Social Feed

Hi guys!

I'm new here, but not entirely new to planted tanks though I've been out of the hobby for the better part of the last decade between kids and moving a couple of times - but finally in a spot where I can do something again. I'm mostly going to be making things up as I go along, but plan on a lot of automation (I want to integrate everything into home assistant) and a lot of DIY as I love the challenge of building things out myself.

The starting point:

I picked up a 90P rimless, low-iron tank on a great deal.



I have a rough idea in my head for a stand to be built from plywood - just have a couple other house projects to finish off before starting that built.

Wife says I can only have one aquarium, so for this tank, I want to go all out with a sump to allow for auto top off, and auto water changes, auto fertilizer dosing etc. etc. I have half a plan in my mind.

I've also started on the light fixture which I've modeled up in CAD, and plan on making out of an 8020 extrusion, and some 3D printed bits.

I'm using bridgelux gen 3 thrive CW (3000k) and WW (5000k) LED strips which have super high CRI at 98+ along with some specific XPE2 wavelengths that I'll solder onto some starboards. Far Red (730nm), Red (654nm), Cyan (495nm), Blue (455nm), Visible UV (415nm). Each segment of the white channels will be on its own driver so I can adjust left to right brightness in thirds, and each colour channel on its own driver so I can vary each channel on a time-based approach.

These will be run from a custom PCB board with Meanwell N-LDD drivers, and will run ESPHome on an ESP32 so it can link up with my Home Assistant installation.


That's it for now, this will probably be a very slow build so be warned if you follow along!

Browsed the Sreepadma booth at Aquashella briefly today. I'd not heard of them but they are the largest aquatic plant farm in India and have been selling their TC offerings in the US for about 2 years. I was actually impressed with the qualty I was seeing of their TC cups and wish I had room in a tank for some (and some ADA TC). Has anyone else purchased any of their plants. One of the first that I spotted was Red Tiger Crypt which was a coincidence since we have a thread discussing it.

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @plang24!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

Wrapped up my AGA submittal a few weeks ago, and I just can't seem to bring myself to take care of my tank right now I think I'm experiencing burnout. I go through these cycles where my tank is all I can think about for a few weeks/months, and then I need a break, and I can't bring myself to do my usual water change and trim schedule. The good news is my tank has so much healthy plant mass that algae doesnt grow even after a few weeks of neglect.

Any tips on fighting this tendency? I think my first idea is to slow everything down, lower my nitrate to more of a zero-bound system and try to reduce my stem trimming frequency. My second idea is making my water change easier. Right now the hardest part is siphoning detritus into buckets that I walk to the toilet. After that I pump the tank down the rest of the way. How do you guys do this? I would siphon straight to the toilet but I'm bound to accidently send a shrimp to their doom that way.

This month's theme is: plant, hardscape and fish

This one is going to be tough but I hope some of you take up the challenge. Take a picture that captures a plant, some hardscape and at least one fish in the same picture.

Be as artistic and creative as you like.

The rules:

• Submissions are allowed between October 7 and October 23.
• Voting will start on October 23 at 12:01 am Eastern time.
• Voting will end on October 31 at 11:30 pm Eastern time.

The prize:

A $25 store credit from BurrAqua thanks to @Burr740!

Hi all,

Currently battling a staghorn algae outbreak. I think I am slowly winning, but there is still some staghorn algae on small staurogyne repens. For bigger plants, further away from the aqua soil I would normally use hydrogen peroxide (or just trim it off). But since this stuff breaks down aqua soil and it is difficult to snap of the leaves, I would like to try something else. I already noticed on some spots where I used hydrogen peroxide that the aqua soil broke down afterwards.

What do people use to get rid of staghorn algae or bba on these kind of places? Is Seachem Excel of other liquid carbon safe to use in a small dose?

I’m considering adding an ATO to my UNS 60U mainly to keep the water level consistent from evaporation, especially when I’m away

I’ve narrowed it down to a few options like the Tunze Osmolator 3 Nano, XP Aqua Duetto², and FZONE QST2.0, but I’m open to other recommendations

My biggest concern is reliability and overfill protection. Since this is a relatively small tank, it wouldn’t take much of a sensor malfunction or pump running too long to raise the water level significantly. I’d really prefer something with a backup/failsafe or some type of protection that shuts the pump down if the primary sensor fails

I’m also trying to keep the equipment inside the tank as small and unobtrusive as possible. That’s one reason I’m hesitant about the Tunze Nano. I trust the brand, but the sensor assembly looks pretty bulky for a smaller rimless planted tank

For those actually running an ATO on a planted/freshwater tank:

What system are you using, how long have you had it, and have you ever had it overfill, fail to top off, or have sensor issues?

I’m especially interested in anyone who has used one of these long enough that they’d actually trust it while away on vacation

Time to start a new thread.

I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.

90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.

Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.

I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.

Ive reorganized the order of my tanks so I can better keep track of them ie. Tank 2 moss tank is now tank 3. This helps in any confusion I had when tracking tanks they are in a sort of order now. Rather than taking time editing my old journal id rather create a new thread. Pics will be current (for the most part) as they are posted. I am not aquascaping. I am just farming.

I mention this plant on occasion, but no one ever comments. So I thought I'd make a post for others and me for future reference.
It is my favorite Erio. It is a darker green, doesn't get too big, and for me it has never sent up any seed stalks.

I find it easy to grow. I have high light but nothing crazy at 124PAR and high CO2, 50+ppm. It gets about max 3-4" and makes side daughter plants when large. I'm not sure my dosing scheme is. Sort of an EI daily dosing kind of thing.

What gets me is every autumn, it starts to melt. I'm not sure how it knows it's autumn with consistent light and a heater, but it must get a little cooler in the tank or something. The plant starts to turn brown and sends up (I'm not sure of the correct term) vegetative stalks with little plantlets on the ends. I've found you can plant these stalks into the substrate with the plantlet on top, and it will grow into a new plant. They've been easy to grow. This is the third year this has happened to me.
Pic of plantlets below. I'll try to get a better one sometime. All I had time for tonight was a crappy phone pic.

This year I divided one of the mother plants in hopes that it wouldn't fully melt and would regrow. That is still in progress.

Anyone else's experiences are welcome.



This plant is the same plant as the one on the right above.