Time to try the IFC calculator to mix all those goodies? 😉
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GreggZ Planted Rainbow Tank!
- Thread starter GreggZ
- Start date
JacksonL
Member
- Joined
- 27 May 2015
- Messages
- 120
Of course! only calculator that lets me see all the micros on the same page and calculate the individual solutions at the same time
(Feel free to put that on the infomercial 😃)
GreggZ
Member
I posted this picture earlier in another thread. A rare treat to have someone you know in the hobby get a chance to see your tank. Gives a perspective of the size of the 120G
KirstyF
Member
So….do you take that whole lid off for maintenance or do you have deceptively long arms! 😂
plantnoobdude
Member
an extra joint in his arm perhaps?
GreggZ
Member
LOL good question. The small doors on the canopy work well for daily tasks like feeding. The canopy has a piano hinge and flips wide open for maintenance.
It's a DIY build made of solid oak using a Kreg's pocket jig and face frame construction. No plywood. No 2 x 4's. All 1x4, 1x6,1x10's. I built it so that the tank sits higher than most stands as I feel it has a better presence in the room. I need to use a step stool to do maintenance.
KirstyF
Member
I use a step stool for my beastie too, though at 4’ 11” tall, I’d be using a step stool for most any tank tbf. 😂
That piano hinge design is pretty nifty and I guess the extra height on top makes access a bit easier. My cabinet top is fairly shallow so whilst it has liftable lids, access towards the back of the tank is still a bit awkward. Wasn’t brave enough to even think about DIY’ing something that size.
Your cabinet is beautifully built, I must say (very tidy joints 👍) I’m planning on building some DIY oak planked cabinets on softwood frames this summer (not aquarium related) If I can get my finish anywhere near that I’d be chuffed.
That piano hinge design is pretty nifty and I guess the extra height on top makes access a bit easier. My cabinet top is fairly shallow so whilst it has liftable lids, access towards the back of the tank is still a bit awkward. Wasn’t brave enough to even think about DIY’ing something that size.
Your cabinet is beautifully built, I must say (very tidy joints 👍) I’m planning on building some DIY oak planked cabinets on softwood frames this summer (not aquarium related) If I can get my finish anywhere near that I’d be chuffed.
GreggZ
Member
Varathane Ultimate. And lots of it. Holding up very well years later.
Yes the piano hinge works very well. I need open access to do what I have to on a weekly basis.
The canopy needed to be extra high as the T5HO's are mounted inside.
GreggZ
Member
Sometimes life just gets super busy and the tank gets neglected a bit. That's the way it has been for me for a month or so.
Here's the mess it was this morning about 8:00am.
And here it is after about two hours of trimming. Once in a while I just need to whack the heck out of it, and today was that day.
It's been about 6 weeks running at what for me is very low PAR (71). All in all things have gone pretty well. But a few plants like (Pantanal, Bacopa Colorata, L. Cuba) are not showing great color.
So going to slowly start it back up in small increments and short bursts of high light to see where it goes and will update as things progress.
Here's the mess it was this morning about 8:00am.
And here it is after about two hours of trimming. Once in a while I just need to whack the heck out of it, and today was that day.
It's been about 6 weeks running at what for me is very low PAR (71). All in all things have gone pretty well. But a few plants like (Pantanal, Bacopa Colorata, L. Cuba) are not showing great color.
So going to slowly start it back up in small increments and short bursts of high light to see where it goes and will update as things progress.
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Qwedfg
Member
I love this tank and I’ve been following your journal since the last website. Was one of the big inspirations to get back into planted tanks although at a much smaller scale.
GreggZ
Member
Much depends on the plant. There are some you can uproot and beat down every time and they don't miss a bit. Others require more finesse. It takes trial and error to determine which ones like what.
Take a plant like Pantanal or Cabomba Furcata. You can beat the heck out of them and they don't care. They grow so fast that they never really get any large root systems. But then take plants like Eriocaulon's or Samolus Parviflorus. They don't take uprooting as well and take longer to recover. Both are better left undisturbed as long as you can. And something like Barclaya Longifolia you never want to uproot. I had to when I deep cleaned my gravel and it's just now starting to bounce back from a complete melt.
But in general my tank gets a LOT of uprooting. With some stems as things get shaded and crowded the older growth will begin to decay. Usually best just to trim it off and keep the tops. Better to have the energy spent on new growth than trying to repair old growth. With most stems roots grow quick.
And keep in mind when you just trim back plants go through a period of not looking their best. I don't have much patience for that and like to keep the tank looking as good as I can. So for most of the faster stem type plants they might get uprooted every couple of weeks, and some like Myriophyllum Roraima it's every week or even more. It grows so fast I just pull out the entire bunch, rip off about 8", then plunge the entire bunch back in at once. Takes a few seconds and it could care less and just grows and grows.
Take a plant like Pantanal or Cabomba Furcata. You can beat the heck out of them and they don't care. They grow so fast that they never really get any large root systems. But then take plants like Eriocaulon's or Samolus Parviflorus. They don't take uprooting as well and take longer to recover. Both are better left undisturbed as long as you can. And something like Barclaya Longifolia you never want to uproot. I had to when I deep cleaned my gravel and it's just now starting to bounce back from a complete melt.
But in general my tank gets a LOT of uprooting. With some stems as things get shaded and crowded the older growth will begin to decay. Usually best just to trim it off and keep the tops. Better to have the energy spent on new growth than trying to repair old growth. With most stems roots grow quick.
And keep in mind when you just trim back plants go through a period of not looking their best. I don't have much patience for that and like to keep the tank looking as good as I can. So for most of the faster stem type plants they might get uprooted every couple of weeks, and some like Myriophyllum Roraima it's every week or even more. It grows so fast I just pull out the entire bunch, rip off about 8", then plunge the entire bunch back in at once. Takes a few seconds and it could care less and just grows and grows.
I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that. You know I wrote hundreds of pages of drivel and other than the regulars you never really know who is following. I will say when I started hanging out on some FB groups I was shocked at how many people knew my tank when I posted it. The sense of community and the many people who are willing to help and inspire others is one of the things that makes the hobby great.
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John q
Member
There's lots of folks following, continue uploading drivel. 😉
I'm surprised you used Pantanal for this example. My experience is that Pantanal does not take uprooting/trimming kindly. I would think most other plants in your tank would not show much if any signs of looking bad as you say below after replanting. My experience is that Pantanal doesn't like being manhandled and even if it can still look great even 2-3 days after replanting, the top will progressively shrink and some side shoots might appear until it has properly re-established itself. You never experience that?
All other plants in my tank with no exception show 0 signs of degradation after replanting. To be fair I also don't have that many stem plants at the moment but all those stems plants I have kept in the last few years never showed as much stunting as L. Pantanal after replanting.
Yes that thing is like a bodybuilder on steroids. My Myriophyllum tuberculatum is the same. Sometimes I have to trim it mid week as it grows tall and thick quite indecently and I can see other plants running for safety.
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GreggZ
Member
I've kept the same patch of Pantanal for about 6 or 7 years. In that timeframe I've seen it do about everything it can do.
In my tank it likes good nutrient levels, high CO2, and high light. IME if you provide those, it barely skips a beat from trimming. I pull out the whole bunch and replant them every week (three at a time to speed things up).
For me it's a good indicator plant. If it's lacking something it's quick to complain, but it's also quick to recover when you make adjustments.
But as always that is just my experience. Others mileage may vary.
I've experienced the 'head shrinking' of Pantanals as well. I'm wondering whether it has anything to do with the level of water column dosing.
If Pantanal is in a tank with rich water column dosing, the fact that it loses its roots due to uprooting and replanting would not be a big loss to it, compared to say, a Pantanal in a tank with leaner dosing.
However (fingers crossed), Meta appears more tolerant of trimming and replanting.
If Pantanal is in a tank with rich water column dosing, the fact that it loses its roots due to uprooting and replanting would not be a big loss to it, compared to say, a Pantanal in a tank with leaner dosing.
However (fingers crossed), Meta appears more tolerant of trimming and replanting.
Same here. Perhaps I could tweak CO2 / light a bit further but with the temperature swinging I am always a bit concerned about gazing the fish if temperature decreases.
GreggZ
Member
Keep in mind I also front load all macros for the week right after a water change. If someone is following a schedule where they change water then space out macro dosing all week their nutrient levels are not stable. If you remove 50% or 75% of the water, you also remove 50% or 75% of the nutrients. Keeping levels stable goes a long with needy plants like Pantanal.
And having CO2 optimized is important as well. If my Pantanal acts up that's the first thing I double check.
I think fluctuating temperatures and fish response is greatly overblown. I haven't run any heaters in my tank in years. When I do a water change the water is pumped up from holding tanks in my basement. In the winter that water is quite cool. I used to heat it but don't anymore. Tank temp goes from about 74* to maybe 66* (23C to 19C). Fish don't blink and are fine. Remember in nature water temps change, even going a few feet deeper there is drop in temp. IMO it would have to be a pretty radical drop to have any effect on fish at all.
It's not the temperature affecting the fish that worries me. It's the dissolved CO2 in relation to temperature that concerns me. If your temp is stable you don't have much issues. If temp swings then that's a different thing. You also have a controller which regulates CO2 injection in relation to PH so you don't have much to worry about. That's not my case.
GreggZ
Member
Aha I misunderstood what you meant. Yes with my tank full of hard to replace Rainbows the controller acts as a fail safe. It's a bit trickier if you are dialing it in with a needle valve that is for sure.
