# 90 Gallon like I always wanted



## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Now that Im out with my own house and stable job I decided to get back into the hobby, but do things a little better. I decided I wanted something in the 75g range, an old friend had a salt water 75 that I really liked the size of. I searched for around a month before settling on a 90 as the size I wanted to have, I thought the extra height would fill up my wall better. After nearly buying several used tanks I knew I wouldnt be happy unless I had a shiny new tank, so I got a new 90g reef ready Aqueon.

From there I wasnt really happy with the quality of the pre-built stands nor the price if you did happen to find a nice one, which I never really did find anything other than the standard black painted pine ones. So I decided to build one, it was alot of work but has turned out great.


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## FatherLandDescendant (Jul 24, 2014)

Wish I had wood working skills like that.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Continuing with the stand build getting everything stained and varnished, I also wanted to build a matching canopy. When I set out to build the stand and canopy one of the main goals I had was to be able to have it hide the trim on the tank.

Bump:


FatherLandDescendant said:


> Wish I had wood working skills like that.


Thanks, it did take me a long time to get it built. Right at a month working on it like it was a job.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Most of what Im posting about now has happened within the last week or so. I finally got the tank set up in my basement after what seemed like forever working on the stand.

First thing I started on once I had it positioned where I thought I wanted it was the plumbing. I wanted it to be silent, well as much as possible so I decided to run a herbie overflow setup. With that type of overflow I would have to run the return on the outside of the tank. I wanted all of the plumbing to be easily removable so I used unions in key places, using 2 unions on the return to get it snaked through the stand easier, I didnt have much help to try and hold everything straight and glue at the same time.

I also got my R/O unit set up between two shelving units, one thing I do need to do here is change my plug in to a GFCI and while Im doing that I want to put a switch on it to have the ability to easily switch my pump on and off when filling my tank.


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

After the facts is not any use, but check "Glass Cages" for stands.
Looks fairly close to what you have. Likely not as strong. "We" always
tend to build something you could hold up a truck/w...LOL...
Great staining job that brings out the grain of the wood.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Once I had the plumbing done and most of the electrical layout planned I decided to starting filling with water to see how big of a disaster that would be. I cut a light diffuser/egg crate deal to fit before I starting filling with water and quickly found out that it would float, duh. So I decided to rinse the sand I had bought for the tank. 

Speaking of sand, I had finally settled on HTH pool filter sand, I really struggled with what to get since I wanted to go with some live plants. I did a decent amount of research on it and was really close to pulling the trigger on some eco-complete but couldnt bring myself to spend the money for it. Hopefully it doesnt come back to bite me later. 

While filling I noticed that the water level wasnt level. My stand when built was level so I figured it was the floor. I didnt think it was going to be level since one of the speakers for my surround sound is also tipped slightly. Well I ended up being off almost a 1/4 inch on one corner, way more than I thought it would be. Great cement work on the floor of my basement. So I really wasnt sure what to do, I knew it had to be level or I risk damage to the tank or stand, and it would look like crap with an uneven water level. I didnt really know if door shims would work but as of right now they seem to have done the trick, I used several to make sure the load was spread out.

Bump:


Raymond S. said:


> After the facts is not any use, but check "Glass Cages" for stands.
> Looks fairly close to what you have. Likely not as strong. "We" always
> tend to build something you could hold up a truck/w...LOL...
> Great staining job that brings out the grain of the wood.


lol you got that right, I wouldnt surprised if mine would hold up a car, its way over built


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## Hetzer (Sep 23, 2012)

What a wonderful start! Obviously no stranger to the workshop


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

stand looks great! very good work


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Your stand is everything I wanted my stand to be... :'( Looks great! I went with a 75g instead of the 90g though. It was a toss up! Plans for lighting?


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Nice clean plumbing and great woodworking! I'm jealous of your workshop. Would you please post some detail pics of your filter? I'm a sucker for that stuff.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Thanks for all the nice comments.

For lighting I went with a Current Satellite Plus 48 inch. I really contemplated a DIY setup but went for the ease and probably cheaper route buying a pre made light. Im really happy with it so far, it has mostly good reviews from what I could find.

Funny you should mention my filter, I am actually debating tearing it down and re working it. I dont really like how it turned out and I changed direction now a little bit. I was going to use the k1 tumbling media but the stuff I got just floated to the top of the water level and didnt really move much, maybe that is how it is, Im not sure? So I tore the egg crate wall out and am now just using bio-balls and filter material, a coarse pad and blue bonded pad. One of the things I dont like is I cant get my heater into it, not sure if it will fit even if I re work it, my heater is super long. The other being I seem to not be catching much of the mechanical debris with my first set of filter pads, most of it is getting caught on more of a back up pad I installed. Ill get some pictures of it tonight after work.

If anyone has a good proven sump design post up a link.


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## Phil Edwards (Jul 18, 2003)

Hey there Sprint. Take a look at my current build thread for sump info. If you've got any questions or whatnot I'll be happy to answer them.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Over the last few days I got my tank close to how I kind of want it, given my current materials, driftwood, sand, rock etc. It was tricky to get the piece of driftwood on the right to stay down, it wanted to float where as the other piece sank. I ended up tying it to a large rock. Overall Im fairly happy with how it has turned out so far.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

I ended up deciding to do a fish in cycle, so I got 4 platy's. Not much for a 90 gallon but my local options for fish are very limited. My old time fish store I used 8+ years ago might as well close since they have basically nothing on hand, a bunch a empty tanks, its quite sad to see. My only other local option is Walmart, otherwise its about a 2 hour trip to pet smart or an actual LFS. 

With the 4 platy's I seemed to be making some progress until I finally got tired of my sump, I didnt like my heater not being in it, and it seemed like the way it was set up, any debris that would float would never really get skimmed off of the first set of chambers. So I tore out 3 of the old baffles and re arranged them to fix the above issues I was having. I let the silicone cure for 3 days and put it back in a few days ago, and so far it seems to be working fine. 

I ran my air pump on full blast with 2 power heads and managed to keep my platy's in good health.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Little cloudy here, lol


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## starfire12 (Aug 13, 2009)

I really like that tall piece of wood can you place the smaller one in front of the big one, I think that would look more natural. Not to keen on the rocks, maybe place them around the base of them.


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## rebelbuck1993 (Sep 3, 2014)

very nice stand indeed, what color did you stain with?


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

starfire12 said:


> I really like that tall piece of wood can you place the smaller one in front of the big one, I think that would look more natural. Not to keen on the rocks, maybe place them around the base of them.


Yea I wasnt thrilled with how the rocks turned out either, I may try to re-arrange them at some point, especially the ones on the taller piece of driftwood. Im not sure if I really like the color of them, its all I had locally. I may try to order something in if I get feed up enough or get some free time. The other piece of drift wood is too big to sit in front of the tall one, and the tall one is doing a fairly good job of hiding my overflow.




rebelbuck1993 said:


> very nice stand indeed, what color did you stain with?


I used Minwax, Dark Walnut for stain, 1 coat. Then 2 coats of oil based varnish.


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Sprint - great looking wood work on the stand. Did something similar (see build thread below). Also running Current light - great choice. Always interesting to see how tanks start out. Tough decisions on the hard scape, only to be covered up / over by the plants within 6 months  Look forward to the rest of your progress.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Well I should have posted about 10 updates since my last but like it goes I have been busy working on the tank as well as countless other things. 

Anyhow Ill kind of update a bunch of stuff in one post I guess, one thing I have been doing is taking pictures of everything, so thats a plus.

So where I kind of left off on my updates I had just arranged my rocks and wood to my liking and was in the process of doing a fish in cycle with some platy's. I figured 4 platy's wasnt going to cut it with my water volume so I broke down and went to Walmart to get some additional fish. Which has actually turned out to be a better experience than I thought it would. There is an older guy that I usually try to get that is friendly and their tanks are usually halfway clean, plus if you have a loss its pretty much no questions asked on a return or exchange. 

So I bought 2 angelfish, and some blue and neon blue gourami's, while I was there I picked up some wisteria, anubus nana?, sword, and crypts. There plant tags are pretty generic, so its kind of hard to tell what you are getting.



The next delima I had with the tank was my own stupidity. I thought I would dose small amounts of excel every few days, I eventually planned to put my dosing pump on a timer to get on a schedule when I got more plants. For the time being I was just doing it manually, well I forget to set a timer and let it dose for about 6 hours. This was very bad for pretty much everything in the tank. Once I found my blunder I put my air pump with 2 large stones into my main tank to try and oxygenate the water again, as well as a couple water changes, unfortunately I was too late and lost all of the gourami's, I did manage to save my platy's and angle fish though.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

After my excel overdose I let the tank kind of settle down for about a month. I wasnt happy with the stone I had in the tank so I took that out and replaced it with some seryu stone, which I like much better. In the month cool down period I researched on what I want to get for fish and plants, figuring about the only way I was going to get what I wanted was to mail order since it is about 3 hours to my nearest good fish store, or at least that I know of.

So I put an order in to liveaquaria, I got several different plants and fish. Ill have to update this with a list when I get time, Im doing this quick while I have some time to kill. I was very happy with the stuff I got. I did have a few loses but they were great to work with and make things right, I will definitely order from them again.

Pic right after I got my order.



I really wasnt liking how things were laying out, so I changed my hardscape a bit and removed a piece of wood, also rearranged some plants. I liked the result alot better, less definitely is more.


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

*Looking good*

That last photo looks real good! Neat piece of wood, makes me think that's the base of a tree. I almost expect a critter to poke its head out of the crack at the bottom.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Thanks, at that point I was pretty happy but not completely satisfied with it. I've got more updates, just need time to write them.


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## big b (Jun 3, 2015)

Dude, where did you get that huge piece of driftwood?


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

big b said:


> Dude, where did you get that huge piece of driftwood?


Ebay, unfortunately the seller no longer has anything listed, its a shame because he had some great stuff.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

I started to notice that some of the medium light plants I had werent looking the best or as vibrant as Id hoped. So I did a little reading and found that my light was likely less than adequate for the depth and height of my tank. Having a custom made canopy made selecting a replacement or even an additional light proved difficult. Since I couldnt really find anything that would work I decided to build one. I had kind of wanted to build one from the get go but building the stand took more time than I had thought it would so I just bought a light at that time. 

I pondered several idea's on a light but really wanted to go with an LED build, kind of a high end build I guess. I thought about cheaping out on a few things, especially heatsinks, but in the end I went all out. This whole tank has really has gotten out of hand by the way, lol. Way more involved than I originally intended but I really enjoy it.

Anyhow back to the light, I used some builds and guides on here for reference, and used Hoppy's Par calculator to help kind of figure up what I wanted, atleast get a loose guideline on how many LED's I would need. I ended up going with 32 LED's total, this worked out to hopefully give me the Par I wanted and work with only 2 drivers. The drivers I chose were Invertronics, they are a power supply and driver built into one. And finally for heatsinks I found that MakersLED had some less than perfect heatsinks on Ebay, these really seemed to be a fairly good deal, and being in my canopy if they were nicked up it wouldnt be a big deal. The quality and function are still excellent, and I never even found a defect.


Getting everything organized


LED's laid out and fastened down.


Skipped ahead a bit here, but got the wiring done, optics on, and the end covers and splash guard on. Notice my bench has turned into a disaster by this point. 


Mounted in my canopy


Showing my drivers and wiring, I was pretty happy how this turned out.


It works.


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## big b (Jun 3, 2015)

Aww I would have liked to have bought some driftwood from him if he had another piece like that. What are the big piece of driftwood dimension?


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Around 24 H x 12 W x 4 D I had to cut it down so it would fit.

I almost didnt get it but I am glad I decided on this piece, works almost perfectly at covering my overflow box.


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## big b (Jun 3, 2015)

Wow that is a big piece of wood.


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## Capecrusher (Feb 17, 2015)

WOW! That is one fine piece of furniture you created! The way it all came together was fun to follow. Nice pictures. Love the electrical work and the way you mounted your LED build. Bravo!


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Thanks Capecrusher.

Been awhile since I have been on here, things have been super busy this fall trying to get projects done around the house, with that things have been lacking on the tank a little. 

I guess where I left of was with my light being completed, here is a picture just after that.



With the light completed and the increased output it gave, I ran into algae problems. So I decided it was time to go with pressurized Co2 and stop messing with excel. So i ordered all the parts associated with a Co2 setup and built my regulator, I was able to get an empty 10 pound tank from my cousin, and built a rex grigg reactor. I dont have many pics of this for some reason, all I have is the timer



I got some plants from some members on here which absolutely looked great, here is a pic after I got them arranged. 



At this point I started all my home improvement projects and got side tracked on the tank slightly. While I had my algae somewhat under control with some light adjustments, I found that my Co2 reactor to be less than adequate, usually dumping bubbles into the return pump if I try to get where I need to be on my Co2 levels, something I need to still fix. I ran into some nutrient deficiency with my plants, so I did some research on Ferts and got everything bought but I haven't had the time to get something setup and going, need to do this ASAP.

I had an order of fish come in to get me up to kind of where I want to be with everything number wise. Everything was going good but then 1 fish sick, then 2, and so on. I think I ended up loosing more than I ordered. I guess I should have known better. I will be getting a small quarantine tank setup before I get anymore fish, need to get this done since I wouldn't mind getting some additional tank mates.

I think that kind of catches me up on my updates finally. Need to get my issues fixed for my plants, the weather will turn soon enough and that will put an end to my outside projects.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

3 months with a lot of changes! DIY LED, CO2, etc. Looks great. How do you like the light colored substrate? It looks good, but is it actually dirty in person?


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Freemananana said:


> 3 months with a lot of changes! DIY LED, CO2, etc. Looks great. How do you like the light colored substrate? It looks good, but is it actually dirty in person?


Its come along ways. Its fun to go back and look at the pictures from when I started, Im glad I took them and took the time to put it all together.

The light substrate is ok, the price was right and that was a determining factor as to why I went with it. I do wish now that I would have went with something different, or maybe with a layer of soil under the sand. From my couch it looks clean, up close is a different story as the poop stands out probably more than it would on a dark substrate, but the plants hide a lot of it.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Finally had some time to get my dosing set up for PPS Pro. Only problem is I am using Bulk Reef Supply dosing pumps and one doses more than the other. So I have an email into them to see what is up with that and if it can be adjusted. I forgot to snap some pictures, Ill post some in my next post. 

Since I finally got my ferts going, although not perfected, I had to break down and do some re-scaping to my tank. I really liked how everything was in the tank but it wasn't agreeing with my plants. The main reason for the change was the build up of stagnant water at the bottom of my sand bed. It looked good on the top but it was just too deep. I ended up taking about 2 gallons worth of sand out. You can see in the picture of the sand how some of it was black. I hoping getting rid of the sand I did cures some of my problems, that and adding the ferts.



Felt really sorry for my fish during this mess, all seem to be doing fine though.



Next on my list to do is to get my Co2 reactor fine tuned, I may actually add a second reactor in order to get enough contact time to reduce the bubbles on the output


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Time for another update. Instead of pushing off my tank projects they are at the top of my list now. Hopefully I see some results with my plants in the coming weeks and months.

I got ahold of Bulk Reef Supply on my dosing pumps not dosing the same amount. I guess their 1.1 ml per minute is just an average they throw out for a specification. So I have one pump that does 2.0 ml per min. and one that does 1.3 per min. Needless to say I was less then impressed with the explanation and the overall fact they cant build a better pump than that. When watching the pumps dose you can see the one pump spinning almost twice as fast as the other, I dont understand how you can have a product be manufactured to the same specs and be that far off. Anyhow I guess I will run 2 timers, one for each pump in order to get the right amount of ferts dosed.

Pic of my dosing setup, running on one timer for the time being. 



I also had time to work on my co2 reactor, I modeled off of a Rex Grigg design but only had one tube. I have since added another tube with a piece of filter material inside that will hopefully aid in chopping up the bubbles before they reach my sump. I just did this today and the jury is still out on if its going to work. I have my doubts. Im almost thinking about puting something in my furnace room behind my tank, maybe going with bigger pipe and a bigger pump, but Ill wait it out and see if my current design works. Im running out of room under my stand so I dont have many other options.



Also took a pic of my Co2 regulator, solenoid, and needle valve. running on a 10lb tank.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Ditched the my previous Co2 reactor setup, it just wasnt cutting it. I had a lot of Co2 bubbles on the exit, it was noisy, and I just couldnt turn up my Co2 to where I think it needs to be. So I built a Cerges and so far have been liking it much better. Im up quite a bit on my Co2 output and get no bubbles. I may have to do some fine tuning with my pump selection and tubing size at some point but so far this seems like a huge step in the right direction.


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Gotta say, I love that big piece of driftwood covering your overflow!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

Wow impressive setup!

Bump:


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Took some pictures of the tank tonight, it is disappointing to see it doing poorly, on the plant side of things anyhow. I guess I have alot to learn and get figured out, but once I get the kinks worked out hopefully things will take off. 

Not really sure on my rock setup on the right side of the tank, I more or less put them in there because I didnt want to store them outside of the tank somewhere. I also have been having trouble getting my driftwood to stay down, it floats up and rests on my glass tops. I might try screwing something to the bottom of it to weigh it down but there isnt much to screw too, its fairly narrow front to back.

A few days ago I got my dosing pumps dialed in, one runs 8 min, the other 5. This ends up being 10ml from both pumps, this is most likely a little over my water volume. I may drop this down to 8ml and see what happens, I feel like this is probably closer to my water volume.



I have also noticed some algae popping up the last couple days. It seems like every time I try to up my light at all I run into this problem, but if I dim it down I get stem rot on about everything in the tank. I still feel like Im not where I want to be with my Co2, close but not quite there. The picture below is about the best my drop checker gets, and that is at the end of the photo period. To hopefully get my Co2 to be where it needs to be and not get a gas build up in my reactor I have ordered a new pump. Currently I have a pump rated for 267 gph, it is plumbed to pump water from my sump, through the reactor, and back into the sump. My new pump is rated for 634 gph, and if possible I am going to plumb it from my sump, to the reactor, and then to the tank for a more direct Co2 delivery. Im shooting for around 400 gph through the reactor after head loss. I like the idea of having 2 return pumps, more redundancy cant be bad. My pump will hopefully make it here next week.

Too help with the algae Im going to try a half hour black out during my photo period, I might also try dosing excel to help combat the algae.





This guy was showing good color tonight so I got a pic.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

sprint_9 said:


> I have also noticed some algae popping up the last couple days. It seems like every time I try to up my light at all I run into this problem, but if I dim it down I get stem rot on about everything in the tank.


I don't think your issue is lack of light. I have a similar tank to yours (120 gallons, so same height but slightly wider) and find that even with such a deep tank that it's easy to have too much light as to have algae issues, even with pressurized CO2. In the past I have tried increasing light in response to severe stem rot that resulted in the death of entire plants and it has only brought me algae headaches. 

In reality, my issues were a result of trace nutrient deficiency/excess or high dissolved organics. Basically, the reason for plant 'melt' is bacterial infection, which originates from both weakened plants and a proliferation of bacteria. The latter can happen more easily with high dissolved organics. As you've found, in large tanks it can be tough to keep things clean and free of detritus, but it's certainly worth experimenting with your powerhead/pump configurations as to prevent mulm buildup, which contributes to high dissolved organics. Regular water changes are also helpful in this regard.

Now the first cause I listed (trace nutrient imbalance) is a bit more complicated. At one point I had plants melting from the top down, which I eventually realized was from iron deficiency (my trace mix which I assumed contained iron did not actually contain any). At another more recent point, I was dealing with the more typical pattern of stem rot starting from the bottoms up - this ended up being due to trace toxicity. Dosing traces once a week instead of everyday (and dosing less overall) solved this issue.

Low light won't cause stem plants to rot outright; usually it results in the lower leaves being shed but the stem and upper parts of the plant remaining intact (technically insufficient light could cause complete plant death, but this would be at very low levels which is pretty much impossible with the great lights available to us these days). I'm not sure which kind of rot you're experiencing, but hopefully this information helps. If you really want to determine whether or not you have enough light, knowing how much PAR you have at substrate would be useful. See if the fixture's manual (or the manufacturer) has this information, and if not maybe ask around the local aquarium club and see if anyone has a PAR meter they'd be willing to lend.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Axelrodi202 said:


> I don't think your issue is lack of light. I have a similar tank to yours (120 gallons, so same height but slightly wider) and find that even with such a deep tank that it's easy to have too much light as to have algae issues, even with pressurized CO2. In the past I have tried increasing light in response to severe stem rot that resulted in the death of entire plants and it has only brought me algae headaches.
> 
> In reality, my issues were a result of trace nutrient deficiency/excess or high dissolved organics. Basically, the reason for plant 'melt' is bacterial infection, which originates from both weakened plants and a proliferation of bacteria. The latter can happen more easily with high dissolved organics. As you've found, in large tanks it can be tough to keep things clean and free of detritus, but it's certainly worth experimenting with your powerhead/pump configurations as to prevent mulm buildup, which contributes to high dissolved organics. Regular water changes are also helpful in this regard.
> 
> ...


It definitely seems like I have some of the same issues you have experienced. If I turn up my lights to what I think is combating my stem rot I end up with algae. I have indeed lost quite a few things from algae and rot. This was however before I started dosing ferts, and Co2 properly, but I still have similar problems.

I almost always have rot originating from the bottom up.

As far as my light I built it, it is adjustable and at full power I should have around 60-70 par at the substrate in the middle of tank. This is an estimate using Hoppy's Par calculator, if anything I am probably under the 60-70 range.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I liked the DIY light. did you use any kind of seal around the glass?


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## ZeusIon (May 28, 2015)

Hey two questions since our stand design ideas seem very similar. One, what kind of hinges did you use for your cabinet doors? I was at home depot today and I couldn't find anything I liked. After looking at your setup I really like the hinge style that you went with. Second, do you have any pictures of the build for your hood or did you pull the idea from somewhere else? Also does it fold back in the middle or just the front facing board folds back?


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Nordic said:


> I liked the DIY light. did you use any kind of seal around the glass?


No seal, it is just the stock splash guards that came with the heatsink. They are MakersLED heatsinks, the thicker or heavy duty version. I also have glass tops on my tank, so I dont get any moisture up to my light which sits about 6 inches above the rim of my tank.



ZeusIon said:


> Hey two questions since our stand design ideas seem very similar. One, what kind of hinges did you use for your cabinet doors? I was at home depot today and I couldn't find anything I liked. After looking at your setup I really like the hinge style that you went with. Second, do you have any pictures of the build for your hood or did you pull the idea from somewhere else? Also does it fold back in the middle or just the front facing board folds back?


I used this hinge, it is pretty nice as I like the clean look it gives, and it swings open until it hits the cabinet.

As far as my hood I kind of winged it, I knew how I wanted it to look like but wasnt sure how to get it there. I ended up using 1x4 pine for the frame, this is fine but I wish I would have went with like 1x2 on the bottom of the frame where it sits on the tank, and 1x4 lumber on the top. The way it sits now it is so high I can barely get my arm in the tank, that and the doors I used are too small. I used dresser drawer fronts for the doors, they were pre-made from Menards, same as my cabinet doors.

I thought about trying to cut it so I can get the entire front to fold up or pull off, but Im not sure how I would brace it, or cut it after the fact now. Most of the hoods Ive seen that fold up are made entirely from hardwood lumber, and not from a frame with a plywood overlay. 

Here is a couple pics, let me know if you want anything more specific or have any more questions.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Here are some pictures of my cabinet doors. You can see the hinges and how they mount. Also I wanted to show the board I have between my doors. I wanted to have a door opening with no supports, big enough to get a 20 long tank in and out of without issue. The pre-made doors I had access to weren't big enough to cover the opening. To fill the gap of an over sized door opening I've seen other people attach the filler board right to the door, so you have to close one door before the other. I didn't want to do this, mainly because I thought you wouldn't be able to get a good gap and not have something rub. So I had an idea of mounting a 1x4 piece of oak in place with magnets. It ended up working out great and I really like how it operates and looks. Just an idea I wanted to share.


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## Mikeygmzmg (Mar 19, 2015)

love this tank. That piece of wood is one of a kind. I can't wait to see those plants keep filling up. You should try and add some more!


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Mikeygmzmg said:


> love this tank. That piece of wood is one of a kind. I can't wait to see those plants keep filling up. You should try and add some more!


Thanks Mikey. I cant believe the amount of fans that the piece of driftwood has, myself included. I need to get some of the algae off of it though, it seems to be loosing the battle with it.

I added some plants that I got from a guy locally, but they are looking kind of blah at the moment. 

The plants look less than stellar because I have been battling Co2 diffusion as of late. I think for about the last week about every night I have been trying something to see if I can get my issues corrected. The first thing I tried was on my cerges reactor, I re-plumbed it to 3/4 inlet pipe and added my new pump which was a Tunze 1073.020, which is 634 gph. This was a nice upgrade from my Ehiem compact that was putting out around 260. I was able to throttle it down, and close my outlet ball valve on my reactor to get decent results, however micro bubbles in the tank were an issue. I think I need a 20 inch tall reactor vs. a 10 inch that I had. The micro bubbles were very annoying, and I couldnt get my drop checker to turn lime green. 

So with all that I decided that my 10 inch Cerges wasn't going to cut it, so ventured back to a Rex Grigg design. I decided to go Rex Grigg again mainly because the parts were readily available to get one built. I went 3 inch diameter and a little over 20 inches tall. The reactor works great with one exception, its kind of loud and annoying. Im able to get a nice lime green color in my drop checker, never had that before, and I get no micro bubbles in the tank. So I feel like I am getting close to finding a solution to my Co2 issues if I can just get the thing quieted down some I will be ecstatic. Im really tired of working on Co2 diffusion, but it is my number one problem. 

Ive got to figure out a better way to introduce the Co2 to the reactor. As it sits now I have a 1/4 line into a pvc tee that dumps Co2 into the water. The problem with this is I get large bubbles that gurgle around once they hit the reactor, and I believe this is the cause of my annoying noises. I know most people just run the Co2 line right into the reactor but I have a hard time doing that without the proper fitting, I just get a feeling like it will end up leaking at some point. I guess this will probably be my last resort option. Ive got some ideas to try but dont know if they will work.


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## Blonde_Swede00 (Jan 17, 2016)

Absolutely love this, went through and read the whole thing, can't wait to see more!! Keep up the good work, it is truly amazing!!


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Blonde_Swede00 said:


> Absolutely love this, went through and read the whole thing, can't wait to see more!! Keep up the good work, it is truly amazing!!


Thanks, for the kind words. Its has been frustrating at times but it is worth it, I really enjoy watching my tank, think I watch more of it than TV some nights. 

Worked a little bit on my reactor again. Tried one idea I had and it was actually worse. So broke down and decided as a last ditch effort to drill a hole in my reactor and stick the Co2 tube directly into the pipe. Of coarse I ended up with a leak just sticking the tubing in, so I threaded a fitting into the PVC and used TFE paste to seal it. This worked, no leaks, no gurgling, and only a few bubbles. Ive got one more minor thing to try to see if it gets rid of the last few bubbles. As an added bonus my drop checker was yellow tonight, turned my Co2 down a little trying to find a sweet spot and to avoid gassing my fish. Ive already noticed a small reduction in algae on my driftwood.

Did a water change and trim/remove algae covered leaves. Ive got alot of growing out to do, and I may take some stuff out or move it, and then add some new. Going to let the new stuff I bought get established and go from there. Next time I take pics I need to use my good camera, my cell phone is less than adequate, but its quick and readily available.


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## Blonde_Swede00 (Jan 17, 2016)

Beautiful!!


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## rudd (Oct 12, 2014)

Looks fantastic! Hope to have my 90g in that kind of shape in the near future.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Blonde_Swede00 said:


> Beautiful!!





rudd said:


> Looks fantastic! Hope to have my 90g in that kind of shape in the near future.



Thanks.

I wish I could keep growth or just go steady with things, seems like I get going with some decent growth and boom I take 3 steps backward for some unknown reason.

The night I took those pics on the 27th I had just done a water change with things looking fairly good. About 2 days after that I had a bunch of rot on my Myriophyllum, what was a nice bushy plant growing atleast 5 inches every 2 weeks is now all but rotted away. It is extremely frustrating 

I did a water change 2 days ago and my nitrates were about 100 ppm, I think this might be part of my problem.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Changed my dosing amounts tonight, going to let that settle in and see where my Nitrates end up in the next few days, will probably do another water change as well. As of right now the are around 60-80, probably closer to 80, I calibrated to 100.

Also cut a piece of aluminium to hold down my piece of drift wood. An 1/8 inch thick piece fit perfectly between the rim and the overflow box. Now I can take my glass top off without having my driftwood float all over the place.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Hard to believe its been 3 months since I last posted an update. 

Back when I last updated I was having alot of trouble with rot, and toxicity in the tank, nitrate toxicity mainly. I did alot of water changing and learning in the last few months, and got it down to a respectable level. Im now using a TDS meter to stay up on water changes vs. just doing them when I feel like it, and forgetting to do one and next thing I know 3 weeks have slipped by. 3 or 4 of those water changing errors leads to larger problems.

Ive gone a little bit of a different direction with the tank. Lowering light, and adjusting ferts and Co2 to match accordingly, or trying to find the balance atleast. It is easier at lower light levels to manage maintenance and algae, although I still am battling BBA, but whatever, I have just grown to accept it, and from the couch it doesn't show to bad, better than it was. 

I added some plants and about half of them liked the conditions, and the other half did not. Ive got some Italian Vals I want to fill in for background but they just dont seem to be getting any height, Ive got a few runners going but they top out at about 6 inches and thats it. I may try something new for a background I guess, got a couple of additional spots to fill too.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

The tank looks great, and like others I am a fan of the large driftwood. And I like the Bows!

Keep up the good work. To me a planted tank is always a work in progress, and constantly evolving. 

Looks like you have a lot things going right.


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## sprint_9 (Apr 28, 2015)

Been a while since I last posted. Wish I could say that tank looked like it did above but its honestly doing terrible. 

Ive got some kind of imbalance causing massive amounts of BBA. I dont really know where to start with it, I have tried a bunch of stuff already, and although some of the BBA turns red like it may go away it eventually seems to come back. Ive really lowered my ferts alot from where they were, I think that was one cause. I think the other main cause is laziness on my part, lacking on maintenance. 

The other problem I have is I would like to get some more plant mass in the tank to fight back at the BBA but I cant get any type of stem plant to grow to save my life, they all end up rotting from the bottom up. I can get blyxa japonica to grow like crazy but any type of tall stem plant, even when trimmed to only 6 inches high, and characterized as lower light just rots. Any bulb or rooted plant seems to go ok, but for whatever reason I have never been able to make stem plants work. 

With all that said, I think the first place Im going to start is on getting my maintenance back on track, and making it easier. I want to be able to easily change water, without taking my canopy off, so Im going to try and pipe something into a drain. I may end up even trying to pipe a fill line to the tank. Im also going to quit doing RO water. My city water is very good and it makes no sense to continue on with it, and the ease of getting water ready will hopefully lead to more maintenance.

The other thing Im strongly considering is dumping PPS Pro from some other regimen. Once I have a simple solution for water changes I may move to something different with my ferts.


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