Social Feed

Hello everybody im new here and wanted to introduce my tank,

The tank is a 350 liter Juwel rio (120x50x60)
Pretty high tank but wanted to have 50 cm wide

Lights: 3 daytime onex (1x plant 2x colour)
Good for 180 par at the bottom, 1.5 hour build up/5 hours full and 1.5 hour build off

Co2 by Inline with a co2art series pro dual stage regulator dropping 1.4 in ph

Filtration: 2 external filters (1x crystal profi 900, 1x tetra ex 1500 on a spraybar) and a eheim skim 350

Substrate: mastersoil black powder with masterline root tabs

Fertilizer: apt e

Fish: cherry barbels, siamese algae eaters, kuhli, ottociclus and some bloody mary shrimps

Plants: rotala macandra, anubias tinto, reineckii mini, reineckki rosenarvig, rotala blood red, ludwigia repens super red, bacopa carolinia, lobelia cardinalis, crypto flamingo, crypto rosen maiden, staurogene repens, spiralus tiger, ludwigia inclinata meta, samolus parvifloris red.
Might have forgotten something

Currently battling algae and unhappy plants due to nutrient inbalances and a no3 tester that was not correct.

Under a pic of the current state and the state it was a little better in balance (not as it should tho)

Is there a magic number of fert to give after a what change? Is it 3x the amount that I give during any day of the week?
Example: I give 1ml every day then after a 50% water change should I give 3x (so 3ml?)

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!

This is the future home for the announcements when someone obtains an achievement badge. Let the games begin!

Added 4 red fire cherry shrimps recently and I saw them for few days but now haven’t seen them for more than a week. Should I assume they are dead? Have checked the skimmer and don’t see them.

Since the tanks have been in such a state of disarray, I’ve been focusing on moving everything to emersed until life sorts itself out.

How I transition from submersed to emersed depends on the growth form of the plant.

Plants that are primarily basal form (not stems) go in square nursery pots with one of two substrates. First choice is long fiber sphagnum (dried and then rehydrated) topped with aquasoil, straight aquasoil, or a mix of peat moss/perlite/coco coir/aquasoil. The sphagnum wicks better than aquasoil. Alternatively, I use straight aquasoil, I line the bottom of the pots with a coffee filter to keep the substrate from falling through. Both work equally well. The bin needs to be filled with a little more water than if dried sphagnum is used which is why the first method is preferable.

The nursery pots are kept in a clear plastic container. Sterilite are the typical go-to, but I actually prefer the tall clear shoe boxes from Walmart. They have built in ventilation holes which is handy because I need to drill holes in the sides of any other container near the lid rim. Ventilation is key.

The shoe boxes are cheap too. I fill the bins as much as possible but a little leftover space is okay.

After filling the bins with pots, I fill all the voids with live sphagnum and fill with enough distilled water to saturate the sphagnum. The sphagnum has antimicrobial properties (so I’ve read, and it seems to check out in practice). This keeps the water from developing algae almost entirely. I dress the tops with live sphagnum too if something needs a little help rooting. Depending on the space, I throw rhizome plants right into the sphagnum as well. They develop excellent root systems and are very easily removed and cleaned when needed compared to conventional soil.

I fertilize everything with a foliar spray of Maxsea 16-16-16 diluted to 1 teaspoon per gallon. It’s a kelp based fertilizer with micronutrients. I highly recommend it.












I’ll follow up with emersed stem plant propogation and other methods for the full greenhouse.

Tank: Waterbox 20 AIO
Return pump: AI Axis 40
Lighting: (2) AI Blade Fresh 12”
Dosing pump: Ecotech Marine
CO2 injected

The purpose of this tank is to maintain a healthy planted tank for at least 1 year. There is a stipulation that I must be able to do this using my tap water for water changes.

Hello All! I saw GreggZ post about this website on one of the Facebook groups and figured I'd come start a journal over here and join the conversation.

Specs

• Dimensions: W24 x D18 x H18 (in)
• Eheim Pro Ultra G90 w/surface skimming intake
• Pressurized CO2 via inline diffuser
• 6 x 24W T5Ho
• 3 mm river gravel

This tank has been set up since 2015 and has gone through many iterations. I briefly tore it down in 2020 in anticipation of completing a 125 gallon build I had been working on. Here is a photo of the tank not long before I tore it down.



Ultimately, I resurrected it when progress on the 125 stalled due to the pandemic and responsibilities at home. Since that time, the tank has essentially been existing in the background as a low tech set up without much thought given to it: sponge filter, in-tank ceramic diffuser, osmocote balls, little no water column dosing, unscaped.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I now have enough time to be engaged in the hobby again and ramp this tank back up. I started preparing for this over this past summer by making some modifications to the build. I wanted a glass lid to limit evaporation and keep fish from jumping. I re-purposed the douglas fir from the enclosure pictured above and used it to make a lid with openings for the filter inflow and outflow and a lip to hold a sheet of glass. I am very happy with the way it turned out.





I also made some changes underneath the tank. I took a piece of white oak plywood Ieft over from the 125 build and installed a panel to hold electronic equipment. The open space on the electronics wall is where I plan to put a controller. I purchased a GHL ProfiLux Mini Wifi for the 125 that has been sitting in the box, so figured why not put it on this tank in the meantime. I also installed a proper mount to hold the CO2 cylinder upright and secure.



For aesthetics and to keep the kids out, I made some panels to hide the equipment under the stand. I would have loved to have used douglas fir for this, but couldn't justify spending a couple hundred dollars to buy a sheet when I still had extra white oak plywood leftover from the 125 build. My wife doesn't care for the two-tone look, but I don't mind it too much.



There isn't much to show in terms of the actual tank yet. Most of the plants are still growing out or converting over from emersed form, so I'll save tank shots for a later date. The plants I currently have in the tank are Dutch staples:

• vallisneria
• hygrophila difformis
• green myrio
• crypt wendtii tropica
• bacopa caroliniana
• red tiger lotus
• ludwigia ovalis
• cardamine lyrata
• java fern mini trident
• mini christmas moss
• fissidens fontanus

The goals for this tank are:

1. Dutch it up!
2. Save time where I can. For now I'm buying premade ferts and mix for reconstituting RODI water and keeping light around medium intensity to make plant growth more manageable.

Inspiration, Goals, & Considerations

I've had an interest in aquariums since a young age and had my own aquarium with fish like Angelfish and Mollies around middle school. Growing up, my dad had a bigger tank with Blood Parrots and Silver Dollars. Over 10 years ago, I had a low maintenance 55 gallon planted tank. I was pretty proud of it, but always envied the high tech tanks I saw on forums/social media and told myself when I broke that tank down that the next time I set up a tank, it would be like what I envied. At the end of 2024, I set up a small low tech 5 gallon planted tank to help scratch my aquarium itch, which really only reaccelerated my desire for setting up a high tech tank. And now, here we are!

The size of the tank was mostly dictated by the space. I originally planned on something around 30 gallons, but my LFS had the UNS 75P in stock and after measuring and discussing with my wife, we agreed it would work for the space. The tank is between the kitchen and living room, which is essentially a play area for my son, so lighting needs to be adjusted to make sure he's not blinded by the light when looking up at the tank.

Generally, I'd like to have a visually pleasing aquarium with lots of fish and plants that's peaceful to enjoy. I'd like to automate / reduce as much friction as possible and I realize there's still plenty I need to learn, so I'll need to have patience when things go wrong. I want to keep away from anything that's hard to get out of the tank once it's in (duckweed, moss, pest snails, etc). I felt like sharing prices below might give value to anyone in the future that's looking to start where I did with a high tech tank.

Specs (prices include sales tax)
Tank:

Lighting:

Filtration:

Co2:

Inflow & Outflow Pipes:

Substrate & Hardscape:

Fertilization:
Battery Backup & Power

Other Misc Equipment:
Chihiros CO2 Drop Checker
5 x Oase ShutOff Valve 16/22
Inkbird WiFi ITC-308 - $38
SwitchBot Leak Detectors - $15 each

"Stand"
Because the guts are located in a kitchen cabinet, I didn't want to screw directly into it and damage it. I was also concerned silicone would not be able to dry and outgas properly when sealing the edges. I opted to line the cabinet with contact paper. It's essentially a giant sticker, so I lined the sides, bottoms, and a second layer over the bottom edges/joints. I built a 3 panel "stand" inside of the cabinet so I could house everything and screw into the plywood without any concerns. I used 1 sheet of 3/4" Maple plywood and coated 1 side with a latex primer followed by a layer of latex white paint. This is mostly for water resistance and not necessarily water proof. I placed a silicone cabinet liner under the right side equipment. I made a shelf to place the EcoFlow on so if there's a catastrophic leak it's off the bottom.

One consideration I hadn't thought about was how "cramped" the cabinet would be since I placed the EcoFlow on a shelf with a "wall", which essentially made the work area much tighter.

Cable Management: Raceway and cable clips
Water
Express Water RO5DX - $160
55 Gallon Brute Trash Can, 44 Gallon Brute Trash Can, 32 Gallon Greenmade Trash Can, and 2x dollys.
Plants (all UNS TC)

• Homalomena Sp Sekadau South (babysitter)
• Hydrocotyle Tripartita (potentially babysitter)
• Alternanthera Reineckii Rosanervig (initially planned as babysitter, but may keep some in long term)
• Hemianthus Callitrichoides 'Cuba'
• Rotala Rotundifolia Blood Red
• Anubias Nana Petite
• Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'
• Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini'
• Echinodorus Rose

Livestock:

Coming soon

• 25x Red Neon Blue Eye Rainbow
• 7x C005 Corydoras pantanalensis
• 3x C123 Yellow Cory 'Rio Nanay'
• Aphyosemion bivittatum 'Funge' Pair
• 5x Stiphodon rutilaureus Goby
• 1x True Siamese Algae Eaters
• 1x Bamboo Shrimp
• 8x Amano Shrimp

Several members of this forum have greatly contributed to testing the concept of Horizontal CO2 Reactor , and I am so happy that collectively we have succeeded to push some true innovation. @Unexpected successfully pioneered the first horizontal reactor on his bigger tank, was kind enough to call it ‘Yugang reactor’ and inspired several followers with that. Also to mention @RickyV who took CO2 injection to a new level with a 1000-gallon system, achieving a 1.0 pH drop in just 38 minutes. Thank you to all who have contributed, and I believe hobbyist will find most answers in the Horizontal CO2 Reactor thread on this forum and hopefully feel that CO2 is easier than it used to be with bubble reactors.

My journey started about 2 years ago, when I was doing some measurements and calculations on my bubble reactor and got to the idea of the CO2 Spray Bar. I built probably 10 versions / prototypes of CO2 Spray Bar, spent many days measuring pH profiles, so that I could share my insights with the community on UKAPS. The horizontal reactor is based on the physics principles of the CO2 Spray Bar, and test results are applicable to both. I was at the time so happy with my CO2 Spray Bar that I gave no priority to building the horizontal reactor and thanks again to @Unexpected for his initiative and courage. I am currently also using the horizontal reactor, but my love and in certain situations preference for CO2 Spray Bar remains.

I discovered this morning that both threads on CO2 Spray Bar and Horizontal CO2 reactor have now been removed by the UKAPS admins. This may have happened in the past few weeks, not sure as I am not a regular UKAPS visitor anymore. These threads represent probably several hundred hours work, aiming to be a lasting and valuable contribution to the hobby, lots of measurement data, comparisons and calculations, and many pages of posts from fellow hobbyists. Even posts in several journals featuring the CO2 Spray Bar or Horizontal Reactor have been deleted or edited by admins. Thumbs up to forum rules, but very few will disagree that these all stand or fall with forum governance and integrity to individual members as well as the community.

While having the Horizontal CO2 Reactor now well documented on this forum, I believe it is a loss for the hobby if we would lose the insights on CO2 Spray Bar. It offers the same performance as the Horizontal CO2 Reactor, can be made for perhaps 5-10 USD and one hour DIY work. When I have more time I may create a new thread on this forum, with similar detail as what was deleted in UKAPS, with various prototypes and measurements. For now I hope it is useful if I just post a quick summary.

The first prototype CO2 Spray Bar, as I was testing late 2021 / early 2022.









The CO2 Spray Bar in the front of the tank, was in my tank barely visible. In my 200 liter tank I used a transparent half pipe, and achieved 1.5 pH drop with very good stability. It is from the experiments with the Spray Bar that I took the 17.7 ratio for the calculation of Horizontal Reactor dimension.

Some forum members pushed back on the idea having anything in the front, so I started experimenting with CO2 Spray Bar in the back of the tank.





I hope the above pictures help to understand the CO2 Spray Bar, and perhaps inspire fellow hobbyists to try it in their tanks. Having a simple half-pipe in a tank is easier than building an inline horizontal CO2 reactor, and may be especially attractive for small tanks.

For any further questions or help, please post below or send me an PM. I may start a more detailed thread when I have a bit more time and/or see there is interest from fellow hobbyists.

Thank you for reading, and thank you to ScapeCrunch for giving us a good home for our hobby.