Recent content by Consigliere

I finally got around to fixing my solenoid so I could put my pH controller online and control the CO2 a bit. Not really required to maintain the tank but saves some money on CO2 in my opinion. AFter taking the solenoid apart a couple times because it was passing, I finally figured out the actual...

I'm sure there will be some losses here and there. Otos aren't particularly hardy in my experience. Thanks for the concern though!

The java fern could get pretty hairy but the frontal areas of the wood don't have attached plants so I'm hoping that will help keep the wood featured as the plants grow in. But who knows. The whole sump build, setup and sealing is detailed in a previous post or on my blog. Basically its a 70G...

Been playing with my camera. Finally spending the time to learn how to use it beyond point and shoot. This shot seems a bit underexposed still so probably will need to adjust some settings but it's definitely an improvement from before. Quick update on the tank, the wendtii 'bronze' is starting...

2 weekends ago I picked up all the plants I had ordered from the LFS, except for the anubias nana var petite. The plants direct from the distributor where in much better shape than the ones that had been hanging around the store for a while. Especially the parva. I got 15 pots of it and it was...

Been working on and off on the tank of late.  One of the first things to take care of was getting the CO2 up and running.  After filling the CO2 tank I got everything hooked back up.  The CO2 bubbles run into the intake of the powerhead that puts water through the UV chamber.  The modded...

Because I needed an excuse to have another beer before bed...here's the tank 24hr after planting. There a bunch of new plants needing to be put in their permanent home but I am waiting to do that until the water needs changing for clarity again. The wood is leaching less tanins now but will...

I got energetic on Sunday afternoon and decided that I would do my first round of planting, despite having a million other things to do. I couldn't resist. Before I could start planting though I had to build a mini scaffold for me to stand on to work in the tank. Using a chair just wasn't...

Here it is before the first attempted auto-water change procedure. Still pretty cloudy and tea stained from the soaking wood. Still have a bit of scaping on the gravel to do to create the profiles I want. The water was too cold to do it before. I've got all my old heaters in there going 100%...

After the first dry run of the tank there were a few leaks in the plmbing that needed to be fixed. There were two that I won't admit to how they happened but let's just put them on me. The other two were because of a bad bulkhead installation. I had to remove the bulkhead, scrape the inside...

Not sure how many pieces but basically each branch is its own piece and they are all zip-tied together. Probably at least 30 pieces in there.

Canadian and not a reef keeper. Always a planted freshwater guy but never to this scale.

Netlea black is a substrate. Apparently similar to ADA products. I believe its imported from Asia. I have a pH controller. The filtration is a bit confusing, mainly because there is no good way to photograph the filter now that its installed. Too tight. Its a pretty basic sump design. From...

So I started the tank up and there is good news and bad news. Good news is the tank and stand are good, filter works great. Pumps, sump pump all function as expected. But 3 leaks in the plumbing that need to be fixed. Decided to go ahead and cut out the leaking plumbing and start new. Seems to...

Been going pretty hard the last few nights on getting this tank going.  The check valves arrived Friday and I got to work on the return plumbing.  I had a last minute change of design and didn't go with a CO2 reactor out of PVC.  Instead I decided to use a 1300 L/h powerhead hooked up to a 36W...