26G High tech tank

[morrom]

Howdy Guys,

New to the hobby started out with a 10 gallon planted (still going strong) I have moved on a little....

Tank specs.
Tank: 26G Starfire glass show tank 24"X16"X16".
Filter: Ehime Classic 2215, with lily pipes for the in and out takes.
Heater: ETH In-Line Heater 200W
UV Filter: Turbo-Twist U.V. Sterilizer 9W In-line.
CO2: 10LB Cylinder, dual gauge reg with needle valve and solenoid. Glass bubble counter, and glass ceramic diffuser. Glass Drop check.
Lighting: Two Hagen Duel buld T5ho 24" 24 Wats . Total wattage 96wats.
Stand: Custom, with aluminum top.

I think that is every thing pics to follow, I have been taking weekly updates every week with the water change to show the progress.

Trevor

[charlie]

Hi Trevor , nice set up from that list it shows you have  planned on keeping as much as possible out of your display, looking forward to seeing the pictures on a larger viewing format, this should be a very impressive display when fully matured.
Regards

[fischkopp]

Looking forward to see some pics. 

What substrate are you using?

[charlie]

Looking forward to see some pics. 

What substrate are you using?

Hey Robert, from chatting with Trevor, he said it was the same substrate we saw @Aquainspiration
Regards

[Toss]

Yes, can't wait to see the pics

[morrom]

O sorry for got to include the substrate... Charlie is correct Its the substrate from Aquainspiration.
Netlea brown substrate, so fare the plants are loving it the dwarf hair grass grows out of control!
I will post some pics soon.

Trevor

[morrom]

Hey guys,

Pics as promised, they have been taken every Saturday with the water change from the initial set up until this Saturday past.
As you can see I have run into so Algae issues and I am on the the road to recovery I hope...
Some of the plants will be removed later, let me know what you think.

Trevor

[Toss]

I think the tiger lotus needs to go. It will over grown your tank when it settled. If you can move the defuser behind the tree and run the CO2 tubing from left corner, under the substrate and to defuser, it will looks cleaner. The return from the filter will also mix the CO2 bubbles. If you can get a hold of some HC and remove most of the dwarft hair grass (leave some around the tree), your tank will looks much bigger.

[Fishnut]

What a great looking tank! That algae is a bit of a joy kill though.  What kind is it?  Stuck to the wall or free floating green soup?

[morrom]

Thanks for the good idea Toss, I will have to use a few of them 

Thank you for the complements Fishnut. The Algae is a major kill joy... I had a out break of dust algea which I have already dealt with, now its the pea soup effect... I have a UV filter on the way, it should take care of the that problem in a few days If not I will do a 3 day black out...

[dan2x38]

Very nice love that tree. I did one with moss but boys oh boys what a pain to maintain. Be cool when it grows in. You will have less issues when you get more plant growth. Always enjoy the photos from start of a setup and on wards... keep em' coning.

[charlie]

Hi Trevor, apart from the other stuff like reducing light intensity, cycle, fast growers as nutrient sponges( temporary) as discussed, you can also try laying off the water changes for a bit since you are not dosing anything now, reason is with every water change & DE-chlorinator -will release free ammonia  which will further enhance the green water/pea soup.
If you decide to go the route Toss suggested with the Hairgrass/HC combo, it might be worthwhile to use some form of separator /divider between the two, since ( as you know ) hairgrass tends to grow amock & will take over the HC.
Love the tank especially the dimensions, i know of one other person apart from myself who was drooling @ that tank when we first saw it on a whirlwind trip to the store .
Regards

[fischkopp]

Very nice start! Try to fill some plant into the background (corners) to create more dept. Ludwigia arcuata for example has nice leaf structure and adds a tint of brownish red.

you can also try laying off the water changes for a bit since you are not dosing anything now

On a small tank like yours I would go the total opposite, provided you have a little time and don't mind extremes. Do 100% water changes every day or every other day and reduce it to a 100% at least once a week. Stick and adjust the dosing during this time, since you reset it anyway. By doing these water changes you have more control about the nutrients in the water, especially their ratio between each other. I have good success with this strategy.

Love the tank especially the dimensions, i know of one other person apart from myself who was drooling @ that tank when we first saw it on a whirlwind trip to the store .

Hehe, rumour has it that there will be for sure another trip later this year .. 

[charlie]

On a small tank like yours I would go the total opposite, provided you have a little time and don't mind extremes. Do 100% water changes every day or every other day and reduce it to a 100% at least once a week. Stick and adjust the dosing during this time, since you reset it anyway. By doing these water changes you have more control about the nutrients in the water, especially their ratio between each other. I have good success with this strategy.

I tend to differ from that strategy when dealing with green water/pea soup, temporally ceasing water changes approach is based on the following
(1)Green water is notably caused by the presence of Ammonia & High light
(2) when we do water changes & add dechlorinantor it breaks the bond in chloramine( Ottawa city water) which releases ammonia , this ammonia will further feed the exsisting green water condition.
(3) the tank already is providing the recipe for green water via 96 watts of T5 HO lights & not yet totally cycled, hence my suggestion of reducing light intensity for a bit until it is under control, UV will definitely help but with those present conditions still available & further enhanced by large WC, you run the risk of creating a cycle of Green water syndrome.
Just a thought

[fischkopp]

Those are for sure good points and I agree with all of them. Didn't mean to argue my friend.
Take my approach more as a long term way to keep things in control. 

[charlie]

Those are for sure good points and I agree with all of them. Didn't mean to argue my friend.
Take my approach more as a long term way to keep things in control. 

Hey Robert, did not interpet your suggestion as an argument , it`s just the way you partly quoted me & replied can lead to some misinterpretation, in fact i support your approach for general control but it`s probably not best applied to this specific tank/GW issue @ this time 

[charlie]

Hey Robert, did not interpet your suggestion as an argument , it`s just the way you partly quoted me & replied can lead to some misinterpetation, in fact i support your approach for general control but it`s probably not best applied to this specific tank/GW issue @ this time 

[morrom]

Hey guys,
Thank you for all for the kind words and advice it is appreciated  .
Yes I wanted to add some plants into the back ground to add to the depth of the tank, I felt the same as you when looking at it. I have some Riccia fluitans balls (thanks Charlie ) in my 12G tank which I am growing to place in the tank, once I get the algae under control. I am hoping to use them to get a bush effect, I am not 100% on the idea but willing to give it a try. There is also some utriclaria graminifolia (staying), and Blyxa J ( most likely wont be staying) in the tank. Its hard to see when I put it in there it totally melted but both have made a solid come back. Hoping to use the utriclaria for some verity in the grass to make it look more like a meadow. As for the HC I have a little in my 12G (I cant help my self I love the plants and needs them!) I just picked them up for La Niche on the weekend. Both lotus will for sure be coming out of the tank and will be going into the 12G work horse!
Any other plant suggestions keep them coming! I want to keep the tank very simple a little verity never hurts
I have backed the light off, by turning one of the light strips off. Would it be better to that, or just reduce the over all light cycle IE reduce the light from 10 to 8 hrs...
As for doing large water changes I am ok with that. After my battle with dust algae letting it sit then doing a large WC that problem has seemed to fix it self.
I also did a water test last night, Nitrates 0.0, nitrites 0.0, and ammonia 0.0. But the algae problem was there before the tank got to this point so... Time to deal with that.

Trevor

[magnosis]

That tank & all the hi-tech setup is worthy of dreams !  I'm so jealous 

Bravo for the aquascape, very nicely put together.  I'm curious to see how it's turned out by now (without the algae) keep the pictures coming !

Now, you say you are new to the hobby, uh ? wow.. I'm impressed.  I want to see what you will be putting together in a few years from now, I bet we'll see you entries in the AGA contests and such   

Godspeed !

[magnosis]

May I ask where such a tank can be acquired locally ?

I looks so nice, mine suddenly look quite lame in comparison.

Argh ! See what you've done now ?  My standards just went up a notch, again ! ahaha just kidding.  Though wallet will surely suffer in the next few weeks 


mts, mts, mts... always comes back to haunt us ! 

[morrom]

I know how you feel my wallet felt the burn of this set up let me tell you, but in the end I am super happy with the tank.
I got almost all my stuff from a store in Toronto, these guys are awesome have a great store and carry a lot of awesome products Just follow the link below!
http://www.aquainspiration.com/

Tank update pics are coming got the uv filter set up this weekend, that thing works like a charm!

PS: I will be making my way out that way on and off over the summer, so I might be able to save you the trouble of getting out there PM me.

[morrom]

Quick up date, Had to pull the tree put the branches keep falling off  . Any one have suggestions on how to keep them in place glue (2 part epoxy) dosnt seem to work.
This pic is about 8 weeks along.

[magnosis]

Tie-wraps or stainless screws. Put a bit of moss around it, it will be covered in no time and no one will ever know it's there ;-)

[morrom]

Another up date,
After a hellish fight with Rhizcolonium I was finally successful! I turned up the CO2 shortened the light cycle and start dosing Excel and it started to disappear. I am in the process of WC's to remove the dead algae, in the pic you can see some in the bottom left corner of the tank that brownish area.
The tank is starting to come together, as you can see it is in need of a trim again... . I have ordered my moss and i am going to put the tree back in, in a few weeks.
I will also start dosing the tank next week, going to start really light and go from there.