# Emersed tank journal



## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi treyLcham,

Nice start! A couple of thoughts to consider, watch the temps in the tank and try to maintain high humidity.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Yea I have been looking into the humidity and I'm going to try to keep it above 60at all times and I really want it at 80-90 to make sure the plants have an Easter time going from emersed to submersed and or the other way. Temp, I have heard different things from everyone, but I want to go for a temp of around 84-86


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Can someone move this thread to journals, or is it not allowed there? I thought in put it there to begin with but idk I might have not.


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Hey Trey,

Heed Seattle's warning. It looks like the tank you are using is rimless and I cant think of a way to put a lid on it to keep the humidity in. Without a lid, you simply will not be able to keep the humidity where you need it.

Seattle's guidance helped me design 3 different iterations and versions, each better than the last of my emersed growing setup.


Give my video a watch to get an idea of what it takes to successfully grow plants emersed.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Sean I actually used your videos to buy all my supply and I will be putting plastic rap on the top and I also have a sheaf of acrylic on top of it that is a perfect fit so if the humidity still isn't good I will duck tape the corners like you said in your video! I also watched your light fixture video and that's how I learned how to and what lights to use! Thanks!!! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Now how far away am I going to be wanting the lights from the plants or pots? 


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## natebuchholz (Sep 28, 2013)

Great video Sean. I really enjoy these setups. I recently started one as well. My lights are about 12-15" above the substrate in mine; it can be seen in my journal thread.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright thanks! For some reason I think they put this thread in aquascaping after I had put it in the journal thread.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Ok so I just spray painted the inside of the light fixture gloss white to have more light reflection I'll post a picture in about one hour 


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

treyLcham said:


> Ok so I just spray painted the inside of the light fixture gloss white to have more light reflection I'll post a picture in about one hour
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


When I painted the inside of my light fixture gloss white, It increased the light out put of my CFL fixture by 75%. I could not believe it.

I would change your lights, The ones I use are 1600 lumens each, double what yours are. The great thing about emeresed setups is as long as you can control the temperature, blast them with as much light as you can. Heres a link to the ones I use. Make sure they are 6000k color

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...ster-CFL-Light-Bulb-4-Pack-E-433557/204855102

Another thing Ive done to my enclosure since I made that video is I made risers out of 1"x1" lumber to raise the light fixture off the lid and got a small desktop fan from target for like $5 to add air circulation between the enclosure and the light. I found the lights were getting too hot and the enclosure was heating up too hot. I put the fan on the same timer as the lights and air pump.

I also switched to digital humidity and temperature gauges I got fromt he reptile section at PetSmart. THey are much more accurate than the analog gauges

the last thing I changed was I dont use those little clay pots anymore. Like Seattle warned, after about 5 months the plants had absorbed all the nutrients from the dirt and the plants started to grow slower and slower and eventually withered away and died. I lost over 100 AR Mini mother plants. 

So now I use desk drawer organizers I found at Dollar Tree. They come in packs of two or three for $1, they let me put more dirt in it, and will also be easier in the future to fertilize/change the dirt. I just drill some holes in the bottom of each. Also I found the shape of the pots was inefficient, with the tapered shape leaving a lot of wasted space between each pot, compared to the drawer organizers, that have straight sides, more or less


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Oh nice great to know! I will go to the dollar tree then and return the pots or might just keep them since there so cheap. How high do you keep your lights from your plants? I plan on putting white shelf paper on back and sides to add to the amount of light reflected which should give me that 1600lumens from the 800lumen lights. I would g with bigger but I am running on a short budget and I already had the lights. I have 8 6500k 800lumens so I think that will make up for the lost lumens since yours has 6i believe. I could add way more light but I just can't get off budget since I still have to purchase my plants for my other tank that I am waiting on the last bag of Aqua soil to come in. Sean let me know what you think of my estimated scales I made on Corel draw! I also thought of one more scape which I mention on the last page. Just go to tank journals and you will find it


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Id say its about 15" from the plants to the lights.

If you're able to get your hands on some glossy white spray paint, Id do that instead of the white paper. I just shoved some paper towels in each other light sockets to protect the sockets and painted it, then removed the paper towels and screwed the lights back in.

I dunno how well Aquasoil will work, ive had really good success with the standard miracle grow.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Here are the pictures of the light fixture painted. As you can see I added two more holes for two extra lights. If need be I can always add two more to the sides. I used the gloss so it reflects better in theory at least.















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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Oh yea looks good! 

Sorry I thought you meant you are going to use white paper on the side of your light fixture. Now I realize you said you are going to do that to the tank itself! 

That Light fixture looks great!

Are you going to make a cage like I did out of light diffuser? I just used zip ties to keep mine together


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I wait that's for a four pack! Nvm I will be able to buy them! I'll just return the pots lol! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Yep I'm doing that right now! How did you cut yours? Dremel or scissors? I'm thinking hot glue but now that you said zip ties that sounds 10k better lol 


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

the small square organizer, you get 3 for a dollar, the middle size is 2 for a dollar and the long one is a dollar each



treyLcham said:


> Yep I'm doing that right now! How did you cut yours? Dremel or just scissors? Also what did you do to connect them together? I'm thinking hot glue
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




I used zip ties to hold the light defuser together. I used large wire cutters to cut it.

Im having a hard time finding the lights I used. None of the home depots near me carry them anymore. I know I should have bought more than one pack when I first found them


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Yes it's fine I'm sure I have enough light with all the reflects! Time will tell  


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Sean W. said:


> Id say its about 15" from the plants to the lights.
> 
> If you're able to get your hands on some glossy white spray paint, Id do that instead of the white paper. I just shoved some paper towels in each other light sockets to protect the sockets and painted it, then removed the paper towels and screwed the lights back in.
> 
> I dunno how well Aquasoil will work, ive had really good success with the standard miracle grow.



No I was talking about that I'm. Waitin. For my Aqua soil in my other tank to come in so I can plant it I'm using organic soil for this 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I'm going to make it roughly 7-8imch from the bottom. This gives me the room to slow the plants to grow tall 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright here is the update photos! I completed the stand for the plants tubs to rest on. Took 2 of them, and about 1hour 30min. I ended up using a pare of wire cutters which worked great. After that I then used zip ties to connect them together. As you can see there are 3 smaller ones on the inside that don't even sit flush with the bigger ones, I put those there so that the other ones would not fold over. I also cut a rectangle in the middle of the base for the air stone to fit in. 











































I also (if you read the post on first page) added two more holes to the light fixture and then used a gloss white spray paint&sprinter in one(two coats) which will really help me with how much lumens reflect of the fixture. 

























And here is just a little video to show you how bright it made it by adding the gloss paint.
https://vimeo.com/121855590


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Haha yup! Thats a lot of light! Looks good and strong! Well done!

Do you have an android phone?

If so, download the app " beeCam LightMeter ". That will give you how many lumens you are getting. Divide whatever the lumens are by 50 and that will give you a rough ball park of how much PAR you are getting.

EDIT: To give you an idea of the light out put of my fixture, I get just over 16,000 lumens at the top of my plants


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

cool I did not know there was a app for this! I will do that tomorrow! Thanks for the helps  


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright so I had some down time and I didn't like how the outside of my light fixture looked(I know it doesn't matter but it's small things like that, that annoy me lol). So I'm giving it a paint job lol. Should be done by Friday. Here are some pictures of it with the first coat and if you can tell I put take on the corners where the wood grain is showing(plan on spray painting them black.(easier to hide the grain then white r























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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Yea man, looks sharp!

Do you have access to a android phone? Im curios what your lumens are compared to mine.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Yea I'm waiting for it to come home lol! I'll definitely test it! I'll just test it from the depth of 12"that it is with the egg flat in the tank  I have an apple or else I would have! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Second coat just put down. Yea it was only 30min from the first coat but that's not going to bother me as much as what the color before was. 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Finished the paint job didn't come out to bad. Should have gotten it out of the sun a little fater though because tha take kinda took the gloss look off of it lol but that's ok







I'm ordering all my plants on Sunday or Monday not sure! Getting most of the. From a member and getting the rest from tissue cutler plants on Adana-usa 


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

looks sharp! :thumbsup:


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I'm going to check the lumens now!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

do eit!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

It showed 30k from the top of my tank to the light fixture lol 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I'm now from about 7inches down from the top of the tank it showed. 20k 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I wasn't able to give the light time to get going since I'm leaving right now but I'm sure if I wait like 5min that it will be better 


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## JeremyM (Feb 23, 2012)

Nice work with the lighting. Your growth and setup looks good from the last pic. Do you know what species the tall green one is? It looks like a type of rotala to me.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

JeremyM that is Sean's setup  mine should be up in about 4to5 days! Yea his is really nice, got to give him and some other people from the first page of this thread some props for all the help  


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Sean W. said:


> do eit!



Alright Sean so I get a more precise reading by putting the phone in the tank with the cage the tubs will sit on. When I measured the lumens it was 10k from 9". That a more reasonable reading then the 30k I got yesterday lol, so I went to lowes and they had............ XD I got 6 of them !!!!









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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)




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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Lol. Now I have to re drill my holes a little so it fits in hahaha shouldn't be to hard 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

well the. Re lights def did the trick lol 26,500 lumens from 9inch from the light :,) I am going to move the tubs down more since the height there at isn't really a good spot since there stems wouldn't be able to grow very tall :/ probably going to drop it 3" or so. 


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## Yokai (Dec 7, 2014)

Nice,  The only thing I've done different is use tin foil instead of paint the inside white. Looks ugly, but no one really sees the inside xD Just glued it.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Thanks  ^ my plants should be in soon next week !!!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

I Noticed that you got differnet height containers. Just make sure the soil is the same height so your water level wont effect the different height containers... Hopefully that makes sense haha... Im tired.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Yea makes sense Sean! I'm going to be putting one layer of the crate under the smaller tubs to make the heights the same! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Here is the new height of the tubs and the egg crate . I cut the lips off the tubs to allow for two more tubs to fit in and also I shortened the crate about 4inches so now from the top of the tubs to the lights it's about 11inches and roughly 19k lumens from the top of the tubs. I will be adinh some small peaces of crate under te smaller tubs to raise then to the same height as the bigger tubs 









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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

really nice setup!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Thanks Dru =)


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

treyLcham said:


> Yea makes sense Sean! I'm going to be putting one layer of the crate under the smaller tubs to make the heights the same!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Good Idea! should be a really strong growing enclosure!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright guys so I put some plants in today! I went to petco to get some crickets and found some tissue culture wendtii green that looked very healthy so, I was going to want some of it in the emersed setup anyways so why not just start off with it! I have orders on the way from Sean and Roy so I will be updating tomorrow and Friday!!!!!!





















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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I ended up using a mix of miracle gro normal and organic because I had both on hand! I added it together in a 5g bucket probably half way to the top and then threw in one and a half scoops of osmocote plus and then mixed in good! 


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

I would put all those Crypts in the same pot. haha

Looking good tho!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Yea I might have to if I need the space but I am hoping to grow them really big so that's why I put them in individuals, well there two in each 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright guys here is the update! I was supposed with both my shipment of plants coming in a day early some how! Sean W and Seattle_Aquarist really just made my day with there great looking plants and even surprises and extras! They really out did themselves! Here are some of the pictures of there plants when first opened! I also put the plants in the tank and should be expecting the last shipment of plants to come in tomorrow!






first picture of Roy's plants!!!!







Second picture is Sean's plants! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Here a bad picture of the emersed step lol sorry the water is really beading o the glass! 95% humidity and 80* f









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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright guys well I'm finally done planting plants after 2hours! I ended up find some hairgrass all over floating in my lake so I took some of it and through it in for the fun of seeing how it does and seeing if it's a dwarf or no I also added more helferi and also added Anubias and also added a fern and wendtii green and brown! 














































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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi Trey,

Nice progress! Looking forward to seeing how it all grows out!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Thanks Roy! 


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Dont hold your breath on the Anubius Petite. Ive been doing an experiment with mine, its taken over a month to finally see new growth. Same thing with the Pogestemon helferi, Its one of the more difficult plants to grow emersed, I had 4 mother stems completely melt and die. dont get discouraged if that happens! Good luck!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Wow that sucks! ^ glad it's growing for you though!!! Yea it's just going to be a fun little project really that I want so that when it starts growing I can fill my new tank with plants as needed  and if I am able to sell some I will do that also ! I will keep everyone up to date with a weekly picture of the setup and what not so stay tuned! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I tell you what though! Those tissue cutler plants are so nice and are so much of a bang for your buck! I mean I got so much helferi out of two bags I almost couldn't plant it all! Same with the crypts but I got them in the little pot, I got two of each type so two green two brown and each pot had a good solid 20 plants in it that were pretty big! And I see people that sell one plant for 2.50 where as this was only 4somthin. And I got like 45 stems out of two pots! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

alright guys i have ran into my first problem lol as probably most of you know will happen in first timers luck lol. And that question is...... How often should i be replacing the water in the tank? I asking this because i noticed that its really dark now after about 3days. Does it matter? Or is it really just for aesthetic reason that you would need to change it?

Bump: alright guys i have ran into my first problem lol as probably most of you know will happen in first timers luck lol. And that question is...... How often should i be replacing the water in the tank? I asking this because i noticed that its really dark now after about 3days. Does it matter? Or is it really just for aesthetic reason that you would need to change it?


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Here is a little small video of what the setup looks like. As you can see I added white cabinet paper to the two sides and also as you can see the water is super ugly! Which is what I was asking about in the post above this one. Humidity stays at 80-85% wish it would stay closer to 90! Was thinking about adding a humidifier and just keeping it on like 7hours a day and 7hours at night. This might make my humidity what I want it but I'm not sure 
https://vimeo.com/122929400

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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

treyLcham said:


> alright guys i have ran into my first problem lol as probably most of you know will happen in first timers luck lol. And that question is...... How often should i be replacing the water in the tank? I asking this because i noticed that its really dark now after about 3days. Does it matter? Or is it really just for aesthetic reason that you would need to change it?


Hi treyLcham,

It is possible that the water flow created by airstone may be causing some of the soil in the pots to wash past the gravel and into solution. Are the airstone bubbles flowing up between the pots?


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi treyLcham,
> 
> It is possible that the water flow created by airstone may be causing some of the soil in the pots to wash past the gravel and into solution. Are the airstone bubbles flowing up between the pots?


No Sir. It might just be because of the first time putting everything in and it just had to settle in maybe? Ill do a good water change tomorrow and go from therre


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

I've never done a water change in my enclosure.you'll remove a bunch of nutrients If you do a water change


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

yea im just going to leave it unless i get some type of algae bloom or what not =) Thanks


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Sean W. said:


> I've never done a water change in my enclosure.you'll remove a bunch of nutrients If you do a water change


In my experience that has not rung true. Doing a water change may in fact add back some elements.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright guys so here is the update for this week with pics. So today I went out and finally got some more clear plastic rap to replace the one on top that was just messy and probably messed with the lighting and humidity lvls. Today I also decided to take all I believe it was 6 pots of the wendtii green and combine them into one. I did notice that there roots grew sosososnfast in the past week that they have been in the soil(about .5" longer) so now there is more space to just spread everything out a little bit and I also put the airstone on the right side so that it would work more efficient as to when it was shoved against the back glass because of lack of space. I did notice that my ludwigia sp red grew about .5"!!!! Ended up propagating it where there were roots the the middle and planting them. Also my at mini finally stood up and my wendtii brown and green are both melting back right now as expected. So Thad the update for this week if anything changes I might add one more in but see you next week! Images will be up in 5min I have to delete some off my phone so I can post more lol 



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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)




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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Just a little update on what's going on and what not. I ended up getting a humidifyer for cheep from a friend so now the humidity lvl stays at 95% range give or take 5%. I knew by doing this I would have to be taking water out every other day so I ended up using some tubing and put a shut off valve on it so now I just have to open and close it and I'm good to go! So it's been about a week and a half I believe and I can't even fathom how much growth I have been getting for the few days the plants have had to settle in. The helferi is actually doing quite good with I would say 1/4inch of growth and the rotala has just took off! Every 4 days it has grown a solid 2inches and I have already propagated it twice! Same thing with the erectus has grown about 3inches and was trying to almost carpet I would say because the stems would go sideways and shoot new roots down so I trimmed them all and planted them! Only plants I can say are really just having to melt and come back are the wendtii brown and green which I was expecting since they were submerged to begin with. So all in all things are going great! I'll post all the pictures when I get home as my phone will not let me post anymore pictures on Tapatalk


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Told you that light would give you huge growtdh


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

alright sorry guys for the wait on the images its been a busy few days. 
So first off here is an image of the tank and plants.








now for the plants....
HC








monte carlo 








s repens and cuphea anagalloidea








True rotala indica and Ludwigia sp. 'red'








Pogostemon erectus








AR Mini 








Cryptocoryne Wendtii brown and green 








Pogostemon helferi








Unknown hairgrass species from my lake in florida








Anubias bonsai








bulbitis app. "baby leaf"








Now these pictures were taken after i had trimmed and planted the trimmings off some of the plants. So i will post pictures some time at the end of the week or next week on how much they have grown just to show you guys what's happening with growth. Also here are two pictures of the tank with the humidifier on. it stays on 24/7 and i have noticed that the humidity during the day is around 87-92% and at night it goes up to 95%+. I am going to try and put a heater in the water and put it to 80* F Which should make the humidity go way up since the water temp is probably at around 75 right now if i had to guess. Now i do not know how or if this will affect the plants and there growth but i would think it would do no harm since i am trying to create the rain forest type temps and since that around 85* i see no problem with me doing so. if i can get the humidity to around 95* without the humidifier in and just use the heater that will def help with the light getting through.
















This last picture doesn't really do the light justice as it was pitch black out at this point and the camera was really sucking.

Bump: tbo i feel that the humidity gauge is really off because i do not see how its possible for the humidifier to pump that much mist in and not be at 95% humidity.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright guys so here is the one week update on how much plant growth I got! I was amazed to come back after three days and see how much growth I have gotten! I got about 7stems from the ar mini and re planted and got about 30 stems from the ludwigia and about 10stems from the true rotala and 7stems from the s repens and I would say a good 15stems from the pogostemon erectus! And the Reds are not even close to being picked up by my phone camera so sorry for that. https://vimeo.com/124175856


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Seriously tho. Looks good!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Haha thanks! I didn't expect the growth but hey I'll take it haha makes it waster for me to complete a scale faster 


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Very nice treyLcham! You are well on your way to becoming a true plantaholic!!! lol


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Hahaha that's for sure! In going to try and wait a full two weeks before trimming this time and just see what happens. I was surprised that the one baby tears pot is almost covered after two weeks i think 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

3week ^



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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Well I decided to make a few changes, I changed the cat litter to the cheapest clay cat litter which is definitely working better since it doesn't really pull in water. I also raised the plants up about 4-5inch so my humidity should have increase a good amount. I also decided to take the bulbitis out and put it in my quarantine tank since it wasn't doing so well. One thing that I tried lasting week that really worked well is, I cut the baby tears short and took the cuttings and just pushed them in a new container on the soil and they are actually growing and rooted in already! Didn't think it would work but it did! One other change is I got I would say a good 50+ stems of the ludwigia and planted it in half the tub with the crypts. And I also was able to make my 10 ar mini from day one ten into 40! As you will see everything is really looking good and almost no melting occurred!




























not really good pictures but as you can see the tray with all the stems is only one weeks worth of growth so I will probably be selling some for a good price next week 


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## chinaboy1021 (May 30, 2003)

How do you keep your humidity so high? Is it that you have a lot of water in your tank and an airstone? Really nice growth. 

I have an emersed setup with plastic bins and just potting soil. There's 1/8" layer of water onto of the soil but I don't think it's providing enough humidity. I have a feeling the humidity is causing your plants to grow at better rates.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

chinaboy1021 said:


> How do you keep your humidity so high? Is it that you have a lot of water in your tank and an airstone? Really nice growth.
> 
> 
> 
> I have an emersed setup with plastic bins and just potting soil. There's 1/8" layer of water onto of the soil but I don't think it's providing enough humidity. I have a feeling the humidity is causing your plants to grow at better rates.




THe humidity really just helps to keep the plants leafs from drying out. The reason i get so much growth is mainly from my lighting, It as 8 CFL 6500k 1600 lumen bulbs and is a glossy white sides and top for max reflection. This gives me about 20k lumens from light to my plants. I am actually about done with my new fixture which will have fans built in and it has 15 CFL light bulbs! My work was kind enough to give me some 3/4 inch Birch plywood that was left over. I should have it up by tomorrow. Dimensions of it are the same as my tank so, i am about to embrace crazy growth lol.














woops I meant to edit not repost lol.. My temp is at 87-90 with no burning of any of the plants leafs or stems surprisingly! And my humidity isn't really that great but no issues, at 80-90 depending on the time of the day. Typically at around 90+ before lights turn on and then at mid day it's at 85~87 ish. I'll see how it changes with the extra water lvl.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

treyLcham said:


> THe humidity really just helps to keep the plants leafs from drying out. The reason i get so much growth is mainly from my lighting, It as 8 CFL 6500k 1600 lumen bulbs and is a glossy white sides and top for max reflection. This gives me about 20k lumens from light to my plants. I am actually about done with my new fixture which will have fans built in and it has 15 CFL light bulbs! My work was kind enough to give me some 3/4 inch Birch plywood that was left over. I should have it up by tomorrow. Dimensions of it are the same as my tank so, i am about to embrace crazy growth lol. Also my humidity honestly isn't as high as I would like it, it is around 80-90 and the temp of the tank right now without a fan has been 87-90 but that temp surprisingly has not burnt the plants at all.






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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

The new fixture is coming along great! Should be done by tomorrow so I'll post some pictures of it on the tank hopefully! Can't wait to see how much more growth I get! My anubias is finally starting to really show growth! I replanted a bunch of helferi because it was so compact I couldn't even find a stem to cut lol so the new plants are going through some melting, hope they bounce back! 









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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Time for some pictures of the plants since its been about a week or a little over one week.. So much more growth and everything is really compact. I cut the tops off the baby tears to see if I can use them to start a new tub and to my surprise it worked great and they are already rooted!




























































































Each picture is a different tub so sorry if there not in order with each other... 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I and forgot to say that since I raised the water lol about 4 inches the humidity has not gone under 90%and temp stays at 83*~84 


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## theatermusic87 (Jun 22, 2014)

looks awesome, subscribed


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

theatermusic87 said:


> looks awesome, subscribed


=) Thanks!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Update pictures will be up tonight! The difference from last time I updated is amazing  


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Alright so here is the update pictures! It's been almost a week and the growth is crazy lol. I will probably post a sell thread next week.













































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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

https://vimeo.com/125355858


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Just a quick few pics 








__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content

























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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

i have a great roak going right now just to let anyone know who wants to jump in on it.
(i hope its ok for me to post this here....)


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Thought I would do an update before I go and hack a bunch of plants down from my roak contest . Plants have been doing very very good, I have been able to great a full 4x4 inch portion of baby tears within a week and a half, so I'm stoked on that and hope to be able to have a smaller iwagumi tank build after my 60 gallon! I did change one thing that I have been doing and that is before I used to leave no holes in the plastic rap and tape all the corners off, but I found that when doing this it increases the pressure in the tank and doesn't allow for water to evaporate and build up the humidity as fast. Before I was around 80* and after adding a around 1/2 inch hole my humidity sky rocketed to a solid 95* and stable! So here are the update pics, hope everyone likes them  







first pic is of a patch of baby tears I had set around one and a half weeks ago!! 







pogostemon erectus







dwarf baby tears







AR Mini 







this is my amubias nana petite, I noticed that after I put the screen on top of it to dim the lighting its growth ha really taken off!










































tons of pogostemon Helferi!! Picture doesn't really show how green it truly is.







tons of s repens, probably the thickest patch I have ever seen in my life! Lol like a solid 100+ stems and growing out of the sides of the tub lol. 







Monte Carlo. Just sold 3 portions last week on Monday and it's already grown back lol







this is my wendtii green and brown, not selling it or giving it away I just love this plant and hope to use some in my 60gallon! 







this is around 3-4 weeks worth of ludwigia sp red, it is very deceiving as this is upwards of 100-150stems cluttered together lol!! 







one of my favorite stem plants by far is true rotala!







cuphea anagalloidea, one of the slowest growing plants I have ever had! 















Well this is a lot lol didn't relics how much I really had =o, am I obsessed lol, 



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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

looking awesome! kinda cool to see what a super sized growing enclosure based on my design is capable of!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Sean W. said:


> looking awesome! kinda cool to see what a super sized growing enclosure based on my design is capable of!


haha yea thats for sure! Your method definitely worked great! Couldnt have done it without you! Only part im not looking forward to doing is taking all the plants out and putting new soil in -_-, thats going to be very very dirty and hectic
I was surprised that my lighting cost for all this to run as long as it does a month was only around $8-10!


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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

Just remember me when I need plants haha


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi treyLcham,

You are really doing well; it is rewarding to see how those starts are growing and multiplying for you! 

Now comes the hard part, keeping it 'thinned' so the plants don't get overgrown and allow disease and/or fungus to become established. Make friends with the manager /owner of a LFS or two and start selling off your excess for store credits.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi treyLcham,
> 
> You are really doing well; it is rewarding to see how those starts are growing and multiplying for you!
> 
> Now comes the hard part, keeping it 'thinned' so the plants don't get overgrown and allow disease and/or fungus to become established. Make friends with the manager /owner of a LFS or two and start selling off your excess for store credits.


sadly i do not have any local fish stores in bradenton or sarasota that i know of =/ closes one is in i beleive tampa and that would be a long drive lol. So far i have been having fun with the roak i have right now that will thin the plants out alot! I plant to try and do these roaks once a month to give back to the hobby =). The good thing is i have already made enough to keep the setup going for the next 4months without having any money issues at all so, for now im happy with how things are going and what not but yea we will see for sure! I plan on wanting to try new types of plants in the future! One plant that i might get rid of after doing my scape is the ludwigia sp red, it is just way to fast of a grower to keep up with at this point. Im getting like 6 inches of growth a month, good thing is that it stops growing out at around 9 inches and then just starts making side runners lol =')


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i can't belive how clean it is with that humidity so high up, no fungus at all?
i read your trick and realize that's what happened in my setup too. great setup


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

ikuzo said:


> i can't belive how clean it is with that humidity so high up, no fungus at all?
> i read your trick and realize that's what happened in my setup too. great setup


nope no fungus other than on my drain tubing under the water. Its not a lot though only a small amount and has been there ever since i added the plastic tubing to the water. I do get the occasional bga but its very minor amounts only like a quarter the size of a penny and i just take it out by hand it doesn't come back typically. Now when i first setup the tank and used that smaller granule kitty litter that was more of a newspaper base than anything it seemed like the bga was attracted to it like a mad man! Fingers crossed i never have that problem but if it does happen, i like figuring my way out of a ditch =) It also helps that i am a mad man when it comes to research and i basically researched like for one month before setting it up and still to this day i always am on this forum looking at the different algae and what not and finding the ways to figure out how they got there and how to get rid of them=)


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

had another great raok This week and the winner was #44! Cant wait to do another one come two weeks or so!!!! Keep your eyes out for it!!!


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

nice dense growth!


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## Nazdaq (Mar 25, 2015)

This is awesome, will follow this for sure!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Got some new update pics on how the tank is doing!!!





















https://vimeo.com/128319376


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi treyLcham,

They are certainly looking very healthy and lush....keep thinning!!! LOL


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi treyLcham,
> 
> They are certainly looking very healthy and lush....keep thinning!!! LOL


im try my best lol


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

A lots going to change this week with my immersed setup!!! I am going to be removing alot of the carpeting plants and putting them in their own tank so i can have more than just a few 4x4 inh pots, i believe the tank their going in is a 20 gallon long, might be more, not really sure. Plant is to use my other light fixture and that's all i will need for the setup and i am going to be able to raise the water lvl above half way, so that means no humidifier is really needed to get to the 90% humidity i want. I am also planning to get rid of some stuff that i really just don't care for growing anymore and just strictly stick with the stuff that i really enjoy having. What stuff am i getting rid of? Probably going to get rid of the wendtii green and brown because i cant really do anything with it except watch the leafs grow some and its really messy to have to pull out. Also i am going to take all the anubias and add it to my main tank since its really slow at growing. Planning to use the extra space for possibly more ar mini and true rotala! These have to be my favorite as of right now!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Biggest update yet!!!!!








And it's only one picture =,) 
Start guessing what's going to be in this tank, plant wise 


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## Islandgaliam (May 24, 2014)

treyLcham said:


> Biggest update yet!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ar mini and true rotala????


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Nope  I'll give you one hint, it is very very short typically 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

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## Sean W. (Oct 12, 2013)

No one can say this setup doesnt work! Haha

The teacher has become the student! 

Looks great Trey!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Sean W. said:


> No one can say this setup doesnt work! Haha
> 
> The teacher has become the student!
> 
> Looks great Trey!


works great!!! I was actually thinking of using some high density Styrofoam and cutting out squares for the cups to fit in perfect without falling through, but i had extra light defuser lol. Alright ill just let everyone in on the project. Its going to hold 27 4x4 inch tubs of dwarf baby tears and the other half will be monte carlo. This one i cant wait for!!!!! I could literally make a full scape lol, to bad i will not have the supply's to make a new high tech tank lol. This stuff is addicting though haha.


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## Islandgaliam (May 24, 2014)

treyLcham said:


> Nope  I'll give you one hint, it is very very short typically
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


hmmmm...and is it green? lol


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Haha I'll just give you a video lol. It's going to be half dwarf baby tears and half Monte Carlo 
https://youtu.be/0RcAHcPKML4


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Why not....
https://youtu.be/mt05LfJ5wBg


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2TCsJpP9CQ

Bump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqoSnobR490


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

OMG i did not know how many wendtii green and brown i had until now hahahaha! I filled almost half of my holding tank with it hahaha! Its a true jungle for the black tetra in it haha.


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## IUnknown (Feb 5, 2003)

treyLcham,
Couple questions, on your humidifier on the video it sounds like you need an exhaust hole to keep the humidity at 100%? Do you run it 24/7 and if it has settings do you run it at full blast?


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## Islandgaliam (May 24, 2014)

treyLcham said:


> Haha I'll just give you a video lol. It's going to be half dwarf baby tears and half Monte Carlo
> https://youtu.be/0RcAHcPKML4
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I was gonna guess that!  lol


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I run it at 50% 24/7 and when it runs out I will give it two day without it then I'll fill it back up. Typically I give it two days without it because I just forget and now I'm just programmed to refill it twice a week lol. Yea your right it's just a small exhaust hole that allows for new air to come and and old air to exit also if you don't add this I found that the air then decided it's going to push through the humidifier hose causing the humidifier to not work. 


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## IUnknown (Feb 5, 2003)

Thanks for all the tips. Converted my setup to your example, today it was at 97 humidy and 87 degrees. I turned off the heater worried about melting the plants, but looks like its fine with your setup.

treyLcham, on your light measurement picture, looks like your app was set to lux? That's not the same as lumens? I'm using the fixture below, at 18,000 lumens at surface. Disadvantage not as much coverage, but half as much power per lumen.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

IUnknown said:


> Thanks for all the tips. Converted my setup to your example, today it was at 97 humidy and 87 degrees. I turned off the heater worried about melting the plants, but looks like its fine with your setup.
> 
> treyLcham, on your light measurement picture, looks like your app was set to lux? That's not the same as lumens? I'm using the fixture below, at 18,000 lumens at surface. Disadvantage not as much coverage, but half as much power per lumen.
> 
> Amazon.com: TaoTronics® TT-GL05 UFO Led Grow Light 90W For Plant Growing Germinating Flowing Seeding (45*3W, 135W Theoretically)*: Patio, Lawn & Garden


yea i was more trying to figure out the par more say then the lumens or lux and i new that i could get a solid ball park with the app. Wish i had a par meter but i dont so i am thinking my par is running in the upper 200-400 ish range. I have what i believe is like 18 bulbs each with 1860 lumen or close to that.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Anyone ever seen an ar mini plant like this before? It's spiral has got to be the coolest thing I have seen from any of my plants.










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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Hoping it keeps spiraling all the way to the top!!! That would be sick!


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

I'm going to make an update video today so keep your eyes peeled! 


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9PytzNUM0

The first 5min or so are of the emersed setup and the rest is on my other setup. Was going to break it up into two videos, but i didnt, o well lol.


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## IUnknown (Feb 5, 2003)

treyLcham,
Have you considered using ultrasonic misters? The airpump should pump all the O2 the setup would need (I'd think). You wouldn't have to fill up the mister you have.
http://www.thehouseofhydro.com/one-head-mist-maker.html


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Good thought! sadly i can not put any more money toward the setup =/ as i might be taking it down soon, not sure yet though.


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Been sosooss long. Well here are the pictures!! 













































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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Well it's been so long since I have posted on this forum! But today marks the day that I tore down my emersed setup, so I thought I would let everyone know . I am probably going to setup a smaller tank in the future. This emersed setup made a lot of people happy with the raoks I was able to do because of its size. Rip 2/28/16 


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## blinky2088 (Oct 16, 2006)

Nice post thanks for doing it i reread everything start to finish again.

How many watts were you using over 50 gallon? Missed that sorry?


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

As someone who has gone back and forth on trying an emersed setup, what's your reason for shutting the system down?


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

vanish said:


> As someone who has gone back and forth on trying an emersed setup, what's your reason for shutting the system down?


Just available time and space. I am a senior in high school preparing for collage and having a shrimp tank and a high tech tank, as well as a 55 gallon emersed tank and 25 gallon emersed tank, which just became way to much work, considering i am also having class and actual work during the week. For the past two months before i took it down i had not even touched it, yet alone tried to sell anything, and at that point i was just wasting money on the electricity bill i had to pay for out of my own pocket, which was about $15 a month for the large tank and $8 for the smaller one. I was just glad i was able to make my money back on the setup cost and running cost with extra money for spending on other aquarium goods like fish and other plants.

Bump:


blinky2088 said:


> Nice post thanks for doing it i reread everything start to finish again.
> 
> How many watts were you using over 50 gallon? Missed that sorry?


I was using 322 watts and around 22,400 lumens in the 7,400k range. Which actually would add up to around $10 a month i think


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