# 12 Gallon Reboot — Learning Experience



## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

*Lighting Upgrade*

It started when water got into the built in LED lighting fixture somehow and the whole thing, other than about 5 lights, was toast. A replacement unit isn't cheap, and it never provided enough light anyway. I ended up going the DIY route. I'm now pushing 2.25 w/gal with power compact, and for only about $20. The funny thing is, Hagen responded about a week after I was done with this and replaced the LED fixture under warranty. I'm keeping this one though, as it is easily 2x as bright — it's not even close.

I won't bore you with all the things I tried, or was planning to try — just where I ended up. While bumming around my local Menards trying to come up with a solution to use regular compact fluorescents, I had an "ah ha!" moment. I found an inexpensive way to get a 27W power compact bulb, ballast, and socket by getting this cheap $17 lamp: Natural Full Spectrum Desk Lamp. It came with everything I needed!

I made the housing and light diffuser/reflector from 4" sewer PVC. It's a little lighter and thinner than regular PVC. I happened to have about 6' of it sitting up in the rafters in my garage (free!). I cut it so it's not quite as wide as the lid, and heat can easily flow out the sides and escape through the mesh on the lid. I cut in little notches keep it from sliding side to side, and the big notch lets the pump flow water by it. Here's what it looks like:










The next step was to gut the lamp for parts. This was very easy. All I needed was the socket, the ballast, the metal clip that holds the end of the bulb, and the wiring. I mounted them into my fabricated PVC hood with a trimmed piece of a PVC end cap for the socket and a cut down hollow wall anchor for the light clip. As you can see, the light fits into the whole setup perfectly!



















Next was to make arms just that attach where the LED one did so I could swing it up out of the way. I also needed to paint the back of it with black paint so that light didn't come though the top, as you can see in the last pic.

Using 1/2" PVC pipe and connectors along with some cotter pins, I fashioned the connecting arms:










I painted the whole thing black for looks and to block light from bleeding out the top of the PVC.










I am absolutely thrilled with how well it turned out!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

*"Raw Industrial Style Stand"*

Raw Industrial Style is the name hydrophyte gave is design. I thought his idea was brilliant, and decided to build on it and adapt it to my space and situation.

Right now I just have the small 12 gallon Fluval Edge, but I my plan is to slowly piece together a 29 gallon rimless tank. I thought it would be cool if I could design it to handle my Edge for now, and then the 29 when I'm ready. I also wanted to be able to hide my stuff since I plan on running CO2 and need a place to put my test kits, fish food, ferts, and the rest of the crap that I've accumulated.

Here is what I came up with after many hours in sketchup for what I want in the end with the 29 gallon rimless. It's 25" tall, 32" long, and 14" deep (there will be a 1" lip with the 29 gallon):










In the mean time, all I had to do to adapt it for the edge was add a top, which was all of $9 worth of 1x3 cedar. Here is my rendering of how I thought it would look with my Edge until I get the 29 gallon setup put together:










The stain I used is Minwax Red Chestnut, and I painted the galvanized brackets black. Here is a pic of it without the top, so you can see how I reinforced under top. With the Edge, the weight won't be supported the outside edges, so I needed more support underneath the top.










As for the top, it's simply 6 1x3's glued together such that it overlaps the stand by 1" on the sides and front:










After painting all of the screws and completing the lower shelf, I moved the stand into place the newly emptied 12 gallon on it. Here it is with the screws painted, just before moving it into place:










Here it is sitting in it's new home under my 12 gallon Edge.










Google sketchup worked great for building it virtually first and making my actual material list, but for the tighter tolerances I wanted it in front of me first, which is why I didn't make the doors at the same time. For now, for the doors and sides I'm just going to make small curtains from black cloth. I can hang them in the openings. That'll let me hide stuff until I make the real sides and doors when it warms back up in the spring. That's the awesome thing about hydrophyte's design — it's very easy to customize to however you want it!

To make planning/customizing easier for anybody interested in using Sketchup to build one of these, I've uploaded the model I made to their database. Sketchup is a free download, but there is a bit of a learning curve to it. Once you have it, just go to 3D Warehouse and Get Models. Then search for 29 Gallon Aquarium Stand. It should be in there now.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Nice start to the reboot!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

GMYukonon24s said:


> Nice start to the reboot!


Thanks! Hopefully I can get some feedback on the layout/rocks at the end of the first post before my plants show up. 

Also, I updated the lighting and stand posts.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

I like the hardscape/rock formation. That's a beautiful stand you have and nice light fixture.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Tonight I received my foreground plants from Sean (sjb1987) in the SNS forums here. I am very happy with both the quantity and quality! The main foreground plant is Marsilea [strike]minuta[/strike] quadrifolia, and then there is a little Hydrocotyle Tripartita Japan sprinkled in (and running up the driftwood).

Here is how it looks. Sorry for all the bubbles and cloudy water — I just finished planting them and I'm too impatient to wait for it all to clear up. 

It should fill in nicely over the coming months.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

So this week I fired up a DIY CO2 setup. The first mix I'm trying is 2 packs of jello with 1.75c sugar added. After letting it set, I cut it up and put it in a 1.9L juice container and added Lalvin Dried Wine Yeast EC 1118 (and water), which is yeast that'll live to 18% alcohol. After 2 days it's pumping out CO2 now at a rate of about a bubble every 4 seconds. Slow, but very very steady. I have a drop checker on the way to see how well it's working. The edge has such a small air opening (only 7" x 4 3/4"), and it's only 12 gallons, so I'm curious to see how well the CO2 holds in the water.

With the CO2 going, I decided to buy a couple of pogostemon helferi which requires CO2. I also have some stems of rotala indica and a bunch of rotala roundifolia and bacopa on the way.

One thing that's really neat about the Edge is the crystal clear top down view:


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Okay, I've added some more plants. I've got rotala (colorata?) over to the far right, with a bunch of anubias nana in front of it going down the hill. I planted a few pogostamon helfiri right behind the foreground plants (two normal sized and one baby). Behind that up the hill are a few rotala indica and then some bacopa behind that.

Ignore the diffuser that's attached to a rock via rubber band. :redface: I'll be mounting that nicely soon, but it came in today and I wanted to swap out the chopstick/cotton ball contraption I had on there.










They were just planted tonight, so they are going in every direction. Hopefully they fill in nicely soon. Also, I put in a drop checker with some home made 4 dKH solution and it's turned a nice green color, so I guess the chopstick/cotton ball temporary diffuser was working well.










I'd like to fill in a few "poofier" plants like some Cabomba or something, and then I'm going to put some tall grass like jungle val in the back corners (but nobody in SNS has any!? Anybody want to sell some?) Was also thinking of some DHG around the rocks, but I'm afraid it'll take over. 

Other than that, I'll just be watching it fill out. I'm dosing 1/2 EI to go along with the CO2, and I'm trying 10 hours per day @ 2.25 watts/gallon for light. We'll see how this all goes.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Today I picked up some jungle val and cabomba and got them in the tank. I also properly mounted the CO2 diffuser with a suction cup. DIY Jello CO2 is going strong at almost 2 weeks. Drop checker is nice and green. 

I'm pretty thrilled with how it looks, and I can't wait for it to fill out more.










When I planted the val I disrupted a lot of soil. I noticed two things. First, it's a bitch to place plants on a steep slope of ADA aqua soil. It's very eager to tumble down hill. It'll hold a slope, but if you start disturbing it, it's tough. It's perhaps even more frustrating when you are planting through a tiny hole in the top of your tank and can only use 1 hand. 

The second thing is that when you disturb aqua soil, it deposits a lot of dirt on your plants. I'm not sure how to clean this off, or if you just can't and it'll eventually go away after a long period of non-disturbance. I have no idea, but I wish my plants weren't dirty right now, because otherwise they look great. *Does anybody have any feedback on the dirty plants?*


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## switch26 (Jan 25, 2012)

If you have amano shrimp, or Red cherry shrimp in your nano, they should sift thru all the dirst and clean off your plants over a period of a few days.. if you don't want to do that, then dust off your plants and do a lot of water changes

As far as the slope you created crumbling, well next time before you fill up your tank if you can get your hands on some plastic dividers or anything that you want to cut to shape(preferably thin plastic) You can stick it in areas of the soil that you think may start sliding down from erosion. This is also commonly used for Aquascapers when trying to keep plants from growing into the sand, or fine gravel area's of their aquarium. 

Also a great way to keep plants from growing or spreading to area's you don't want them to spread to


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks for the tips! Once the tank is done cycling I'll be moving in about 25 or so shrimp, so I won't worry about the dirty plants. As for the erosion tip, I'll definitely remember that for next time.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

*UPDATE*: Getting excellent growth! Amonia cycle is done. Nitrite cycle is almost done. Critters can go in *soon* but I'm not sure when. 

Looking at pictures from just 4 days ago, the growth is really excellent. The cool thing about the Fluval Edge is that it just looks fantastic in your living room. Here are two pics of how it looks now when you aren't staring into it at point blank, and instead just looking at the overall view:



















Here are some better pictures of how the plants are coming along. I'm really happy. Now that they have established their roots, they are just taking off, and I've even cut the photo period back to 8 hours per day.


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## golfer_d (Oct 3, 2012)

Looks great!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

This Wednesday will be 3 weeks with the DIY Jello CO2 mix, and it's still going strong. Drop checker is nice and green. I have another batch made up and ready to go when this one starts dropping off. There is about 25-30% jello left, so as long as the champagne yeast can keep on living it'll keep on going.

I'm getting great plant growth and have had to trim several stems as they touch the top and start to lean over to the opening where the light/filter are. Every plant is growing well, although the marsilea [strike]minuta[/strike] quadrifolia is a little slower than I expected — but that's fine.

It's all the way through the ammonia part of the cycle and it's about 1/2 way through nitrites. I just have to keep feeding it ammonia until it's ready. I can't wait to drop in all the shrimp and fish! It's fun to look at now, but it needs some action.

Last week I procured some christmas moss from the SNS forum here. On Friday I attached it to my driftwood. It was very tricky tying it to the wood since I couldn't move the wood and I only had 1 hand. I did manage to get 1 good loop of thread holding it down in the middle. Then I just laid 2 of those lead plant weights to hold down each end.

*Anybody have any idea how long it'll take this christmas moss to attach to the driftwood?* The lead weights are ugly, so I'd like to get them out sooner than later, but I want to make sure it's attached well first.


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## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

It looks great. Yeah MM grows pretty slow, I have only grown 3 new nodes in a week.


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## jarvitron (Aug 6, 2012)

Some of it (an incredibly small amount) is connected now, but the weights aren't enough to really get it to take hold, you should pull the DW out, pull the weights off, and use some fishing line to really really twine/smush the moss on there eight or so good loops spaced out even-ish. Moss will only connect to the DW where there's contact, it's not really like rooting where the plant root seeks nutrients, it just attaches if it's touching for long enough, and the more intentional points of contact you make between the moss and the wood the better.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Green_Flash said:


> It looks great. Yeah MM grows pretty slow, I have only grown 3 new nodes in a week.


That sounds about right. I am getting some new nodes here and there. I don't mind that it's slow. My stems and jungle val are crazy fast, so I have enough to trim already. 



jarvitron said:


> Some of it (an incredibly small amount) is connected now, but the weights aren't enough to really get it to take hold, you should pull the DW out, pull the weights off, and use some fishing line to really really twine/smush the moss on there eight or so good loops spaced out even-ish. Moss will only connect to the DW where there's contact, it's not really like rooting where the plant root seeks nutrients, it just attaches if it's touching for long enough, and the more intentional points of contact you make between the moss and the wood the better.


I kind of feared that was the case. The driftwood cannot be removed without destroying the entire aquascape. All the aqua soil behind it would roll down and burry the [strike]MM[/strike] MQ. All of the plants behind it would come out. It'd doable I guess, but it would be a giant mess. The driftwood is holding back a lot of substrate like a retaining wall.

Maybe I could get longer lead weights and then wrap them over the top and bottom edge (right now they are just wrapped over the top edge). Or better yet, I could probably do that with thin stainless wire instead, and then get many more holding it in place without blocking so much light. Basically clamp it to the DW with the stainless wire. Hmmmm... You got my wheels turning.


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## jarvitron (Aug 6, 2012)

If the DW has voids in it you could use the stainless wire loops, poked around and tightened like some twist ties around it. Actually if it has voids in it, use the stainless wire to poke some of the moss down into the void, where it'll take hold on all sides. Good luck! My moss is some of the prettiest stuff in my tank, even if it isn't all tied down right now.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Unfortunately, I don't think the DW has any voids, or least any big enough. Good ideas though!

Nitrites are down to .25ppm tonight! I suspect fish and shrimp can go in the next couple of days. We'll see how the tests look. I can't wait!

Officially 3 weeks on Jello CO2 and appear to be going strong. That's already 50% longer than sugar water. I'm happy, but I'm hoping for 1 more week. The idea of only making a mix once per month using Jello is what got me to jump on the DIY CO2 to begin with.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

*Fish & Shrimp are in!!*

Yesterday nitrites were down to just .25 ppm, and today nitrites hit zero. I did two 50% water changes (75% total) to remove the nitrates, and then moved the fish and shrimp into their new home!

Currently stocked light: 6 neon tetras, 3 rummy nose tetras, and about two dozen shrimp. The shrimp are mostly cherries, but there are some unidentified ones and a big amano. I'm thinking of adding a few more of each tetra.

Exploring their new home:










I tried to design the aquascape to encourage them to hang out in front over the [strike]MM[/strike] MQ carpet. It's working! They naturally gravitated right to where I wanted them to go! I also created a pocket back near the heater with a flat rock where nothing can grow, so they have a place to hide. There are a few hanging out back there right now too. It's fun to see them go to the places you made for them. 










Berried cherry!










I have NO idea what kind of shrimp this is. Any input is appreciated. 










I don't know what this one is either:


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

At 23 days today, the CO2 had really slowed down this afternoon. I gave it a jiggle after work to see if that would give it some pep, and then I went out to meet some friends. I got home 5 hours later at 10:30 and it's even slower and the drop checker is starting go blue. 

I decided to pour off about 75% of the booze and add some water back in to lower the alcohol content. I could have good a good buzz off what I poured out — very high alcohol. It smelled exactly like cherry champagne.

There is still 25% jello or so left in the container. If it's not going strong by morning I'm going to swap in my next mix, which is already made. 

I'm also quite pleased that in just 24 hours my team of shrimp have meticulously cleaned most of my plants. Wow! Quite a cleanup crew!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

The jello was just barely going on Saturday morning. I think I was just messing with it too much, and lost all the pressure in the line, which takes hours to build back up. Anyway...

I fired up the next bottle of Jello and hooked it up inline. It took a while to get going, and basically the tank got no CO2 on Saturday. The second jello mix is now going strong, and the first jello mix is also going well again.

Now with 2 jello reactors, the drop checker is clearly yellow in the morning:










The fish are not reacting negatively and seem to be just fine. It was like this Sunday, Monday, and this morning. It goes pale green a little bit after the lights come on, and then full green by the end of the day. Like I said, the fish are acting fine, but I also can't help but feel like I'm walking on a tight rope. Also, my plants took off again once both reactors were going strong, which leads me to believe it's been weak for the last week or so. 

All of this has led me to the decision to build my own regulator and go pressurized. DIY works, and it's cheap! However, I'm not so impressed with consistency. Right now I'm trying to track all the parts down.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Purchased so far...

A Linde stainless dual stage regulator 0-100 working pressure:










And a Parker Hannifin H3L metering valve:










Hunting down a solenoid and the rest of the parts. Noticed some BBA growing on my vals, and I can only assume this is due to the inconsistent delivery of DIY CO2. I trimmed it all out.


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

Really pretty little gem of a tank!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

All is going mostly well. I have a total of 4 berried cherry shrimp! I decided to move them into my other temporary 10 gallon tank that's still running. I don't want the babies to be eaten up by the tetras.

DIY CO2 is going strong. The original jello mix is actually still running (almost 5 weeks), and it's in tandem with the new one that I started a week and a half ago. I still think the inconsistent nature of DIY CO2 is what's causing my BBA. I also noticed that the BBA only grows on my jungle val. I should have pressurized CO2 up and running in the next two weeks. Most of the parts are already here.

The Christmas moss just isn't doing well. Most of it is brown, and I'm not sure why. The only thing I can think of is that it was all just trimmings. None of the pieces of it were more than maybe 1-2 inches. Could that be it?

The rest of the tank is looking quite good and requires weekly trimmings:










All of the carpet is doing well, and I'm really happy that the pogostemon helfiri (downoi) is also doing very well.










I love sitting in my favorite chair, right by the tank, and just staring into it. It's a happy place.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

As I prepare for pressurized CO2, I made some stand modifications. As it stands, the height of my lower shelf only has enough height for a 2.5 lb cylinder. However, by making a hole in the shelf to sink the cylinder into, I made enough room for a 5 lb one, and it also holds it firmly in place so it cannot get knocked it over. 

Furthermore, I sunk it 6" deep so that I can see the dials and adjustments without crouching way down. As you can see, the regulator is not complete yet, but I'm all ready to go when it is. You can also see that I need to poly the lower shelf, although I can't do that until spring.

As low as I sunk it, you could see the lower support stick out below from probably 6-8 feet away, but my chair completely blocks the view so it doesn't matter. If my chair wasn't there, I probably would have only sunk it 3" instead of 6" deep.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Overall, the growth is still really good. It's fun to look back at pictures from earlier to see how much it's grown in just 6 weeks! Every single plant is doing well. I still have some BBA going on and a little GSA, but it's not bad, and I suspect will get better when I go to pressurized CO2.

I decided to pull my anubias nana from this tank and propagate some of the marsilea [strike]minuta[/strike] quadrifolia in it's place (where it's thin on the far right in this pic). I have 3 corydora pandas that kept knocking the nana loose from the substrate. Front view (post water change, so it's bubbly):










A close up of the [strike]MM[/strike] MQ and hydrocotyle carpet. I thought the [strike]MM[/strike] MQ was growing really slow, but now that I look at it, it's really filling in nicely. I get new nodes popping up all the time. 










And finally an overall tank view. As much of a PITA as the fluval edge can be to work on, damn it looks good.










I have some Ludwigia sp. Red coming tomorrow along with some Persicaria sp. Kawagoeanum. I need to ad some color, and I'm hoping this will pan out!

My pressurized CO2 is nearly done. Just waiting on a few parts from Bettatail. :thumbsup:


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

your tank looks awesome.. you are making me want to redo my edge!


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## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

how long does each bulb last (figuring replacement costs compared to led)? How do you protect the bulb from being splashed on by the water?


I am trying to decide if I should go compact flourescent or add additional led lights to my stock 42 leds...

which should I do?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

The power compact bulb is rated for 10k hours. I run mine for 10 hours per day, so figure I'm burning through 3650 hours per year. However, at that point they have lost some brightness and the color rendering is not as good, so I'll probably replace them annually. They are a little under $7 each at Menards, so I wouldn't really consider replacement costs into the equation. Electrical costs based on Dakota Electric's rate of $.101 per kWh, it should cost almost exactly $10/year in electricity to run the light.

As far as splashing, there really isn't any splashing there, so I haven't done anything to protect it. It's been a complete none issue.

Additional LEDs would be a great way to go too. They'd be cooler and might be a little less work based on some of the DIY's I've seen, but it'd depend on your approach. You'd definitely need to do some homework to find out exactly what LEDs to get in order to raise your brightness enough. 

I started my project not knowing that Fluval was going to replace my damaged one for free. I had finished my project when I found out. Once I was done, however, I really liked the end result, so I didn't bother trying the other route. Had I known ahead of time, I may have tried the LED route.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Added 5 stems of Ludwigia sp red (red plants in center) and 3 stems of Persicaria sp. Kawagoeanum (red plants on left). This is just want I needed — some color! This is just about an hour after planting, and they spent 4 full days in the mail, so they are recovering and won't look good for at least a few days.

I also pulled all of my Cabomba Caroliniana. It grew too fast and didn't fill out as nicely as I'd hoped. I didn't really like it that much.

I also learned that my marsilea minuta that sjb1987 sold me here in SNS is not actually marsilea minuta, and is actually marsilea quadrifolia. I like the plant, so it's good to know the correct name, especially if other people are looking for it.


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## amajoh (Jan 10, 2013)

Just subscribed to this thread. Your tank is absolutely beautiful. I'm currently in the same situation you found yourself in at the start of this journey and reading through all of this has helped me quite a bit. I'm not _quite_ ready to start over yet, so I'm still collecting as much information as I can before I make the jump. Can't wait to see more!


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## skindy (Jan 30, 2012)

Beautiful tank and I'm super jealous of your stand! How are the berried cherries doing?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

amajoh said:


> Just subscribed to this thread. Your tank is absolutely beautiful. I'm currently in the same situation you found yourself in at the start of this journey and reading through all of this has helped me quite a bit. I'm not _quite_ ready to start over yet, so I'm still collecting as much information as I can before I make the jump. Can't wait to see more!


Thanks! It's amazing how much I've learned (and even more amazing how much I don't know!). I researched tons before starting, and I'm glad I did because I avoided a lot of mistakes the second time around.



skindy said:


> Beautiful tank and I'm super jealous of your stand! How are the berried cherries doing?


Thanks! The stand is great, but I desperately want to get a door or curtain of some sort to hide the bottom. I might have to break out the sewing machine soon. The cherries are doing well. They haven't hatched the young yet, but at least they are all safe in a temp tank so that when they do they'll have a shot at life.


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## infamouz23 (Dec 28, 2008)

Very nice stank and tanks. This inspires me to want to build a stand.


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## amajoh (Jan 10, 2013)

AnotherHobby said:


> Thanks! It's amazing how much I've learned (and even more amazing how much I don't know!). I researched tons before starting, and I'm glad I did because I avoided a lot of mistakes the second time around.


You're welcome! And yeah, it seems like the more I read and learn, the more I feel I _still need to learn_ before taking the plunge. There's so much information on this forum!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

*Overkill*

*Pump update: Overkill*

I have replaced the OEM AquaClear 20 with... something ridiculous. A Fluval 306 external canister. Let me explain.

I got the filter back on Black Friday for just $85 on a Petco website error. I had no immediate need for it, but have been piecing together the stuff I need for bigger tank, and it was a killer deal. It's been in my basement ever since.

Fast forward to today. I've been battling algae, which is mostly CO2 related. The DIY CO2 is inconstant. I think it's mostly due to my house temp which is run on a programmable thermostat. In the winter the drops to 62 during the day and at night and it runs at 69 in the morning and evenings. CO2 output drops noticeably when the temp drops to 62.

The other issue that is causing algae (I think) is flow. The AC 20 filter really doesn't move the water that well now that the tank is filled with plants. Almost all of the algae is where there is almost no flow. Furthermore, CO2 bubbles on the top of this tank bugs me.

I've been thinking of adding an external pump to improve flow, and then I could also hook a C02 reactor to it and get rid of the bubbles. Win! Except that there is no room for hoses with the AC20 in the way, or I'd at least have to re-do my whole custom light thing, and I don't even know if I can fit the hoses anyway. I've literally been thinking about this for weeks.

Then today it dawned on my that I had this big canister filter that could theoretically solve the problem. The issue was could I get it to run slow enough. The manual even says you can slow it down as much as you want with no harm or extra wear on the motor. Well the answer is YES! I can literally slow it down to nothing, or crank it up to a full 300+ GPH (EEK!). 

After thorough testing, I made the swap tonight. I love that I can aim the output of this thing to move water however I want. I'm quite happy with everything other than cosmetics. I don't like how the included intake/output look in the tank. Oh well, I can deal with that later.

Hoses route pretty easily through the back:










No problem fitting behind my light (in fact there is quite a bit more room here now):










Here's the part I'm not in love with, the bright white equipment:










In all, I'm digging it. I can adjust the output to push anywhere, and I can adjust the flow volume very easily. I can now hook up a hydor inline heater and a CO2 reactor and get those two things out of my tank, so that's nice as well.


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## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

spray paint the tubes black ( there is fish safe spray paint)

I did that with my 406 piping inside my 75g discus tank.


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## RobMc (Oct 16, 2012)

Your stand is a work of raw industrial art - and I like the magical look of the flora. Power to the filtration dude.


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## awcoburn2 (Dec 25, 2012)

Tank looks great. Really love the look of the stand.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

FINALLY got my pressurized CO2 going. :bounce:

It was a long and frustrating journey with many ruined stainless parts due to galling and whatnot, but it's done. Originally, all of the pieces between the body and the needle valve were beautiful stainless (including the solenoid) and no brass at all. In the end I didn't care and just wanted to get it going. I'll clean up the tape on the threads later and such, but I'm super happy to have this working.

Next up will be to build a CO2 reactor to get the bubbles out of the tank.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

I haven't updated this in quite a while, so here goes...

The addition of CO2 with the external canister filter and very small surface area of water at the top caused problems. CO2 would not even drop to green by morning. Fish were huffing, and there was clearly not enough oxygen in the tank. Since February I've been running it about 1/4" to 1/2" below the glass ceiling, and the inhabitants are much happier. It doesn't look quite as good, but that's of less importance than happy critters.

As far as any changes go, I've added some blyxia to the far right, and I've propagated a lot of the downoi. I started with just 2, plus a tiny 3rd. I've since propagated that out to 6 of them. The rest of the plants are all the same.

The biggest annoyance is the fact that all of the substrate has basically settled to be much closer to flat from where I started. I've lost of most of my slopes and grading. It's all filled in the front where the MQ is. Much of the MQ has simply filled up to the leaves, while others have stretched higher out of the substrate.

The dimensions of the tank and the tiny hole at the top have gotten old for me. I'm going to keep running with it for a while, but I'm craving a larger open top aquarium so bad it hurts.

Current shot:


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

That's it! I've just grown too tired with trying to manage this tank's life through a tiny hole in the top. The limitation is very frustrating for me. 

Today I ordered the new low iron Mr Aqua MA-720LI.

I got it from Marine Depot, who doesn't have it on their site, but they special ordered it for me for $122 shipped. It has identical dimensions to an ADA 60-P, with the same low iron glass, and about $80 cheaper. I like my little 3 gallon Mr Aqua a lot, so I'm sure this one will be good too.

For lighting I ordred a Finnex Ray2 24" model. Other than that, I have everything else. I'll be using the substrate, the CO2, Fluval 306 filter, and other stuff from this tank. 

Once I'm done tearing this one down, I don't know if I'll set up something low maintenance in this, or if I'll just sell it. We'll see...


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

That a beast of a 12 gallon Edge tank. Reminds me the time when I used to take care of my 12's, she a low tech now. 

Anyways, you can reduce that regulator's size with two SS fittings. It will look much cleaner and reduce the chances of leaks. But it does require you to take off the LP gauge, :S 

1/4 M - 1/8 M - Solenoids - Elbow 1/8 all male, done.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

FlyingHellFish said:


> That a beast of a 12 gallon Edge tank. Reminds me the time when I used to take care of my 12's, she a low tech now.
> 
> Anyways, you can reduce that regulator's size with two SS fittings. It will look much cleaner and reduce the chances of leaks. But it does require you to take off the LP gauge, :S
> 
> 1/4 M - 1/8 M - Solenoids - Elbow 1/8 all male, done.


It is a beast, and it's too much work for how hard it is to access. And it really sucks that I have to flip up the light to work on it, so then I can't even see what I'm doing.

I know the CO2 setup could be cleaner, but I'm not touching the reg. I had several pieces of SS cease (basically galling) together and ruin parts. I ruined the needle valve (replaced it), I ruined 2 excellent little SS fittings, and I ruined a beautiful little SS burkert solenoid.

Even when I removed a part that came installed on the low pressure side, it was ceased. I don't know why it was so much trouble for me (even fittings I didn't put together), but now that it's working, I'm not risking ruining anything.

On Thursday my new 24" Finnex Ray 2 showed up. I set it on top of my Edge and was blown away by the output. The PC I have on it is quite a bit brighter than the LEDs that came with it, but the Finnex absolutely blows it out of the water. It's amazingly bright. I can't wait for my new tank to show up.

The pics below are both shot at the exact same ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, so they show the actual difference in light out put between the Ray 2 and my 27 watt power compact:


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

With a new tank on the way, I really need my aquasoil out of this tank. However, I also need to keep all of my plants, fish, and shrimp alive while I get the other setup going, and this is my only other tank. So...

I did a full tear down. Then I removed all of the aquasoil, rinsed it, and set it out on screens to dry in the garage. Meanwhile, I decided I may as well have a little fun with this since I'll probably have to keep it running for 1-2 more months while I DSM the new tank.

I picked up some miracle gro organic choice potting mix, sifted out all the junik, and capped it some pool filter sand for cheap. I came up with the little scape below on the fly. Up on the rock mound there is rotola, blyxia, and downoi. In front of the drift wood is bocopa. Lower right carpet is marsilea quadrifolia. Stuffed into the rock pile is anubias nana petite, and down in front of the rock pile is s.repens (which is new). Along the back of everything is jungle val. This gives my critters a nice home until I get the new tank completely ready for them.

I actually think it turned out pretty good for a quick one evening rescape with no plan. The water is still cloudy from the sand and I'm monitoring for a mini cycle. That said, it's been up for 48 hours now, and no ammonia. It all went pretty well. 

The fish are definitely happy with it. They aren't hiding or anything and are swimming all over and showing their colors well.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

So this tank is now becoming a jungle as I am collecting all of the plants I need for my new project. I wasn't really going for anything here — I'm just trying to keep the plants in groups for repurposing, but it's starting to look pretty cool.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Two days ago, it dawned on me that I still like this tank, and just because it sucks for high tech doesn't mean it wouldn't still be fun for low light low tech. One of the significant issues with this tank is aquascaping through a 6.75" x 4.5" hole. You can't really fit any large, branchy, dramatic wood. But since it's low light, low tech, and will be lightly planted, I really want a substantial hardscape to set off what plants there will be.

While thinking about this, it suddenly clicked! I can use the same technique I did on my fallen tree build, except modify it to make it easy to install. I can only use one hand in the tank, so installing zip ties would be a nightmare. After a little abstract thinking, here is what I came up with. This will actually fit inside of an edge, and it's pre-zip-tied. All of the zip-ties go through holes drilled strategically in the manzanita wood so that their placement is relatively precise.



















So here was the trick. The zip ties for the tall branches are loose right now, so I can lay them down flat. Then the thickness and width with he egg crate structure is just narrow and shallow enough to slip through the top hole of the Edge. Once it's in, the zip-ties are placed so that when I tighten them up the brances will stand up vertical again. I ran a dry run test and was easily able to assemble and tighten the structure with one hand. I think this should look pretty darn good in my Edge.

I figure I can put moss on the manzanita wood, and then start acquiring low light plants. I should have enough aquasoil left over from my other build to use that in here. That would give the plants all the nutrients they should need. That said, for this hardscape pool filter sand may look better, and then I could just use root tabs. Still undecided on that one.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Also, this tank get's emptied of all of it's plants in 2-3 weeks, so that's when this new build will start.


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## Arklatex (May 30, 2013)

Thats pretty cool that you figured out how to get all that through the little hole on the edge. With the substrate in it may look like one big piece instead of several small ones.


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## Caleb (Jun 14, 2012)

*Thanks*

Thanks for this post. My Fluval edge led stopped working & I used the light you suggested & it's been working great.


AnotherHobby said:


> *Lighting Upgrade*
> 
> It started when water got into the built in LED lighting fixture somehow and the whole thing, other than about 5 lights, was toast. A replacement unit isn't cheap, and it never provided enough light anyway. I ended up going the DIY route. I'm now pushing 2.25 w/gal with power compact, and for only about $20. The funny thing is, Hagen responded about a week after I was done with this and replaced the LED fixture under warranty. I'm keeping this one though, as it is easily 2x as bright — it's not even close.
> 
> ...


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