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1000 litre Low Maintenance

All seems to be okay with the CO² setup, including the air line which I have checked for leaks.
I am using an AM1000 reactor.
Would a diffuser be more efficient?

Have exhausted all possibilities for cheap CO² locally. I contacted BOC and they are more expensive than the extinguishers I buy.
 
AM1000 should be the cream of the cream if you are not using a mazzei venturi.
See if any bubbles are escaping the reactor if they are then you might improve it maybe using sponges instead of siporax(let a little bit of space between the sponges and the CO2 inlet to create the bubbles loop). Maybe place the output (guess it's one of the spraybars) a little bit deeper pointing a little bit down, not at the surface.

See if it helps,
Mike
 
clonitza said:
AM1000 should be the cream of the cream if you are not using a mazzei venturi.
See if any bubbles are escaping the reactor if they are then you might improve it maybe using sponges instead of siporax(let a little bit of space between the sponges and the CO2 inlet to create the bubbles loop). Maybe place the output (guess it's one of the spraybars) a little bit deeper pointing a little bit down, not at the surface.

See if it helps,
Mike

Thanks Mike. I am not sure what you mean when you suggest that bubbles may be escaping the reactor? I have the infeed at the top and the outfeed return at the bottom and I do have the spray bars pointing downwards, although there isn't a great flow from the Eheim 1262 as there are several holes across the width of the tank. Maybe I would have been better with fewer holes which would have fired the CO² deeper.

I have also moved the drop checker nearer the top to check levels are the same. Maybe I need more circulation? I have reduced bubble rate on the new bottle, I guess a little is better than none.
 
Very nice tank, keep up the good work. should look awesome when mature. Wish I could afford a tank this big, but then I would probably keep a puffer in it or some other big fish that would not suit a planted set up, ;) so more power to you for going uber plantski, as we say in my neck of the woods ( Wolverhampton ).

All the best from Bill.
 
Re:

Bufo Bill said:
Very nice tank, keep up the good work. should look awesome when mature. Wish I could afford a tank this big, but then I would probably keep a puffer in it or some other big fish that would not suit a planted set up, ;) so more power to you for going uber plantski, as we say in my neck of the woods ( Wolverhampton ).

All the best from Bill.

Thanks Bill.
 
I decided to take out all the media inside my am1000, and also cut the co2 tube inside it to half the length it was, this way I found that I got better co2 mixing and have knocked my bubble rate down by 1bubble a second too. May be worth a try plus you'll get more flow too then. I found the long co2 tube allowed some co2 to get pushed out without rising to the top.
Not sure why your using so much co2 though mate. I use a pub cylinder at 4-5 bps and get a good 7 months out of it easily
 
Alastair said:
I decided to take out all the media inside my am1000, and also cut the co2 tube inside it to half the length it was, this way I found that I got better co2 mixing and have knocked my bubble rate down by 1bubble a second too. May be worth a try plus you'll get more flow too then. I found the long co2 tube allowed some co2 to get pushed out without rising to the top.
Not sure why your using so much co2 though mate. I use a pub cylinder at 4-5 bps and get a good 7 months out of it easily

Thanks Alastair, so do you not have any media at all in your AM1000? I must say I reckon the Siporax reduces the flow dratically.
sanj said:
Mark,

I think your bubble rate is way too high gauging by what you said and comparibles with mine and others.

Thanks sanj, I am sure you are right, although the drop checker has never been a really pale green :?

If I cant reduce the CO² consumption by a considerable amount I will not run it - its really frustrating not to be able to get a good price on it. But I have to say that there are some really nice tanks that dont use CO²
 
Yes mate, I run my reactor with no media what so ever in it. They restrict flow enough already with having such a narrow inner bore on the inlet and outlet and the sera seporax would restrict further in my opinion.
I'm planning on getting a drill head and widening the inner bore slightly too at some point.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I have now removed all media from the AM1000 but there isn't much noticeable difference in flow. I will need to run at least one powerhead on this tank to ensure better CO² distribution. I have tried one of the Tunze heads now that the plants are established, but it ruins the tranquility of the tank. Some of the stems are going horizontal :woot: , and the fish are all gathering at one end - they look like they are trying to get out!. This head runs at 1000gph minumum so I intend to go for a Vortech MP10 which will run between 200-1575gph, in the hope that I can get good circulation without too much disturbance to the tank.
 
Running a 1000 litre high tech tank is asking for trouble haha lets put it this way a 5Kg CO2 bottle on my 125l tank lasts 8 months so do the maths, you will need to pump a lot of CO2 in there, you could possibly reduce the light levels and photo period to see if that helps, reducing for an hour a day might help, also ensure your fertilizer regime and flow is good all around the tank. Good luck
 
This head runs at 1000gph minumum so I intend to go for a Vortech MP10 which will run between 200-1575gph, in the hope that I can get good circulation without too much disturbance to the tank.

I don't have an MP10, so this is only a suggestion, but check the spec for the MP10 - I was looking into it just recently and it states the magnet holder/motor works up to a max of 9.5mm glass thickness. I would expect it probably still works for thicker glass but maybe not at full flow rates?? anyway, not sure how thick your glass is but for 1000litres, figured it might be 12mm or even more.

Calzone
 
LondonDragon said:
Running a 1000 litre high tech tank is asking for trouble haha lets put it this way a 5Kg CO2 bottle on my 125l tank lasts 8 months so do the maths, you will need to pump a lot of CO2 in there, you could possibly reduce the light levels and photo period to see if that helps, reducing for an hour a day might help, also ensure your fertilizer regime and flow is good all around the tank. Good luck

Thanks Paulo
 
Calzone said:
This head runs at 1000gph minumum so I intend to go for a Vortech MP10 which will run between 200-1575gph, in the hope that I can get good circulation without too much disturbance to the tank.

I don't have an MP10, so this is only a suggestion, but check the spec for the MP10 - I was looking into it just recently and it states the magnet holder/motor works up to a max of 9.5mm glass thickness. I would expect it probably still works for thicker glass but maybe not at full flow rates?? anyway, not sure how thick your glass is but for 1000litres, figured it might be 12mm or even more.

Calzone

Thanks for the tip, glass is 10mm. I have the Vortech running and its working very well. Only using 75% of max and giving very good circulation.
 
Update at 62 days

Plant growth has been considerable despite not having achieved pale green on the drop checker. CO² is now lasting longer but impossible to achieve a controlled level as the bubbles are streaming so fast its impossible to count them. The only way is to use 2 bottles in order to get more control. I found that at startup each day the CO² was running at a crazy level and needed to be adjusted everyday but having dismantled and reassembled the regulator it seems okay now. There is some algae but nothing significant so far.

i-7HHNvvW-L.jpg


i-958nPT9-L.jpg


Water is now very much clearer. Initially it was a little milky, so I guess thats a good indication the tank is maturing. I have planted Bolbitus Heudelotii but its struggling. Also added some Alternanthia Renekii which is doing okay. The plant I initially bought as A. Renekii was mislabelled. Microsorum is now kicking off.

I have added what I think maybe 3 M. Australis?

i-tN2scrB-L.jpg
 
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