75 gallon Planted Office Tank Journal

[geekpryde]

Here is the new hose I purchased, used as the output from the aquariumplants.com reactor 5000.

eheim canister filter 2217 with new longer reach to double tap connector, allowing for a bigger bend and easier placement of reactor/filter setup.

It took me a while of jamming my body inside the cabinet and trying to hand screw the reactor retaining bracket to the cabinet wall before I got smart and went to find a cordless drill. Much easier! :y220d:

Look how nice it looks installed.

Here you can see the reactor in relation to the filter.

Reactor shown with co2 feed installed. NOTE: I originally opened valves to allow water to come into reactor, and to my suprise water started shooting out of co2 feed. I quickly shut off double tap vales, slipped on co2 tube coming out of bubble counter, and then continued to fill the reactor 5000. Come to find out, you actually want to bleed air out of this brass co2 barb valve, which also will bleed out some water at the same time. Since this reactor came with no instructions, someone may find this info helpful (I had to call).

Diagram, in case you were curious. In case you wondering why I have this gorgeous bubble counter hiding down inside the cabinet, it's because I dont have a use for it inside the tank with this new co2 reactor. I still want to see the bubbles, so I know when the co2 is on, so this is my quick-and-dirty method. I think it will work well.

 

[geekpryde]

You might have noticed in the previous photos that the external reactor 5000 is only half full of water. Since I had to call the people at aquariumplants.com anyway (about my missing flourish tabs), I asked them about this. They told me this is a common problem and to bleed the air out through the co2 barb, which means getting a little wet. I actually did not end up doing this, since when I came back two hours later to do this, most of the air had dissolved into the water through all the turbulence (my theory anyway), and there was only a small pocket left or air. :thumbsup:


[RANT]

I wish aquariumplants.com would include instructions about installing this thing. Some of us have never done this before! This problem is not limited to them; I would say that after spending over $1500.00 on aquarium related hardware, lack of directions is a common and major problem for all of the 5+ vendors I have used. For the most part, eve when there are directions, they are terrible. How hard can it be to write coherent directions for installation, common troubleshooting, and some black and white photos? They should be written so that a ten year old could install these things. I am talking about canister filters, light fixtures, reactors, bubble counters, drop checkers, heaters, everything!

I am happy to report that aquariumplants.com picked up the phone and quickly agreed to resend my missing Flourish Tabs. (They saw them sitting on the table over the weekend; someone just didn’t stick them in the box). I also brought up one other issue to them.

See the picture below from aquariumplants.com; I have marked three sections in colored boxes. The blue box shows the optional ph probe holder/mount, which the picture description on their site and the reactor 5000 description clearly lists as optional and extra. I saw that and decided I didn’t want it. See the items in the green boxes, the two ball valves? I assumed and I think any normal customer spending $100.00 on this reactor would assume that you get those valves. I even thought I would get the check valve shown in the picture. None of this shipped, and I asked them about this. I wanted to know if it was because I am an idiot and assumed wrong, or if like the flourish tabs it was a simple oversight on the shipping dept. I was told by two people that those valves do not come with the reactor unless you get the optional ph probe. One person also didn’t understand why anyone would want to have shutoff valves if you didn’t have the probe. I calmly explained that I expected the valves, needed the valves, because I may want to break the reactor out of the water circulation setup at one point, to clean it, inspect it, and replace it, ect. I also told them they should update either the picture to not show the valves, or to change the product description. I think this would benefit future customers. I didn’t have to talk too long, and second person I talked to agreed to ship them out free of charge along with the tabs. Cool. I am not being a jerk customer with unrealistic expectations am I?

[/RANT]

In the end, if the stuff shows up as promised, I would rate aquariumplants.com very high on customer service when there are little issues. I will let you know in a future post if this reactor works as advertized.

If I don’t post tomorrow it's because my plants did not come in as promised and I freaked out.

 

[ddlbrooks]

This has been so interesting and you've done a great job in sharing this with all of us. I noticed you didn't have a glass top on your tank? Are you worried about the fish jumping out? I have quite a few rainbows and I've thought about taking the glass top off but was afraid to. I think you switched from rainbows to a different group of fish though, may not be a problem.

 

[nguyendetecting]

great conversation with your vendor and you did make some good points, hence them sending you the valves. Why wouldn't they send them anyway?? sucks about your bubble counter it does look nice lol. Great build so far!

 

[geekpryde]

If I don’t post tomorrow it's because my plants did not come in as promised and I freaked out.

I just realized that since I talked about aquariumplants.com for almost the entire previous post, and then ended the post with a pithy comment about my plants probably not showing up today as promised, and since they sell plant packages, people may get the wrong idea.

I did NOT order my plant package from aquariumplants.com (maybe I should have). If they are delayed again, it would obviously NOT be a poor reflection on them, since they are not my plant vendor.

I just wanted to make that crystal clear, so people dont get the wrong idea. I have never ordered plants from them (yet), so I cant make a comment one way or the other, but if you are thinking about ordering from them, there will be plenty of people here at AC that can steer you in the right direction.

Sorry for any confusion I caused. :goldfish:

 

[geekpryde]

PLANTS SHIPPED! :dance:

now lets see if they arrive! opcorn:

Here are the plants I should get:

10 Rotala Indica - Background
9 Ludwigia Narrowleaf - Background
9 Limnophila Indica - Background
3 Limnophila Aromatica - Background
1 Pennywort - Background
4 Crypt Lutea - Midground side
Free Plant - Lindernia Variegated
1 Pot Baby Tears (Hemianthus Micranthemoides - "HM" - Midground
1 Kleiner Bar Sword - Midground
4 Crypt Willisii - Midground
2 Anubias Nana narrowleaf - rhizome plant
1 Dwarf Aquarium Lily - Midground
4 Crypt Wendtii Red - Midground
1 Pot Hygrophila Kompakt - Midground
4 Crypt Wendtii Green - Midground side
1 Pot Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis - Foreground
1 Pot Hemianthus Callictroides - "HC" (Dwarf Baby Tears) - Foreground
1 Pot Dwarf Hairgrass - Foreground

 

[geekpryde]

BOX IS HERE: :clap:

BOX OPENED:

PLANT ON FILE CABINET:

There is so much work to do! Plants and "real" work! :nilly:

 

[geekpryde]

This has been so interesting and you've done a great job in sharing this with all of us. I noticed you didn't have a glass top on your tank? Are you worried about the fish jumping out? I have quite a few rainbows and I've thought about taking the glass top off but was afraid to. I think you switched from rainbows to a different group of fish though, may not be a problem.

I had to kill my plans on having killifish, since they are crazy good jumpers. I have not heard that rainbows jump, so I guess we'll see. Cherry barbs, Kribs, and Curviceps do not jump (so far). I really do not want to get a glass top, so I think I would change my fish selection before getting a top.

 

[geekpryde]

Make sure to check back a few pages, as I have posted a ton of new pics in last 24 hours.

I am posting *some* individual plants shots as I take them out of the bag. This is not all of the plants, for that see the list I posted earlier.

Kleiner Bar Sword - Midground

Pennywort - Background

Lindernia Variegated

Dwarf Hairgrass (sorry for dark pic)

Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis - Foreground

Crypt Willisii - Midground

Hemianthus Callictroides - "HC" (Dwarf Baby Tears) - Foreground

dwarf Baby tears with rock wool

Crypt Wendtii Red - Midground

Crypt Lutea - Midground side

Limnophila Indica - Background

Ludwigia Narrowleaf - Background

Rotala Indica - Background

Next up, PLANTING! mg:

 

[geekpryde]

Here is a FTS right before planting, looks kinda sparse to say the least:

Notice the water level is going down, I took about 1/4 out to make planting easier, and since none of the backgound plants were huge yet, I didnt have to worry about them flopping all over the place.

Want to see how you do a quick water change in an office/industrial building? You hang the hose out the window and let it dump down the side of the building.

For the planting, I turned off most everything. Heater (since they would be exposed to air for a lengthy period), Filter (so it wouldnt make even more a mess), as well as, the co2 and co2 reactor. Lights stayed on.

Done with most of the planting:

Here is a side shot right after planting. Water is still low, and the water column in filled with plant bits and dirt.

Here I am filling the tank back up after planting. I did a cap-full of prime, and re-dosed Major / Minor / trace elements.