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MisterB's 3foot Planted Tank

MisterB

Member
Joined
8 May 2012
Messages
84
Location
Cheshire, UK
Hi all

ive got a few tanks, but this one is the first time ill be trying high tech stuff. ive got some T5 lighting, ill be doseing EI and using pressurized CO2, and ive tried not to let money get in the way so much with this tank ( to a certain extent ) most of my other tanks are done far cheaper scale, but i really wanted a lush planted tank.

ive got most of the gear i need, im just waiting for a powerhead in the post so thought id get going.
here's what ive done this morning.
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30 litres of Colombo Flora Base Black
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About 10-11 Kg of Seiryu Stone
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i already decided how i wanted the hard scape, as id been playing with the rocks in some sand before hand. it did take me a while the first time round tho to actually be happy with the position of the rocks.

now im off to TGM to buy some plants!
 
yeah dimensions would be a good idea, ive edited the thread name too now. the tank is 36x24x15 (LxHxW)

im quite happy with how its looking but ive still alot to do! ill get a list of plants up that i got soon and some more pictures.
 
well i spent a fair few hours splitting the plants from the pots, and then planting them, i then set the filter up and other bits. i just need to get the CO2 rigged up now but that will be done tomorrow, as i finished planting at midnight-ish!

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there are quite alot of plants you cant see as there behind the rocks but with growth they'll stand up behind them.

here's a list of the plants used.

Glossostigma Elatinoides
Echinodorus Tenellus
Staurogyne Repens
Micranthemum Umbrosum
Pogostemon Erectus
Ranunculus inundatus
Rotala Rotundifolia
Myriophyllum Mattogrossense
Nymphoides sp. ''Taiwan''


there is one plant im un-sure of the name because the tag must have fallen out. its the one in the bottom right corner of this pic if anyone knows.
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Its Ranunculus inundatus in the bottom right corner, I believe. Nice looking plants. At two foot deep, you might have some challenges distributing CO2 to your carpet plants - at least that's what I am currently experiencing in my 5x2x2. How have you arranged your flow?
 
thanks Killi69, it does look very much like Ranunculus inundatus.

and yes, i have thought about geting CO2 to my carpet, and it is on my mind. ill be useing a UP inline diffuser, which im constantly geting conflicting info on. some people say there great and others say the bubbles just dont get small enough, but we'll see how it goes. the flow at the moment is just from the filter, but i have a korlia nano 1600 powerhead coming to provide even more flow. i dont think itll be needed straight away tho. this i think will probably have to go in the top right corner, and push water down towards the back and the carpet.

as i say, this is my first attempt at a proper scape, and using all this gear. so any hints or tips are very much welcomed.

im going to be setting the CO2 up today, again first time ive done this so any hints or tips so i dont blow my arms off are very much welcomed too :)
 
looking good Mr. Planting and laying out is just the best thing :)
 
thanks, i have to admit, i do love setting tanks up! its so much fun :)

ok so this morning i got the CO2 gear all rigged up. but first things first, i found a puddle under my tank this morning! i had attached the UP inline diffuser, but hadnt put any CO2 tube onto it, so it was leaking very slightly, good job it was'nt gushing out.

all is sealed and fine now tho, and the co2 is running. i attached the reg and bottle pressure is 50bar, it is a used bottle as i got 2 from Alastair (thank you very much bud, that did save me alot of hassle :)) one's full and one is partly used, as i said its showing 50bar, im not sure what it would be at if it was full, does anyone know?

i set the line pressure to 1.9 bar as ive read i need 1.9 rater than 1.5 for the UP inline diffuser to work properly.
when testing outside it did seem the CO2 coming out was a bit, random, puffs here and there but i dunno. and the bubbles do seem a little random, 3 in 1 second intervals then 2 a bit faster, im not sure if this is normal or not. ive got the bubble counter on the side of the bottle, as the bottle is on the other side of the room from the tank, i did have the bubble counter next to the tank but this makes it very hard to adjust the reg and watch the counter. its set at around 1 bubble per second at the moment, or maybe a tad faster like 11 per 10 seconds. ill check the drop checker later on today and go from there i guess.

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Looking good! :thumbup:

MisterB said:
ok so this morning i got the CO2 gear all rigged up. but first things first, i found a puddle under my tank this morning! i had attached the UP inline diffuser, but hadnt put any CO2 tube onto it, so it was leaking very slightly, good job it was'nt gushing out.
Exactly that happened to me. I put an extra non-return a couple of inches back from the atomizer so there's no back-flow even when the CO2 is off or disconnected.

all is sealed and fine now tho, and the co2 is running. i attached the reg and bottle pressure is 50bar, it is a used bottle as i got 2 from Alastair (thank you very much bud, that did save me alot of hassle :)) one's full and one is partly used, as i said its showing 50bar, im not sure what it would be at if it was full, does anyone know?
A full tank shows 50 bar and it will only start to drop when there's no liquid CO2 left in the bottle, just gas. That's the sign it's on its way out. Still enough to drive the regulator but it will continue to fall until it can't maintain the working pressure. I change it when it's getting down to about 10 bar but I have missed it and not had the infamous gas dump (with a diffuser).
 
yes harry i was very impressed with the quality of plants from the green machine, they are so lush and they had a great collection, just i did want more Staurogyne Repens but they only had one pot. still once it grows i can spread it. or pick up more.

san, yes ive put a check valve about a foot away from the atomzier now, i have actually got 3 on the set-up probably to many but hey i had them. ive got one either side of the bubble counter and one over by the atomizer .

so showing 50bar would indicate that the tank is pretty much full? that would be a bonus, Alastair did say he thought it was half full or so.
so i should look to move onto the 2nd bottle when this drops to around 10bar? its going to take a while for that i should think, but, the beauty of having 2 bottles i can switch over then look at getting the other re-filled.
 
if the bottles are the same , weighING them will give you an idea of how much you have in the used one.
 
Tanks looking great mate, even better when it grows on. All that waiting has paid off. Will be watching this with interest.
An empty cylinder is around 15kg and when full is 22 kg. that's for the black one anyway. The other may be different weight but has the empty weight stamped in to the cylinders


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MisterB said:
so showing 50bar would indicate that the tank is pretty much full?
Not necessarily. It will show 50 bar when it's full and stay at 50 bar until its almost empty, then you'll see it drop. It will still last a while but then you need to keep an eye on it.

Something like this:

Time --->
50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 40 30 20 10 0

So, as Darren and Alistair suggest, the only way to guess what percentage is used is to weigh it. You have no idea how far along that line of 50s you are.
 
ahh ok that makes more sense, ill just check the reg and go from that as when to change, thanks for the info.

sadly, i think my solenoid isnt working, already?!

it clicks when it comes on, then, when it goes off the bubbles stop for a second, then carry on?!

i dont really know what to do with it.
 
With the inline diffusers co2 will still pass through the tubing for a good ten minutes mate then should stop. Keep an eye on it.
You did say that the bubble counter emptied itself of water, could possibly be water has siphoned back into the solenoid.
But, just watch the bubble counter on and off for a few minutes as like unsaid the co2 from the co2 tubing will still pass through for a while


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well i took it all apart, and then back together, and even when the solenoid was unpluged the co2 started bubbling through the bubble counter. ive had a check valve infront of the solenoid so no water getting in (unless the check valves dont work)

struggleing for ideas but im just gunna have to play about because im not really sure what im doing :crazy:
but it looks pretty certain that the solenoid isnt working at all....so im really unsure what to do or how to go about things now.
 
My solenoid has an arrow on it, i.e. there's a right way and a wrong way to connect it up. I've never checked to see what happens with gas the wrong way but, if you have an arrow, have you got it the right way?
 
ok so i tryied the solenoid in a bucket, it was reg, short pipe to the solenoid, then short pipe into the bucket, power or no power the co2 still comes through.
and yeah this has a white arrow mark on it so i was using that the correct way.

i got this from Lunapets on ebay, ill contact them but i think im just going to get one local so i can get it sorted if i have any problems, and at least then i can get advice from them too.

ive had a quick look at a couple of valves, has anyone got any preferences to which is best or which they prefer?

D-D CO2 Solenoid Valve - 8 Bar
JBL Proflora Solenoid Valve
Aqua Medic M-ventil Standard Co2 valve

there all around the same price so, that's not really a deciding factor.

for now ill be turning the co2 on and off manually but i really would like to get it set up with a solenoid so its as stable as possible.
 
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