30 Gallon Cube - High Tech Planted (Photo /Video Journal)

[Raithan Ellis]

Welp, I finally have some time to get back into the hobby again after taking a few years off and decided to focus on what I enjoy most this time around... plants, hardware and chemistry. I've always wanted to do a proper high tech planted setup and am now able to repurpose some of my old hardware into one smaller setup. Hopefully, with some diligence on my part, this can become a bit of a photo journal to document the ups and downs of such a setup.

I hope you find this enjoyable and stick around for the ride.

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Starting Date:
Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

Hardware:
Oceanic 30g Cube (20x18x23)
Coralife 150w Metal Halide Lamp w/Tank Mount (6700k)
Coralife 9w TurboTwist 3x UV Sterilizer
Rena XP Filter w/Spraybar
Fluval Surface Skimmer
Ebo Jager 150w Heater
CO2 Cylinder (10lb)
Milwaukee MA957 CO2 Regulator
Milwaukee SMS122 pH Controller
American Marine Pinpoint pH Probe
Hydor CO2 Turbo Diffuser
Red Sea CO2 Indicator
Tropic Marin Precision Thermometer
Seachem Onyx Sand (60lbs)

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Day 7: Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

 

[Raithan Ellis]

Day 0: Wednesday, October 24th, 2012
Initial setup, as I was using old substrate from storage, it was treated for 24 hours with KMnO4 and followed up with a 100% water change and gravel rinse. UV bulb for the TurboTwist is possibly bad from previous use or storage.



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Day 7: Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
Tank has now been planted and stocked since last Friday now and has not been properly cycled. Due to the amount of plants being added I am counting on them bringing some biofilm with them and taking care of any ammonia. Fish include: (18) Tanichthys albonubes; (11) Otocinclus affinis. Plants include: Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae; Glossostigma elatinoides; Ludwiga repens; Hygrophila difformis; Hygrophila polysperma var. Rosanervig. Power had just come back on after being out for 40+ hours due to Hurricane Sandy. Replaced the UV lamp with a cheap generic from eBay tonight and is now working again.

(See picture in previous posting.)

 

[Raithan Ellis]

Day 8: Thursday, November 1st, 2012
Removed the Java Moss last night, left a few hidden bits lying about on the bottom. 30% water change, still doing unmeasured dosing visually, bit of this and bit of that. I have yet to bother testing my tap water or tank water. Rearranged the hardware in the tank to tidy up a bit. Pulled the Hydor CO2 Turbo Diffuser and replaced with a Fluval Ceramic 88g-CO2 Diffuser to scale down in size. The Hydor worked wonderfully, but was a bit bulky and difficult to even consider hiding in a tank of this size. Managed to break the Tropic Marin High Precision Thermometer tonight, fantastic instrument but they will not tolerate abuse.

 

[BoCoMo]

Excited to see what you end up doing with this! Planning on adding any hardscape or wood?

 

[Raithan Ellis]

Day 9: Friday, November 2nd, 2012
Checked on the tank, male White Clouds are sparring and pursuing females again. Tested tap water for pH (7.2) and Nitrate (0ppm), tested aquarium for Nitrate (0ppm). Did a hefty dosing tonight with the expectation of a large water change tomorrow if necessary. Tested for Nitrate after dosing the KNO3 and testing still resulted in <5ppm, something is off here as I should be in the 50-60ppm range. I did a controlled test with tap water and KNO3 directly added to the vial of 5ml water to achieve 50ppm and it was accurate. Photoperiod is currently set for 8 hours, there is approximately 4-5 hours remaining tonight.

Dosing constituted of the following:
2tsp KNO3 (Grant's Stump Remover)
1TBL KH2PO4 (Fleet Baby Enema)
2tsp KCl (Muriate of Potash)

1TBL Flourish
2TBL Flourish Trace
1TBL Flourish Iron
1TBL Flourish Excel

 

[Raithan Ellis]

Excited to see what you end up doing with this! Planning on adding any hardscape or wood?

I honestly haven't given it much thought yet, this tank is nothing like I had expected due to limited plant availability at That Fish Place in Lancaster. Once everything is established, I may do some limited rock work.

 

[Rbishop]

Nice looking. Curious, in post #2, is that styro under the tank stand?

 

[Raithan Ellis]

Yes, that is some rather thick styrofoam beneath the stand. The concrete slab is uneven towards the wall in the basement, and we've had some water on the floor that I wanted to isolate the stand from.

In hindsight, it may have been better to use shims and lay barrier film.

 

[ROYWS3]

Did you get the Hygrophila polysperma var. Rosanervig at That Fish Place?

Just curious - isn't that on the Federal Noxious Weed List?

 

[Raithan Ellis]

TFP only carried the H. difformis.