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My old 180 rimless redone

keymaker said:
plantbrain said:
This tank is much easier than most tanks folks have.
And it's a heck of RCS and stem plant farm, making about 100-200$ a month these days. More than enough to pay for it's electrical/chemical cost.
I never thought of a superb tank like this, great idea.
A self supporting financial and biological ecosystem! :) :clap:
BTW, spotless plant health and incredibly clean look - as always. Still a fan...

Well, there's more to it than just the scaping.
That's one of the more over emphasized elements I think in the planted tank hobby.
Gets most of the press.

Really gets back to what are the goals for the tank from that person's/owner's persepctive.
Seems that many lose sight of that.

I can pick at that part as well, not to take anything away from that aspect either, but I have considerations that go wayyyyyy wayyy beyond anything to do with judge criteria. I suspect most aquarist fall into that group really.
Many fish only folks need brought into this hobby to keep it afloat and growing also.

So nice fish plant mixes are wise.
My tanks have much higher fish/critter loads than any winning scapes I've ever seen.
That's part of the element of the aesthetic rules applied to those tanks.

I prefer to sit and have my eyes delighted and a really nice community since it's my personal home and aquarium that I, not the rest of world has to look at day to day. I also think a "working tank" shows good husbandry for livestock and good farming for the plants.

I work around these same concepts professionally with agriculture and natural lands.
What are the best management practices?
What is a good sustainable model for aquariums?
Can it look good still and have a nice fish community and nice plant community?'

Do I need higher light?

This is much more holistic in it's goal than aquascaping is alone.
However, you can still do both :idea:

It just adds another level above scaping to work on and improve as well :thumbup:

Something to ponder more with a glass of wine or beer, or tea after dinner staring at the aquarium.

I'll actually be selling this tank and some equipment, stand, light etc, and switching to a nicer beveled edge starfire glass LeMar, much like the ADA style tanks, have a cabinet maker do a similar stand to ADA for this same tank size, then add a built in over flow on the outside and have a sump under neath, this is easier to care for and keeps the O2 levels higher for the fish than this system. It also keeps all the stuff out of the tank nicely.

I will do this for each of the tanks I have now and might change the shapes a little, adding a bit more width/height etc to suit since the stand and tanks are custom anyway.............

Regards,
Tom Barr

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
This is a stunner Tom, I really like the Staruogyne. Do you think it would survive on lighting of 1wpg?
 
Wheres the full tank shot, the money shot :lol: looks ultra cool nice use of the plants as well.
 
Mark Webb said:
This is a stunner Tom, I really like the Staruogyne. Do you think it would survive on lighting of 1wpg?

Don't know.
Depends on the distance from the source, reflectors, good CO2 and other thigns that would need to be independent and non limiting to fully maximize the light use.

I suppose many plants would do well at that light with T5's and say 40cm depths from the source light. Just a guess though.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
chilled84 said:
Did pm you, But no reply, How do you get staorgyne like that, I have been trying for 6 months and only have an area of aboy 4inch square lol, secrets please :D

The "magic dust" I use?
No secret here, never was any,.
AFA has the same issue, but I do not have any issue with any species, I either grow it as fast, or faster.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 
zig said:
Wheres the full tank shot, the money shot :lol: looks ultra cool nice use of the plants as well.

Once I get my lazy bum around to deciding what I want in the background and allow the other 1-2 sqft of this plant to fill in, then yes, I will.

I'm not decided on some things still. I'm slow and often lack some motivation, but that "patience" as I call it(yea, right!), allows plenty of time to consider and think about what I want. It's a process, not something that goes right in perfectly.

Even when it does fill in, I might not like it once I see it realized, then might rip it out and try something else.

Never know. Rarely entirely happy.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
plantbrain said:
(...)I also think a "working tank" shows good husbandry for livestock and good farming for the plants. (...) This is much more holistic in it's goal than aquascaping is alone.
However, you can still do both :idea:
:idea: This is an absolutely new approach (to me), I kind of like this idea and "natural" goal. Not to live up to contest-style expectations but to follow a pragmatic approach that has an added bonus (secondary goal if you wish) of looking good.

plantbrain said:
I'll actually be (...) switching to a nicer beveled edge starfire glass LeMar, much like the ADA style tanks, have a cabinet maker do a similar stand to ADA for this same tank size, then add a built in over flow on the outside and have a sump under neath, this is easier to care for and keeps the O2 levels higher for the fish than this system.
So is the time of bottom-drilled tanks over? Do you actually think that theres not enough O2 with the current setup?
What about the CO2 being driven out by the sump?
 
Not everyone's ultimate goal with aquariums is anything to do with placing in top competitions.
I'd say many like those tanks, but many do not have such goals either.

Still elements of both leak through, some competition scapes have good ideas for less scaped systems, and ideas from working, practical tanks also apply. It's a two way street, there's no way someone can honestly argue that a a top 10 ADA tank is better than what my own personal goal might be with an aquarium.

It's a personal reflection of your own goal and whether or not you achieve that goal or not.
Some like Japanese food, some like Italian, depends on the judge.

Likewise, a good aquarist, like a good chef, can do BOTH.

So good tank for practical matters, low tech, high tech, etc, as good experience with fish, appropriate plants for them etc, good use of scaping materials that also suit the fish, use of marine systems as well as fresh, reef, marine plants, brackish, emergent etc.

Jeff and Mike Senske in the USA, and I'd say Oliver Knott in Germany fall more inot those Clades than Amano certainly does. Amano kicks everyone' bum with photography. So there's another element that shares the hobby to work on.

Maybe some are better exploring the wild lands looking of new plant species, some more academic, point is, we all have a great diversity, so do not pigeon hole yourself into one area. Over time, you get better at many things.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
So is the time of bottom-drilled tanks over? Do you actually think that theres not enough O2 with the current setup?
What about the CO2 being driven out by the sump?

No, but for myself, yes.
I'll use all sump systems on everything over 40 gal/90cm basically.

I know the sump systems are more stable as far as O2, and as far flow rates/clogging.
They are more flexible and easier to add different media to, change/remove carbon, add as much and as different types of media without stopping the filter lugging it all out etc, no surface scum either!
The water level stays the same, evaporation top off and automated dosing can be done below.

I can still do a much better job of mechanical filtration post wet/dry filter using a pleated ocean clear etc.
Those stay cleaner longer.

Few bad points to the wet/dry sumps, CO2 is not an issue if you seal the dry sections and reduce the overflow spill distance. They are not as quiet, but can be made pretty quiet still, not much else really, more good than bad at 40 Gal and up. Smaller tanks it is not really worth it.

I also have the overflow boxes on the outside of the tank, not built inside.
Does not take up space inside etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Thanks for the answer, Tom. I am looking forward to your new setup - please post us some tech pictures and description if you have a chance. I'm sure we can learn from it. I still have your old images of your bottom-drilled solutions (both this one and the small tank of yours) as well as your "DIY" Ocean Clear Red See external filter images in a "read-this-before-you-start-a-tank-by-Tom-Barr" folder ;).
 
I did a RCS count today, I have more than I thought, maybe 400.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
plantbrain said:
I did a RCS count today, I have more than I thought, maybe 400.
Regards,
Tom Barr
400 in that tank they are almost invisible, I had 400 in a 54 liter lol Lucky cherries :)
 
saintly said:
LondonDragon said:
I had 400 in a 54 lite
blimey! :wideyed:
Haha I did think I only had about 100 or so, but when removed plants and rocks and left only the substrate I was amazed! lol Got rid of all bar 40 after that, kept the really dark reds to start all over again, only now (9-10 months later) having enough to start off loading again. Now I have more reds red offspring than the transparent cherries, but those still come through.
 
SteveUK said:
plantbrain said:
I also have the overflow boxes on the outside of the tank, not built inside.
Does not take up space inside etc.

Hi Tom. Would be interested to see some photos of "behind the scenes" if it weren't too much hassle. Does sound very interesting :)

Little giant QMSC4, 2 parallel Ocean clear filters, UV, pleated cart, Sponge pre filter, 2x hydor 300W heaters.
I use a Rio 1100 for the CO2 needle wheel, and a Vortech MP40 for current. That's it pretty much, a coralife aqualight pro 72" long, but no HQI usage. Just the 4x 94W at about 30cm above the tank.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Good to see sum one else is also a fan of the Vortech pumps I was ridiculed for having one (mp10) but enjoy how most of the pump is outside the tank, variable flow, differing flow patterns etc. Being adjustable in terms of angle is not needed with the large flow pattern.
 
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