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Ammonite jungle retreat.

Rich Jackson

Rich Jackson

Member
Joined
21 May 2013
Messages
174
Location
Leicester, United Kingdom
I thought I would start something on here to show my progress.
Im sure I will have many questions along the way but an intro to start.

I have a 90 x 60 x 60 marine reef setup at the minute which I am in the process of changing over to freshwater after 14 years. My stock is going to a LFS (Clearwater Aquatics) and I have a nice big blank canvas to start again!

I plan on keeping my sump but will change to mechanical filtration with filter mats and sintered glass, I think.....
I have a 150w halide which I plan on changing to LED but will start with my light to start just a bit higher than the 10cm above the water it is now!!
The tank has a blue background which I plan on changing to a frosted white, only issue is weir is blue and cannot change it so don't know whether to take weir out or get it remade clear. Any help?
If I take it out I will keep standpipes but change for white pipe.
I am struggling with a few issues of fresh water as in running with TDS of 150!!!!!! My waste water a t the moment is lower than that!
50% water changes weekly!! REALLY this much I do 25% monthly at the mo so 200ltrs a week is MASSIVE!! so why do I need the big changes??
use of RO water. It seems that it isn't used? So seeing as I have an RO unit can I still use the Carbon filter 5 micron and DI sections to polish the water? and if so do I need to de-chlorinate every water change?
Do I need a UV on freshwater systems?
Any help and advice will be gratefully received!!

I have an idea of scaping and stocking but I am sure that will change as I go on!!
I have been looking at some of the set ups on here and I am in awe and hope I can produce something a tenth as good!!!

Cheers for now Rich.
 
50% water change is only necessary in a CO2 injected tank with very fast growth rates. Another thing you might find alarming is that we add copious amounts of nitrate and phosphate to feed the plants, marine is the total opposite as any nitrate or phosphate is considered bad.
 
Rich Jackson said:
I am struggling with a few issues of fresh water as in running with TDS of 150!!!!!! My waste water a t the moment is lower than that! 50% water changes weekly!! REALLY this much I do 25% monthly at the mo so 200ltrs a week is MASSIVE!! so why do I need the big changes??
Click to expand...
As mentioned by Matt, this is only relevant to CO2 enriched tanks, whether enriched by gas injection or by liquid carbon daily dosing. Aquatic plants fed with high levels of Carbon grow faster and produce high levels of organic waste, which result in ammonia production and Oxygen consumption. The waste also smothers the surface of the plant leaves and is an additional impediment to CO2 and nutrient absorption, which reduces the health of the plants and can trigger algal blooms.

As a reefer I'm sure you would be aware of these issues which pose an identical threat to marine life. In marine systems there are all kinds of fancy equipment to remove toxins, such as skimmers, ozone injectors and so forth, but none of these devices work in fresh water. So the only way to rid the tank of pollutants is to replace the water. If you do not intend to inject CO2 then the situation is very different and there is no need for such manic water changes schedules. If you do enrich CO2 the water change requirements can be mitigated somewhat by a reduction in the lighting, which reduces the metabolic rate of the plants, resulting in reduced organic pollutant ejection into the water column.

TDS is not particularly relevant to plants unless you intend to grow a handful of very specialized plants such as Tonina.

Freshwater systems do not require UV treatment but it also is not a problem if used. The carbon section can still be used as you wish.

Cheers,
 
Might consider raising the 150w metal halide a bit higher than 10cm if starting with plant's before LED fixture is utilized .
Can alway's lower the light once plant's have adapted from emmersed growth to submerged, and unless starting with CO2 injection,,the Metal halide might prove too much light to prevent algae (lot's of it).
Just my two pennies.
 
Yes I'm planning on lifting the light up. It runs that low on my marine tank but realize it needs to raised for new setup. Only planning on using it short term un til I source a LED light.
I'm planning on using RO unit without the RO section :)
I intend to use CO2 injection but maybe not at really high rates as dont fancy 200 ltr water changes! could I not have a constant top up from my RO unit into the tank and then do smaller water changes? I have auto top up at the moment so wondering if it would still be useful.....
Just trying to get as much info as possible before I 'flood' ;) my tank....
 
foxfish said:
You can do smaller & more regular water changes, you could use a small power head connected to air line that can take the water to a drain & set on a timer to remove 10% daily & allow the auto top up to replace the water.
Click to expand...


Thanks thats the type of thing I was thinking. I am looking at a way of doing continuous water changes via auto top-up and gravity waste.
 
Hey rich, welcome to the forum. I was thinking of a similar situation with constant ro water change or daily smaller changes but the consensus was that you will still need a good sized weekly change to stir everything up and remove waste from the tank. That being the case i realised that in order to actually give a larger tank a really good clean that the best part of 50% gets vacuumed out anyway. Sadly it seems there really isnt much of a short cut to good maintenance.
Personally i dont mind WC's once a week its the daily 50% changes during the first couple of weeks that suck!! Well worth figuring out a system in advance... i use a massively over powered pump to drain 50% in 30 seconds after stirring it all up then another pump to refill from an RO waterbutt cut with some tap. A lot depends on your house layout as to how easy it is.
Have a look here
DIY Water Changer, No more buckets!! | Page 5 | UK Aquatic Plant Society

best of luck an ill look forward to the progress.
 
yes I think the big water changes are still necessary. I am planning on teeing off my sump return line so I can just dump water to drain. My tank is near an outside wall so planning on going straight through the wall to the drain outside. Then just let the auto top-up fill it back up.? Regards stirring the sand/gravel up I presume that is to remove any detritus that has settled on it? could I not just stir it up and allow the filter sock to catch the bits as they go through? I have a 5 micron sock on the sump inlet so would catch pretty much all of it.
 
to be honest i dont know if the sock solution would work richard as ive never run a sump or tank maintenance in this way. However when i WC on a weekly basis i get my arms in the tank, vacuum as much of the substrate and/or sand as i can then remove the vacuum, add a inlet basket to the hose then get into the plant mass agitating it as much as possible removing any muck as i go. I cant help but feel if you stir up and leave the pumps to do the work a lot will settle before its removed... but that just a feeling.
 
There are folk who believe a single large water change carried out just as the lights come on has a beneficial effect on the whole plant growing operation!
Exposing plants to the air & unlimited C02, plus the fact that mains water contains C02 (not many folk use RO) is said to benefit the plants as well as the more obvious benefits of clean water!
However, I don't follow this path but rely on daily small changes & as you suggest ... very efficient filtration.
All the same, I have plenty of spare time for daily maintenance & to be honest the 50% method is so well tried & tested one would have to consider following that path.
 
Quick update. research research research!! I think my brain has turned to guu. u am currently looking into lighting, have found a lovely LED unit that I am investigating. one question why are they all aimed for marine and need to have blues in them!!!
any hoo the rest of my marine stock goes tomorrow so will have a blank canvas....
so now reading planning reading planning. so much information to take in......
 
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an appalling phone photo I know but I have wood!
 
after reading reading and more reading! then staring at my empty tank I now think I have a basic idea of what I want to do.

couple of questions, well one really. can I use any of the following safely in my set-up?

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I am in the process of painting my stand at the moment and will get some pictures up as soon as I can.
 
Hi all,
I probably wouldn't use the "peat free" compost. There are 4 potential problems with it, which really relate to it having a lot of composted garden "green waste" in it.

The first is that it contains a lot of soluble nutrients from the composted lawn cuttings etc. the second is that these will considerably raise the conductivity and pH (all the soluble salts again) and third it won't be fully decomposed, so it will carry on composting, the last is that the nutrient are likely to be unbalanced, with some composts have huge amounts of potassium, but little phosphorus etc. <Faulty compost scuppers tomato trials | Login | Horticulture Week>.

Of the other 2 Growmore is OK, the sand may be a bit fine and possibly limy.

cheers Darrel
 
a little more work done and my new LED light unit arrived today!

I have gone for a cheap Beamworks one to see how it goes for now my change in the future.

a couple of pictures of it.

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