Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by filedor.com on June 15, 2012 at 12:05am

Thanks ^_^ I still need one more day for the silicone to completely dry (3days), tomorrow I will start the refugium ;)

About the dwarf tears, yeap you're right but prolly there is a nice tip which I kinda learned from Diana's document "Small planted tanks for pet shrimp" which is available for free in her website (click the link). What I saw in this document is that she grows the HC and other plants with almost no water, I also checked information on HC (dwarf baby tears) saying it can grow emerged. As Diana's book mentions, plants that can grow emerged consumes CO2 easily from the air.  Have you tried first growing your HC without much water? Here I post a picture of my tank (I'm starting it from scratch):

Permalink Reply by filedor.com on June 15, 2012 at 1:25pm

I just removed a lot of the water so that the HC (dwarf baby tears) can get more CO2 from the air and grow better.  I only have one dilemma, see if any of you guys can answer. My fish tank isnt directly next to a window, so it receives a little bit of sunlight, but not much... does it counts on the 10 hours of lights that plants should receive? or should I count like 8 hours of LED light + the little sunlight they receive during the morning?

Here's a picture of my plants emerged:

Permalink Reply by D on June 15, 2012 at 7:32pm

I have yet to do an emerged grow, Im waiting till i move to where im staying for a while in college. You may count it, but you have to remember that glass dilutes the sun light. If its really far away from the glass then i might not even completely count it. and I wouldn't go 10hrs at all. you start getting into an area that will increase the rate of algae. i would still go with 6hrs of light. thats the best way to go. I didnt fully realize why Dustin did that till i looked at my 100g yesterday.......light helps, and pollutes lol

Permalink Reply by filedor.com on June 16, 2012 at 10:46pm

Interesting point... oh btw I read this article from Tom Barr's Dry Start Method, the only thing is.... I have already some MTS in my tank and I don't want them to die, so I keep a lil water over the sand. I just drained some more water out from this tank. Today I'm starting my refugium set up since it's been 3 days for the silicone to completely dry up.  I might not start the dry start method on this one, because I have my tank's water with all the humic acids + copepods in a bucket waiting for my refugium hehehe. I will have eleocharis parvula as a mat and duckweeds + frogbits. I will be posting pictures ^_^

Permalink Reply by D on June 17, 2012 at 12:09am

sweet!

Permalink Reply by filedor.com on June 19, 2012 at 8:52am

I'm uploading a youtube video this Friday... I'm off for a few days (my birthday, hehe)

Permalink Reply by filedor.com on June 19, 2012 at 7:44pm

Half inch white sand mixed with aquatic compost and 1 inch garden soil (I buy it from a market, they gather it from mountains, no chemicals added ;)

Youtuve vid on friday...

Permalink Reply by D on June 20, 2012 at 12:25am

I cant wait! Happy birthday btw sir. So I may actually do one of these....I got a 30gal long for free and I may have a space 20L =D I wanna make one now lmao!

Permalink Reply by filedor.com on June 24, 2012 at 9:06am

The video is ready ^_^ check it at : www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvR1iuVeEyU

Permalink Reply by D on June 24, 2012 at 7:47pm

It looks awesome!!!!!! Btw, didnt know you were a musician, I guess this is why we communicate well =]. So I figured I am going to do a refugium for my new 150gal, and possibly my 30L. But im thinking a 40gal may be better to use for the 150, im going to use a 20L for the 30L =P and I should be happy =]. Im pretty sure its also cheaper to run a refugium then a actual filter =D

Permalink Reply by filedor.com on June 25, 2012 at 12:40am

so.... you are a musician too, uh. Awesome. Is it violin? or which instrument? and yes I also think is cheaper to run a refugium like this than a filter for a 150gal... also, this idea came from Diana Walstad's book where she mentions:

"For tanks longer than 30 inches, I use canister filters, because they efficiently (and quietly) move water from one end of the tank to the other.

To reduce tank maintenance (as well as promote plant growth), I remove the finner filtering media from the canister filters. That way I don't have to clean the filters as often and there is less chance that the filters will cause problems should they malfunction. (If the power goes off and a large mass of filter bacteria suffocates in a canister filter, their toxic remains will flood the tank when the filter starts up again.)"

So after I read this I thought... "instead of a canister filter we could just have a nice refugium which will also work all the debris and all the particles coming from the main tank, that way we can even have a lot of duckweeds and huge frogbits in the refugium cleaning the tank's water naturally... we can also get rid of the heater and just put a bigger one in the refugium... for instance, you only need a 100w heater for a 20 gal, but Im using a 300w which I will regulate in order to get the right temp for my amazonian type of tank for my 10 cardinals + 1 betta and 3 siamese algae eaters (I will have 2 siamese algae eaters in my refugium to keep it clean from algae). If this works I will change my main tank to a bigger one, but keeping this nice refugium. A 16 gal refugium would be enough up to a 50 gal.  I know the rule of 1/4, but I preffer keep it 1/2 or close to it ^_^.

Btw check my next post... I found a nice aquatic plant while I was in my birthday trip to China / North korean border. Check it out : http://fishtanktv.com/forum/topics/what-is-this-aquatic-plant-i-fou...

Permalink Reply by D on June 25, 2012 at 6:44pm

I play Tenor Sax, and I know what she says =P I carry that book everywhere. And Yeah im thinking a 55 instead of a 40 for the refugium. I figure, more length = more filtration material and more room for plants. I may even add a tray at the top for plants to grow emerged =D

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