Joexemm

@Seattle_AquaristThat's absolutely gorgeous! is that a Corner tank? I used some amazon cheap stuff. couldn't tell the difference from my fluval substrate to this as far as ingredients go. Ill give the iron a shot for sure and report back here on what happens. The old setup had the water parameters wayyy out of whack for discus and their colors were terrible. My blue guy was basically matte black. He has really come around in a big way with this change. the old setup was a 12gh and like 140ppm kh. I got into a salt tank and doing the chemistry. I got interested in what the freshwater parameters were so I broke out the old test kit and that's what started the changes in motion. I am really glad that I did this. just want to keep it pretty at this point

@Seattle_Aquarist The substrate change was the addition of the aqua soil. I kept all of the substrate that i had before you can see it under the cap of soil on the right. that stuff was a trap for detritus and a failed experiment. I figured it had a bunch of beneficial bacteria however and used it to re-scape the tank. Is there a test for iron that I don't know about? I hate adding things that I cant test for. Something worth note is these plants are all new to the setup as of 3 weeks ago ( I think its been that long since the overhaul) The plants all are showing signs of Growing. The discus have been with me for 3 years now so they are doing well. Growing far slower then I had hoped but I'm not home to feed them constantly. I do feed them every single day but it takes some time. There are several other species that are far faster then they are and I have to feed them before the Discus get anything. So i give them Vibra Bites first to fill up the dither fish then I come in with blood worms and a cube or two of dried black worms I believe they are. I feed everything with the pumps off and skim out the leftovers after I'm done with their daily water change before I turn the tank back on. I also clean out my filter socks every day during this time. Really I think the bulk of my question is how do I keep the growth and minus the algae. UHH there are rams horn snails, amano shrimp, ottocinclus, hillstream loaches, and now a bristle nose pleco baby. I am rather hesitant to add anymore livestock to the tank unless its more Discus. Ill give a dose of Iron and see how we fair this week. I have not dosed any fertilizer since the overhaul since I read that the substrate will likely release a lot into the water column. Also I didn't add the fish in right away. they spent 2 weeks in a 100gallon tub while I did huge daily water changes to combat the initial ammonia release. I only got rather high nitrates.. 80+ off the kit high, though I'm assuming from the already cycled filter being able to handle it.

This setup is a 125 with a 40 gallon sump with CO2 injection. my water parameters for the last 2 weeks or so the tank runs at 82 f° pH has been an average of 6.6 zero ammonia zero nitrates nitrates went from 80 to 40 g h was 9 and 10 and now it's seven the cage has been 2° of hardness or 35.8 PPM I guess I haven't doed fertilizers at all since my substrate change the fertilizer I would be using is aquarium co-op easy green the tank is a little on the heavy side with stock but again only 40 parts per million nitrate and falling and I believe I am in the neighborhood of about 600 to 700 gallons per hour water turnover Currently doing a 30g water change which I do daily for the most part. I'm human and miss a day here or there. The water goes through a water softener and then my 4 stage RO. Perhaps I don't have enough flow down in the tank? Want to nip this before it's a real thing. Oh and lighting is from 12pm-10pm I have a 6ft white/beige led light from Dustin's fish tanks it was the only one I saw to make it one light for the whole tank. I am considering cutting that back to 8hours total. Sorry this is so long winded!

@Jeff there are 4 in there I had 6 but one thing or another. Why they just stop eating I'll never know

Inkbird controller on my salt tank and my 125g tank. I use it with the probe in the tank and the heaters in my sump. When it comes to heaters IDC what one you get IMO it should be on a external controller and it MUST be in a high flow area. Low to no flow is the #1 killer of heaters. they end up flipping on and off and burn themselves up. its basically a heavy duty light bulb that only has so many cycles in it. so with water movement you prolong the on off cycle thus extending your heater life. also make sure you turn the heaters internal temp to max. if you do not have the inkbird probe in the same location as the heater. i had a situation when if first went to this setup that the heater was shutting itself off at 78 degrees in the sump but by the time the inkbird probe got the water it was only at 76degrees. took me a minute to figure that out... many many minutes.... all in all after turning them up it keeps my tanks at the perfect temperature.

IMO a DIY cannister is = to a sump which is easier to service however cool build and ill be following!! Keep in mind your going to need to make this thing water tight

@Dancing Mattyeah he can come take all he wants!

@Dancing Matt i dont get the joke! =( however COME ON OVER AND EAT SOME PEAS

@Mmiller2001 i use the EZgreen from Co-op. I was kinda dumb and was doing 1pump/10g daily for 2 weeks... 16pumps a day. then i read the directions again and read the WEEKLY word this time. so basically i over did it... alot... HOWEVER the BBA was there before that incident. im still thinking organics is the issue as stated above. the tank is gravel and nothin but a poop trap.

@Mmiller2001 This tank gets a 50% weekly at this point. I am going to be redoing the aquascape. Keeping my gravel but moving it to mesh bags to create a little more dynamic feel. then going to cap it with aqua soil. The plants in this setup never took off like i had hoped and im thinking thats due to the inert gravel. My valisneri is super brittle and has little stress cracks all up the leaves. Amazon swords dont seem to be flourishing. I had a smaller 65g that i had no problem making it a jungle the difference being the substrate.. they are the same plants lol. So when i do the aquascape it will be a 100% water change. and then 25% every day for a week. then 50% there after to try and combat the initial release from the soil. As for the Co2 injection my drop checker is green and my ph is nailed at 6.8 while its on and creeps to 7.2 a few hours after the Co2 is off. best i can tell the water is saturated. Ill redirect the return to get me some more surface agitation.

@Odd Duck ill give this a shot. the plants i can take out no problem just kinda wedged into crevices. used to be superglued but the wood rots faster then they root and hold if at all lol

So i have 2 species of anubias that are covered in BBA best i can tell and have been for a long time. Truth be told this tank went through some neglect #life..... that being said i run Co2 from 11am-9pm and lights from 12-10pm PH 6.8 79degrees 0 ammonia/nitrite nitrates are high 80-160 ppm on the api kit. but the fish are shiny and healthy and producing babies (live bearers) gh & dk are 11/140 so hard water. i dont have an iron test and i think i was overdosing ferts to get the nitrates that high i have since cut back and the color change is taking longer each time on the test so im ASSUMING the water changes and not dosing is working. 40g sump w/filter socks for water polishing. K2 mini plastic media being tumbled by 2 large sponge filters & a wall of pumice blocks for my bio filter. I have a ton of room to do more but so far im thinking there is no reason to yet. Tank is 125g display and probably 30ish gallons in the sump. I am guesstimating approximately a 600gph turn over i have a 500-1500 sicce return pump almost completely closed on the adjustment. this is the happy medium where the tank is quietly flowing back and not filling up too much in the display (sumplifeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) i have 2 1" drains w/1 emergency and a 1" return into a 3/4' loc line duckbill that i have positioned into 2 directions. there is 1 small powerhead in the opposite end to create some stimulation in the lower reaches of the tank. Should i just cut the leaves or idk... i hate to throw is out but yeah.... covered

The GH& KH test kit is SO easy to use from api. definitely worth grabbing. some of the more delicate stuff really doesnt do well in different settings. I personally couldnt keep a betta in a small tank plants no plants ect. I put him in my 125g discus tank and that dude just cruises around. My dk and gh are 11 & 140ppm very hard with a ph of about 6.8 (artificial from Co2 i imagine it is more in the 7.8 range as my water is tough. this is after a water softener.) I find that knowing these parameters is almost more important then the "husbandry" since without the right parameters all the water changes in the world wont fix it. Then just tailor your fish keeping habits to what will actually work for your water instead of what the interwebs says is easy 😃 If you have tried this long you have the fire! keep the flames stoked!

Ill keep you all posted with new posts no doubt! So far the plan to start is to fill a 90 gallon tote I have get it to temperature 80degrees and since we are getting into the warm months here in Dirty Jerzy my garage shouldn't have any issues maintaining that. Then move the fish to their temporary home. Re-do my scape & substrate get it back running for at least week to get the ammonia out since apparently aquasoil does that. Then my friends can be added back to their new home. 😃 But that's the thing about plans right!??!?!?

Hello there! My name is Joe and I have been in the fish keeping hobby for 4 years now. I started on a 10g free to me take it tank that evolved into madness! Now that my headfirst jump into everything spell is over I am looking to downsize to what I truly enjoy and just get really good at it. My "planted" 125g Is okay but I am going to be going full aqua soil co2 plants are bomb trim them always type of thing. For that ill be looking to this community!