Solar Powered Plant Tank Build

[pastry]

Jeff, loooove the strains you went with. Following this thread close too.

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Jeff,

I'm in love with your big tank - what a great layout and the plant terrace is awesome!

Just a couple of things I wanted to mention - might make life a wee bit easier for you, and better for the discus.

First up, not for the discus, add a couple of teaspoons of salt to the big tank and you won't lose any more fish to ammonia or nitrite poisoning. It's about the only time I ever use salt and it works like a charm.

And for your wee discus, can you up the feedings a bit? I've found that juvies and sub-adults grow out better if they get 5-6 feedings per day. You could use some of Al's fantastic freeze dried blackworms for the extra feedings since you can stick them to the glass and walk away during the day. Then toss in a couple more cubes after your nightly WC so that they get a bedtime snack.

Here's a pic of the cubes stuck to the glass:

IMG_0039.jpg

I use 3 cubes per feeding for 10 growing discus and they eat them 4 times per day, cuz I don't feed live blackworms. The other 2 feedings are a mix of discus flakes - just about every sort you can think of including beefheart and spirulina flakes.

Mine grow at a rate of about 1 inch per month till they reach 4", then 3/4" till they reach 6", then slow growth for another year till they reach 8". (Females are smaller - only 7")

Hope that helps and keep the updates and pics coming!

[pastry]

Even your females make my biggest look inadequate, Toni... Damn you! Lol

[strawberryblonde]

LOL Elliot! See those 2 little 2.75" yellow discus up there? That was when I bought them back at the end of July. They are currently 5.5" and still growing like weeds. =)

[pastry]

LOL Elliot! See those 2 little 2.75" yellow discus up there? That was when I bought them back at the end of July. They are currently 5.5" and still growing like weeds. =)

Just keep rubbing it in, Toni .

Waiting to get employed again then getting new house since current house just has the worst scheme. Then I'll try to grow some big studs. Sort of why I'm following this thread... Loooove the info going into this. Definitely planning ahead of time.

[jdhuyvetter]

Hi Jeff,

I'm in love with your big tank - what a great layout and the plant terrace is awesome!

Just a couple of things I wanted to mention - might make life a wee bit easier for you, and better for the discus.

First up, not for the discus, add a couple of teaspoons of salt to the big tank and you won't lose any more fish to ammonia or nitrite poisoning. It's about the only time I ever use salt and it works like a charm.

And for your wee discus, can you up the feedings a bit? I've found that juvies and sub-adults grow out better if they get 5-6 feedings per day. You could use some of Al's fantastic freeze dried blackworms for the extra feedings since you can stick them to the glass and walk away during the day. Then toss in a couple more cubes after your nightly WC so that they get a bedtime snack.

Here's a pic of the cubes stuck to the glass:

I use 3 cubes per feeding for 10 growing discus and they eat them 4 times per day, cuz I don't feed live blackworms. The other 2 feedings are a mix of discus flakes - just about every sort you can think of including beefheart and spirulina flakes.

Mine grow at a rate of about 1 inch per month till they reach 4", then 3/4" till they reach 6", then slow growth for another year till they reach 8". (Females are smaller - only 7")

Hope that helps and keep the updates and pics coming!

I wish I could feed 5-6 times per day. I actually do on the weekends when I am home. My regime so far is this: Before work I feed 3 cubes of bloodworms and 3 cubes of Mysis shrimp. As soon as I get home, I feed a very big portion of blackworms (equivalent of about 6-8 cubes of frozen food).An hour or two after the blackworms are gone, I do the big water change. Immediately after the water change I feed another, slightly smaller portion of blackworms (about 4-6 cubes worth). I have gradually increased the amount of food in all the feedings based on consumption. As long as they continue to eat everything in the tank, I will up the quantity. The first couple of days, they did not eat all of the frozen food so I was slow to increase that amount. Not sure if it was new environment or new to frozen food. I had always used live blackworms in the past with new fish and with sick fish. I am yet to meet a discus that doesn't jump on them immediately. Eventually, I will not feed them live blackworms as a daily feed, just the occasional treat. I will be weaning them over to frozen foods completely. With my next order of blackworms, I will get some of the FD and give that a try. May add them to the mix. I used to do the same thing with FD Tubifex worms in the late 80's. Then they got the bad rap and I stopped. Never personally had any issues with tubifex just didn't want to risk it.

[jdhuyvetter]

I'm on the fence with flakes and pellets. The big tank has coarse sand, not fine sand. Flakes and pellets sink pretty fast. I'm concerned with them getting down in the sand and fouling the water. I've got these guys eating everything out of cones attached to the glass. For the frozen food, I cut slits in the cones so they can pick the frozen through the cone. For the live food, no alterations. Obviously, a lot falls to the bottom and they eat if off the sand. Just concerned about the grain size of the sand between the two tanks.

I deliberately set the tank up with the terraces to leave the front unplanted. I want to give the discus a "feeding zone" to pick/blow food off the bottom. I may add fine sand to the mix so that any pellets or flake will not settle into the sand. I figure I have about 2 months to make that decision. That is also part of the reason I left the sand in the small tank I am growing them up in. I wanted them to be used to sand and it was biologically active from the previous residents.

[jdhuyvetter]

And one more thing. I do plan on introducing other feeds as I increase feeding size. I will be trying the following frozen foods over the next several months. Whatever they eat with gusto will be added to the mix.

Frozen gammarus
Brine shrimp
Hikari's frozen discus blend
Glass worms
Beef heart

Open to opinions on the following: live scuds (gammarus), live cherry shrimp, Hikari's frozen tubifex. For the live food, I was toying with growing a colony in the big tank. Not a primary food, but give them something to chase and nibble on between feedings. As for the tubifex, I've heard good things about Hikari's Bio Encapsulated foods. Used the blood worms without issue. Again, looking for experiences/comments on these items. When I was doing discus before, the live foods mentioned were not an option. I did feed them live ghost shrimp from time to time. Always fun to tell the person at the LFS that I don't want the big ones, I want the small ones!

[jdhuyvetter]

Sump work is almost finished. Sump is a custom sump I had made for a reef tank I used to have set up. It's two part so I could fit a bigger sump through a single door in the stand. Left half has a sliding tray for the filter floss. I filled the section under the tray with bio balls. These are the floating kind, so I put in a piece of egg crate to hold them in place. Next chamber is the refugium area. I have a hydroponic LED over the chamber for algae growth. I will be putting java moss in this chamber. Timer is set to run at night when the other lights and the sun are "off". This should help offset some of the pH swings that plant tanks are prone to have. Then goes through a 2-inch connector into the skimmer chamber. I filled this chamber up with bio balls too (the sinking type). From here it goes over a baffle and through another layer of filter floss. Below that is a rack with chemi-pure elite. Below that is a rack with filter bags of activated carbon. Then, goes to the return pump.

[rickztahone]

Ohhhh, this is YOUR tank! Very nice.

[jdhuyvetter]

Plugged in the hydroponic LED. Very red. Does have some blue and white as well, but does not come out in the pic. Grew macro algae very well for the reef tank. Hope it grows java moss. If not, I'll switch it out for a more conventional light.

[jdhuyvetter]

Q: How do you get the last of the live blackworms that are stuck between the screen and the frame?
A: Dwarf cichlids

[CrazyAngels]

sure love the setup, that is one nice big piece of wood and complements the tank well. Congrats

[jdhuyvetter]

Been about a month since the first big batch of plants was put in the tank. So, time for some update pics. Pics were taken at 11:15 am today. Clear sky, full sun when the pics were taken. LED supplements were off. After the first batch of plants, I lost a couple. Also had so much driftwood, decided I need a couple more Anubias and ferns. I started at 75 degrees and have gone up in a couple of increments. Currently at 80. In a few weeks, I will bump up to 82. Plan on keeping it there. So, first pic is a FTS.


Next pic is the left side of the tank. Far left on the driftwood are two Anubias hastefolia. These are new. Hygro. difformis has grown about 3 inches and also put down runners. In front of that are 4 Crypt. balansae from the original tank. Did not melt when I moved them. Finally showing some new leaves. To the right are what's left of the Pogo. helfiri. I got two tissue cultures. One was bad in the bag and melted almost immediately. The second grew well for about a week and then melted. All the new growth survived. So now I have 7-8 little Pogos. Behind that is Cabomba furcate. Another newer plant, been about 10 days on this one. At the very back is an Apon crispus. Put up new leaves but hasn't grown much taller. Under the Apon to the right is a female Apisto cacautoides with fry!!! On the driftwood above and in front of the Apon are Anubias nana (2 clumps tied together. 1 from the original tank, 1 is new). Also a piece of java fern, normal variety and several pieces of java fern "trident"


Middle pic from the tank is African Fire Lotus on the left, Echino tenellus in the middle foreground, Red Lotus on the right. Behind the first terrace on the left is Rotala wallichi. All stems have grown 2-3 inches since adding to the tank. Not very red. Could be the shorter days at this time of year. Curious to see any color changes with the season changes. Right of that is a ruffle sword that actually bloomed under water. New swords are starting to develop. Anubias barteri on the driftwood above that. At the very back is Jungle val. This kept getting uprooted and floating. Ended up weighting the roots and burying the weights under the sand. Seemed to have worked, new leaves new runners. Between the val and the red lotus are two surviving stems of Rotala magenta. Originally put in front of the right overflow and most of it melted. These stems have roots and new growth at the tips. Also is 1 stem of Ludwigia inclinata "pantanal". Base rotted, but new growth at the tip....got my fingers crossed. There is a gold tetra in front of the brick holding down the driftwood. Immediately below the tetra is a single stem of Bucaphalandra. I had never heard of this plant. So, I got one to give it a try. Leave all turned black. But, there is new growth on the stem. Got my fingers crossed on this one too.


Pic from the right side. On the driftwood at the top is another java fern "windelov". Front terrace is an Echino. Vesuvius. Lost a few leaves, but new ones have grown in. Also has a runner. Behind that a Rubin sword that my pleco thrashed last night. To the right is the one surviving Crinum. Finally showing a little growth. Hope it makes it. Lower right terrace is my mystery crypt. Had it for nearly 20 years now. My oldest continuous plant. Behind the Crinum is a single stem of Rotala indica that survived the neglect of the other tank. In front of the overflow is Ammania gracilis. Never kept this plant. Got it to replace the melted R. magenta. Seems to be doing OK. On the driftwood to the right are Anubias lanceolata and a Bolbitis species. Hidden in the driftwood are two, controllable Korallia 1's. They are set on the lowest setting and give the tank a very gentle right to left flow for the top half and a gentle left to right on the bottom half.

[jdhuyvetter]

Couple of shots from the left side looking down the tank. Driftwood and peat are still leaching a lot of tannins in the water. These pics were taken after a 30% water change.