Journal Open for kind suggestions

[PeerUnk]

Hi all, loving the journal threads the most, so maybe it’s nice to share my own stuff. It’s way out of my comfort zone, but hey, learning is all about doing stuff outside it, so here it goes!

People like pictures, so this is my display tank this morning.


Some specs:

• non CO2 injected, using two Eheim 400L/h air pumps to keep the CO2 out of the depletion zone.
• non heated: 17-18 *C during the winter and up to about 26 in the summer.
• Livestock? 15x Tanichthys micagemmae and as janitors 200-300 Neocaridinas and countless snails.
• Using K1 micro as biological filtration in an in-tank DYI PVC circulation device.
• For flow: 3 flow / wave makers, total roughly 7500 L/h. And a big DYI muffled Czech air lift.
• Currently it's somewhere between 1-2 dKH, CO2 fluctuating daily between 1.2 and 2 ppm .
• water changes? every 1 or 2 weeks, 15% (= 75 liters) with RO and 5 liter tap water. The added water gets targeted nutrients: N=2.2 K=4.2 P=0.5 Ca=8.7 Mg=3.9 S=10 Cl=1.5 Na=1. Conductivity is 180 uS/cm (TDS would be 90-120 mg/L?).
• daily added tracemix 0.004 Fe as proxy.
• 2 professional grow tubes (LED 3000K, both 24 watts / 2600 lumen) and a Daytime Onex Color 40 watt, 6400 lumen. This would mean roughly 20-25 lumen/L, or medium light according to Tropica.
• Substrate-wise: 80% inert black gravel (quartz?) 2-4 mm and 20% ADA Amazonia V2 for buffer capacity and earth worm casting as substrate supplement.

Commenting my own tank:

• The water is still a bit hazy/ white cloudy. It's like that for a year now. I didn't use any mechanical filtration for like for 3 years, so this week I did a 24 hour test run with a pre filtered 5 micron cartridge filter, which helped tremendously. My assumption such a low stocked tank might not need it, so not sure to to progress with it.
• I might introduce a new fish species, I like Dario, which likes the temps and are no food competitors for the T. micagemmae. Not sure whether the shrimplets are safe though.
• As a self claimed 'aquatic gardener', I'm trying out some plant options in my layout. The Bolbitis is getting too big at the right wall, blocking the view too much. The back left side is still under consideration. I'm growing Pogostemon deccanensis, Limnophila aquatica and Myriophyllum matagrossense there to see which works best for me. But it might take 6 months to grow them big enough to make any conclusions. And I might swap the Ludwigia 'Mini Super Red' for Ludwigia repens for a bigger V shaped bush in the background.

As a temporary side hobby I'm developing my DIY Tank Monitor, with some devices which currently measure 24/7:

• air pump intake CO2
• CO2 and oxygen of the water via diffusion in a gas pocket (like a drop checker)
• water conductivity
• water temperature
• light intensity
• ambient air temperature and pressure
• humidity and temperature in the hood
• An upgraded pH sensor is in the making and my broken oxygen sensor is being replaced.

Things are slow and steady in my tank, which I like. But it's size (and some other smaller tanks) keeps me busy!

 

[Phish Tank]

Nice looking tank! The DIY tank monitor sounds like a fun project.

 

[PeerUnk]

Nice looking tank! The DIY tank monitor sounds like a fun project.

Thanks! Yeah, it's a very nice project.

To see an actual CO2 trend in the tank and getting to understand how CO2 behaves in and outside my aerated tank really was my goal. Monitoring is mere a tool. Took some hard effort, but learnt a lot getting to this point where I open a webpage and getting this result on the fly:
(Y-axis is removed as calibration was needed, but you get the picture)

I never thought of starting such a project, until on another forum I came across a nice guy which built a CO2 and oxygen monitor. His entire project and code is documented: GitHub - gaborturu/aqua-gas-monitor

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

This is such an awesome tank.

 

[Burr740]

Beautiful! And quite impressive to be non-co2. I laughed one part you said "but itd probably take 6 months to grow.." On one hand I can imagine how nice itd be to know you can look at something for 2-3 weeks and it wouldnt change much (compared to everything hitting the surface and having to redo) And holy smokes is that a coffeefolia street? Lol nice!

Maybe I missed the size but from water change data its about 500 liters right? What are the dimensions? It looks very deep front to back but not very tall, like perfect Dutch size

 

[gjcarew]

Lol wtf

How does one control the size of anubias to the point you can turn it into a street? I imagine you must've been working on this for years

 

[PeerUnk]

Thanks you all

I laughed one part you said "but itd probably take 6 months to grow.." On one hand I can imagine how nice itd be to know you can look at something for 2-3 weeks and it wouldnt change much (compared to everything hitting the surface and having to redo)

True that. As I've done a couple of years of high tech, it was too time and effort consuming. But another con for me was the short timeframe the scape looks like just the way I wanted it to be. Nowadays I can enjoy my tank for long period, but yes, growing in a new plant really takes time.... Can't have it all!

And holy smokes is that a coffeefolia street?

How does one control the size of anubias to the point you can turn it into a street? I imagine you must've been working on this for years

Not sure what this Anubias kind is, but yes, it took years. But again, trimming the street is become super easy!

Maybe I missed the size but from water change data its about 500 liters right? What are the dimensions? It looks very deep front to back but not very tall, like perfect Dutch size

I estimate the tank net 540 liters (140 gallons US) . It's a custom built tank from 2008 with outer dimensions are 160cm (64'') wide, 80 cm (32'') front to back and 50 cm (20'') bottom to the internal braces. The water column is 40 cm high, so yeah, more optical depth to work with. But the mid back is hard to reach though.

Cheers.

 

[OmidNiav]

I like your tank and I like all the tech you have built into it! The plant used for the street reminds me of piptospatha ridleyi but it looks like you know it is an anubias. Also something I noticed (that I'm guilty of doing as well) is that your curtains on far left and right are very prominent and have reduced your tank to one half of its actual potential. Not saying it is bad but everything is compressed in the mid section.

Pretty nice for a non-co2 tank.

Omid

 

[PeerUnk]

I like your tank and I like all the tech you have built into it! The plant used for the street reminds me of piptospatha ridleyi but it looks like you know it is an anubias. Also something I noticed (that I'm guilty of doing as well) is that your curtains on far left and right are very prominent and have reduced your tank to one half of its actual potential. Not saying it is bad but everything is compressed in the mid section.

Pretty nice for a non-co2 tank.

Thanks for the compliment.
Never heard of Piptiospatha, nice of you to mention its existence. I’m aware the bolbitis is getting too large in my tank, the leaves are getting 20-30 cm easy. On the right I’m thinking about a somewhat smaller Microsorum. But on the left the Bolbitis is covering up a mesh with the K1 micro filter, a big airlift and a LEGO meets filterfoam shrimplet refugee. And covering up 80x50 mesh with a different species will be a challenge. I might try to get my hands on Bolbitis Heudelotti Mini, and take a couple of years for the transition….
Cheers.