22 gallon office build

[mch1984]

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.

Thanks, I'm enjoying it. I almost went spider plant for my emerged but went this route on accident. I bought the aluminum plants from a LFS and then read about them later (you think I would learn not to do that). Come to find out they are one of the many plants sold as aquatic but don't do well submerged. so instead of spider I went with them and the mangroves. I'm not sure what I'll do with the mangroves when they get bigger. At some point I'll have to buy a hanging kit for the AI prime and make it higher. A buddy of mine has a rather large mangrove he's had for about 4 years in freshwater. He just bought a new tank and a colony of wild caught mollies and is going to put it in there. I'm pretty sure it may be one of my favorite tanks once it's together. Simple but pretty in the fact it's a natural for those two to be together in the wild. I still have no idea what I'm going to stock as far as fish go, I just know I want shrimp so it has to be shrimp friendly. I'm still leaning toward endlers, or a I may start digging into some exotics. Then again, some mollies would be a good addition as well. They are easy fish and worker bees, plus active swimmers so they can be fun to have.

The only thing floating for now is the pennywort, I floated it because I didn't know where to put it, but kind of dig the look. As far as filtration goes, it's really just a filter sock, some chemi pure green and a little ceramics for bio.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

@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.

What's the end game on increasing the CO2?

 

[mch1984]

Mostly wanting to go really heavy on co2 initially to get plants rooted and established. The quicker that gets done the better chance of them out competing algae and it becoming a problem. Once the are doing good then turn it down so it’s better for fish/shrimp.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Mostly wanting to go really heavy on co2 initially to get plants rooted and established. The quicker that gets done the better chance of them out competing algae and it becoming a problem. Once the are doing good then turn it down so it’s better for fish/shrimp.

That's exactly what I thought your answer would be. I asked because I hate making assumptions.

I wouldn't think bumping the CO2 would harm anything. If you want to take an "advanced" approach have you considered ferts in conjunction?

 

[w2inc]

I had some Mollies in my system and they all slowly took on what looked like live bearer disease. I read that they don't handle low ph well and I decided that was probably the issue but didn't look much deeper than that.

Diana Walstad's book ecology of the planted aquarium was one of the most useful books I have read on plant tanks. One of the concepts surrounding emergent plants and algae control was based on limited co2 in the tank. End game is that the emerged plant constantly has all the c02 it needs and can suck up all the other nutrients through its roots, it also receives more sunlight and can metabolize faster, thereby keeping the water nutrient poor and giving the rooted plants an advantage (assuming there is plenty of food in the soil) over algae. Limiting Iron was more important, but that starts to get off topic.

There are always other pieces to the puzzle but thinking of my tank, more light up top and less co2 might have been the key. Less co2 might also get your plants to drive the roots deeper. My plants just looked so awesome when they were putting out all those bubbles that it was hard to stop the co2.

 

[sfin52]

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.

I have the fx 4 and I love it.

 

[mch1984]

That's exactly what I thought your answer would be. I asked because I hate making assumptions.

I wouldn't think bumping the CO2 would harm anything. If you want to take an "advanced" approach have you considered ferts in conjunction?

Actually dosed ferts yesterday.

 

[Jeight]

Actually dosed ferts yesterday.

old people sure do get up early...been up since 6 was hoping for at least 7

 

[mch1984]

I have the fx 4 and I love it.

Yeah I’m enjoying it, doing a lot better job than the little sump that was on it.

 

[mch1984]

old people sure do get up early...been up since 6 was hoping for at least 7

Lol, I probably wouldn’t be up so early if I didn’t have to work today.

 

[Jeight]

Lol, I probably wouldn’t be up so early if I didn’t have to work today.

no work but I have kettlebell class in a little while and a kids birthday party to go to after that...tbf would rather go to work then a kid birthday where I dont know anyone

 

[Waters]

@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.

Since you have fish, I personally wouldn't increase CO2 without being able to see the levels in your tank, for fear of gassing your livestock.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Actually dosed ferts yesterday.

I think I'd stick with where the CO2 is for now. The ferts will certainly help and you won't have to worry about over-gassing. By "over-gassing" I mean your tank. Not your poor wife. :p

 

[That Crusso Kid]

old people sure do get up early...been up since 6 was hoping for at least 7

Been up since 5:30. Went to sleep about midnight. Woke up at 3:00 and was up until 4:30. Pretty typical night for me as I've never slept like what other people call "normal." The best sleep I get is in the last span of sleep.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Lol, I probably wouldn’t be up so early if I didn’t have to work today.

Ohhhh, you're at work? That means you can snap a couple new pics of the tank. Maybe get one from the sides so we can have multiple viewpoints.

 

[mch1984]

Since you have fish, I personally wouldn't increase CO2 without being able to see the levels in your tank, for fear of gassing your livestock.

No fish yet, just plants at the moment.

 

[mch1984]

As per requested, some more pics. Water is still hazzy, hopefully that goes away. I keep waiting on the chemi pure to clear it up.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

As per requested, some more pics. Water is still hazzy, hopefully that goes away. I keep waiting on the chemi pure to clear it up.

Thanks for the different perspectives. I'm really digging it!

 

[mch1984]

Thanks for the different perspectives. I'm really digging it!

I always question the scapes when I first do them but this one is growing on me quickly. I like the "jungle" or "natural" look, I think the other styles are nice too. If the hair grass takes off ti will be even better looking. I've considered putting the co2 diffuser in the back chamber and may still. I read where it was suggested to have that style in a high flow area, that away the co2 bubbles have more contact time with the water. I worry if I put it in the back chamber It wont be as good of flow. Although it would be nice to have zero equipment in the tank.

 

[Waters]

No fish yet, just plants at the moment.

Ahhh, gotcha....then crank it up :)