92g corner tank journal - updated 3-25 **dialup warning**

[GlitcH]

Silicone baby!!!
I think I have a buzz from all the fumes!

Ya all the way to the top........gotta hide that big ugly pvc with somethin.

 

[newfound77951]

That's gonna look awesome....keep us all updated!

He he....good to see a fellow Rhode Islander in here!

 

[GlitcH]

Well........I filled it last night. So far I've got one filter (Eheim 2215) hooked up with 1 of the Hydor ETH 200 heaters doing a great job of keeping the tank at 78 degrees.
On the same outlet line as the heater I've got a Aqua Medic Co2 Reactor 1000. For setup I had to go with the picture ........the instructions were in german i think.
And this being my intro to co2 of any kind.......I hope I got it right lol.

I'm waiting on a shipment due in today.
Then I can setup the other filter, second heater, and my 9watt uv sterilizer.

As for lighting....
I've got my 48" 260watt odessea.........btw.......the plastic bulb shield is crap........not even cut to the right size. bulbs are 2 6700's and 2 12000's.
I plan on replacing the 12000's....any suggestions on kelvin?
Behind the 260 I have a 30" current usa strip with 1 6700 bulb.

I still need either to replace the 30" fixture or put something else even further back cuz the very back of the tank doesn't get enough light.
Any suggestions??....I was thinking about maybe hardwiring something.
Maybe something hanging from the ceiling........like this...

Cuz strips are to long for that corner.
Am I on the right track here?.........I am not even familiar with the options I have for bulbs in a fixture like that.

I've ordered some plants from azgardens..........they only ship on thursdays.......so hopefully next friday I will be able to put my tweezers to work.

Close up as I was filling it:

The slate on the left is holding down the two pieces of driftwood.
The tall piece is partially buried and worked into the structure behind it.
It's also siliconed to the side of the tank but I wanted to be sure it wouldn't float loose. It would ruin the whole tank.
I actually had a dream last night that the entire structure fell over .......emm i mean nightmare!! 8O
The other piece of driftwood has been soaking for almost a week and will be placed upsidedown ......somewhere on the left I think.

Here is a another pic for yas.........btw the only light on in this pic is the 30".

 

[TwoHobbies]

Hey there's the picture! Wow, I really like the way that looks.

I think most will say use 2 10000's. I think you may have enough light with just those two fixtures, are you shooting for 3-4 wpg like your 29g or something higher.

Is that echo, 5-6" whew, and how is the current so far?

 

[GlitcH]

Hey TH.........ya it's coming together huh.

Ya I am shooting for healthy plants
I hope my aim is good lol.
I am so new to the planted tank and all that goes with it....I'm just shooting from the hip.

But ya I guess around 3.5 is what I'm at now with the to fixtures.......should be fine I guess but I will take any and all advice.
I'm at 3.3 on the 29g and everything is growing nicely in there considering i'm just using excel.

Why the 10k's though?

And ya that is eco complete.........left side is 3.5" middle is just under 3" and the right side is 5".
All that will change though.........when I start aquascaping it.

Oh and the current is suprisingly light........but tha's with just one filter.

 

[GlitcH]

Well, I decided to do a fishless cycle.
Threw some shrimp in yesterday.....and today I moved some plants over from my 29G.

Here are some pics:
What can I say about this one......the tank sticks out a bit on the left but hey.......bigger is better right?

This is a view from the left side:

View from the right side:

The heart of my fishless cycle:

I love glosso...

My favorite piece of driftwood......its malaysian...

This is the cave at the center of the tank ...it is also the outlet for one of the filters.

This is what I call the upperdeck....its the top most plant bed. With the lava rock hill behind it.
I first thought that I would need to put another light up in the back corner to light this lavahill, but after readjusting the 30" strip.......I think I may just stick some Anubias
in the rocks.
What do you guys think?

This side.......I've done just about nothing with so far........I really want to incorporate this piece of driftwood but it won't stay down just yet....so I'm trying to be patient.

Another shot of my favorite piece of Driftwood.

And finally.......a wide shot.........I wanted to ask.......why does my 29g look SOOOOOO much lighter than the 92G?
I've got 96W on the 29G and 325W on the 92G!!

lol anyway.......I'm really happy with how this is progressing....and I'd like to thank all you guys and gals here at AA for inspiring and guiding me.
lol one more thing I thought was funny.......check out the intake ......from this angle it looks HUGE!

Still got lots of work to do........but I can't do any of it yet.......got a shipment of plants due in this friday. Until then I will just sit back and enjoy.

 

[BrianNY]

Great job with the Lava rocks. I'm very impressed. With that much lighting are you injecting CO2? A good tip is a sponge pre filter for your cannister. They are inexpensive and will really cut the maintenance down.

 

[GlitcH]

Great job with the Lava rocks. I'm very impressed. With that much lighting are you injecting CO2? A good tip is a sponge pre filter for your cannister. They are inexpensive and will really cut the maintenance down.

Yep CO2 is currently holding steady at 29ppm.
I've got two eheim 2215's running, what is a sponge prefilter?

 

[czcz]

It looks fantastic! Hope that driftwood stays down soon... it does look great there. Are you going to turn the vertical one with moss into a tree? I'm excited to see what happens there.

Wow, your tank is going to be special. What a great layout!

Here's an example of a sponge prefilter. You would slip it over the strainer or use it in place of the strainer. You could use anything that fits.
http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=24733;category_id=2565

 

[Guest]

i agree with everyone when they say this tank looks fantastic!!!

 

[GlitcH]

Thanks alot guys.......I love kudos.

I'm glad you guys like it as much as I do.

CZ........the vertical driftwood into a tree.........lol ........that never even crossed my mind but now that you mention it........it sounds like an interesting idea.

Thanks for the prefilter explaination. I may try that down the road but I'd like to get a feel for the maintainence without it for now.

 

[azn_fishy55]

I think it would look nice if those rocks are covered in some sort of moss.I'd be one big green mound.But then,thats me
.

 

[GlitcH]

yep I got some moss.........I ordered java moss and it came labeled as christmas moss......is that the same thing?

And how do you attach it to the wood or stone? One strand or a bunch with cotton thread?

I just got some plants in today........no time to plant them tonight though.

Where do you guys buy straight ammonia for your fishless cycle? My shrimp are starting to STINK.

 

[rich311k]

Java and Xmas moss are not the samething. Xmas likes higher light. It is very pretty I have it.

 

[Purrbox]

Pure ammonia can be found in many places including Walmart and Hardware Stores. Just make sure that it Pure ammonia (only ammonia and water, no other additives), if it foams when shaken don't use it.

 

[GlitcH]

Well, lots have happened since my last post.

First the good..........I'm cycled.
I've got a couple neons, a rummy and an SAE loving there new home.


On the negitive side...
Turns out I got some snails with a plant order that I have been tryin to keep from getting out of control.

And The two pieces of driftwood I had on the left side of the tank didnt work out.
The horizontal piece was not staying down so I took it out and attached some slate to keep it down.
While trying to bury it a bit to close to the vertical piece I guess I moved to much Eco and the vertical piece floated up and ruined my day.

So I guess my luck didn't hold out.

As it stands now I have some rock in place on the left side that I am just not happy with.
I am looking for something else that doesn't look out of place.

I guess I'll know it when I see it.
But for now.....here is the most recent pic:

One question about the sword on the right.......see the runner with the two small plants extending out to the middle of the tank.
When those are large enough to cut off and plant, (which I assume will be soon) what do I do with the rest of the runner? Cut the entire thing off at the base?

 

[Glenc]

That tank looks massive! nice job! I would plant the baby sword with the runner still attached to the mother plant, if it's long enough to get it where you want to plant it. Once your sure it has taken hold, cut the runner off at the base of both plants. If the baby plant has enough of a root system, it would be fine to separate it from the mother before planting as well. Either way, I would cut the runner off at the base. Just my two cents!

 

[HiFi]

Wow. The tank looks very nice.
Its too bad about the DW... Very nice pieces as well.
Maybe try just one piece with some of that rock.

 

[TwoHobbies]

Looks great

That sword looks like its doing well in the font corner

I don't cut the runners off until I get three plants on each runner then I remove the runner at the second plant and replant the third without the runner (I hope thats clear), and I have sand!

I had two to start and now have 5....... going to have to do something before they get to big!

Hey.... a couple of zebra loaches will take care of that snail problem.

 

[mooncat99]

Pity about the driftwood, that really did set it off, but saying that it still looks stunning.
I really like what you did with the return for the filter.