Bert's 60g Planted Tank

[Bert2oo1]

Need to silicon up the reactor today, it's been leaking a little because I forgot to glue it all together [emoji17].

I'm up to about 5 bps and the check just went lime green in the last hour yesterday. I'll have to dial it back today I recon.

All going well so far

 

[KingKoopa512]

Need to silicon up the reactor today, it's been leaking a little because I forgot to glue it all together [emoji17].

I'm up to about 5 bps and the check just went lime green in the last hour yesterday. I'll have to dial it back today I recon.

All going well so far

Nice writing down all the pieces I need for the reactor on paper. Would a phosban reactor work to.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Nice writing down all the pieces I need for the reactor on paper. Would a phosban reactor work to.

I just used a house filter like fresh said in your post, all the irrigation fittings screw in perfectly. My hose barbs were 19mm but the 16/22 filter hose slipped straight over nicely once I put it in some boiling water for. Few seconds. Clamped it off with some stainless hose clamps.

I found the fittings for the cerges reactor easier to find and if you ask me it's a better build quality. All up cost me about $50 Aus. It's a lot cheaper in the US

Here's the links for 2 different types:

http://rotalabutterfly.com/rex-grigg/diy-reactor.htm

https://glassboxgardeners.com/threads/how-to-build-a-cerges-co2-reactor.346/

 

[KingKoopa512]

I just used a house filter like fresh said in your post, all the irrigation fittings screw in perfectly. My hose barbs were 19mm but the 16/22 filter hose slipped straight over nicely once I put it in some boiling water for. Few seconds. Clamped it off with some stainless hose clamps.

I found the fittings for the cerges reactor easier to find and if you ask me it's a better build quality. All up cost me about $50 Aus. It's a lot cheaper in the US

Here's the links for 2 different types:

http://rotalabutterfly.com/rex-grigg/diy-reactor.htm

https://glassboxgardeners.com/threads/how-to-build-a-cerges-co2-reactor.346/

Sweet awesome information. Thanks bud sorry didn't mean to Jack ur thread my apologies.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Sweet awesome information. Thanks bud sorry didn't mean to Jack ur thread my apologies.

Haha it's fine! Always happy to help

 

[Bert2oo1]

Getting very very frustrated with these otto's. Half my carpet was torn out over night.. I attempted to catch them today but the plant mass is too large and they are far too fast. I've buried the HC right into the substrate so hopefully that will help. If not I'll be putting stainless mesh over the top of them untill they root in

Co2 is dialed in at an uncountable bubble rate. Checker went yellow an hours before it turned off. Might have to tweak it tomorrow but I'm thinking I'm getting pretty close.

Half dosed micro's today.

 

[flchamp89]

I was always curious about ottos and small plants or carpets. I think they would tear up my parva and p.helferi

 

[Caliban07]

Funnily enough my ottos haven't been too bad. Monte Carlo and P.helferi stays rooted. Perhaps they are looking for food as there isn't enough of whatever it is they graze on present yet?

Try dropping a bit of cucumber or courgette in there. It might keep them off the lawn[emoji6]

 

[Bert2oo1]

Funnily enough my ottos haven't been too bad. Monte Carlo and P.helferi stays rooted. Perhaps they are looking for food as there isn't enough of whatever it is they graze on present yet?

Try dropping a bit of cucumber or courgette in there. It might keep them off the lawn[emoji6]

Ah good point! I've got some algae wafers I feed the pleco in the 90. Might drop one of those in

 

[Bert2oo1]

Co2 is all dialed in! I'd say it's at about 5bps. Reactor is working perfectly, no micro bubbles anywhere and getting a great mix of co2.

I could reduce surface movement and dial it back abit but I'm doing abit of an experiment with higher o2 concentration. (My duck bill on the aqua one 750 sits just above water line)
I've noticed a lot of the "pro's" tanks have some pretty serious surface movement. Surely there is reasoning behind this. I've also heared high o2 can help keep BBA away so it's worth a shot!

Drop checker is yellow for the last 2 hours of photoperiod.

Currently still dosing half EI and everything is looking really good!

 

[Caliban07]

Co2 is all dialed in! I'd say it's at about 5bps. Reactor is working perfectly, no micro bubbles anywhere and getting a great mix of co2.

I could reduce surface movement and dial it back abit but I'm doing abit of an experiment with higher o2 concentration. (My duck bill on the aqua one 750 sits just above water line)
I've noticed a lot of the "pro's" tanks have some pretty serious surface movement. Surely there is reasoning behind this. I've also heared high o2 can help keep BBA away so it's worth a shot!

Drop checker is yellow for the last 2 hours of photoperiod.

Currently still dosing half EI and everything is looking really good!

Awesome. A bit jealous of the no bubbles but I'm not in the mood to start with an external reactor at the moment. I might try turning co2 off a bit earlier so I get a few hours of no bubble heaven.

Yea normally they will have good surface agitation but then the co2 up more. I've read many cases where BBA grows in high flow areas near the filter. Put me off the low o2 theory but you never know.

Glad you got co2 dialled in right [emoji106] time to grow.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Awesome. A bit jealous of the no bubbles but I'm not in the mood to start with an external reactor at the moment. I might try turning co2 off a bit earlier so I get a few hours of no bubble heaven.

Yea normally they will have good surface agitation but then the co2 up more. I've read many cases where BBA grows in high flow areas near the filter. Put me off the low o2 theory but you never know.

Glad you got co2 dialled in right [emoji106] time to grow.

True, I had BBA growing on the edge of the holes of the spray bar in the 30g. I think having the co2 dialed in right from the start will certainly help me keep it away. Changing from DIY to pressurised was when BBA started and it just never left. (My Java moss was basically BBA moss)

I've got the drop checker on the far left side of the tank about half way down and the reactor runs on the filter on the far right so I'm almost 100% sure I've got enough co2.

My tank can't be too far away from running out either as I haven't had to fill it since I brought it. That was about 4-6 months ago.

I'm a little unhappy with the flow pattern to be honest, my milfoil is laying over to the right side. Looks abit messy.

Lights are still at 50% according to my lighting par chart I should be at around 70-80 as 100% is 160 at 45cm. I'm at 50% with 40cm to substrate.

Everything is looking nice and healthy tho so I can't complain yet. Early days tho. Give it a few weeks and I'm sure I'll hit a speed bump of some form.

 

[flchamp89]

Bert are you way over 30ppm at 5bps ?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Bert are you way over 30ppm at 5bps ?

I recon I would be. I haven't actually measured it properly but I'd be between 30-40 I'd imagine. I've never understood how to reference it with ph and kh. I've always just cranked it till the checker is yellow and the fish look fine.

If drop checker is ment to be 30 at lime green then surely I'm safe with it being yellow haha

 

[flchamp89]

Im still learning alot and playing with ppm theories. I just wouldn't think it would take 5bps for you to get there with size of your tank and system. If you can hold that count thats awesome though

 

[Bert2oo1]

Im still learning alot and playing with ppm theories. I just wouldn't think it would take 5bps for you to get there with size of your tank and system. If you can hold that count thats awesome though

I think because I have such a strong surface ripple it tends to off gas a fair bit. I may consider cutting down the surface agitation but for the moment I want to see if it has any effect in the tank.
I've read a fair bit about good o2 concentration in the aquarium so I thought I'd try it out. It's very much a divided discussion, some say it's a good thing and you must have it. Others say it's really not a big issue. Some people even go as far as putting an Airstone in over night while the co2 is off.

Personally I think that's abit over kill, so surface movement it is!

I've also been dosing excel daily so I'm sure there would be far more carbon in there than needed lol excel is only to kill any floating algae spores that the filter may have brang in from the 30g tho

 

[flchamp89]

Im rated at 219gph in my 10. Im familiar with your comments. Its interesting though because I have small area of bba in my parva in an area with most flow. Ive always been a flow and over filter guy. I am also fairly sure thats where my hair/string start. It started near surface maybe 60 par im guessing. I spoke with hoppy one time who like me agreed flow is not a negative only a positive. Im not really sure any more. I will say that the little bit of algae I have has not seen to spread. Looks and stays the same. Bba may be little better with constant bps now. My macro and micro have tripled since August yet no real change either way with algae. Light went from 6 hrs to 9 and back down to 7 during that time. So much science. Gotta love it lol

 

[Caliban07]

I recon I would be. I haven't actually measured it properly but I'd be between 30-40 I'd imagine. I've never understood how to reference it with ph and kh. I've always just cranked it till the checker is yellow and the fish look fine.

If drop checker is ment to be 30 at lime green then surely I'm safe with it being yellow haha

Just remember that green is 30ppm not so much lime green [emoji846] if you look at your DC and it's green the chances are the co2 is higher since it takes time for the DC to respond. I aim for green at lights on. Then I know I probably have a touch more. Liquid carbon as a complimentary helps quite a bit.

We all know how we shouldn't take these test results as gospel though. I had the best success in the 46 when my dc was lime/yellow.

 

[flchamp89]

Exactly right

 

[Caliban07]

Im rated at 219gph in my 10. Im familiar with your comments. Its interesting though because I have small area of bba in my parva in an area with most flow. Ive always been a flow and over filter guy. I am also fairly sure thats where my hair/string start. It started near surface maybe 60 par im guessing. I spoke with hoppy one time who like me agreed flow is not a negative only a positive. Im not really sure any more. I will say that the little bit of algae I have has not seen to spread. Looks and stays the same. Bba may be little better with constant bps now. My macro and micro have tripled since August yet no real change either way with algae. Light went from 6 hrs to 9 and back down to 7 during that time. So much science. Gotta love it lol

I've read that BBA grows in fast flowing rivers which probably have lots of o2.

Are you PPS or EI?