My reef-pi build freshwater style!

[Bigtrout]

Trout,

What are the major components to turning a standard freshwater tank into a planted tank? Is it just lights or are you adding c02, dosing something, special dirt?

I have a 20g fresh with some tetras and one small plant that lives but grows slow. It would be fun to fill it with plants.

Ill give a better explanation later when im home from work but in my case, its good light...i DONT use co2, and my substrate is just black diamond blasting sand from tractor supply, and I dont dose anything...plants get what they need from fish poop and regular water changes.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

Ill give a better explanation later when im home from work

I should be working too but instead I’m day dreaming.

No hurry to answer. Work hard.

What’s the difference between reef lights and fresh water lights? Where is the best place to get plants? Should light be ramped up with plant growth to prevent algae outbreak?

 

[Bigtrout]

Ill give a better explanation later when im home from work but in my case, its good light...i DONT use co2, and my substrate is just black diamond blasting sand from tractor supply.

I should be working too but instead I’m day dreaming.

No hurry to answer. Work hard.

What’s the difference between reef lights and fresh water lights? Where is the best place to get plants? Should light be ramped up with plant growth to prevent algae outbreak?

In general reef lights are alot more blue than a frwshwater light where 6500k is a good setup, and reef lights are usually throwing more par than needed for plants.
When growing plants without co2 you shoot for about 40-80 par on the substrate. And yes its helpful to be able to throttle the light to adjust plant growth.
Plants need light, co2, nitrates and other ferts, if you have a shortage of one and abundance of the others you end up with algae of some kind and stunted plants,so you look for balance between those elements.
In my case the fish, and water flow give the plants what they need so I adjust the light to try and keep that balance.

 

[Bigtrout]

As far as plants go, look for some easy fast growing plants at first. Be careful alot of places sell plants that are not truly aquatic and will slowly die.

Good beginners plants are Vallisneria, Amazon swords, crytpocoryne species, sagittaria species...start with a few of those at first...just like fish, dont try to get a tankful all at once. Get a few and let them grow and fill in the tank.

 

[Ranjib]

I should be working too but instead I’m day dreaming.

No hurry to answer. Work hard.

What’s the difference between reef lights and fresh water lights? Where is the best place to get plants? Should light be ramped up with plant growth to prevent algae outbreak?

they are lot stronger (wattage wise), have different spectrum (460nm) and kinda specific about it (not to have many other spectra) to avoid algae etc. They are lot more expensive, by orders of magnitude and good quality light is a must-have for anything beyond beginner level corals.

 

[Bigtrout]

Just an update, since the 2.3 upgrade to fix the PCA9685 frequency, my light has been working great, dimming well and its nice having full control of the light. The fish appreciate the lights gently ramping up and down and their behavior is better to watch, some appreciate the dim light when during my "sunrise" and "sunset" the plecos become active, the school of 5 cory cats go on an evening "hunt" together, the daytime active fish slow down and go into sleep mode and some "disappear" into the plants at bedtime. And when the "moon rises" and the actinic leds light up, the glofish that my wife likes, start to glow in increasing intensity. I never knew that glofish were created by splicing CORAL genes into black tetras. The glow doesnt go away, in fact feeding a good food with salmon and other good ingredients intensifies the glow.
Pretty darn kewl.

 

[Michael Lane]

Just an update, since the 2.3 upgrade to fix the PCA9685 frequency, my light has been working great, dimming well and its nice having full control of the light. The fish appreciate the lights gently ramping up and down and their behavior is better to watch, some appreciate the dim light when during my "sunrise" and "sunset" the plecos become active, the school of 5 cory cats go on an evening "hunt" together, the daytime active fish slow down and go into sleep mode and some "disappear" into the plants at bedtime. And when the "moon rises" and the actinic leds light up, the glofish that my wife likes, start to glow in increasing intensity. I never knew that glofish were created by splicing CORAL genes into black tetras. The glow doesnt go away, in fact feeding a good food with salmon and other good ingredients intensifies the glow.
Pretty darn kewl.

You guys are making me want to get into freshwater planted too!

 

[Bigtrout]

You guys are making me want to get into freshwater planted too!

Heres a planted tank nightshot! I was skeptical when the wife wanted glofish but they have kind of grown on me!

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

You guys are making me want to get into freshwater planted too!

All the cool kids are.

Fowlr > softies > lps > sps > freshwater planted ?!

 

[Ranjib]

I am actually thinking of a small freshwater tank , for garage

 

[Bigtrout]

I am actually thinking of a small freshwater tank , for garage

Are you going to try a planted tank?

 

[Bigtrout]

No news is good news...reef pi humming along...no issues, equipment all works, macros, lighting, heating. Outstanding!

I am however looking at making my build more robust, and safer. Those 8 channel relay boards DO NOT have the most reliable relays. Although the boards are cheap, I wonder how long the china branded Songle relays last compared to a some industrial name branded mini relays.

 

[Mikeneedsahobby]

I’ve wished that I could switch some of the relays to a type that is normally on.

 

[Bigtrout]

Mine are all wired normally on(closed), that way if reef pi goes haywire, or the raspberry pi dies, my outlets default to on...but I planned it that way...if I had something I wanted to default to off, I would use normally open contacts.

The Songle branded relays have decent specs, but I have had one fail already on my 8 channel relay board. Yes, the seller on amazon sent out a new one but that doesnt bring fish or plants back to life, or get me back running in a few hours. As an industrial control guy, I find it hard to believe a 35 cent relay is as robust as a Phoenix contact or even a cheaper Omron branded relay. There are some interesting options in mini relays with din rail mounted sockets. Better yet, each relay can be switched out by plugging a spare into a socket, which is alot easier than changing out the 8 channel board, so my build may change a bit to reflect that.

 

[Bigtrout]

No news is good news, tank is humming along well.

I found ANOTHER young bristlenose pleco today. Thats 3 offspring so far from 1 golden male and 2 brown females. The first 2 offspring were brown, this one takes after big daddy pleco, and is golden. Under the moonlights, the golden bristlenose eyes glow an eerie blue!

 

[Bigtrout]

Update: smooth sailing!

Made a nice craiglist score, going to be making my build alot safer and more reliable

PHOENIX CONTACT 24 volt dc mini single pole double throw relays (one set of NO and NC contacts) good for 20,000,000 operations.

They have 6 amp capacity at 120v for resistive loads and 3 amp for inductive loads like motors etc.

Coils only draw 7 milliamps, so they only draw .17 watts each

Replacable in nice din rail sockets with build in protection diodes and led indicators.

Also came with a 24v 10 watt Meanwell din rail power supply to run them.

Heres all 14 relays with the power supply on a 4.5 inch piece of din rail

There were also 6 omron double pole double throw relays in the box with them(2 sets of NO and NC contacts)

All of these were new in the box, I got the whole lot for a whopping 10 dollars

The uln2803 of my @Michael Lane hat will handle 24v, so these will make a great upgraded power controller, thats much more finger safe than the 8 channel relay boards and with socketed relays, the relays are easily replaced.

 

[crusso1993]

Update: smooth sailing!

Made a nice craiglist score, going to be making my build alot safer and more reliable

PHOENIX CONTACT 24 volt dc mini single pole double throw relays (one set of NO and NC contacts) good for 20,000,000 operations.

They have 6 amp capacity at 120v for resistive loads and 3 amp for inductive loads like motors etc.

Coils only draw 7 milliamps, so they only draw .17 watts each

Replacable in nice din rail sockets with build in protection diodes and led indicators.

Also came with a 24v 10 watt Meanwell din rail power supply to run them.

Heres all 14 relays with the power supply on a 4.5 inch piece of din rail

There were also 6 omron double pole double throw relays in the box with them(2 sets of NO and NC contacts)

All of these were new in the box, I got the whole lot for a whopping 10 dollars

The uln2803 of my @Michael Lane hat will handle 24v, so these will make a great upgraded power controller, thats much more finger safe than the 8 channel relay boards and with socketed relays, the relays are easily replaced.

That is a great score!

 

[Bigtrout]

A bit off topic here, but I have a chance at a 60 gallon framed, reef ready cube(tank only with built in overflow) for $100.

Should I go for it? Not ready to set up until fall but i think its a heck of a deal. With my 75 gallon, I dont have alot of room and another long tank is out of the question. But a 24x24 footprint could work...

 

[crusso1993]

A bit off topic here, but I have a chance at a 60 gallon framed, reef ready cube(tank only with built in overflow) for $100.

Should I go for it? Not ready to set up until fall but i think its a heck of a deal. With my 75 gallon, I dont have alot of room and another long tank is out of the question. But a 24x24 footprint could work...

That is a nice size and I've not seen a whole lot of them. Especially since you're working with limited space. I would offer them $75.

 

[Bigtrout]

That is a nice size and I've not seen a whole lot of them. Especially since you're working with limited space. I would offer them $75.

My thoughts exactly...offer 75, would make a nice fall/winter project because id have to build another home made stand with room for a 20 gallon underneath for a sump, and if course another reef pi!

Perhaps even dabble in....
SALTWATER!!!!!