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Noob with an idea or twelve

James O

James O

Member
Joined
16 Nov 2013
Messages
891
Location
South Coast
Hi All!

I've been lurking in the java fern behind the bogwood in the corner but thought I'd better show my ugly mug :wave:

I received a 55l cube as a prezzy and started cycling the water for fishys. While the nitrite & nitrate where doing the ammonia shuffle I started my t'interweb search for info. Low and behold I stumbled upon the planted tank scene. It seems my type of thing - I really enjoy water tests after all :joyful:

More searching of that flavour of tank keeping and I found you guys!! In awe of the layouts I'm seeing here. I've found many videos, tutorials, inspiration etc etc from sites like greenmachine and Amano on youtube :greedy: lust set in..........

I think I've found the place to make a garden of eden for my little fishes....

So hello to one and all!!
 
Kudos for taking the cycling route and welcome
 
Thanks darren.

I feel animals are animals, legs or no, and when we take ownership their care & wellbeing should come first.

I'm living it up with Java fern, Java moss, xmas moss and a cute little Anubias b. at the moment. Just waiting for them to take hold. They've only been in 2 weeks but I'm getting twitchy :rolleyes:

Already looking into getting a larger tank made up and running with a DIY sump system below. Just pricing it up.........
 
James O said:
Thanks darren.

I feel animals are animals, legs or no, and when we take ownership their care & wellbeing should come first.

I'm living it up with Java fern, Java moss, xmas moss and a cute little Anubias b. at the moment. Just waiting for them to take hold. They've only been in 2 weeks but I'm getting twitchy :rolleyes:

Already looking into getting a larger tank made up and running with a DIY sump system below. Just pricing it up.........
Click to expand...


Welcome. This place is a sure fire route to bankrupcy! youll find yourself getting bigger and bigger tanks (just look at alistairs 1300l one)
 
James O said:
Low and behold I stumbled upon the planted tank scene. It seems my type of thing - I really enjoy water tests after all :joyful:
Click to expand...

Hi James,

You may be dissapointed with the testing side lol Although you may find yourself armed with a fire extinguisher and PH pen fairly soon :D

Enjoy the journey, there's LOTS to take in and learn from this great site. Still working hard at it here :)

Rob
 
1300l mmmmmmmmm where's my speedos?

I like the old tests - pretty colours etc I even have graphs! :facepalm:

I think I'll buy a canister and get it refilled. The thought of launching a small red ICBM from my lounge gives me the creeps. On the CO2 front, I do like Georges UP CO2 Inline Diffuser - one less thing in the tank.

I can make most things (computers, amps, speakers, record deck tonearms, full kitchens etc etc) so I'll be making the stand/cabinet, the sump is pretty straightforward (might go fluidised), I recon I can make stainless steel inflow & outflow pipes ala ADA for 1/3 the price. I've lots of mates who are true craftsmen with all the right tools they let me play with :D

I've taken a fancy to a 900mm wide x 550mm high x cant decide between 450 or 550mm. (90/55 is near as dammit a golden ratio) Thats either 222.75l or 272.25l volume. Loads of room for little fish - 100 celestial pearl danio perhaps :dead:

Any pros/cons for that tank size? reach is no issue, I'm 6ft4in with arms like an Orangutan (long - not hairy)
 
You're funny, I like you already :D

As always (my disclaimer lol) i'm no one to comment, but I prefer a shallower tank. I'm currently running an 800w x 450h x 350d and find it a little too thin and high, so my custom i'm having built is 800w x 400h x 400d which I think will look good and give me ample space :)

As for your idea of stainless pipes, lots of folks on here have been using acrylic, which IMO looks great. I'll be going for that on my new tank I think. Saves you a few more quid too :)
 
Thanks for the warm welcome!!

I know depth perception can be mucked around with with something as simple as rising substrate towards the back of the tank of rapidly narrowing path/river towards the rear of the tank. I just have this feeling that there is no substitute for cubic inches :D They say you'll always want a bigger tank so I though why not max out the height and depth in relation to, or ratio to the width?

Anyone recommend a good tank maker in the south? They all seem to be well north of Watford :(
 
What about Herts? It's classed as South to me anyway! lol

There's ND Aquatics there. Built Alistairs mammoth 6x4 foot tank and they're building my custom Optiwhite :) And they deliver anyway.
 
Thats closer! still 2hrs driving straight north. My own fault for living right on the coast.

A solid recommendation is worth its weight in optiwhite!

I'll call them now......
 
Hi & welcome, don't rely on test kits as most of them simply don't give anymore than an indication of what the true reading will be & more than likely just lie & deceive you.
Sumps are great but, offer issues of their own & generally speaking are not popular!
I use a sump but it is only 25mm below the tank level so as to avoid to much C02 loss!
PH is an important measurement & luckily is one of the easy parameters to measure accurately.
 
I take it you don't like/trust test kits :) How do you check your tank is cycled, not full of ammonia etc? Are sumps not liked by the planted tank community or just generally? How does water drop effect CO2 loss? So may questions, soooo much to learn :banghead:

On a pleasant spendy new toy flavour type note, ND Aquiatics quoted me a 900x550x550 with optiwhite front and sides in 12mm glass at £287.76. :greedy: I feel a spending spree coming on :greedy:


I guess I should say I'm more of a fish in a 'natural' environment type bod than a pure planted tank man. Dont hate me :oops: All the things I post are subject to change, entropy and taxes.
 
I''m at the start of the journey too James :) It's proving fun, and informative. Like I said in my 1st post, ENJOY IT! :)

So much great advice from here, stuff that if i'd known 3 months ago when I set my current tank up i'd have gone a totally different direction. I'm currently trying to unwind damage caused by lack of research, information and ignorance at the start (btw, ignorance is NOT bliss :p lol), but all actions I took were in good faith unfortunately coupled with poor research and advice.

Take your time and focus on the important things and getting the balance right. Lights (not too much!), flow, distribution, CO2, maintenance etc. Plan it, test it, make sure it works for you. Each component has it's own variables that need to be right. Get it completely wrong (as I have) and it's distressing and time consuming, 3 x weekly 50% water changes, constant removal of algae, excessive tank cleaning etc still after over 3 months!! Not where I wanted to be!!

When my issues first appeared I felt like i'd wasted months, as it took me months to get my tank up and running and it still went bang and knocked my confidence right back. The mistakes have cost me a few quid too! (Wipes out the savings you make by being savvy lol).

Since coming here I have renewed enthusiasm and resolve to get things right, it's a struggle but I learn something most days and ask questions, then employ this learning and advice to my situation. I know i'll get there, I simply HAVE to!! :)
 
Hi James
- with that atitude to learning, and sense of humor to top it........................you're gonna love this place (and we're gonna love you back) :thumbup:
Welcome to the Fun
Mick.
 
Hi and welcome:)
The issue with sumps is co2 loss, the co2 is always trying to get back to equilibrium with atmosphere and the more co2 you inject and the larger the gas exchange area ie trickle filter or overflow, the harder it is to keep it in the water. So you end up using more co2. The low but stable co2 levels provided by a trickle filter/sump can be seen as advantageous in a low tech set up.
 
James O said:
I take it you don't like/trust test kits :) How do you check your tank is cycled, not full of ammonia etc? Are sumps not liked by the planted tank community or just generally? How does water drop effect CO2 loss? So may questions, soooo much to learn :banghead:
Click to expand...
Well it is not me who don't like test kits it is just that most of them do not give a true reading... fact!

Sumps are fantastic assets under certain circumstances but, just bear in mind that, as the water travels down the overflow, any C02 present will be severely diminished as is escapes into the atmosphere
.
Think of a carbonated bottle of water ( drink made from adding C02) & imaging poring it down a 3' drain & catching it in a bowl... the water will have a lot less fizz?

However, as long as you except you will be using more C02, then there are benefits too!
You will be able to actually add more C02 without harming you fish because of the increased & more stable 02 content in the tank!
However 'again' you need to ensure you have a suitable method to add lots of C02! LOL
So yes sumps are great as long as you understand the pros & cons.
 
That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation and welcome OllieNZ foxfish

So an inline diffusor has the beneficial effect of spreading the xxxx (whats the underwater equivalent of atomised?) CO2 for even better absorption by the water? More, smaller bubbles = greater surface area = higher absorption rates. Would adding CO2 via an inline diffuser on the output of a sump go some way to reclaiming lost capacity because of the sump?

I plan to have a fair few little fish (maybe even approaching my upper 270l permitted stocking level) so water cleanliness might be harder than a standard planted tank. Or I could be wrong........it wouldn't be the 2,368,994th time :D

Thanks for all the help and keeping up with the random waffling/questions of a loon fellas!
 
Good reads thanks George!

I knew they weren't accurate just from the ridiculous colour checking thing. How the hell can you check the colour of a liquid in a glass tube with a solid colour patch? A couple of the colour squares were basically the same level anyway!! Even my Spider colorimeter thought the patches were poo.

I just used them to give me some idea of when it was safe to add fish. It was hardscaped from the get go and planted from week 2. I got a low/zero/some/maybe/perhaps reading for a few days so went ahead with some pygmy corys. Looks like I cycled a planted tank without ammonia as per your link without realising! Yay, go me :D
 
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