ingg's 180g and 75g

[ingg]

Thanks Neilanh for the photos.

180g - mineralized soil substrate capped in 3M Colorquartz, running 8x39w T5HO in TEK fixtures 9 hours a day. .2ppm potassium daily is the only fert added. Pressurized CO2, 3-4 bps run into an inline reactor run by a MAG 9.5 on closed loop.

75g - Flourite and 3M mixed in substrate. 4x54 Catalina light, 9-10 hours a day. no ferts yet as it is under 2 weeks old, will do PPS Pro daily once it gets going. Pressurized CO2, 2 bps into Glass diffusor.

 

[Jacko]

Those are the most amazing tanks! I love the 180, most people with that size tank that I know go for the monstery fish but I like seeing a huge mamoth tank filled with nice aquascaping and schooling fish. Is that Crinum sp. in the background?

What did it cost you to get both of these tanks up and to their current point?

 

[neilanh]

Love 'em.

But you already knew that.

 

[ingg]

Crypt Balansae in the corners of the 180g. Middle is hygro Angustifolia.

The 75g wasn't much to set up, as I had everything but the light from before.

The 180g... was ugly. I did it all new. Hmmm, 900 tank and stand, over 700 for the lights, about 500 in filter pump heater, 100 bucks in plumbing (it is plumbed with redundant inline loops and also plumbed into the house for water changes), 200 for a CO2 setup, then misc. for timers, etc., so probably ~$2500 before putting anything inside the tank.

 

[neilanh]

But it's all worth it now, isn't it?

Now that you have a camera, I think we deserve regular updates. And where's the rest of the tanks photos at?

 

[mom2reds]

Very nice tanks, I can't wait to join the ranks of planted tanks.

 

[pitt420dude]

WOw, quite the tank there Ingg.

Very impressive. I like that malaysian DW jutting through the tank.

ON that 180g, what is that big mound towards the middle right? A tree stump w/ substrate sloped around it? How is it that you only need to dose potassium in the big tank. And what is PPS pro, an comprehensive fert?

 

[neilanh]

Sorry - the lighting was distracting me. Chop Chop (I should've done this before I sent you the pics)

 

[neilanh]

I should probably let Dave speak for his own tank, huh? lol

Maybe later.

The "mound" is rocks, that's Manzanita wood, and based on his mineralized soil substrate is why he doesn't fertilize.

 

[pitt420dude]

The more I learn the more questions I have.

What is mineralized soil and does it replace the need for most ferts b/c it slowly releases them into the tank. Does eco-complete or turface mvp do this as well?

 

[ingg]

You have to teach me one of these days how to work with pictures - on both cameras and working with/cropping pics, I am clueless. I'm apoint and shoot, post the results kinda guy, and do need to improve that.

Yeah, what he said

Wood is Manzanita, not malayasian.

PPS Pro is just a leaner way to dose, that doesn't require the huge water changes of EI methods. Both work, I just tend to run my tanks lean no matter what.

Mineralized soil is dirt. Plain old topsoil, cheapest you can buy, dirt. You send it through a series of anaerobic and aerobic cycles (translation: put it underwater, let it dry out, in repeated cycles) until is ends up almost more like sand than chunky topsoil. How I understand it - It allows the soil to "burn" off a lot of the organics, while retaining and bonding to all the mineral goodness in the soil. Add a couple secret ingredients when setting up the tank - k, not really, you add dolomite and muriate of potash for potassium - and bang, enriched substrate for years.

The potassium to the water column is for one plant, in front of the rocks is a plant called "low grow" hygro, and it was growing out with tiny leaves, 1/5 to 1/8 the size of the plant I got. Plants used to water column feeding that suddenly find super rich substrates can often shrink the size of their leaves as they grow out, and this one was going to the extreme - trying to get the leaves back to a more normal size.

 

[ingg]

btw, for many plants, yes, it replaces the need to dose the water column. Matter of fact, dosing the water column in a mineralized soil tank is a good way to get an algae explosion!

There are a few plants that don't like it, the small rooted heavy water column feeder types, but overall, most do fine. I'm new to the soil substrate, but I keep getting told not to dose, or to dose very very lightly - I typoed above and have corrected, it isn't 2 ppm, it is .2 ppm of potassium I'm doing - hardly anything.

Turface is inert, meaning no nutrients in it, so no, doesn't do it. You'd still use a Turface like material as a cap over the dirt - there is 1/2" tops thickness of soil in this tank, then a couple of inches of 3M Colorquartz as a cap. Eco complete kinda does this, yes, though not for the longevity or completeness from what I understand of it.

 

[ingg]

Figured I'd update this before I start ripping into the scape to clean it up some . Added some German Rams, added some more Anubias Lanceolata.
Believe it or not, still don't have to dose this tank. I tried a little, and it didn't go well - almost recuperated now. I dose a minute amount of potassium once every few days - like .1 ppm - just enough to try and keep older anubias leaves healthy. Mineralized soil is the way to go for me!

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Wow looks great! Interesting on that mineralized soil

 

[Purrbox]

Love the driftwood. Love the scape. When are you packing it up to move it to my house???

 

[neilanh]

Wow dave, that's really grown in.

Do I need to send Ghaz over there again?

 

[ingg]

I'm trimmin, I'm trimmin.... sold a bunch of plants online, and bringing some goodies to the club and auction this weekend, too.

It it sorta crazy though - I can trim out 30-40 stellata, 30-40 angustifolia, 3-4 runners of vesuvius every few weeks....LoL, just trimmed the stellata and hygro 2 weeks ago, and look at it!

Was shocked - the one thing that didn't sell out in a heartbeat online this round was the Midifleur sword, have some babies. Not only can you not find the dang thing in the US, as you know, but look how it grew in, it isn't a monster and actually can work in scapes of normal sized tanks! I thought the babies of it'd go first, not last.

 

[neilanh]

wanna send me some stellata and baby swords? I can't make the meetiing, leaving to OH in the morning.

 

[newfound77951]

WOW, amazing! And very interesting about the mineralized soil. Might have to try that one day. Keep posting pics as the tanks progress!

 

[rich311k]

Lovely tanks!