# UNS 90U - Bachelor's Dilemma



## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

*Stand and tank*

I picked up the UNS 90U, which is a 74.5 gallon tank--small compared to some of the other tanks here, but it's huge...It's especially huge, went you have to lift it up 3 stories by yourself! I used a dolly, but 10/10 would not recommend or do again...

I also custom built a stand using 2x4's and some sheeting material. The front will have two panels that will attach via velcro ;-)

Here's the tank strapped up after lifting...









Here's the stand I built based on a couple youtube videos. Let me know if you have any questions









Painted









Refrigerator for scale









and BOOM! let there be light.


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## FreshPuff (Oct 31, 2011)

*Great start*

Finally, someone posted an ultum 90u build! Ive been playing with the idea of getting this exact tank! I'm so tempted to buy one. but like you said, it's a lot of tank! 
I am really looking forward to seeing what becomes of it. Nice job so far!


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

I'm looking forward to watching this progress but one thing scares the hell out of me here. As a former bachelor myself albeit many moons ago, having buddies over for beers and all the fun stuff I often reminisce about. Please put a stop for the fridge door it will take one drunken buddy or the girl grabbing a water for the long walk of shame home and the next thing you know your kitchen will be sporting some new substrate and seiryu stone but not nearly enough water for your plants and fish .

Dan


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## Dragonfish (Apr 28, 2011)

It's hard to tell, but do you have a mat under that tank?


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

FreshPuff said:


> Finally, someone posted an ultum 90u build! Ive been playing with the idea of getting this exact tank! I'm so tempted to buy one. but like you said, it's a lot of tank!
> I am really looking forward to seeing what becomes of it. Nice job so far!


Yes! It's so great to have a big tank. Believe though, the more you work on it, the smaller it gets. ha ha. I'm doomed. Time to upgrade to the 120 before I even get started.



Dman911 said:


> I'm looking forward to watching this progress but one thing scares the hell out of me here. As a former bachelor myself albeit many moons ago, having buddies over for beers and all the fun stuff I often reminisce about. Please put a stop for the fridge door it will take one drunken buddy or the girl grabbing a water for the long walk of shame home and the next thing you know your kitchen will be sporting some new substrate and seiryu stone but not nearly enough water for your plants and fish .
> 
> Dan


Mannnn...good call! It definitely hits right now. 



Dragonfish said:


> It's hard to tell, but do you have a mat under that tank?


Yes, there is. It's a hard rubber foam that came with the tank


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

I ended up getting 120lbs of Seiryu stone and 2 large bags of Controsoil (anyone have experience with this?) from buceplant.com. I think this is way overboard, but it gives me a better selection of how i want to scape. I also bought a few bags of lava rock gravel from home depot and BBQ lava rocks which are a bit larger to help me build up the foundation. 

Cleaning the lava rock gravel was a pain in the butt in my apartment. It would be so much easier with a hose outside.

Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0olpSN6_TCc
It talks about how sand is mechanically stabilized. I'm planning to implement this principle in my aquascape to support the large stones, while keeping a high "angle of repose."

Here's what 120 lbs of seiryu stones look like..doesn't look like much huh?









Put the first layer of lava rock down and window screening


















Here's a photo of building up the foundation a bit more









Stay tuned...


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Ah doesn't look like a lot because you seem to have gotten mostly very large stones. Also they are quite heavy. Consider smashing ones that aren't very interesting to get some more smaller sizes.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

For a very long time, I could not decide if i wanted to do Iwagumi, or dutch. Iwagumi looks so elegant, but it gets a little boring for me. Dutch, or like "Rocky Dutch" would have gotten unmanageable, and its quite hard to use/acquire so many different plants effectively. After pouring through hundreds, if not thousands of aquascape photos, there came only one logical outcome...do both. I will attempt to try both styles in the same scape, and keep them essentially separate. 

Here are the adjectives I kept in mind as I was setting this up: vast, expansive, complex, simple, mountainous, jungle, dynamic. Here's what i came up with

Placed the first "mother stone" and went from there.









Here it is partially filled in with soil 









and as a precursor to set up your mind to prep you for what you are about to witness. Here's a photo of a cloudy sky









The final product. Please let me know what you think! Left side will be Iwagumi, and it will slow transgress into Dutch. The right side will have two ridgeliines. Mid ground will be a mix of different varieties. Then for the bottom, I'm not sure if I want to do a white sand "pool" or fill it up with a foreground or plants....that's to be determined after i start planting. I actually only used about 60 lbs out of the 120 that I bought. I think you should definitely get more than what you need so that you have more options.


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

Looking great

Dan


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Dman911 said:


> Looking great
> 
> Dan


Thank you Dman! Any suggestions on the lower front right?


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

I'm probably the last person on this forum to give advice on aquascaping. You have what's looks like a great start best not to ruin by asking my advice 

Dan


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Dman911 said:


> I'm probably the last person on this forum to give advice on aquascaping. You have what's looks like a great start best not to ruin by asking my advice
> 
> Dan


HAH! no way. The rock work is the easy part. I always mess it up with plants, and water, and algae, and dosing (lack of), and trimming, and fish, and balance, and everything else that can go wrong. It's a demanding hobby, and at some point, for all of us hobbyists, "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

I've been keeping up with your build and I'm exited to see what it ends up like. One question though, do you think that your one twin star light is going to be enough light, because it is a fairly deep and tall tank?


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> I've been keeping up with your build and I'm exited to see what it ends up like. One question though, do you think that your one twin star light is going to be enough light, because it is a fairly deep and tall tank?


I hope it is. Going to run with it. I know another guy who has the same tank/light combo that did an Iwagumi and was very successful, however I don't know if this will be enough to bring out the reds in the plants I want.

If i find its insufficient, I may get another unit. I also heard Twinstar will be coming out with a new model which will be dual panel and dimmable. (I wish BML -buildmyled was still around!!)

-Matt


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

mattenx said:


> I hope it is. Going to run with it. I know another guy who has the same tank/light combo that did an Iwagumi and was very successful, however I don't know if this will be enough to bring out the reds in the plants I want.
> 
> If i find its insufficient, I may get another unit. I also heard Twinstar will be coming out with a new model which will be dual panel and dimmable. (I wish BML -buildmyled was still around!!)
> 
> -Matt




Alright sounds like you know what your doing, just wanted to point it out.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> Alright sounds like you know what your doing, just wanted to point it out.


I'm winging it  never know what you're going to get with a new set up.


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

mattenx said:


> I'm winging it  never know what you're going to get with a new set up.




I know right!!!


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## DayOlder (Jul 12, 2014)

I like your idea for a sand pool in the front right corner but I'm I'm not sure about the "white" color. I think it needs to contrast with the rock more. I'm thinking maybe a blond or even blue pool.

I have to ask is that a wood floor or a vinyl imitation wood floor. I've got the later under my tank and it's fantastic, 100% water proof.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

DayOlder said:


> I like your idea for a sand pool in the front right corner but I'm I'm not sure about the "white" color. I think it needs to contrast with the rock more. I'm thinking maybe a blond or even blue pool.
> 
> I have to ask is that a wood floor or a vinyl imitation wood floor. I've got the later under my tank and it's fantastic, 100% water proof.


Vinyl imitation wood floor :-D I don't know why any would get real wood these days. This fake stuff looks just as good if not better, and has much better real world utility.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Got some hemianthus callitrichoides from buceplant and waiting for a bunch of stems to arrive next week. Going to let this dry start and for a week before flooding. I want to flood it so badly, but i never worked with HC before, so going to let it take root and get nice and strong first.


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## Tnalp (Mar 25, 2017)

I didn't try start my HC. I just held off on introducing fish. That allowed me to really crank up c02. My HC is now fully carpeted. Took about a month to fully take over in my 45p. I started with tissue cultured HC from AFA. The reason why i didn't dry start was because i had a pretty regulator i wanted to put to use haha and i was impatient. All in all, no ill side effects.


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## thatgmc (Jul 4, 2010)

Update Please


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

thatgmc said:


> Update Please




He started the DSM just 7 days ago. It will take a while before it even looks any different. Just letting you know that it will take some time for any changes to actually take place.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Tnalp said:


> I didn't try start my HC. I just held off on introducing fish. That allowed me to really crank up c02. My HC is now fully carpeted. Took about a month to fully take over in my 45p. I started with tissue cultured HC from AFA. The reason why i didn't dry start was because i had a pretty regulator i wanted to put to use haha and i was impatient. All in all, no ill side effects.


...I couldn't quite wait that long haha. I pulled the trigger and ordered stem plants from buceplant.com and they came over the weekend...and the rest is history.



SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> He started the DSM just 7 days ago. It will take a while before it even looks any different. Just letting you know that it will take some time for any changes to actually take place.


Yep. No major changes yet, but the dry start allowed my the HC to take root, which was my only intention since these guys were grown in a tissue culture and don't have a nice root system yet. I ended up planting over the weekend and flooding the tank :-D



thatgmc said:


> Update Please



Order plants from buceplant.com and they came really fast. Very nice, healthy plants. Got some really nice buce specimens..I have a habit of ordering too much, so ignore the floating bunch. I'll probably find a use for these extras...The tank is still really unrefined. I can't wait until the stems take root so I can begin pruning and shaping them.

I ordered the following
- Rotala Wallichi
- Lidwigia Arcuata
- buceplant starter pack
- dwarf hairgrass

Here are the plants right after they arrived, were planted, and the tank flooded.










Here they are on day 2! You can tell they pepped up a lot just after one day.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

I like it when the water is at the brim ;-)









Day 3--HC is melting a bit as its transitioning to submerged growth. I have CO2 running and dosed some liquid fertz. Hoping for it to bounce back and come back strong...


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## toadpher (May 25, 2015)

Sorry if this was already posted, but what are the dimensions? FYI, that tank is sexy af!


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

toadpher said:


> Sorry if this was already posted, but what are the dimensions? FYI, that tank is sexy af!


Hey Toad,
Thanks! I got it from buceplant.com. Its the 90U, and they state the dimensions as 

90x56x56 CM or, 35.4 x 22.04 x 22.04 inches

Here's the link just in case: http://buceplant.com?rfsn=631048.792d1 >>rimless tank section. Try using this code too for 15% off. Worked for me TEAMBUCE15

I believe this is the outside dimensions. It fits the twinstar 900e perfectly.

-Matt


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Hey Guys,
The HC I was growing emersed (switched to submersed) looks pretty scraggly right now. There's some leaf deterioration.

Is this normal when going from emersed to submersed? Is there anything I can do to help it along?

I'm running a twinstar 900 at 7 hours/day
parameters indicate i'm still cycling. No more ammonia, but registering some nitrites and nitrates
pH~ 6.8
temp is ~72-74 F
I have CO2 running.


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Crank that co2 as high as you can and run a decent amount of light ( you shouldn't get much algae because of the excess co2. You should do your normal dosing but the co2 is a big part of it. But all plants will deteriorate a little once switched but almost always (with patience) it will soon start to look like it's self again. If you crank up the co2 remember to change it back to normal when you add livestock into it.

Hope this helps, skye


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> Crank that co2 as high as you can and run a decent amount of light ( you shouldn't get much algae because of the excess co2. You should do your normal dosing but the co2 is a big part of it. But all plants will deteriorate a little once switched but almost always (with patience) it will soon start to look like it's self again. If you crank up the co2 remember to change it back to normal when you add livestock into it.
> 
> Hope this helps, skye


Thanks! I'll be upping the Co2 then. I'm currently at ~1 bps, but using a CO2 reactor so we'll see how that works out.


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## JJBTEXAS (Jul 8, 2013)

Do you have a drop checker or ph probe?


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

JJBTEXAS said:


> Do you have a drop checker or ph probe?


I have a drop checker, but how should i run my CO2?

I'll have a plant heavy tank eventually, with many stems, so should I run it at max all the time?

and how do you guys operate CO2? Do you have it turn on with your lights, or you have it turn on earlier so that once the lights do come on, the water is already co2 saturated? Then do you turn it off with lights or a little before to conserve?

And if someone knows science and solubility of gases in water, does dissolving a lot of CO2 into the water take the place of O2? or can you have lots of both? I figure i can blast CO2 at "dangerous" levels as long as i have good flow to also distribute and dissolve oxygen. Is that accurate?


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## Jjonesls1 (Apr 26, 2017)

I REALLY dig that hardscape! Can wait to see it fill in

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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

mattenx said:


> I have a drop checker, but how should i run my CO2?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




What you want to do is turn your co2 on 1-2 hours before your light turns on then turn your co2 off at the same time or a little bit before your light turns off. This will allow the co2 to be at heavy concentration before your light comes on so your plants can start using the co2 right when the light comes on. And the co2 will be used up when the lights shut off, I don't know if unused co2 is bad unless it is to high to were it threatens the fish's health.


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## JJBTEXAS (Jul 8, 2013)

Fluid can only hold so much dissolved gas. This is temperature related. An over-concentration of CO2 will also drive your ph down. I would start my gas an hour before you turn the lights on and turn it off an hour before you turn them off.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Jjonesls1 said:


> I REALLY dig that hardscape! Can wait to see it fill in
> Thanks! Hopefully I can avoid the algae phase somehow. Looks ok so far.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk





SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> What you want to do is turn your co2 on 1-2 hours before your light turns on then turn your co2 off at the same time or a little bit before your light turns off. This will allow the co2 to be at heavy concentration before your light comes on so your plants can start using the co2 right when the light comes on. And the co2 will be used up when the lights shut off, I don't know if unused co2 is bad unless it is to high to were it threatens the fish's health.





JJBTEXAS said:


> Fluid can only hold so much dissolved gas. This is temperature related. An over-concentration of CO2 will also drive your ph down. I would start my gas an hour before you turn the lights on and turn it off an hour before you turn them off.



Thanks for the tips JJB and Skye. The login seems sound. I'll do just that. What are your guys' thoughts on ferts and time of dose? time lights come on, or...? Do fertz decompose or amount? I'm just dosing a liquid all-in-one right now from Ultum Nature Systems...it says 1 pump for each gallon 3 times a week. i have a 70 gallon tank, so that would be 21 pumps over 1 week. Doing some math, could I instead do 3 pumps per day?


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## Tnalp (Mar 25, 2017)

My ADA 45p(45cm) is at 2.5-3bps. when there was no fish n the tank, like yours now, i was running maybe about 4-5bps. while there was a lot of micro bubbles in my tank at the time, all my plants were pearling so much/ growing very very well. As i was going to introduce fish i SLOWLY started to turn down the c02. when i mean slowly i mean very very minor adjustment over time. Ive read that big adjustment can lead to big problems. Whether that is true or not... I'm not sure but i did not take the chance haha. As far as frets go, i work retail so my hours are always all over the place. What i do is every morning i squirt my liquid fert, doing ei/ micro and macro every day for 6 days/alternating, my theory is that the fert is in the tank so when the lights come on the plants have food to start working on. So far I've had success doing so. i know some people might say that you must dose once lights come on, but in my situation i am not able to due to my schedule. 

to answer your question about the fert. If it is the "UNS plant food aquatic plant fert." it states on buceplant website: "Dose 1 Pump for every 10 Gallons / 1-3 times a week" so i would dose 7 pumps on monday, wed, friday. then perform a 50% wc on sunday. Now if you start to see algae that means there is too much fert. so i would dose maybe monday then friday. 

Your 90U is about 74.5g.


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## JJBTEXAS (Jul 8, 2013)

Agree with Tnalp


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Guess wat guys?

10 rummy nose
2 Empire Gudgeon (pair)
1 night goby

that's what!
:-D


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## walluby (Dec 3, 2007)

*One way or another*

To be true, either do the tank Iwagumi,
or Dutch. The two together become
something other than a planted tank.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

walluby said:


> To be true, either do the tank Iwagumi,
> or Dutch. The two together become
> something other than a planted tank.


Arguably still a planted tank, but not true to any specific style. Its becoming interesting.. ha ha i'll send update FTS pics in a couple weeks


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

mattenx said:


> Guess wat guys?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Could we get a quick pic, no prep needed just a quick snap would be great. And I think that tnalp is very accurate in what your dosing schedule should be. What ever works, I think every day would also be quite good.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

SKYE.__.HIGH said:


> Could we get a quick pic, no prep needed just a quick snap would be great. And I think that tnalp is very accurate in what your dosing schedule should be. What ever works, I think every day would also be quite good.


Here are some shots :-D

Gold Ring Danio from my UNS 60U. You can also see the rummynose and the male empire grudgeon. I think he'll color up more when he gets larger and older.









the rummy nose and gold ring danios school in their own balls, but sometime they also join and school together which is really neat to see about 20 fish together.









another shot with the female empire grudgeon on the bottom of the photo










The gold ring danios sgenerally occupy the top of the tank, and the rummy nose mid-tank. Didn't get any shots of the night goby...he hides mostly, but i think he's been eating some of my fish. I see him hunting them sometimes. very interesting fish. I plan on keeping him, but going to get some guppies or swordtails breeding in the tank to act as a food source for him.

here's a photo anyway, courtesy google


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Rigged this up for easy water changes. Unfortunately, i found out my tap water has substantial ammonia in it...I've been doing massive water changes daily because I thought I jumped the gun and my tank hadn't finished cycling yet, but now I know it's because my tap water has ammonia. Apparently this is common for some tap water sources, so i'll be using a water conditioner and doing smaller water changes to let the bacteria take care of the ammonia...kinda frustrating...










In action:









pumping drained water into the sink









Water tests: Left side is my TAP water arghhh. Looks about 1ppm of ammonia. Right side is RO water to confirm that the tests are accurate. My tank currently has about .25ppm ammonia...









Anyone else dealing with ammonia in their tap? How do you address this?


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## Korilakkuma (Jun 6, 2017)

mattenx said:


> Anyone else dealing with ammonia in their tap? How do you address this?


I live in Riverside, CA and there is a small amount of ammonia in my tap water. It's not really an issue since I use prime. My tank is cycled so ammonia is back to 0 ppm in no time.


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Korilakkuma said:


> I live in Riverside, CA and there is a small amount of ammonia in my tap water. It's not really an issue since I use prime. My tank is cycled so ammonia is back to 0 ppm in no time.


Just bought a bottle of prime. How long do you wait until you use the prime'd water?


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## Dman911 (Nov 24, 2016)

mattenx said:


> Just bought a bottle of prime. How long do you wait until you use the prime'd water?


Can use it immediately. After draining you can dose the tank and then fill directly with your water changer or you can dose the water then add to the tank. The difference being if you are adding the water with your water changer you dose the entire tank volume and if you are treating the water before it goes into the tank you need only dose the volume of water you are adding. Personally I would drop the 1 1/2 capfuls in the tank and fill with your hose.

Added: Make sure you shake it first

Dan


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## mattenx (Nov 28, 2016)

Dman911 said:


> Can use it immediately. After draining you can dose the tank and then fill directly with your water changer or you can dose the water then add to the tank. The difference being if you are adding the water with your water changer you dose the entire tank volume and if you are treating the water before it goes into the tank you need only dose the volume of water you are adding. Personally I would drop the 1 1/2 capfuls in the tank and fill with your hose.
> 
> Added: Make sure you shake it first
> 
> Dan


EXCELLENT. Thanks for the quick reply, sir!


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## Jjonesls1 (Apr 26, 2017)

Agreed with Dan. I just dose my tank and fill.

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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Any updates for us would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks, skye


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

Is there anyway to get an update, pretty please sugar on top. 

Oh my, I just realized that I have asked for two updates and I am the two most recent posts.


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

When people just drop off the face of the earth, lol. 




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## thatgmc (Jul 4, 2010)

bump


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## SKYE.__.HIGH (Mar 18, 2017)

thatgmc said:


> bump




Lol


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