Saltwater & Reef

DTWGulo · 09-21-2020, 02:07 PM

I've been working on this (very) slowly for over a year. I finally got everything together and had the means and time to do it.

Substrate: ADA PowerSand, Amazonia
Lights: MicMol G3 Pro
Hardscape: Acid-washed Black Seiryu stone

Still planning out which plants and fish I want.

ZxC · 09-21-2020, 02:32 PM

Looking like a good start. Are you planning on running a sump (I see the overflow in the picture).

Any plans on CO2 and fertilizing? That's a decent amount of light energy and would likely require CO2 and a decent fertilizing regime to make use of the increased plant growth potential.

DTWGulo · 09-22-2020, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZxC

Looking like a good start. Are you planning on running a sump (I see the overflow in the picture).

Any plans on CO2 and fertilizing? That's a decent amount of light energy and would likely require CO2 and a decent fertilizing regime to make use of the increased plant growth potential.

Yes, there is a nice big sump (~30 gallons iirc) underneath.

My CO2 reactor (NilocG) is plumbed in-line with the return from the pump, and I'll be using a pH controller to regulate CO2 delivery to the tank.

I fertilize with GLA macro and Plantex CSM-B micro daily on my high-tech tanks. Generally keep to their recipe/directions, with alterations based on growth and algae presence.

fearlessfisch · 10-08-2020, 04:59 AM

That's going to be stunning. Do you plan to use carpeting plants? What a beautiful start.

DTWGulo · 10-11-2020, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fearlessfisch

That's going to be stunning. Do you plan to use carpeting plants? What a beautiful start.

Yes! Just ordered:
-Micranthemum Monte Carlo
-Hydrocotyle verticillata
-Eleocharis parvula

Planning to order:
-Ranunculus inundatus
-Glosssostigma elatinoides

I also have a bunch of red stem plants on order. There's a small crop of Cryptocoryne flamingo growing in another tank that I may move in. I'm having a hard time getting ahold of some plants from online retailers. Everyone's out of something, so I have to pay shipping from 4-5 separate places to get everything; not eager to do that.

All in due time, I suppose.

Thank you for the feedback!

DTWGulo · 11-02-2020, 12:15 AM

Got some plants in, dealt with a major thread algae outbreak, and things are starting to look better! All that ADA substrate put out SO MUCH ammonia that I wasn't prepped for the amount of water changes that would be needed. Holy cow. The testing results are after a 50% water change. I did more today, will do more tomorrow. So far so good, though. I can already see that I'm going to need to move some stuff around to work on the scale of the tank. Can't decide if I want to go traditional iwagumi or just enjoy these stem plants and let the rocks shrink in scale.

**Autumnsky** · 12-04-2020, 02:01 AM

Well this is looking great!

I love plants and all kinds - I have been trying to get dialed down to have an Iwagumi, but I can't do it. I had the tank, the design, the plants, the substrate, nope couldn't make it happen. Plants, lots of plants!

Actually, I usually think of how the fish would prefer bigger wood and more plants and that would make them happier. Make fish happier, hahahaha!