My 4ft Planted Community

[2LOUD2OLD]

Well figured it was about time I posted up some pictures of my tank.
Currently in the tank are 2 angels, 2 BN, 2 Ottos and 5 Peppered corys
Tank is 4'x14"x20"
Filtration is provided by Aqua One CF1200 Cannister and a small Aqua One internal.
Lights are 3x54W T5HO. The tubes are currently all 14000K, have ordered some 6500K globes through local lighting store but that was almost 3 weeks ago and I still havent heard from them. Must mean to give them a call soon to see what is happening.
OH and I have DIY CO2 going on too

cheers
James

[wombat1100]

Looking good there James, are you happy with the DIY co2? planning to put more fish in there? looks a bit empty fish wise, IMHO ,I guess all your fish other than the angles are bottom dwellers so thats why it looks like that.The sand substrate looks great, is it hard to maintain?

[2LOUD2OLD]

DIY CO2 is going ok, not sure how much affect it is having, i think i really need the new globes for the light but the plants seem to be doing quite well as it is. I have also started adding Flourish Excel every couple of days to help out too. I have been looking into pressurised CO2 but really I just dont have the money for the initial investment. one day i think

yeah more fish to be added, just adding them slowly.
got plans for another 2 angels, some congo tetras(not sure just how many yet) and either some yoyo or dwarf chain loaches

the sand is great, so easy to maintain as everything just sits on top so just give it a vacuum with the ol gravel vac when i do a water change each week.

[Woodsy]

I'm actually trialing a new electronic CO2 generator at the moment, which should retail for a fair bit less than a pressurised unit. Give me a couple of weeks to play around with it, and I'll let you know how it goes.

[joz]

DIY CO2 is going ok, not sure how much affect it is having, i think i really need the new globes for the light but the plants seem to be doing quite well as it is. I have also started adding Flourish Excel every couple of days to help out too. I have been looking into pressurised CO2 but really I just dont have the money for the initial investment. one day i think

yeah more fish to be added, just adding them slowly.
got plans for another 2 angels, some congo tetras(not sure just how many yet) and either some yoyo or dwarf chain loaches

the sand is great, so easy to maintain as everything just sits on top so just give it a vacuum with the ol gravel vac when i do a water change each week.

Just wondering how deep does the CO2 get fed into the tank,only because it needs time suspended in the water to be absorbed.

I'm also a fan of fine sand as opposed to gravel.


I'm actually trialing a new electronic CO2 generator at the moment, which should retail for a fair bit less than a pressurised unit. Give me a couple of weeks to play around with it, and I'll let you know how it goes.


Will be looking forward to your impressions.
:)

[2LOUD2OLD]

Just wondering how deep does the CO2 get fed into the tank,only because it needs time suspended in the water to be absorbed.


it doesnt actually go down all that far, maybe 4 inches, this was as deep as I could get it and to still get bubbles coming out. I dont think I had enough pressure when I tried it lower as nothing was coming out

[wombat1100]

it doesnt actually go down all that far, maybe 4 inches, this was as deep as I could get it and to still get bubbles coming out. I dont think I had enough pressure when I tried it lower as nothing was coming out


If that is the case i would assume that you have a leak some where, if the system is working correctly the pressure generated should be more than ample to feed all the way to the bottom of the tank, from what i understand anyway!

[joz]

it doesnt actually go down all that far, maybe 4 inches, this was as deep as I could get it and to still get bubbles coming out. I dont think I had enough pressure when I tried it lower as nothing was coming out

I had the same problem,then I fed the line into a small power head so that way the bubbles were blown deep down into the water.
I also had the power head on the same timer as my lights,that way the CO2 was only working effectively when my lights were on.

This made a big difference to the plants.
Really the CO2 bubbles should not reach the surface,they should dissolve into the water before they get there.

[2LOUD2OLD]

hmm interesting idea