Another 30 redone

[Matt Nace]

Well, I got tired of the rocky looking 30 I had upstairs.

I took all the fish(my breeder cories as well) and took some credit at my fav LFS.

Mixed gravel with schults(after I rinsed it good), and boy is it cloudy!!! As cloudy as my other one was with the flourite.

I have two Powerheads with floss to get some of the debris out( and for current).I had to use the sump( It was drilled through the glass), so I made it so it didn't splash (losing C02)so now the sump is my primary filter for mechanical.

I went to the Home depot, and bought two 65 watt plant lamps ($15 each ) Plus I had 2 - 20 watt strip lights) You would think it is 170 watts, but it is not. The spots mostly shine on the back part.

They are mounted on the wall, about 5 to 6 inches above the top of the aquarium, leaving space for any plant that would like to come out of the water and bloom.

DIY co2 will be setup tomorrow...and My UGF is now "retired".

Talk about some "seeded" gravel, this gravel was my only biological filter....since I shut the sump off a few weeks ago. I didnt rinse it, just Pythoned the debris out, which surprisingly, the UGF snail population was living on.

So that is why I kept getting snails. There must have been a 1000 eggs on the UGF underside.

[ryanp15]

Sounds great. What kinda plants are you going to put in there ??? How long will it take for the stuff to settle in there ???

[Matt Nace]

The reason also, is I have tons of cuttings from my other 30....so some off those will go in there.

I bought a few diffeent plants to try

One new one is dragon tongue..not sure yet of the real name.

A few others too.

It has settled, but still hazy.

I really should take one of my Magnums and micron filter it for a day, like I did on my flourite tank.

[Matt Nace]

Here is an update for those who are intrested.

Ran into some problems with this setup.

The clay conditioner is a lot more dusty and crumby than flourite. Dont get me wrong, it is nice to save the money..but my flourite looks way better.

I had problems with the over head plant lights heating the water. This and it is really getting warm here, raised the temp to 83, 84 degrees.

I started using AC. and leaving the plant lights off during the day, but keeping the 2 tubes on.

I lost one plant(it melted), and I think I saved the rest.I shoved some jobes in the soil for the plants, but not too much liquid fert.

The camboda, and ambulius are starting to look a lot better. My sword is really going nuts.Must like the light.

No Co2 yet..but soon.

Not too much to tell at this point.

[dattack]

How does the profile look with the fluorite mixed.  The profile color is ok, kinda light for my taste.

[Matt Nace]

I haven't mixed the flourite with profile. I mixed the existing gravel with the profile. I agree, it doesn't look as nice . Plus it is must have something that causes the water on top to get a film.

I dont have much surface movement on this tank, but much more than my flourite 30. My Fl 30 has no scum.

Maybe it is from the melting plant that I took out. but I moved a powerhead up a little to push it into the sump some more.

[ryanp15]

Um does barbs pic look huge to anyone else ??? ;D

[Matt Nace]

I dont know what is going on with that...lol

[Matt Nace]

Well I moved my 4 lemons and 10 red-eyes to the second 30 planted.

I am having trouble keeping Purple plants. For some reason they don't do well, or maybe they are bog or pond plants. So the purple one came out. As did the sunset hydro, it melted(didn't get the air on in time.)

This tank lack trace elements which I just added. I have to get the Co2 going(I am lazy) , the light is too intense for me not to get it in there, don't want an algae outbreak.

Sword, surprisingly is going nuts. It has already outgrew the tank. The ambulia, not surprisingly, is doing very well. It is showing yellow leaves, which the trace elements will help with.

the bronze wendtii 's are needing some TLC, they dont look so good.

Vals are not looking good either.

Everything else is ok.

It is good to see a bad side, as my other tank went perfect.I am learning , you have to take the steps and not rush it.

wish me luck.

[Matt Nace]

Here is how the newer one is doing. I added 2-2liter bottles of DIY. It has shown good results. Since adding the seachem trace elements and leaf zone, All the plants have recovered well.

I still need an algae crew. It is only one SAE, and 4 ottos, and a bunch of snails. 10 red eyes, 4 lemons, 6 cherry barbs, and a yoyo loach is the rest.

All the plants pearl by about 4:30 pm, when the water becomes rich in O2 from a days work of producing it. As all my tanks, the lights are on 12 hours.

The plant light really do well on the back row of plants, yet they reach toward the flos toward the front, intresting.

Algae on the plants is a little problem, and the hair algae has gone away on most of the fast growing plants. The ambulia, swords, camboda, and vals are doing well. The wendettis are growing a lot of new stalks, and I am becomming happy with the tank now.

Fert is seachem's trace lements, along with leaf zone. Co2 added, 2 -65 watts lamps, and 2 -20 watt flos.

Nitrates are 20 (from jobes), and the plants sub is profile with some gravel, 5 1/2 to 6 inches depth.

I have had success so far with deep substrate. As soon as my rott tabs plus Iron arrive, I will add these.

keep ya posted.