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Fallen Tree

Been awhile since my last update, so here goes.....
Quite a bit going on. Firstly, got fed up with issues with my inline diffuser and bubbles in the tank, so built and installed a DIY CO2 reactor which is working brilliantly. Once again, apologies for crap pics...
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Of course, my tendency to over-engineer means the reactor also has inlet and outlet taps...so at water change time, I can drain from the bottom of the reactor, and then isolate the intake to the circulation pump and redirect to draw water directly from my top-up reservoir. It also has a vent at the top to I can remove any air that may get into the system. Must say, this works really well and a 30%water change takes 15 minutes once the RO has been temperature-matched to the tank.
Also wasn't happy with the MountaRay brackets with my lights sitting on the brace bars so designed a new acrylic light bracket....
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Basically two 10mm pieces of acrylic, drilled so the mounting rail can pass through, then the base cut at the right angle so the weight of the lights pushes the bottom of the brackets out to lock against the sides of the tank. Again, really pleased with this - much neater and the whole assembly just slides to the back when I need access to the tank.
Plant-wise, had some issues with the front right corner - I think the current across and down was too strong. Anyway, moved things around a bit, and just planted this corner out with eleocharis sp mini which now has to fill in - hold thumbs.
Also chuffed to find a live Nymphaea zenkeri rhizome/bulb in my old tank - just one tiny leaf poking through the substrate :). Anyway transferred this over a week ago and it seems to be doing really well.....
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All in all, seems to be going well - touch wood, no major issues....
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Looks great lovely brackets well done, also I keep reading about reactors more and more, how did you go about making one any tips or pics building would be great




Thanks Dean
 
Thanks Dean. The reactor I'm running is basically a 52cm length of 2 inch pipe with two 90 deg elbows at each end and a hosetail for the inlet and outlet...
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I have been told that you need a bigger reactor chamber to ensure the CO2 is fully dissolved, but have been running this at up to 8 or 9 BPS with no issues.
The CO2 is fed in via the 4mm blue Tefen elbow near the top of the barrel...
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...which is screwed through the wall of the reactor. I just tapped a 3/8 inch threaded hole into the wall....
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...with a smear of silicone just to seal it.
You can see the vent at the top of the chamber which is really useful if the pump every picks up any air (for example if the water level gets too low during water changes). This would get trapped at the top of the chamber, and the tap just allows for it to be fully vented.
I've also added a drain to the base which I use to drain the amount of water I want to replace when I do water changes.
 
Hi all, and Complements of the Season - hope it's been a festive one!

Little update today - to be honest, not a particularly happy one....
Everything seems to be growing nicely, though slower than I'd hoped, and now I'm having a recurrence of the early algae issues I had, but different types...
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Weirdly, it seems to be worst where the flow is strongest :crazy: - I've had this in the past, but it's tended to crop up in low-flow areas....
I think it's probably light-related....been running at 75% and now cranked it down to 60%, but concerned that glosso and HC won't get enough at this level....
CO2 is at 8 BPS, dosing EI ferts, and 30% (75 litres) RO water change twice weekly...
I've also been trying Gluteraldehyde solution for the last week.....
Clearly something wrong though :(
 
Also worried about my choice of lighting....am running a pair of GroBeam Colour Plus tiles and a standard GroBeam 1500. Had heard that the Colour Plus worked well, but now concerned that there is too much red in it.... Possibly another hit to the budget coming up :greedy:
 
Cheers Tim - yes, keeping a close eye on the mosses, but the plants themselves look OK - not great, but not melting or dying back... I've used Excel before when I've had algae issues, and it's worked brilliantly, so hoping the Glute solution does the same job.
My feeling at the moment is to keep things as they are, but turn the lights down a bit and see....
 
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