Welcome to ScapeCrunch
We are ScapeCrunch, the place where planted aquarium hobbyists come to build relationships and support each other. When you're tired of doom scrolling, you've found your home here.
Social Feed
Supporting
AquaGirls
Rockstar
Lowdown on the Low Tech side:
Fancy goldfish - easy plants. No C02, no fertilization, no heater, natural sunlight.
Goldies have always been my first love, paving the way to both my pond and aquarium obsessions : ) Time to get back to my roots!
Delicate negotiations with spouse were successful, including where such a tank would be located in our small, shared house and how much money I can spend (he doesn’t care as long as he can buy some boat stuff, as well).
The chosen spot in the dining room, now officially labeled “The Fish Room”:
Before:
After:
That’s better! Room for a 6 footer, if you ask me …
I’ll leave a space behind the tank for a wide sill and fill the window with houseplants. Maybe some household pendant fixtures from the ceiling with low wattage grow bulbs over both the plants and the tank.
No background on the tank, seeing through to the greenery and the outdoors.
An AI virtual (close but I couldn’t get it to make the tank a little taller):
Highlights of the Hi Tech side:
A virtually no maintenance, self cleaning system consisting of drilled overflows to a 100g basement sump with an RDF* (rotary drum filter), a 50g barrel k1 moving bed biofilter, oversized UV, constant drip water change and robotic algae cleaners**.
* https://ninjasieve.com/products/rotary-drum-filter-10000-l-h
** MOAI | Advanced Aquarium Cleaning Robot
The plan thus far:
I need to have the tank custom built. 72”L x 18”W x 24”T = 130g.
I live on Vancouver Island (4hr. + over $200 ferry travel to get off and on again), so my choices are limited without adding a lot of extra expense. There is a tank fabrication company on the island and we are in talks right now. I’ve never had a sump, so I am thoroughly researching overflow configurations and how they will work with the RDF.
The NinjaSieve RDF is already purchased. Rotary drum filters have been state-of-the-art in koi ponds for the last decade, but only recently have been available in smaller, less expensive sizes. I have only been able to find 3 instances on the entire internet (!) where one is in operation in an aquarium sump. They filter to 74 microns, and self clean using jetted water when the drum starts to clog, flushing the waste out of the system.
Clean water then goes to the moving bed barrel, which will have a valved drain on the bottom, in case any debris settles over time, then to a second 50g barrel housing the return pump and UV lamp. Total water in system = 230g (unless I decide to add a third barrel!)
There are a lot of steps to this project, which I will be accomplishing all by myself, and could very well take me all winter. Now that I’ve cleared the space and settled on a tank size, I need to buy metal jack stands and wood to shore up the floor in the crawlspace. Then I will work on collecting the pieces need for the filtration set up, while I’m waiting for the tank to be built and delivered.
Thanks for following along, comments and suggestions are always welcome. I will get to the plant and aquascaping portion of the build, eventually … I promise!
Fancy goldfish - easy plants. No C02, no fertilization, no heater, natural sunlight.
Goldies have always been my first love, paving the way to both my pond and aquarium obsessions : ) Time to get back to my roots!
Delicate negotiations with spouse were successful, including where such a tank would be located in our small, shared house and how much money I can spend (he doesn’t care as long as he can buy some boat stuff, as well).
The chosen spot in the dining room, now officially labeled “The Fish Room”:
Before:
After:
That’s better! Room for a 6 footer, if you ask me …
I’ll leave a space behind the tank for a wide sill and fill the window with houseplants. Maybe some household pendant fixtures from the ceiling with low wattage grow bulbs over both the plants and the tank.
No background on the tank, seeing through to the greenery and the outdoors.
An AI virtual (close but I couldn’t get it to make the tank a little taller):
Highlights of the Hi Tech side:
A virtually no maintenance, self cleaning system consisting of drilled overflows to a 100g basement sump with an RDF* (rotary drum filter), a 50g barrel k1 moving bed biofilter, oversized UV, constant drip water change and robotic algae cleaners**.
* https://ninjasieve.com/products/rotary-drum-filter-10000-l-h
** MOAI | Advanced Aquarium Cleaning Robot
The plan thus far:
I need to have the tank custom built. 72”L x 18”W x 24”T = 130g.
I live on Vancouver Island (4hr. + over $200 ferry travel to get off and on again), so my choices are limited without adding a lot of extra expense. There is a tank fabrication company on the island and we are in talks right now. I’ve never had a sump, so I am thoroughly researching overflow configurations and how they will work with the RDF.
The NinjaSieve RDF is already purchased. Rotary drum filters have been state-of-the-art in koi ponds for the last decade, but only recently have been available in smaller, less expensive sizes. I have only been able to find 3 instances on the entire internet (!) where one is in operation in an aquarium sump. They filter to 74 microns, and self clean using jetted water when the drum starts to clog, flushing the waste out of the system.
Clean water then goes to the moving bed barrel, which will have a valved drain on the bottom, in case any debris settles over time, then to a second 50g barrel housing the return pump and UV lamp. Total water in system = 230g (unless I decide to add a third barrel!)
There are a lot of steps to this project, which I will be accomplishing all by myself, and could very well take me all winter. Now that I’ve cleared the space and settled on a tank size, I need to buy metal jack stands and wood to shore up the floor in the crawlspace. Then I will work on collecting the pieces need for the filtration set up, while I’m waiting for the tank to be built and delivered.
Thanks for following along, comments and suggestions are always welcome. I will get to the plant and aquascaping portion of the build, eventually … I promise!
38 Replies
·
3745 views
Supporting
I Donated 2026
Rockstar
With all the talk on Amazonia pro, I wanted to get some basic understanding of rich aquasoil.
- everyone seems to agree that the richer the aquasoil is, the more the amount of water changes you would have to do initially. Basically meaning that aquasoil leaches its contents into the water and you replace the water. Now….. doesn’t that just mean that you are throwing away what you paid for ? Even if one does a dark start, and minimize the number of water changes one still has to do a water change after the dark start and still end up wasting the nitrate/phosphate?
—— trying to ask then does that mean the only person who benefits from a super rich aquasoil is someone like an insta or YouTube person who wants a quick burst of growth with the initial leaching of nutrition. For everyone else wanting a stable long term system, a not so rich aquasoil which might help the plants a little bit in the beginning but being used more for long term stability and buffering capacity?
- do the plants actually get the boost initially from the root zone or is it more from the leaching that happens and ultimately from the WC? The later makes sense since their roots have not yet developed.
- if one has the whole substrate inside a container with water, wouldn’t water touch all aspects of the substrate regardless of it being capped or not ? How does capping a aquasoil actually help? Green aqua stated that ada recommends capping the Amazonia pro with Amazonia 2.
Curious on people’s thoughts on this.
- everyone seems to agree that the richer the aquasoil is, the more the amount of water changes you would have to do initially. Basically meaning that aquasoil leaches its contents into the water and you replace the water. Now….. doesn’t that just mean that you are throwing away what you paid for ? Even if one does a dark start, and minimize the number of water changes one still has to do a water change after the dark start and still end up wasting the nitrate/phosphate?
—— trying to ask then does that mean the only person who benefits from a super rich aquasoil is someone like an insta or YouTube person who wants a quick burst of growth with the initial leaching of nutrition. For everyone else wanting a stable long term system, a not so rich aquasoil which might help the plants a little bit in the beginning but being used more for long term stability and buffering capacity?
- do the plants actually get the boost initially from the root zone or is it more from the leaching that happens and ultimately from the WC? The later makes sense since their roots have not yet developed.
- if one has the whole substrate inside a container with water, wouldn’t water touch all aspects of the substrate regardless of it being capped or not ? How does capping a aquasoil actually help? Green aqua stated that ada recommends capping the Amazonia pro with Amazonia 2.
Curious on people’s thoughts on this.
14 Replies
·
220 views
Rockstar
I’m often out and about working in the field and stumble upon breathtaking examples of often overlooked and under appreciated slices of nature that Florida has to offer.
My neck of the woods is filled with marsh/wetlands ripe with both native and invasive wildlife of all flavors; I want to start a thread where I can document and share.
I’ll update this thread whenever I capture something noteworthy. Much of what catches my eye is aquatic flora, but I try and document anything captivating. I hope you find this as beautiful and fascinating as I do.
My neck of the woods is filled with marsh/wetlands ripe with both native and invasive wildlife of all flavors; I want to start a thread where I can document and share.
I’ll update this thread whenever I capture something noteworthy. Much of what catches my eye is aquatic flora, but I try and document anything captivating. I hope you find this as beautiful and fascinating as I do.
140 Replies
·
11597 views
Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
Hello Welcome, Bruce Lau
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @Bruce Lau!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
0 Replies
·
16 views
Hey guys, needing some expert insight on my 90P build regarding the Yugang reactor. I’d like a sanity check on sizing.
System
What I measured
View attachment y2.mp4
System
- Display: 90 × 45 cm outside, 10 mm glass, so ~88 × 43 cm inside (~3,780 cm²), rimless, lidless.
- Sump: 20-gallon long (76 × 30 cm, ~2,280 cm²), 3 chambers, loose lid.
- About 220 L total water.
- Return enters below the surface; no deliberate surface agitation.
- BeanAnimal overflow, with the main draining underwater (no cascade).
- Currently cycling on tap water: KH 13, GH 12. The plan is RO remineralised to KH 3–4.
- Horizontal Yugang, 3" Sch40 PVC (ID 77.9 mm), 46 cm long.
- Outlet rotated to near the limit of what my plumbing allows, so the pocket is much smaller than half-full.
- CO₂ flow meter at about 9 mL/min. That’s slightly over what it dissolves, so it gives small occasional burps.
What I measured
- Plateau: pH 6.80 at KH 13 ~ 60 ppm (pH/KH estimate). Degassed baseline pH at 8.2.
- Overnight decay after CO₂ off: k ≈ 0.12/h (half-life ~5.7 h). That implies a CO₂ exchange rate of ~4–7 cm/h, i.e. a calm surface.
- Working the 1/17.7 rule backwards from my reactor area (~180–358 cm² depending on rotation), my effective loss area is ~1,100–2,200 cm², against ~6,060 cm² of real water surface (display + sump).
View attachment y2.mp4
24 Replies
·
488 views
Supporting
I Donated 2026
Rockstar
Article Contributor
I've really been digging pearlweed in my low tech tank, and thinking of growing a shaped pearlweed bush in my high tech experiment tank.
But I came across this listing for a white/platinum variety of pearlweed. Can't find any info on it anywhere. So I ordered 5 stems, the most expensive pearlweed stems on earth!
Think it'll actually survive/be platinum or light colored?
We really need some lighter colored plants in this hobby. Myrio 'Golden' is one I've successfully used, but it grows too crazy and the trimmings drove me nuts so I ditched it. What other white/platinum plants are there?
15 Replies
·
922 views
Hi guys,
I'm planning to do a switch, but I would like to know if it makes sense before buying anything.
My actual tank is a 110x50x60h, this is my first bigger tank and it's the tank where I started to truly love this hobby.
This tanks gave me joy, anxiety and satisfaction.
I bought it for relatively cheap (around 130€), but know I was thinking to buy a standard 120p.
I plan to reuse my old tropica aquasoil (I'll remove the First 1-2cm and topping It with apt feast).
What do you think? It's a waste of time/money or you'll think that is a change that make sense?
I always felt strange about this tanks proportion.
I plan to do it with 3 buckets (fish, plants and soil). The water is fully ro.
Any suggestions for doing it? Is worth it? Or it's just late and I'm overthinking?
I'm planning to do a switch, but I would like to know if it makes sense before buying anything.
My actual tank is a 110x50x60h, this is my first bigger tank and it's the tank where I started to truly love this hobby.
This tanks gave me joy, anxiety and satisfaction.
I bought it for relatively cheap (around 130€), but know I was thinking to buy a standard 120p.
I plan to reuse my old tropica aquasoil (I'll remove the First 1-2cm and topping It with apt feast).
What do you think? It's a waste of time/money or you'll think that is a change that make sense?
I always felt strange about this tanks proportion.
I plan to do it with 3 buckets (fish, plants and soil). The water is fully ro.
Any suggestions for doing it? Is worth it? Or it's just late and I'm overthinking?
2 Replies
·
59 views
Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
This is the future home for the announcements when someone obtains an achievement badge. Let the games begin!
2055 Replies
·
77422 views
Supporting
I'm looking for recommendations for neocaridina retailers. I'd like to order them at the end of October, and have them shipped to Asheville NC.
Any recommendations?
Any recommendations?
25 Replies
·
1210 views
Journal Farmer D. Singh's journal
Ive reorganized the order of my tanks so I can better keep track of them ie. Tank 2 moss tank is now tank 3. This helps in any confusion I had when tracking tanks they are in a sort of order now. Rather than taking time editing my old journal id rather create a new thread. Pics will be current (for the most part) as they are posted. I am not aquascaping. I am just farming.
87 Replies
·
5434 views
Supporting
I Donated 2026
Rockstar
Journal Kwyet’s 60G Hillstream Tank
Sometime in Nov 2024, I bought a 60G Aqueon tank at the 50% off sale. I already had a 75 gallon stand and tank, but I wanted a shorter tank so I could look in over the top. The 75 gallon was relegated to the garage in case I want it again, and I painted the stand black. I also put black vinyl on the back.
My goal was to make a hillstream environment, based on the long-running tank of Rachel O’Leary. I had looked at other options like the river manifolds, but I liked Rachel’s better. I set it up with an fx6 filter, a horizontal spray bar on the left side, and 2nd modified spray bar situated vertically behind a corner Matten filter on the back right side. Glass strips were attached with silicone to hold it. I cut the Matten filter horizontally a few inches from the tank floor so the top part could be easily removed for cleaning. I also cut a small vertical groove from the inside so it wouldn’t constrict the holes so much on the curve.
This was how it looked on Dec 20, 2024:
My goal was to make a hillstream environment, based on the long-running tank of Rachel O’Leary. I had looked at other options like the river manifolds, but I liked Rachel’s better. I set it up with an fx6 filter, a horizontal spray bar on the left side, and 2nd modified spray bar situated vertically behind a corner Matten filter on the back right side. Glass strips were attached with silicone to hold it. I cut the Matten filter horizontally a few inches from the tank floor so the top part could be easily removed for cleaning. I also cut a small vertical groove from the inside so it wouldn’t constrict the holes so much on the curve.
This was how it looked on Dec 20, 2024:
50 Replies
·
6077 views