Modified 6 Gallon Eclipse

[daversa]

Hey everyone,

just getting going in this hobby and having a blast doing so

Mods, please move this thread or let me know if there's a more appropriate place for this sort of thing.

Anyway, I bought a basic Eclipse Corner 6 thinking I'd just do the standard small fish/fake plants affair for my office. Since then I've gotten really excited about the hobby and have started to modify my tank to turn it into a full fledged aquscape. Still really early, but thought I'd share. I'm also waiting for a new ADA 60H to come in the mail for a home tank. I'll make sure to do a journal for that too.

Closer look at the plants. Some of the HC wasn't doing too well, but it's coming back now. I work for UGG, gotta represent in the office Things are a little yellow in this pic, it was taken a couple days before the top one.

Will be posting more soon!

Mods:
Acrylic top
HOB Marineland 20 gal filter
Coralife 2x18watt light
C02 Fermentation style

Plants:
Just growing some HC and dwarf grass in the pots right now (planning to redo the substrate a bit before I plant)
Anubias hangin around the rest of the tank

Fish:
6 Neon Tetra's
1 Black Skirt Tetra
2 Guppies - 1 yellow, 1 blue

 

[Gilles]

Cool, the Ugg part was the first thing i noticed

 

[justin.sterling.scott]

DIY CO2 in an office?!

I hope you never have an accident. Ha!

Seriously, though, welcome to the hobby and these forums. Everyone here is nice and helpful.

 

[daversa]

DIY CO2 in an office?!

I hope you never have an accident. Ha!

Seriously, though, welcome to the hobby and these forums. Everyone here is nice and helpful.

It's amazing what you'll try without knowing the consequences

Beyond just getting yeast in the tank and killing fish, is there any risks I should be taking into account with the C02? I read up on things a little and it seems like that's the main risk.

Luckily our HR people and higher-ups are really cool with the tank, I'm happy they didn't shoot me down

 

[justin.sterling.scott]

Stink Bombs

I think you'll be fine. You seem enthusiastic and the type that likes to do some research and ask questions.

Whatever you do, don't reach for a stapler and knock your DIY CO2 reactor off the desk so that it simultaneously yanks the not-so-well sealed hose from the cap and hits the floor in just the right way to send a long, thin geyser of stinky yeast swill over the partition and across the desk of your nearest associate, Claire, who consequently has to begin a new drawing.

That's all I'm sayin'.

 

[Tug]

Hey daversa,
Maintaining a steady source of CO2 for your tank is going to be the challenge. If the CO2 is slow and steady then you can get away with running it 24/7, but with high levels of CO2 you need to reduce the amounts at night by shutting it down before lights out.

How are you getting the CO2 from your yeast reactor into the water column? You might be fine with something like a Haggen ladder, but HC and Dwarf Hair Grass need consistent levels of CO2 to grow well. You might want to try low light, slow growers instead and/or with a tank that size you should dose Excel or it's equivalent.

If your boss only knew how much time we spend initially learning to care for these tanks, they might have nixed the idea of a planted tank.

Cheers

 

[daversa]

Thanks for the reply!

currently I'm running this ladder contraption

It seems pretty steady, but I don't really have a way of knowing how much C02 is getting in the system. I'd say a buble about the size of a pencil eraser every 30 seconds or so. Do you think Excel would still be a good choice to add in addition? All my plants seem to be doing fine, granted most are still in pots the black spots are just substrate

Hey daversa,
Maintaining a steady source of CO2 for your tank is going to be the challenge. If the CO2 is slow and steady then you can get away with running it 24/7, but with high levels of CO2 you need to reduce the amounts at night by shutting it down before lights out.

How are you getting the CO2 from your yeast reactor into the water column? You might be fine with something like a Haggen ladder, but HC and Dwarf Hair Grass need consistent levels of CO2 to grow well. You might want to try low light, slow growers instead and/or with a tank that size you should dose Excel or it's equivalent.

If your boss only knew how much time we spend initially learning to care for these tanks, they might have nixed the idea of a planted tank.

Cheers

 

[Tug]

HC can be a hard plant to grow.

Yes, about 2.5mL/ day. Excel can irritate the skin straight from the bottle. Be careful with it. There are a few plant species that don't like it. Your plants should love the stuff and it helps keep the algae under control. If I'm not mistaken, Crypts. like iron in there diet too. So, a daily dose of something like SeaChem Iron, along with what you feed your plants already, should keep them happy. How are you feeding (dosing) your plants now and what is your tap water like?

Cheers

 

[daversa]

Yes, about 2.5mL/ day. Excel can irritate the skin strait from the bottle. Be careful with it. There are a few plant species that don't like it. Your plants should love the stuff and it helps keep the algae under control. If I'm not mistaken, Crypts. like iron in there diet too. So, a daily dose of something like SeaChem Iron, along with what you feed your plants already, should keep them happy. How are you feeding (dosing) your plants now and what is your tap water like?

Cheers

Hmm, I'll have to read up a little more on Excel, I had a negative view of it for some reason.
I just bought a new ADA tank for home and all the recommended ferts in the EI thread. So I'll probably start doing EI with this tank next week.

Currently I've just been doing a 50% water change every week and dosing "API Leaf Zone Aquarium Plant Food" 3 times a week (a little under 5ml each time).

My tap water is pretty hard, 120-200 KH and about 7.8 pH

One thing I forgot to mention is that the Anubias have been in the tank for a couple weeks longer than the HC and dwarf grass.

 

[Tug]

It is just that one bubble every second or two would be a better CO2 output.

... read up a little more on Excel, I had a negative view of it for some reason.

Me too - let me know if you find something.

Read up on FeDTPA as well.

My tap water is pretty hard, 120-200 KH and about 7.8 pH

I hope this helps.

P.S. Believe you me, if anything I'm telling you is even a little wrong someone will step in.

 

[Tug]

Cough, cough

I tried to find the type of iron chelate used in Leaf Zone without much luck. It could be ferrous iron (Fe+2) gluconate in which case you could make your own stock solutions w/out the potassium to dose it daily. SeaChem also sells flourish iron w/out the potassium. You might also want to add FeDTPA to your CSM plantex dose for a longer lasting iron source.

Anubias are slow growing plants and should be fine with low light, low nutrient/CO2. I should mention that just one of the 18 watt bulbs should be fine for your tank until you get the carbon source figured out.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the Anubias have been in the tank for a couple weeks longer than the HC and dwarf grass.

 

[daversa]

I tried to find the type of iron chelate used in Leaf Zone without much luck. It could be ferrous iron (Fe+2) gluconate in which case you could make your own stock solutions w/out the potassium to dose it daily. SeaChem also sells flourish iron w/out the potassium. You might also want to add FeDTPA to your CSM plantex dose for a longer lasting iron source.

Anubias are slow growing plants and should be fine with low light, low nutrient/CO2. I should mention that just one of the 18 watt bulbs should be fine for your tank until you get the carbon source figured out.

Ha, I actually just removed one of the bulbs everything seems a little greener after a day amazingly.

Here's the back of the bottle for the Leaf Zone. But again, I'm going full EI next week with the tank

 

[daversa]

Woohoo, finally planted we'll see how this goes, I'm a little worried about the substrate.

Also, I'm slowly getting all the parts for my home tank! Going to do a dry start with it this week.
ADA 60H, ADA Aquasoil, Eheim 2217, Coralife 65 watt light, Tank Co2, etc. etc.