5x 3w cool white CREE with ripple optics
35-700 driver
bjb solder
aluminum I beam
2 prong plug
extra solid core wire
shrink tube
extension cord
polycarbonate sheet

As on request I'll start a journal of my 400L (almost 100 gallon I believe) planted tank. After coming from Tanganyika cichlids I started this aquarium almost 2 years ago. Faced some serious challenges but think I got it figured out more or less now (mostly learning it the hard way).

Let's start chronological with the first scape. This started out as a planted iwagumi with manacapuru angelfish in it. The rocks were not made for a planted tank and my KH was sky high although I did 50% waterchanges 2 times a week with pure R/O water:


Growth:


After this algae strikes and the rocks were replaced with wood:

Some detail pics:
Glass lily pipes (after two broken inlets I replaced them with custom made stainless steel):

Young angelfish, the heavy feeding to raise them up nice was also a factor in the algae growth:

Hello,

I went to Interzoo on thursday 17th of May. Here is a picture album with 275 pics (to much to upload here).

I also made a video, showcasing the Vortech MPxx pumps, the new GHL led lightning and other stuff i found on the fair.

YouTube Video

Freshwater



































































































































Oliver knott









































Tropica





































Juwel















Eheim















ADA Germany

Luis Navarro came up to present at the DFWAPC for May 2012. Here are some pxs of the tank and the meeting.

Ricky Cain lending Luis Navarro a hand (or two...)








BEFORE:



You Tube Video. We had just redone the hair grass in the front corner.
http://youtu.be/DgRWcuQKwek


End Result










As it sits in the room

hi there this is my new setup it runs 4 months .

Tank size : 100x40x45cm
Fertilization : EI
Lighting : 6x30watt T8HO (8hours) + 2 x 35 t5 (6hours)
CO2 system : Pressurized,ph controller
Substrate system : seachem flourite
Filtration : 2 x ecco pro 300 eheim 750lt/h
Temp : 24-26C
fish 30 hemigrammus bleheri, otos,sae

i am listening for andvice or changes to make it better
Thanks


By null at 2012-03-29

Hey guys havent been on this forum in awhile. Just wanted to share some pics of my recent tank. feel free to suggest any changes to it. I dont claim to be an expert and ill be glad to hear some constructive criticism

Tank mods:
100 gallon long (72"), 2 fluval 404s, t5ho lighting (468 watts with 12 blue moons at night, x6 6000k and x6 pink bulbs...i plan to change the pink bulbs to 6700k) 10 hours a day, co2 injected (just bought a kh test kit so not sure what the ppm is right now but its about 3-4 bps diffused via output hose with gravel tube attached) on a timer to turn off at night, flourite gravel, turbo twist x6 UVS, a whisper air pump (just for o2 exchange)

Current Dosing schedule Index method: (just started today seeing how it plays out)
1 tsp KNO3,
1/2 tsp kh2po4, k2so4, csm+b,
1/4 tsp cacl2, mgso4
Dosages done on M W F and Su* when 50-70% wc is done
I know im suppose to dose csm+b and kh2po4 on different days but i have a bad way of keeping record which day i did them on.
Usually i only dose Kno3, kh2po4, and Csm+b but im trying something new since i have all the chemicals anyway

Fish: Checkerboard pigion discus, 18 tiger barbs, 1 glass catfish, about 10 aus rainbows, a few corys, 5 blood fin tets, 6 rasbora hets, 2 clown loaches, sail fin pleco (hes gona go once i catch him since hes not doing a good job at eating any algae :P)

Driftwood stacked in the middle, plants are mainly wisteria, and others too lazy to list/dont know technical names for them :P

Heres what tank looked like empty:


Then a few days later:


Then had problems with green water for 3 weeks then added the UV and it was amazing.
(im assuming the tank didnt cycle all the way and i had added tons of fish even though my filters came off of a 55 gallon planted tank that cracked, i just moved everything over)

Before UV




2 days after i added the UV (took 2 days, some people say within hours but i guess that depends on your filter)




Ill get more pictures up soon.

Hey guys finished my new stand and iwagumi setup yesterday, tell me your thoughts!!

Attachment 16866Attachment 16867

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Aquarium description:

Volume: 54 Gallons
Months since established: little less than 6 months
Dimension: 35X20X18 inches

Video 6-Month Evolution:

YouTube Video

Foreground:
Blyxa japonica
Fissidens
Hemianthus calichitroides
Liliaopsis mauritania
Ranalisma rostrata
Staurogyne sp
Utricularia graminifolia

Midground:
Pogostemon helferi
Blyxa japonica
Cryptocorine Nurii Pahang
Microsorum pteropus
Hottania palustris

Background:
Poaceae sp. "Purple Bamboo"
Alternanthera reineckii
Rotala macrandra
Rotala indica
Rotala wallichii
Tonina sp "Belem"

Light: 2 PLL 840 55W and 2 T5 HO 6700K 39W
Light Time: 10 hours per day - 10 horas por día.

Fish:
Crossocheilus siamensis
Paracheirodon axelrodi
Boraras Brigittae
Otocinclus sp.

Shrimp:
Taiwan red fire (Neocaridina Heteropoda)
CRS (Caridina cantonensis)
Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata)

Substrate: ADA "new amazonia" - Powersand.
Weekly Fertilization (ppm) : NO3 26 - K 17 - PO4 2 - Fe 0.57
CO2: Milwauke Co2 Regulator MA957 -- 4 bubble per second with light on.
Water Change: Once per week, 30 to 40% of the tank volume.

Thanks:
http://sfbaaps.org/home.html
http://www.croa.com.ar/ipb2/

Thanks to this forum and Zapins’ sticky/article, “Beginner's Guide to starting your first Emersed setup!!,” I now have my first true emersed experiment started.

I have had windowsill dishes and floating riccia islands of emersed plants going for several years but never anything soil or substrate based so I decided it was time. A local DFWAPC club member and friend Michael Parkey has inspired me as well with his dish gardens and discussions of venturing further into emersed arrangements. A couple of years ago our club president took a pole and found that we had over 120 varieties of plants within the club. Combine that with the collectoritis syndrome of my 90p rimless has led me to cultivate these plants outside of my aquaria.

So I scavenged the garage and found most of the things I needed then hurried off to pickup soil and fresh light bulbs. I have plenty of room for expansion as well.

Wish me luck!

Material list:

Free 4” pots from local nursery
Miscellaneous glass bowls and plastic containers
60qt Rubbermaid Snaptoppers clear container and lid (stained by having stored used aquasoil)
4’ plant stand fluorescent fixture
2 Phillips 45w 6500k fluorescent bulbs
Vital Earth topsoil

Plant list:

Anubias nana petite ‘gold’
Bacopa monnieri
Clinopodium brownoi
Cryptocoryne parvula
Cryptocoryne ???
Cryptocoryne cordata "Rosanervig"
Cryptocoryne wendtii ‘Tropica’
Eleocharis acicularis
Eleocharis vivipara
Glossostigma elatinoids
Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides???
Hydrocotyle verticulata
Hygrophila corymbosa compact
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Limnophila aromatica
Limnophila guinea sp. ‘broad leaf’
Lindernia Rotundifolia ‘varigated’
Ludwigia arcuata s. repens
Nesaea pedicellata
Poaceae sp. ‘purple bamboo’
Pogostemon stelata ‘broad leaf’
Ranunculus inundatus
Riccia fluitans
Staurogyne Repens
Taxiphyllum alternans (Taiwan moss)
Vesicularia montagnei (Christmas moss)


emersed setup 1_15_12start by kimcadmus, on Flickr


emersed setup 1_15_12standlight by kimcadmus, on Flickr


emersed setup 1_15_12planted by kimcadmus, on Flickr

So i have been a bit quiet over here, due to the fact that i was very busy at work and i have worked on my secret project. I've managed to finish my new tank a little over 7 months ago.

Specs are:
- 180x70x70 plywood tank with glass front
- No stabilizers (e.g. i have full movement over the tank)
- Pump connections all through the bottom of the tank
- 2x Eheim 2078 filtration
- Up Aqua Atomizer for CO2
- Profilux 3 controlled
- Profilux 3 dosing computer
- 5x 80w maxium light, dimmable by the Profilux 3 (DALI protocol)
- LEDs for the Profilux 3 (thunderstorms)
- Auto top off
- Auto water change with RO water (5% every night)

Here are the pics of the build.



Design:
The blue parts on the canopy are ventilation shafts. As you can see inside the canopy i have placed my ballasts and made such a channeling that the outside/room air flows from the center back over the ballasts inside my hood (warm air) and at the sides the moist air is going out.















Construction:
I was constructing this tank for over 2 years. It was a hobby project so a lot of time and money went into it. It all starts with supplies















Reinforcements:
First, i painted the plywood with an epoxy resin to make it water proof. Next i wanted absolutely NO stabilizers in the tank. Therefore i had to reinforce the front since the top bar has to little 'wood' to support the front window. So i ordered a steel beam and got crazy with the drill.















Background, attempt 1:
Next up was the background. First i applied several layers of fiber glass matt to enforce the casing. In total there are about 3 layers of fiberglass. I wanted to incorporate wood into my background, although i am aware of the risks (rotting and the fact that it becomes a part of the layout)





















Background, attempt 2:
I was not happy with the above background. The friend which helped me had some good insights, but i wanted to have a planted tank. To much background equals less space for plants. So i decided to redo it. This is the result. If you look closely, you can see the return pipes (in both sides at the front of the glass) and my emergency overflow, the green cascet). Pump intakes are behind in the tank.















Background, finalizing:
Next up is to finish the background. First step involves adding concrete to the background. Why concrete? Since this makes it possible to smooth out holes and make a more rock-like structure. After the (Portland) cement i started adding "Elastopur" basically this is rubber like, 2-component glue-ish stuff which hardens in about 45 minutes, so you have to work fast. The color is yellow-ish but you can add pigment to make it more your own taste. I added brown and immediately after putting on the elastopur i added sand to make it even more naturally. It then looks like this....



























Next up, canopy:
So i've used some lamp holders from ebay and arraged my lights according to the design which is at the top of this post. Not a lot of pictures, but here goes.





















Moving the tank:
After one month of test running in the garage where i built the tank (my wife is not that happy with 750 liters of water in the living room), i decided to move the tank indoors. I already had the holes for AWC so that helped a lot. In the pictures you also see my trafo, giving 12v. It is behind my tank so that means i can't access it anymore but as long as it works i am happy. It powers my Profilux and connected appliances so i don't have to use that much power adapters. The first picture shows the reinforcements i made at the back of the tank to make sure it doesn't bend.





















Plumbing the AWC:
Not much plumbing to do, i had everything pretty much figured out and since i had to fill the tank with water anyway, most of the parts where already in place. However, i still had to do my AWC system which is illustrated in the next pictures.

The 'beast' consists of the following parts:
- The left pipe is the pipe which is directly connected to the tank. This means i can use the valve to quickly drain my tank or to get some water to water my plants
- The second pipe from the left is attached to a water solenoid. Currently i am using a different solenoid since the one in the picture required back pressure before it opened. Picture is to follow.
- Third pipe from the left (the long straight one) is directly connected to my emergency overflow and goes to my sewer. Basically the drain pipe.
- Forth pipe from the left (e.g. the right one) is connected to the blue waste water line of my R/O unit.

The last picture shows the different solenoids i have used. The left one is now in place and works like a charm, draining 5% (40 liters) in about 2 minutes. I could have increased this, but that meant i had to use a bigger pipe (20mm) instead of 16mm which is now in place.











Finalizing the build:













Adding the LEDs to the canopy:



























Next post will be about the stainless steel tubes which i have used to connect the dosing unit, and the first pics of the second scape (sorry, no pics of the first one)