing EI. I've never had issues with it before but this build I built up a lot of rock so there is a lot of displacement. So I assume I had some form of a toxicity issue as well. My co2 was cranked then over night after dosing my wallichi looked like it was torched.
> ...


Ok, I'll just try not dosing plantex for a few wks and see what happens. Should I not dose flourish iron as well?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

switch26 said:


> Ok, I'll just try not dosing plantex for a few wks and see what happens. Should I not dose flourish iron as well?


I stopped all traces for 2 weeks just to make an easier determination as to what was happening.


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## Tmuck44 (Mar 17, 2013)

What is the plant in the back left corner?
Thanks!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Tmuck44 said:


> What is the plant in the back left corner?
> Thanks!


Limnophila Aromatica


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## Qwedfg (Mar 7, 2012)

Very nice tank. How are you liking those lights? Do you think two would cover a 48" tank?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Qwedfg said:


> Very nice tank. How are you liking those lights? Do you think two would cover a 48" tank?


Thank you!

Yes, two lights would cover 48" for sure. They spec them out saying one light per 24x24x24. I have spill from mine being 36" and I'm confident that it would easily cover 48". Comes with two lense types also so you can try both.

I love the lights though, my favorite to date. Plants love them too, getting great color and growth.


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## Qwedfg (Mar 7, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> Thank you!
> 
> Yes, two lights would cover 48" for sure. They spec them out saying one light per 24x24x24. I have spill from mine being 36" and I'm confident that it would easily cover 48". Comes with two lense types also so you can try both.
> 
> I love the lights though, my favorite to date. Plants love them too, getting great color and growth.


Excellent. After looking at the recent pictures of your tank its clear they are very happy with the halos. The only thing I'm confused about is the deluxe vs the regular? Which did you get.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Qwedfg said:


> Excellent. After looking at the recent pictures of your tank its clear they are very happy with the halos. The only thing I'm confused about is the deluxe vs the regular? Which did you get.


You'll want one deluxe and one regular. It's technically a master/slave. The deluxe has the controller for spectrum and intensity and the slave daisy chains to it.

I can't recommend these enough.

*edit*

Saw you're looking at Kessil. These do the red MUCH better.


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## Tmuck44 (Mar 17, 2013)

bsantucci said:


> Limnophila Aromatica


Wouldnt mind getting a some stems on your next trimming!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Tmuck44 said:


> Wouldnt mind getting a some stems on your next trimming!


You got it. I'm sure I have tons of side shoots already in there.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Does the basic/slave unit come with both lenses?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

vvDO said:


> Does the basic/slave unit come with both lenses?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yep. Both come with 110 degree lenses pre installed. 80 is in the box. 

Some nice pearling today. 




























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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Discovered my csm+b threshold this last week. Limnophila aromatica is my canary apparently. Grew terrible last week and had stunting. Got darker also. Went up to .4ppm Fe from csm+b and that was the result. Lowered to .2ppm Fe from it and things grew again. Check out the bright green tips of the aromatica versus the darker bad growth below it. 










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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

Barr insists it is almost impossible to cause problems by over fertilizing. My experience indicates I have bizarre stunting when dosing heavily and much better growth with little to no dosing. 

Looks good!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Overfloater said:


> Barr insists it is almost impossible to cause problems by over fertilizing. My experience indicates I have bizarre stunting when dosing heavily and much better growth with little to no dosing.
> 
> Looks good!


Agreed. I can dose more iron by itself but when I dose higher plantex or miller's I certainly get stunting. I have non existent kh so that may have to do with it. Not sure. 

Thanks though. It's kinda not arranged well right now. I'm debating on picking some easier plants and trying to sort out a more natural style with less species. Want some tall grass or hygro angustifolia to flow in the water. Love cypress Helferi but it takes too long to grow from tissue cultures. Maybe I can find some on here already grown. Really just need to sort it all out on paper I think. 

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## switch26 (Jan 25, 2012)

Any updates? I have stopped dosing plantex as well. My biggest stunted is my Rotala wallichi. Currently grows too slow for my liking, but a lot of my plants are slowly coming back.

Any ideas what ferts to increase next as I continue experimenting? Is there a certain one that will halt growth at all?


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

yeah, how does the tank look?


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## Kwidjaya (Mar 24, 2016)

Mind if I ask you, How tall is your Stand ? 
Can you post picture the tank & stand together ?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Kwidjaya said:


> Mind if I ask you, How tall is your Stand ?
> Can you post picture the tank & stand together ?


I'll measure a bit later for you and post pics. I think like 32 inches or so though. It's my b-day today so doing some family things. 


switch26 said:


> Any updates? I have stopped dosing plantex as well. My biggest stunted is my Rotala wallichi. Currently grows too slow for my liking, but a lot of my plants are slowly coming back.
> 
> Any ideas what ferts to increase next as I continue experimenting? Is there a certain one that will halt growth at all?


Been playing with micro levels. Tank is recovering from my last change. At this point I'm not sure what to do. I never attack for an extended period because I worry I'm causing problems. Starting to wonder if under dosing is a cause of issues. Thinking about boosting back to half csmb dose and then dpta iron to get to .5. 


monkeyruler90 said:


> yeah, how does the tank look?


Current shot. Thinned some plant mass and removed macrandra. Grew like crazy but never looked good. Really thinking about going lower maintenance and doing a lot of hygro angustifolia and a bunch of crypts or something. I've been more into my dart frog vivarium lately to be honest. 



















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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Thanks to you I've ordered 3 of those lights for a 180g (72x34x24) build.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

vvDO said:


> Thanks to you I've ordered 3 of those lights for a 180g (72x34x24) build.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Nice! I hope you love them like I do. My only original gripe was the fan noise in them but I don't ever notice it anymore and haven't since about day 2. 

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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

wow, looks great!!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Decided last week at water change to try to add more flow to the tank. I've always been curious if that make things workout better. So I added a Koralia 425 to my lily pipe side to aide the lily's flow and then moved my Koralia 240 to the other side, blowing back into the dense background stems. 

I think it's too early to tell right now, but the fish adjusted so I'm leaving it.

Also, having my co2 turn on much earlier now. I had it coming on at 12:30 and lights on at 2 before, but I found the co2 still didn't reach equilibrium until about 4:30. So I have co2 coming on now at 11am, lights still on at 2. This should have equilibrium met much sooner, closer to lights on time. 

Hoping these changes will fix some of the random stunting I'm still seeing. My mermaid weed, which seems to be a good indicator plant, has fixed it's poor stunted growth since last week and one broken branch has 3 new shoots.

And just for fun, here's my dart frog vivarium I've been changing a lot lately. Running 2 Current Satellite + Pro's on it now and installed a Mistking system for autmated misting.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update. Still having fert issues. Starting to think it's from dry dosing. It just dosing make sense. I use a scale and measure to the EXACT amount the calcs state and still have random stunting. My lighting is only 40% or so of the full output, so light isn't the issue. CO2 is maxed out, and I added a second stronger Koralia, so I have a ton of flow. 

So I decided to give NilocG's Thrive a try for dosing. Figure things can't go worse. haha. I'll report back how that goes. I think that is too costly to keep using over time, but it will give me an idea how solutions work, and then I can just go back to making solutions from my dry stuff. 

If anyone has thoughts I'm all ears.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Last update in this tanks current form. No new pics. 

We bought a new house and are closing and moving on 7/29. I decided to rehome all my fish and plants and am breaking the tank down until after the move and I get my workshop sink installed in the finished basement.

The tank is going to come back in a much different form. I plan to do a biotope-ish tank for apistogrammas. I am not positive which type I'm going with yet, but that's the plan at this point. I'm digging up a bunch of driftwood for it and I have tons of leaves from my dart frog tanks to use for litter. Just need some sand for the substrate. 

Plants, I plan to use easy, non-demanding. I say biotope-ish because I plan to use tiger lotus to let grow to the surface to block a lot of light and i know they aren't from SA.

See you all in about a month and a half!


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## ScubaSteve (Jun 30, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> Last update in this tanks current form. No new pics.
> 
> We bought a new house and are closing and moving on 7/29. I decided to rehome all my fish and plants and am breaking the tank down until after the move and I get my workshop sink installed in the finished basement.
> 
> ...


Good luck with the move...can't wait to see what you do with your tank!


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

Want to sell your halos??


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

kevinmichael77 said:


> Want to sell your halos??


No, I still plan to use them.


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

bsantucci said:


> No, I still plan to use them.


Worth a shot So I'm guessing you like them? I'm in the middle of deciding between those and Kessils for my 120p. How did your red plants do?


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

kevinmichael77 said:


> Worth a shot So I'm guessing you like them? I'm in the middle of deciding between those and Kessils for my 120p. How did your red plants do?


Hah yeah I love them. Reds did amazing. Deep deep reds without a problem using about 40 percent intensity. 

Definitely better spectrum than kessil. 

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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update here since it's been so long. Moved to my new house at the end of July and things finally slowed down to the point where I'm ready to get this tank going again.

Convinced the wife to let me use the 4th bedroom as a fish room. Got a nice rack to hold my shrimp tank, betta tank, and 2 dart frog tanks. So now it's time for this tank to come back.

Going a COMPLETELY different route though and will have minimal plants. This is going to be an Amazon biotope-ish tank. I got my sand in, various branches and wood, and most importantly, Amazon debris for the bottom of the tank. I found an absolutely awesome site that sells leaf litter and whatnot for your tanks. If anyone is interested, it is https://tanninaquatics.com/

I got two large packs of tannin creating litter, one custom picked by the owner after a nice discussion. 










Anyway, enough ranting, new tank will be set up this weekend and cycling will begin.


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## KayakJimW (Aug 12, 2016)

bsantucci said:


> *Convinced the wife to let me use the 4th bedroom as a fish room*.


You are officially _living the dream_! 

Tannin looks like a cool site, some unique products there, thanks for sharing it.

I look forward to seeing your new setup


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

KayakJimW said:


> You are officially _living the dream_!
> 
> Tannin looks like a cool site, some unique products there, thanks for sharing it.
> 
> I look forward to seeing your new setup


Haha, yeah I got a good one. For the most part she lets me do what I want with these things. I just practice some restraint and don't go overboard with the quantity of tanks.

Tannin is an awesome site. Once I got into dart frogs and started making small rain forests in there, I started thinking biotopes for fish as well. I really like the idea more than a perfectly manicured planted tank. We'll see how well I do with this one being my first.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

So quick update. Got the tank up and running now for 2 weeks. Manzanita finally sunk and the tank is cycled. I'm making 40 gallons of rodi now. Need to drain this completely and switch over to the rodi. 

This weekend I hope to pick up an agassizii pair. Trying to decide between fire red and the normal variation. 

Photo of the tank now. The branches aren't in a final location and leaf litter needs to be added still. 












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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Are you going to get a cave and dither fish? Pencils perhaps?


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

even just with some sand, few plants and a stick you can make your tank look amazing !


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

vvDO said:


> Are you going to get a cave and dither fish? Pencils perhaps?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Once I rearrange the branches I plan to make some areas more dense with leaf litter and pods. I'll have some natural hides in those places. Definitely going to have something in there. Haven't decided between hatchets, pencils, or some sort of tetra. Leaning towards hatchets though. 


BettaBettas said:


> even just with some sand, few plants and a stick you can make your tank look amazing !


Thanks! If I can create what I envision it's going to be pretty cool. I'm excited to finally do this its something I've wanted to do for a while. 

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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Alright. Leaf litter in. Water stained with tannins. Picked up 12 marbled hatchet fish today and a pair of agassizii apistos. One fire red female and one fire gold male. I'm not sure if the fire gold is definitely a male or not. Having a hard time deciding. Here's a few pics of the tank. 





































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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Ugh, well after a lot of photos and back and forth on an apistogramma FB group, we're certain it's an old female and not a young male.

So I have an order in for an Agassizzii double red pair now. I'll end up with 3 females, 1 male. I definitely have a lot of hides in the leaf litter, but may arrange things to make it better suited for that kind of harem. I have a feeling the old female may end up getting bullied to death, but we'll see.

The fire red female is loving the tank. I'm real happy with how it turned out. Nice low maintenance tank, just 25% WC each week with mostly RODI, some tap to get TDS around 50.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Looking good! Did you ever get the river rocks you were looking for in another thread?


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## jsarrow (Jun 10, 2008)

Great looking tank! You should consider putting some breeding pairs of other apistos such as macmasteri or other dwarf's such like Laetacara curviceps in the tank. I had a heavily planted 75 gallon with several pairs of appisto's, L. curviceps and many dither fish and it was very cool to watch the social interactions within the tank; there will also be occasional chasing and bulling but as long as there are other fish to diffuse the flare ups and lots of hiding places you'll be fine.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Looks great! Any other stocking plans? You probably have the space for it. Maybe some Neons or Cardinals!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

longgonedaddy said:


> Looking good! Did you ever get the river rocks you were looking for in another thread?


Thanks LGD! No, but Tannin Aquatics can supply them if I ever go that route. Had a thought to do a clearwater biotope and would have used them in that case.



jsarrow said:


> Great looking tank! You should consider putting some breeding pairs of other apistos such as macmasteri or other dwarf's such like Laetacara curviceps in the tank. I had a heavily planted 75 gallon with several pairs of appisto's, L. curviceps and many dither fish and it was very cool to watch the social interactions within the tank; there will also be occasional chasing and bulling but as long as there are other fish to diffuse the flare ups and lots of hiding places you'll be fine.


Thanks 

I'm not sure that would work in my size tank. It's only a 3ft and with 1 male/3 female agassizzii I think I'm pushing the limits already. I'm adding more litter to make some spots piled higher though so I'll definitely have the spots for hiding. That and all of the seed pods they really seem to love going into.



Opare said:


> Looks great! Any other stocking plans? You probably have the space for it. Maybe some Neons or Cardinals!
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thank you! Yeah after stocking it now with what I have, I do have space. I'm not sure what I want though. I miss cories, but I don't want the apistos to have to defend against them when they spawn, really want to try to grow out some fry. Cardinals I may think about doing since the hatchets really only stay at the surface it may be nice to have Cardinals go around in the middle level. I love flame tetras also. Have thoughts to add some sort of Loricariidae but again, they are egg eaters.....tough call.


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## darkohanzo (Dec 21, 2016)

Sub'd. Im loving the evolutions this tank is going through, even over a long period of time lol.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Nannostomus sp!!! Not egg eaters and will take up the middle of the aquarium just not as colorful as the fish you mentioned.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

darkohanzo said:


> Sub'd. Im loving the evolutions this tank is going through, even over a long period of time lol.


Thanks, haha yeah this one has certainly gone through many forms while I learned everything.



vvDO said:


> Nannostomus sp!!! Not egg eaters and will take up the middle of the aquarium just not as colorful as the fish you mentioned.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Excellent recommendation! Forgot about them and they are on my short list, in fact my top now. I really want to keep it to very authentic and compatible fish. I just will have to order these guys again and pay for shipping, but it is what it is.


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## darkohanzo (Dec 21, 2016)

bsantucci said:


> Thanks, haha yeah this one has certainly gone through many forms while I learned everything.


Believe me mine does the same. Everytime I learn something new I seem to want to impliment it or if I see something cool I want to add it. I have never been one to have a tank and leave it even for 6 months lol Planted tanks are probably not a hobby I should be attempting haha


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## JEFF9922 (May 8, 2013)

Great looking tank makes me want to go to the store and get another tank .


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

darkohanzo said:


> Believe me mine does the same. Everytime I learn something new I seem to want to impliment it or if I see something cool I want to add it. I have never been one to have a tank and leave it even for 6 months lol Planted tanks are probably not a hobby I should be attempting haha


Lol, my wife and friends think I'm nuts with all the iterations I've gone through. I still have a smaller Spec V with plants and a Caridina shrimp tank full of plants, but with 1 toddler and a new baby coming I don't have time to maintain a larger planted tank so this seemed like the perfect time to do this to my tank. 

Keep changing it up, I felt like I learned so much with all the changing and tinkering I did.



JEFF9922 said:


> Great looking tank makes me want to go to the store and get another tank .


Do it!


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## darkohanzo (Dec 21, 2016)

bsantucci said:


> Lol, my wife and friends think I'm nuts with all the iterations I've gone through. I still have a smaller Spec V with plants and a Caridina shrimp tank full of plants, but with 1 toddler and a new baby coming I don't have time to maintain a larger planted tank so this seemed like the perfect time to do this to my tank.
> 
> Keep changing it up, I felt like I learned so much with all the changing and tinkering I did.
> 
> ...


Congrats! I have a 3yr old and a 1yr old and my tank has become my Zen spot in the chaos that is taking care of kids haha I had to start a 1 gallon at work just so I have something to mellow me out at work too lol Ive had it on my desk 3 weeks and already I have changed it twice haha Oh and the new Manzanita branch for it came in today so It will be getting changed up again! I just tell my wife "Hey I could be wasting this money on things like drugs or our kids but I figure this is a worthwhile investment!"


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

darkohanzo said:


> Congrats! I have a 3yr old and a 1yr old and my tank has become my Zen spot in the chaos that is taking care of kids haha I had to start a 1 gallon at work just so I have something to mellow me out at work too lol Ive had it on my desk 3 weeks and already I have changed it twice haha Oh and the new Manzanita branch for it came in today so It will be getting changed up again! I just tell my wife "Hey I could be wasting this money on things like drugs or our kids but I figure this is a worthwhile investment!"


Sounds a lot like me haha. My girl will be 3 when my new baby is 1. My fish room is my zen spot too lol. Convinced my wife to let me use the 4th bedroom in our new house for a 4 foot rack and this 3 foot tank. I'm throwing a day bed in there soon so there is something to sleep on for guests (my mother in law...ugh.)

I like the 'wasting money on drugs or KIDS' comment haha. I go with hookers, strippers and coke when I talk to my wife about it. She's pretty good with letting me do my thing though. 

I haven't set up a tank at work though, just too busy here and the thought of water changes at my desk sounds tough.


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## darkohanzo (Dec 21, 2016)

bsantucci said:


> Sounds a lot like me haha. My girl will be 3 when my new baby is 1. My fish room is my zen spot too lol. Convinced my wife to let me use the 4th bedroom in our new house for a 4 foot rack and this 3 foot tank. I'm throwing a day bed in there soon so there is something to sleep on for guests (my mother in law...ugh.)
> 
> I like the 'wasting money on drugs or KIDS' comment haha. I go with hookers, strippers and coke when I talk to my wife about it. She's pretty good with letting me do my thing though.
> 
> I haven't set up a tank at work though, just too busy here and the thought of water changes at my desk sounds tough.


I have become a ninja master at water changes at work. I have a 20oz plastic water bottle and air hose. I just slip the air hose in and siphon the water out into the bottle and toss the bottle, bring in a new bottle of water to "drink" and wham.. no one is the wiser. The only problem is I do catch myself staring at it midway through typing emails or job quotes lol


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

vvDO said:


> Nannostomus sp!!! Not egg eaters and will take up the middle of the aquarium just not as colorful as the fish you mentioned.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I heavily cosign this, Pencils would be a really good choice for dithers for the Apistos, as well as a nice schooling fish to add more interest.
Just choose the correct species, as there is at least one I know of which will mostly stick to the top of the tank like the Hatchets, Nannostomus eques if I'm not mistaken. I think the rest are more midwater though.




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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Opare said:


> I heavily cosign this, Pencils would be a really good choice for dithers for the Apistos, as well as a nice schooling fish to add more interest.
> Just choose the correct species, as there is at least one I know of which will mostly stick to the top of the tank like the Hatchets, Nannostomus eques if I'm not mistaken. I think the rest are more midwater though.
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Local store to me has a few types of pencils so I think I'm going to go this route. I lost 5 of my marbled hatchets I got last weekend....no idea why. Water parameters are fine, so I'm chalking it up to bad stock. 

Having problems with the fire red female agassizii in my tank, she's bullying everyone including the male. I think I'm going to try to re-home her this weekend.

*edit* re-homing her tonight. She's nuts. Don't want to risk any deaths.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

So the problem child of the tank was sent packing last night and things are much better. The male is now the boss, the two other females are happy and have taken their sides.

The tank itself is like blood stained looking now. Super dark. I have so much biofilm growing on the branches, it's kinda amazing. The tank has an appearance of being around for years.

Some pics for the update.










Here is the young male









And I kinda love this pic. If I was shown this not in context of an aquarium I'd think it was the wild.


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## bk. (Sep 27, 2014)

Man, i'm loving this setup.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

This is looking even more awesome now.
That fuzzy stuff on the wood is pretty common with new wood, it will go away for a while, which you might not actually want.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Opare said:


> This is looking even more awesome now.
> That fuzzy stuff on the wood is pretty common with new wood, it will go away for a while, which you might not actually want.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


It's actually not new wood, was used previously but out of a tank for a while. Maybe from being out it's happening again, but from my experience I've not had it come back after being used. Who knows, I hope it stays. As the tank ages and leaves break down more I'm sure more of it will appear anyway.

Pretty happy overall with how this is moving along now even after just a short time. I'm having issues with the hatchets. I think bad stock. Down to 5. Found 4 bodies and 3 are just missing. 2 of the 5 in there are missing tails, so I'm pretty sure the maniac female apisto I got rid of was attacking them too. Oh and 3 of the remaining 5 have ick. I'm going to raise the temperate of the water this weekend to fight that. They only have a few spots so I think that will be relatively easy to handle. Once thats gone I'm going to look into different/more dithers.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Holy tannins, looks awesome!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

bk. said:


> Man, i'm loving this setup.


Thanks, appreciate it!



vvDO said:


> Holy tannins, looks awesome!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Haha, yeah I think I nailed the blackwater part, huh?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Maybe setup a hospital tank so the Apistos don't get infected, although they may also need to be monitored at this point. I think they probably got knocked out due to a mixture of ich and stress from attack. Check for jumpers as they reside pretty close to the surface.
Maybe a 5-10G quarantine tank would just be good to have in general. They're relatively hassle free and will prevent future headaches from occuring. Especially once you get quite attached to some of your fish in the display.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Opare said:


> Maybe setup a hospital tank so the Apistos don't get infected, although they may also need to be monitored at this point. I think they probably got knocked out due to a mixture of ich and stress from attack. Check for jumpers as they reside pretty close to the surface.
> Maybe a 5-10G quarantine tank would just be good to have in general. They're relatively hassle free and will prevent future headaches from occuring. Especially once you get quite attached to some of your fish in the display.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I got Kordon Ich Attack which is herbal, gonna treat the whole tank, apistos included since they are in there and most likely infected. It's VERY minimal, literally 5 spots total between 2 fish. I think slightly increased temps to 84 (I'm at 80 now) and the Kordon product should knock it out.

I do have a QT tank, so I'm good there, just didn't think these guys who develop ich....though I read they do quite often.

I checked for jumpers, none to be found. It's possible a body or two are in the leaves somewhere, but I moved around a lot and couldn't locate. No spikes in ammonia or anything so I think I'm all good.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

I had the same issue with recycled wood growing biofilm when I put together my blackwater tank. In fact, my pieces were submerged for months in my existing tank, then were exposed for a day or so when I was scaping the new tank. They were still damp when I filled, and they grew quite a film. 


Looking great, by the way!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

longgonedaddy said:


> I had the same issue with recycled wood growing biofilm when I put together my blackwater tank. In fact, my pieces were submerged for months in my existing tank, then were exposed for a day or so when I was scaping the new tank. They were still damp when I filled, and they grew quite a film.
> 
> 
> Looking great, by the way!


Did the film remain still? I'm pretty sure it's increasing actually now. The botanical all have a film too. Down to 3 hatchets. The two without tails died. I'm chalking this up to a bad batch and stress/violence from the maniac female. The remaing pair are very happy though. Just need some new dithers. 

Making a new batch of rodi now to do a water change today. Just need to bring it up to temp. I'm hoping I can cut the tannins in half cause it's kinda ridiculous how dark it is lol. 

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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> Did the film remain still? I'm pretty sure it's increasing actually now. The botanical all have a film too. Down to 3 hatchets. The two without tails died. I'm chalking this up to a bad batch and stress/violence from the maniac female. The remaing pair are very happy though. Just need some new dithers.
> 
> Making a new batch of rodi now to do a water change today. Just need to bring it up to temp. I'm hoping I can cut the tannins in half cause it's kinda ridiculous how dark it is lol.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


Sorry to hear about the hatchets. Apart from ottos, I've found these to be the most delicate, or maybe difficult to acclimate, fish. I'm interested to see what you choose to replace them. 

Onto the biofilm. One savu pod still has it, but I think I added it later. I witnessed snails, ottos, and a clown pleco actively eating the fuzz, and even the cardinals nipping at it. What didn't get eaten, faded away in less than a month. Why it's remaining on this one pod is beyond me. But the snails have been slowly getting rid of it 

Interestingly, other than some small patches, I haven't noticed biofilm/fungus/assorted fuzz on anything I've put in recently. 

Read Scott's blogs on Tannin Aquatics regarding the biofilm if you haven't. He talks at length to be ready for it, but I think most traditional-minded aquarists get a little nervous when anything out of the oridinary pops up. It took me about a week of looking at it, to accept it, then I finally embraced it. Have I drunk the Tannin/botanical/blackwater Kool-Aid? Yeah. :wink2:


Oh, as far as the darkness of the water, I've tempered it a bit by running some Seachem Renew in the filter. It's designed to go in planted tanks. It's selective like Purigen in that it doesn't take out the good stuff, but it's not as powerful as Purigen. It takes out some tannins but not all. And it takes out some of the funky odors too. I've been using it for years and think it's perfect for a blackwater tank.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

longgonedaddy said:


> Sorry to hear about the hatchets. Apart from ottos, I've found these to be the most delicate, or maybe difficult to acclimate, fish. I'm interested to see what you choose to replace them.
> 
> Onto the biofilm. One savu pod still has it, but I think I added it later. I witnessed snails, ottos, and a clown pleco actively eating the fuzz, and even the cardinals nipping at it. What didn't get eaten, faded away in less than a month. Why it's remaining on this one pod is beyond me. But the snails have been slowly getting rid of it
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info on the seachem product. I'll look for it today at the lfs. I did a 30 percent change last night and it lightened the water a bit but I'd like it cut in half or so. Even though I want it blackwater I still like to see my fish lol 😁. 

Debating on picking up some cories too. Only hesitation is for them eating eggs possibly, but I think the apistos could hold them off. I just really like cories and I think they'd be a good addition. 

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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

Cories are always a good addition! 

Do you boil and/or soak the botanicals and leaves? You can cut some of the tannins by that. When I was boiling them in my testing, prior to setting up the dedicated BW tank, I boiled and didn't get as dark water. But now, I run wild, and just throw them in, and let them float a while, and land where the currents take them, and the fish push around. It ends up looking better than I could ever scape them. 

So I end up with a lot of tannins coming out. Before I started running the Renew, it was crazy dark, at the worst, I couldn't even see to the back of the tank. 

And some botanicals and leaves put out more than others. Scott has most things noted on how much they put out. You could always go for less tannin intensive stuff, like choosing guava over catappa leaves.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

longgonedaddy said:


> Cories are always a good addition!
> 
> Do you boil and/or soak the botanicals and leaves? You can cut some of the tannins by that. When I was boiling them in my testing, prior to setting up the dedicated BW tank, I boiled and didn't get as dark water. But now, I run wild, and just throw them in, and let them float a while, and land where the currents take them, and the fish push around. It ends up looking better than I could ever scape them.
> 
> ...


Ended up with 6 blue spotted cories, pretty cool looking guys, never had them before. Also picked up 12 rummy nose tetras. Couldn't resist. Never had them before. Man did they color up in my water and I'm impressed with their schooling, super tight, really like them.

Cause my tank is so dark I went with purigen, going to remove it and see how I feel. I'm literally the most indecisive person ever. Now that I have the blackwater tank, I find myself missing the crystal clear water and bright colored plants. haha. We'll see where this is going to take me. Maybe if I add some Vals to the tank it will make me happier.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> Ended up with 6 blue spotted cories, pretty cool looking guys, never had them before. Also picked up 12 rummy nose tetras. Couldn't resist. Never had them before. Man did they color up in my water and I'm impressed with their schooling, super tight, really like them.
> 
> Cause my tank is so dark I went with purigen, going to remove it and see how I feel. I'm literally the most indecisive person ever. Now that I have the blackwater tank, I find myself missing the crystal clear water and bright colored plants. haha. We'll see where this is going to take me. Maybe if I add some Vals to the tank it will make me happier.



Cool, I had them years ago. The fun thing about cories, is usually there's no right or wrong answer, except for a handful of temperature dependent ones, it all comes down to availability and preference. 

I have to laugh about the indecisiveness, as I've kind of gone through the same thing. I find myself missing a big glass box of green. So, im considering setting up a smaller planted tank.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

longgonedaddy said:


> Cool, I had them years ago. The fun thing about cories, is usually there's no right or wrong answer, except for a handful of temperature dependent ones, it all comes down to availability and preference.
> 
> I have to laugh about the indecisiveness, as I've kind of gone through the same thing. I find myself missing a big glass box of green. So, im considering setting up a smaller planted tank.


Lol, funny thing is I have TWO smaller tanks planted. Spec V with a betta and then my 10g shrimp only tank.

I'm gonna ride this one out and see how I feel when the tannins come out. I think my big issue is lack of visibility. I may just run this one as a clearwater biotope. I just can't get into enjoying it if I can't see them.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Man I'm at a complete loss here. Just keep losing fish. All the female apistos died. The male seems fine. All hatchet fish but 3 died. I picked up the cories Sunday and now one of them is about to die. I see a red area under on of his fins. Not sure what that is. 

All my parameters are fine. Tank is cycled. No ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. I can't for the life of me figure what it could be. At this point I want to donate all the fish to the lfs and wipe the tank out and start over. Sucks for the wasted money but I feel terrible killing off these fish without any idea what is causing it. 

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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

Have you noticed any kind of fungus on the fish at all? The only more common disease that takes fish that fast that I know of is columnaris.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

How are you acclimating? With the soft, acidic water, if the fish came from harder, alkaline water, you might need to take more time acclimating.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Nlewis said:


> Have you noticed any kind of fungus on the fish at all? The only more common disease that takes fish that fast that I know of is columnaris.


Nope, they literally just die. I'm familiar with columnaris and I don't see it.



longgonedaddy said:


> How are you acclimating? With the soft, acidic water, if the fish came from harder, alkaline water, you might need to take more time acclimating.


Long drips with temp match. I knew there would be acclimation issues if I didn't go long so I did that way. I'm talking 1.5-2 hours long.

I'm gonna run the purigen in it tonight to clear it, but I think I'm going to go a different route. I'm really missing the plants, but I want easier plants. Just posted a WTB for a list of plants to try to do what I'm thinking. I'm going to drop another 40lbs of sand in so I have depth and go planted again.....low light easy stuff. I think I need color in my life lol.


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> Nope, they literally just die. I'm familiar with columnaris and I don't see it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I can't think of anything else regarding the fish. 

Sad you're hear your dropping the blackwater already.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

longgonedaddy said:


> I can't think of anything else regarding the fish.
> 
> Sad you're hear your dropping the blackwater already.


Yeah I'm at a complete loss myself. No outward signs of any issue. Yet the original 3 hatchets are still going and the male Apisto is too.....

I've never had a tank of death like I have with this one. No ammonia, no nitrite, very little nitrate. I see nothing that should/could be doing this. Only thing I can think of is something survived the boiling period of the botanicals, but I boiled over an hour and a half....


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

And you know, I just throw them right in the tank. Weird.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

longgonedaddy said:


> And you know, I just throw them right in the tank. Weird.


Haha.....well I kinda tried that with the corys. Lost 1 of the 6 of them. I dripped the apistos, hatchets, and rummy noses. Tried the float 20 minutes with 40% tank water swapped for the corys.

It's certainly a head scratcher....


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## longgonedaddy (Dec 9, 2012)

bsantucci said:


> Haha.....well I kinda tried that with the corys. Lost 1 of the 6 of them. I dripped the apistos, hatchets, and rummy noses. Tried the float 20 minutes with 40% tank water swapped for the corys.
> 
> It's certainly a head scratcher....


No, I meant the botanicals. :smile2:

Fish I usually drip, but have been reading more and more that float and mix is better. Only in some extenuating circumstances have done the drop and plop.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Sorry to hear that you are losing fish. I hope you get things figured out soon! I love the blackwater look!


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

So here is my update. Totally redid the tank on Saturday. Removed all the botanicals and added more sand so I have enough to plant in. Ordered a bunch of low maintenance plants and acclimated all my fish to my tap water to make life easier. My tap is pretty good, so no real reason not to use it. TDS is only 175 with a KH3, GH 6.

Plants I'm using are 2 Melon Swords, 2 Anubias Barteri and 2 Barteri Nana. Jungle Vals in the middle and some Java Fern on the right. I plant to add something in front of the Vals, just not sure what right now. Crypts are there as a placeholder of sorts.

I'm injecting some low levels of co2 right now, running my lights low also, 35-40%. I don't want a high maintenance tank so this should keep growth slower, but healthy.

No fish deaths so far since moving to this. Hopefully it's stopped.

Some pics and a video below.



















Link to video of tank, quick 1 minute shot to show the shimmer.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMO40UmxxJnhj9rO1IrkS6lhEzCJup7MC-zzO_0NSgA-dwuLI0Meqd75qhB_3MIJQ/photo/AF1QipO0xkm9WCL-XYd_28C1txRu8P9Ue4U23hDvv2-B?key=b0stNEJleVJPcVU4eFZnbEtYal9YclVRZE83T1FR


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Wow, almost 4 years since I've posted here. Tank has gone through a lot, but it's been in it's most recent iteration for 2 years now. Soil is depleted and I've been fighting BBA lately on the buce. I'm very close to a full tear down and starting over, picking up some tropica soil this weekend and have dragon stone and manzanita i plan to use.

Just a quick updated shot of my tank today so i can document that at least. More to come since I'm full blown back into this tank. Kids and shrimp breeding took over for a few years, but those are on cruise control now (well the shrimp at least haha!) so i'm back into this tank and it's challenges. Recently upgraded to a Oase Biomaster 850 and switched to a reactor from inline atomizer.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Shoot. Tank looks amazing tho!


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## Bserve (Nov 4, 2012)

BUUUUUCE  looks great dude! Can't wait to see the next iteration


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Bserve said:


> BUUUUUCE  looks great dude! Can't wait to see the next iteration


Haha, yeah man that's 2 years of love right there. I only started with like 6 small pieces on driftwood. Grows like a weed in high light and high co2. Selling it all off to cover costs for the new plants/hardscape/soil.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Quick update here. Have everything I need for a full rescape, but I decided to practice some processes on this tank and get it back in balance as a challenge and to be certain with this rescape I am ready to have my most successful tank yet.

Had a great post and convo exchange in Facebook and Greggz convinced me to start using my apex as a ph controller again. Best move yet. I'm positive I'm using less co2 and it's at the right level all through daylight. Fairly certain too much co2 and built up organics were the cause of my bba outbreak. I'm a month post changes now and having ultra positive results. Here's a few shots. I wasn't planning on using all my buce cause it was toast with bba but aggressive trimming and spot treating with peroxide coupled with the above changes has it bouncing back. Changing course a bit on the rescape and need to find a way to incorporate these mats in.



























































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