22 gallon office build

[That Crusso Kid]

Didn’t get my walk in tonight, but I will get my 4 in this week. I ended up doing a big project on my 180 freshwater. I was running a horribly noisy hang on the back overflow with a wet dry sump. Went to petsmart and noticed the fx6 canister was $120 off normal price. So I made the switch.

Those are some nice filters!

 

[Jeight]

Didn’t get my walk in tonight, but I will get my 4 in this week. I ended up doing a big project on my 180 freshwater. I was running a horribly noisy hang on the back overflow with a wet dry sump. Went to petsmart and noticed the fx6 canister was $120 off normal price. So I made the switch.

Nice filter!! show the rest of that FW tank :)

Pounded out 5m at a 16:12 pace ....was already tired from working on elevator controls that went wonky which requires a straight ladder up the side of the building to a machine room..over and over and over.

I have a petco down the street and it pains me to go in there...the quality of livestock makes the tanks seem like death row I almost feel like buying them just to save them from slow death but I know new ones will take their place

Side note you guys ever hear anything about filefish having a semi-symbiotic relationship with xenia?

 

[mch1984]

Nice filter!! show the rest of that FW tank :)

Pounded out 5m at a 16:12 pace ....was already tired from working on elevator controls that went wonky which requires a straight ladder up the side of the building to a machine room..over and over and over.

I have a petco down the street and it pains me to go in there...the quality of livestock makes the tanks seem like death row I almost feel like buying them just to save them from slow death but I know new ones will take their place

Side note you guys ever hear anything about filefish having a semi-symbiotic relationship with xenia?

I'll post a picture one day, it's a wreck right now. I haven't been great with that tank when I got into saltwater and it kind of fell by the wayside some. In the next week or two I'm going to do a massive reset and then I'll take some pictures.

 

[mch1984]

Well it’s planted, well see how I feel about it when the water clears. That substrate was a pain to plant in. I had to do the hair grass in big clumps so it will take a little longer to carpet. @neoGeorge if I had to classify my tank type, it would be jungle lol.

 

[mch1984]

Almost didn’t do it tonight because I was trying to tell myself it was too late. I didn’t want to let @crusso1993 down so I did anyways.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Well it’s planted, well see how I feel about it when the water clears. That substrate was a pain to plant in. I had to do the hair grass in big clumps so it will take a little longer to carpet. @neoGeorge if I had to classify my tank type, it would be jungle lol.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Almost didn’t do it tonight because I was trying to tell myself it was too late. I didn’t want to let @crusso1993 down so I did anyways.

Great job! You've had more motivation than me this week!

 

[neoGeorge]

Well it’s planted, well see how I feel about it when the water clears. That substrate was a pain to plant in. I had to do the hair grass in big clumps so it will take a little longer to carpet. @neoGeorge if I had to classify my tank type, it would be jungle lol.

@mch1984 , looking good! Definitely a "nature" style aquarium - George Farmer's favorite and very popular in contests!

 

[w2inc]

I use dirt from the yard, some crushed coral mixed with filter floss, old reef lights, auto feeder, Co2 to get things kick started, random water changes a couple times a year when I feel like it. I love low tech. I use dirt from the backyard. I love low tech.

 

[mch1984]

I use dirt from the yard, some crushed coral mixed with filter floss, old reef lights, auto feeder, Co2 to get things kick started, random water changes a couple times a year when I feel like it. I love low tech. I use dirt from the backyard. I love low tech.

edit: I answered my own question after getting on my computer.

 

[mch1984]

Well already have life in the tank, even though I didn't really want this one. In the past I have done bleach dips on plants to try and stop this problem. With these plants already being a little stressed with multiple transitions I decided not to. I'm sure this isn't the only one and if it does become a problem I'll order some assassin snails, I'm sure it wouldn't take very many to make short work of a tank this size.

 

[mch1984]

I use dirt from the yard, some crushed coral mixed with filter floss, old reef lights, auto feeder, Co2 to get things kick started, random water changes a couple times a year when I feel like it. I love low tech. I use dirt from the backyard. I love low tech.

Never mind, I see now they are discus. Earlier I was looking on my phone and it was harder to see. Now that I"m on my computer they are obviously discus lol. I like the tank; how is the shrimp population doing with the discus in the tank?

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Well already have life in the tank, even though I didn't really want this one. In the past I have done bleach dips on plants to try and stop this problem. With these plants already being a little stressed with multiple transitions I decided not to. I'm sure this isn't the only one and if it does become a problem I'll order some assassin snails, I'm sure it wouldn't take very many to make short work of a tank this size.

But it's such a cute lil fella!

I'm going to be pointing @NotFishyFishGuy to this thread. And it would be great if @neoGeorge can post a link to his FW too!

 

[mch1984]

A few shots from this morning, still a little hazy. If it's like when I first filled, it will be a couple days before it all goes away. Put a fresh sock in this morning to help it out. After seeing how this thing turned out, I will for sure be doing fish. Fish would be in heaven will all the dark spots and hiding spots in this tank. I have no idea what yet but I'll be adding something.

 

[neoGeorge]

A few shots from this morning, still a little hazy. If it's like when I first filled, it will be a couple days before it all goes away. Put a fresh sock in this morning to help it out. After seeing how this thing turned out, I will for sure be doing fish. Fish would be in heaven will all the dark spots and hiding spots in this tank. I have no idea what yet but I'll be adding something.

Cleaning up nicely!

 

[neoGeorge]

But it's such a cute lil fella!

I'm going to be pointing @NotFishyFishGuy to this thread. And it would be great if @neoGeorge can post a link to his FW too!

My freshwater is commingled with my reef, lol. Arrived in Phoenix, plants are on their way.

 

[mch1984]

My freshwater is commingled with my reef, lol. Arrived in Phoenix, plants are on their way.

I'm glad you started throwing in more about the planted in your build thread. I like seeing both on there.

 

[mch1984]

Ha, oddly enough my planted tank build has more post than my main reef build.

 

[mch1984]

@Waters, @crusso1993, and anybody else who wants to answer. I dropped my drop checker when I was planting and it shattered. I have ordered a new one and currently have my co2 going in about 1.5-2 bubbles per second. Think I should bump that while it's just plants and a few pesky snails? I was hesitant to increase very much without being able to see my levels.

 

[w2inc]

The photo was from the high point of my tank. As the discus grew and realized the shrimp could be food it was suddenly a shrimp slaughter. Most of the red shrimp just stayed under the canopy and lived there. I added some feeder shrimp to keep things cleaned up on top of the plants and figured the discus could eat them if they wanted. The discus totally ignored them, but if a red one showed up on top they were on it immediately.

I recently sold the discus and am going to stick with Cardinal tetras and Red Neo shrimp. I have a 7 gallon that is coming up on 3 years old that works well with that set up. I used co2 in the beginning with both of them to jump start things. I think it caused issues with the 120 gallon because the H. Cuba grew in so thick that it killed off its roots. I think if I had turned it off sooner I could have prevented that but I was concerned about letting the pH rise while the discus were in there. I have been slowly tearing out the Cuba and moving to Glossostigma. It doesn't look as cool to me and I might go back to the Cuba and just pull the co2 as soon as the carpet starts to fill.

I grew the H. Cuba in a tank on my back patio and it did really well until winter hit. I don't think you need c02 but it is fun to see grow like they do when you use it.

I had an extra pH controller from a calcium reactor that I wasn't using and controlled my co2 dose that way. 2 bubbles per second on the 120 could drop my pH to 7.0 pretty fast. It was never constantly on. I keep crushed coral in my canister filter and so my water is really hard. I cant imagine how fast pH would drop if I had softer water. The LFS as well as my only friend that grew plants both just go with the bubble count method and turn it off at night. My friends tank crashed and he shut it down. Bubble count method just seems like kind of a loose cannon to me.

Emergent plants have worked great for me to keep algae in check. I have tried spider plants, most floating pond plants and some decorative bamboo. The spider plants have done the best job for me. The bamboo lives, but does not really send out roots. Floating plants have a done their job to fix algae issues but they block light, so not a permanent fix. I think your Mangrove is awesome!

I have a small all in one uv sterilizer I can just drop in the tank when I get green water. I like it. I think it was $30 on amazon. The uv won't fit in my 7 gallon. The pond plants I used brought in some daphnia. They bloom with the green water and will clear it up. Fish love them. Generally, it seems like after my tank is a few months old and the shrimp population grows then everything stabilizes. If things go weird I just change some water and it comes back around. I have some 2 gallon set ups that go with no filter. I keep shrimp and occasionally a couple guppies in them. They work and I think it is totally doable to go no filter on a large scale.

It is a cool project you have going on. Thanks for sharing it.