75g Rebirth...inverts only

Nubster

Did a fairly large over haul of my tank...got rid of a lot of plants and removed all the fish. Only thing in the tank are neos and dwarf crayfish. Kept the planting pretty simple with lots of Java ferns, needle, windolev, and trident. Couple crypts, some Wisteria and sunset hygro. There's a big chunk of moss behind the rocks too. Still using T5HO, pressurized CO2 and PPS Pro ferts. I'll be moving all the RCS from my 20g tomorrow and keeping the yellows in there until I get my 40B setup which will end up being the new home for them. Here is a before and current shot of the tank. I think I like this more open scape a bit better. The rock work IMO is nicer too. More character to the stone.

Before....


Don't mind the rock on the driftwood, just there to hold it down until it stays on its own.

Attached Images

Rebirth1.jpg (66.0 KB, 45 views)

Boredomb

It looks good Nubster.

Nubster

Thanks, once I get everything cleaned up I want to get some closeups of the rocks. They are pretty sweet IMO. Two are new to the tank, the other is the same that has been in there, just moved a little. I added more shrimp this morning that I caught in my DIY shrimp trap over night. Still quite a few to catch and move over. I also need to built a CO2 water return from the reactor. That's what that tubing is that goes across the tank. I have a powerhead that sucks the water out of the tank and pushes it through a reactor and out into the sponges of my HOB filter. I get a 100% dissolved rate as far as I can see since there are no bubbles coming in to the tank however the rate of off gassing may be more. I will probably use some hard tubing and inject the CO2 water lower in the tank and directly into the mass of plants. I really want to add sponge filters and get rid of the HOB but I am afraid of the amount of off gassing and whether it would be counter productive. I could just use powerheads on the sponges I guess and that would take care of that potential problem. All of the plants in the tank are really pretty low tech plants and certainly don't need the CO2 and high light. Not really even sure if they will benefit any more from it than if I just reverted back to a more low tech setup up with ferts a couple times a week and maybe some excel dosing.

Nubster

Been catching shrimp out of the 20g and putting in the 75g. Got maybe 10 so far but 3 of them are berried so that's exciting. There are babies in the 20g too so I'll have to keep it running for awhile until they get big enough that I can start seeing what kinda numbers I have and start catching them as well.

I also got a package from Kens...two sponge filters and a new airpump. I have one sponge filter in the 75g with a powerhead, trying to decide what to do with the other. Add it with the airpump or get another powerhead? The tank has pressurized CO2 and I am just worried that the airstone might cause too much CO2 to offgas. Thoughts? Goal here is to get rid of the HOB. Then I'll have just the two sponge filters and a third powerhead that pumps water through my CO2 reactor but it only runs when the lights are on.

Nubster

Shrimp pics bump...

Nubster

I was bored today so in an effort to combine some equipment I build a Barr Reactor so that I can remove a powerhead and tubing and get rid of the Rex Reactor I have sitting on top of my tank. I added the sponge filter the other day and will add a second one soon. Plan it to get rid of the AC 110 HOB eventually having the two sponge filters and maybe a couple small powerheads. I tested it and it seems to work but only for a couple minutes. My CO2 kicks on soon and lights at 4:30 so I'll see what kind of effect it has on the drop checker soon. I didn't adjust the CO2 level yet until I see what happens.

Here is a shot of the Barr Reactor, this is not the spot it will stay, I'll be moving it to the back corner and hide it behind some plants....and don't mind the micro bubbles, that's actually from my filter, I need to top off a little water.