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Changing over from marine to FW planted

tgc

Member
Joined
14 Nov 2007
Messages
109
Location
Wirral NW England
Hi Guys

I have an opportunity to change one of my tanks over from a marine macro algae seahorse tank to a freshwater planted.

I would obviously like to re-use as much of the equipment as possible to keep to changeover costs to a minimum.

The tank itself is a sumped 3ft optiwhite rimless braceless tank sitting on a custom cabinet which i built. Single centre overflow weir which then goes down twin overflow into the sump.

The water enters chamber one which was setup as a Siporax media tower with the water leaving the first chamber from beneath then over in to chamber two, currently empty except for the heater, then over into the return chamber and pumped back up into the main tank via a twin exit one in each corner. There was also a 25L evaporation top up tank in the sump.

Temperature is controlled by a STC-1000 thermostat.

Solutions for the marine tank were dosed with a for channel dosing unit.

Lighting provided by an AI Prime LED.

So that is what I have to play with.

I am keen on going with CO2 and liquid fert dosing and modifying the LED program to provide suitable light.

What are your immediate thoughts on the setup and what would you change?

Cheers Tim

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That's a massive filter capacity, I would even know where to start...probably some kind of sponge filter in the first chamber to reduce noise, some bio filter media (pot scrubs or lava rock) in the second chamber, for the first few weeks/ month maybe a bag of carbon or some other chemical media in the third chamber and maybe some CO2 reactor, the last chamber would be for the return and heater. I would try to cover the sump as much as possible to prevent CO2 loss.
In the tank I would loose the nozzles on the output and try to get a 10x turnover.
 
That's a massive filter capacity, I would even know where to start...probably some kind of sponge filter in the first chamber to reduce noise, some bio filter media (pot scrubs or lava rock) in the second chamber, for the first few weeks/ month maybe a bag of carbon or some other chemical media in the third chamber and maybe some CO2 reactor, the last chamber would be for the return and heater. I would try to cover the sump as much as possible to prevent CO2 loss.
In the tank I would loose the nozzles on the output and try to get a 10x turnover.

Thanks for the reply Martin.

The plumbing on the sump is silent so noise is not an issue at all.

The first chamber I will try to reuse the Siporax for bio media and will also run fine filter socks.

Turn over speed I will look at, currently probably around 5-6x
 
Well the tank is now empty and currently going through the cleaning process.

Just writing the shopping list! :D
 
If you can measure (time) the inflow to the sump I think 6 x will be fine as the recommended 10 x is based on power filter flow rating rather than actual flow.
A very effective way to distribute the C02 is by injecting directly into the return pump inlet. This works best with either a needle when pump or by placing an anatomiser in front of the pump.
 
If you can measure (time) the inflow to the sump I think 6 x will be fine as the recommended 10 x is based on power filter flow rating rather than actual flow.
A very effective way to distribute the C02 is by injecting directly into the return pump inlet. This works best with either a needle when pump or by placing an anatomiser in front of the pump.

My initial plan was to have 2 diffusers, one under each outlet from the return, it would be quite easy to place one in the return chamber though so I will keep that in mind as well, thanks.
 
I am just playing with the settings of the AI Prime LED to get a suitable spectrum..
 
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