My 240g tank journal
- Thread starter loaches r cool
- Start date
WOW! That was an interesting read, thought I might learn something but its too much for me to handle lol.
Thanks for all the compliments guys 
but to be honest I am fairly new to aquariums compared to most. I think my first tank went up in '02-03 maybe? And I have only been doing things 'the right way' since being on these forums. Pretty much everything I know I have learned on AC and other forums in under two years. I just hope everything works out long term... I mean the tank isnt even officially running yet, who knows what might happen!
but to be honest I am fairly new to aquariums compared to most. I think my first tank went up in '02-03 maybe? And I have only been doing things 'the right way' since being on these forums. Pretty much everything I know I have learned on AC and other forums in under two years. I just hope everything works out long term... I mean the tank isnt even officially running yet, who knows what might happen!
Fertilizer Dosing
I haven't had much time to work on anything lately, but here at work I've been crunching some numbers on the dosing routine.
I plan on doing simple EI, and adjusting from that if need be. I was running into some problems though on the simple part. It seems most of the dosing charts don't include tanks this size. I made some posts over on the Barrreport.com and got some mixed answers. Eventually I found a tank Tom had done very similar to mine just a little larger, with similar plant species and also heavy stocking, and used that as a template. What I did was come up with a ratio how much smaller my tank was, and multiply that by all his dosing amounts. He claims the tank was 29 * 29 * 96 + 50g of sump for around ~400g. I figure I am at about 70% of that. Tom reported that he dosed 3X a week: 1tbsp KNO3, 1.5 tsp KH2PO4, 200ml TMG
So, applying this to my tank (70%):
KNO3 = .9tsp daily, 6.3tsp weekly, 9tbsp monthly
KH2PO4 = .45tsp daily, 3.15tsp weekly, 4.5tbsp monthly
TPN = 60ml daily, 420ml weekly, 1.8l monthly (this one is going to be pricey
)
I will be autodosing daily, so I needed to break it down into daily figures. And I am hoping to have a 30 day reservoir on the dosers, so I calculated monthly totals to.
I am definitely trying to automate this part, I know Tom and some others are against automation here, but one of the biggest things I struggle with my current planted tank is dosing it. I have determined it is impossible for me to consistently dose it, I am away to often and work a strange 12 hr rotating shift schedule and am often to tired to even venture to that room of the house :coffee: lol. Did I mention I am often very lazy...
Next thing to do is to test how much my pumps flow in 1 minute (the minimum time my controller can run them).
My first testing showed that it delivered 1 1/3 cup per minute. That is .315 liter or .0833 gal. That works out to exactly 1 gal per 12 doses. So my 2.5 gal jugs would hold 30 days, perfect.
I still have to do a lot more testing for consistency, also things like testing when the jugs are full vs almost empty to see how much it will change. If it turns out not to be reliable enough then no big deal, my pumps were only $10 each (Tom Aqualifters).
I haven't had much time to work on anything lately, but here at work I've been crunching some numbers on the dosing routine.
I plan on doing simple EI, and adjusting from that if need be. I was running into some problems though on the simple part. It seems most of the dosing charts don't include tanks this size. I made some posts over on the Barrreport.com and got some mixed answers. Eventually I found a tank Tom had done very similar to mine just a little larger, with similar plant species and also heavy stocking, and used that as a template. What I did was come up with a ratio how much smaller my tank was, and multiply that by all his dosing amounts. He claims the tank was 29 * 29 * 96 + 50g of sump for around ~400g. I figure I am at about 70% of that. Tom reported that he dosed 3X a week: 1tbsp KNO3, 1.5 tsp KH2PO4, 200ml TMG
So, applying this to my tank (70%):
KNO3 = .9tsp daily, 6.3tsp weekly, 9tbsp monthly
KH2PO4 = .45tsp daily, 3.15tsp weekly, 4.5tbsp monthly
TPN = 60ml daily, 420ml weekly, 1.8l monthly (this one is going to be pricey
) I will be autodosing daily, so I needed to break it down into daily figures. And I am hoping to have a 30 day reservoir on the dosers, so I calculated monthly totals to.
I am definitely trying to automate this part, I know Tom and some others are against automation here, but one of the biggest things I struggle with my current planted tank is dosing it. I have determined it is impossible for me to consistently dose it, I am away to often and work a strange 12 hr rotating shift schedule and am often to tired to even venture to that room of the house :coffee: lol. Did I mention I am often very lazy...
Next thing to do is to test how much my pumps flow in 1 minute (the minimum time my controller can run them).
My first testing showed that it delivered 1 1/3 cup per minute. That is .315 liter or .0833 gal. That works out to exactly 1 gal per 12 doses. So my 2.5 gal jugs would hold 30 days, perfect.
I still have to do a lot more testing for consistency, also things like testing when the jugs are full vs almost empty to see how much it will change. If it turns out not to be reliable enough then no big deal, my pumps were only $10 each (Tom Aqualifters).
Que
I wish I was a fish I wish.
Remind me when I have money falling out of my pockets to give you a call. We could have some fun going shopping.
Q
Incredible... just incredible.
Q
Incredible... just incredible.
Ok, this will just be a log style entry, no real progress pics or anything. Just wanted to say that the tank has now been planted for a few weeks and my algae crew is in.
Unfortunately I do not have all the plants I intend to use in the scape yet, and its not a good time of year to be getting them online either. The plants I do have, I have far too few of. So I am using a lot of filler plants, some stems, mostly wisteria from the lfs.
When I first 'got it running' I jumped the gun a bit. It was before I had a solid dosing scheme. Also I was out of town a lot the first two weeks and didnt have the auto dosers running. As mentioned before I also had some CO2 problems, my bubble rate kept diminishing over a couple days time down to just about nothing. Needless to say I ended up with various forms of algae. BBA and BGA mostly, also a little bit of diatom, GSA, and thread.
I then did a blackout for a few days as I tried to sort things out. I got a fert routine down (a couple posts up), built a new CO2 reactor, and I cut the lights down. Now, after being on this new routine for a couple weeks, everything is looking much better. BGA and BBA is gone (well tiny bits of BBA left in some places) and the only algae that still appears could be an issue is thread algae, which I had issues with in my last tank.
I am dosing per the dosing 4 posts up, co2 should be consistent ~30ppm (but still wasting some gas due to large bubbles) and my lighting scheme is as follows:
Bank1: 1:30 - 6:00 4.5hrs
Bank2: 5:00 - 9:30 4.5hrs
340W (1.4WPG): 1:30 - 5:00 3.5hrs (Bank1 only)
680W (2.8WPG): 5:00 - 6:00 1hr (Bank1 + Bank2)
340W (1.4WPG): 6:00 - 9:30 3.5hrs (Bank2 only)
Total light cycle: 1:30 - 9:30 8hrs
Since things have been looking good I am going to step the light back up a little, for now just adding an hour into the noon peak, but keeping the total light cycle at 8 (think baby steps):
Bank1: 1:30 - 6:30 5hrs
Bank2: 4:30 - 9:30 5hrs
340W (1.4WPG): 1:30 - 4:30 3hrs
680W (2.8WPG): 4:30 - 6:30 2hr
340W (1.4WPG): 6:30 - 9:30 3hrs
Total light cycle: 1:30 - 9:30 8hrs
And just for reference the series of tests I ran yesterday show:
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0.05ppm
Nitrate - 5ppm
Phosphate - 6ppm (or more)
KH - 3ppm
GH - 8ppm
pH - peaks at ~7.15 overnight and controller set to 6.1 with CO2
Temp - 79*F
The nitrite is a little concerning, its been like that the few times I've tested it in the last couple weeks. But at least its only the first off-zero color on the chart. I dont know if my low pH is causing an issue with bio filtration, or the fact of the large night/day swing. Nitrates seem to be a little low to me, I'd feel more comfortable with 10-20ppm just so I know its not limiting at any given time. And phosphates seem a bit high... might try and see if I dose more nitrate if phosphate uptake will increase, if not I might cut the dose down. My tap has 1ppm phosphate.
And current stocking list:
-12(I think) Otos
-2 SAE's (I have 4 more that I couldnt catch in my 75g waiting until next attempt)
-1 Flag Fish (had a pair but 1 past the first week in the tank)
-8 BN plecos
-1-2 dozen cherry shrimp, that keep ending up in the sump
Unfortunately I do not have all the plants I intend to use in the scape yet, and its not a good time of year to be getting them online either. The plants I do have, I have far too few of. So I am using a lot of filler plants, some stems, mostly wisteria from the lfs.
When I first 'got it running' I jumped the gun a bit. It was before I had a solid dosing scheme. Also I was out of town a lot the first two weeks and didnt have the auto dosers running. As mentioned before I also had some CO2 problems, my bubble rate kept diminishing over a couple days time down to just about nothing. Needless to say I ended up with various forms of algae. BBA and BGA mostly, also a little bit of diatom, GSA, and thread.
I then did a blackout for a few days as I tried to sort things out. I got a fert routine down (a couple posts up), built a new CO2 reactor, and I cut the lights down. Now, after being on this new routine for a couple weeks, everything is looking much better. BGA and BBA is gone (well tiny bits of BBA left in some places) and the only algae that still appears could be an issue is thread algae, which I had issues with in my last tank.
I am dosing per the dosing 4 posts up, co2 should be consistent ~30ppm (but still wasting some gas due to large bubbles) and my lighting scheme is as follows:
Bank1: 1:30 - 6:00 4.5hrs
Bank2: 5:00 - 9:30 4.5hrs
340W (1.4WPG): 1:30 - 5:00 3.5hrs (Bank1 only)
680W (2.8WPG): 5:00 - 6:00 1hr (Bank1 + Bank2)
340W (1.4WPG): 6:00 - 9:30 3.5hrs (Bank2 only)
Total light cycle: 1:30 - 9:30 8hrs
Since things have been looking good I am going to step the light back up a little, for now just adding an hour into the noon peak, but keeping the total light cycle at 8 (think baby steps):
Bank1: 1:30 - 6:30 5hrs
Bank2: 4:30 - 9:30 5hrs
340W (1.4WPG): 1:30 - 4:30 3hrs
680W (2.8WPG): 4:30 - 6:30 2hr
340W (1.4WPG): 6:30 - 9:30 3hrs
Total light cycle: 1:30 - 9:30 8hrs
And just for reference the series of tests I ran yesterday show:
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0.05ppm
Nitrate - 5ppm
Phosphate - 6ppm (or more)
KH - 3ppm
GH - 8ppm
pH - peaks at ~7.15 overnight and controller set to 6.1 with CO2
Temp - 79*F
The nitrite is a little concerning, its been like that the few times I've tested it in the last couple weeks. But at least its only the first off-zero color on the chart. I dont know if my low pH is causing an issue with bio filtration, or the fact of the large night/day swing. Nitrates seem to be a little low to me, I'd feel more comfortable with 10-20ppm just so I know its not limiting at any given time. And phosphates seem a bit high... might try and see if I dose more nitrate if phosphate uptake will increase, if not I might cut the dose down. My tap has 1ppm phosphate.
And current stocking list:
-12(I think) Otos
-2 SAE's (I have 4 more that I couldnt catch in my 75g waiting until next attempt)
-1 Flag Fish (had a pair but 1 past the first week in the tank)
-8 BN plecos
-1-2 dozen cherry shrimp, that keep ending up in the sump
Last edited:
great job!
i'm an engineer and even though your writeup reminded me way too much of work, i think it's really cool. the automation you've integrated is very interesting. can't wait to see more pics! and not just of the tank, more of the 'brains' (pc, controllers, pumps, switches, actuators, etc...) of the operation would be cool too.
i'm an engineer and even though your writeup reminded me way too much of work, i think it's really cool. the automation you've integrated is very interesting. can't wait to see more pics! and not just of the tank, more of the 'brains' (pc, controllers, pumps, switches, actuators, etc...) of the operation would be cool too.
