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220 Gallon mono culture of belem hair grass and rock

We were a little thin on of nthe hair grass, the front edge is something I tend to do, it'll fill in and look similar to the 70 Gallon I did with the Manzy burls and belem grass.
Gerry is fairly good with CO2, and maintenance so he should have few issues with this scape. Sitting on the couch while he works from home is the main spot. the tank will have about 400-500 Cards and Apistos and then the cleaning crew. I'll be interested to see the tank in 3-4 months.

I also did a 75 Gallon(Cypress knees) and 57 Gallon tank(Seiryu stone).
The Cypress knees, I've never seen anyone other than myself use it.
Not sure why. The 57 is a fairly standard Chinese style rock scape.

So he got 3 scapes done, with tank break down and multiple water changes to clean and clear things up, moving fish etc in 3 days basically.
 
Gerry says the tank is really nice and super clear now.

I have been using these larger clear CO2 reactors, just large water filter housing basically, but you can add the filter cartridges and still use them as CO2 reactors also, they sell these cheap carbon block 5 micron cartridges for a few $ so you can ultra filter the water, then remove after 1 day or use only at night, then get a nice pic, or have your mates over for brew. Like George Farmer, I clean the snot out of any tank that's redone. This makes the client happy and makes the tank look better and it's a good time to do it.
 
Tom I cant work out the flow pattern, there seems to be opposing flow at the front of the tank.
I am guessing the Co2 is flowing back through the rear return..is that C02 bubbles we can see?

You might be interested in my reactor design, linked in my signature.
 
Hi Foxfish, the CO2 is run through a 4.5" x 20" inch tall clear water filter and uses a stand pipe that pulls water from the bottom to exit.
So it's similar. This out put then mixes with the sump water and is placed near the return pump, the intake is near the start of the sump, exit near the end of the sump etc.


The return are the two pipes, they are split from the return pump so both have CO2 rich water coming out of them.
The Vortech MP40 is on only for a brief time for 1-2 hours, then turns off during the day, it comes on all night. So it shuts down for about 6-7 hours.
Circulation is circular in the tank, the fish will school better this way once he adds the 500 Cardinals back into the tank he now has in the other 2 aquariums.

It'll looking bitching once it's filled in and fish are added.
 
Hey Tom, I still don't understand the use of the Vortech MP40 then. It's still opposing the flow from the outlet on the left when its turned on? Or do you intend to sort of reduce turbulence at night so the fish can rest?
 
No, it's more for mixing the CO2 at the start up phase, then plenty of current at night to degas.
A 2x1 meter surface area that's skimmed and clean offers a massive area for degassing, so we do not need that much flow since the tank is wide and long and shallow, even more so with 1/3rd of the pushed up due to the sediment.
 
Nice....but noisy!
Guess its ok in a dedicated room, kind of therapeutic the sound of trickling water, but for most people it would interfere too much with daily life. Just have to keep struggling on with external canister filters and fiddly co2 levels :)
Must be great having all that room around the tank for access and maintenance.
This will be stunning once the grass has filled in and watching 500 cardinals will be breathtaking.
Hope Gerry doesn't blow it with his use of mega light for videos ;)
Cheerio
 
Ady34 said:
Nice....but noisy!
Guess its ok in a dedicated room, kind of therapeutic the sound of trickling water, but for most people it would interfere too much with daily life. Just have to keep struggling on with external canister filters and fiddly co2 levels :)
Must be great having all that room around the tank for access and maintenance.
This will be stunning once the grass has filled in and watching 500 cardinals will be breathtaking.
Hope Gerry doesn't blow it with his use of mega light for videos ;)
Cheerio
Click to expand...


Sumps don't have to be noisy, I have one in my living room, no trickling water, just the hum of the cheap pumps that I need to replace. The secret, as far as I'm concerned, is to make sure that most of the flow is on a full syphon (valve to allow a little to go down the wider overflow, but only a little) and to exit the water onto a sponge. If the overflow starts making noise then something needs maintenance.

As for the tank, lovely. I need to get it into my head to keep the planting simpler. I'm scaping with too much of a cross between a dutch plant mix and a hardscape of this sort (although I use more wood than rock). I would kill for a tank like that, or, more likely, be killed by the other half.
 
Great tank Tom. I could live with it too :)
Is that a starphire glass?

Also did you do anything with the lava rocks? Nice textures!
The tubing is a bit of hars to this beauty glass wonder, but if the client won on the maintenance on the long term and the tank will be healthier, then well it's ok. :)
 
Ady34 said:
Nice....but noisy!
Guess its ok in a dedicated room, kind of therapeutic the sound of trickling water, but for most people it would interfere too much with daily life. Just have to keep struggling on with external canister filters and fiddly co2 levels :)
Must be great having all that room around the tank for access and maintenance.
This will be stunning once the grass has filled in and watching 500 cardinals will be breathtaking.
Hope Gerry doesn't blow it with his use of mega light for videos ;)
Cheerio
Click to expand...


He has the volume cranked on the video, it's very quiet and can be made even more so if he wanted. He has a bean animal which is the the quietest design.
He works mostly from the couch(does IT code), so he's right next to the tank most of the day.
 
viktorlantos said:
Great tank Tom. I could live with it too :)
Is that a starphire glass?

Also did you do anything with the lava rocks? Nice textures!
The tubing is a bit of hars to this beauty glass wonder, but if the client won on the maintenance on the long term and the tank will be healthier, then well it's ok. :)
Click to expand...


Yes, starfire.
About all I use these days.

No, we did nothing to the rock, I dusted it off and rinsed it before. But not even much of that for this tank.

Yes, the tubing is an eye sore to me also.

I suggested a nice stainless steel tubing set, say 17mm ID. He has cats and they would likely break anything glass. Inside the tank, the glass slip on flares will look nice and be easy to clean versus say a lily pipe. I have a glass blower that does Lab glass work that's going to make some return elbows for me this coming month.
This way any filter can have an add on Glass in tank flare that provides various flow routines and is easy to clean and hard to break. Sort of a take on the Mame overflow design with the tubing that connects the modular design.

The rock is really pretty in person, I'd originally thought of using it like Amano but a more grouped Unzan style stones. But once you get the rock and place it, then all that goes out the window and the rock defines the space. The more open space would look nice for different plant species and better for more plant area, but this looked better for the hardscape. I tried a few things to see. All is going well for the client's tanks.
 
FYI, you might try contacting a local glass blower to make the eblows and then simply slip some vinyl tubing over the U shaped pipe so all you see in the water is the glass elbow. Should not cost much and you can add a flare or other customized things, or dabble with glass blowing yourself.

I think I shall since it takes awhile for some of the artist to fill the orders.
 
Update time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIc_5oOMS-Y


you can see after 20 days, the huge change in the plant, i's now a different color and submersed growth has started and taken over the old emergent growth. It's now time to trim the taller old emergent stuff down to the same height.
Then add lots of shrimp.

I suggested painted Fire shrimp(hyper red RCS basically).
Amano's, maybe 100.

Then the week after, he'll start with 100 Cardinals and then 1-2 weeks later, another 100 and so on.
Lastly, the Apistos.

They will eat the baby shrimp, but the grass will offer a lot of cover.

Enjoy.
 
wow great tank the thing is HUGE must cost fortune for tank + substrate etc but one day I really hope lol grass and rocks look amazing so simplistic without loads of plants and cannot wait to see stocked will be so soothing for you and great to sit and look at, the last vid gives real perspective of its size couldn't belive it :thumbup: the grass has grew massively in 20 days, when you stocking then mate ?

Thanks Dean
 
Th stocking will be done shortly,

Amano shrimp and otto's, maybe 100 shrimp and then 40 Otto's, but likely will end up with about 10-20 Otto's.
Some Painted Fire shrimp.

Cardinals will go at 30 or so a week. About 400-500 total, but this too will widdle down to 350-400 or so.
I'd add 100 a week, but that's just me. Trim time and then another 2-3 months, the tank will be looking pretty nice.

The issue for many people with such tanks after the honeymoon grow in period: they get bored, there's so little to do after.
But that's what this guy said he wanted. The rocks look really nice in person.

Much better than I thought, but I did spend some time scaling things.
 
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