DIY solenoid fix

Put my regulator and solenoid back together after the silicone cured and it worked like a charm.  My CO2 is back in action controlling from a pH  of 7.2 (measurement after two days of no CO2 injection) to 6.7.

I’ve also changed around the drainage setup to quiet things down and provide full return pump output.  Previously, I had only been draining without a siphon.  My intention was to startup without a siphon drain until I got comfortable a siphon setup.  Wanted to make sure 100% that during a power failure I wouldn’t dump the tank on the floor.  I also realized a setup without siphon was going to be far too loud and I couldn’t maximize the flow from the return pump.  The problem was that I needed to provide a setup to break the siphon in the event of a power failure.  After seeing the Beananimal (sp?) design I decided that capping my ABS drain setup at the high points (http://canaquaticgardens.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/drain-system-plumbing-dry-fit/) and installing tubing into the tops of the cap I could setup a drain under siphon and the other drain as overflow with the capability to emergency siphon should the tank level get too high.  Here’s a couple shots of the new drainage, first the siphon drain:

Siphon Drain

and the overflow/emergency siphon:

Overflow/Emergency Siphon

The guards are DIY made out of plant pots I got when I bought some of the plants for the tank.  I tested what I figured were the full range of failure conditions and the tank/sump  never flooded.  I hoped I was in good shape and this is how the tank is setup today.

A couple notes on the plant care.  I’ve been dosing every other day 3/4 of EI amounts of Plantex CSM+B, K and P.  On the other days I’ve been changing 5% of the water, so roughly 15% per week.  Prior to starting dosing I took one of the lights of for 6hrs, significantly reducing the total light to the tank.  Now, about a week after dosing GSA growth is very low to none, diatom algae is very low and still receeding but hair algae has started in a couple spots.  So I figured I have a nutrient imbalance, and potentially a surplus from low lighting.  So, I turned the light on that I had turned off a week ago and will continue the EI dosing.  My current lighting setup is 0.7WPG for ~1.5hrs, 2WPG ~ 2hrs and  1.25WPG for  4.5hrs. Fairly low light, especially considering 3ft deep tank so I figured adding the light back in was the right thing to do.

Another note, since the dosing was started all plants have improved growth except the parva.  I think they have been limited by the lower lighting so adding the light should help with them the most.  I expect the rest of the plants will have a nice spurt as well.

Interestingly, after changing the drainage setup, I had a massive power failure at the host today.   Out for 10hrs followed by 1 hour on and then 2 hrs off again.  The setup held up perfectly.  The only deficiency is that after a power blip, the sump pump will pump out about 15G of water and the return chamber in the sump will go to low level.  The return pump will be pushing a bunch of air until you put more water back into the tank.  Considering that a power blip is likely to be followed by power failures, I’m OK with this being the worst thing that can happen.  I would much rather buy a new pump than a new hardwood floor.  During the downtime, the tank dropped about 6 degrees which is probably going to stress the fish a bit.

Since the last update I’ve added some new fish.  They aren’t visible in this shot but I’ve added 6 albino corys, 3 bristlenose pleco, 2 clown pleco and 30 cardinal tetras.  I’ve lost my albino bushynose pleco and an oto since the last time I updated this.  The cardinal tetras have gone in the have been hiding in the back in the plants.  They are eating but not much.  The seem to be getting a bit braver and venturing to the front for food today though.  Here’s the tank today:

Tank Update Jan 12

Update Jan 1

Been playing with my camera.  Finally spending the time to learn how to use it beyond point and shoot.  This shot seems a bit underexposed still so probably will need to adjust some settings but it’s definitely an improvement from before.  Quick update on the tank, the wendtii ‘bronze’ is starting to grow back after completely melting.  The cordata is basically still all melted.  2 plants have started to just shoot out of the ground but just barely.  The balansae, ponderfolia and apongenton in the back has been growing well the last couple weeks.  It’s fully recovered.  The anubias and parva have signs of growth but very slow as you would expect.

I’ve lost 3 panda corys and 2 otos.  I’ve seen all the plecos except one clown pleco but no body so I think both clowns are still alive.  About another dozen ghost shrimp have bit the dust so I figure there is about 75-85 left.

I’ve adjusted the drainage setup to eliminate some noise.  I’ll have a post on the new setup sometime soon.  I’m also looking at a new return pump.  The Quiet One 9000 I have is not so quiet.  I’m looking at the Reeflo Snapper Gold to replace it but am still considering options.  Any suggestions for quiet return pumps around 2000GPH?

Full Tank Shot Dec 18

The floaters are some lobelia cardinalas that I bought but decided not to plant.  Was a whim buy and after looking it up I shouldn’t have gotten it.  I don’t think its the small form.  I’m going to just let it float for a while to see if it survives but I don’t think I want it in the tank based on what I’ve read about it.

Here’s the view I have from my desk.

Angle shot Dec 18

A photo of the right foreground which will eventually be a parva lawn.  The 2nd round of parva are almost fully grown.  Compared to the parva I planted on the left side these ones look fully grown.

Crypt parva lawn

It will be interesting to see which side fills in more quickly.  The left side is planted more densely but the plants are very small where the right side is fully grown but not planted as thick.

This is all that was left of a 12-14 large crypt wendtii ‘red’ (as well as some diatom algae from starting up) and all that’s left of about the same number of crypt cordata

Melted wendtii 'red'

With the tank fully planted and some of the plants having about a month in the tank I figured it was pretty safe to start introducing fish.  I previously had bought 6 otos to keep the startup algae at bay and they all died.  It’s likely that the tank wasn’t entirely cycled and some other stress reactions all worked against them.  I jumped the gun a bit on getting them, maybe I was too paranoid about a bit algae infested startup.

The last time I started up a bigger planted tank I didn’t introduce any of the “show” fish until after the cleaning crew had been in for a few weeks.  I plan on doing the same thing this time.  I’ll build up the cleaning staff over the next couple weeks and then will get the rest of the fish in.

So far, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve found in stock at the fish stores around town.  Introduced into the tank this weekend were:

6 otos, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 2 clown plecos, 2 rubbernose plecos, 9 panda corys and 120 ghost shrimp.  Here’s a few shots of some of the new tenants:

Albino bristlenose pleco

Rubbernose pleco

Rubbernose pleco

Clown pleco

Ghost shrimp

Panda corys

After the first day I haven’t seen the clown plecos around.  It also looks like one of the rubbernose plecos has some ich.  Hopefully it’s alright and doesn’t spread to the other fish.  Also, about a dozen of the ghost shrimp have bitten the dust.  Fairly expected considering I bought 10 dozen.  After the first day I haven’t seen any more carcasses lying in the gravel so I think the rest have acclimated well. It’s pretty cool to say about 100 ghost shrimp cruising around and doing their thing.  Makes the tank seem very active with almost no fish in it at all.  They are constantly eating something and it’s noticeable that they are cleaning things up after only a couple days.

As far as the tank setup goes I’m pretty much finished.  I have a couple small odds and ends to complete and then build the cabinet to finish it off.  That will be the last major job and then the only work left will be maintenance.  Not all the way there yet but it’s feeling much closer than it did 2 months ago.  There will be one more planting left for the tank, I just need to find the right species.  I need to get some anubias nana var petite it pretty large quantity to fill in the two sections of the driftwood (mostly on the left side) and I’d like a mid sized anubias strain for the left side as well.  I’m going to try and order some of them through another LFS and see how it goes.  Right now it’s just wait for the crypts to come back and the ferns and anubias to starting spreading out.

With the CO2 in the next step was getting the sump sealed up.  I had a bunch of acrylic lying around from some other old projects that I could use to create a cover over the open areas.  With some cutting here and there I fit it around the plumbing.  I used Tuck Tape to seal the edges of the acrylic sheets and around all the stuff going in and out of the sump so that it is generally air tight.  Not 100% but pretty close.  I put a small piece into the pump section of the sump so that I can break that seal and get at the pumps without having to take apart major sections of the cover.  Is working well so far.  Drop checker is nice and green and the couple of otos in the tank aren’t gasping.  Here’s a photo of the sump all sealed up.

Sump after sealing with acrylic and tuck tape

Another small thing that I had been planning was a self priming vacuum that I could connect to the filter system.  This way I could clean the tank without any buckets and then would only have to clean out the filter, just like you would normally have to do.  Here’ s the apparatus I came up with.  It’s just a standard vacuum with an old Fluval ball valve hooked up to it.  It’s connected to a ABS cap that I can put on the drain system to self prime.  Unfortunately, in practice it’s much harder to use than I thought and I ended up putting a couple gallons of water on the floor….twice.  I think I’m going to stick with the buckets for now, but it works as intended.  Notice the scaffold in the picture doubles as a nice work station.

Self priming vacuum

Onto the second planting session now.  I got some new crpyts from the LFS; some more wendtii green to fill out some spots, some larger wendtii red I think, 3 more pots of parva (20 more are on the way) and the rest are left overs that I didn’t get in on the first planting or have become unrooted and need to be replanted.  Here’s the lineup going into the tank this time.

2nd round of plants to go in

A few hours later and we’re ready to refill the tank again.

2nd planting finished

and about another hour later, the tank totally filled.

Tank filled and ready to go again

All the anubias and java ferns are attached to the driftwood using Loctite Super Glue gel.  Works pretty well as long as the surfaces are not soaking wet.  Hold the plant in place for about 15-20s and it will hold no problem .  The open area on the front right will be filled with parva to finish out the “lawn”.  The open area on the left side will be filled up with more crypts and the wood will have some needle leaf java ferns, windelov java ferns and anubias nana petite going in.  I think I have another species or two to come too but can’t remember exactly which ones now.

I realized now the design flaw of not having access to hot water at the tank.  You can’t do a total water change without putting major stress on the fish.  I lost a number of otos because of it on this round.  I’ll never be able to do a full drain and water replacement without bucketing in some piping hot water to keep the temperature at least reasonable.  I finished this up at 3am and there was no way I was bucketing in the hot water so I lost a couple of the otos I had in there for algae control.

Here’s the tank 3 days later.

3 days after 2nd planting

Nothing really interesting to report since everything is slow growing in here.  Lots of crypts melting off obviously, but have seen some small growth.  Even have some plants pearling already which is a good sign.  No algae to be seen yet either which I’m really happy about.  The good CO2 is probably the key here.  Based on some forum advice and personal experience I am only running 2 of the 3 lights for about 5hrs a day.  When I’ve got all the plants in I’ll introduce the 3rd light but it will only be on for about 1.5-2hrs a day for a good burst.  Otherwise I’ll keep the light cycle around 5-6 hours total until the plants are fully established and algae, if any, is under control.

Here’s some of the pearling after about 3 hours of lights on.

Java fern pearling

Anubias pearling

On Friday I’m supposed to have the last shipment of the plants in.  Will be getting them in over the weekend sometime and will have another update then.  After that it will be getting fish in there and then, hopefully, watching everything sprout.

Scaffolding

I cleaned out most of the crypts at the best LFS in town.  There are a bunch of ones in here:  anubias bartera, java fern (normal), crypt parva, crypt poderfolia, crypt wendtii (red and green), crypt retrospiralis, crypt balansae, crypt abilda and apongeton crispus.  A few of the crypts aren’t in the greatest shape but they were reasonably priced so I figured I would give them a shot.  Before putting them in the tank I soaked them in a very, very mild peroxide and water solution to try and at least hurt some of the algae that may be on them.  Here’s the plants before going in the tank:

Plants soaking in water and peroxide solution

Planting a 3 feet deep tank while you are standing 3 feet in the air is not the most comfortable scenario.  Luckily I have 12″ tweezers to help and very long arms.  This is the shot during my first break to give my back a rest:

Parva and balansae planted

I had to finish up the planting before I got everything in.  I ran out of super glue for attaching the ferns and anubias so there are a few of them that still need to go in.  Here’s a bunch of shots of different areas:

Full tank shot after planting

The start of the parva lawn, about 1/4 of the way there after planting 10 pots worth:

Parva lawn started

Balansae and ponderfolia sections:

Balansae and ponderfolia sections

Apongeton crispus and more balansae

Apongeton and balansae

More balansae, retrospiralis and abilda.  The retrospiralis and abilda are on light support a bit so you can’t see them very well.

Balanse, retrospiralis and abilda

A section of wendtii green:

Wendtii green

and after refilling the tank:

Left side shot

Center shot

Right side shot

After this planting session and getting the tank refilled I was hurting.  Sore back and tired but worth it.  The green really pops against the wood and brown soil and dark background.    After a night of planting I would have to say that the Netlea substrate is very nice to work with.  It is easy to plant in, doesn’t make a big mess when disturbed.  Areas that were underwater were an absolute breeze to plant in.  All the planting that is shown was finished in about an hour and a half.  Once you get the hang of using 12″ tweezers they are an absolute necessity for planting in a tank this deep.  Overall I’m very happy with the progress.  Lots of plants left to go but a good start.  I figure this will be about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total plant biomass that I’ll plant in here.  The general theme will be the same though.  Slow growers, crpyts, anubias, ferns etc.  Don’t want a high maintenance tank.  I feel like I may go with one select stem species behind the anubias barteri but I will have to wait until I can get some shipped in the spring time for that.  The Canadian winters aren’t to friendly to plant shipments.

Bulkhead fixed up

To get the bulkhead fixed and get at the other leaks the original plumbing had to have some pieces cut out and new fittings put in.  Here’s the right side of the tank before installing the new fittings.

Plumbing before fix installed

Left side plumbing before being fixed

and the new setup:

Plumbing fixed

finally holding water with no leaks:

First successful fill-up

This photo shows the tap for filling the tank and all the lights installed:

Full setup

and the nightlight shot:

Night light

I added the filter media today to get ready to cycle everything.  There is a 3″ layer of foam on the left and 56 pot scrubbies with some java rock on them to hold them down.  I’ll add some polishing fill when I get the tank filled again and sump running.

Filter media

I also got my substrate today.  14 bags of Netlea brown.  Looks really good.  It’s a nice grain size, and looks pretty good in the cloudy water so far.

Netlea brown substrate

Before I put the substrate in I had to touch up the manzanita arrangement.  Got some rocks under it to tilt it in the right direction, moved a few branches around and also added some rocks where I want to add some depth to the layout.  Here’s the final layout of the tank before adding the substrate:

Final tank layout

Angled shot

Left side view

Right side view

Obviously the giant ugly rock in the arrangement won’t stay.  It’s there to make sure the wood doesn’t float up on me and ruin the layout.

I’ve got the substrate in and am filling the tank up as I write this.  Here’s a shot from a few minutes ago.

Hopefully the last fill-up

Just have to get my heater ordered and my CO2 canister filled up now and the tank will be fully ready to go. The substrate scaping is going to have to wait until the tank clears up.

Modified impeller

Here’s a few photos of the finished plumbing setup.  Right now I’m two crimp rings short of being able to fire the tank up.  The water supply from the house system is piped in with pex and there is a termination end with an irrigation manifold for adding drippers.  The drippers aren’t installed yet.  Here’s the tap and drip supply:

Tap water supply

There is also a tap at the top of the tank for directly filling there.

Tank fillup

The return plumbing, UV tube and sump pump plumbing is pictured here.  The sump pump is hooked up to the house drain with a float switch for hopefully automatic water changes.  Also pictured is the Milwaukee CO2 controller.

More plumbing

CO2 controller

I also got the first of 3 T5HO light fixtures installed.  Each fixture has two 80W bulbs installed.  The bulbs are Giesmann 4x Midday and 2x Aquaflora.  Total of 480W might be a bit much so I think I will start with mounting them as far from the tank as possible.  Each light will be run independently on timers with I think only about an hour per day will all 3 fixtures on.  The majority of the time I think I will run only 2 fixtures.  I will try and run something similar to a daylight cycle where only 1 light will be on to start and end a day and two on for a few hours.  All 3 on to simulate high noon.

First light fixture installed

The lights are held on with PVC coated aircraft cable hanging from brass hooks.  I’m going to add some hooks to be able to lower light easily but for now high up is all I need.

Lighting hangers

Tomorrow I’ll finish of the pex water supply and we’ll hopefully be able to have our first test run.  Crossing my fingers there are no leaks.

Left side drain

Right side drains

The next step was to turn my old 70G tank into the filter. I’m doing a sump setup underneath the stand. The design is based on a bunch of nice saltwater sumps I’ve seen on the internet. I chose Lexan for the dividers. Glass would’ve been better but Lexan was easier to get and wasn’t overly expensive. It took a little bit to figure out how best to cut it. There are a few chips out of some of the dividers that hopefully will be filled with silicone. You’ll see I didn’t spare any silicone when I installed the dividers. Before I installed each divider I sanded the surface that was going to be siliconed to the glass. Hopefully the extra surface area will make a strong enough bond to stand up to the flows in the sump. Here’s the photos of the transformation of the 70G tank to the sump:

The concept....not exactly what we ended with though

This is the previous life for the filter...what a jungle

Back to basics

Lexan with sanded edges

Installing dividers

Sump finished

Beautiful silicone job!

Return pump mounts

The pump mounts have some rubber grommets siliconed in below the screw heads. There will be 2 more rubber gromets sandwiching each pump mount with stainless washers and nuts to keep everything together and vibrating without hitting the glass.

With everything installed here we are:

Not the cleanest filter

Drainage into the sump

Overall the filter has 5 distinct features. A submerged return pump, a bubble trap before the return pump. 2 sections of bio filtration, sump pump with float switch connected to the house drain and a 15G or so refugium. The sump pump still needs to be installed but the plumbing is all in place.. The refugium will initially be used for keeping isolation from new fish while getting them exposed to tank conditions. After that I’ll use it to grow some plants.

The next part of the project is the plumbing for the return system. I have some check valves on order that I need to get that finished. There will be 3 of them for redundancy since check valves aren’t as reliable as an above water siphon break. I decided to give up on doing a siphon break and spend some extra money on heavy duty check valves. The return system will include a 3″ PVC CO2 reactor with injection via pressurized CO2 and regulator.

Here’s how everything looks together right now:

Nov 9 Tank Update