[PAUL GRAHAM]

I haven't been active here for some time. Thought I'd drop in. My 200 gallon jungle style system is doing well and I'd like to show it off a bit.

Although this is a high-tech system with inert base substrate, I owe much to Diana Walstad and her Ecology of the Planted Aquarium.

Current parameters

pH: 6.75
ORP: 509 mV
TDS: 280 ppm
NO3: 15 ppm
PO4: 1.4 ppm
K: 35 ppm
Fe: 0.13 ppm
dKH: 5.6
dGH: 3.4
Ca: 16.0 ppm
Mg: 4.9 ppm
Ca/Mg: 3.3
CO2: 29.9 ppm
DO: 9 ppm peak

 

[mistergreen]

Very nice!

 

[Le Duke]

What is that gigantic lily?

Tank looks great, by the way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PAUL GRAHAM]

This plant is Nymphaea lotus. It is the keystone individual in this ecosystem and is producing both above and below the gravel-line. It is prolific once established. With this plant, everything happens fast. It produces new leaves daily. Leaves go through a quick life cycle. After about two weeks, senescent leaves and their stems rapidly decay, returning humic substance to the water. With numerous floating leaves, lotus moves a considerable quantity of gas between the air and rhizosphere, effectively ventilating the substrate. Leaf cover from a large plant throws a lot of shade, a useful feature for moderating mid-day light intensity over the foreground field of Crypts. The parent plant is tuberous. It is putting out runners. At present there are two additional spreading centers producing leaves. I do not trim it; it is permitted unbridled growth at present as it is not outgrowing the tank...yet. Left to itself this way improves the likelihood of flowering.

 

[Michael]

Wow! Two excellent discussions on two different huge tanks at the same time, I can't remember when that last happened.

 

[PAUL GRAHAM]

I have recently made some improvements to the lighting system. That story in pictures here. The system day is equatorial with no seasonal variation, delayed 2 hours to align with my personal schedule. The last graph is this week's record of energy input and oxygen generation. The trace "Amps_8" is total current drawn by all lights at 120 VAC. Typically by mid-day dissolved oxygen (DO) surpasses 100% saturation with total power input at about 250 watts. At this tank's elevation, O2 saturation is 8 ppm. The daily intensity profiles for SUN1 and SUN2 are controlled in Apex. I am not done experimenting with the brightness in this system. The spectrum profiles for these were set for 6000K (longest wavelength) and their control tiles removed from the dashboard.

 

[mistergreen]

Wow, that Apex is pricey. I had worked on an open-source DIY microcontroller for people to use. I want to get back to it but no time.