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Remanso . . .
- Thread starter Wookii
- Start date
Wookii
Member
Thanks mate 👍
Wookii
Member
Thanks @Hufsa - I'm never sure home much to share and whether people are reading and yawning, muttering "Good god man, get on with the plant and fish pictures", or whether the techie stuff is of some use. I partly add it though so I can refer to it myself, as I have a memory like a sieve and will have forgot how I did things in a years time!
Oh I want as much as you can share really, smaller details too!
You're somewhat of the UKAPS authority on automation, so any details about your setup really adds to our communal knowledgebase 😃
And the plant and fish pictures wont be coming until 2030 anyway, so we have time!
Kaliilo
Member
Im useless at DIY but im astounded at what you've built, love the substrate trays! Look forward to watching the rest of the build
Wookii
Member
I'm not sure about the latter part lol, but any details you want to know about just ask!
And the plant and fish pictures wont be coming until 2030 anyway, so we have time!
Wookii
Member
Thanks mate 👍
When you have time, could you detail how you have done the liquid remineralization mix(es) for instance?
I vaguely remember a forum post about how to dose Calcium, did you end up going with chloride or a larger solution of sulphate?
Do you have more than one mixture you add?
How do you know how much to add to the RO? (Maybe stupid question) A particular calculation?
And also something about Safe vs Prime, did you dilute Prime in the end? Or what pump has high enough precision to dose undiluted Prime?
AquariumScience seems to believe we can dilute it just fine, but I dont quite know what to think about that website.
Some parts seem really well informed, but the planted sections are complete rubbish* (pardon my british 😁), so the big question is,
are the parts that seem well informed just seeming that way because I dont know any better, or are they actually correct 🤔
But I dont want to derail the thread with that subject, so we will stick to the Prime question specifically.
(*At least they were the last time I checked them..)
Im furiously taking notes
Dont you worry, I will keep you occupied with questions for several years
Wookii
Member
Righty-ho, off we go then!
So I've always used Calcium Chloride and Magnesium Sulphate so I don't get an excess of either anion. I make up liquid mixes in separate containers. I haven't made them up yet for this tank, but I'll make up a 5 litre bottle of each.
I defer to @Hanuman's and @Zeus. Remin Calculator in the IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator.
So with each water change I'm adding 50 litres of new RO. I want that remineralised to 4dGH in this new tank, and have chosen a 3:1 ratio of Ca:Mg as I want to keep some shrimp in there.
So with my 5000ml container, and say, 25ml daily dosing I need to add 624g of MgSO4 to one container, and 677g of CaCl2 to the other. That 25ml dose I can spread over the one hour water change period with the accuracy of the Verso dosers.
I obviously have a separate container for macro (KNO3 and K3PO4), and a fourth container for micros.
I don't add any Prime or other dechlorinator. The RO unit has three carbon filters prior to the RO membrane. The first is a combination sediment and carbon filter, the second is a dedicated carbon block filter, and the third is a combination chlorine and chloramine filter. With those, I'm happy that I can skip the dechlorinator.
I don't like the ironically named 'Aquarium Science' site to be honest. You can't dilute prime, I had a lengthy conversation with reps from Seachem on that exact subject a long time ago. Their comment was that the stabilisers they include in Prime to give it its long life, will not be in sufficient quantity once diluted, and the dechlorination components will break down over time as a result. For the same reasons you can't make solutions from Safe, which is the most cost effective option.
Lol fire away - I don't get to geek out with anyone else on this stuff in the real world!
So I've always used Calcium Chloride and Magnesium Sulphate so I don't get an excess of either anion. I make up liquid mixes in separate containers. I haven't made them up yet for this tank, but I'll make up a 5 litre bottle of each.
I defer to @Hanuman's and @Zeus. Remin Calculator in the IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator.
So with each water change I'm adding 50 litres of new RO. I want that remineralised to 4dGH in this new tank, and have chosen a 3:1 ratio of Ca:Mg as I want to keep some shrimp in there.
So with my 5000ml container, and say, 25ml daily dosing I need to add 624g of MgSO4 to one container, and 677g of CaCl2 to the other. That 25ml dose I can spread over the one hour water change period with the accuracy of the Verso dosers.
I obviously have a separate container for macro (KNO3 and K3PO4), and a fourth container for micros.
I don't add any Prime or other dechlorinator. The RO unit has three carbon filters prior to the RO membrane. The first is a combination sediment and carbon filter, the second is a dedicated carbon block filter, and the third is a combination chlorine and chloramine filter. With those, I'm happy that I can skip the dechlorinator.
I don't like the ironically named 'Aquarium Science' site to be honest. You can't dilute prime, I had a lengthy conversation with reps from Seachem on that exact subject a long time ago. Their comment was that the stabilisers they include in Prime to give it its long life, will not be in sufficient quantity once diluted, and the dechlorination components will break down over time as a result. For the same reasons you can't make solutions from Safe, which is the most cost effective option.
Im furiously taking notes
Dont you worry, I will keep you occupied with questions for several years
Lol fire away - I don't get to geek out with anyone else on this stuff in the real world!
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Oh thats a new one to me. Standard KH2PO4 didnt have enough K for your liking? 😁
That makes sense
Are the triple carbon filters a standard thing, or is this something you have put together yourself?I ask because im inching ever closer to getting an RO unit at some point (maybe when you have fish in your tank
), and I dont like doing anything half-way
Wookii
Member
DAMN YOU GOOGLE!!
That makes sense
I ask because im inching ever closer to getting an RO unit at some point (maybe when you have fish in your tank
Well the filter came with the three 10” filter housings, but only two were set up as prefilters, one with a standard sediment filter, and one with a basic carbon block filter. The third was plumbed in after the RO membranes for DI resin.
To me the DI resin was a bin pointless when I’m already getting 6ppm product water from the unit and also adding more salts to it , so I re-plumbed it as third pre-filter because that was the area I figure I needed the most cover. Plumbing this stuff in is easy though, as it’s all 1/4” push fit which is easy-peasy!
hydrophyte
Member
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2009
- Messages
- 1,051
That stainless tray solution is brilliant! I have wondered about something like that, but could not come up with a very good way to build it. Really interested to see the performance!
Wookii
Member
Thanks mate. It works really well as far as I'm able to tell - I have a test one that been running for about a year in my crypt growing on tank. I pulled some large plants out the other day and they were really well rooted into the tray mesh, but I manage to rip them out the tray didn't budge, so mission accomplished on that front. Obviously some roots get left behind, so I'd need to see if that's an issue over the longer term, or if they'll just break down innocuously over time.
Lol thanks man - it is a big investment, but this tank and set-up will be the basis of my participation in the hobby for the next 20 or more years until they eventually drag me off kicking and screaming to the old peoples home, so the costs are going top be amortised over a very long period. That's why I've built it from the ground up to be easy to maintain and operate, with as much automation as possible so I can focus on the more enjoyable parts of the aquarium and get more long term pleasure from it.
Wookii
Member
So onto the scaping element. This was probably causing me some procrastination in terms of getting the tank set-up and a) I'm crap at scaping at the best of times, and b) I had no clear vision of how I wanted the tank to look.
To quote myself from the OP, this is what I was aiming for:
So broken lines of sight were important. I didn't want the fish to just congregate at the front of the tank - I've come to learn over the years that, for me, what creates interest in a tank, is visually searching for the fish, and waiting form them to appear - that draws me into observing that mini-environment in a much more engaging way than everything being presented front and centre. So the layout had to enable that as much as possible, with lots of pathways, hidey hole and dark hidden areas. These aren't necessarily that evident from the hardscape alone, but will become more apparent as plants grow in and fill the gaps.
In searching for hardscape materials, I wanted something that looked as natural as possible. I couldn't decide between some inverted branches of Talawa wood to look like mangrove roots, or some big chunks of Corbo roots. I decided on the latter for now, and will save the 'Talawa wood as mangroves' idea for a later scape.
Anyway, enough banging on, some more pics (these aren't final, I've made some modifications since, with a pile of rocks to the right, but this is the basic layout):
To quote myself from the OP, this is what I was aiming for:
So broken lines of sight were important. I didn't want the fish to just congregate at the front of the tank - I've come to learn over the years that, for me, what creates interest in a tank, is visually searching for the fish, and waiting form them to appear - that draws me into observing that mini-environment in a much more engaging way than everything being presented front and centre. So the layout had to enable that as much as possible, with lots of pathways, hidey hole and dark hidden areas. These aren't necessarily that evident from the hardscape alone, but will become more apparent as plants grow in and fill the gaps.
In searching for hardscape materials, I wanted something that looked as natural as possible. I couldn't decide between some inverted branches of Talawa wood to look like mangrove roots, or some big chunks of Corbo roots. I decided on the latter for now, and will save the 'Talawa wood as mangroves' idea for a later scape.
Anyway, enough banging on, some more pics (these aren't final, I've made some modifications since, with a pile of rocks to the right, but this is the basic layout):
I disagree and I think the scape looks really nice so far!
You're smart to plan around what is most important to you, like hidden places and room for enough plants to satisfy the itch 😃
I bet the fish are going to love it as well!
Maybe you already wrote about this, but what stock do you have in mind?
Wookii
Member
Thanks you, that's very kind.
Ah that's the best question! That was the first thing I was thinking about before I even got the tank lol - I love small/dwarf species, so the tank for now will consist exclusively of those, even though its a large tank, I'd rather have larger shoals of small fish thans smaller shoals of larger fish - so most will be under 30-40mm.
I still have some old fish, a few very long in the tooth Embers and Chilli's, and still have some of the adolescent Chocolate Gouramis which will be split into two groups, 8 or so in this tank, and the remaining ones going in the Crypt tank as I want to close down their current holding tank.
That’s if I can find any of them in here:
Before they go in though I'll be adding a large group of Tangerine Tiger shrimp as they do very well at low TDS/GH levels:
The ship will get a few weeks or maybe a couple of months fish free to establish themselves and hopefully start breeding en-mass.
In terms of new stock, I want to boost the Chilli Rasbora shoal back up to around 30 or so:
Then I'd like a shoal of around 20 or so Reed/Sedge/Veilfin Tetra (Hyphessobrycon elachys):
I really like the way they shoal and interact:
Then I'd also like a shoal of maybe around 15 or so Threadfin Rainbows (Iriatherina werneri):
(Their colouration varies a bit looking at online images, but the above is the closest to what I've seen in my local shops)
They'll be the main upper water shoal fish. Then I'd like some bottom dwellers. Ideally I'd love a decent sized shoal of the Six Ray/False Cories (Corydoras pauciradiatus) that you have, but I'm struggling to find any for sale.
Inspired by you, I'd also like some 'noodles'! Specifically I'd like to source some Borneo Kuhli Loaches (Pangio alternans) as they stay a bit smaller than the standard Khuli (Pangio Semicincta):
Theeeeeeennnn (are you still with me?), I'd like a couple of special interest fish. I already have some Scarlet Badis (Dario dario) that were bred by @louis_last so they'll be moved over from the crypt tank to this tank:
And finally I'm considering trying a pair of Apistogramma borellii - but I'm still not 100% sure on adding those - they'll be the last to go in if I do try them. If they don't work out, then I'll keep them in a tank of their own.
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Wookii
Member
Thanks Conor. "a new larger set-up" - you already have a tank the same size as this, what are you hoping to move up to?
Well, to be completely honest I filled it and planted it (partially anyway) earlier this week! 😅
I've just been playing catch-up with taking photo's and making the journal posts! (Oh dear @Hufsa is going to so mad at me now! 🙈)
