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580l with sump - newbie reef conversion

A

andyseatrout

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Joined
5 Dec 2010
Messages
62
Hi All,

Thought I would share the beginning of the enjoyable part of converting my once reef aquarium into a planted aquarium. This is my first attempt at a planted aquarium and I am looking forward to the challenge ahead.

I would like to thank all those who have already assisted me with some of my thoughts about setting this up and I look forward to bouncing more ideas around and learning new things.

I have decided to use as much of my existing equipment as I can and I will be going Hi-Tech with EI dosing and CO2 injection. The tank is also sumped and this will incorporate the vast majority of the equipment. I have modified the sump to contain sections for sintered glass and bioballs (or the like) and this will be covered using 6mm acrylic; I have also had cover glass cut to size for the main tank to reduce evaporation and hopefully conserve the all important CO2!

Today I have finally reached a stage where I can start to put things back together, having spent the last month cleaning everything:

The cleaned tank:

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Osmocote going down:

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Irish peat moss going down:

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First layer of Tesco Value Lightweight cat litter going down:

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Filter mulm from another planted tank going in:

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Final layer of cat litter in and done for this evening:

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I am going to aquascape with bogwood only and still haven't made a final decision on plants. The only thing I am sure about is that I want to plant heavily from the outset with quite a variety.

Comments, suggestions and criticism all welcome. :)
 
Hi andyseatrout

This is a nice size tank for going planted and it looks like you've done a good job of cleaning the tank :D
Good start with the substrate. I'm using that stuff in all 3 of my tanks now (but don't tell the designer boys :lol: ), and it works a treat :D .
Looking forward to seeing this one develop.
Good start.
 
Aquascaping now completed.

Much of the detail is lost due to reflection, substrate and poor photography skills:

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Will hopefully get everything wet for the first time tomorrow.

Further comments welcome ..... :)
 
I will follow this with interest. I too am an ex reefer and converting to a planted tank. I went through the same deliberations with water supply, sump, water changes, CO² or not etc. I decided to take out my sump and I have drilled the tank to instal an overflow to use the drip method for water changes. I have dumped the idea of RO Water and will now use an HMA filter (which provides water suitable for Discus). It leaves all the good stuff and takes out Chlorine, Chloramines, Heavy Metals and certain volatile organic chemicals. All this with no wasted water :).

I must say you have some nice timber there, looking good. I wish you luck with it.
 
Thanks for the comments so far.

I filled the tank yesterday through a fine sediment filter and carbon block. I started at 7:20pm and it took until 3am to completely fill! This is concerning me hugely about what I am going to do about the huge water changes that I am going to have to make - it might have to be straight tap water .....

When I went to bed the water was beautifully clear, but having left the return pump (5000l/h) from the sump and the tunze 6060 powerhead (6000l/h) running overnight this was clearly too much flow for the cat litter and it has caused a lot of movement and clouding of the water, hence no photos.

I have now cut down my plant list and this is what I have now ordered ready for next Thursday:

Plants for placing on the wood:

Anubias barteri "coffeefolia" x 1
Anubias barteri var. nana x 3 (+ petite x 5)
Microsorum pteropus "Narrow" x 1
Microsorum pteropus "Windelov" x 1
Vescicularia dubyana "Christmas" x 1

Foreground plants:

Eleocharis parvula (1-2-grow) x 1
Glossostigma elatinoides x 4
Hydrocotyle verticillata x 2
Staurogyne repens (1-2-grow) x 1

Mid ground plants:

Hygrophila corymbosa "compact" x 1
Bacopa caroliniana x 1
Bacopa australis x 2
Nymphaea lotus (Zenkeri) (pot) x 1


Mid to rear:

Echinodorus "Rubin" x 1
Hygrophila corymbosa (53b) x 1
Hygrophila polysperma "Rosanervig" x 1
Ludwigia glandulosa x 2
Nesaea crassicaulis x 1
Rotala rotundifolia x 3
Rotala sp. "green" x 3
Shinnersia rivularis "Weiss-Grun" x 1
Myriophyllum mezianum x 1
Altrenanthera reineckii "Purple" x 1
Cryptocoryne bekettii "Petchii" x 2
Cyperus helferi x 2


Rear plants:

Aponogeton longiplumulosus x 1
Cryptocoryne crispatula var. flaccidifolia (bunched) x 1
Limnophila aquatica x 3
Ludwigia arcuata x 1
Pogostemon erectus x 2

The vast majority of these will be Tropica plants and quite small; I hope this still counts as planting heavily from the start as I do want to avoid algae issues.

Thoughts / ideas welcome ....
 
ALt81 said:
Cant wait to see this...I like the colour of that cat litter, is that the bag that's about 1.56 for ten litres? I was looking at the slightly more expensive one but if it looks that good I'll get that one, how many bags did you use by the way
Click to expand...

I used the stuff that comes in pink and yellow bags, can't remember the price, but I used 6 bags. It was perfumed but it didn't take too much to get rid of the smell!
 
That looks fantastic Andy. Just keep your co2 higher than you think you need it and only put livestock in once you know you have the plants growing. It's difficult to respond to problems when you need to try keep fish alive at the same time. I have battled algae due to poor co2 distribution which I think I've started to solve but have 20 x rated flow and had to mist the tank with co2. I look forward to seeing this tank develop.
 
Thank you.

I am certainly very pleased with it in its early stage of development.

Drop checker is lime green and I am tempted to get it yellow. I am also misting and currently have just under 10 x flow with just the return pump running and this will increase to nearly 20 x when I am brave enough to turn on the powerhead. I dont want to do this just yet as a lot of the glosso is only hanging in there with tiny roots and I would kike that to grab a better hold until I do.
 
Thanks Mark,

that was 40 pots, 3 x 1-2-grows and three bunches of crypts that you can't yet see!
 
Thanks for the kind comments,

all still looking good this evening with only minimal floaters (mainly glosso unsurprisingly).

Have now dosed my second dose of all in one fertiliser and have upped CO2, but still awaiting a change in the colour of the drop checker.

I feel completely redundant now having finally got to this stage with the hours of work that I have been putting in to get here! I really hope that I can keep on top of things and make this work .......
 
Thanks Clive, enjoying watching it so far.

Thought I would post my parameters that I have been able to measure this evening:

Temp: 23.5C (no heater turned on yet)

KH: 12.8

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 3 ppm

Nitrate: >50<100 ppm

Awaiting an ammonia spike ........
 
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