The Behemoth Tank

[Themuleous]

Ill add to the other jealous people, a trip or working in or near the amazon would be my idea of heaven. I once spent 5 weeks in the Indonesian jungle, best experience of my life. You can't help looking at an animal or plant and thinking 'I wonder if I'm the first person ever to see this species?'

Sam

 

[plantbrain]

Well, this is just talk, till they actually do these things, it's pie in the sky.
I'm not getting my hopes up, but will keep after them.

I've alrerady collected several species new to science, they are small beetles though.
Dad was a Entomologist and very well known spelunker so collecting and field work are things I've always done.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[plantbrain]

Looks like next month I'll head down to do a 380 gal for the office and the 1600 gal tank and get some good pics for you all.

Hopeful that the client will add all the discus into the 380 and raise a 64 Altum school in the main 1600 gal tank.

I have some very nice driftwood that will make it look good from 25 feet away. It looks supper close, 1-6 ft, but the distance is tougher.
Few folks look at tanks from 25 ft though

But that's how far you need to post a pic with low resolution on line for the whole tank.
The new wood and rock layout will help I think and some fish changes hopefully will be in order.

I need an nice piece of wood to balance the left side and have several to chose from.

I burn it first with a torch, then use a wet sand blasting gun to remove any rot/soft stuff, this allows a very natural look.
I use a pressure washer and 20-40 sand, this produces nice texture and that smooth driftwood look without all the dust and cost of a massive air sandblaster.

You can saw and do lots of work to the wood and then burn and blast it and it'll make as very natural look afterwards.
I mainly clean and get the wood looking nice first, then use a pressure washer + blasting sand after.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[plantbrain]

http/www.turbomkt.com/carl/1600/index.html

For more pics etc, the tank has matured since and is still maturing.
Larger tanks seem to take longer to mature.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[three-fingers]

Awe inspiring . And very interesting, this truly is the stuff of dreams. Purely out of interest, what substrate is in the tank?
EDIT: Just read 60 bags of ADA aquasoil?! Thats alot of aquasoil, though its reassuring to see professionals using the stuff...i have one 9liter bag waiting to be used on a erm....5.5gal .

 

[plantbrain]

Yes, the ADA AS is good stuff.
I think it's one of the best substrates for most cases.

I do not use ADA power sands though, I've done enough testing to prove to myself they are not really what makes the ADA product like better, there's plenty if long term nutrients in the ADA AS.
I also hate two types of substrates, they mix and look tacky later.
It also adds uneeded cost and I do not buy some of the marketing bull.
ADA adds an Osmocoat like product in there also. You could add that instead of the ADA PS lightly and have the same effect.

I do not bother, I use the EI dosing and get the intense growth and health without any algae issues and I have a 1600 gallon, 350 gallon tank(flourite and EI) all the way down to a 1 gal tank to prove it. Sand and soil also works amazingly well with EI as well. There are cheap ways and more designer methods.

But I do not go cheap for the clients really at this level

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[hawk]

*removes jaw from the floor*

ditto

 

[n3ont3tra]

How do you cycle a tank like that?

 

[atmmachine816]

Mature filter media from another tank or just wait

Must say, what you do is quite inspiring though you should make a post "ask Tom Barr"

atm

 

[plantbrain]

How do you cycle a tank like that?

Plants.
Also, adding "mulm" from other mature tanks.
Mulm = the dirt from a filter sponge, gravel vacuumed sludge etc.

I'm not sure you realize that cycling planted tank is of no use, that's what the plants are for.
Also, water changes remove NH4 waste. You may also add Zeolite which will be spent and become biomedia after about 1 month and when the bacteria is already cycled.

So any of those ways are much better for most any tank than the so called fishless cycling, I think water changes are a much better habit than testing NH4.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[nry]

How do you cycle a tank like that?

Plants.
Also, adding "mulm" from other mature tanks.
Mulm = the dirt from a filter sponge, gravel vacuumed sludge etc.

I'm not sure you realize that cycling planted tank is of no use, that's what the plants are for.
Also, water changes remove NH4 waste. You may also add Zeolite which will be spent and become biomedia after about 1 month and when the bacteria is already cycled.

So any of those ways are much better for most any tank than the so called fishless cycling, I think water changes are a much better habit than testing NH4.


Regards,
Tom Barr

The whole fishless cycling thing and plants was a hidden discovery for me, I went for the whole fishless cycling thing on my 'new' tank (now 6 months old) and planted from week 1. I never saw any ammonia, and nitrIte never went above 0.25ppm and was only present for 3 days. It was only after the 'cycle' that I found this forum and some recent articles in a UK magazine that discuss plants and tank cycling.

 

[Dave Spencer]

I set up my EI tank one month ago and never went through a cycle. No Ammonia and only minimal Nitrite readings were ever recorded by me. I added some Otocinclus after one week which should be way too early (I couldn`t help myself). They can apparently be a fairly delicate difficult fish to acclimatise, yet they have never been anything less than very happy and are thriving.

For a new system that is heavily planted from the outset, and provided the plants are flourishing, I am wondering if there is no need to cycle the tank. I certainly never saw one occur, and I have tested every water parameter religiously for this first month.

 

[steve711]

Are all those angels altums? i do see some koi lookers and didn't know altums could be like that also don't these fish grow to like 2 foot from top to bottom. i hate to be the only negative one here but when i saw the number 64 i was like

but the tank .... nothin to say really. its gorgeous and a life sized photo of it would do me
if i saw that tank, i'd probably be there for hours just watching all the fish. it just seems so natural. i've always wanted to see fish in their natural habitat doing what they do best...swim.

you have the best career in the world

x

Pinkdolphin, you should take up scuba diving, I learnt earlier this year and like you say, seeing fish in their natural habitat is unreal, I never want to finish a dive.

Great setup Tom, a very good source of inspiration.

 

[plantbrain]

The whole fishless cycling thing and plants was a hidden discovery for me, I went for the whole fishless cycling thing on my 'new' tank (now 6 months old) and planted from week 1. I never saw any ammonia, and nitrIte never went above 0.25ppm and was only present for 3 days. It was only after the 'cycle' that I found this forum and some recent articles in a UK magazine that discuss plants and tank cycling.

I've never seen a NH4 reading unless I specifically added inorganic N.
Many do see NH4 when they use ADA aqua soil, but they also should do more water changes in the first 1-2 months(2x a week say 50%), which is not bad advice for any set up as long as you dose thereafter each water change.

Many Discus folks do this routine all the time.
Or when things get neglected, algae, poor CO2 etc

Plants are highly effective filters, I like the way they look vs the ugly old bacteria and excess plants I can sell or trade.

I think if folks have any NH4, it's due to poor soils, ADA As and not enoughb water changes in the start up, and not enough plant biomass.

If you do non CO2 methods, you should also find the same patterns as well as in marine and brackish systems.

I have a very sensitive NH4 meter and also a nice colorimeter that's cvery accurate at low ranges.
I have not really done a nice study on NH4 and it's influence on algae blooms, but some day in the next few months hopefully I might get to it.

If you have a heavy bioload like this tank, then suddenly stop adding so much CO2, which drives rapid uptake of NH4 under high light, this causes a back log of NH4, although small, it's often enough to induce some algae species.

CO2 can be a direct(say like BBA) and indirect (say Greeen water) algal inducement factor therefore. I've seen Staghorn (Compsopogon) with urea and too high fish loading, and ADA AS in many tanks that left the urea/NH4 in there rather than water changes, good CO2, zeolite etc.

Mulm is highly effective to start a new tank, it adds precisely what is missing from a new substrate and filter. It's also something that can be used in new marine, brackish and FW fish only tanks, reefs etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[George Farmer]

If you have a heavy bioload like this tank, then suddenly stop adding so much CO2, which drives rapid uptake of NH4 under high light, this causes a back log of NH4, although small, it's often enough to induce some algae species.

That makes perfect sense and explains why unstable, not just low CO2, can induce algae.