# Medicineman's 260 gal open top tank #1 (56k warning) Becoming lower maintenance



## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Hi folks!

As I promised.. I'm sparing some time to take some pics of my 260 gal open top tank. This tank used to be a reefer before it goes into dark ages of neglect on an empty state. Then I bump into planted tank and started to experiment whatever I learn on line into my 25 gal. After some time I decided to give it a go to my 260 gal ex reefer. As time goes I made some modifications and lots of DIY projects to get the tank into the current state. They seems to work and I save lots of money to build another tank. This tank has just undergone a pruning maintenace. Some plants just grow too fast to handle, they need to be cut down at least once a week (you can even measure them grow in a day :tongue: ) While a minor others does not survive too well due to unapropriate conditions inside the tank.

Here is the front view










Front left part 










Front right part










Side view










Back view










I'm using this tank as a room divider/centerpiece so I'm getting 3 sides to view. Scaping to look good from all directions proved to be difficult and currently I'm still trying to re-scape and replacing plants that are not suitable (dead of not thriving too well) refine the view. 

Specifications:

180 x 80 x 80 cm (approx 260 gal)
Sump overflow filtration, wet type. Sump is Eheim 50W
lighting : 3 x 150W Billboard MH with 6000K daylight osram bulb + 4 x 40W T12 Hitachi and osram 6200K & 10,000K. Both suspended on a DIY aluminium bracket. 9 hours of photoperiod daily with 6 hours of full blast.
Substrate : 1,5" of JBL aquabasis and 3" of volcanic Malang black river sand.
Tank is kept at 25-26 C by DIY chiller from freezer components (see DIY section).
CO2 is a 1 meter tall bottle with N2 valves and accessories. A bubble counter and a one way valve. Reactor is a commercial vortech "rex" style moved by a powerhead. 
30% WC every 10-14 days.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

This is my CO2 tank, which is rather too big that it will not fits in the cabinet (silly me at first I thought that such size would last a mere 1-2 months). It is around 1 meter tall and it has a N2 (if I'm right) double main valve and a fine tuning valve. An inline bubble counter and a one way valve completes the set. A silicone tubing is used to deliver CO2 to a reactor inside the tank. Currently working 24/7 at around 4-6 BPS. 










That CO2 goes into this reactor. The reactor works by churing atomized CO2 gas into a vortec spins. Then rich CO2 water is blown out from the bottom side, spilling into the tank in a soluble form as well as in a micronized CO2 form, which goes to all part of the tank and dissipates slowly. Atman powerhead is used as a source of strong current into the reactor, making sure the churning is done well.










On the bottom side inside the cabinet, I have a DIY chiller working to counter all the heat from lighting and equipment.










The overflown water is processed, filtered and cooled down and return via this pipe. I tried to hide it from direct view using ferns, vals and other plants.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

This is a DIY aluminium bracket I made to hang all 3 MH pendants and 2 strips of T12 lighting. The bracket is made from aluminium square pipe, cut and fabricated, held by rivets to create such shape. I set aside all the ballast, components etc to a remote place inside the cabinet to minimize the weight burden on the whole structure and on the tank as well. There is a vine plant I purposely set right on the bracket to create a more natural look.










You can see the bracket's top structural bone where 3 MH sits underneath and another 2 JEBO T12 reflectors sit on an additional wing.










People, including me have some doubt of using MH other than those expensive ones fabricated special for aquaria purposes. I can tell for this far, I have a satisfactionary result out of these MH. These are billboard MH system I have talked abour earlier in the DIY section (although the pricing is much higher when done in USA) using fixtures for billboard lighting and ordinary osram daylight 6000K, non-plant specific bulb. See the pearling? It happens after less than 5 minutes every time I turned on the system.










Oh yeah forgot something. I use PMDD method as an additional fertilization using urea, liquid K or NPK, trace, fe and MgSO4. I hope things will get better with the additional chiller I recently added in last week.


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## Mellyn (Jul 20, 2005)

Good God that is amazing! Great work.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Now I see why you go by Medicineman.
Nice tank.... roud:


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## ja__ (Oct 2, 2005)

great tank :icon_bigg


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## Raphael (Nov 13, 2005)

WOW. That is outstanding roud:


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## intermision (Nov 7, 2005)

That looks awesome.


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## toofazt (Jun 18, 2005)

Thats awsome :eek5: How is matinace?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

_Thats awsome How is matinace?_

Maintenace? 

30-40% WC every 10-14 days. I hook up a hose and tie it up on a certain height, let gravity do the work and fill it back to line (which can take some time and adjustment). 

I have my friend the tweezer to help me grab things from the bottom (usually I would do this on WC because no matter how tall you are, it is likely for you to use a chair/stool and dip your face and armpit if trying barehanded... lol)

Maintaining is one thing. Scaping is another thing which can be painful. There are hundreads of plants inside the tank and if you notice that scaping is on both sides. Some grows wild at an alarming rate per day, while some others didnt make it through the week (I suspect due to mis placement and high temp last time). Taking a trip to LFS, hunting for plants and get them back and re-scape in a day. Quite tiring.

Dont get fooled by the size. Growing plants in it is easier and looks better than in my 25gal (not the initial process though). This kind of tank is more stable than the small ones, due to extra water volume.

One thing for sure is that nobody will be glad enough to pay for my electrical bill :tongue: 

Thanks a lot to the forum I'm able to raise the tank like today. I learned alot and very lucky I managed to avoid algae problem from setup until now. It is still early at 1,5 months for a tank's life. I'll share the happiness with you all as this one will matures. I will take better pictures next time - I need to take some lesson in photography.


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## ching4ever (Feb 17, 2005)

nice equipment + nice skill = nice tank!!!

mind to share, how u diy the chiller?


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## Fishingdood (Feb 9, 2005)

impressive!!!


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## toofazt (Jun 18, 2005)

ching4ever said:


> nice equipment + nice skill = nice tank!!!
> 
> mind to share, how u diy the chiller?


Check out this thread :icon_bigg


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## lumpyfunk (Dec 22, 2004)

Great tank, I am excited to watch it as it evolves!!

And I love the chiller, how did long did it take to get in place?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

lumpyfunk said:


> Great tank, I am excited to watch it as it evolves!!
> 
> And I love the chiller, how did long did it take to get in place?



Getting all the items : one day. except for the styrofoam which is an addition after I find that the condenser radiates heat to the filter tank and the air inside the filter is colder than outside. I decided to help insulate. The small radiator tank comes later with the stryrofoams. I ordered pieces of glass the size bigger than the radiator from workshop and siliconed myself using some elbows and lots of tape. This is after I finds out chiller using titanium condenser/radiator and the system is cooling the air inside the filter tank. confining the radiator to a smaller tank first make sure that cold conduction goes to the surrounding water better without any risk of non-titanium material.

Assembly : with wiring and positioning could take an hour by the same day. I have a refridgerator repair man from the shop where I get the freezer parts stop over to my house after work hour and he helped me to set it up properly with all joint stuff, making sure nothing leaks. I'm not jack of all trade even though I'm willing to learn... so no silly mistakes when you have the expert beside you :icon_bigg 

Running the system to pull the temp down : initially from 29,5 C to 25,5 C in a day or two. Faster cooling after some tweaking on the water levels, positioning, insulation and ventilation stuff.

Running the whole system like today : a couple of days within a week. Thinking logically about how the system could run better everytime I'm at the tank.


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## LoveBoatCaptain (May 18, 2005)

Setting up a refrigeration loop is quite simple, but you need the proper tools and materials. A vacuum pump being the first, to maintain a moisture free(non-condensable) environment for the refridgerant. Refridgerant being the second thing you need, and knowing how to balance the system helps too...

DIY? I'm not sure about that idea...


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

LoveBoatCaptain said:


> Setting up a refrigeration loop is quite simple, but you need the proper tools and materials. A vacuum pump being the first, to maintain a moisture free(non-condensable) environment for the refridgerant. Refridgerant being the second thing you need, and knowing how to balance the system helps too...
> 
> DIY? I'm not sure about that idea...


Of couse dont do it if you dont have refrigerator man with you.

DIY? say yes for it with some help from the fridge man. :icon_bigg 
He carried some equipment and a freon tank with him (I recognize the tank as the same one used by my AC service man)

I should have said that I give him a hand, while he is the one who did the refrigerator componets. A noob like me would not stand a chance setting up the whole thing by myself. Even experts such as my AC service man sometimes screw up by adding to little or too much refridgerant.


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

Did you go MH because you had the lights left over from your reef setup? Looks like alot of work to get the cooling system set up, but it really is impressive! Beautiful tank and you have a lot of initiative, for sure. How deep is the tank? (edit) My bad. 80cm... wow ~32 inches. Yeah, thats swimming. :fish:


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Betowess said:


> Did you go MH because you had the lights left over from your reef setup? Looks like alot of work to get the cooling system set up, but it really is impressive! Beautiful tank and you have a lot of initiative, for sure. How deep is the tank? (edit) My bad. 80cm... wow ~32 inches. Yeah, thats swimming. :fish:


Nope. I dint use it from my ex reffer. 
My reef tank from the 90's was a failure. The shop was failing all the time also. Almost all shops and all reef tank failed. Some who thrife are using sunlight supplement.
In the past there are so few options unlike today. Imagine such tank lit up only by 40W T12... just how many can one stuff that low tech thing on the top? and people were just too uneducated on reefers. Not to mention no chiller and skimmer. Life expectancy was low at just 2-3 months before one have to re-stock the corals. THings are different now though. For the last 5-7 years people are learning the new way and corals do grow.

Now to the MH system. I was looking for the best way to light up my tank. I learned alot thanks to the forum and realize there is no way I'm going to use T12 on the tank as a main source of light. I paid a visit here and there and finds one shop that is using MH system that looks different yet familiar. Those are billboard MH they are using! I love the way it penetrates deep water and the bright intensity with pearling of course.

So the story goes.. I went for a hunt to the local electronic mall find it for $40 each set including ballast, etc. I add another $ 10 for a 6000k osram bulb and some extra wiring. I expect it to last up to a year and no problem if they die soon (serve the price). If they can stand up the elements on streets, why not over a tank? 

Yes, deep is good, although it can be a PITA. You can see what you are missing so far (ask the huge cube guys, I'm sure they have seen full size).


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## jimmyhat (Jun 18, 2005)

oh my gawd


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

For the mean time I just cant wait for my other 250gal to be fabricated.

Ok.. time for another update and of course another re-scaping. 

Man how the guys from our LFS are so happy to see my face around the shops. I have bought several dozens of plants yesterday for re-scaping the tank. I cant help waiting I bought several huge sized driftwood and now I throwed them into the koi pond.

I know this sounds too soon and such a rush. But I'm just a new learner and the tank is still quite young. Experimenting will teach me a good lesson I guess. Those excess plants are not wasted as I already have a pond in the garden for disposal (of course some low temp plants will eventually die out there).

I also have changed the DIY freezer chiller with a bigger compressor and radiator unit. This time things pulled down quicker to 22-23 C, which is too much. I need a temperature controlled switch for sure.

Lets wait until the plants settle in nicely and share another picture :icon_bigg


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## jamesbrokman10 (Nov 24, 2005)

*wow*

I really like the look of that open top, really looks awesome, is it an acrylic tank? Euro braced?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

jamesbrokman10 said:


> I really like the look of that open top, really looks awesome, is it an acrylic tank? Euro braced?


That tank is a made of glass planks 12mm thick. There are glass bracings and glass rims on top. No fancy technology and such. The tank and cabinet are from 10 years ago or so. It is used to be my reef tank, low tech style until I found out the joy of planted freshwater tank in my 25 gal learning tank.
I would like to have a rimless and braceless tank of such size but the price of 20mm glass scares me (3-4 x 12mm price). 

I ordered another similar style 250-260 gal tank. This time I ordered it polished and beveled all around the rims and bracings and it would look cleaner (but never beats a 20mm rimless open top). I'll take a shot of the empty tank when it arrives in a week or two.


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## DiabloCanine (Aug 26, 2005)

When will this tank get a sump?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

DiabloCanine said:


> When will this tank get a sump?


The current 260 gal already running on a sump since 10 years ago.

The new to come 260 gal is going to be built with a bulkhead overflow sump. Bottom sump/filter is a 25-35 gallon glass tank with chambers for filter media, chiller, pump, reactor, etc. It's going to be a bulkhead overflow drilled from the bottom continued by a 2" pipe to the top (looks like the old one, located by the back corner of the tank). If I'm not happy with the view, I can always add two planks of glass and paint it black to cover the bulkhead.

BTW the new scape is finished yesterday. Now I'm trying something new, something of a different style. The last setup was ravaged by thread and beard algae so I rip it apart and replace some plants that are not salvageable. I'm going to be careful now to avoid algae in the tank, especially thread and beard algae (diatom/dust algae is easy).

So lets wait for 3-4 days and let them root in nicely (I love how they settle in this time with all correct tank parameters (except chemical parameters). They all looks green (red) and fresh. I'm guessing the tank is going to be a jungle again in two weeks (then trimming/scaping time).


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## DiabloCanine (Aug 26, 2005)

Well lets see a pic of the sump. Rest of tank looks great!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Will do show everything from the new scape, chiller update, and of course the one diablo is requesting.... the sump and the filter. I'll do it this weekend and I will try not to dissapoint everybody (except for a radical scape change).
Frankly I'm telling you that the camera has just returned from a CCD cleaning and it is a promise!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

OK guys... get ready for another nasty update in an hour or two!!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

DiabloCanine said:


> Well lets see a pic of the sump. Rest of tank looks great!


I'm keeping my promise and now starting from the sump!!

This is the overflow bulkhead inside the tank. Note the return line by right the side. I tweaked the overflow level by adding a thin piece of hose to adjust water level. The wire mesh surrounding it is for safety precaution from inhabitants and huge debris.










This is straight at the bottom of that bulk overflow. You can see that I have a tray and some filter fibre first, then into the filter tank below. The filter tank consist of chambers filled with fibre filter (dacron) and zeolite. 










Then it goes into the last chamber where I have my DIY chiller and sump working to the return line. Notice that I have moved the huge CO2 tank inside and the radiator of the chiller as well as the mini tank have been changed to a bigger size.










The freezer compressor is moved outside because I'm using a bigger 1/2 PK which is hotter than the old 1/4 PK one. Another heat factor is eliminated from getting too near to the tank. This time the cooling system works better with a shorter time to reach the target temp of 25 C.










As you can see now it reaches 24 C. With the lights off it can drop to 21-22 if left unchecked.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Next.. the tank!

I did some major scaping. The last setup was ravaged by thread and beard algae and they are hard to remove. So I salvage whatever I can and end up with this setup. Again this time I scape it so it can be enjoyed from all sides. I do lost some marvelous fish due to neglect in a smaller tank while scaping, but I'm not detered. I'll stock some more later, taking my time to get better specimens.

Front view










Back view










Side view


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Some details on the scape

The center part by one side










And another side...










Those on top are slow growing plants that I tie using a black cotton thread. I dont know what they are but some are anubias.

This time I get the conditions better for the plants. They look better than the day I bought them.

Red and sturdy










... and standing strong


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

A lovely view... I bought the plants having some small buds as a bonus.

Now they are flowering!










From the top.... to the submersed ones










And another bunch...


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## jho51e (Jan 20, 2005)

fantastic pics!! I hope my tank one day is as wonderful as yours...


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## joan (Apr 25, 2005)

Very nice! roud: 



medicineman said:


>


Is that a rainbow in front of the wood? If so, do you know what type?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

> Is that a rainbow in front of the wood? If so, do you know what type?


That is Peacock rainbow. It is smaller than its cousins the red rainbow and bostmanii rainbow. The colour is blue and scales are bright and shiny. Try to google one for a close look.
I had a perfect specimen of red rainbow but it is dead now because I tore up the tank :icon_frow


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## chickenball z (Aug 30, 2005)

how much evaporation occurs?? I mean my tanks (with cover) loose a lot over one week....

also your CO2 tank doesn't use a regulator/gauges? how does it work??


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

chickenball z said:


> how much evaporation occurs?? I mean my tanks (with cover) loose a lot over one week....
> 
> also your CO2 tank doesn't use a regulator/gauges? how does it work??


That is why I use a chiller instead of many fans to cool it down (anyway fans will never reach 26 C). Using too many fans will worsen the evaporation. I have a huge sump tank inside the cabinet (check previous post) that also acts as a reservoir, so the volume of water at the main tank will be always constant. This way I seldomly add water into the tank inbetween WC. I dont know how much do I lost and it never become an issue.. perhaps a gallon each day? Those MH are sure very hot with a strong spot intensity.

About the CO2. Check for the first post and you will see the whole picture of the tank. It has a main and secondary valve as well as a pressure gauge and a check counter. A one way valve and a bubble counter is also added. I know it looks different from the normal CO2 ones, because I ran out of luck and everything was sold out. So I salvaged a bit and end up with that.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

The plants look very healthy, great picture taking skills as well. Keep it up!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Jdinh04 said:


> The plants look very healthy, great picture taking skills as well. Keep it up!


Thanks.

It must have been the extra coldness from my new DIY chiller setup that makes the plants looks even healthier. 

I'm using nikon D70s and still learning (which is better quality than the first post on pocket camera). Perhaps next time I take pictures at night to minimize all lights and glares from the windows and doors.


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## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

I think you have lobelia cardinalis tied to the driftwood? Some of those anubias don't look like anubias.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

greenmiddlefinger said:


> I think you have lobelia cardinalis tied to the driftwood? Some of those anubias don't look like anubias.


Yes there are two different plants that definately not anubias. The ones that has ovatus leaf is not. Each plant have 2 leaves. The rest are small and big anubias which have many obovatus leaves.

Btw I have much more cabomba out in the yard, waiting for my another tank. The flowers are white while the one inside the tank are yellow and with a round peltatus leaf. I wonder if they are different variety.


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Very nice tank you have there. That must be quite a chore planting in a tank that size and you have done a good job doing it. I miss having a tank that can be viewed from all sides , it is a lot of fun scaping them to look good from everywhere. 

Great job !


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Buck said:


> Very nice tank you have there. That must be quite a chore planting in a tank that size and you have done a good job doing it. I miss having a tank that can be viewed from all sides , it is a lot of fun scaping them to look good from everywhere.
> 
> Great job !


Well Buck... frankly if is a chore (usually done by the weekend). Especially a pain when doing a major re-scaping. I had to use whatever plants I can find in enough quantity should I decide to re-scape totally. Sometimes I bought too many that now I have several huge flat buckets of plants in my yard as a stock. Most of the times I cannot help myself looking at new healthy plants at a very low price (ex cabomba for $ 0.20 a bunch) and ended up buying too much. The stock outside are just ok I guess (temp controlled by strategic placement at 28 C) and they are flowering, all pearl without CO2 addition. I just give some new water everyday and some plantex fert. Must have been the magic of the sun and daily fresh water. The next time should some plants in the tank gets unsighty, I'll try to move them outside and see if they will get any better.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

*added some items*

Recently added some items into the tank. Some driftwood and java moss. Lets see how the moss turns out in a week. 

The latest tweak in the chiller's radiator placement and flow proves to be more effective. Now the tank runs at 23 C (perhaps now I can consider taiwan moss).


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

medicineman said:


> That is Peacock rainbow. It is smaller than its cousins the red rainbow and bostmanii rainbow. The colour is blue and scales are bright and shiny. Try to google one for a close look.
> I had a perfect specimen of red rainbow but it is dead now because I tore up the tank :icon_frow


you'll find them more commonly as dwarf neon rainbowfish.


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## eds (Feb 12, 2003)

medicineman said:


> Perhaps next time I take pictures at night to minimize all lights and glares from the windows and doors.


Tho it will undoubtedly improve the quality of your pics, I must say that stained glass is drop dead gorgeous, and I wouldn't mind some shots of it by itself!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Just bringin up this dead thread of my other tank, so people who have not seen it will get a chance.

Ok updates? no update for weeks? Patience guys. It is nice to keep a surprise. 

This tank is maturing fast and I'm still tinkering with a minor algae problem and hopes that it will not turn out nasty... or I'll have to scape it again


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

*update*

I've been having some troubles with uploading updates and it makes me kinda lazy...

anyway, here are the latest pics of the tank taken yesterday.

Some sneak peek first, the rest will follow up after they can be uploaded.

Back left










Center front
The suspended plants you see here are growing from the wood. I placed some substrate on the wood's deep dent so it can be planted as well. 



















At last the tank is getting more and more matured. It has been around 3-4 months I think. Dust algae are growing at managable rate and the thread algae has not come back yet (I hope they never does).


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## shuks (Jul 10, 2005)

looks great!!! What is that mushroom looking plant in the last pic? I've never seen that before.


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## jimmydrsv (Apr 8, 2005)

Is that rotala macranda or magenta in the front. That is amazingly compact growth. Looks very nice.


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## cbennett (Oct 20, 2005)

is that mushroom looking plant the dwarf form of Lobelia cardinalis?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

> What is that mushroom looking plant in the last pic? I've never seen that before


Neither do I until now. I'm trying it out, thats why. Like usually people from the local fish center are selling lots of mondo stuff. Lets wait some time to see how it grow and decide what it is. At the mean time it is too much in emersed form and too early to judge.



> Is that rotala macranda or magenta in the front. That is amazingly compact growth. Looks very nice


Yes they are rotala (I think looks more like macrandra). The new growth are a bit greenish. Must have been different environment as the cause. Under high light that rotala can grow compact, even though later they will grow higher with slightly longer internodes. The ones here are merely a week old (explains why they look superb).

For those who wonder how huge gigantea val can be, just look at the ones growing in cover of the bulkhead at 90cm+ (which are not fully grown yet).

After so long, I found my 5700K metal halides to change into too yellow for my taste. I'm not sure about the effect on my plants should it be compared to higher K. I'm considering 10,000K ones for the replacement (regretably which is 4x more expensive). The pic shown here is a combination of 3 x 5700K metal halides and 2 x 6700K daylight bulb + 2 x 12,000K red light. What do you think? Should I swap all the bulb into 12,000K daylight?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

The full front shot










And the back


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

rotala lovers, here is a rotala shot... still wondering how initially these rotalas grows so compact and red.


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## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

That macrandra looks great. It looks like it is starting to grow in some green tips though. How long has it been planted?


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

I think to keep them red, you need a lot of light, and you need to punch it down to the area where the plant is. 

I also think that low nitrates, high phosphates, high traces, esp. iron will bring out the red.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Overfloater said:


> That macrandra looks great. It looks like it is starting to grow in some green tips though. How long has it been planted?


Around a week or so. I ran out of trace and iron and that might be the problem. Lets see how they turn out another week.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

The side view.










There is a tall wood by the left edge wrapped with moss and ferns, complimenting the right most edge where there is a bulkhead on cammo.










I have found nice wood for this job and with ferns to complete the decor.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

*extreme measures*

After several months of trying and so far I have not achieved the results that I wanted. I found something not in common comparing my tank and local planted tank gurus tanks.... it is the substrate.

Extreme result requires extreme measures. This is painful and crazy, but I'm doing it. So I'm tearing apart this tank right now. The old substrate goes out and new substrate goes in. I hope this will bring some great improvement. The initial result would be bad like what a new setup brings, but hopefully better outcome will be obtained within 2-3 weeks. Stay tuned for all new scape and all new look!

Wish me luck!


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## Architect1 (Feb 19, 2006)

Wheres the discus. wow amazing tank.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

*New substate : first impression*

So everything is going out of this tank. I started to drain water, pluck out plants and net the fishies out. And comes the tiring job of removing some 350lbs of substrate out while washing and draining the tank. It is so soon since the last time someone dives inside the tank... biiiiggg fishy  

I ordered some 300 lbs of new substrate. First impression : they look so white. Yes they are what we call locally as "silica sand", famous and popular substrate used by gurus and newbies. Notorious for being inert, very cheap and may boost some algae. Size is 2-3mm, a bit smaller on average than my old black substrate. Colour is milky white with some dark impurities. Most of the grains are dull, but some are shiny as polished gem. Washing this much substrate is always painful (now I have gone through washing that quantity for three times)... my poor hands and back :icon_cry: . The darn new stuff is cloudy white and it would be nasty if it goos out inside the tank. I washed it over and over, sack by sack under running water. At last with some helping hands, the substrate settles down perfectly in a bucket and it goes quite clear enough within two hours... ready for use. Now I have to find some more stuff as preparation. Some additional driftwood as a stock (keep in handy for any rescaping), some additional plants and some base ferts/tablets.

Next : First look of new setup. Coming soon in 2-3 days (as soon as water polished to crystal clear).

note : sorry I was too preoccupied in tearing up the tank that I did not take any in process picture, keeping the fishies alive in buckets (if they go to my pond there is no way I can catch them back) and keeping the whole mess in control. Mrs is so unhappy with all sand, spills all over the floor and such in the living room... sigh... I always have more freedom at working the sister tank on the balcony. 

No mess no gain!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Everything goes in the tank. New substrate and all new plants with new scape. This new substrate brings all new colour and contrast. What I like about it so far : it is heavy enough and better at anchoring plants down, it does not cloud my water and does not stain it after some 3-4 days.

First impression is so bright. I have never seen my tank this shiny before. The strong intensity out of the MH is reflected and scattered, making the tank shimmers. I hope this setup, along with hardness management coming will prove to be the answer to healthy tank.

I'm uploading some new pics right now... for now lets review the journey of this tank so far.


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## turbowagon (Dec 30, 2005)

Wow, what a task! I thought your tank was amazing before, but I'm sure it will look even better when you're finished and the tank matures once again.

Best of luck and keep us updated!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Here are some pics I managed to upload. It is kinda difficult to do wide posters now, so the rest will follow later.

This is a sneak peek of the whole shot









Cabomba caroliana. Always an option in each of my tanks.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

looks good as always but im still a bit lost at the change in subetraight. i reread the last few pages a few times and am still lost care to ilaberate? again if i missed the first time?

looks great still....

0_o fish newb o_0


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## Kiran (Feb 13, 2006)

I thin kthe whitish substrate is going to make a really contrast with plants fish etc. How are you going to keep it looking white though? Will it not get dirty quite easily?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

fishnewb said:


> looks good as always but im still a bit lost at the change in subetraight. i reread the last few pages a few times and am still lost care to ilaberate? again if i missed the first time?


If you kinda lost and missed what is the problem with tearing down the old setup, I can put it like:
-I've seen no one locally who owns a sucessfull tank on the substrate (because my black sand is not popular or still quite new)
-There are some problems with some of my plants (and substrate might contribute) but my other plants are doing much better than one planted in silica sand (new substrate). So there must be some plus and minus so I'm giving it a shot
-All of my tanks are on black substrate. Silica sand is a good alternative for it is affordable and fits my contrast taste



turbowagon said:


> Wow, what a task! I thought your tank was amazing before, but I'm sure it will look even better when you're finished and the tank matures once again.


I sure do hope so. Like other sucessfull tanks right here owned by some aquascape artists who use silica sand.



kiran said:


> I thin kthe whitish substrate is going to make a really contrast with plants fish etc. How are you going to keep it looking white though? Will it not get dirty quite easily?


It will, in time. Just like the highly contrast black sand I'm using in my other tanks, I will do some maintenance by strong vaccum the top substrate, treat them well to get cleaner color and them toss back.

For now, I'm still slowly uploading (like usual hard to upload)

front full shot of the tank


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

oh ic so its just like an experimental type of thing? try something else and see if its better?

tank is amazing...

-=- fish newb -=-


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

This one is a weed... (Hygro poliserma) and it should appear like this all the time (at least the robust structure and rate of growth, even though the pinkish hue might be not as much). I hope with this substrate will let me do just that. On the background right you can see rotala... the same ones from the old setup. It is quite amusing how the bottom are red, mid part are green (because that time I ran out of Fe2 and trace) and the tops are pinkish. Its a three-coloured rotala!  









A shield-leaved plant. Some types are green leaved with white markings and some with reddish/pinkish marking. Care to id? This one is already under water for more than a month (and should it be marsh origin it does stay there as good ornament for quite a long time).


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

more pics...










This weed is growing so fast no matter what happens to other plants. New setup is not a problem for this one, and it may prove too much once everything settels in. Nevertheless it is a valuable starting plant for it sucks up lots of nutrients, allowing some bioload asap.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Time for a good update after more than 3 months of growth and maturity.
Nothing much and radical done to this tank, just some minor plant changes, layout remains more or less the same since it is already nice and calming to look at. I consider this tank quite mature, algae is minimal right to the substrate and It gets even cleaner that I must thank my newly introduced CAE squad. It is overgrowed and quite lush, you can see it from many plants reaching for the top and perhaps it will be the time for me to do some trimming and a bit of replacements again soon.

click for huge view
Full shot side A



Full shot side B



Full shot side C


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Some close up



















other side



















The time has come to re-do this tank again. It will be tiring, but fun. I'll be cutting a lot for sure, and too bad that those excess pieces will have to go to the bin.


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

why trash em? too much to ship it out over the place?

the tank looks great! your amania gracillis is HUGE! makes me jealous. haha


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

Really nice,i really enjoy looking at the shots of your tank,taking time to look at every single group of plant species that is in there.I like what you did in the fourth last shot from your most recent post,the part where you placed java fern just below your output, to sort of conceal it a little.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

ahh tear down again? you just grow those plants too well..... 

whats the "lily like" plant its got the green lily leaves on the surface? Really neat looking!

- fish newb


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Well, tearing down this time will not be total like a complete re-do. Just some re-location, heavy trimming and minor plants replacement. Why do some of the cuttings will have to go to the bin? My other tanks cannot accomodate all, and excess matter have nowhere to go (perhaps if I'm in the US there will be lots of people that can make good use of them, and I'm glad enough to give out for free). Anyway such cuttings and excess is so cheap down here.

I have no idea that amania can be that big, with stem bigger than the size of a finger. I guess my own PMDD formula works well :biggrin: 

The lily is actually nuphar japonica in emersed form. Eventually some of the leaves became submersed form, which is light green and a bit transparent (take a good look at the bottom). The aerial leaves are also good, with pinkish colouring on the top.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Some time after I minor re-did the tank. Now with less number of species and more dominant numbers.

click for giant pic



Amania gets a cut on the ugly bottom part, while rotala macrandra remains as is for I love the colouring when the plant reaches water surface. After trying compact corimbosa, now is the time to try the giant corimbosa version as you can see at the center part. Like usually, it is planted on a driftwood with a bit of sand and filter floss (which might sound awfully weird to you), so it roots pretty much dangle by the water collumn.

other details to follow....


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

i absolutely love the look of your tank,from what i see,it is really thriving,way to go man.


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## fresh_lynny (Mar 9, 2006)

looks great MMan!


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## hazeen (May 21, 2006)

WOW.. amazing tank  ..
good job man .. well-done ..
i wish if you post some details about lighting as I'm new here, and mostly i have a new tank (under set up) similar as yours ( 191*50*65)
i couldn't find the lighting source.. .. all i have 2 florescent * 38W)..can you please tell me how much light i need? and if possible post a pic of them. appreciate your help..


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

hazeen said:


> WOW.. amazing tank  ..
> good job man .. well-done ..
> i wish if you post some details about lighting as I'm new here, and mostly i have a new tank (under set up) similar as yours ( 191*50*65)
> i couldn't find the lighting source.. .. all i have 2 florescent * 38W)..can you please tell me how much light i need? and if possible post a pic of them. appreciate your help..


If you step back to the early post (page 1 or check my signature) you will find that this tank is using 3 x 150W of metal halide and 4 x 40W fluoroscent, all with the pics. You will have to decide how much of lighting you want by finding out what kind of tank you want; a high maintenace high light tank with colourful stem plants which tends to be much more difficult or a lower maintenace medium light tank with the correct plants which is easy to tackle. In this case mine is a high light tank with CO2 injection, frequent ferts and steady temperature from a chiller. You will want to pay a visit to the lighting section of the forum and do some more research, because deciding is critical, and good luck!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Here is a close up on lobelia cardinalis foreground. When packed many and close enough, I find it can create a lawn effect like now. The leaves changes from dark purplish emmersed form into bright green. I tried a bit initially and see that they do grow well enough in the tank, using well water (the other tank is using tap water which is much softer). The new ones are less than two weeks submersed and not completed adaptation yet.










And so this nifty cryptocoryne as I was told by a friend, it needs medium to hard water to thrife. The suggestion was correct and now it is in full glory in terms of colouring, texture and size.










And here you go, I tried some oval ludwigia and they turn out growing well enough in the tank. Just my curiousity buying the plant


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## Y0uH0 (Dec 19, 2005)

The plants and photographs look great. especially the one with the lobelia cardinalis foreground.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

The other side...



















Added in 8 ottocinclus to keep the tank cleaner. Quite hardworking little fellas and It could be the best choise for algae eater out there. Might not be much of use right now because algae is somewhat under good control, that even my anubias are healing great










And another kind of moss which is not easy to id in this early stage of growth










Time to let it mature again


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Time to bring up a dead thread 
It has been months ever since I updated the forum with anything on this other tank of mine. 

Time has been harsh to me and it cost this tank. To make things worse the tank suffered equipment failure at the wrong time... right when I was very busy, too busy to notice it. Dosing was neglected, WC was not regular, CO2 was dead and unreviveable. What could be worse than that. To top it off, the plant load was in its prime when it struck :icon_frow 
The tank was dead for sure. It declined and became a sore view to the house, and there is nothing I can do about it in an instant. The season is also quite bad as prolonged draught caught on the supply of plants, availability was reduced and prices was rising slightly. 

Now I have the time to relieve the painfull tank and bring it back to life 

The job was not easy. First I need to dig out all the mulm and the dead out of the tank and clean it. With so much crap in the tank, I've tried vaccuming it with great stress... and you know you need to tear everything apart. 
Back ache time (with sore hands)!!
400 lbs of silica sand... taking out, washing and get them back in the tank within the same day. You guys should've been there to help me out :icon_twis 
I salvaged whatever I can and use them back.

Looking back at the history of this tank, it has been some tireful days of tearing and setting up. I've stayed at the ducth side so far. The maintenance was too much for me right now. Doing trimming and simple WC proves to be more difficult than doing the same on my other 260 tank (which is outside, spills and mess are more tolarable), creating mess on the living room every weekend. So I decided next time I should make something of lower maintenance now by selecting plants.

Here is what I created









from another side









The idea is a tree root-like driftwood as the hardscape, creating triangular layout with quite large area of open space.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Sorry to hear the tank "died" But I am sure it will be better than it was!

Next time you need help plane ticket and lodging could go a long way...:hihi: lol

- Andrew


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## attack11 (May 5, 2006)

i like it. that'll be nice as it grows in. i bet your fish will enjoy the open space.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

@Fish Newb,
That would be one expensive help :icon_lol: 

Since you can see nothing, I'm giving out better pics after things clear down.









another side 









I feel that the smaller driftwood pile is out of place (too tired to think back then anyway). Tinkering with software I can see that the scape will look better without it.










There is nothing special about the scape, but I intend to keep it growing as nice as possible. Just triangular low maintenance setup with a fast open space filled with low growing plants.

The days of colourfull setup is getting over for me nowadays  . Not to worry, should I have more freedom of time in the future, the old craziness of stem craze will come back :biggrin:


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

yeah i can see what you mean, that one pieces does seem alittle out of place. what about trying to arrange it somewhere next to the main stump like piece


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

So later on I decided to make concept into reality. Murky time again.

I get myself this long slender piece of driftwood and use it as an extention to the existing root-like driftwood structure.










And with it I throwed in some more plant load. Now it looks like a tree root with a long extention of root forking out by the middle.










Not too great but at least I did something to the much too plain open space, without changing the main look of the scape.

Here is the look from another side


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## timr (Mar 23, 2005)

Sorry to hear what happened to the old setup. That's terrible. I can't even think how much work it was to clean all that sand. I hated cleaning my old 100 gal......

I like the new layout. It'll look great once it matures. And low maintenance (except are those vals i see?), nice pick on the plants.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Love the DW! The tank will look great once you get it stable and thriving!

And if you need any help let me know:hihi: 

- Andrew


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

looks great man.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Two weeks after setup. Water is crystal clear and it is a good time to take photos again. 

side A









side B









Fauna returned back to the tank. To keep this one low maintenance, I did not intend to stock to the limit. Currently there are 5 albino congo tetra, 5 rasbora hengeli, 3 rainbow shark and 4 algae eater. I kept photoperiod at lower rate and quite short while dosing less ferts. MH runs for 5 hours a day with extended 2 hours of T8 and that is it. So far so good, no serious ill effect on the plants. It seems my vision for lower maintenance high tech tank is a reality as up to date there is no speck of algae visible, a very good promising sign (as per usual I would always find small patches of algae within two weeks).


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

looks good. any plans for more fish though?


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## skiboarder72 (Oct 13, 2006)

wow, thats so clear I can't even tell if there is water in it!


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## 415w203 (Oct 31, 2006)

awesome tank


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

@TheOtherGeoff,
There will be much more fish for sure, added slowly over time. The filter might be cycled but the tank is not (with all that substrate bacteria not fully taking over). I'm limiting it far from actual fish capacity though, slightly lesser fish equal less maintenance for me. Perhaps several juvenille discus?

@skiboarder72,
Partially thanks to clean inert substrate, low bioload and multi stage overflow filter. Not sure if I can get this level of clearness when using other type of substrate. Plant growth quality would be different though if you use this kind of inert substrate since everything must be supplied from the water collumn.

Everything seems to grow slower now, might be just my feeling or could be the plants have not settle in yet. Might be of the shorter photoperiod also.

Here you can see the root fork, viewed from the side


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## natx (Jun 6, 2006)

That is an amazing rebound from what you had posted just 9 days ago. Looks fantastic, and you can already tell that its going to be a very nice layout as things grow in.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Can't wait to see some nice discuss go in! It looks great!

-Andrew


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## Schnauzer (Feb 17, 2006)

After reading this thread from start to finish I have to get a planted tank going again after many years of not having one.

I really liked the tank before the crash. It looks very good now but I really like it before.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

@Schnauzer,
Glad that my work can give you the fighting spirit!
My problem is not finished though, now I face CO2 shortage in my hometown. It has been 3 weeks that CO2 is out of production, and I must hang on to whatever spare cylinder I have (I'm glad I did keep a spare to avoid disaster just like previous).
Well, you see that the problem with my previous setup was the maintenance. Now I'm short of such leisure time to do two 260gal tank with all dutch stem plants, so either one must be changed to cut down the work.

Pics again from the sides, enjoy (love the reflection)


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## Schnauzer (Feb 17, 2006)

Tanks such as yours have got me excited about planted tanks again. I can only find bits of my old co-2 setup so I am looking and thinking about some of the things Rex Griggs has.

A year ago after retireing I bought 2 - 120s, 3 - 90s and a 270 to replace some of the tanks in my fishroom. I have the 120s set up and 1 of the 90s. I think that I will make 1 of the 90s into a planted tank.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Update again, after more than a month of growth...
may not be much, but this is exactly the idea.

Plants grow well enough, though some could be better. I've got very little algae so far, limited to sparingly GSA and symbiotic thread algae.. no serious threat and even not easily noticed.

Side A









Side B









Things are filling in early stage and hopefully the setup will stay stable until all grow into a jungle.


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## red406 (Sep 18, 2006)

medicineman...
i just discovered this thread and your other tank...now i'll be monitoring them both...:icon_wink 

_cantik sekali kedua2 nya..._roud:


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Hi

Thanks Red. _...Terima kasih..._ :icon_bigg 
I'm sure in M'sia there are much more players and equipments for you to start.

Another view from one of the side










It is going to take a long time to wait until this one grow into a jungle and fills in the space. I'm seeing those sag becoming wild carpet, the crypts grow taller with long leaves and ferns becoming fat and thick like in my other tank.


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## red406 (Sep 18, 2006)

medicineman said:


> Hi
> 
> _Thanks Red. ...Terima kasih... :icon_bigg
> I'm sure in M'sia there are much more players and equipments for you to start._


apparently from my observations from the malaysian scene, a lot of people are trying/getting into the Amano way, with all the ADA soil and lily pipes...expensive though...



medicineman said:


> _It is going to take a long time to wait until this one *grow into a jungle and fills in the space. I'm seeing those sag becoming wild carpet, the crypts grow taller with long leaves and ferns becoming fat and thick like in my other tank*_.



i can't wait...


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Well red.. that is a good thing, as well as a bad thing.

Nice tanks and equipments are becoming popular at one side (provided competent people behind the scene).
Economy level in M'sia is good but till somewhat lower compared to leading Countries. So the downside is the popularity of ADA style and equipments over time will lead to the perception that aquascaping is expensive hobby which belongs only to the wealthy (and at this level of economy most owners will keep it to themselves)

It goes the same here, since most aquascaping dealership would set up with top brand equipments, expensive imported lighting, high quality substrate, expensive line of CO2 system, brand name chiller and so on. Without any _example_ of those with fans instead of chiller, silica sand instead of RMC, PMDD ferts, regular local CO2 compotents and regular DIY light, people are seeing aquascape as nasty thing to pay for and they tend to avoid it the first place once they ask the price tag for a setup. In the end, it is having a hard time to become more popular.

Anyway.. lets put that aside and back to the tank...

No discus for now. I'm still considering though. 
For now I just add in smaller fish in small number, like this Rasbora trilineata. These are hardy, quite active swimmer, staying in a school most of the time. More like rummnynose tetra, but it lacks the red and it can grow bigger than 4". I heard that the bigger the fish, the more silvery and gold the colour will be.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Well... it seems most things did not goes as planned. This setup is overrun by hair algae and the plants are too neglected to grow to maximum size. Part of my fault I guess, not having the time to maintain all the tanks. Sometimes forgetting dosing routine and delaying water changes. 

So again this setup is getting a makeover earlier this month. All plants taken out, cleaned thoroughly and salvaged of whatever re-usable. Two brachy DW are added in to lessen blocky scape.

I picked easy and slow growing plants for lower maintenance. 

Front view









The other side


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

I like your style medi man, I will have to visit your country very soon.
Id like to see if we could meet up in the future during my travels. I plan on 
going around the world collecting rare plants and starting a one of a kind nursery in the tropics. Its going to be a long road for me this year. Cant wait


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Well... time will tell and you are welcome. I know one local guy who is so obsessed that he would sometimes go down to the remote areas just to hunt for plants.

Side pic










I think could use more plants!
(another excuse for getting more... or should I harvest from here and there...)


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Another of the side...


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

July update

Some time later




A bit of L aquatica and Hygro poliserma was added

I upped CO2 to 3bps and switched to more powerful powerhead running the reactor, you can see plants start to take over.


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## LondonDragon (Mar 15, 2007)

Looking great as always! Your tanks are awsome


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Thanks.

This one is indeed a lower maintenance tank, despite of the size and scape. A semi automated WC system would certainly add to the ease though currently I just use two hose at once, one is draining while the other one is topping up and leave them be for some time. To avoid spilling, the rate of fill must always be less than the drain. This way is a bit water-consumptive but it works for me (I've got no chlorine or chloramine to deal with).

View from another side (click to full size)


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

hello, love the tanks, amazing as always
just one thing, can we see some pictures of the natural nanos please ?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Eager enough to see how the tank progress several months later....

This might sound crazy and impossible, but this tank is actually a low maintenance high light tank (remember all the light comes from halides), as proved so over the months. 
I did small water changes every 2-3 weeks. 
I trimmed 4x over the course, each one was a simple hack job. I dosed ferts (Wonder-Gro Macro+ and Micro+) weekly in smaller dose though it actually hurts my tank (for the sake of research). Most of the nutrition to the rooted plants is being supplied from underneath by adding substrate insert Wonder-Gro Root+.
CO2 is cut down to 1.5 bps, very small for this tank size.

So here it is now :










the other side










I kept interference at minimal (except trimming stem plants so they will not overshadow), so they grow as how they like.










You can see how the cypts are forming a thick forest.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

More pics...










and one from the side


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

That tank is beautiful. Good to hear the low tech is working for you, one of my own high light tanks is becoming very low tech lately, I love it.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

The tank is looking very good indeed. 1.5 bps of CO2 on a tank that size with MHs to me would mean each bubble should be the size of an orange!!!!! LOL.
The tank looks good, and now you have more time for other endeavors.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Well... low maintenance but it retains all the high tech stuff.
Still using 3 x 150W of MH as the main light. The water chiller is still there but working less job (not as cold). The CO2 injection is still there but pumps in at 1.5bps (standard JBJ or whatever counter you have out there, and no oranges can fit in it  )

It is becoming more low maintenance and not much of a low tech really.

A funny story about these moss










I never plant any moss at the first place when I set up several months ago. Now I got moss growing all over the tank, fortunately at the right places. By the driftwood or by the foreground.

The seeds/spores must have survived from outside and gradually settles in.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

medicineman said:


> Well... low maintenance but it retains all the high tech stuff.


 that's the cool part. I recently had someone else say a very similar thing about my 125 since I am running CO2, and 384 watts of light, but with almost all lower light needing rossette plants, and very lean dosing. 

Glad the surprise hitchhiker moss is growing where you would like it. :thumbsup:


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Sure, here they mix with the crypts. 










Nice foreground effect, usually obtainable only by using small slates/rocks with moss.


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## Mad78 (Oct 23, 2007)

DUDE your plants are on steriods!!!!!!!!! i bet your guppys breed like wildfire huh


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## Mad78 (Oct 23, 2007)

if you ever want to sell you clippings lmk im always searching for new plants.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Fortunately I do not put any livebearer fish in the tank, knowing that they will take over and shift bio load balance over time if nothing is done to control the population.

Well, the plants are on my personally-made ferts under brand name "Wonder-Gro" series of what you consider as "steroids" :icon_roll 

I wish one day USA hobbyists can have a taste of what I'm selling, as how Singapore and Indonesia are being on trial.


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## Coral Keeper (Sep 14, 2007)

Your tank looks beautiful!!!!!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## nellis (Oct 27, 2005)

What do you mean when you say Singapore & Indonesia on trial? I've received shipments from Singapore before.

-Nate


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

@nellis,

What I mean as being on trial : Currently the two countries are trying the products.
I've been selling my brand of fert for almost a year now and I'm evaluating, slowly increasing market share which is not easy to do. 
People just need to receive more publication, though some who do know (esp the one from local forums) never doubt to try and end up as happy folks.


If USA hobbyist is interested in trying my product (the easiest to ship here is the root tabs), a mass group purchase is better to be arranged for the shipping cost is not pretty, $120+ for each parcel of eight pots of 50 tabs each. Bigger parcel of 4 dozens is not much more expensive to transport though.


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Updates on this one Dedy?


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## jackh (Jul 2, 2008)

great lookin tank. its huge


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Hi.

It has been quite a long time ever since I give update words on this tank.

Sadly, this setup had to be torn down soon. There is a good reason for that.

As I moved out to another house (as some of you must have realized - check sunken garden project for clue), so this tank is being taken good care of by my relative who stayed back at the old house. So I just have the opportunity to see the tank once in a while, usually just once or twice a month. He is quite dedicated, being experienced at tending or setting up such setup until lately his ever increasing job calls for him (good business, bad timing), rendering most of his free time unavailable. 
To make things worse, he seems started to forgot keeping track on the details such as CO2. The tank could still survive that for some time until I pay a trip, however another serious fault happened. One of the MH wiring was short circuited and it shocked the whole system down (3 bulbs). I was not told of this so to come over for an immediate fix, instead the tank went dark for days, if not a week before the no-where-adequate 160W secondary T8 tubes were lit. 
Only after several weeks later I found out of this matter and fixed the main lighting back to service.

I was too late. The damage is done.
Good thing the fish were not forgotten and given food, almost every day (they can survive quite some time being fed once every two days anyway).
That day I found most of the plants are almost dead. What's left dominant is trace of moss - one kind of plant which I never put intentionally in this tank, but turns out triumphant from the seemingly impossible condition. Strings of very thin moss, all over the tank (not string algae!).

I have not paid a visit again for several weeks now, but I'm sure the tank is making a good recovery from whatever plant form left. Pretty sure will be harvesting buckets of moss later on. 
Really trying to find the correct day for ample time. I want to fix up the scape for good.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Destroyed. Battered. Ruined.

Words to describe of what happened before as per my last post. With the lighting gone for too long (days/weeks in darkness and extra weeks in very low lighting).

Now I have been looking for good opportunity to do a complete overhaul on this tank. Last time I visit, the pumps already chugging slower than optimal, the sump filter starts to somewhat clog and I need to fix those fluorescent tubes so they no longer blink.

A news arrived on time at last, the slow supplying, 1bps (yes, it will turn back to 1bps in a day or two thanks to faulty cheapskate regulator) CO2 cylinder is up and I'm to stop over for a swap. I did not paid a visit ever since late august because the house was under renovation and there seems nothing I can do to the tank, except to wait for a good time to tear it down.

What I found to my surprise is a comeback from the grave. A resurrection.



















Plants made a comeback from the brink of death (extinction for the moss). From the rubble of mess and mush of dead matter, sprouts back life some sort of aquatic plants. Moss has taken over most of the tank, and there is pleasantly very little algae too that no cleaning required when I take this photograph (keep in mind those used are the same halides... well, burning slightly less now due to age). The thing is just that what grows in the tank does so naturally. Certainly could be better with more planning and care.

Nature has its own way, true as said. 
The tank received just once a month 20% WC, very sparse dosing of ferts (something like only once a week or even every 2 weeks )and no trimming/planting at all.


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

What an amazing tank.. wow


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Wow that's really cool how it came back like that. The mosses look great


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

So far I have lost something like half of the bioload over 1+ year of setup and most of the echinodorus ever existed in the tank (including giant uruguayensis). 

The shape might not be of the most desirable, however I do love the moss forms a neat carpet and complimented by contrasting hills, all sculpted naturally and no hair or string algae to bother too.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That is some really awesome moss! Do you know what kind it is?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Those are taiwan moss that turns back from near extinction. 

Apparently some do survive within the crook and nooks of the hardscape/substrate, enough to take over the tank eventually.


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## Markone (Mar 20, 2008)

I Really love that mossy tank...nice development, reminds me of an old forest!!!

Regards,
Mark.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

As promised, this setup is going down.

So it did in late November 2008. Long haul of job it was. Me and my assistants over 3 days. Total teardown from substrate to sump filter. The plants, like usually, were tossed out into huge bucket and live under shaded sun.

I used back most of the old plants and added in a few hardscapes.

2 months later, here it is (sorry for the blurry mobile phone shot) :










Capet has formed back and the plants have taken over the tank again. It is amusing on how correct combination and right treatment could bring to a setup within a short period of time.

List of flora :
Hygrophila corymbosa siamensis
Hygrophila poliserma
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Echinodorus "amazon"
Echinodorus rubin
Cryptocoryne wendtii (assorted)
Vesicularia dubyana
Microsorum pteropus mini
Tiger lotus

Lighting : 3 x 150W metal halide, venture bulb 6000K
CO2 : injected 3bps via internal reactor
Ferts : Wonder-gro macro+, micro+, root+


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## NATURE AQUARIUM (Dec 16, 2007)

Great tank!!!


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

Thats awesome. I wish my tanks could look that good!
When you get a chance, try to upload a good FTS for us all!


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Thanks, I kind of get addicted with moss carpet.
I used plenty of narrow shale stones and painstakingly tied up scraps of moss and place them in the foreground. Initially it doesn't looked pretty, but later on it pays up handsomely. As shown above the result after 2 months or so, they all spread nicely, covering all the shales and the distance in between forming moss carpet. 

Wait for another 1-2 months I think the moss might take over most of the lower space. It is getting too thick, and I need good thinning session soon.

A simple tips for folks : use black cotton thread and power glue for you moss and small ferns.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

What do you mean "use power glue for your moss and small ferns" ?
Like, hot-melt glue from a gluegun?
And, what would you use the glue on the ferns for?

Thanks!

Also, do you find that the moss makes a nice low carpet when you spread it using the shale? I tried to make a moss carpet once and it turned out to look like a jumbly rats nest. Any other pointers onthe moss carpet?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Well, it is for attaching the ferns (also good for anubias). 
Please note it is not hot glue gun, as such heat would kill the plants easily. I use super glue (instant drying resin) for attaching them to whatever surface desired, be it rocks or driftwood. The plant seems to endure well, and it is a good way to make your work quick but save and easy.

I guess you just have to find the correct type of moss to do that. Mine happens to lay down and tends to grow downwards. 
Watch out for the thickness of the moss forming. Dont allow it to get too thick, otherwise it may act up, as bad as un-attached from the base and come loose.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Tried more proper pocket camera, but doesnt work that well.
Just not sharp enough and too much grains. Pockets are not built for this I suppose.










The blurry side glass makes it even worse. I'll never be able to shot this tank like before again, thanks to a mishaps before this setup is done.



















I guess the next round I need to take out the "big guns" SLR!


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

I still think this tank is epic. I actually sort of like the soft blurryness to it- it adds a soft and warm fantasy type of feel to it. I'm sort of expecting a fair to sort of flutter across the screen, haha. That sounded so cheezy. 

In the top picture, what is that foreground plant? It looks like it is a crypt of some sort with moss around it. I like that alot.


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

medicineman said:


>


What is this plant in front toward the bottom? It looks like a Rotala, but I didn't see it in your plant list.


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

@SearunSimpson,
Those are crypt wendtii. Planted by the group, around 3 individuals per hole. They bunch up nicely that way. However experience told me the same crypt, with correct fertilizer will grow up to some 40cm+ monster though it would be a matter of select trimming to keep it normal again.

@cah925,
Well, you are not the only one fooled looking at the pic. 
Those are indeed plain normal hygro poliserma which happen to grow quite a special way. Some does it horizontally, almost runner like and with lots of secondary node leaves.


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

great tank!....how do you like that reactor?


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Which reactor? the one that I've been using so far? (internal reactor made by UP, Taiwan)

In the way it works, I cannot complain too much. It is just good enough for the job, though I actually prefer the ones made by Ista. The build and material is better and you can put it as external reactor when you dont want it to be inside the main tank.


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

thanks


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