40 years and still going!

[Chrispy]

40 years and still going………. But only just!!

Around 40 years ago I moved into my present house and built an aquarium into an alcove of the lounge. At the beginning of this year (2016) the lights stopped working and when I removed the lights and controller to find out why, I discovered that the tank had developed a very slight leak that had been dripping onto the metal stand. It must have been going on for some time as the stand, in one corner, was very rusty. Having recently inherited some money I decided that after 40 years of running a very low tech aquarium with no CO2, no fertilisation, and only a gravel substrate it was time move into the high tech world.

I recently joined the UKaps and after asking advice regarding dosing pumps from one member he suggested that I should write a journal of my progression. He went on to say that he had and received invaluable advice from the more experience members of the society which saved him making some fundamental mistakes.

Below is a picture of my old tank which was all hand made followed by a picture of my new tank which I purchased from the local Maidenhead Aquatics. It’s an Aqua Oak 100cm two door limited edition. I chose this because it is a slim line version (35cm) and fits into the alcove where the original tank was.

and the new one.

Next the equipment.

As already mention the tank is a special edition ‘slim line’ tank from Aqua Oak.

Filteration
Aquamanta EFX 300 external filter with spray bar which I have extended to cover the full length of the tank.

Lighting
2 x TMC Aqua Ray Grobeam 1500 Ultima tiles.
Aqua Ray lighting controller

CO2
CO2 Art dual stage regulator & solenoid with precision SMC valve. UP inline atomiser on return hose.

Substrate
ADA Power Sand.
ADA Bacter 100 and Clear Super
ADA Amazonia.

Fertilisation and delivery
Self mixed EI quantities.
Kamoer 3 channel auto dosing pump.

Air Pump
Eheim 100

The next stage to follow…….Fitting it all together.

 

[foxfish]

Sounds like you have all the right kit, don't forget a PH pen!
My advice would be ... not to stock with fish to soon as you might need a bit of time to get the Co2 on song, once you have live stock then experimenting will not be so easy!

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Chrispy, Great start looking forward to following

Ho Nice Barbel in your avatar

 

[Chrispy]

Thank you both for you encouraging comments.
Foxfish I'm in no rush to stock the tank and will run it for a minimum of 6 weeks before any livestock goes in. My old tank is still running albeit with temporary lighting and in a room with patio windows that faces south and get the full sun all day. Any advice on your suggestion of a PH pen would be appreciated.
Greenfinger2...I love Barbel fishing. That picture was taken on the Hampshire Avon at Ringwood and that lovely fish went 10lb 1oz.

 

[Chrispy]

Fitting it all together.


My first concern was the source of my co2. I didn’t particularly want to go down the soda stream or paintball route and resourcing FE’s in Hampshire, at first, seemed a real problem. However I eventually came across Griffin Fire and Training at Fareham and after speaking to Bryan Griffin a very helpful and friendly gentleman I obtained my co2. Bryan said that when I needed to change the cylinder I would just need to ring him and he would provide a replacement.

Having resourced my co2 the first problem I encountered with my new cabinet was that I couldn’t fit the cylinder into it. However all was not lost and after a few measurements I found that by cutting a hole in the base of the cabinet the cylinder and gauges would just fit in……phew!!!

I’ve set up the complete co2 system and tested it to make sure the solenoid works and that there are no leaks. All is fine.

I’ve set the auto doser to deliver a set amount at 2359 Monday to Saturday. Setting pump1 to dose Macro and pump2 to dose Micro. I haven’t used pump3 and I’m not sure I will. (any suggestions) I’ve been testing the auto doser for a couple of weeks now, just using water, and the amounts delivered are spot on.

The lighting controller has also been set up for testing although I will need to change the times and duration once I plant the aquarium. I will need some personal opinions what the more experience aquarists consider the optimal setup to be. Particularly for the first few weeks after planning. But more of that later.

Just as with the co2, lighting, and dosing I’ve connect the pump/filter, fitted all of the hoses, filled the tank and check for leaks. One thing I did notice was that the supplied spray bar only covered about three-quarters of the tank. After reading so much about good co2 distribution I felt the spray bar needed extending to cover the whole width of the tank. Thankfully the friendly staff at Maidenhead Aquatics ‘found’ me just the bit I needed.

I’m a bit ‘anal’ about having things ‘neat and tidy’ but as you will seem from the pictures below everything fits into place although I still have the air pump and heater to plug in.

The first picture shows the shows the controllers:

The second the co2 and pump setup:

The complete package. Notice the hole I had to cut in the cabinet to fit the co2 cylinder in.

Next to come…….. the Hardscaping.

 

[Chrispy]

Hardscaping

Having seen some wonderful displays on the UKaps and Facebook I don’t think I could achieve anything like them. I always enjoyed using slate in my old tank and though I would do the same in my new one. So, after ‘borrowing’ slate from the old tank and locating my box of slate in the garage I set about making my hardscape.

I have two Clown Loach in the old tank and they love lying on their sides in caves I’ve built so I thought that a cave would be the focal point in the new tank. My idea is to try and use the rule of thirds to place it and make it more prominent by covering the roof with a moss that would hang down over the front and having a swathe of carpeting plants leading up to it. (this is where I will need advice on the appropriate plants – more of this later)

This set up is definitely not for the purists amongst you but I’m please how it turned out and I’m hoping once planted will be acceptable.

So how did I build a cave and hardscape using natural slate?

First the cave. I had an idea of how I wanted to build the cave, which included natural roofing slate. This was cut and using aquarium safe silicon the basic shape formed. This is shown in the picture below.

The next picture shows how the next part of the cave using natural slate vertically to give a basic shape. A lot of this will be covered as stratified layers are added.

A work in progress. I’m playing about with the slate to give what I hope will be a pleasing effect. The next two pictures show how it’s progressing.

You will see from the next picture I once again used roofing slate as the base of the stratified layers. The idea of this is to lay the whole piece on the substrate with a small amount of substrate covering the first layer. Just like the roof of the cave the large ‘walls’ can be removed in one piece should there be a need. For example cleaning.

The last two pictures show the project complete and ready for the silicon to cure before being put into the tank.

Coming next...Adding the substrate and my Slate creations.

 

[ian_m]

Couple of things...being anal and all that...
- Nice under tank layout.
- A small LED strip at the top of the cupboard that comes on when the door is opened would enable you to better display the under tank "anality" in all its glory.
- It is "solenoid".
- Put stainless jubilee clips on the diffuser. Do not rely on the lock nuts, unless you want your tank conveniently syphoning out into the cupboard. Voice of experience and wet floor here.
- I use a third dosing channel to dose liquid carbon. Does appear to keep BBA and algae at bay. In your case park the liquid carbon bottle on top of your fertiliser containers. Must be a light blocking container.
- Ensure the micro solution is not exposed to light. Light will quickly degrade the micro.
- I assume you are having a plant compatible substrate, so how are you going to keep your wonderful slate work at the "correct level" ?. I built rock legs on my rock work so that it rested on the bottom glass of the tank and the substrate was built up to hide the legs. However the tank inhabitants, mainly the loaches, took it upon themselves to continually fill my cave and bridge with substrate.
- Your loaches may not be compatible with a "planted tank". My loaches were fine and well behaved for a year or two, had to replant odd disrupted plants regularly (but not an issue), HC was a complete eventual no-go, I managed to get a good carpet cover but suddenly got uprooted and/or eaten. Glosso was fine and carpeting. However they became more vicious in their uprooting, started stem snapping and started scoffing the plants. My Glosso carpet became just stems, no leaves, looked like a forest of match sticks. Anytime a shoot/leaf appeared it had gone by the next day, they were definitely scoffing at night. The loaches were given away, where apparently according to my mate, they continued their destructive behaviour.

Anyway a picture showing the 3 munchers team from March 2013, you can just see both the Glosso and HC carpet are present as this was before they took to eating it...

However once gone things got a bit out of hand....

 

[Chrispy]

Hi ian_m and thank you for your comments.
- I like the idea of an LED strip. I wonder if 'her indoors' would miss the one I fitted under the kitchen units!
- I kept looking at Solenoide and convinced myself it was correct. Easy to change.
- Stainless jubilee clips? Do you remove the lock nuts completely and put the clips in their place? They must be very small. Where can I purchase them?
- Is keeping the doors closed enough to keep the ferts from being exposed to light or should I cover the containers. Odd that purpose built containers are supplied clear.
- I'll need to read up on liquid carbon and it's uses. I was under the impression is was used if co2 was not. Thanks for the heads up. What is BBA?
- I'm using ADA substrate and I though, perhaps wrongly, that the slate work would stay on top. That said my loaches do drag the gravel around in my old tank although they don't dig up my plants. I like your idea of building legs that are covered by the substrate and although I have already added the substrate and slate work into the tank I'm not ready to buy plants yet so I'll make supports as you suggested. A very helpful tip which has probably saved me hours of work if I'd already planted. Thank you very much.
- I was thinking of carpeting with Dwarf Hair Grass and adding HC when I'm more experience but I see what you mean about your munches. Anyone want two Clown Loaches

 

[alto]

Amazingly well thought out journal so far

You might look at Chris Jackson's Island Shore journal where slate is used as hardscape (along with ADA etc)

I second ian_m's suggestion that clown loaches & planted tanks are not the easiest combination - the clown loaches will easily burrow through all layers of the soil substrate
If you want to keep the loaches, consider switching out the ADA soil for Tropica's combination of small gravels/sand layered over Growth Substrate, numerous video "journals" can be found on their Inspiration page ... you'll still want to establish the plants before adding back the clown loaches.

(there's a good deal of well thought out planted aquarium basics on the Tropica site, also consider following their 90 day App)

If you stay with the ADA substrate system, familiarize yourself with their fertilizer regime as well & perhaps set up your EI system along similar "lean" lines, especially during tank startup

The present layout of the stone creates crevices which you'll likely find difficult to clean/remove debris, try to work out these technical details before adding substrate etc, as it's easy to make changes at this stage ... also any slip of the hose won't lead to masses of ADA muck everywhere

Troi's Windswept Eternity had quite the chaos run

 

[Chris Jackson]

Great project, keep learning, stay young!

I also suggest you exercise some caution with combining EI fert levels with ADA soils especially at the begining. The ADA approach is based upon a nutrient rich substrate with relatively lean water dosing. You'll probably only need maybe ¼ EI levels in the first few months.

This Going dutch by the book journal is a fantastic advert for the Tropica system and as Alto says they also back it up with a great app and online guidance.

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi Chrispy
Great journal!
Nice cabinet from Maidenhead aquatics very sturdy builds...I've been looking at them for a while!
I would advise to add another check valve after the bubble counter...this serves as a back up if the other next to the UP atomiser fails!
Love the dosing boxes!
Where did you purchase them?
Keep the posts coming!
hoggie

 

[ian_m]

Do you remove the lock nuts completely and put the clips in their place? They must be very small. Where can I purchase them?

Yes remove the lock nuts completely on the filter tubing. Search Ebay for 22mm stainless jubilee clip. 18-25mm looks OK. You just need to determine the exact size, though it looks like your filter piping is 16/22mm tube.

Is keeping the doors closed enough to keep the ferts from being exposed to light

Should be fine, the instructions (from Solufeed) warn of direct sunlight being an issue. If you get a precipitate in the bottom of the container then think again.

What is BBA?

Black Brush Algae. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm. See the bit about dosing with Flourish Excel, EasyCarbo or TNC Carbon (liquid carbons) will clear it up.

The substrate mistake I made was putting sand on top of Fluval Stratum. After a while the substrate started "floating through" the sand, as well as all my slopes flattening themselves out, despite putting in dividers to try and keep the levels. Ended up taking it all out, sieving it and putting back as sand underneath the Stratum which survives much better.

 

[Chrispy]

Alto & Chris,
Thank you for your advice on ADA soils and EI ferts. I ordered the substrate a couple of months ago when I first decided to go with a new tank and just after I started this journal put it into the tank. (So no going back) I'm going to have to temporarily remove some of the substrate as I'm going to take ian_m's advice and build supports for my slate work so that it doesn't sink. Should manage that over this weekend. I had read conflicting reports about using EI with ADA substrates. Some said to use EI from the start, other say use a much smaller amount of EI for the first few weeks, and the Green Machine webpage suggests not to use any ferts for the first 6 weeks and having the lighting on for just 6 hours. Confusion reigns!! I'll have to see if I can find out more info....maybe an email to the Green Machine. However information from members who live in the "real World' and don't have infinite resources are, I suspect, based very much on real experience.
Alto you mentioned the crevices in the slate collecting debris. I am going to put a hanging type moss (Christmas Moss) on the roof of the cave so that it hangs over the entrance. My though was that I could push the same moss in the crevices in the slate and if it establishes keep it well trimmed. Do you think this would work?
If all goes well with the supports that I'll put more pictures up of my progress so far.

 

[Chrispy]

Hi Hoggie,
Thank you for you comments.
The cabinets from Maidenhead are very nice and very well built......but come a a price. I have a couple of negatives; The cabinets are not high enough to put a FE cylinder in...unless you do as I did and cut a hole in the bottom. The lids, being solid Oak are very heavy and even heavier when adding two LED squares.

I would advise to add another check valve after the bubble counter...this serves as a back up if the other next to the UP atomiser fails!

I do have a couple of spare stainless steel check valves but, as the bubble counter has a built in check valve, do I really need to add another one?
I got the dosing boxes from Charterhouse Aquatics.
Chris.

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi Chris
Thanks for the reply.....as there is one inside the bubble counter its not necessary!
hoggie

 

[Chrispy]

Ian_m,
Thank you for your replies.
I misunderstood your original post regarding the jubilee clips. I thought you was referring to the co2 line connections; hence my comment about the clips being very small.
Once I'm up and running with the ferts I'll keep an eye on the containers and if needs be clean them out and cover them.
BAA.... Ok got that thanks. I must have had that at one time in my present tank and after much research found that the only fish that would eat it were Siamese Algae Eaters (Crossocheilus Siamensis). They soon cleared the BBA but boy did they grow and now I have a tank with 2 six inch torpedoes.
Chris.

 

[Chris Jackson]

Alto & Chris,
Thank you for your advice on ADA soils and EI ferts. I ordered the substrate a couple of months ago when I first decided to go with a new tank and just after I started this journal put it into the tank. (So no going back) I'm going to have to temporarily remove some of the substrate as I'm going to take ian_m's advice and build supports for my slate work so that it doesn't sink. Should manage that over this weekend. I had read conflicting reports about using EI with ADA substrates. Some said to use EI from the start, other say use a much smaller amount of EI for the first few weeks, and the Green Machine webpage suggests not to use any ferts for the first 6 weeks and having the lighting on for just 6 hours. Confusion reigns!! I'll have to see if I can find out more info....maybe an email to the Green Machine. However information from members who live in the "real World' and don't have infinite resources are, I suspect, based very much on real experience.
Alto you mentioned the crevices in the slate collecting debris. I am going to put a hanging type moss (Christmas Moss) on the roof of the cave so that it hangs over the entrance. My though was that I could push the same moss in the crevices in the slate and if it establishes keep it well trimmed. Do you think this would work?
If all goes well with the supports that I'll put more pictures up of my progress so far.

Hi Chrispy
The Green Machine are the UK experts for all things ADA and have setup and run a great many tanks, far more than the average hobbyist on here, so you'd do well to follow their guidance to start with. Just resist any sales pitches suggesting you spend a fortune on ADA ferts!

 

[LfcFan1977]

Hi Chrispy,

Very nice start to your journal. I will be keeping an eye your progress.
I really like the idea of the moss covered cave.

It's good to know I'm not alone in the world when it comes to pictures of cabinet setups. Great job. Very tidy.

Thank you to all that have commented and replied, I either learn something new or get insired by something every time I come on this site.

I hope this is relevant and I am not hijacking this thread but are there any issues with Clown Loach digging in a soil substrate? bacterial infections for the fish? distrurbing the substrate to point where it is aesthetically displeasing? disruptive to the filtration?

If you are keeping the Clowns then you can try plants with a Rhizome (Java ferns, Bucephalandra, Anubias) which you could super glue, tie or wedge onto/into the slate.
I've had no problems with my Clowns breaking or eating those..... so far

 

[tmiravent]

one word, respect!

very nice project.
my advice, choose one method (ada, ei, tropica, ...) and follow that one.
Mixing then can a hard path.

The air pump is not need in high tech (but you can use at night if you want).
I love to work with that stones, cheers

 

[Dantrasy]

Very well planned and executed!

I run into the same issue re the height of the co2 cylinder. I decided to remove the cabinet floor on the left side so the cylinder sits on the ground (with a rubber mat underneath). All the electrics - plugs and power boards - are on the right side raised up on the cabinet floor.