First Planted Tank

[fishfanatic]

Wow that looks like a great deal thanks for the heads up. That comes with everything I need except the tank and a drop checker, right? Any idea on when that sale will end?

You will still need a co2 tank, drop checker, and a defusing method. I bough my regulator for that same price over 4 months ago and the sale is still going, so I don't think it will end anytime soon (but I have no clue).

 

[rcherry]

I'm trying to figure out the best method for injecting the co2 into my setup. I have a 75 gallon tank with off centered over flow box that runs down to a 20 gallon sump. Should I go with an in-line diffuser into a powerhead somehow? Or is a ceramic or glass diffuser fine? I'm not sure what a reactor is but I know thats an option too.

 

[fishfanatic]

I'm trying to figure out the best method for injecting the co2 into my setup. I have a 75 gallon tank with off centered over flow box that runs down to a 20 gallon sump. Should I go with an in-line diffuser into a powerhead somehow? Or is a ceramic or glass diffuser fine? I'm not sure what a reactor is but I know thats an option too.

I would recommend an inline co2 defuser any day of the week. Does your sump make a lot a splashing?

 

[fishfanatic]

I'm trying to figure out the best method for injecting the co2 into my setup. I have a 75 gallon tank with off centered over flow box that runs down to a 20 gallon sump. Should I go with an in-line diffuser into a powerhead somehow? Or is a ceramic or glass diffuser fine? I'm not sure what a reactor is but I know thats an option too.

If you decide to use an inline reactor and if your return tubing is 1 inch in diameter then I have the basics of it already built. (I was planning on using it for one of my tanks but then I realized that I will be running 2 filters on the tank, and one of which already has an in line reactor).

 

[meegosh]

I got the ma957 off ebay for 86 new so that is a good price. You will need tank, drop checker, diffuser, and a timer for your solenoid. I find glass diffusers to be junk, they clog and produce huge bubbles after a month. I've been having luck with my Red Sea 500 co2 reactor in my 30g, fwiw.

 

[Gillie]

I got the ma957 off ebay for 86 new so that is a good price. You will need tank, drop checker, diffuser, and a timer for your solenoid. I find glass diffusers to be junk, they clog and produce huge bubbles after a month. I've been having luck with my Red Sea 500 co2 reactor in my 30g, fwiw.

The Red Sea reactor is nice, but can be bulky and tough to hide, another option is the Fluval co2 Diffusor, if it clogs you just replace the disc.

 

[rcherry]

Thanks for the quick responses, everybody's been a huge help. I designed my sump to have minimum surface disturbance so there is virtually no splashing. Is the difference between a reactor and diffuser as simple as a reactor is inline and a diffuser isnt? I was planning on adding a powerhead to my tank to help with circulation, would it be smart to somehow just run the co2 through that? After reading my options I think an inline diffuser/reactor is best for my situation. So one option would be to use an inline diffuser and then stick the end of the co2 tubing directly in front of or below a powerhead? Or would I send the tubing through the back of the powerhead so the co2 bubbles actually hit the propeller?

 

[rcherry]

Still no sign of any red cherry shrimp, but the amano shrimp are thriving. I think I'm going to have to put a screen or something around the top of the overflow box to prevent the smaller cherry shrimp from escaping. Anybody ever try this?

 

[meegosh]

You can user a powerhead to diffuse your co2. I did it for a while but didn't like all the bubbles and the noise from the bubbles getting chopped up. The growth was good but ultimately I didn't like the bubbles clinging to all the leaves.

The powerhead I used had a spot you could hook up airline tubing to the intake.

 

[rcherry]

If I wanted to, is there a simple and efficient way of diffusing right into my return line? Maybe even into my return pump?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Any new growth? Have some pics?

Peace,
Ben

 

[rcherry]

The one with my dog was about a week ago, the other 2 are from tonight. I just added the red tiger lotus. I'm also treating for ich right now, just started raising the salinity a bit. I read that most plants can handle up to 2%? Right now I'm at about 0.05%, increasing very slowly.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Lookin' good man! Keep going at it!

Peace,
Ben

 

[meegosh]

Google inline co2 reactors. I'm not familiar with them though. Ask rookie, he made a diy one for his tank.

Looks like your dog wants the ball! Haha

 

[rcherry]

Haha she was eyeing that moss ball for a good 5 minutes. Does anybody have any idea how high I need to raise the salinity to be sure I kill the ich in its free floating stage? I don't want to go too high and kill the plants. Right now I'm at a teaspoon per gallon.

 

[meegosh]

I wouldn't go too much higher with the salt. I personally never used salt to treat ich. I usually just raise the temps to 86*F and keep it there for a few weeks. Salt at levels as low as 1tsp/5gal have been said to kill free swimming ich. The heat helps them get to the free swimming stage, when they can be killed, faster.

 

[rcherry]

So then what does heat alone do? Wouldn't it just speed up the life cycle and cause it to multiply quicker? I think ill stick at this 1% salinity and give it a solid week before doing a water change. My temp fluctuates between 79 and 83, hopefully that's enough time for all the ich to get to the free swimming stage.

I'm also looking for a good tropical fish store in my area (nassau county, long island). Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[rcherry]

I'm losing about one fish per 1-2 days and I'm not really sure why. It's quite frustrating. I'm thinking it's high nitrates but I'd like to get some advice. Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = ~50-60. Temperature between 80-82, pH at 7.2. I have a good amount of plants and I dose excel every day and comprehensive twice a week. I've got 8 neons left, 5 panda cory's, 1 bristlenose, 2 rams, 4 amano shrimp and 4 red cherry shrimp. My tap water has a Nitrate level of about 80 so doing a water change makes it worse. I bought one of those nitrasorb pads and put it in my sump yesterday, we'll see if that helps at all.

I treated for ich about 2.5 weeks ago by slowly raising the salinity for about 9 days. It cured the ich. I think I did too abrupt of a water change and decreased the salinity too fast because a few fish developed "popped eyes". I only changed about 50% of the tank water though. I haven't done a water change since that 50% water change (about 9 days ago).

Any advice for me? I'm trying to order a few more fish and a bunch more shrimp and I'd like to get this problem resolved before that.

 

[ejaramillo01]

I'm losing about one fish per 1-2 days and I'm not really sure why. It's quite frustrating. I'm thinking it's high nitrates but I'd like to get some advice. Ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = ~50-60. Temperature between 80-82, pH at 7.2. I have a good amount of plants and I dose excel every day and comprehensive twice a week. I've got 8 neons left, 5 panda cory's, 1 bristlenose, 2 rams, 4 amano shrimp and 4 red cherry shrimp. My tap water has a Nitrate level of about 80 so doing a water change makes it worse. I bought one of those nitrasorb pads and put it in my sump yesterday, we'll see if that helps at all.

I treated for ich about 2.5 weeks ago by slowly raising the salinity for about 9 days. It cured the ich. I think I did too abrupt of a water change and decreased the salinity too fast because a few fish developed "popped eyes". I only changed about 50% of the tank water though. I haven't done a water change since that 50% water change (about 9 days ago).

Any advice for me? I'm trying to order a few more fish and a bunch more shrimp and I'd like to get this problem resolved before that.

Yes, don't add more fish until the tank goes back to a healthy levels.
IMO keep doing PWC, clean water is the best way to control the problems. I don't know what to tell you about the nitrates levels coming from your tap water, just keep adding PRIME every water change.
How are you treating the pop eye?

 

[rcherry]

The tank doesn't really have healthy levels to get back to, every time I do a pwc the nitrates go up a little higher and I have more fish die off. The longer I go in between pwc the lower the nitrates will be but obviously that's not a good solution. I've been doing pwc about once every 7-10 days, would you recommend even more than that? Do you have any experience with the nitrasorb pads? I have a refugium in my sump, I'm thinking about stuffing as many easy plants down there as I can. Any good nitrate absorbing plants that would thrive in medium light?