180 gallon rimless Starfire wood scape thus far

helgymatt

Guru Class Expert
Sep 17, 2007
107
0
16
Tom,
What is the input and the ouput on the ocean clears? I have the 340 and I've had it running for a week now with the input on the top and the output on the bottom. AaronT has his the opposite. After looking at the filter I thought the way I have it is right because the inlet at the top flows into the pleated filter and then suckes through to the biocore and then down through the core to the bottom and out. Does this sound right to you?


Good to see you got your HC started up! I did a cut back on the HC in my tank and it is taking a while to recover and now it is getting full of thread algae. I'm not sure what to do now. Its the only thing in my tank with a bit of algae.

Matt
 

khanzer22

Junior Poster
Mar 25, 2008
41
4
8
Hi Tom,

First, I'm a newbie here and this is my very first post on the site! :D

Anyways, as I'm reading thru this thread, I must admit that I'm excited as well for your 180gal planted tank project and I'm also trying to learn and get some ideas as much as I can... I too am planning to setup a big planted tank (120gal high) and hopefully I can start and complete this project this year (I've already started putting together a DIY enclosure for my retrofit kit i bought :) )... Once that done, I guess I could start off in the next month or two on laying some HC using the dry start method… Well, good luck to you and I’m going to keep an eye on this thread till the very end... Cheers!
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Hi,

Helgymatt,

OC says to run it in from the top out the bottom for the canisters.
Other makers suggest the same thing on larger system.

I suppose you can run them in reverse, there's no truly good reason that it cannot be done. But the pleated side allows more detritus in there on the outside where you can see the filth, you cannot see it if you pump water through the bottom to the outside.

I like mechanical filtration, then chem/bio. The backwards method suggest the opposite.

But there's still no real reason why it would not work.

As far as plumbing goes, having a valve and loop to run the filter in reverse can help you a lot by backwashing it.

But the OC's have a drain garden hose connections for this purpose, so hook that up and back wash when you do the water changes every week or two.

I just keep a spare mechanical pleated cartiage around, and bleach the old one for 1-2 days and dechlor to clean them really good after I've run out of back washing options.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Finally got my espei pencil fish. Time to fatten them up.

I got the light timers set up and most everything else I need to plumb everything and get it up and running in a couple of weeks. the HC sat for 2-3 weeks but it now "on the march". I added the HQI's for 4 hours per day to get the HC growing fast.
that+ warmer temps here have helped.

May5thHCdrystartresized.jpg


resizedHCmay5th.gif


I can get all the fish in here by June sometime, I'll be happy.

BTW, here's the HC a awhile back:
HCin180.jpg


So it's pretty much 3x what it was and is now growing rapidly.
So in 2-3 weeks, it should be ready to fill.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Well, Hell Frozen over.

partiallyfilled180.jpg


The amount of pearling is rather intense. HC looks more like Riccia gone wild.
The contrast fades out since it's so bright with the pearling.

This is not due to initial filling either.
the following day, the HC is going nuts after 30-45 minutes of light:

HYCthedayafterfilling.gif


Also, the wood is leaching tannins. I will do a few daily water changes and start adding some of the other plants later tonight. I have about 3000 gph running through here, but only 900 gph is filtration. The mazzei venturi is working wonderfully in the one of the two parallel lines. Very easy to adjust the mist.

You can see the tannins in the water after 24 hours:
longshotafterfillingHC.jpg


As you can see, the HC grew in even more this last week prior to filling.
and I only have 1/2 the Pc lights on right now.

All in all, this DSM works great, the Venturi works great, the light works great(once I get the rest of my bulbs for the PC lighting)! and the In line filter method works well.

I think this wood will leach for a month or so, so I can use activated carbon and water changes for awhile.

Probably 2x a week. I'll add some Excel after each water change and dose about 50% EI 2x a week as well. NH4 levels are curiously very low(.05 according to my Hach spectrophotometer), which is as low as I've seen with the ADA AS after initial filling.

The other tank was 6ppm............I did wait longer, but still.........variability.



Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Here's the 2 Oc filters, rather simple design.
I use flexible PVC piping.
A wise move for such set ups.
Cheap and will save on the connection stresses/vibration noises, and allow you to move some things around to work on them some.

OCfiltersin180.gif


Regards,
Tom Barr
 

2wheelsx2

Lifetime Members
Lifetime Member
Apr 4, 2006
109
0
16
59
Burnaby, BC, Canada
Nice! Just in time for me to start my own experiment with this dry method in a 15 gallon long. Why the Excel? Is it just a preventative measure?
 

rusticitas

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
May 4, 2006
216
2
16
Pennsylvania
Could you post photos of the rest of what's in the cabinet? I want to see how you have the mazzei connected, etc. Then I can update the diagram I'd done...

Also, *I'm* very curious to see it!
 

orion2001

Guru Class Expert
Mar 27, 2008
110
0
16
Wow!! I am amazed at how much your HC grew over the course of a month! Out of curiosity, did you have a glass lid on the whole setup with very high humidity in the tank and daily misting? Is high humidity very important? Some have mentioned that it might be better to have a little gap to have new CO2 coming in...in my current setup with hairgrass that is the case but the plants haven't been spreading nearly as fast.
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
I did use a lexan lid for higher humidity.

It's very humid now:)
I have to do a water change then a planting for some of the stem plants.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Here's the 60 cube and the 38 folks have been squawking about seeing, neither are scaped, they are just grow out for now.

60cube60208.jpg


60cubecomgo1.jpg


38cubeafterGW.jpg


The 38gal I had 5 weeks of pain with the NH4 and leeching. Daily water changes did not correct it, nor did prepping the filter, doing the DSM, zeolite, carbon, purigen, nothing........just massive frequent water changes.

The 60 will have a different set of plants, but the wood display will be the same, and the sand will be dolomite. Without anything added to the sand, it grows most any plant BTW.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

shane

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Nov 29, 2006
269
1
16
Hi Tom,

Are you using a powerhead to create surface agitation on the 38 gallon? I am trying to gauge if I have enough surface agitation on my tank or not. Looks like a good amount of surface agitation.

I am using a MaxiJet 900 on my 60 gallon to create surface agitation because my fish seem to breathe quite hard during morning hours. Not sure if I am creating a bit too much surface flow now.

I really like the driftwood you have in the other tanks. Where did you get the driftwood from?
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
Driftwood is all local collected.

Generally folks have minimal flow and current in their tanks and it gets worse as the tank grows in.

I add current but did not like adding a powerhead, but I can take it out easy enough also, unlike siphon tubes etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

tedr108

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Nov 21, 2007
514
0
16
Los Angeles, CA
60G cube

Tom et al,

I am planning to have 2 x 60G cubes custom made. Just wanted to run my basic plans (mainly filtering) by you and others on this site. I was going to go for a 120G (and still might), but I think that 2 x 60G cubes would give me more flexibility and variety, especially for fish types. I'll probably put the tanks side-by-side and have one big lighting fixture over both -- I have a nice 49" x 25" tank cabinet that will hold both perfectly.

My plans:

1) overflow box and sump
-- 1" drain pipe, 3/4" return pipe -- holes for this drilled into bottom of tank inside the overflow box
-- not sure what GPH to go for on the pump in the sump
2) inlet and outlet for Rena XP4 (450gph) pump (drilled into bottom of tank)

This means 4 holes drilled into the bottom of each tank.

I'm actually planning on these tanks being non-CO2, but would like a design that would allow me to change my mind and go for either low or full CO2 later.

Would this design be overkill on flow? Maybe an XP3 instead of an XP4 would be better?

When I designed my 120G, I actually had the same exact setup with an XP4, but was planning on a bigger pump in the sump to create more flow.

If anybody has any comments or other ideas, I'm happy to hear them. Since I'm having the tanks drilled, I want to get this right the first time.
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
You could use a larger HP Rio etc, cheap, plenty of gph, feed CO2 into impeller of return pump. So you do not need an XP3 or XP4.
The sump filter is far more effective.

And you can go CO2 later easily.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

tedr108

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Nov 21, 2007
514
0
16
Los Angeles, CA
That also saves me a several hundred dollars in design and equipment costs, which is always a good thing! :D

With a sump only design, the one thing I cannot see is how you get good flow near the bottom of the tank. Water flows into the overflow at the top of the tank and comes out of the top (at least with the designs I've seen). I guess if you have a good enough GPH, the water get swished around enough.

Anyway, I'm very happy to save the money... Thanks for your help, Tom.