# 180g planted tank



## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Hey guys,

Decided to just move my build thread here to document the progress in one place 

I'm currently in process of converting my 180g reef tank into a freshwater planted. I've taken out all of the reef inhabitants and some of the extra equipment already and now soaking the tank to get all the remaining tiny reef critters out as they die off >.>

Here is where I'm at so far
 

Tanks - 180g display, 120g sump, Herbie style overflow box.
Pump - Sicce Syncra 5.0
Controller - Apex with pH, Temp, ORP probes, two 8 outlet power bars, moonlight, two DOS units to dose four different liquids.
Heater - two Ebo Jager 300w on Ranco controller.
Flow - Maxspect Gyre XF150 in display, Hydor Koralia Evo 1400 in the sump (to mix in liquids from the doser)
Filtration - Filter socks from 1 to 200 micron.
Substrate - Black diamond blasting sand (not in yet).
Decorations - Fern Green boulders (link) (soaking in bleach for now).
Light - 5000k 14w LED Sylvania Floodlight (Mainly just to keep tank illuminated while I decide what light to get), similar light in the sump. Will probably exchange it for something else to illuminate the underneath better. These were originally used to grow macro algae in the sump for the reef.
Fish - not sure
Plants - high, med, low? who knows !



For the light I'm right now between buying a pre-built fixture from Finnex or Fluval or a DIY project.

Main issue with retail ones is the lack of 60" or 72" fixtures that would cover the tank well and I'm not even sure if they would cover the tank's 24" width, so I may need two of them side by side and then more to fill the length. But I imagine staggered two 48" fixtures would be good enough. That way side 2 feet of the tank would have one fixture covering them and middle 2 feet would have two fixture above.

On the DIY front for about same amount of money as two 48" fixtures I could make something like this.









I used something similar on a previous planted tank I had, running 16 XM-L cool white LEDs at about 1000mA on a 120g tank.

I'm also still debating if I want to get some manzanita branches in the tank, but will have to wait and see how it will look with just black sand and the rocks I've picked up today.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Looks like a great beginning with a nice sized tank. Looking forward to see what you do with it. So many possibilities.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Previous tanks:
180 sps reef - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95MW33FJhdI
120 discus planted - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgeHavfiu3g


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Also forgot to add CO2 stuff. Do not currently have anything for it aside from NextReef MR1 reactor that I will modify to mix in CO2.

I plan to get this 20lbs CO2 tank (unless there is some issue filling 20lbs tank vs 15 etc. or some other reasons to go smaller  ) - link
And this regulator - GLA GRO-1, not sure if going for the pro one for $50 is worth it?

Fertilizers will come from GLA as well, in fact I have some already and about to read stickies to get a refresher on which ferts I need and how to dose them lol.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Decided to go with DIY LED fixture, ordered all the parts. Should have it all made later this week 

Also got 2" poret foam at 45ppi. Will make a divider in the sump with it right after the filter sock. Hopefully filter socks will catch most of everything and I won't have to move that foam too often lol.

After that I will probably create a chamber with egg crate and fill it with lava rock. 2-3 bags from Lowes should do it.


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## aja31 (May 25, 2013)

Should be pretty awesome when it's done.

Any particular reason you don't run the heaters on the Apex?


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

I kind of do, but don't trust it enough. Ranco is a bit more reliable as it's the only thing it does. I do shut off ranco if temp ever goes too high through Apex.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Decided to put in the black blasting sand in today. I should've rinsed it first lol... already had to change filter sock 3 times in past few hours ><


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well 1 micro socks slowly cleaning up the water column from all the dust from the sand. Not clogging withing 30 minutes so that's a good sign lol.

Made an egg crate chamber for lava rock yesterday and added the rock today. Underestimated a bit how much 4 bags of lava rock would fill. Ended up filling only about half of the chamber. I did have about 15-20g of bio balls from last time I had freshwater tank, so filled the rest of the chamber with that.

Should get the 2" poret sheet tomorrow. Will install that before the lava rock/bio balls chamber.

So the final filtration will look like this:

1 to 100 micron filter sock (have a few types to choose from) -> 45ppi 2" poret sheet (23"x20"x2")-> lava rocks + bio balls (23"x23"x23").


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## fietsenrex (Oct 8, 2014)

200 micron will do just fine cathing all the dirt and preventing the sump to clog up  so you won't have as much maintenance anymore


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

raidendex said:


> Well 1 micro socks slowly cleaning up the water column from all the dust from the sand. Not clogging withing 30 minutes so that's a good sign lol.
> 
> Made an egg crate chamber for lava rock yesterday and added the rock today. Underestimated a bit how much 4 bags of lava rock would fill. Ended up filling only about half of the chamber. I did have about 15-20g of bio balls from last time I had freshwater tank, so filled the rest of the chamber with that.
> 
> ...



Wow! That is a lot of bio media space. You'll find that you won't need nearly as much for a freshwater planted tank. But since you are using less efficient-budget media, it is good to have more. 



raidendex said:


> Decided to put in the black blasting sand in today. I should've rinsed it first lol... already had to change filter sock 3 times in past few hours ><



I've never rinsed mine. A tip that is probably too late, but you can literally scoop off a lot of the floating sand. I use an old fish net.



raidendex said:


> Decided to go with DIY LED fixture, ordered all the parts. Should have it all made later this week
> 
> Also got 2" poret foam at 45ppi. Will make a divider in the sump with it right after the filter sock. Hopefully filter socks will catch most of everything and I won't have to move that foam too often lol.
> 
> After that I will probably create a chamber with egg crate and fill it with lava rock. 2-3 bags from Lowes should do it.


The sock will likely catch everything. I'm glad to see you went with a DIY fixture. Don't be discouraged, it will take some fine tuning and almost no data will be available haha.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well, I'm going to experiment once everything is set and just pick whatever micro rating seem to work best. 100 micron definitely was not catching all the dust coming off of that blasting sand  on the other hand something like 1 micro may be a bit much as I would have to change them almost daily.

And yes this is probably way more bio surface than I had last time with planted discus. I'm pretty sure that towards the end all I had were few walls in the sump out of poret foam and it was working just fine. But it's there for now. Have a lot of room in 120g sump lol, so wanted to fill it with something.

Still wonder when will my DIY LED stuff ship. Should get the heat sinks (aka aluminum u channels) tomorrow, but still no ship notice from LEDGroupBuy, so won't be playing with new lights this weekend lol.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

So I have this RO/DI system with up to 5 chambers for various filters and media. I don't really plan to keep filtering water this way, that was just needed for the reef, but I do want to utilize it since it is there 

Would running tap through sediment filter(s) and some carbon blocks be of any use for water changes and top-off? Water in general should be ok to use as is as far as I know. Last time I was just using straight tap mixed with a bit of hot water to bring up temp for discus and just added a bit of Safe powder to the tank as it was filling up. Did not have any issues with that, but perhaps there is benefit to at least run it though some basic filtration?

Since my tank volume is fairly large and so will be water changes I do not really want to "age" water, so only two options I have is tap or filtered tap in a quick way. Sediment and carbon filters do not slow down normal tap flow too much so it's quite possible to fill the tank in real time so to speak.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

CO2 stuff in on the way. 20lbs aluminum tank and GRO regulator from GLA with misc things like tubing and check valve etc. Once I get it will need to see size of that tubing to figure out a way to connect it to the reactor.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

I've got a "concern" w/ your rock.
First it is probably not fossils but dendrites..
and second it is probably limestone..which may raise your pH.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite_(crystal)


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

It maybe those, are they bad for aquarium? I do see that if I rub some of the dark spots on the rock, I do end up with some brown residue on my fingers.

Not sure if the rock would be limestone since it did not react to vinegar. Poured it all over all 3 rocks and nothing happened.

But yeah I'm really not sure what kind of rock it is lol. It's fairly light green, kind of pastel color, with veins or just big spots of black/dark brown. I'll take some pictures in a bit and post.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Here are some shots of the rocks.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well took them out, since they seem suspicious lol


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Well first vineagar sometimes isn't strong enough. Use Muratic acid (be very careful btw)
The "Acid Test" for Carbonate Minerals and Carbonate Rocks

To be honest the only rocks I trust are granite, slate, and some quartz and basalts..
and can't really tell from a picture though.
Only worry is you want to keep discus.. soo....


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## fietsenrex (Oct 8, 2014)

strange that you have to use 100 micron or smaller to catch all the dust, my 200 micron do just fine and my water is crystal clear.
don't know about your tap parameters but discus require very soft water, so you might need is after all.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

100m wasn't catching all the dust from then sand. Some would come through and settle on the sump floor. More would come off the sock when I would remove it from the water. For normal fish waste it be fine, this was just too tiny to catch reliably.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

So I have this NextReef MR1 reactor that I would like to convert for CO2 use. Basically I would just reverse normal direction of flow, so that pump would push water at the top and it would flow out through the opening in the tube that goes all the way to the bottom.

Question 1 - Are there any issues with CO2 being in touch with this sort of reactor? I think it's acrylic made.
Question 2 - Would small pump that comes with it be enough to mix in CO2 or would I end up with ever growing CO2 pocket at the top of the reactor without stronger pump?


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## fietsenrex (Oct 8, 2014)

1, should be ok I don't see how CO2 could affect acrylic
2, more of a trail and error. If the pump is not strong enough just swap it out with a stronger one


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## Jaye (Mar 11, 2015)

I run my co2 reactor with a tiny 80 GPH pump and it works fine. You actually want more contact time with the co2, so a small pump works, IMO, better than a big one.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

True, I'll just have to wait till I get the parts for CO2 setup and try it out and see if CO2 is accumulating at the top a lot.


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## CannaBrain (Oct 3, 2008)

regarding the rocks, you can also leave em in a bucket for a week or so, test water when you first put em in, test em after a week (or longer if you have the patience), if anything has changed drastically - do not use.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Been trying to decide on what plants I want, but lack of a good database (at least I haven't found one) making it hard lol. Saw one here, but I feel like it's missing a lot of plants and they aren't always sorted well.

Anything else out there, where I could sort by size, light, maybe color etc.? 

In general I would probably like to have something creeping up/down wood and rocks(if I find rocks heh). Some smaller bushes here and there like crypts and anubias, saw some spiky little bushes of crass looking thing, whatever those are called ;P

And definitely would like to have more than just green colors!

Something like these maybe.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Are these right things for root tabs?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GTDGMHC

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013OW4TW (I'm vegan, don't want to do gelatin ones)

I guess since I won't have any dirt etc in the substrate I should put something like that in there 

Thanks!


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## LinaS (Jul 14, 2015)

raidendex said:


> Are these right things for root tabs?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GTDGMHC
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013OW4TW


yep )
8lb of O+...mmm... just make sure your grandkids will have fish tanks too )) 8 lb will last forever


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Ok, thanks!

Well I do grow other plants, so I'm sure I'll be able to use it up hehe.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Hopefully GLA and LEDGroupBuy will ship my orders soon. Both been sitting in Awaiting Shipment for a bit now. I want my toys to play with !


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

Very interesting build you have going here. The possibilities are endless!

Having used a lot of BD blasting sand myself, one thing that bothers me about the fact you didnt rinse it. The filter is clearing it up alright, but this is just dust off the top. What about all the stuff further down? With this much sand, that is a lot of stuff! May not be a problem at all, probably inert, but just the idea of all that still being in there...eew. 

I made the mistake of not rinsing it one time on a 10 gallon tank. Took forever to clear up. Of course I didnt have a sock filter running. Finally wound up basically giving it a thorough rinse after the fact. Stir stir stir, change water, repeat repeat repeat.

Only saying this because now is the time to fix it, if you decide to do so.

Re the reactor, that little pump isnt going to cut it, nor is that one reactor by itself. 300 gallons of water is going to take a lot of CO2. Most sump people with tanks this size use a needle wheel with the co2 fed directly into the pump. The pump chops the CO2 into a fine mist, then going to the reactor where it further dissolves, or just have the needle wheel by itself feeding back into the sump somehow. 

Im not a sump guy so cant offer you more specifics. Im sure you can google around some and find out more. Go to barrreport.com and search something like "needle wheel sump co2" probably find a good bit of info.


Looking forward to reading more


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

I moved the sand bed around a bit with my hands for past few days. It's mostly ok now. But yeah a little dust comes every time you disturb it.

One thing I was thinking about doing is putting a powerhead inside of the reactor, but still can't really play with any of it till i get the parts lol. Although I'm pretty sure that single pump that reactor uses would not be enough to mix it in, flow wise I think it would be fine. So if I can create a storm inside with a powerhead that may work.

As far as those pumps I have SRO3000 skimmer with a pump like that if nothing else I could use it, although I'd rather sell the skimmer 

Thanks!


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## fietsenrex (Oct 8, 2014)

burr740 said:


> Re the reactor, that little pump isnt going to cut it, nor is that one reactor by itself. 300 gallons of water is going to take a lot of CO2. Most sump people with tanks this size use a needle wheel with the co2 fed directly into the pump. The pump chops the CO2 into a fine mist, then going to the reactor where it further dissolves, or just have the needle wheel by itself feeding back into the sump somehow.
> 
> Im not a sump guy so cant offer you more specifics. Im sure you can google around some and find out more. Go to barrreport.com and search something like "needle wheel sump co2" probably find a good bit of info.
> 
> ...


wish I knew this earlier.. 
I've got 2 huge cerges style reactors running in parallel both at 1.5 BPS
but this setup kind of works, bigger is better with these big tanks.

also looking forward to the rest of the build and how you're going to dissolve all the CO2


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## FishStix (Sep 19, 2013)

Sounds like a nice setup, in the process of setting up a 180 as well. With your Apex, how do you plan to use the DOS Units? I was thinking about buying 2 of them, but it seemed like it would be a mess to figure out how much dry ferts I would need to mix. Have you figured that out yet?


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

https://sites.google.com/site/aquaticplantfertilizer/home/pps-pro gives you info on how to mix ferts and dose. So you only would need two pumps. And really as long as you know how much dry ferts you use weekly or daily should be easy to convert to mls. Say you use 1 teaspoon a day, add 100 teaspoons to container add 1000ml of water (assuming that would actually dissolve...) you would be dosing 10ml to get that 1 teaspoon out each day. The actual dosing amounts DOS will figure out by itself, all you tell it is I need 10 ml dosed from 8am to 9am and it will create proper program to do that.


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## FishStix (Sep 19, 2013)

raidendex said:


> https://sites.google.com/site/aquaticplantfertilizer/home/pps-pro gives you info on how to mix ferts and dose. So you only would need two pumps. And really as long as you know how much dry ferts you use weekly or daily should be easy to convert to mls. Say you use 1 teaspoon a day, add 100 teaspoons to container add 1000ml of water (assuming that would actually dissolve...) you would be dosing 10ml to get that 1 teaspoon out each day. The actual dosing amounts DOS will figure out by itself, all you tell it is I need 10 ml dosed from 8am to 9am and it will create proper program to do that.


Thanks for the link and the info. Do you also have the DOS Dual reservoir for each of yours? I assume I would need to buy 2 of the reservoir, which is total of 4 chambers and 2 of the DOS units which is 4 pumps?
*DŌS DUAL RESERVOIR*


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well if you're just dosing ferts, 2 pumps and one reservoir is enough. I do have two units, but I see no use for second one as of now, so put it in storage.

As far as those containers, I'd say it's a waste of money, especially for ferts which you would dose very little off. Just get 1 gallon jug or something and check on it once a month and top off


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

CO2 system have arrived and tank is filled. Now I need to go to Lowe's and get parts to connect it all to the reactor and see if I can make it work. Also would need to look up how much CO2 I actually need to inject lol.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well did a test run of the CO2 reactor setup. I basically just made a hole in the intake tubing to the reactor and pushed CO2 line in there lol.

Water flow pushes bubbles in at the top of the reactor. They seem to collect at there in some amount, but as the water stream runs from the very top and splashes into the reactor it tumbles that CO2 and dissolves it fairly well. Initially there was maybe 1/4" pocket of CO2 at the top, by the morning it was a bit higher at 1"-2", but CO2 saturation also increased. I do not have drop checker, but as far as pH goes it went from 7.97 to 7.09 according to Apex pH probe.

Because of this build up of CO2 in the reactor I could probably shut off injection hour or maybe even earlier before the light go off and just let remaining CO2 in the reactor dissolve in. Reactor does run all the time so eventually all CO2 would go in the water.

Also while I do not know exact BPS rate of injection, but it's pretty fast, to a point where I can't really count them lol.

Another thought that I had is to control CO2 solenoid during the day based on pH, I understand that at max saturation pH should drop by about 1 point versus no CO2 injected at all. So if normal pH would be 7.5, I would shut off solenoid if pH drops to 6.5 etc.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

raidendex said:


> Also while I do not know exact BPS rate of injection, but it's pretty fast, to a point where I can't really count them lol.


Yes, with a larger tank the co2 stream is pretty much a constant stream. Very difficult to adjust with any precision whatsoever.

Here's what I did. Gives me some semblance of control.
(Don't know why pic is rotated but you get the idea)


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

That looks like a good idea. I'll look into that. Thanks.

What would that be called? Air flow gauge or something? ;P


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

That reactor/pump sounds a lot more efficient than I thought it would be. How long did it take to get the .9 drop?


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

I would say 2 hours, on the graph it will look a bit longer, but I think that was also due to reactor shutting down few times, as I forgot to change program on some outlets. So at times reactor run, but now co2 and vice versa. I'm not sure if I'm infusing enough CO2 as far as BPS goes, but I imagine if there is a pocket of CO2 the top I'm already reaching max speed at which it can dissolve anyways so the current BPS rate is probably ok.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

raidendex said:


> That looks like a good idea. I'll look into that. Thanks.
> 
> What would that be called? Air flow gauge or something? ;P


It's a Dwyer RMA-151-SSV Flowmeter. Measures flow from 5 to 50 cc/min. I don't claim to know exactly how much co2 I am injecting. But I am able to control the relative flow. That is, if I want to bump up by 10%, easy to adjust.


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

raidendex said:


> I would say 2 hours, on the graph it will look a bit longer, but I think that was also due to reactor shutting down few times, as I forgot to change program on some outlets. So at times reactor run, but now co2 and vice versa. I'm not sure if I'm infusing enough CO2 as far as BPS goes, but I imagine if there is a pocket of CO2 the top I'm already reaching max speed at which it can dissolve anyways so the current BPS rate is probably ok.


That's not bad at all! If you dont mind a couple more questions, how many gph is the pump, and approximately what size is the reactor housing?


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

It's this one NextReef MR1 Complete GFO and Carbon Filter Media Reactor


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Slowly starting too look like a planted tank 

Planted some thing all over, will need to move them around once I figure out how to place the driftwood. Driftwood was just added so will be a while before it sinks 


Ferts and CO2


Redone the return to the display tank. Single 1" pipe was making too much of a flow. Ran the return all the way across the tank and now it comes out of 5 1/2" outlets. Fairly minimal intrusion into the tank.
 

Decide to add 18 XM-L U2s to the LED build to get a bit more PAR out of the fixture. Will probably run them at 1.5A, although he power supply can go up to 2.1A if needed.

Here is the update layout for LEDs.


For now tank is lit wth 3 PAR38 LED bulbs at 5000K and a 4' T5 dual bulb fixture.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Anyone seen something like this









To be used for inserting osmocote into the substrate without the use of pill containers. Obviously would have to have smaller cavity and maybe a bit longer


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

I use 00 gel caps but only put like 6-8 balls in each one. Simply for ease of application because doing it this way, they are only about 20-25% full


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

I have those, but do not enjoy putting them together lol. Need quite a few for 24x72" area. Fir now I just stuck few around the few plants I've got.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

I think I'm all set with lights now (although still waiting on 18 XM-L2s, should be here tomorrow).

System is based on this LED layout with 3 5000k 17w LED floodlights added at the back of each of the 3 sections 24x24" sections of the tank.



10am - First row of XTEs ON (XTE Whites, Royal Blues, and Deep Reds), CO2 solenoid ON. CO2 is injected into a reactor which runs 24/7.
11am - Second row of XTEs ON.
12pm - XM-L2 and Flood lights ON.
6pm - XM-L2 and Flood lights OFF. CO2 solenoid OFF. Reactor keeps mixing the remaining CO2 in the chamber (1-2 hours).
7pm - First row of XTEs OFF.
8pm - Second row of XTEs OFF.

I might adjust these later once all the parts are built and I can measure PAR at various combinations.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well lights are in.

With all on 100% (at least 100% of the drivers I'm using lol) I get somewhere around 150-300PAR at substrate in the front 2/3 of the tank. Back 1/3 is fairly shaded by all the driftwood so that is around 100ish PAR, although I haven't really reached all that far to check for sure.

Definitely a lot of light, will see how it all goes and will adjust down as needed. First thing I'm looking for is if the heatsink will become too hot, then I will turn down XM-Ls down some.

Grabbed two plant pack over past week, not super in love with all of them, but something to start with for now. I think I would like to get more crypts and anubias as time goes. But will see how these will grow and look. For all I know they will all die lol.


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## fietsenrex (Oct 8, 2014)

You will be able to grow a lot of algae with that amount of light xD
Anubias and crypts don't need a lot of light to grow, so with the amount of light you have there is a good chance they get overgrown by algae, so you need some plants that grow crazy fast to consume most of the ferts and CO2, so the algae won't get any.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

fietsenrex said:


> You will be able to grow a lot of algae with that amount of light xD


Understatement of the century. I'd say 40 par would be too much light for your plants. You are lightly planted with slow growing, low light, plants. I would tone it down to the tune of 15% or so. Especially while the plants are establishing. New tanks tend to have algae issues while plants get comfortable. 


Just reading about 100+ par makes me uncomfortable. I'm shaking in my low tech boots.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Yeah I plan on toning it all down. Actually will be trying to hook it upmto apex for dimming see how it would work instead of potentiometers.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well aside from do not cut end of network cable while the other is plugged into the Apex advice (shorted whole system for a moment lol), it seem to have gone well. Still need to hook up XM-L2s to the dimmer on Apex, but XT-Es are all on it now.

Time to write some funky profiles for disco flashing lights lol.


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## fietsenrex (Oct 8, 2014)

haha, well as long as everything still works, it's a succes 

have fun with the disco


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Yep, seems to be working heh. All 3 drivers are now wired to dimming ports on Apex.

So what should I am for PAR wise at substrate? There is also about 20"+ of water column after that.

I'm dosing 25ml of macros and 2.5ml of micros daily, CO2 I'm still playing with, but kind of trying to set the BPS rate so that CO2 pocket inside the reactor stays somewhat small. If it's not there at all = all co2 dissolves too easily and I could add more, if it's too big = I'm pumping too much co2 than the reactor can dissolve, or that water can accept at that point. Plus that would also mean that after I shut off solenoid, CO2 is still being added for longer period of time from that pocket of CO2 in the reactor.

Plants wise, this is what should be in there atm:
Anubias nana petite
Madagascar Lace Plant (Aponogeton madagascariensis)
Red Tiger lotus (Nymphaea zenkeri)
Crypt. Wendtii
Amazon sword
Java fern
Microswords (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) - was part of the order I'm pretty sure I did not get this
Ludwigia repens
Ludwigia senegalensis
Staurogyne repens
Java moss
Some random stems
Vesicularia Thai
Calliciocostella sp Pancuraji
Fissidens fox
Christmas moss
Queen Moss


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Did some more measuring of PAR.

Main bright area is the front 2/3rd of the tank. Back is somewhere between 30 to 50 PAR at best.

The flood lights that are in the back contribute about 25 PAR in the front center area. Most of the flood light hits the branches in the back.
Two rows of XT-Es give up to 75PAR.

So together XT-E and Floods give up to 100 PAR in the front center areas, about half that on the edges.

XM-L2s add another 165ish PAR.

All together I can get up to 300 PAR in some central spots.

For now I've toned down XT-E to 80% (of 700mA) and XM-L2 to 40% (of 2100mA) and get around 200PAR max. Will keep there for a while and see what happens 

At 300PAR I saw some fizzing of oxygen coming off some plants, will see if that will continue at 200PAR lol.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUfQcDtRsJ0

Snails sure become a lot more visible heh.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Thinking to pick up these plants, any thoughts about them for my tank? Will probably get rid of some of the above that I already have, mostly stems. These will be in 82-84F water if it matters and as can be seem above I can have fairly high light, but can dim it if some of the plants will actually suffer from too much light.

Cryptocoryne X Willisii 'lucens'
cryptocoryne Undulata
cryptocoryne Wendtii Red
proserpinaca Palustris
pogostemon Helferi, Downoi
hygrophila Corymbosa Stricta
lobelia Cardinalis, Cardinal Plant
aponogeton Boivinianus
anubias Nangi
anubias Barteri Coffeefolia
echinodorus Kleiner Bar Sword Plant
echinodorus Indian Red Sword
echinodorus "ozelot" Sword Plant

Thanks!


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## f1sleepy (May 1, 2016)

What drivers are you using for the XML-2s?


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Inventronics 2100mA. I think 120watt on it. Drives 18 xml2 np.


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## f1sleepy (May 1, 2016)

Awesome, thanks!


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Decided to just place an order for those plants. Should be getting these

Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
ludwigia Glandulosa, Peruensis
alternanthera Reineckii Roseafolia
crinum Calamistratum
pigmy Chain Sword, Echinodorus Tenellus, Narrow Leaf
siamensis Hygrophila Corymbosa Siamensis, Narrow Leaf Temple
echinodorus "ozelot" Sword Plant
cryptocoryne X Willisii 'lucens'
proserpinaca Palustris
cryptocoryne Undulata
pogostemon Helferi, Downoi
hygrophila Corymbosa Stricta
cryptocoryne Wendtii Red
lobelia Cardinalis, Cardinal Plant
aponogeton Boivinianus
anubias Barteri Coffeefolia
echinodorus Kleiner Bar Sword Plant


Also removed the flood lights from the tank since I have plenty of PAR as is lol. Modified for PAR to max out at about 140-150 in brightest spots for about 2 hours. For 4 hours around that middle it's about 120-130. And like 30-75 for rest of the day.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well got the rest of the plants in. Here is the plant monstrosity... Time to grow some algae now !


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Foscam is sure struggling with white balance lol


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## Brahma04 (Jun 6, 2016)

raidendex said:


> Decided to just place an order for those plants. Should be getting these
> 
> Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
> ludwigia Glandulosa, Peruensis
> ...


Looks Great!! where did you order your plants from?


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

From here Welcome to Planted Aquariums Central - Live Aquarium Plants
Unlike in saltwater coral keeping hobby, it seems it is cheaper to just get plants from retailers for freshwater lol.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Got the remained of the plants now in the tank and moved the plecos and cories in. They are pretty tiny, already found 4 in the sump this morning. Added a bit of netting around the overflow teeth, hopefully that will be enough to stop the thrill rides down to the sump.

There is some algae here and there, will need to play around with lights and CO2 to dial things in over the next few weeks. And then will probably look into placing the order for the discus.

Quick video of the tank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5DGn_MDaYw


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## SeanOB11 (Jul 7, 2016)

raidendex said:


> Well got the rest of the plants in. Here is the plant monstrosity... Time to grow some algae now !


clicked your image and zoomed in.....surely there isn't an water in this?? It is SO clear. amazing lighting :thumbsup:

also, what is the thin long leaf plant growing right in front of your central rock? We have one that has got tall and looks like a coconut tree :hihi:


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Probably crinum calamistratum, if you are talking about the one that looks like a swirly onion lol.

This has a list of all plants with stock photos. I will add my own once they settle in and I find time to do it 
Plants | WinG Aquarium

And there is water hehe, check out the video in the post above, can see all kind of dust flying around >< adding some pellets to the water for the baby fish and it's making a mess lol, but at least they have bunch of dust to eat


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## SeanOB11 (Jul 7, 2016)

thanks for the link  Yep that's it, the aqua onion! 

Keep up the great work and good luck with the fry


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well plants seem to be doing well. Some of the non-submersed ones that I got are loosing lower leaves, but there is new growth so I'm sure they will adapt in a little while.

Decided to clean off remaining dead coraline algae from the back wall as it started to fall off pretty heavily, so now it's all clean. Although the gravel is now littered in what looks like paint chips lol. Trying to clean that up slowly with siphon every now and again ><

Corys and plecos are doing well as well. Hopefully will grow up quickly. First night I found like 5 of them in the filter sock, but ever since I've added mesh over all overflow box teeth, that seem to have stopped 

Friday I should be getting my order of discus. Decided to go with 12 dark angels from Hans. And I may add some tannin producing leaves into the tank. Will try oak leaves as I have a few branches in the back yard already dried up.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Hehe, 12 angels, good luck with that. my few are a handful. Thought of adding any ottos? They should help clean up the algae and dust off the plants. 
I'm keeping four of my batch of large fry too, too good traits to sell.
Like this little guy, look at the reflection in the glass, his dorsal is almost red.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Well dark angels, not angel fish =) They are discus. I have 12 plecos and snails for cleaning lol


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## aja31 (May 25, 2013)

Tank looks great! the cories look pathetically small in there right now lol. Should be pretty awesome once you get the discus in.


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## raidendex (Mar 13, 2012)

Yeah, they are little babies. A bit concerned with having 12 plecos as well, but will see how that goes once they start getting bigger.


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