# PJAN tank : DYI Amano - picture warning



## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Hello to all,

Lots of people asked me to show my new tank....
Here it is.

Introduction :
Marc showed wonderfull pictures of Mr Amano's tank in Japan. Rimless and on a nice cabinet with open top.
Link to this thread : http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14399

Well, to be short, I decided to build one and exchange the old big tank.
I bought some MDF ( wood), paint and a few tools and start building the stand. 

5 minutes later :










10 minutes later :

Finished the woodwork with some grey paint and ordered a rimless tank.
Size 90 Gallons ( 360 litres) measuring 120 x 60 x 50 cm H.

Next day : testing day. See if it holds the 90 Gallons. Important, as Scolly can justify :icon_bigg (Sorry mate, I couldn't resist...)










Right, the lights where not ok. I decided to test several pendants and came up with 6 x 54 Watt T5 dimmable. 
You can see this pendant in this thread : http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16792

in which I explained why I choose this type of lighting.

I threw in some wood, plants and gravel and let it all grow.
It didn't looked very nice but I needed time to collect the right plants, wood and rocks for my future aquascape. So, in the meantime the tank could mature a little bit.










The technique used, can be described as "High Tech". I wanted everything to control, just to make it easy for me.
Whats under the hood :










From left to right :
UV-lamp ( 11 Watt)
CO2-reactor ( Aquamedic 1000)
Eheim Pro II with internal heater
CO2 pressurized
Light computer ( for the dimmable T5 pendant)
CO2 computer / dosing computer
3x dosing pumps Aquamedic with liquid holders ( self made kitchen equipment)

Details are important, so look at the DYI outlet for the dosing tubes :










The aquascaping........ :icon_roll 
Maybe the most important thing to do, but the clean empty tank looked already awfully nice in my house. Almost a shame to fill it with water and stuff :icon_bigg 

But ok, here's an overview of the small steps in aquascaping land.

First the mature-tank-a-bit-with-plants :










Found some nice wood and rocks and changed the entire tank! Aqauscaping time!! :icon_bigg 










I decided to go for the "island concept". Mmm, very difficult but worth to give it a try anyway.
The plants are growing very very fast. 




























Still, the total green lotus ( Nynpheae glandulifera) became one of my favourites and I wanted to give it more credit... Well, I moved the wood slightly to the left and made some free space. 
Ahh, better I guess and here's the result after pruning and arranging some plants. 










As for the health of the plants :










And what could do such a tank on brochure??
Well here's a test :










And last but not least, the water details etc of this tank. If any interesting at all :

- bottom : some clay and peat (only a little) with gravel on top
- PH 6,65 ( average)
- KH 4
- GH 5
- NO3 between 5 - 10 mg ( KNO3 dosing)
- PO4 0 - 0,1 ( PO4 dosing)
- fertilizer 1/2 dose a week
- water change 20% / week
- T 24 degrees C
Lights :
10.30 - 12.30 50% 4 T5
12.30 - 17.30 80% 6 T5
17.30 - 20.30 50% 4 T5
20.30 - 23.30 2% 2 T5 ( evening light )

Have fun, see you at AGA-show??

PJAN


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

that is awesome, you make it seem so easy!!!!!!


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## Snailpoo (Jan 13, 2005)

Yeah, you sure do have Amano's style down: 

Step 1: set up the tank.
Step 2: Perfecto! :tongue: 


It does look amazing!



What foreground plant is that?


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

The tank looks great! I especially love the stand, it looks sturdy to hold a 90g!


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## timr (Mar 23, 2005)

Certainly is beautiful!! Great job. I love those lights roud: 

i think i over built my stand....it just might hold a house, there's a lot of 2x4's involved.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

PJAN - what a great thread! Let's see, what did you include?...

1) Assembly pics
2) Equipment pics
3) Growth progression pics
4) Artistic expression pics
5) Critical care and feeding details

I think that about covers it! But you don't dip your toe in the water... you jump right in! roud: 

The tanks looks great, and can't wait to see it in AGA! But after everyone stops "ooohing" and "aaahhing" I'll wager you are going to have an angry mop on your hands if you don't provide some mpre details on how to build that stand!

And the dosing pumps. You have three. Why? Love to know...

BTW - Between the tank, the stand, the lights, and the magnificent aquascape, you are where I ache to be. Great stuff friend!


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

*=)*

Ahh PJAN I see you finally got the pictures up! I almost missed it- been working more lately. 

I really love the red paint under the hood! How did you get it to look so nice? did you have to prep the MDF a special way to make it looks so smooth and shiny! Maybe some primer?

Also, I know you had a problem with the floor being a bit unleveled- were you able to get around that?

Glad some of my pictures were able to inspire your project!

BTW I like 12-6-2006 aqua scape!


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

@ Marc : the inspirator & MDF
Thanks again for the inspiration. Now you can see what it caused... roud: 

MDF painting : no special thing. 2x primer and 2x finishing coating. That's all.

The floor is indeed unleveled. Lucky me, this time only from the back-front and not horizontal ( front window view). The old big tank ( 178 Gallons + gravel, glass etc.etc.) caused also unleveling horizontal...maybe too much weight on the floor after all... :icon_frow 
I leveled the stand by putting some extra strokes of carpet in the front. It is still not perfect, but on pictures you can't see it.

Although you maybe like the 12-6-2005 aquascape, you should see the last aquascape 23-06-2005 mature a bit.... Due to heavy pruning it hasn't got it's final look and it will be better. I hope... :icon_bigg 

@ Scolly : Dosing pumps

The 3 dosing pumps are for KNO3, PO4 and fertilizer. I can tweak seperately the ferts this way. But I don't use it right now, it's more for holidays etc.

Well, the stand.... use your imagination Scolly.... :icon_bigg 
I think something must stay a mystery...

@ Snailpro : foreground plant

The forground plant is Hemianthus callitrichoides ( HC). Easy grower but rather slow. It will spread not as fast as Glosso.

Gr. PJAN


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## Tino (Jan 9, 2005)

scolley said:


> But after everyone stops "ooohing" and "aaahhing" I'll wager you are going to have an angry mop on your hands if you don't provide some mpre details on how to build that stand


I'll second that.
Also , are those ADA Lilly Pipes you are using for the Eheim input/output?
Overall, neat and clean look, nothing superfluous inside and out. Well done.


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

Sorry, meant angry "mob".


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## Canoe2Can (Oct 31, 2004)

Well, once again, PJAN, that is absolutely gorgeous. I'm curious what kind of fish you have in it? Also, good move to shift the driftwood to the left. Looks better there. 

I'll just keep dreaming of a 120 some day.... Ah....


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## maestro001 (Oct 22, 2004)

Its a lovely tank!

I have to say though I cant beleive you are trusting thank size tank on 10mm mdf, hood is cheap that a 2x4 internal frame would have cost no money


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## bavarian3 (Feb 22, 2005)

Wow i really love your aquascapes youve got some serious skill  Nice equipment as well..


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## Laith (Jul 7, 2004)

Great tank and stand! I have two questions:

- Where did you get that tank? All the tanks I can find around here all have two horizontal pieces of glass fixed to the inside top of the front and back panes to keep the glass from bowing. I want to find a tank without that...

- Re the stand, it's just the sides of the stand that are supporting the tank? What's supporting it in front?

Thanks.


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Very nice... you did indeed make it look easy. roud:


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Laith said:


> Great tank and stand! I have two questions:
> 
> - Where did you get that tank? All the tanks I can find around here all have two horizontal pieces of glass fixed to the inside top of the front and back panes to keep the glass from bowing. I want to find a tank without that...
> 
> ...


Laith : *Rimless tanks*
Some info on the tank ( glass).
Rimless means that the front glass will bow. It is important to get thick glass because the extra mm's have to act as a small "rimm".

The height - length - width are important how thick the glass must be.
My tank ( 120 x 60 W x 50 H ) has 12 mm thick glass.
My tank manufacturer ( I know him well) was sort of hesitating about 60 cm height, but he beleived it will work also with 60 cm height ( and 120 cm length).
If I choosed a different tank ( say 120 x 45 W x 60 H , like Amano does), 12 mm would be enough. Also smaller tanks ( 100 x 60 x 60 can use 12 mm glass).
So my tank size is a bit on the "border" here.

If you choose to have a tank of 120 x 60W x 60H cm, you better can have 18 mm thick glass to be on the safe side.

*Important*
The thicker the glass, it gets a "green" look. If you use thick glass and want the best, you have to order "optical white" glass which is expensive ( low iron).
My experience ( greenish look, clear view etc.) :

12 mm glass normal = ok
12 mm optical white = very good

18 mm glass normal = bad
18 mm optical white = very good

*tank manufacturer*

You have to find a local manufacturer ( Internet, Yellow Guide, or big Local Fish Store) and explain your wishes. Also normally they are using in Switzerland ( or Germany) "black silicon". It's a matter of taste of course, but you can also ask for transparent silicon as I did.
Also make clear what you want ( e.g. 12 mm thick glass, rimless, optical white if you wish).
This kind of tank is rather expensive due to the thicker glass...If you choose "optical white" ( I would recommend that), it will almost double the price.

Since you're living in Switzerland... I think you can shop around in Swizz, Germany or Italy... I know the price of optical white is cheaper in Germany than in Holland for example.

* Rest of all the questions *

- stand
- lilly pipes
- fishes etc..

will be answered later. I have to look for some pictures....

Gr. PJAN


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

The stand

As you can see on this picture, the top board is placed on the back and the side to give it strength and prevent bending. The sides and back is placed on the bottom board.










But first you have to saw the holes in the side panels before gluing and fix things.... :










The front of the top board is not fixed - yet. So to prevent bending I choose to use two innner planks. One for leaning the door against and the front for cosmetic reasons of course.

I used an inner frame-work to give the total construction more securiness and prevent bending in the middle. Also the inner frame is used for the doors to lean against it.

Here's a drawing how it looks like :










In real it looks like this :










You can see the front board and a small piece of the back board. The inner frame is clearly visible.

* Yin-Yang of the stand *

This stand is desined to make the tank balance perfect. It is a sort of Chinese beleive if you balance things, it will be good.
So I made everything perfect in balance.....the yin-yang thing roud: 

What I did :
- same amount of screws used front/bottom/top
- placed exactly at the same spot left / right / front / back
- the holes ( for hoses tubes etc) : left and right the same
- I needed on extra hole for the electricity-wire : I made two holes to balance things again..... 
- the space around the doors is exactly 3 mm (Japenese / Chinees people avoid the number 4 ...)

The inner-side of the stand is also Yin-Yang : 
Left = wet compartiment
Right = dry compartiment

As you can see on this picture, everything what has something to do with water ( pump, CO2-reactor, UV-lamp, hoses etc.) is placed on the left. 
The expensive computers and other equipment is placed on the right.










The right compartiment has more metal so I placed the scissors etc on the left door to balance the metal.....( call me a freak... :icon_bigg )

The bottom inner frame plank divides the two compartiments and it has function : to avoid wet crossing the border of dry... If you clean your filter, there will be some spilling of water...and this plank prevents water to flow into the computer-things etc...

The paint-colors : also yin-yang....
Innerside is red = mother earth (magma)
Outerside is grey = grey outer sky..

The end result is a clean look of the stand, balanced :










Well, have fun!
Gr. PJAN


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

PJAN - That is awesome! roud:

I just wish I had seen this months ago before I started work on my own stand :icon_frow - would have been major inspiration! 

Did you assemble the outer portion first, then insert the inner planks. And how did you attach them to the outer planks? Screws and glue?


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

scolley said:


> PJAN - That is awesome! roud:
> 
> I just wish I had seen this months ago before I started work on my own stand :icon_frow - would have been major inspiration!
> 
> Did you assemble the outer portion first, then insert the inner planks. And how did you attach them to the outer planks? Screws and glue?


Hahaha : well, I built this stand in 10 minutes... ( well actually a week, including painting). 
So if you're going to watch the full tank in your garden for a week, you can easily built one roud: 

Planks are fixed with construction glue and screws. First put some screws in, get it out, glue the planks, screw it together.

Gr. PJAN


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## Skyfish (May 31, 2004)

Hi 

Awesome tank roud: , can you tell me a little about your CO2 reactor?

Thanks!


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Skyfish said:


> Hi
> 
> Awesome tank roud: , can you tell me a little about your CO2 reactor?
> 
> Thanks!


Thanks !

The CO2-reactor is Aquamedic 1000 and placed behind the Eheim filter.
The pH ( 6,60 - 6,70) is controled by a pH-computer and I use 90 bubbles / minute CO2 to feed the reactor. Also important is to have enough water flowing through the reactor. This reactor needs a lott of water to perform well !
So I am pushing aproxx 700 litres/h ( 150 Gallons/h) through the reactor to solve the CO2 quickly. 

Gr. PJAN


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## George (Sep 11, 2004)

Beautiful in all aspects.

What I find particularly interesting is your lighting schedule. I currently run an "algae gap" of 2 hours with 5 hours either side i.e. 5 on, 2 off, 5 on but am sceptical as to its usefulness in keeping algae away (I have no nuisance algae anyway).

Is there any science behind your lighting schedule method, except I suppose that it mimicks nature more closely than just lights on/off?


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

George said:


> Beautiful in all aspects.
> 
> What I find particularly interesting is your lighting schedule. I currently run an "algae gap" of 2 hours with 5 hours either side i.e. 5 on, 2 off, 5 on but am sceptical as to its usefulness in keeping algae away (I have no nuisance algae anyway).
> 
> Is there any science behind your lighting schedule method, except I suppose that it mimicks nature more closely than just lights on/off?


Hello George,

First, I don't want to start a war here. There is much discussion how light should be used etc.
There are a few basis points :
- 9 hours of light is enough to grow plants
- 12 hours is ok, but not necessary
- 6 hours is too short and some species will not flourish
- plants need ferts, depending of the light and CO2. More light means more need of ferts ( and CO2). More CO2 means more need of ferts.
- CO2 will help the plant to use the available light more efficient ( 30%)...
So, CO2 is more important than more light... :icon_idea 

* first step : get your CO2 right*

Around 30 mg CO2/l is optimum for plants. Some algea can't stand CO2 concentrations above 40 mg ( due to blocking some enzyme systems). Plants have problems to absorb CO2 out the water and a little "over pressure" like the 30 mg CO2/l will help them a lott.

Before I even think of tweaking the lights, I will check over and over to get the CO2 levels right! 

* Use of light and ferts *

We now have constant CO2 concentrations ( more or less ) in the range near 30 mg CO2/l.
The plants are provided well and there isn't any shortage of CO2.
By turning on the lights, they will grow... roud: 

With low light : grow slow
With high light : grow fast

( You knew that, didn't you ?  

Low light means slow absoption ( and need) of nutrients ( micro/macro). CO2 is also an nutrient, but we leave it out because we gave it a fixed value 30 mg/l.
The plant has time to get the nutrients out of the water and get it delivered from the roots > stemm > leaf.

High light means fast absorption needed ! It's like high alert. The cyclus has to be completed. If one nutrient fails, the cyclus will stop and growth will stop or slow down also or we see defeciency symptoms... We all did see that sometimes. The plant will work and grow like crazy. It's become an athlete roud: 

With the high light we're gonna face a few problems more : the internal buffer of the growing leaf will be empty in a few hours. The transport time of the nutrients coming from the roots, stemms or other parts of the plants is not fast enough to help the leaf. So the only way is to get nutrients directly out the water column ! NO3, PO4, micro's etc.

* Help !*

So with plenty of light available we ( I mean the tank owner) become very nervous to feed the plants correctly. Otherwise the plant will stop growing and algea will show...
We dump in KNO3, PO4, micro's, extra Iron and so on and on to keep the athlete in topshape...

* Yeah, nice said PJAN, but I need high lights, to keep the plants down *

Fair enough, plants grow better with high light. Some species realy flourish under high light, making beautiful red colors etc.

* Both worlds matched together*

Hmmmmm...

We would like to have slow absorption and beautifull colors and healthy growth.
We would like to avoid shortage of nutrients at any point during the day...

So I combine the two worlds together ( low light - high light )










In this example only 5 hours are "high" light. The other 5 hours are "low" light.

Low light : 110 W / 90 gallons = 1.2 W/G ( Shocking... roud: )

High light : 260 W / 90 gallons = 2.9 W/G 

I use very effective reflectors and cooling techniques, so the T5 lamps give more light than a normal used T5 lamp. If I correct these numbers, I would say :

Low light : 2 W/G

High light : 4 W/G ( with maximum 5 W/G)

In low light hours not much is happening, plants are growing slow. During the high light hours : massive pearling.

The trick is to tweak the number of hours of high light. 3 or 5 hours for example. With 3 hours the plants will be happy but growth is not at maximum/day. With 5 hours the plants are growing much faster.
So in short the peak will be improtant :
1) growth rate ( = pruning rate )
2) keep plants down ( not reaching towards the light)
3) high uptake of nutrients only during a short period.

The last point ( 3) is why I can keep the nutrients so low. PO4 at 0.1 mg/l.
Because the buffer is full ( due to the low light period) and the plant is not exhausted. 
Also I don't have to worry too much about shortage of nutrients. If it is running very low ( e.g. 0,0) , the plants are not reacting fast or show defiencies.

Algea are not happy with this system. They have to compete with the plants.
I would ssy in my case PO4 is the limiting nutrient for the algea. As we know, most algea species can not buffer macro's ( NO3. PO4) very well. Plants do buffer much better and taking advantage of this during the high light hours.

Also a shortage isn't translated in a huge algea problem. The system runs easy and there is not 12 hours of high light available.

Ok, now you know...

Gr.PJAN


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## Pearljam11 (Sep 23, 2004)

I have to give you props, your aquascape is nice, and your actual tank setup is my absolute favourite freshwater setup ive seen as far as your stand/equipment and whatnot 
I love the inside of your stand especially


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## Hop (Mar 27, 2004)




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## jho51e (Jan 20, 2005)

Beautiful tank! 

just a cabinet question, i know your tank is 120x60x50, if making a cabinet for a 180x60x60 tank, do i just follow your instructions/diagrams or should i make a frame per third of the tank (you had 1 in the middle) or would 1 in the middle suffice?

also what is the thickness of the MDF boards you used?


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## Nolan W. (Feb 9, 2005)

Wow. Beautiful layout, and everything is neat and organized. Awesome tank! roud:


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Thanks everyone for the kind words :icon_bigg 




jho51e said:


> Beautiful tank!
> 
> just a cabinet question, i know your tank is 120x60x50, if making a cabinet for a 180x60x60 tank, do i just follow your instructions/diagrams or should i make a frame per third of the tank (you had 1 in the middle) or would 1 in the middle suffice?
> 
> also what is the thickness of the MDF boards you used?


For a bigger and longer tank I normally use 22mm MDF and above 120 cm you should make 2 frames -as you suggested- to be on the safe side.

For the record : tanks till 400 litre 18 mm MDF and above 400 litre 22 mm MDF.

Gr. PJAN


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## Skyfish (May 31, 2004)

PJAN said:


> In low light hours not much is happening, plants are growing slow. During the high light hours : massive pearling.
> 
> The trick is to tweak the number of hours of high light. 3 or 5 hours for example. With 3 hours the plants will be happy but growth is not at maximum/day. With 5 hours the plants are growing much faster.
> So in short the peak will be improtant :
> ...


Hi Jan

I understand what you are saying about light, once the co2 is dialed in properly. Plants do not require high light for a long period, let's say 12 hours to grow, which is the time length most use, does this mean that if given lesser time period to absorb nutrients, 5 hours high light, they will be more efficient knowing that 5 hours is the only time they will have? Then get 5 hours low light to slow down and recoperate? Sort of like resting after all the hard work?

2ndly I am surprised with your low PO4 levels. I am dosing as per Tom Barr's Estimative Index where he explains that plants do well with 2.0 ppm of PO4 and there are no algae issues. CO2 is at 30 ppm as well and KNO3 also high. So how does your method work with only 0.1ppm of PO4/L? Are you keeping it that low because of the light technique you explained above? Which is what I think I understand from your post.

One more thing, you mentioned to me in your PM yesterday that we need to push water very fast through the CO2 reactor for it to dissolve 100%. In your setup I can see you have a water pump before the reactor, are you taking the water from your tank and then forcing it through the pump to the reactor, then to your filter? Is the filter uptake not fast enough to do the work? Let's say 700L/H.

Sorry about the questions.


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## falcon (Jun 4, 2004)

PJAN, I find your reasoning behind lights and fertilizing pretty interesting. Expanding on Skyfish' post, could you post your dosing regimen for the whole week? Currently, I am having a bit of problems with my 65g(36x18x24) and 2x96w of pc lights at 6700k. I will try a couple more things, mainly increasing the ferts, once again, to see if that helps. After that, I am willing to try your regimen.

Edit: If you do daily dosing, alternating dosing for macros and micros, do you dose at the start of the high light period or it doesn't matter?

Thanks.


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## qoperator (Apr 13, 2005)

Hi! Great Tank. Wonderfully scaped; and great job on the cabinet. I was wondering if you dosed potassium? I was also wondering what traces do you use? Sheer beautiful. roud:


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## jho51e (Jan 20, 2005)

PJAN said:


> Thanks everyone for the kind words :icon_bigg
> 
> For a bigger and longer tank I normally use 22mm MDF and above 120 cm you should make 2 frames -as you suggested- to be on the safe side.
> 
> ...


Thanks matey!! you rock!


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## George (Sep 11, 2004)

PJAN said:


> Hello George,
> 
> First, I don't want to start a war here. There is much discussion how light should be used etc.
> There are a few basis points :
> ...


Pjan - That's the most thorough answer to any question I have posed. Thank you for sharing your knowledge - inspring.


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Skyfish said:


> Hi Jan
> 
> I understand what you are saying about light, once the co2 is dialed in properly. Plants do not require high light for a long period, let's say 12 hours to grow, which is the time length most use, does this mean that if given lesser time period to absorb nutrients, 5 hours high light, they will be more efficient knowing that 5 hours is the only time they will have? Then get 5 hours low light to slow down and recoperate? Sort of like resting after all the hard work?
> 
> ...


Hello Skyfish,

Well, there is the expression "lazy plants". If they become more efficient under low light conditions is hard to say. 
Under low light they will absorb less nutrients ( relative amount) and have easier access to other resources.
So with the mix low-high light this will happen :
10.30 - 12.30 low light > low absorbtion > slow growth
12.30 - 18.30 high light > fast absorbtion > fast growth
18.30 - 20.30 low light > low absorbtion > slow growth

In this example I am pushing the plants to the limits in 6 hours time. Normally I would go lower, say 4 - 5 hours high light. 

Plants don't know if they "only" get 5 hours bright light. They are reacting primitive and it's like pushing a button. I can play with the amount of pearling, when changing the amount of light. Within 15 minutes you see the reaction of the plants. Going form 50% to 100% light ( maximum) : massive pearling. If I turn down the lights from 100% to 40% : they stop massive pearling.

* Tom Barr EI *

I have seen tanks with no algea and good plant growth with low PO4 and high PO4 readings. 

The method of Tom Barr is excellent for high light tanks with demanding plants. I would use his method if I had 12 hours of high lights on my tank.
The point I making is that after a 5 hour period or so, the internal buffer is exhausted and the plant will collect nutrients out of the water column. Anyway more than under low light conditions.

My method includes one factor more : tweaking light.

Example : I had a small tank in fromt of the window with a few plants and a few fish. Only natural daylight coming form the window ( eastern) with a little morning sun for 3 hours. Perfect plants and not much algea on the front glass.
I moved the tank to the south window with much more sunny hours. I got algea all over the place. Same fish, same plants, same water...
Point is, something went wrong in the balance nutrients-light. Perhaps lack of NO3 or PO4 caused the imbalance.

So by tweaking your lights you can solve imbalance problems.
Also under 12 hours of high light things can get very fast wrong. A week of lack of NO3 and algea are appearing... 
Under low light conditions things aren't running too fast.

The mix low-high light is simply a trick to shorten the "high nutrient demanding time". The high light will help me to get good growth and color of the plants, but it is too short to cause immediate problems. Just about when things get tricky due to lack of P and N elements etc. in the plant ( buffer exhausted, natural flow too slow) , I'll stop the high light action and switch back to the low-light action when plants can recoperate and grow slow...

The 0.1 mg PO4 is hust enough to feed the plant during high lights for a few hours with the knowledge that the plant buffer holds also P.
It makes no difference if I have 0.5 mg PO4 or 0.1 mg. But above 0.5 mg PO4 I get some algea on the glass and below 0.5 none. So I stay below the 0.5 mg PO4.

* NO3 high *

I keep my NO3 in the range 5 -10 mg/l. This because I want enough N available during high light period. Normally the ratio 1 : 10 or 1 : 15 ( PO4 : NO3) is used to balance. But under high light conditions the ratio is somewhat shifted towards the N so the ratio should more like 1 : 25..... ( or what I do 0.1 : 5 ).

* Pump - CO2 reactor*

I have a classic setup :

Inflow > pump > CO2-reactor > UV > outflow 

So the clean filtered water is pushed through the reactor and UV. 
This way the reactor stays clean and does not collect dirt in the bio-balls.



falcon said:


> PJAN, I find your reasoning behind lights and fertilizing pretty interesting. Expanding on Skyfish' post, could you post your dosing regimen for the whole week? Currently, I am having a bit of problems with my 65g(36x18x24) and 2x96w of pc lights at 6700k. I will try a couple more things, mainly increasing the ferts, once again, to see if that helps. After that, I am willing to try your regimen.
> 
> Edit: If you do daily dosing, alternating dosing for macros and micros, do you dose at the start of the high light period or it doesn't matter?
> 
> Thanks.



Falcon,

I case of problems I do this :
week 1 : 6 hours of light
week 2 : 7 hours of light
week 3 : 8 hours of light
week 4 : 9 hours of light and checking
week 5 : 9 hours of light and checking

week 6 -.... maybe 9 - 10 hours of light.

Check the CO2 very well and don't dose much micro's ( say 1/2 the normal dose). Check the NO3 twice a week ( must stay in the 5 - 10 mg/l) and feed only a little PO4.
It's like "having a break" and rebalance things again with tweaking ferts and light.

* My dosing regime *

Saturday 
- water change 20%
- UV on for 24 hours ( next midday)

Sunday
- dosing KNO3 and PO4 ( 10 mg NO3/l and a few rice grains of PO4)

Monday
- 1/4 dose of micro's

Wednesday
- dosing KNO3 and PO4

Friday : dose 1/4 of micro's

Gr. PJAN


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## falcon (Jun 4, 2004)

Thanks PJAN.


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## Sudi (Jun 28, 2005)

This is a great tank :!:
I want to start a 100g aquarium tank  soon

Can you help me in choosing proper lightning :?:
Send me some links to a store that sells those hoods... if that's not a problem for you 

matt


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## Skyfish (May 31, 2004)

Jan

Thank you for the detailed reply. I do like your light technique and theory. It makes sense to me. Could you post a pic of your tank showing how it looks with low light?

Another thing I need clarification on is about the PO4 dosage. In my tank I do 10 hour photo period, and my PO4 is between 1-2ppm in accordance with Tom’s EI. Now when I had kept my PO4 at 0.5 to 1ppm with 10 hours high light, I would get green spot algae on my anubas, so when I switched to the EI with 2ppm of PO4 reading, I am still getting green spot? I feel that my broadleaf anubas are forever lost as they look terrible. I may have to take them out. So how come we get this greenspot algae with low dosing and high dosing? Will I need to up my po4 more? I have no algae on my glass though.

So if I follow your light period, I can see that there will be no imbalance, as there won’t be long enough light for the algae to grow.

2ndly, your reactor, you mentioned:

“Inflow > pump > CO2-reactor > UV > outflow”

Is your filter before the pump or after the UV? As in:

Filter outflow > pump > CO2-reactor > UV > tank.

How powerful is your pump?

I was thinking of doing this… I made a similar reactor to the aquamedic 1000… DIY cost me US$8.00 in total.

Inflow from tank > reactor with bio balls > into the filter > then through the filter outflow > spraybar into the tank.

But I feel inflow from tank will send dead plant debris and dirt to the reactor.

Thanks for your time and effort.


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## falcon (Jun 4, 2004)

Skyfish, I have an exact setup for the reactor. No worries about debris getting into it. I have been running it for over 2 years now and the reactor is pretty clean inside. From the look of it, I don't think I will ever have to open it up for cleaning. I am using eheim 2028 II pro for the filter feeding into the reactor.


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## Skyfish (May 31, 2004)

falcon said:


> Skyfish, I have an exact setup for the reactor. No worries about debris getting into it. I have been running it for over 2 years now and the reactor is pretty clean inside. From the look of it, I don't think I will ever have to open it up for cleaning. I am using eheim 2028 II pro for the filter feeding into the reactor.


Thanks falcon, I'm gonna make it happen today. Currently I'm using an Amano style glass diffuser, it's nice but wastes a lot of CO2, and doe snot diffuse 100%. I can get a constant 30ppm if I want but a lot is wasted. So a reactor like this is really good, everything is used. Aquamed is 60 to 80 bucks, i made mine for 8!

I am planning to buy a Eheim 2017 for my next tank, maybe a 55G not decided yet, what's the gallon rate on your 2028 II pro? and what does a pro do?


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Skyfish said:


> Jan
> 
> Thank you for the detailed reply. I do like your light technique and theory. It makes sense to me. Could you post a pic of your tank showing how it looks with low light?
> 
> ...


Hello Skyfish,

Yeah, sorry about my bad English...

First the technical set-up :

Pump will push the cleaned water through the CO2 reactor and than push it through the UV > to the tank. So all stuff is placed after the pump. The inflow of the pump is not used to do anything except getting water into the pump itself. You're correct that otherwise dirt will be collected in the reactor.

Also escaped CO2- bubbles can get into the filtration chamber if you place the CO2-reactor at the inflow-pump. Some pumps can have troubles with trapped air ( or CO2) in the rotor ( making noise, not pump well etc).

I use an Eheim Pro II with 1050 L/hour. Mmm at least that is what they say ( Eheim). But according the specs of the pump it is 750 L/h....
I measured a good 720 l/H myself (used a stopwatch + 1 bucket to see how much time the pump needed to fill it and start to calculate etc.).
When I hooked up the CO2 reactor and UV, the flow was still about 650 - 700 L/H , so there was no big loss.

Green spot

I only have green spot when my NO3 are too low... The PO4 is always on the low side. But when you have all the time high lights, it is better to have high readings of PO4 to avoid green spot.
My system is more complex because I also use the amount of light to tweak things.

Your Anubias are NOT ruined... you can clean them easyly by dipping them in a bucket with chlorine...
a) buy the cheapest-with-no-soap chlorine ( household bleach called here)
b) 100 ml bleach / 2 litre ( 1 :19 )
c) second bucket ready with clean water
d) put the Anubias in the chlorine for about 3 - 4 minutes and not any longer !
e) rinse the Anubias immediately and very well in the clean water
f) clean and free of all algea..

Gr. PJAN


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## Skyfish (May 31, 2004)

Thanks Jan roud: 

You've been a great help with your detailed explaination. I appreciate it.


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Thanks for the feedback.. roud: 

Here's a testshot of the tank. Heavy pruning of L.Aromatica set back the plant somewhat but it's growing again and will fill in the back soon ( behind the wood). Hemianthus Call. has filled the bottom now completely.
Some old plants survived and appeared suddenly left-front. Hmmm.

Update picture :










I am still working on the studio set-up ( lights, flash etc.) and the Nikon D70.
The kitlens is not so good as the 90 mm macro and I am working on that subject to get better pictures.

Have fun.
Gr.PJAN


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## scolley (Apr 4, 2004)

PJAN - the tanks looks great! roud: Will be even better after L. aromatica fills in. But I gotta say, that HC is unbelievable! How did you do that?


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## Skyfish (May 31, 2004)

Jan you just keep amazing us :icon_bigg 

Awaiting more pics soon.

roud:


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## ghostcarp (Feb 10, 2005)

Tanks looking lovely PJAN.

Excellent work Matt 
Did you get my PM just checking it sent.


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

scolley said:


> PJAN - the tanks looks great! roud: Will be even better after L. aromatica fills in. But I gotta say, that HC is unbelievable! How did you do that?


Hey Scolly,
Thanks.

HC : easy plant. Just get a healthy bunch growing. Rip out a square inch and replant the HC by pushing it halfway under the gravel.
Place these "dots of HC" about 1 inch apart from each other.
The "mother" carpet will fill in the "harvast" spot again and you can do the trick again and so on.

If you look closely at page 1 of this thread at the pictures, you can see that I placed dots on the left ( bare gravel after pruning and removing some plants).
Because I had already a carpet of HC growing, you hardly can see the "harvast" spots I made in the mother carpet HC....

Gr. PJAN


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## Spice (May 11, 2005)

PJAN said:


> The stand
> 
> * Yin-Yang of the stand *
> 
> ...



Hi,

I am like everyone else in awe of your fabulously created tank. You should be proud of this accomplishment. roud: 

I have one question for ya... Would you consider the design a part of Feng-Shui? This is fabulous. Just hang some nice swarovzsky crystal balls (white, green, red, blue, purple, pink) near your tank for a more brilliant effect. Hopefully your tank is near a door or a window catching the eastern sun. :icon_bigg 

Love to see more developments from ya. Great job. roud:


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## randomrambler (Jun 24, 2004)

Sorry if I missed it, but what are those lily-pad type plants in the last set of pics? Great setup, Great tank  Kudos


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Spice said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am like everyone else in awe of your fabulously created tank. You should be proud of this accomplishment. roud:
> 
> ...


Hello Spice,

I know Feng-Shui. But I don't consider this set-up as Feng-Shui. 
If I want to, I have to bring the "object" ( tank + stand ) in harmony with the rest of my house...
Well, that's impossible if you know my house right now.
But I will move to a bigger house ( in a month or two hopefully) and than I will bring this "object" im more harmony with the rest of the house.
The place, surrounding colors etc. will be adjusted to create more peace around the green tank.

But I can tell you : this setup is a joy to work with. Everything is in balance.
The stand is organized with a wet -dry zone. Left the Eheim and CO2-reactor etc. This part will be wet sometimes when cleaning the filter. It is seperated by a small piece of wood on the bottom to prevent water flowing into the dry-zone ( right). There are the computers and stuff located.
The maintenance is very easy and no big [email protected] I don't need a small ladder to reach the bottom... and while standing beside the tank I can clean the windows, prune the plants etc.
The tank itself is more yin-yang by it's own as I expained in this thread already, on page 2 under the pictures.

You can see the defintive aquascape here :
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19631



randomrambler said:


> Sorry if I missed it, but what are those lily-pad type plants in the last set of pics? Great setup, Great tank  Kudos


Mmm, which one?

On the left ( small) :
Hydrocotyle Verticillata ( one leaf on a small stemm )

On the right ( big one heading for the surface ) 
Nymphaea glandulifera ( special green Lotus from South-America)

Gr. PJAN


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## Spice (May 11, 2005)

PJAN said:


> Hello Spice,
> 
> I know Feng-Shui. But I don't consider this set-up as Feng-Shui.
> If I want to, I have to bring the "object" ( tank + stand ) in harmony with the rest of my house...
> ...



Hi PJAN!! Thanks for directing me to another fabulous thread of yours and for the explanations. Your art-approach to aquatic designing is fantastic and it did remind me of Feng Shui which is why I asked if you studied the theories. No matter what, I really like your approach to the aquatic design a lot. Keep me posted to your new challenge (relocation) and re-setup. That's another challenge in itself. roud:


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

Tank is WOW, Inspirational. My favorite yarn is the the "5 minute" stand. You have some fast drying glue. Its a Wonderful tank, Pjan. Like others, I'm jelous of the dimable T5s. Great job and thread roud: .


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## jeffboyarrdee (Aug 25, 2004)

hey pjan

i am going to build my own stand too...and i wanted to know what glue u used...and maybe any other tips or instructions...

thanks


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

Spice said:


> Keep me posted to your new challenge (relocation) and re-setup. That's another challenge in itself. roud:


Thanks Spice for the compliments! Yeah, the new house... Means a new opportunity to aquascape something different. Must be in a month or two.
Keep you updated.



Betowess said:


> Tank is WOW, Inspirational. My favorite yarn is the the "5 minute" stand. You have some fast drying glue. Its a Wonderful tank, Pjan. Like others, I'm jelous of the dimable T5s. Great job and thread roud: .


LOL. Yep, humor is important to start DYI projects. To be honest : I build this stand in a week, during the evening hours after work. The painting took the most time. Paint-wait-paint-wait...



jeffboyarrdee said:


> hey pjan
> 
> i am going to build my own stand too...and i wanted to know what glue u used...and maybe any other tips or instructions...
> 
> thanks


On page 2 of this thread are a few clues. The stand is very simple to reproduce. I used "construction glue" and screws to fix the wood together.

Gr. PJAN


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## jho51e (Jan 20, 2005)

in regards to the stand, what paint did you use to seal MDF...

i have read that unless MDF is properly sealed by painting, it may warp due to the water it lets in...

also, what is the lighting for this tank? MH or T5 or ??

cheers!
Jhosie


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## Jack (Aug 29, 2005)

Very nice PJAN!


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## PJAN (Feb 18, 2005)

jho51e said:


> in regards to the stand, what paint did you use to seal MDF...
> 
> i have read that unless MDF is properly sealed by painting, it may warp due to the water it lets in...
> 
> ...



I used 2x primer ( eh.. ground paint?) and finished it with normal paint, two layers.
I know MDF is vulnarable for moist/ water if not painted properly. That's why I used 4 layers of paint total. 
Of course you can use waterproof MDF, which is resitant to water/liquids but a little bit more expensive.

Lights : T5
Explained in this thread : http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16792



Jack said:


> Very nice PJAN!


Thanks, Jack.

Finished aquascape with final pictures can be found here :
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19631

Gr. PJAN


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

That 4 coats of paint made all the difference- That bright shiny red is great!


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## Martin (Jan 15, 2005)

I've been playing with setting up a light schedule.
now I don't have a fancy dimmer though I might get one at some point.
until then, I'm going to try & control my lights with timers.
My idea is this:
11-12 2x54W Bank A
12-14 4x54W Bank B
14-19 6x54W Bank A+B
19-21 4x54W Bank B
21-2230 2x54W Bank A

Anyone care to give their opinion on this?

How will the tubes react to being turned on & off like that?


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## nornicle (Dec 29, 2003)

PJAN lovely tank! could you give us details on the stand, it looks easy to make (and fast) compared to traditional stand building techniques!!

I like it alot!


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

Symbiot said:


> I've been playing with setting up a light schedule.
> now I don't have a fancy dimmer though I might get one at some point.
> until then, I'm going to try & control my lights with timers.
> My idea is this:
> ...


The tubes will be fine. But 6x54 sounds like a LOT of light for 5 hours and its a fairly long photoperiod overall, so to me it sounds like algae invitation unless you have the ferts spot on.


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## Martin (Jan 15, 2005)

hmm.. I might readjust the scheme..

2x54W 12-13 108W
4x54w 13-14 216W 
6x54w 14-16 324W
4x54w 16-19 216W
2x54w 19-22 108W

sound better?


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## Betowess (Dec 9, 2004)

That is certainly better. FWIW, I run my 4x54 Tek a total of 10 hours with ~ 4 hours of all 4 tubes. Fixture hangs about 8 inches above waterline. But I'm going for slower growth to control algae outbreaks. I am dosing EI.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Light makes then most logical choice for slowing growth for management purposes.

This allows far more latitude for changes with respect to the other variables(CO2/nutrient routines/lazy slacking/high fish loads/more usage out of less nutrients etc etc).

People squawk incessantly over limiting NO3, PO4, or CO2, yet few discuss limiting light. I'm not sure why, George Booth , myself many others have long told folks 2w/gal is plenty. Can you add a noon time burst for a couple of 4 hours? Sure, but that increases growth rates also and is not needed either.
Since the goal is less growth, not more.

Especially with T5's(1.5-2.5 is more than enough for most all situations).

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Jessica (Mar 1, 2007)

It's neat to see how this tank started out, as I've only seen the famous finishing photos!

Tom--

Is George Booth still active in the hobby? I've noticed he hasn't updated his website in a long while. He lives only about 30 miles away from me.


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