Habitat - Indoor :: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Turtle tank setups and other indoor configurations.

Post Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:45 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

@simplehiccup: Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you find this thread useful. Derek is a fantastic big brother and he really loves his baby brother Brandon which Derek pronounces "Dan-dan". Derek has plenty of hugs and kisses and high-fives for dan-dan and is always willing to put down a toy and bring baby brother a blanket or a binky when he's crying. It's an amazing thing to see... a boy who's not quite 2 years old trying to care for his 2 month old baby brother.

@sweety: There's a bit of technical stuff that comes with the planted tank hobby and fortunately you can get started with a planted tank easily. As you grow into the hobby the technical understanding grows with you.
If I had to build a scale as to the complexity of keeping various types of tanks and the knowledge required, I would say this:
Ordered from easy to difficult

1. Basic freshwater aquarium
2. Cichlid aquarium
3. Turtle aquarium / low tech planted tank
4. Saltwater aquarium
5. High Tech planted tank
6. Reef tank

@MEandyouPhoto: Done. I posed a reply. Hopefully it makes sense.
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VeipaCray
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 7:27 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

This is ... this is just ridiculously awesome. I know you know that, but I had to chime in.
And the kids. The kids are great too.

... I think I'm going to start a planted tank this winter.
Outside Pond Boys: :mrgreen:Timmy & Chewy & Ike
Outside Pond Girls: :msgreen:Betty & Frick & Frack & Tina & Nyrtle-Sweetpea
Inside Tank: :mrgreen:Sheldon :msgreen: Mork :msgreen: Mindy
Nursery: :?: Baby Timmy & Ranger
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Post Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 2:42 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Thank you very much.

I'm very fortunate to have an awesome wife who appreciates the tanks so long as they look nice and are maintained. I'm lazy so I tend to buy filtration that is overkill or automate everything I can with aquarium controllers.
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:23 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Have you done all these projects on your own, Veipa, or does your family help. You certainly are very handy with a set of tools.
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:04 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

That depends on what you consider help. The boys are very young so my wife helps by watching them when I sneak away for a few minutes now and then to work on the various tanks. Right now I could not watch both of them and do any work on the various aquariums at the same time. Any hands on tank construction work is a solo effort though I do look forward to having a pair of young helpers in a few years.
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:43 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Hi Veipa,
When starting out a low-tech planted tank, would you use Seachem flourish OR Fluval CO2 kit-is it one or the other, or is there an argument for using them both simultaneously?
What about using biomedia...carbon? It seems your experiences/results were varied. (I will do manual water changes using a Python hose)
Should I buy another Mercury Vapor Bulb like I use for the turtle for lighting or would another light be more appropriate?
I plan on planting Anacharis and Duckweed if possible.
I am going to try and find some Black Diamond blasting media for the bottom of the tank.
Thanks again for your thread and advice!
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:14 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Seachem Flourish is a micronutrient fertilizer product. Seachem Flourish Excel is a liquid based carbon / algaecide. They are two completely different products with confusingly similar names.

If I were doing a low tech tank, I would start with just flourish excel. Everything in a planted tank seems to be about balance. If you add CO2 then you need to add lighting and fertilizers to match. Adding pressurized CO2 (the fluval system) makes the tank align more with the definition of a high tech tank. Starting with excel and then eventually adding a fluval or other CO2 kit if needed is how I would probably start. Yes there is a benefit to using flourish excel even with a pressurized CO2 system.... excel has an algaecide. I dose it occasionally on my tank as well for that reason.

I use carbon to filter incoming tap water as a means to remove chlorine, chloramine, and fluoride without having to add dangerous water conditioning chemicals. You should not use carbon in your everyday filter media for a planted tank as the carbon will remove fertilizers and other dissolved organics that the plants need. Check out the water change system that I put up on the equipment review forum section. It incorporates a carbon based house tap water filter system to the python for cheap.

Biomedia - there's two camps. Use it or not. Plants SHOULD consume most of the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate from the tank if you have a heavily planted tank making bio media useless. However, the other camp says definitely use bio media as the plants will not always remove everything and it's a good safety net if you plan on having fish in the tank. I used a lot of bio media in my tank and my plants and fish are both thriving. The mixed results I had were with the various CO2 reactors / diffusers. The biomedia was never a problem.

Other types of lamps are less expensive than a mercury vapor bulb. There's many many lighting options available for a planted tank. There's simple plant grow CFL bulbs, LED lighting, T5's and on and on. Unlike lighting for turtles, theres a TON more options available to you for planted tanks.

Anacharis is a turtle favorite, however flourish excel will sometimes cause this plant to melt.

Black diamond blasting media is available at Tractor Supply Company if you have one of those near you. You don't necessarily need to use black diamond blasting media. There are many other options that work just as well. I used it because it was cheap and black. You can use play sand from the hardware store, gravel, or even some of the planted tank specific substrates ($$) like eco complete.

You're quite welcome... I've gathered much knowledge from various forums over the years and am hoping to return the favor a bit here.
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:44 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Awesome information. I bow to you, sir, thank you.
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 2:57 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

After years and years in the hobby (fish keeping) and now turtles I've asked many many questions and have spent much time reading forums. I feel it's my turn to share a build thread hoping that it helps others as I've been helped in the past.

The brown suited Santa Claus (UPS delivery person) dropped off the network interface module for my controller today. This will allow me to view, graph, and make any program changes to the aquarium remotely. A web browser, the Digital Aquatics ipad app, or the Digital Aquatics application "MyReef" can be used to access this device. I'll post some interface screenshots once I get this thing installed.

Image
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 6:48 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

That's very cool! :)
1 RES - A girl named Sheldon
1 feeder fish - affectionately named Fishy - RIP 5/27/12
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:10 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

I wish this module had wifi built in especially considering its price. I know an external wireless bridge would do the same thing, but that's still one extra piece of hardware more cords and another plug. My controller is about 25 feet from the router in the basement so I ended up fishing an Ethernet cable and hard wiring this device to the network. I can acces it now, but nothing is setup. I'll try and get some screenshots soon - maybe tonight after the kids are in bed.
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:04 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Wow. Sounds like stuff that is very complicated. Good Luck.
1 RES - A girl named Sheldon
1 feeder fish - affectionately named Fishy - RIP 5/27/12
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:37 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

So...just want to confirm before I get too excited...
Is this meant to control the Reef Keeper, as in...when I travel, I won't have to rely on others to figure out the finer things on their own?
I am guessing the key factor is to connect this device directly to the Reef Keeper, and it acts as a go-between. So, I would need to connect this device to a network for the sole purpose of allowing it to be accessible via the Internet (remote "dial-in" - for lack of a better word - kind of like remote home security systems)?
I would need to run an external bridge, but I have ways of hiding the extra crud.
I am excited about this little puppy!!!
Keep us posted!
"I know up on the top you are seeing great sights, but down at the bottom we, too, should have rights"
~ "Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories" by Dr. Seuss ~
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:04 am   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Yes this is a digital aquatics module for the reef keeper controllers and it only works with those devices. The neptune Apex (competing controller) has similar network features but built in I believe.

You can program a controller from the brain module or by plugging your computer into the controller bus via the USB SID or now remotely over the network with this unit. Graphing, monitoring, email alerts, remote firmware upgrades, and remote configuration are all possible with this add on module. The details are all over on the digital aquatics website and support forum.
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:43 pm   Re: Moe's new 75G home - build thread.

Here is a screenshot from the web interface of the net module. In this graph I'm logging the PH probe value in 15 minute intervals.

Image

You can see the repeated rise in PH at night when the CO2 is shut off and the drop in PH when the CO2 is on. I did some work on the tank and shut stuff off on the 27th hence the gap in the graph data. Late on the 28th, I calibrated the PH probe which involves using a calibration solution of 10PH and hence the giant spike. On the 29th, I measured my KH to be 8 via an API drop based test. My PH wasn't low enough to get the target dissolved CO2 level I was aiming for so I cranked up the CO2 from 2 bubbles per second to 3.5 bubbles per second. The result of the increased CO2 is a drop in PH to 7.04 during the day (ph values are on the right side of the graph).

At a KH of 8, and a PH of 7 we I can use this chart to determine the dissolved CO2 level of approximately 24 parts per million.

Image

Thank you digital aquatics. I was finally able to dial in my CO2 levels with some level of accuracy. The $3 drop checker is OK for guess and check, but no where near as accurate as this method.
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