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Just wanted to share this info,

I'm looking to get my new 120C tank setup (120x60x50cm), and for a moment I thought "Why not? Why shouldn't I go back to using aquasoil?".

To reach an aquasoil depth of ~3" across the entire tank (pretty thin for aquasoil), the cost would be about $420 at the standard $7-per-Liter of aquasoil (most brands charge this value, some more!).

On the other end of the spectrum, it would cost about $24 to get a depth of 4" with BDBS (inert blasting sand, the substrate I've been trying in my tanks for the last two years) from my local supplier.

I think I'll be putting that other $400 towards something else!

Time to get a new journal started. The start of this aquarium will eventually result in the total rescape of some and even final end to others.

So why is 75g in quotes? It seems that the budget pet store aquarium brands like to over state the volume of their tanks. This is a used Marineland tank and stand combo I purchased off marketplace. Marineland markets it as a 75 gallon tank. At best, it's only a 67 gallon tank. Filled with BDBS and including the volume of the filter, tubing, and reactor, real volume is just over 64 gallons. End of rant, now the details.

This tank has a number of purposes/goals:
1. Serve as a tank to grow many different plants.
2. Serve as a temporary holding tank for fish.
3. Serve as a testbed for my first fully inert substrate tank with water column dosing only, using separate macros and micros rather than an all-in-one fertilizer.
4. Try my hand at designing and maintaining a Garden/Hybrid Dutch style layout.

I began getting this tank and stand ready quite some time ago but other projects got in the way. Like my current 40g farm tank, this is setup on the "work" side of my basement. The other side of the basement was finished when I purchased the house but it was done rather poorly and has been in mid demo mode for some time. It will eventually be remodeled to be the aquarium "gallery". Once that happens, this tank may simply become a farm/quarantine tank. My basement floor is far from level so I had to add leveling feet to the stand. I soon realized however, the bottom of the cheap stand is only 1/2" wood?? and with the resulting gap underneath, the weight of an Oase 850 filter and 10lb CO2 tank caused the bottom to flex a good amount. I decided I needed to make some mods to provide a little more support. I added a sheet of 3/4" plywood across the entire bottom including the finishing strips. I used a lot of wood glue and brads to secure it and then upgraded to some heavier duty leveling feet.. That did the trick as it's much more solid now. While I had the stand up on the saw horses I also made a few changes to the inside build. I swapped out the dosing bottle holder to a powered stirrer courtesy of a great deal from @Naturescapes_Rocco, mounted the Dwyer flow meter where it can be easily read, mounted the new Jebao return pump controller to the door, and cleaned up the wiring.

Build and Hardware Details
Oase Biomaster Thermo 850 (internal impeller disabled)
Oase stock In/Out pipes using spraybar
Oase Crystalskim 350 Skimmer
Jebao MDP-3500 Return Pump
10lb CO2 tank with DIY "Bettatail" regulator and Dwyer RMA-151 Flow Meter
Aqua Rocks Colorado Small Acrylic Yugang CO2 Reactor
Chihiros 4 Channel Doser plus Stirrer
Inkbird ITC-306A Temp Controller
Week Aqua L1200 Light

Substrate and Fertilization
Black Diamond Blasting Sand (no root tabs or other material under the BDBS)
Burr Aqua Macros and Micros

There were a couple of gotchas in the last 2 days getting things finalized so the tank can start cycling. Yesterday while calibrating the doser, I couldn't get any channel to prime. This doser has been sitting on the shelf for quite some time but had been used before. I had to take apart the pump heads and pinch and stretch the tubing, and after putting it back together, everything worked fine and calibration was right on the first time.

The worse gotcha was today on the first turn on and leak test. It's always the nervous time, and for good reason. Priming the system went fine, no leaks, but as soon as I turned the pump on, I heard spraying ! Problem was with the ARC reactor. I purchased the reactor a long time ago but realized it was too large for my 49g tank, so It's been sitting on the shelf waiting for one of these 120cm tanks. Unfortunately, I never even leak tested it. I wish I had, because I might have returned it to ARC. The problem is with the CO2 input. There is the push-to-fit part that screws in, and then the permanent mounted insert the fitting screws into. That permanent insert was actually the cause of the leak. After pulling everything back out of the cabinet and taking the reactor apart, I could see that the insert was cracked. For now, I've bypassed the reactor so the tank cycling can commence. This was important because several trays of matrix in the filter came from my other established tanks and I also seeded the tank with a sponge from one of the established filters. Over the next couple week, I'll get the ARC reactor fixed and back in place.

Also in the next couple weeks I'll do some flow testing and provide results for those curious as to how combining the Jebao pump with the Oase filter works out. I can tell you this already, in a 120cm tank, 100% power is far too much. Pulling water through the fully setup 850 doesn't faze the MDP-3500. I have it set at 55% right now and even with a spraybar, will probably need to turn it down once planted. I think the MDP-2500 would be more than enough for this setup. In fact, I may add a bypass to the ARC reactor while I have it out. Of course, it's also very quiet, even at the 100% power level.

I expect the tank to cycle fairly quickly and may start planting in a couple weeks. Most plants will come from my farm and other tanks for now, but I'll be thinking about what other plants I need to fill in for a proper Dutch look. The current 40g farm tank will be shutting down and going by-by once this tank is cycled. Also, my first aquascape, the 49g, will be getting torn down for a full rescape shortly after and the fish in it will be getting rehomed to this tank for the immediate future.

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These are my erios after two months of growth. It seems to me that it has already produced plantlets, but it’s nowhere near its adult size as a plant. Should I be splitting now to prevent overcrowding? Or should I wait until the clump has reached its adult size?

What tools do you all use to clean algae of the glass ? I use Mr.Clean magic eraser, tooth brush and a razor glass scraper.

I have been looking to get a mag float and see if there is an upgrade pic over a standard stainless steel scraper you would get on amazon.

TIA

Skip to the actual journal here.

I'm known here for high tech, high nutrient, inert substrate scapes -- but I also love NO tech, rich substrate scapes, too!

This thread is three-sided:

1. To act as a journal for my new No-Tech bowl scape, and
2. To act as a discussion board for no/low tech bowl scapes, and
3. To collect and share accounts and examples of bowl scapes from around the world!

Fishbowls were the OG aquarium, until the hobby helped eliminate them from modern aquarium keeping -- for good reason! Traditional fish bowls were used to house medium-large tropical fish like Bettas in a cramped, unfiltered space, with clown-puke gravel and little to no proper cycling/care/husbandry. We're glad THOSE bowls are gone.

But there is a new modern kind of fish bowl, one where plants, substrate, bacteria, water changes, and proper inhabitant selection all work together to create healthy, mini ecosystem-worlds in our homes:

What does No Tech mean?​

In general, it means that these scapes have:

• No Filter
• No Heater
• No Air Pump
• No Skimmer
• No CO2
• No Circulation

They do have:

• A Light (usually low to medium-powered)
• A Substrate (inert, aquasoil, or sand-capped soil like Walstad method)
• Plants (usually quite low-tech plants, though a surprising number will thrive in this method!)
• Inhabitants (Since these bowls are usually between 2-12 gallons on average, this limits selection to nano fish, shrimp, and snails).

Don't get caught up in the specific label of "no tech" (or worse, gatekeep this method). If you want to use a small filter, or a heater, do it! The concept is still generally the same.

The point is, these are smaller, affordable, beautiful little worlds of light to enliven our living spaces and create art, nature, and beauty -- often with very little maintenance and upkeep besides a partial water change and feeding the fish.

Gallery and Links to bowl scapers:​

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @agel68!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

1. When mixing @Burr740's macros/micros with a gallon jug of distilled water, the result will equal more than a gallon. DUH! 1.3 gallon HDPE jugs on order.
2. Wearing nitrile gloves is probably a good idea when mixing anything, but that's especially true when mixing macros and you have an open cut on your hand. Ouch, that stings!

The good news, I'm one step closer to filling up the next tank. Hopefully tomorrow.

The 2hrAquarist legend Dennis Wong tested the Hanna Test Kit vs a $3,000+ CO2 testing device and found accurate results in low kH aquasoil based tanks when compared. $30 for CO2 readings vs $3,000+!

It's a simple kit that comes with simple instructions, two differently sized vials for different detection ranges, a titration syringe phenolphthalein indicator, and an NaOH solution of some unknown concentration to titrate with.

For the range of detection on the Hanna CO2 test kit we want (0-50ppm):

• Add 10mL of aquarium water to the small flask. Add 1 drop phenolphthalein and swirl gently.
• With the titration syringe (markings are "reversed" from traditional syringes), add the NaOH solution dropwise and swirl gently until color goes from clear to pink. Don't shake/agitate, or you will de-gas your CO2 concentration.
• For the 50ppm detection range, multiply the number on the syringe by 50 to get your result (if you used 0.4mL NaOH to turn the vial pink, you would have 20ppm CO2).

My findings:​

It seems to be "accurate" based on my comparisons with 1) drop checkers, 2) my pH reading/meter, and 3) the inhabitant-response (fish gasping at 35+ppm, shrimp uncomfortable at 30ppm+). It's not perfectly accurate (±5ppm), but it does a good "instant" job at giving some information in about 1-2 minutes. The kit also comes with enough for MANY, many tests (at least a hundred). For $30 I think it should become standard equipment for most CO2-injecting hobbyists.

I was worried about interactions with other acids in the flask, and I'm sure there are a few, but in clean, low-kH water, it doesn't seem like a problem. I found some stuff online from published journal articles about how there are no other worrisome strong acids to compete with the NaOH and that the CO2 readings from NaOH titration are generally accepted as accurate (in peer-reviewed journals). Not a silver bullet for CO2 testing, but really helps me get an understanding of my tank and keep it dialed in.

How I use it​

• If I want a quick glance of CO2 concentration for whatever reason in that moment (e.g., my fish are lethargic or shimp are at the surface).
  
  OR, the more complex way using it to dial in CO:
  
  
• Day 1 of CO2 on a new tank: I keep an eye on inhabitants and their behaviors (to make sure I don't over-inject) and I test 2-3 times throughout the day. The most important is the test done right before the CO2 shuts off, which would be the maximum CO2 level for the day. As long as I didn't get to "true yellow" on my Drop Checker, I hopefully plateaued in terms of injection, finding the equilibrium between injection and off-gassing.
  
  
• On Day 2: CO2 comes on 1-3 hours before the photoperiod. I compare the CO2 readings at the very start of the photoperiod, once during, and once at the end. A quick estimative plot on the graph should tell me if I'm at/around equilibrium.
  • For example, if my tank tests 6-10ppm CO2 before the solenoid turns on, then 20ppm when the lights come on, then 25ppm halfway through the photoperiod, and 30ppm by the end of the photoperiod, I know I'm somewhere in the proper "zone" (highlighted in pale yellow):
    
    
    
• On Day 3: I double-check the measurement at the start of the photoperiod, during, and at the end of the CO2 injection. As long as all 3 are close/approaching 30ppm, we're good!

On general timing of CO2 injection in this hobby:​

I continue to hear/read from reputable sources about how plants use the most CO2-per-hour in the first 3-4 hours of the photoperiod, which is why it's so important to have CO2 injection reach/near 30ppm @ equilibrium between injection and off-gassing.

Many beginners inject too little, or start injecting too late relative to their photoperiod. As Wong states in his article here,

"This scenario can give rise to a situation where CO2 levels are very high by day's end, with fish gasping at the surface. Hobbyists are puzzled as to how fish can be gasping and yet their plants are not getting enough CO2. This is unfortunately an extremely common scenario in the planted tank world when people use low injection rates coupled with poor gaseous exchange."

Click to expand...

I think many users fall in the "Low injection rate" category, where they are only hitting optimum CO2 levels in the afternoon (when plants are using less of it to begin with!):

But they don't realize that you can fix that either by 1) increasing surface agitation (for increased off-gassing) as well as increasing injection rate:

OR by 2) Starting your CO2 injection way earlier than you think. For example:

Many hobbyists read "turn CO2 on 1 hour before lights" and end up with this:

Where they are only reaching optimum levels waaaay too late in their photoperiod, when they really should either start the CO2 way earlier, or start their photoperiod way later, like this:

To bring it all home (what I think):​

• The Hanna CO2 test kit is a lot cheaper than a reliable pH pen/meter/computer, and requires no calibration fluids or calibration itself.
• It's been tested to be somewhat accurate when compared to a very expensive aquatic CO2 testing device.
• You can use something like the Hanna CO2 test kit to test for whether you're starting CO2 early enough, or whether you are even reaching equilibrium between off-gassing and injecting CO2.
• Like all titration, it can be prone to user error. If the goal is light pink, everyone will see light pink differently. Just do your best to be consistent with your readings!
• It costs $33+ shipping and will likely last the average user a few years (if the reagents don't go bad before then). Worth it!

Just another tool in the toolbox to help us with our tanks. Let me know what you think!

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.

Hello everybody im opening this topic since i cant get rid of the algae and im getting a little tired of it

I have a Juwel Rio 350 liter
3x onex daytime 2x colour 1x plant
At 100% 186 par at the bottom (tank is 66cm high)
I have a 1.5 hour build up and 1.5 hour build off 5 hours full light (90% atm because of the algae)
I moved the timing a little earlier yesterday since i tought it may be on to late (22:00) and not getting enough fully darkness for the plants to recover so it goes out now at 20:00

My co2 goes on 2.5 hour before lights go on and half an hour before lights go out
Ph drop of 1.4-1.5 (dropchecker 30mg/l limegreen/yellow)

Filtration: tetra ex 1500, oase biomaster 750 thermo (both with a spraybar creating a roll over), eheim skim 350 and a marine 6000 wavemaker that goes on every hour for 5 minutes (from 12:00-20:00) to distribute loose dirt so the filters will suck it up and keep the plants more clean

Waterchange 50% a week on monday with only RO. Apt sky to a gh of 8

For fertz i use Apt E dosing 6ml a day (keeping the no3 stable trough the whole week from the strategy of Dennis)
I have tried higher dosing aiming at 20mg/l no3 to now leaner dosing.

My plants are not super healthy. The fast growing stems have healthy tops but bad old growth. Even when replanting the healthy parts they turn out the same way.

They are also not as deep red as they should be with 186 par and look like they lack light in the bottom of the tank. My theory is that the 66cm depth is filtering a lot of the spectrum especially red.

The soil is now 3 months in the tank and is 4 months matured if you include priming the soil in a big bucket for bacteries (darkstart)

I had algae before the soil change and still have it now. I tought the soil would be the cause.

I dont know what else i should try or what could be the problem

Thanks in advance for your help and reading this big text