Miracles custom 120 rimless reef to discus

[rickztahone]

what kind of glue did you use on rocks for the plants.
AL

Crazy glue works

[rickztahone]

OP, I like the way it looks with all those plants actually. It's going to be a pain to keep clean but the plants themselves will help reduce done nitrates

[Hart24601]

what kind of glue did you use on rocks for the plants.
AL

Gel superglue. I like gorilla glue, make sure it's the gel superglue and not regular gorilla glue, I used it for years in the reef. Went through dozens of bottles. The gorilla glue one lasts a long time as it closes back up nice and doesn't dry out.

[Hart24601]

Tank looks great! Glad to know you've decided not to evict the glass-thumping fish before the first month is out...

I admit that I find the setup really interesting, too. I can't afford to play with too much equipment these days ($), but can enjoy vicariously. Like a lot of folks who come through here I have some past experience in marine tanks, and have read some of the better-known old threads that attempt some interesting high-tech experiments, including with ozone. At least one well-known thread (Chad Hughes) delivered the ozone by mixing it in a cheap protein skimmer in the sump, with carbon behind it. (Given the cost of the dedicated reactors out there, I can see why.) I personally decided I didn't want to mess with that, partly because I didn't already have components ready-at-hand, nor experience with it, and I can appreciate the principle of simplicity (oft recommended on here, and with reason!). However, some of the things said about ORP led me to go ahead and add a UV to my fledgling setup, despite the fact that is isn't essential. I also read some of Randy Holmes-Farley's comments about carbon and decided to use some of the Seachem Matrix carbon passively in my (canister) system in addition to a Purigen reactor (in a Phosban 550). As I recall, the Matrix profiled pretty similarly to the Rox. (I need to read your links, but seem to remember ash content as one marker that people were looking at relative to risk for HLLE.) Still planning to do significant daily water changes once the fish show up, but I enjoy trying to have an edge and some insurance as I learn. I hope you'll let us know how things unfold (and how you tweak your system) over time. (Now that I've gone this route I won't be trying the rooibos anytime soon--I didn't realize till seeing a comment recently that the tea is used not merely for aesthetics but for anti-fungal and/or anti-bacterial attributes... would be interested in more about that, assuming that's accurate.)

Meanwhile, and most importantly, glad to know your fish are out and eating! Good news! Though I guess that means you won't be giving them away...

Haha, not giving them away for now!

I would try ozone if I had a few large tanks plumbed together. I got a behind the scenes tour of the Omaha zoo huge fish set ups and they use ozone primarily to remove yellow as carbon is too expensive on that scale and even a bit of discoloration really shows up when looking through ultra deep tanks.

I can't remember if I posted a pic of my modified ozone reactor, it did alright really, just a bit loud since freshwater doesn't produce tiny bubbles quite as easy. I used a phoshoban reactor with a powerhead and air pump - it had ok contact time, but nothing like tiny bubbles in saltwater.

[Hart24601]

Some top down shots before lights out.

image.jpgimage.jpg

[rickztahone]

Your fern looks super healthy!

[Hart24601]

Well all the plants are in, so I thought I would take some photos. I always like to try and get at least the top of the tank in too, as how the tank looks in the room is almost as important to me as how the livestock looks inside.

[Hart24601]

And they must feel better about coming out to eat too:

[alcastro]

This is one the best ways to display your plants, your tank and fish look great.

[Jack L]

I think your probably correct in that you don't need much, especially with discus sized waterchanges. Now with some huge biomass fish like pacu and no as much water change the media might be more important. I already had almost all the media though so might as well use it.

I think my iPhone makes the lights look stronger. Plus they are a cluster type LED so the shadows and shimmer are strong.

well, i read this old book, and i tend to trust old books more than new websites....with links to sell me things
there was quite a bit of discussion on how all the media in the filters can outcompete the plants, and in the end produce more NITRATE than if the plants could use it up

i know matrix i bought didn't seem to help with Nitrates as advertised...looks neat thought ; )

[Jack L]

i really like the changes, but then i'm biased toward plants.

that was tedious gluing them wasn't it. but SOOOOO much better with glue than string. i find the gel glue worked better and doen't matter if things are wet much.

good luck, hope you are not feeling like flushing them anymore.

are you still running the purigen?

[Hart24601]

Glueing was really pretty easy, but I have done that so much with the reef I had plenty of practice and it only took a few minutes once I decided on placement.

Yea I have calmed down with them, lol.

Still running the purigen with the other filter media.

[Hart24601]

This is one the best ways to display your plants, your tank and fish look great.

Thanks! I appreciate it.

[mkng07]

Well done. Its stunning and must be even better in person. I've always liked the rimless tanks. Only thing is, couldn't the discus potentially jump out of the tank?

[Hart24601]

Yes, always a risk with rimless although some fish are much more likely to jump. It also helps the tank level a couple inches below the rim. With all the cover the discus just dart to plants now and not frantic like before, so fingers crossed!


Many folks put a clear mesh frame on rimless for jumpers, but I have not had many issues personally, although I do avoid jumpers.