MickS77

For me, I wanted something different, something I hadn't tried before and something with less maintenance than my big planted tank.

That sounds like the setup I have although mine is filled with RODI water. I have a 100 gallon Norwesco tank from a local dealer. I made a manifold for the drain, one valve so I can fill buckets and another goes to a pump. Its a Liberty Pumps 1/2hp water transfer pump. From the pump I used 1/2in Sharkbite connections and 1/2in Pex tubing to run a line up to the first floor. The Pex connects to a garden hose bib I installed under my kitchen sink. I attach an RV potable water hose to a make water changes. I also have shark bite check valve to prevent back siphoning. I control the on/off of the pump using a remote outlet switch. It's been a reliable setup and pump for a few years now. I don't have a better picture of everything right now.

Display at Bass Pro Shop, Harrisburg PA. Huge tank with Large Mouth Bass, Stripe Bass, Gar, Channel Catfish, and even a Sturgeon.

I'm really liking it so far, even without fish. The bioflims and breaking down leaves create a wonderful natural look

Thats something I'm looking to recreate, I have my filter spray bar point towards the surface to create ripples. I may add some pendent lights to point down and make a shimmering effect.

You can see him 24/7 on the live Murphy cam! 🐡 https://www.aquariumcoop.com/pages/murphy-camera

I keep a sponges going in them but also one or two zebra danios because those guys are the hardest fish I know, they are my designated quarantine fish. I'll usually move them to a different tank when I bring in a new group of fish to run meds through.

Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, Leonard Harrison State Park

I've never heard of those, make sure to post about it!

This is great video of Eric's vintage aquarium collection, so much cool stuff!

I didn't realize how cheap and easy live foods are until I did it. For about $30 I was able to get four cultures of Vinegar Eels and Microworms started. I got the cultures off Aquabid for $10 shipped. The four glass bottles are from Michael's craft store. I got them for $15 using a 20% off coupon. The plastic containers are from Dollar Tree, $1. The rest of the required items I had. Apple cider vinegar, an apple, and instant unflavored potatoes. If you're thinking about getting a breeding program going don't hesitate to get some live foods going before you have fry. Also it's like infinite free fish food for like ever, what's not awesome about that. Cory has two great videos on setting up these cultures, which I followed exactly. https://youtu.be/-kkQS6XgG00 https://youtu.be/AMrU6S3DZRQ

@Lizzie Block Wow thank you so much! Thanks @Cory for making a great space to share the love of the hobby. I look forward to learning and posting here for years to come.

Its that reason I wish the hobby pushed larger tanks for beginners. Like a 30 or 40 to start instead of a 10 or smaller. I understand size and price limitations but I think if people had more success from the beginning they would enjoy more and stay with the hobby. Its a double edged sword.

I've had success combating BBA with manual removal, as much as possible, and nutrient control. See where your nitrates are adjust accordingly, maybe cut back on feedings, shorten photo period. Once you get the balance right your plants should start out competing the BBA, it takes time. I still have a few small tufts but it doesn't spread anymore.

Yep the plan is coming together. I'll probably suck up some of the infusoria water with pipette and squeeze it into the tank with the fry. Surely there is some microfauna in there by now.

I noticed some spawning activity from my Glowlights in quarantine. I put a sinking yarn mop in the tank to see if I could salvage any eggs. I left the mop in for a day. After that I put the mop in 2.5 gallon tank with slow stream of bubbles from a piece of rigid air tubing. Looks like I saved a few eggs from being eaten! I'll probably put a little sponge grunge into the tank for food and some Sera Micron as well. If they make it I'll try baby brine once they're bigger.

They have names haha?? I wish I was more well versed in guppy strains. Can you recommended any books or websites to learn about the all breeds, styles, strains etc?

I just got my first guppies, so I think I'll try colony breeding to start. Then separate some colors to see what kind of lines I can breed. I'm looking forward to see what happens.

I think most racks in fish stores run on a central sump system. To prevent back siphoning in a power outage you use a check valve to stop the tank from draining. I like the custom aquariums siphon stopper because they work by allowing air into the return line breaking the siphon. It doesn't rely on a mechanical device to stop the water.

I've been running this Custom Aquariums Seamless Sump for about 2 years on my 110 gallon tank and I love it. I also use their Stealthbox Overflow and Siphon Stopper Emitters. It was my first sump and there is definitely a learning curve. Including drilling the tank for bulkheads. Figuring out how to tune the main valve and getting it to run silent took a little time. Equipment wise, it starts with a large 4in. 200 micron filter sock. Water then flows next over a stack of 5 trays. The first tray has a few layers of Aquarium Co-op fine filter pad. The rest of the trays underneath have ceramic bio balls. Throughout the sump I have many slabs of Marinepure Bio block, wrapped in pantyhose because it gets really crumbly after a while. I use two Ecotech Vectra S1 pumps to return the water, one for each emitter. They are DC pumps so they are silent and controllable. I like running two pumps for redundancy, if one goes down I know the other is powerful enough to run the tank. I use two 300w titanium heaters controlled by a Reefkeeper Lite system. The third chamber is connected with 3/4 bulkhead, I wish I would have used a bigger one in hindsight. It's primarily used to hold more water to combat evaporation. I wanted to use the space so I made a box out of eggcrate. I lined it with 1/8in. clear plastic mesh and zip-tied it all together. Its filled with a few liters of Seachem Matrix bio-media. Because of the small 3/4 bulkhead I use two Mightyjet DC pumps to move water between it and the return chamber. I made a manifold out of schedule 80 pvc fittings and 1/2in. murlok connections. The manifold is driven by another Mightyjet DC pump and feeds three reactors mounted on the outside of the stand. Always running off the manifold is an Aquamedic 1000 CO2 reactor and carbon. I run carbon for water clarity and better light penetration because it is a 30in. deep tank. I experimented with running purigen in a reactor but it wasn't worth the hassle of recharging and maintaining. All the reactors feed back into the sump return chamber. I don't believe I get a LOT of CO2 off gassing. I think making the system run silently leads to less water splashing/turbulence keeping more CO2 in the water. I use a ph monitor to control the GLA regulator so I'm sure that helps conserve CO2, also a 20lb tank lasts a long time. I don't plan on ever deep cleaning the sump. I siphon out some detritus maybe twice a year. I change the sock and filter pads weekly. I'm pro-mulm I think makes for a healthier system long term. That's about everything, looking forward to seeing what setups other people have.

Do you have a sump? Considering getting one? DIY or manufactured? Questions about how they work? Looking for inspiration? I wanted to create this thread for people to share and learn about sump filtration. Ask questions, comments, concerns. If you have one, post some photos and what equipment you're running. If you've made your own sumps, share what worked and what didn't. Sumps are infinitely customizable for the ultimate hot rodded filter. You might never go back to canister filters after you have one.

It is indeed clouded up. I do have a small handheld microscope somewhere. I'll have to find it and see if I can see anything with it.

@Corywhat is the substrate in the 800? Mostly crushed coral?

For brand, I really like Caribsea. They have a lot of variety in size and color blends.

Do you know what your Gh is? If your water is super soft it could be some mineral deficiency. Your faster growing stems plants could be soaking up minerals and nutrients before the Java fern and anubia. Maybe try dosing Easy Iron once a day week to see if that helps. I grow Java fern quite well under high light.