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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.

Well...let's spend more money! I had thought about attending Aquashella - Chicago a few months ago but decided to pass this year. When I was thinking about it, they still didn't have the specific VIP guest list posted. Out of curiosity, I checked today and to my surprise, the man himself, Yusuke Homma, will be presenting the masterclass on Saturday. I can't pass that up when it's only an 8 hour drive. Ticket purchased, room booked. Anyone else attending?

The theme for this month's contest is: Algae Patina


This one is going to be tough but I hope some of you take up the challenge. There is a fine line between algae on an object that makes it look natural and old (patina) and algae on an object that simply makes it look unkept and dirty.

Who can strike that balance best??

Please take a picture of algae patina in your aquarium. Be as artistic and creative as you like.

The rules:

• Submissions are allowed between September 11 and September 23.
• Voting will start on September 23 at 12:01 am Eastern time.
• Voting will end on September 30 at 11:30 pm Eastern time.

The prize:

A $25 store credit from BurrAqua thanks to @Burr740!

Good luck!

This tank was a Dutch-ish tank before we moved 2 months ago. This was one of its last pictures, very overgrown I know.



This time I want to make it a true Dutch, so anyone can chime in and help me.

After we moved, it ran low-tech with just a few tissue cultures until this week when I finally had time and materials to finish setting it up. This is what it looks like now:



I know there’s some bubbles showing in the vinyl cling. I’m having trouble reaching back there to smooth it out. I’ll have to think about how to fix that, although when the plants grow in it may not be visible anyway. I did read that you can have 1 rock in a Dutch scape, so I kept one. I may put Monte Carlo on it again, I haven’t decided.

So, details…

Tank: UNS 90U, 68 gallons

Light: Week Aqua P900 Pro, current settings R 40%, G 51%, B 20%, UV 0, Fan 100, Power 51%.
8 hours of light with 30 min ramp up/down
Par—no idea

Filtration: Fluval Fx4, currently running at 75%. Any higher blows the fish around. I expect to be able to increase it when the plants are grown in.

CO2: Yugang stainless steel reactor, 370 mm long, working really well. I had to turn down the CO2 a bit today because the drop was more than I expected (from degassed 7.4 to 5.9). I’ve already changed the end cap to the medium setting, but I think I’m just going to make further adjustments with the regulator. Call it laziness, but since there aren’t any double taps available for the Fx4 tubing that’s going to be easier for me. Anyway, I really like it. It’s completely silent and does its job well.

Substrate: Aqua Natural Galaxy sand, with a few Aquarium Coop root tabs.

Other: Oase CrystalSkim 350 skimmer, Kactoily 6-in-1 water quality monitor

Fertilizer: Until today I’ve just been using Easy Green. Today I installed the Chihiro’s dosing system with PPS-Pro, 6 ml macros and 3 ml micros daily. On water change day, I’ll add another 2 ml macros. I’m currently changing 20% of the water once a week. I’ll increase if necessary.

Parameters: Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 ppm, gH 6, kH 2, TDS 222, 70-74 F

Plants (mostly from @Burr740 thanks!):

Leopard Val
Echinodorus Aflame
Hydrocotyle Tripartita (coming)
Penthorum Sedioides
Crypt Wendtii Sindoor
Lobelia cardinalis mini
Bacopa colorata
Rotala (? back left corner)
Limnophila wilsonii
Nymphae Peru Puerto Maldonade
Rotala macrandra Kochi
Nymphoides Taiwan

I’m not sure I like the Leopard Val in there. Should I put it in my 125 gallon instead, and move the Limnophila wilsonii to that spot?

Fish:

1 Honey Flame Gourami
4 Ember tetras
8 Otos
2 Pygmy sunfish
4 Red neon blue-eyed rainbowfish
9 Pygmy Cory catfish
9 male Lime Green Endlers
1 Leopard Danio (last of a group)
A few random Amano and Neocaridina shrimp and snails

The fish list will change as I get more tanks set up. I would like to end up with just the gourami, Otos, Rainbowfish (but more of them), and Pygmy Cories.

Well, that’s a start. Thanks for reading!

Hi guys!

I'm new here, but not entirely new to planted tanks though I've been out of the hobby for the better part of the last decade between kids and moving a couple of times - but finally in a spot where I can do something again. I'm mostly going to be making things up as I go along, but plan on a lot of automation (I want to integrate everything into home assistant) and a lot of DIY as I love the challenge of building things out myself.

The starting point:

I picked up a 90P rimless, low-iron tank on a great deal.



I have a rough idea in my head for a stand to be built from plywood - just have a couple other house projects to finish off before starting that built.

Wife says I can only have one aquarium, so for this tank, I want to go all out with a sump to allow for auto top off, and auto water changes, auto fertilizer dosing etc. etc. I have half a plan in my mind.

I've also started on the light fixture which I've modeled up in CAD, and plan on making out of an 8020 extrusion, and some 3D printed bits.

I'm using bridgelux gen 3 thrive CW (3000k) and WW (5000k) LED strips which have super high CRI at 98+ along with some specific XPE2 wavelengths that I'll solder onto some starboards. Far Red (730nm), Red (654nm), Cyan (495nm), Blue (455nm), Visible UV (415nm). Each segment of the white channels will be on its own driver so I can adjust left to right brightness in thirds, and each colour channel on its own driver so I can vary each channel on a time-based approach.

These will be run from a custom PCB board with Meanwell N-LDD drivers, and will run ESPHome on an ESP32 so it can link up with my Home Assistant installation.


That's it for now, this will probably be a very slow build so be warned if you follow along!

Time to start a new thread.

I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.

90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.

Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.

I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.

I have been inspired by everyone’s awesome planted fish bowls. I have been researching and toying around with the idea of setting one up. I was working on building a nano frag tank set up for my saltwater side and got the itch to try something. So I started building the pedestal for a fish bowl. Now down the rabbit hole, I am bending a piece of trim to wrap my 12” platform.

It’s time to take down the 20 gallon long tank that was my first “ high tech planted” aquarium and upgrade to a tank with on an appropriate size/depth.

I’ll order a Landen (90 x 50 x 50) tank on Amazon for this. Free overnight delivery. Preposterous!

I’ve studied the thread TRyan posted on 3/4” plywood stands and will be building a stand for this - thank you TRyan!

For filtration, I’ve been studying JayP’s thread. I had a biomaster thermo 350 on the 20L which I’m thinking of reusing. And I also have a netlea prefilter sitting around and an ARC small acrylic yugang reactor I can steal from a tank. I’m thinking of buying an Oase 800 or other pump and chaining these pieces together to provide a second filtration/carbonizing path? Not sure on the pump manufacturer & size?

I’ll be putting this together in the style of the ADA nature aquarium. Aquasoil in the back, some hardscape (rock, wood) in the midground and a decorative sand foreground. Very simple. Primarily a guppy, Endler, Cory, pleco, neocaridina tank.

Soliciting the scapecrunch community for feedback, advice, suggestions, etc.

Thank you as always. You all are the best!

• Nobody likes tossing healthy plant mass

• We grow super interesting plants here

• Everybody has extra tank / filter / heaters around they've been meaning to get around to building into a farm tank...

It's easy!

TRIMMERS

Next time you have a big trim planned, or have just done: post a pic here of the plants!

Include the

• species name
• date cut / uprooted
• expiration / you-will-toss after date
• your zip code

TAKERS

Check cost of FedEx /UPS to your own address, and send the trimmer a PM with the offer to pay shipping

Went to a few local rivers for some ideas on scapes and got some good pics. Its a swamp down here but had nice weather today so no swamp ass or mosquito bites for once lol! some of the cypress trees are 5'+ wide at base, great ideas for sure looks like se Asia in some parts. Picked up some driftwood but not usable in tanks more for display, taxidermy or art piece still nice pieces smallest is 3' and largest over 5'. Ill find some cypress soon im sure its good in tanks long as its old and dead no more leaching. Fun day of riding around looking for plants and wood. Got a source of cypress knees all I want to cut down on private land.