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Post by fermentedhiker on May 18, 2016 19:13:27 GMT -5
Added the scuds/seed shrimp I got from ebay. Mounted a piece of eggcrate to guard the pump from plant matter. Mounted a clamp lamp over the "fuge" section with a 32watt 2700K CFL.
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Post by fermentedhiker on May 19, 2016 17:43:42 GMT -5
As promised some pictures of questionable quality  The overflow plumbing  1st chamber with a fixed water level housing the drains, heater(soon to be plural), and RDSB(aragonite sand).  2nd chamber which flows from underneath an eggcrate table through reef rubble, with some subwassertang.  3rd chamber for a refugium with some hornwort.  4th chamber(sort of as it's only separated by eggcrate from the fuge, for the return pump(held in place with a couple concrete bricks and padded with a red silicone trivet.  I still need to secure all the cords and setup an ATO. |
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Post by fermentedhiker on May 23, 2016 18:42:20 GMT -5
Cleaned up most of the cables, but they still need work. Added a second 300Watt heater. Added a PH probe for kicks. Mostly I thought it would be nice to see how it fluctuated throughout the day/night. Also added some red root floaters. Hopefully I can keep them from getting sucked into the overflow.
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Post by fermentedhiker on Jun 16, 2016 22:32:57 GMT -5
Cleaned up a used 10 gallon tank I had and an old glass top for it as an ATO reservoir. Used a two float ATO from autotopoff.com and a Tom's aqualifter with a couple of drip acclimation hoses that came with some Bluezooaquatics orders I had awhile ago. I've got to splice on some additional wire to make a third float reach the Apex breakout box as an ATO low water level email alarm.
I've done a couple small water changes and siphoned out some of the bacterial sludge so things are getting better but the water is still way cloudy.
I haven't had any luck tracking down Lake Inle Danios so I'm considering using dwarf praecox rainbows instead.
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Post by fermentedhiker on Jul 21, 2016 20:07:57 GMT -5
Starting to get some hair algae in the DT in spite of the fact that I'm starting to harvest hornwort from the sump. The plants in the DT(amazon sword, crypt wenditii , sag subulata, madagascar lace , glosso, marsilea minuta , dwarf lily, java fern, etc...) seem to be adapting OK.
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Post by spotfin on Jul 22, 2016 18:11:48 GMT -5
Nice!
Got any new pics of the display tank?
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Post by fermentedhiker on Jul 23, 2016 12:32:58 GMT -5
ask and you shall receive.  A good bit of hair algae is growing on the rock pile. I need to pull as much of it out as possible and then I'll probably add another medium sized rock or two. There is still some bacterial scum from the driftwood on the left and rear substrate. It's a bit hard to siphon up. I was hoping the scuds would eat it, but they don't seem to be reproducing well at the moment. On the plus side I've got the float for the ATO dialed in so that the hornwort is constantly rolling instead of laying against the eggcrate guarding the return pump |
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Post by fermentedhiker on Jul 23, 2016 12:36:15 GMT -5
On the downside some sort of filamentous algae has started on the back side of the driftwood. experience has shown me that it can be particularly invasive. I'm a bit surprised at the algae starting this early as I don't have any fish in it at the moment and my light schedule in the DT is 8hours. It must be living off of what's leaching out of the MGOPS still. I guess I'll just have to keep up with the WCs and keep harvesting hornwort.
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Post by spotfin on Jul 24, 2016 15:36:26 GMT -5
Looks nice!
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Post by fermentedhiker on Jul 25, 2016 6:09:28 GMT -5
Thanks. It's coming along albeit slowly. Have a bit of a snail infestation at the moment. Pond snails, those tiny/flat ramshorn, and regular ramshorn. They must have transferred on some of the plants. I guess that means it's time to make a snail guard for the return pump :0 Starting to get some algae forming on the upper layer of the biomedia. The smoked glass keeps the light down on the side of the media but there is a good bit of light spill over the top. I could lower the clamp lamp down to reduce this but then it would get hard to work around it. I've got a trio of olive nerites in the sump and they are keeping the glass clean but not the biomedia. Not sure if it's just a matter of them not keeping up with it or it's a type that they don't care for. I moved the BML light from the center toward the back as that's where most of the plants actually are(along the back wall) and some of them were starting to stretch/lean to reach the light. Still haven't found the lake Inle Danios I was hoping for  Taking a look at some rainbows as substitutes. The short list atm is praecox and yellow(herbertaxelrodi).........decisions decisions |
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Post by fermentedhiker on Aug 24, 2016 18:41:24 GMT -5
replaced the clamp lamp and cfl in the sump with a gooseneck from ebay and a par30 grow light(6red/3blue). Will use less power and have less spill(so less algae on the biomedia) just not sure if the hornwort will appreciate it.  |
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Post by fermentedhiker on Oct 27, 2016 15:37:18 GMT -5
Not happy with the autotopoff.com float brackets. The bouyancy of the float make them want to rise and the nylon screw and the softness of the bracket material itself allow it to bend upward changing the set level(by a lot). Has anyone used these brackets and solved this issue?
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Post by nickidml on Oct 27, 2016 19:43:34 GMT -5
I'm using autotopoff.com's nano dual float with shield. I did not buy their brackets. Instead I made my own by zip tying around the shields to a piece of scrap acrylic and suction cupped the acrylic directly to the glass. Easy to adjust the height exactly where I want it and has stayed put quiet well. I have been pleased with my setup and functionality. My only complaint would be I would have preferred slightly longer cords, but I make it work. Sorry I can't help you with their brackets. My only thought would be could you fashion a suction cup to the bottom of the bracket to hold it in place and stop it from floating up?
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Post by fermentedhiker on Feb 22, 2017 15:05:16 GMT -5
Have never been happy with the water movement in this tank as it was solely the return pump. I added a Jecod cp-25. That thing has a crazy amount of flow. I've got in on it's lowest setting at the moment. I suspect it'll be a big help in removing stagnant spots and keeping the water thoroughly mixed.
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Post by fermentedhiker on Mar 11, 2017 14:51:28 GMT -5
Moved my Abramites over from the 40B I want to break down at some point. I've got to work in getting the dimming working on the lights as they are kind of bright and he just wants to hide until they go off. On the plus side he has all but eliminated the filamentous algae in less than a week. On the down side he's probably going to make it hard to grow many plants(he eats anubias even). Hopefully i can find something that he likes better, maybe cucumber slices etc... that will dull his appetite for my plants.
Was able to pick up some dwarf neon praecox rainbowfish(now I have 11) from Vance's in Bucksport. Almost looking like I might see some more typical behavior from them now that they feel more secure.
While I was there I noticed a large albino rainbow shark the he had in from someones tank tear down. I couldn't resist. He an the Jakes are doing a lot of posturing but no actual contact. Which matches how the male jake was with the Abramites. Hopefully he'll make a good distraction fish so the male is a little less likely to pick on the females.
Oddly enough since adding the extra flow with the CP-25 I'm having a little bit of a green cyano outbreak on the sandbed. The extra flow should make the cyano unhappy not the reverse. It's possible that it's just the lack of competition from the filamentous algae now that the Abramites is eating it all. Time to up my water change schedule and start dosing metricide again.
Now if only the fish would stop moving long enough for me to take a pic............
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Taking a look at some rainbows as substitutes. The short list atm is praecox and yellow(herbertaxelrodi).........decisions decisions
