Oh come on now. That stuff is for wimps who just want to make sure everything goes right. Live a little. :evil_lol:
Brentling's 125 Startup Thread - Lots o' Pics
- Thread starter brentling
- Start date
Oh come on now. That stuff is for wimps who just want to make sure everything goes right. Live a little. :evil_lol:
I filled most of the gaps today to make sure fish and critters do not get behind the background. I will post pics tomorrow. I have also decided how to hang my lights, based on some suggestions on his thread. I think I will do that tomorrow as well. I am leaving town next week for a couple of weeks. I am trying to decide whether to flood the tank and get the filter going and cycle started while I am away, or leave it until I get back so I can monitor it. Any thoughts?
Also, I have managed to get a hold of another T5HO fixture identical to my other two. This would add an additional 156 Watts for a total of 468 Watts. This sounds all good, but I am afraid it may be too much light. Any thoughts? I plan on turning on pink bulbs in the morning, adding the 6700 Ks in the afternoon, then turning off the 6700s, then turning off the pinks and turning on the blue LEDs. Suggestions here are appreciated as well.
What do y'all think about "Cycle" and BioSpira, etc.? I have heard widely ranging opinions and do not like the option of a fishy cycle, nor do I think I have the guts to dump dead shrimp or amonia in tthe tank, so I am seriously considering the cycle in a bottle option. I am also quie sure that there are beneficial bacteria in the tank because of the way I started with mulm, peat, ferts, plants and tank water from an established tank. I do believe the right ingredients are there, just not enough of them...
Opinions please? Thanks for hanging with me. This has been a long process, and not necessarily entertaining in a fast-paced, short attention span kind of way. Now that I have my filter, heater, etc., I find I am kind of scared to pull the trigger!
Also, I have managed to get a hold of another T5HO fixture identical to my other two. This would add an additional 156 Watts for a total of 468 Watts. This sounds all good, but I am afraid it may be too much light. Any thoughts? I plan on turning on pink bulbs in the morning, adding the 6700 Ks in the afternoon, then turning off the 6700s, then turning off the pinks and turning on the blue LEDs. Suggestions here are appreciated as well.
What do y'all think about "Cycle" and BioSpira, etc.? I have heard widely ranging opinions and do not like the option of a fishy cycle, nor do I think I have the guts to dump dead shrimp or amonia in tthe tank, so I am seriously considering the cycle in a bottle option. I am also quie sure that there are beneficial bacteria in the tank because of the way I started with mulm, peat, ferts, plants and tank water from an established tank. I do believe the right ingredients are there, just not enough of them...
Opinions please? Thanks for hanging with me. This has been a long process, and not necessarily entertaining in a fast-paced, short attention span kind of way. Now that I have my filter, heater, etc., I find I am kind of scared to pull the trigger!
If you go with 468 watts of t-5 light, you absolutely will need pressurized CO2, and you will need to keep a really close eye on it. There's a doohicky you can make pretty easily that will measure your CO2 level (google measure planted tank CO2 level - it's a bit hard to explain) by measuring the PH of a small amount of water with known hardness in a gizmo that isolates it from the tank water, yet allows diffusion of CO2 from the tank to the tester. It sounds a lot more compex than it is. In any case, with that much light, you'll need to measure and track your CO2 levels and get them just right to keep algae from going haywire.
Everything I have heard and read about Bio-Spira suggests that it works just as advertised. However, it is pretty expensive, and particularly so for a big tank. Marineland says that Cycling with Bio-Spira can take 3 to 7 days, so take the whole instant cycling thing with a grain of salt.
I ran across a good suggestion in the simplydiscus forum archives: Set up a small (10 to 20 gallon) bare-bottomed tank and cycle it with fish you don't care about - Zebras, feeder guppies, whatever - stick a couple 3 or 4 sponge filters in there. That way, if you notice an ammonia spike, you have some instant biofiltration on hand to pop into your big tank. I generally keep 2 or three filters running on all my tanks so that I have the filtration ready to go if I am setting up a new one.
Everything I have heard and read about Bio-Spira suggests that it works just as advertised. However, it is pretty expensive, and particularly so for a big tank. Marineland says that Cycling with Bio-Spira can take 3 to 7 days, so take the whole instant cycling thing with a grain of salt.
I ran across a good suggestion in the simplydiscus forum archives: Set up a small (10 to 20 gallon) bare-bottomed tank and cycle it with fish you don't care about - Zebras, feeder guppies, whatever - stick a couple 3 or 4 sponge filters in there. That way, if you notice an ammonia spike, you have some instant biofiltration on hand to pop into your big tank. I generally keep 2 or three filters running on all my tanks so that I have the filtration ready to go if I am setting up a new one.
Nice thought on the sponge filters. I do indeed have pressurized CO2 and actually hoped to get a drop checker for Christmas. I'll order one this week. I also have a pH Controller and nice CO2 reactor, so that should be good to go.
Might be cool to work up a CO2 reactor that goes inline with one of your filter returns. That way, it will not mar the gorgeosity of your tank.
I've seen DIY plans for them out on the web before.
The reactor is inline and was a DIY unit that a friend made that came with the CO2 regulator, tank, etc. I have researched it and it appears to be first rate. Now I just need to figure out how to make the filter intake and spraybar invisible and I am good to go! I thought about hiding he intake/outlet behind he cork, but it became a bit much to accomplish. Of relevance, though, it will not be possible to use suction cups to attach the spraybar to the back of the tank. I may have to modify it and use the sides? I thought about using a "Y" tube and attaching one bar to each side. I also thought about trying to find plastic or nylon eye bolts and screwing them into the cork and attaching the spraybar to those?
I'll post some pics ASAP.
I never trusted that bottled stuff to cycle a tank. Mostly because the benificial bacteria in the biofiltration are aerobic and I can't figure for the life of me how they can put the claimed number of bacteria into an air tight plastic bottle and stick it on a shelf for months with no oxygen and nothing for the bacteria to cosume other than its own die-off, and expect all that bacteria to still be alive in there when someone buys it.
