# 90g-Spring Flood *Updated 12/14/09*



## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Excellent work! Looks like hydrophyte's stand design is catching on! 
I love the look of the tank!


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

clwatkins10 said:


> Excellent work! Looks like hydrophyte's stand design is catching on!
> I love the look of the tank!


 Thanks! I can't say enough about the stand. Hydrophyte has a winner here. Thinking about making a patio set and a work bench based on this!:icon_lol:


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

this might be the coolest garage tanks yet. nice work!


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## TheCryptKeeper (Mar 9, 2008)

looks good! what type of wood is that? it doesn't look like driftwood or manzanita. it isn't wood collected from your yard is it? you don't want to cause any problems.

the stand looks amazing, I especially like the brackets with the old style steel look.


Ken


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Torpedobarb said:


> looks good! what type of wood is that? it doesn't look like driftwood or manzanita. it isn't wood collected from your yard is it? you don't want to cause any problems.
> 
> the stand looks amazing, I especially like the brackets with the old style steel look.
> 
> ...


Well....I said I may not have made all the right choices! This was an educated guess and a risk I was willing to take - no fish yet but the snails are healthy ( yes pond snails survived my 3 week dry start)... The wood is Indian hawthorne, Rhaphiolepsis indica. It is a slow growing hardwood used for landscaping here in the dry south west. The plant has edible berries (for wildlife) and is a member of the Rosaceae family. It did come from my yard! I had pulled up another bush two years ago and this still graces my brush pile in back. Pretty rot resistant. I soaked this piece in the aquarium for weeks and had little but cloudy water come from it. That said, it is a risk and I will stock the tank slowly to ensure the wildlife doesn't succumb. Stay tuned!


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## malaybiswas (Nov 2, 2008)

Hey, that is pretty cool layout. When I first saw your picture, I was like "hmm..this looks like hydrophyte's stand" and checked back the id


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Very cool. I love the concept of having an open tank. By that I mean that you can view it from all sides. That is something that I have been thinking about doing one day when I buy a house. I'm subscribed to this thread now. I can't wait to see your process of drilling the bottom and creating your plumbing scheme. Thanks for the awesome, albeit brand new, thread!!

Regards,

Charlie


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## mountaindew (Dec 10, 2008)

Good looking island display tank!
Filter system looks clean and well built
MD


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

hey that's really nice. that well lined with stones reminds me of *talontsiawd's* 29-gallon (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/tank-journals-photo-album/75523-talontsiawds-29-gallon-newbie-tank-update-7.html). and i also like the exposed everything underneath. this will be cool to see more specs and details.

what is the tall grassy stuff? is that giant hairgrass (_Eleocharis montevidensis_)? it goes nicely with the wood that you selected. it will be intersting to see how that stuff grows in there.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

this looks awesome! great job dude! can you give us more specs as far as the plumbing goes?

oh and yes. scolley is also one of my personal heroes!


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

That looks great. The build is excellent.

Where did you get your fittings? I'll be building out a 120 in the next few months and I'm looking for the cheapest place to get a lot of PVC ball valves and true unions.


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

*Malaybiswas* - Thanks, Hydrophytes stand design was just what I needed - and easy to build!

*MountainDew* - The filter system is working well - and the blue print largely came from scolley.

*Hydrophyte* - Thanks for putting the stand design out there! I really like the way it looks - and I like the open view of the plumbing. The system was easy to build too. A winner.

That is E. montevidensis. I wanted a tall plant that wouldn't block the branches. A good hieght for a 2 ft tank too.

*monkeyruler90* - spec's on the way!

*jmhart* - That did take awhile. Searching through the reef forum's I ran across this recommend:
http://flexpvc.com/

big selection - good prices. I will say that I found the local Ace Hardware had I better price on 3/4 inch threaded Ball Valves though - random.


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

I had not had a tank in about ten years when a friend of mine started to build a pond in his back yard. In the process of looking up information about pond fish and plants, I stumbled onto PlantedTank.net. The hook was baited… My last tank was a planted 40g long. This died out while I was on a business trip (long story) and I decided I couldn’t put the time and effort required to have the tank I wanted. Well after reading scolley’s thread mentioned above, I realized that I could potentially introduce a level of automation that would take care of basic tank needs. The hook was set!

So after reading up as much as I could here is the tank I planned:

*Closed loop system* – mostly – Intakes and outlets would be through the tank bottom. I have split the tank intakes to include an over the top edge return too. This was done to maximize flow and CO2 distribution through out the tank. Filters, heater, UV, CO2 Mazzei Injector, dosing pumps, Temp and pH probes and finally the electrical grounding probe are all plumbed in-line.

*90 Gallon Lee Marr Tank* - 48 inches long by 18 inches deep by 24 inches tall. This was a Craigs List find. The tank was unused. The former owner had planned to use it as a sump for a 300+ gallon saltwater tank but then decided to go back to school instead. A call to LeeMarr determined that the tank did not have a tempered glass bottom – they cannot be drilled safely – and I made the purchase.

*Metal Halide lighting* - This is a 24 inch tall tank and I wanted an HC carpet which based on my reading, needs strong light. I debated on a T5HO fixture. I liked that I could get multiple bulbs with individual switches. The concept of having a burst of mid day light and the possibility to have the lights on for a longer period was attractive. In the end, I rationalized that the MH system would provide more light at the substrate and I liked the look better. A more recent finding: I really like the pool bottom type shimmer in the tank. Very cool. The two fixtures are 150 watt Fish Need It with 8k bulbs. I added two 3 by 12 inch strips of polished aluminum reflector to each side of the lights to block light spray into the surrounding room. My desk is right infront of the tank and I would have had to wear sunglasses with out this modification. I also figured the light should be going into the tank not the garage. Currently on from 8am to 4 pm











*Heater* – This is a Hydor Theo 400 watt unit contained in a Pentair/LifeGard single stage in-line heater module. The Hydor unit is shorter than other system rated at this power level and it fits into the module with out blocking the flow. Keep in mind that it is longer than the manufacturer recommends however – so this is not a suggestion that you do the same!. I will say that I am not a fan of LifeGard aquatics. I have had multiple QC problems ( a defective O-ring and a failed glue joint on a UV system) and the manufacturer has not been supportive. Next time I will build my own heater module.

*UV* - As mentioned above, I originally had a Pentair/LifeGard UV Aqua Step and ended up replacing it when a seam burst on testing. I decided to switch to the Aqua Ultraviolet Classic 25 watt system with ¾ inch fittings. Much more durable construction. UV is a "nice to have" but not a necessity according to the pundits. I am running it 24/7 at the moment and will cut this back as the tank stabilizes.

*Filtration and Pumps* - There is more to say here than will fit reasonably in the post. I will do a plumbing post soon. I learned a lot – sometimes painfully. There are two 1 inch bulkheads supplying water to the system. 











These flow to a Steve Colley style manifold (see link in first post) where the water mixes and the temperature and pH levels are recorded. The manifold then splits into two separate loops.

A) This is driven by the Velocity T1 pump from Blue Line Aquatics. The pump so quiet! I have to touch it to find out if it is working. The T1 is rated at 540 gallons per hour at a 3’ head using ¾ inch pipe. It will do 120 gallons per hour with a 24 foot head. The heavy lifting and flow sensitive systems are on this loop
a. – An Ocean Clear 340 filter with a pleated 40 sq ft 25 micron insert.
b. The Heater module
c. The Aqua Ultraviolet UV light.
d. The Mazzei injector for CO2

Flow rate recommendations for UV systems are confusing. Basically you are looking at a dwell time and a UV light's wattage to determine if enough ionizing radiation is hitting your unwanted cell to scramble it’s DNA and kill it. I have more than enough to do away with green water at my measured flow rate – about 390 gph – but may be on the upper edge to kill parasites. 

Testing on the deck ( old UV system)











B) This loop is driven by a used Iwaki MD40RLXT pump. I bought this 2 year old pump for $50. It had been used for a salt water tank and had some surface rust. I removed this, cleaned the fan and checked the impellor housing. It is working well!. This pump is noisier but throws a lot of water. It’s sole prurpose is to drive flow through an Ocean Clear 354 polybead biological filter. This contains 7 lbs of polyelthelyne beads providing a significant surface area for bacteria. The system can be back flushed in place while doing water changes. – this was another Craigs List find – unused for $50! (ThatPetPlace.com has them for $82 right now – an amazing price). This loop has a measured flow of 690 gph and returns through 1 inch pipe to a home made return at the top of the right hand side of the tank.

The pump











The return











*CO2 system* – As mentioned earlier, this uses a Mazzei 584 injector on filter loop “A”. This will receive a more detailed write up later. I have a 20lb tank and a Green Leaf Aquariums Ultimate CO2 Regulator

The Mazzei loop











*Dosing Pumps* - I have two Aqua Medic SP 1500 peristaltic pumps that have not yet been intalled. I do have the ports connected to Filter loop “A” and will install them after I get a better sense of my Ffertilizer regimen. These connect to ports after the Mazzei injector











*The Apex Controller* - This is the new controller from Neptune systems and it is the nerve center of the tank. I will go into more detail in a future post. I love the graphing function. It gave me some interesting insights into my temp and pH profiles over a 24 hour period!











*Substrate* - ADA Aquasoil 1 with Power Sand

*Wood* - Root and branches are Indian Hawthorn

*Rock *– I don’t know! A free way near my house was built recently and they carved through a hill of this stuff. There is an area where they dumped some pile of this rock and I was able to search for pieces that I wanted – I have several additional rocks that I really love but that wouldn’t fit in. If only I had that 4ft by 4ft by 2 ft tank…

*Plants* –
• HC carpet
• Bocopa caroliniana
• Hygro var. Kompact
• Anubias barteri var nana
• Anubias barteri var nana petite
• Eleocharis montevidensis – Giant Hair Grass
• Diatoms – unwanted
• Long stringy green algae on a rootlet in the “river” – also unwanted

*Temp* - It’s in the garage and it is a little hot! The pumps and metal halides add about 5 degrees to ambient temps. Which had me pushing 83 degrees in the afternoon. I have since put a fan across the surface and evaporative cooling keeps it at 80 in the afternoon and 78 at night. Again the graph’s on the Apex are cool. I will be setting up two 120mm computer case fans in the future which will be under the temp control of the Apex. I would like to keep the temp more stable.

*The tank is cycling* – Ammonia is 3.0 currently

*Tap water* – pH 8.0. CO2 controlled to 6.9

*kH *(not calibrated yet) of 7 to 8 

*Ferts* – Green Brighty step 1

A few recent pics:

Lot’s of pearling!











Hygro Kompact developing a nice pink/ copper color on new growth











Algae!


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

That's some crazy plumbing you got going on there. It's way over my head but I like it for some reason. 

Your hardscape has a very natural feel to it, but I think the branches are taking up too much attention. There's just too many little branches I think. Other then that, sweet setup!


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Thanks Speedie408. I found myself completely confused by what scolley did in his post too - but I found it to be very cool! Motivation made me pay a little more attention and do more homework. It is confusing to look at in pictures but really very staright forward. I will be doing a more indepth plumbing post and will see if it makes it any easier to follow.

There are definitely a lot of branches happening here. Not everyone's cup of tea i'm sure. I hope to get some RCS and a school of a small colorful fish like microrasbora or CPD's I like the idea of them weaving through the branches. That said, it is early days and I need to live with it awhile.

Any body have any good live stock suggestions? Looking to keep shrimp and fish...

Thanks in advance!


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

great write up on the plumbing and the set up. I love how descriptive you are, definitely reminds me of scolley. great job. what type of fish are you thinking of putting in here?


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Thanks monkeyruler 90! This has been fun. More to come.

I coud definitely use some recommends on the fish choices. I am looking to do a school of one species (excludes the cleaning crew) and would like to have RCS in the tank - so they need to be small. My water is pretty hard but the pH is pretty neutral.

I'm open to suggestions for choices. Please offer any advice on stocking you have!

Bill


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

holy smokes this is an über-mechanized system. 

i wondered what kind of pump was driving this. i think it might not have been visible in that first picture.

that was most definitely a good call leaving the cabinet open underneath. all of that hardware working together makes its own kind of visual statement and a wild contrast with the natural scene in the tank.

your plants are looking good too.


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

WOW! Well done  Well done indeed....

Regards,
Orlando


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

*Hey! It's a fish tank!*

Well two months after I started this tank I finally got livestock (the snails don't count...)

A package came this morning from Tropical Fish Distributors inc (tfdfish.com) with 30 Ember Tetra's and 15 Oto's. The fish were in great shape - all had full bellys - even the Oto's. Tfdfish keeps there fish in lake Erie water - pH 7.8 and fairly hard, a good match for my tap water so they acclimated really well. Started eating/hunting immediately!. 

I’d like to ask for recommendations for feeding – what do you feed your fish as a staple? For supplements? I will be adding cories and shrimp later too. 

The Embers are hanging out in the river - looks pretty cool. Some pics:

Sorry for the unsightly backdrop...










A closer look




















[imghttp://lh5.ggpht.com/_mpFQLqCbsB0/Snx7VwCRQ4I/AAAAAAAAAR4/EpVCHMLCSz0/s800/IMG_0710.JPG[/img]





















Thanks for looking

Bill


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## lopez_316us (Jan 25, 2008)

I love the pluming! It looks so complicated :icon_frow:icon_frow. How is the Aphex working out for you?


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

*A long over due update*

Sorry for the long delay in posting. 

*Lopez316* - The Apex is really cool. It controls the lighting and CO2 on two tanks. in addition, it runs two dosing pumps, a heater, a cooling fan, a UV sterilizer (it is turned off anytime the pumps go off, during a feed cycle for instance) and the two pumps ( feed and maintenence cycle). I also really like to data logging. 

Still need to hook it up to the internet so I can monitor/control while on the road. My 14 year old would be heart broken though - he loves to take care of the tank when I am away!

Well, my families multimedia computer is still being fixed and I did not back up all of the plumbing and glass drilling pics - so I will have to post those later...hopefully!

I have added some plants, some livestock and had things fill in a bit. I will show some comparison pics. Please give me your feed back on the additions - good, better before, etc. The E. montividensis ( Giant Hair grass) is quite happy and would gladly take over the tank if I didn't pluck the runners every week. 

*The tank then:*











*The tank now:*











*The river bed then:*




















*The river bed now:*




















(excuse the cheesy back ground too much garage in the pics)

*Left side of river bed:*










*A really bad picture of the right side with the new Flame Moss and the blur in the back is mini rose moss:*










Under the branches, I had several Anubias barteri nana petite - a really small form that basically was hidden behind my lumpy HC carpet. These were all moved to the left side of the river bed ( look good?) and I replaced them with some Lobelia cardinalis I got from a fellow San Diegan. I like to shade of green this has and am hoping to see this fill in.











*The Livestock*

Kevin Tran sold me some of his CRS culls - mostly C and B grade (but there are a couple A's mixed in!) I loaded 45 of them in the tank and they are bustling all over. There are now two berried females! We will see how the shrimplets do. Plenty of hiding places and the Embers pretty much ignore the shrimp. One exception, I have a bull ember that has staked out the river bed as his turf. He chases the other embers away and will occasiaonaly nip at a swimming CRS - ususally only the big ones. Maybe the color is to close to Ember orange on my C grade shrimp.

Here are a few eating a Shikura wafer:










New to the clean up crew: 5 Zebra Nerites. You can also see the no-longer kompact H. corymbosum. This guy is now 8" tall by 8" wide and has out grown his spot. I will probably be removing it - another potential auction item for SCAPE's Sept. meeting.










Here, surrounded by pond snails, is my one MTS. - really, only one. He hitched a ride on my plants and survived the 3 week emersed start.










Not pictured are 6 horned nerites and 5 panda cories.

My next fish purchase may be a school of Marbled hatchets. I have heard they like flow (flow-a-plenty at the top of my tank) and stay near the surface. I don not want to put a lid on the tank - too hot with the MH and I need to use a fan in during these 90+ degree days to keep the tank temp below 81 degrees. I have a frame that fits the top and will make a monofiliment mesh with opening's of about 1/2 inch. This will allow heat to dissipate, but not my hatchets!

*Hardware*
Plumbed in the two AquaMedic SP 1500 dosing pumps. One for traces and one for macro's. The Macros go in at 7 am and the traces go in at 7:30. Lights go on at 8am










(the pH isn't really that low. I pushed the Apex over next to my computer and it turns out that I get interference that causes my pH to show much lower untill I separate them.) 
Here are the reserviors - glass milk bottles. They hold 900mls, and I can boil them with my distilled water to avoid mold/bacteria/algae from growing in my traces. Just like how grandma used to can tomotoes!










And one more bit of hardware...











It's a "work bench"....for now! My wife would not bother to divorce me if I bought another tank. My life insurance policy is too tempting!

Sorry for the manifesto. Comments and critiques are all welcome!

Bill


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

whoa, nice looking tank


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## FSM (Jan 13, 2009)

It looks awesome.


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Updates?


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## Piranha (Nov 18, 2007)

great build


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## Randy Lau (Mar 29, 2008)

That is one cool looking tank. Very unique!


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## JamieH (Sep 20, 2006)

awesome... and a delight to see a tank that isn;t slavishly trying to emulate the work of amano.

top thread!!!


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Piranha, Randy, Jamie and Orlando - Collective thank you. I guess I haven't been around enough to be influenced!

I will post an update tonight or tomorrow. Several things happening. I got an ugly algae infestation, turns out my clippard check valve on the macro dosing pump was allowing tank water into the fertilizer reserviour. I wasn't adding enough ferts for my high light tank - and whamo - algae. 

So I just finished a 3 day black out and the GDA and much of the Spirogyra was knocked back. I cleaned the filters and plan to do another round to get rid of the remainder. The only plant that has taken a hit is the dwarf Hygro. these started losing leaves. Got it mostly in check but there are a few plants that took a hit. I'll take pictures in the update.

I will also be doing a modification to the filter system. This is a result of some iterations I am doing on the new sulawesi tank. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/tank-journals-photo-album/94227-beginning-sulawesi-tank.html
More on that tomorrow.

Bill


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Wow! You're still doing an awesome job. Keep it up. I love those stands!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

How did I miss this? What a cool tank. It is so different looking. The plants and everything look great.



billb said:


>


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## jh1392 (Aug 30, 2009)

This is my new favorite tank on this forum. Awesome Job! I have a few questions that maybe you could help me out with. What purpose do the guages serve on the mazzei loop? Also, I was pondering whether or not a mazzei injector could be used to inject ferts without the use of dosing pumps. If I understand the venturi effect correctly, would it not generate enough of a vacuum to suck in the ferts through the injection port?


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Thank you jh1392!

My worry is that the Mazzei would not be an accurate enough mechanism to inject a controlled amount of ferts. The vacuum is controlled by flow and pressure drop. The two pressure gaes are my attempt to ensure I am seeing at least 2 PSI. I have a measured flow rate of about 390 gph with a clean filter - another challenge to accurate dosing with this.

Wasserpest has a great thread comparing all of the dosing strategies. take a look!

My latest thought on the mazzei is to plump it with a timed valve - directed to the CO2 line during the day, and at night, either to a line with a 1/2 or 1 psi cracking pressure check valve open to the air to aerate the tank at night. I will play with this soon.

Bill


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

I had a busy week end and wanted to post a few updates - not all good.

*First some old business*. I had promised to show my reflector mods to the Fish Need -It MH lights. This is to, as my friend Victor (Marimoball) put it, keep the room from "looking like Dodger Stadium". There is a lot of light spill into the room with these.

I basically bought a 2x2 ft sheet of polished aluminum reflector material and cut 3" by 12" strips with a Dremel tool. These were attached to 12" threaded rods and then the rods slide into the groves on either side of the lights. They work pretty well. Here are the pics











*Drilled three small holes*










*Attached with double loop of fine galvanized wire*










*Finish with end caps to keep it in place*










*Done!*










*On to current affairs!* A derivation of Tom Barr's teaching:
A bad check valve on a dosing pump (diluted my macros) +High light from MH = *ALGAE!!*

On the glass, on the plants, on the hardscape - GDA, GSA, Spirogyra... it came fast while I was out of town. Oh well. I stopped the dosing pumps and will fix it later. Tom also says to fix the problem/clean the fiters/do a big water change/trim as much as you can - and then do a three day black out. No CO2. No Ferts. Darn if that didn't work well! Absolutely no more GSA and GDA - the spirogyra was wounded too but I'll need to repeat the cycle. I also got some BBA started up (from the low CO2?) There was some damage. My compact H. corymbosum lost a lot of leaves especially on the bottom and especially those shaded by the over grown Bocapa that plans to take over the world. ( now that the Giant Hair Grass has been fenced in...)

*Here is the sad picture. I cut them off and hope for new growth from the prodigious root system:*











*So here are some comparisons from the last post about a month ago:*
*whole tank:*
*Old*










*New*











*Middle detail new - a new Rock, BBA on branches, moved the Lobelia cardinalis and a peak at some Downoi:*










I know BBA is a CO2 issue and I can't help thinking it has been waiting for the chance - like my three day black out/no CO2. Maybe it wasn't dark enough?
*Here is a pic of my CO2 torrent from the Mazzei injector*. It works well and I clean my filters religiously to keep flow up.











*The River*
*Old*









*Now*










Now here is a pic od *two color forms of Riccia *growing as contaminants in my mini rose moss. I did not know there were such two forms! ... and no, one is not shaded. it is truly a darker form.











*A new inhabitant - 10 Amano Shrimp. The biggest beasts in the tank. This guy is on the Fissidens geppi*










*Some old inhabitants - the CRS hang out. You can see the pot which is my attempt to disarm the Giant Hair Grass..*









And a few thoughts on my Filter. There are two filter loops on this tank as outlined in the first post. The Ocean Clear 354 polybead filter is a heck of a Biofilter and is designed to back flush. Well, that probably works well if you have a mechanical filter in line and infront of it! (as the manufacturer suggests. Well I didn't do this and I am essentially creating aquatic compost in vast quantities in the OC 354. So. I am going to plump a Big Blue (20" by 4.5" pleated cartridge) in line to block the detritus from gumming up the works. In my new tank, I even modified the filter plumbing because the back flush doesn't work that well. More on this in another post.

I have to get ready for another 3 day black out so here is to hoping we see an algae free tank with healthy Downoi and re-growing H. corymbosum!

Thanks for looking

Bill


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## Retzius (Jul 25, 2009)

Very nice plumbing and equipment you got there Bill, I too am getting ready to go to battle with spirogyra. I will follow your methods and pray it goes well for me. Blackouts always seem to work. 

A UV light is very tempting, you must have really good water quality. I'll have to weight out the pros and cons, con being, more equipment.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Bill - Great setup! I just saw this, and honest to goodness, this is very well executed. You should be proud. I am. 

Little stumble on teh OC 534. Live and learn. But I LOVE the stadium-busting light flaps on the MH. Good work.

And the tank... it looks great. Esthetically and technically. You really should be proud. Great Job!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Wow, I can just picture walking along in a forest and running across a little stream looking just like that! Really, really lovely.


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Awesome setup. Awesome scape. Awesome thread. Did I say AWESOME!?! roud:roud:roud:


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Wow,
I am glad that you guys weren't able to see my reaction when I saw that Steve Colley posted on my thread. You would have thought I was a teen age girl having just gotten the autograph of one of the star from the Twilight movie ( probably emarrassing enough that I know about the Twilight movie...)

*Steve* - thanks. Your tank along with the diagrams and your very open discussion of the build saved me countless times! The design works great.

Thanks also for reminding me to update this thread. I got side tracked by my less than successful effort with Sulawesi shrimp. It's time for an update. By the way, your reef tank looks really good. and if you are looking for a new challenge - teach us how to be successful with Sulawesi shrimp! Stability is they key and your systematic approach might be able to provide some answers!

*Laura Lee* - thank you! that is excactly what I was looking for initially but as you will see - I need to do some work to regain the scape!

*Hey Ed* - appreciated. If you want to see awesome - check out Steve's Son of Kahuna thread.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/tank-journals-photo-album/47667-son-kahuna-56k.html

As I said, it's been two months since I looked at this thread and wow, has the tank become overgrown! I knew there have been changes, but you don't appreciate the degree until you see pictures to compare!
I must say that I have neglected this tank on the aquascaping end. I also have been fighting an algae attack - first BBA, then, more recently, spirogyra. I think it boils down to not paying attention to maintenance. My filter flow and CO2 was blocked by plant overgrowth and I needed to change out the filter cartridge on my Ocean Clear 340. I was able to do this over the week end and sprayed some water/Excel on the upper plants and wood that were exposed during the big water change. I must say I am suprised at how well the tank is responding. Not out of the woods yet but most of the algae is gone. The tank looks like it is sparkling under the MH lights. Now I just need to get my lazy self to do a big trim or the tank will be a solid mass of moss and Bocapa!
Here are a few pics:
*October*








*Now*








The Flame moss, the Taiwan moss, and the Subwassertang have taken over the river. I need to carve abit. The Lobelia cardinalis dwarf form isn't so dwarf anymore. I need to top those plants. The hairgrass is being pretty well contained by the pots but they were hit hard by the algae and are looking sad at the moment. plenty of new shoots starting to grow though.
The HC kept floating up in mats - because I didn't trim enough and because of the Sulawesi Tylo snails (they are real bulldozers) The downoi is starting to fill in nicely to take it's place. Over all, the tank is healthy. I must have several hundered C grade crs in there. The moss protects them well from the newest addition - 10 P. signifer rainbows. The females are hunters and will eat tiny shrimplets for sure.
Here are a few more pics:
*The river in October*








*A bit over grown in December*








*The downoi is doing well - notice the tall one in the back - it bolted to escape the shade from the Taiwan moss.* 








*A male and female P. signifer with a bold CRS*








The only hardware change was to use Zoo Med 501 filter sponges in my in-tank prefilters. They are precut as 2" circles, and have a finer mesh to protect shrimplets. The extra height provides more surface area to draw through and keeps them good until the weekend water changes. A good tweak to the system!
Thank you for looking
Bill


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

LOL

Time to "reclaim the river!"

It's a little too bad, though, those mosses look so lovely!


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

still looks great!

cheers-K


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

Hey Kyle and Laura Lee, thanks. 

Timing is everything! My tank was in a sorry state a couple weeks back - heck even last Friday! I must say that I am suprised at how quickly the algae disappeared. I had some good spirogyra going( like many of us lately) and this morning I cannot find any. I know it's still lurking, waiting for me to slack off but the filter cleaning, spraying some Excel during a big water change and boosting the flow with my CO2 filter loop has knocked it out in 3 days! Perhaps it's a Christmas miracle! Sorry got carried away again
At any rate - now was the time to take some pics.

A few comments about the Downoi. I have had it for about two months now and it is starting to grow nicely. It seems happy with my tank and with San Diego tap water thankfully. I am getting new plants from side shoots. I suspect they are hardier than I thought. I have a big downoi plant in my Sulawesi tank. It is growing with no CO2 and no ferts. Just pulling nutrients from the aquasoil and maybe carbon from the HCO3- I'll take some pics later.

Changing subjects, I have been feeding the cleaning crew in this tank using a trick from my experiments to grow biofilm for the Sulawesi shrimp. 
This is a Loquat leaf from my yard. I have several trays of water with ferts on the back porch and have a bunch of these leaves soaking. They have a slightly fuzzy back side (who doesn't! - sorry couldn't help it) that acts as a nice surface area for culturing algae and diatoms. Here are some pics:

*The wide angle shot - the leaves sink and I feed in the same location each time. I let the leaf stay in over night and it is spotless the next morning!*








*A close up showing some of the periphyton ( fancy talk for algae, diatoms and such on a surface. Yaa, I know, pretty impressive)*








*Some more of the cleaning crew - my "C" grade CRS. The large oto looks like it swallowed a marble. It has to be a female with eggs. I would love to have them spawn but that's a long shot.*








*The amano's usually show up a lttle late ( suprisingly it is the panda cories who generally find the leaf first. Not sure what they are grazing on. The amano's do hang out the longest and polish everything up.*








Try this some time - in colder climates (Kyle3 maybe) you can just keep the trays in side and throw a light on them.
Bill


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Wow very cool, i might have to try this technique. Amazing tank!


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## non_compliance (Dec 1, 2009)

wow... great way to feed... good idea.  

Tank looks great too...


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Wow this tank is VERY cool! What lush and lovely growth! Are those ember tetras? If so, don't you just love their color? I know I do!  

I agree with LauraLee that it will be a bit of a shame to clear the river back out because that growth is so beautiful, however, it is also a shame not to be able to see the rivre you created because you did it so well, so it will be nice to see it again  And either way, I can totally picture walking through this "forest" I love it!


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## londonloco (Aug 25, 2005)

This is the most unique tank on the web, just beautiful.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

How about an update on this. I really enjoyed this journal to date.

Very unique style. 

How much did the work bench cost you to build? Dimensions?


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## fastfreddie (Sep 10, 2008)

londonloco said:


> This is the most unique tank on the web, just beautiful.





Gatekeeper said:


> How about an update on this. I really enjoyed this journal to date.
> 
> Very unique style.
> 
> How much did the work bench cost you to build? Dimensions?


Amen. This thread is awesome.


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## Chasintrades (Oct 11, 2009)

Awesome!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Wow here is this tank again. I love this setup. It is so unique.

That's funny that you put a loquat leaf in there. I have a loquat tree that I started from seed and have kept as a houseplant. It actually does really well as a houseplant.


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## yellotang (Nov 3, 2009)

Awesome Tank.


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## EntoCraig (Jun 7, 2010)

Very inspiring and natural looking. Well done! this tank gives me some great ideas for a 55...


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

Nice set up on the equipment ? Do you have only 1 intake going into your pump and with Mazzie and filter do they come together to 1 return?
I have been have problem running a Blue-Line 55 HD pump an at the end I have my filter coming in and jointing the Mazzie then it goes to back to a wye -ball valve-wye to 2 returns , And I think here is where my heat is being cause ? My temp in my tank stays at 90F all the time? Maybe the Mazzie and Filters should come back to 1 return? or just Separate them and have there own returns?


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## mylittlefish (Oct 5, 2010)

Glad to see a low tech approach.

Some tanks are sometimes over done.


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## billb (May 29, 2009)

inkslinger said:


> Nice set up on the equipment ? Do you have only 1 intake going into your pump and with Mazzie and filter do they come together to 1 return?
> I have been have problem running a Blue-Line 55 HD pump an at the end I have my filter coming in and jointing the Mazzie then it goes to back to a wye -ball valve-wye to 2 returns , And I think here is where my heat is being cause ? My temp in my tank stays at 90F all the time? Maybe the Mazzie and Filters should come back to 1 return? or just Separate them and have there own returns?


Sorry for the lack of response. Been traveling alot.

Inkslinger, I have modified the plumbing to use 1 inch pipe as much as possible and divided the flow into two streams after the pump - one goes to the filters and UV and returns over the top to provide flow and surface agitation. The other loop goes to a pleated house filter and mazzei. This loop returns through the bottom to a split LocLine that directs flow to the front and back. Both of these returns are on one side of the tank opposite the two intakes that feed the filter.

The Blue line velocity pumps do add heat to the aquarium and maybe the HD versions do also. I switched out to a Reeflo Snapper direct drive pump which seems to add less heat and more flow ( I am sure Mylittlefish will disapprove).

Over all the tank has been up and running for about 1 and 1/2 years with few problems. Algae is nonexistant even with the 300 watts of MH lighting - and I love the ripple effect these provide. I am religious about water changes and try to do 50% per week and this probably helps keep things stable. All in all, it functions well for me.


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

It would be great to see a photo update if you have an opportunity. I remember reading this journal when it first opened. Very well done.


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