Opinions on my tanks.

4008 Views 14 Replies 10 Participants Last post by supapoopa, Dec 14, 2005

supapoopa

Discussion Starter · Feb 17, 2005 (Edited)

5

Lot of members with great looking tanks on this site. Just like to add some pics of the three tanks i currently have running. Opinions and comments welcome.

29 gal setup in sep 04. This pic is when i still had the 20 watt flourescent strip used to grow these plants. Plain gravel, no co2, only liquid ferts once a week. Just upgraded the light to a 65 watt CF.

6 gal setup in the same month as the 29. Stock eclipse system 6, no co2, plain gravel, same liquid fert once a week.

without glare, sorry. :toimonst:

And the most recent tank i just setup about 3 weeks ago. 10 gal with Eclipse 1 hood. 36 watt cf, eco-complete, hagen co2 canister. Only tank i;m having algea problems with. Just fuzz algea but its annoying. ](*,)

comments welcome. Any recommendations on overcomming fuzz algea especially welcome. ;-)

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dennis

· #2 · Feb 17, 2005

Nice little tanks. Thank you for sharing and welcome to the forum. Personally I think the 10 gallon has great potential. Let it fill in more, cut the stems on the left off a couple inches above the substrate once they get established and replant the tops in between. THis will give you a nice dense stand of them. Most atttactive. Allow your H. micranthemoides to form a smaller bush infron of the back stems plant species to hide the bottoms and create a midground.

Your fuzz issues are most likely caused by low CO2 and low to zero NO3 readings. If you are not dosing NO3 and PO4, you should be. Read around the site on these subjects if you need more. I know I have had many posts about it so a search for posts by me will give you lots of info on that

antreasgr

· #3 · Feb 17, 2005

i really like the last one!i think its gonna turn in to a beautiful tank in some weeks.!

supapoopa

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 17, 2005

Dennis:

Thanks, I'll look into that. Would you recommend dosing Flourish Iron & Potassium? I'm already using FLourish and some Flourish Excell, the hagen co2 generator is just not very consistant at all. :???: First packet only lasted 2 weeks with vigourous bubbling for only 4-5 days, then it just dyes off. I just put in a second packet (came in the box) and its day 3 now with no results at all. Might have to try one of those diy recipes, just a little uneasy about the potential for it to foam over into the tank. Arrgh! :smile:

glenhead

· #5 · Feb 17, 2005

The DIY route is really pretty simple. Here's a link to a site that does an excellent job of describing how to set one up:

www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

He has a recommendation for a "gas separator" to avoid the overfoaming problem. I'm using his design now for a twin-2-liter setup feeding a Hagen ladder. I reloaded the yeast mix last weekend, and nothing was happening - no bubbles. Couldn't figure out why. Last night I got frustrated, and went and shook the beejeebus out of the 2-liter bottles, and it didn't even overflow into the gas separator. Turned out that the Tee connector between the two bottles wasn't sealed completely (I tried to get "creative" with it and dorked it up - sigh!). I replaced the Tee, and land-'o-goshen, I'm getting 32 bubbles per minute at lunch today. As I say, it's pretty easy to set things up, and if you follow his recommendations and don't try to get "creative", it works surprisingly well. One for-sure recommendation - get the bulkhead fittings he recommends for the 2-liter bottle caps - they're about $4 a pair, and worth every penny. Nice, air-tight fittings, no questions.

HTH
Glen

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Jdinh04

· #6 · Feb 17, 2005

Nice tanks, does the eclipse hood fit any tank? Or does it have to fit a eclipse made tank?

dennis

· #7 · Feb 17, 2005

supapoopa said:
Dennis:

Thanks, I'll look into that. Would you recommend dosing Flourish Iron & Potassium? I'm already using FLourish and some Flourish Excell, the hagen co2 generator is just not very consistant at all. :???: First packet only lasted 2 weeks with vigourous bubbling for only 4-5 days, then it just dyes off. I just put in a second packet (came in the box) and its day 3 now with no results at all. Might have to try one of those diy recipes, just a little uneasy about the potential for it to foam over into the tank. Arrgh! :smile:

Don't waste your time with the hagen packets and stuff, don't buy more. Find a DIY yeast recipe and give that a try. I have heard good things about the Nymburg (spelling?) one and the gelatin one. Never tried it though as I have pressurized

As for what to dose. I would recommend you go to Greg Watson (a sponsor here) and order from his on-line store. You will want to get KNO3 and KH2PO4 These will supply your NO3, PO4 and K that your plants really need. Having these in good supply will help to eliminate/ avoid algae.If you want more help with that part though, post a question in our Fertilizing forum, tell us you water parameters and we can help more.

Your tanks all look very nice and I see good potential in them as they fill in. You will probably have to remove the Echinodorus sp. (swordplants) from them as they will get huge

supapoopa

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 18, 2005

Thanks for the info! :smile:

dennis said:
Your tanks all look very nice and I see good potential in them as they fill in. You will probably have to remove the Echinodorus sp. (swordplants) from them as they will get huge

I know what you mean about the Swords. So far i've managed to keep them under control with frequent leave trimmings. Hopefully i won't have any problems with them in the future if i keep up with the leaf trims.

turtlehead

· #9 · Feb 18, 2005

I love the 10 g just let everything grow out. Diy is better than the hagen plant wise and money wise. Is that a glooso foreground?

trenac

· #10 · Feb 19, 2005

Your tanks have improved from tank one to tank three, they all look good but the 10G is the best. Keep us updated with pics as the 10G fills in. Keep up the good work!

supapoopa

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 19, 2005 (Edited)

Jdinh04 said:
Nice tanks, does the eclipse hood fit any tank? Or does it have to fit a eclipse made tank?

The top i have originally came with a 12 gal tank from Marineland. It will fit any tank with a 20"X12" footprint. Would have loved to do a 20 extra tall but it was to high to put it in the spot where the tank is now.

turtlehead said:
I love the 10 g just let everything grow out. Diy is better than the hagen plant wise and money wise. Is that a glooso foreground?

Yup, glosso in the foreground and its already spreading fairly quickly.

Aqua1

· #12 · Apr 23, 2005

Nice looking tank I can never get my plants looking so green. Any advise?

Bavarian3

· #13 · Apr 23, 2005

the 10 gallon looks awesome! gonna fill in very nicely im sure. For the 6g eclipse setup i would switch out the swords for something else. nevertheless nice work!

houseofcards

· #14 · Dec 5, 2005

Supapoopa,

How did you retrofit the light. I have a 12g eclipse that has the standard 13watt cf light.

BTW - Tank looks great!

supapoopa

Discussion Starter · #15 · Dec 14, 2005

hey, sorry i couldn't respond sooner.

Do you have the bow front 12g eclipse? I have the regular Eclipse 1 hood that came with the rectangular 12g tank. The retrofit on my style hood was pretty straight forward. Just strip out all the lighting hardware (endcaps and wiring), and screw in the reflector with two screws. Then make some slits in the plastic backing and reflector to place two clips that hold the light buld in place. THe ballast is wired externally, and the retrofit i purchased came with instructions on how to wire it. Took me about 3 hours since i was taking my time to make sure everything was done correctly.

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