700l labour of love

[KirstyF]

My tank starts 4.5 hours before lights on and holds about 350liters. Only using a co2 bazooka under return pump inlet though so not the most efficiënt co2 diffusion, but anyways point is that it doesnt matter much if you have to start early provided you can keep it stable during lights on

4hrs to reach a .9 drop probably isn't perfect Kirsty but that's how long it takes me to get a 1 point drop in a 240l tank. Like wolf points out getting it stable is the main thing, i can get it to drop quicker than 4hrs but then it continues to drop throughout the photo period.

Thanks guys
I’ve managed stable and have green drop checkers at both ends of the tank so I think I’ll just count my blessings for now. Re-assuring to know that it’s not just me! 😊

I will need to fiddle with the awful inlet plumbing anyhow at some point, as it’s an eyesore, so will post if anything changes.🤞

 

[KirstyF]

Hi all,

You are good, it doesn't take me long because I have a spreadsheet already set-up. If I had to start from scratch every time it would take a lot longer.

The <"Periodic table"> underlies all the <"nutrient calculators">, like our own <"IFC one"> etc. <"Microsoft have a template you can buy">, but there are plenty of free ones on the web (or you can type our own out).

In this case I had to look up the RAM for molybdenum (on the periodic table), because it isn't an element we use very frequently (it is used in the reagent for <"PO4--- testing">).

cheers Darrel

Working through your links and interesting to see these connections. Picking things up as I go along (albeit slowly 😂)
Thanks again, micro solution all sorted now. 👍

 

[Zeus.]

Great start 👍
Getting a 1.0pH drop on a 700l tank will take some doing an use quite a bit of CO2. I managed to get a 1.3pH drop on 500l tank in less than 30mins, but that was with twin injection/needle valves and solenoids then twin reactors. Plus had a duel stage regulator so can adjust the working PSI. I had one line with needle valve fully open, this was only on for pH drop. Other needle valve was open some ( how much I don't know). The second line was on for all the CO2 period. The second line held the pH stable from lights on till CO2 off. I adjusted the injection rate by increasing/decreasing working PSI. Once I got a stable pH on second line I just timed how long it took to drop pH with both on. Using twin injection like I did does carry big risks if you get the timings wrong- mass death of all fish shrimp and snails.
I found the gyres great also.
Great to hear you found the IFC calculator useful👍
Getting a 1.0pH drop with single injection will take longer and 4hrs plus to get it doesn't surprise me at all. My 6.5Kg clyinder lasted about a month

 

[KirstyF]

Great start 👍
Getting a 1.0pH drop on a 700l tank will take some doing an use quite a bit of CO2. I managed to get a 1.3pH drop on 500l tank in less than 30mins, but that was with twin injection/needle valves and solenoids then twin reactors. Plus had a duel stage regulator so can adjust the working PSI. I had one line with needle valve fully open, this was only on for pH drop. Other needle valve was open some ( how much I don't know). The second line was on for all the CO2 period. The second line held the pH stable from lights on till CO2 off. I adjusted the injection rate by increasing/decreasing working PSI. Once I got a stable pH on second line I just timed how long it took to drop pH with both on. Using twin injection like I did does carry big risks if you get the timings wrong- mass death of all fish shrimp and snails.
I found the gyres great also.
Great to hear you found the IFC calculator useful👍
Getting a 1.0pH drop with single injection will take longer and 4hrs plus to get it doesn't surprise me at all. My 6.5Kg clyinder lasted about a month

I had a great evening reading your journal a wee while back (end to end it’s quite a read) and my consideration of using the gyres was in fact inspired by that. 👍
The IFC calculator is just fab. 😊
I’m not so brave to use your method for Co2 without ur control system though to be fair, although that rapid drop would be nice.
I’ve got two reactors running from a dual stage regulator with twin manifolds as I had thought I might get away with sprinkler bars and wanted Co2 in both. That didn’t work out but still running both. I think I’m likely off-gassing quite a bit as the outlets are close to the surface and there’s a fair bit of agitation from the gyres. I may get better efficiency with some tweaking but happy with consistency for now.

I am having a ‘mare however, with keeping the working pressure on the regulator. I’ve posted a query in the Co2 art section on this forum and also emailed them (no response so far) but each day when my solenoid kicks in, I lose my working pressure and have to manually re-set everything to get the Co2 running.
I’m off work this week for the tank start up but this will be a problem come next week if I can’t sort it out quickly. 🙁 if you or anyone else has got any ideas on that, it would be really helpful.!

 

[Zeus.]

I use to run my working PSI at 50 to get the 1.3 pH drop, when I ran it at a lower pH drop I had it much lower even 20PSI or less. You could use twin meddle valves twin injection off one solenoid and use both reactors. Which isn't the same as twin solenoids. Which a larger tank you need more CO2 injection. Not sure how @Filip Krupa did his on his 2000 litre beast, would give link but on mobile. I am sure he didn't do it the same way as me
CO2 used Database you may find useful

 

[KirstyF]

I use to run my working PSI at 50 to get the 1.3 pH drop, when I ran it at a lower pH drop I had it much lower even 20PSI or less. You could use twin meddle valves twin injection off one solenoid and use both reactors. Which isn't the same as twin solenoids. Which a larger tank you need more CO2 injection. Not sure how @Filip Krupa did his on his 2000 litre beast, would give link but on mobile. I am sure he didn't do it the same way as me
CO2 used Database you may find useful

My problem is I’m running at 45psi (which I think is the recommended for running 2 manifolds) and getting a really good stable ph level throughout photo period, the working pressure maintains at 45psi no problem at all and stays that way overnight after the Co2 is off. The next day, as soon as the solenoid switches itself on, the psi drops to about 15 and Co2 is next to nothing. I left it for 45mins today to see if it would come back up by itself but no joy, so manually re-set everything back to 45psi and am having another great day of stable PH. Can’t be here to re-set manually every day though so not sure what the issue is.
I wondered whether maybe, because the bubble count is so high, as soon as the solenoid starts letting the gas through, it creates this huge drop in pressure which then doesn’t re-build, but I’m no engineer.

I’d assume that these things are designed to manage this somehow so not sure how to resolve! 🙁

I might try running a higher psi but close the needle valves off a little more which should effectively achieve the same bubble rate and maybe this will work better but that’s just random clutching at straws to be fair.

Such a pain when the stability is so good once it’s running. 😡

 

[bazz]

Hi,
Have you tried using a lower working pressure, most reactors that I know of only require around 1 bar pressure as there is no ceramic membrane requiring gas to be forced through.
I have exactly the same equipment but only running one outlet, a single Sera 1000 at 17psi, the other was for an inline diffuser which I needed to run in tandem a while back to supplement a very unsatisfactory AM 1000.
Have you tried shutting off the reg, opening both needle valves pretty much all the way and then opening/controlling gas with the reg? Might be worth a try as I find control with the reg easier and more accurate than twiddling with the needle valves.
You have a large aquarium which is going to require a lot of gas.
Cheers!

 

[KirstyF]

Hi,
Have you tried using a lower working pressure, most reactors that I know of only require around 1 bar pressure as there is no ceramic membrane requiring gas to be forced through.
I have exactly the same equipment but only running one outlet, a single Sera 1000 at 17psi, the other was for an inline diffuser which I needed to run in tandem a while back to supplement a very unsatisfactory AM 1000.
Have you tried shutting off the reg, opening both needle valves pretty much all the way and then opening/controlling gas with the reg? Might be worth a try as I find control with the reg easier and more accurate than twiddling with the needle valves.
You have a large aquarium which is going to require a lot of gas.
Cheers!

Happy to give that a whirl.

I was using 45psi as, with multiple manifolds, the recommendation on the Co2 Art website is 40-60psi. As you probably know, you can have up to 5 and I have 2 so figured the lower end of that range made sense.

I Will certainly give this a try though and see if it helps.

Many thanks 😊

 

[KirstyF]

Well I didn’t get to try your suggestion @bazz. I had already re-set working pressure yesterday after photoperiod to 57psi (top end of advised range, tolerance on this model is Max 80psi) still got the same issue this morning with it dropping back to 10-15 when solenoid kicked in. Did a manual re-set but then it dropped again. Tried another manual re-set and now can’t get any working pressure at all. 🙁 guessing my regulator is knackered! I’ve had a response on the Co2 art section on this forum so let’s see how that goes. Hopefully a new regulator a bit quick!

I am now blessed with a low tech, high tech tank!! 🙄

Lights are only at 40%, dosing full EI, and doing daily 50% water changes until Monday when I go back to work and water changes will then, by necessity, move to twice per week.

Hoping the plants won’t freak out over the loss of Co2 but any other suggestions/advice on mitigating that issue are welcome.

 

[bazz]

Ok, well good luck, it's not ideal but everything will alright with low light. I set up a 40cm cube 3 months ago with new soil and only slow growers, lit by an AI Prime running at 10% and no CO2 and there has been no algae whatsoever.

 

[KirstyF]

10 days in and back to work tomorrow so time for an update.

Finally got the Co2 working again so first day of Co2 back in tank 👍 now running profile again to get levels back steady.

Have completed a 50% water change daily so getting to be an expert at rolling that pipe out 😂

Had some stems and floaters from the lovely @John q and @aec34 on Friday so they are all settling in.

Got a little growth showing here and there on some of the faster growing plants and the moss is starting to fluff up, but lighting is still low so not expecting things to go rampant on me. The only plant that has really suffered is the Monte Carlo. Not doing so bad where planted in soil though not fabulous, but completely melted on the rocks and has now been removed.

Might try again though once the tank settles a bit and Co2 is consistent.


Little bit of melt on a couple of the crypt parva but the wendtii tropica are still looking good.

No algae as yet, just some white fungus on the wood, which is to be expected.

I’ve upped the lighting on the left hand side to 50% from 40% as the substrate level over that side is so much lower down and I thought it might help the planted Monte Carlo out a little, but will hold at this level now for a while and let things stabilise.

All round fairly happy with things and thanks again to John and Amy for their generous plant parcels. 😊

 

[KirstyF]

So…..BBA has arrived 🙄

It seems to be primarily on wood at the moment and the worst patch (image below) is in an area of quite high flow. I’ve not spotted any on plants as yet.

I’m currently assuming this is down to an increase in organic waste as I’ve had alot of Monte Carlo melt, as mentioned before, and I’ve got a bit of melt on some dwarf hair grass too, plus the Co2 issues with my regulator failing probably haven’t helped.

I’ve increased Co2 slightly and doing another PH profile profile today (in between Work emails 😂) It’s 6.3 and holding (half way through photo period at the moment) which is a 1.1 drop, but no fishes yet so I don’t think that will do any harm.

Lights are still 40% 50%.

Will do a good clean up tonight and a large water change and I’ll be doing another water change on Sunday.

I’ve ordered some APT fix, which should arrive tomorrow so can do some spot dosing with the WC on Sunday.

Any other suggestions and I’m all ears. Just trying to remember it’s a new tank and not to get too twitchy. 😳 It’s hard!! 😂

 

[Wolf6]

Its hard to tell from the pic but it could also just be the black type of fungus on wood. If that is the case it's easy to remove with a toothbrush.

 

[KirstyF]

I didn’t know that wood got black fungus. I thought it was all white. I’ve got a good bit of the white stuff in places and am just scraping that off as you say. It’ll pass in time.

This black stuff does look like tufts though so I figured BBA may be the culprit. If it’s just wood fungus that would be a result.

White fungus


Second photo of suspect BBA. Not sure if this is any better!

 

[KirstyF]

Toothbrush will be out with the WC later either way. 😊

 

[Wolf6]

I've seen various fungus types on wood: fuzzy white, slimey white, fuzzy black and jelly like red with white fungus. Black one doesn't get eaten like the other colours in my tank but also disappears after a few weeks/months.

 

[KirstyF]

Well I’ll give it a scrub later, see how easy it comes off, and keep my fingers crossed for it not being BBA.🤞

 

[KirstyF]

You could be right @Wolf6 . Came off really easy under gentle rubbing and I understand that BBA is generally a bit tougher?

I’m glad to say that I’ve never had BBA so my identification skills may be somewhat lacking. 😏😊

 

[KirstyF]

3 week update (4wks running including 1 week dark start)

Got some melt on my Buce but new leaves too so just adapting to being submersed I believe.


The new Buce from @GHNelson have been in a week. In perfect condition despite my very slow local post and settling in beautifully. 😊 Thanks Hoggie!

Some of the older leaves on the pinnifitada are a little sad too but new growth is romping away.



I have an amazing collection of wood fungus. 😂 This is less than a weeks growth. Quite fascinating stuff tbf though I won’t be too heartbroken when it decides enough is enough. 😊






Also got a tiny amount of diatoms on a couple of sandy areas; whipped out with the gravel cleaner during WC. Still at 2x50% WC’s pw.

Also some new inhabitants making themselves at home as of yesterday. 😊


Regulator has been behaving itself, Co2 tweaked to a 1unit drop and holding steady. 👍

Looks like the BBA was a false alarm as @Wolf6 said so (touch wood) no algae as yet.

Got another small batch of plants coming from AG this week, including the Albida Brown I wanted, so can fill in a couple of bare patches and will post some 1month progress pics next week.

Now if only I could get these little balls of aquasoil to stop running off to places they are not meant to be. 😂

 

[Tankless]

The amanos will carry the balls of soil onto the sand. I've witnessed them do it multiple times back in my first scape.