# Howdy



## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

I figured I would introduce myself before bombarding yall with questions and the myriad of problems I will encounter with my new tank build. 

My name is Rick. I live in Wylie. I was a reefer several years ago until a week long winter black out killed all my reef tanks. I ended up selling all my tanks out of frustration. Before that I was a cichlid guy which resulted in my building a fish room. After several years breeding my cichlid days ended with a rock avalanche, and roughly 2,000 gallons of water and dead fish in my carpet(shared wet dry). ServPro loved it. 

My latest catastrophe in the making is sitting on my living room floor at the moment waiting on me to build a stand for it. I am cheap and have ******* tendencies, so this should be an entertaining build to watch from afar, key word, afar.


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## Aquarist (Jul 23, 2014)

Hello and welcome!

This forum is a great resource for all things planted aquarium related. What size tank do you have and do you think your gonna go high tech or low tech?


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Hi, Aquarist and thank you. 

I am weird and will likely find a middle ground high tech and low tech. I do plan on CO2 but want real soil in there as well. The tank is weird like me. It is a shallow 250 or so gallon tank with a foot print of 36" by 72".


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## CrownMan (Sep 12, 2005)

Hi Gonzoman, welcome to the DFWAPC forum. 

I don't have any soil tanks but have a fish/planted tank room with 8 tanks. Half are low tech and the other half are high tech. Substrates are ADA Aquasoil, Eco Complete and Flourite.

The club has a few members with soil tanks with Michael being our resident expert on soil tanks.

Hope you can make it to a club meeting.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Thank you Crownman. 

Yesterday we built the stand. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the angle and I have some overhang. So we are going to have to go back and make adjustments. This tank is oddly shaped making it a real pain to build a stand for. The back is 84 inches long. The front is 72 inches long. The right side is 90 degrees. The other side slants toward the back. I am going to re-deck it about 4 inches higher to compensate for the missed angle. If there is ever a tornado I am going to instruct the family to get under the tank. We used the reef central design with 2x6s standing up and legs in the center for additional support. That stand should survive WW3.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Welcome! For a stunning example of what can be done with a big, shallow tank, see this thread: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/journals/85649-dons-square-200-gallon-part-thrice.html


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Amazing thread! What an incredible tank. Heck, at this juncture I am just looking forward to adding water to the tank.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

Welcome Gonzo, besides planted, I have reef if you ever get an itch for it. I'm a big DIY guy. When it comes to soils, you need to pick an option that best suits your involvement in the tank. If you're the kind to set it and leave it, soil capped with sand would work. If you're going to do a lot of pulling up and moving plants, than an aquatic soil would be better fit. For CO2, I run regulator on 20# tank from welding store. Do get a ceramic diffuser.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

I think I have decided on a combination of Scotts premium topsoil, and miracle grow organic potting mix for the soil, then I am going to cap it under a thick layer of black diamond blasting sand from tractor supply. I think this will keep the expense down a bit and should provide lots of nutrients. Given the foot print of this tank I can not imagine buying the specialty soils in the quantities I would need. I am going for a low/medium light environment with CO2 augmentation.


digital_gods said:


> Welcome Gonzo, besides planted, I have reef if you ever get an itch for it. I'm a big DIY guy. When it comes to soils, you need to pick an option that best suits your involvement in the tank. If you're the kind to set it and leave it, soil capped with sand would work. If you're going to do a lot of pulling up and moving plants, than an aquatic soil would be better fit. For CO2, I run regulator on 20# tank from welding store. Do get a ceramic diffuser.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

gonzoman said:


> I think I have decided on a combination of Scotts premium topsoil, and miracle grow organic potting mix for the soil, then I am going to cap it under a thick layer of black diamond blasting sand from tractor supply. I think this will keep the expense down a bit and should provide lots of nutrients. Given the foot print of this tank I can not imagine buying the specialty soils in the quantities I would need. I am going for a low/medium light environment with CO2 augmentation.


Add some clean iron nails, steel wool or iron shot to your soil. Under anarobic conditions the iron will turn into Fe3 and the root feeders will love it.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Gonzo, skip the Miracle Grow. The Scott's is a better product for this use. Do soak overnight and drain several times. This will get rid of the annoying floaters and remove excessive nutrients.

Since you are going to Tractor Supply anyway, get a bag of Safe-T-Sorb (STS). Mix this half and half with your soaked and drained soil, then cap with the Black Diamond, or rinsed STS if you like the appearance. STS gives the soil layer a good texture for plant roots, and it absorbs and holds excess nutrients until the plants can use them. By doing this you will greatly reduce the chance of an algae bloom in your new tank.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Wow! That is so counter intuative to everything I diid in reefing! Thank you! Is the an equation for iron to the gallon that i can go with? Or is one shredded steel wool pad enough evenly mixed in the soil? Would the fine grit steel wool be better than course?


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Amazing. Thank you for the help I will look into the sts today! We are a day or so away from pitting soil and water in the tank.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Digital, and Michael, thank you very much for the advise. I am all ears! We are finishing the stand this evening, and wiring the lights. At which point things will be ready for soil and water and the miniscule amount of plants that I have.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Another suggestion: with soil tanks, it really helps to plant heavily right from the start. It is is fine to use cheap or free fast growing stems and floaters even if you plan to replace them later with plants you like better. Planted tanks get most of their stability and biofiltration from the plants themselves. You almost can't have too many plants at the start.

You might set your tank up dry, then wait to fill it until you have lots of plants. If you can make the next APC meeting and become a member, there are usually loads of extras available for the asking.

Show us some pictures!


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

I hope this works. Below are pics of the tank the day I picked it up. It was a turtle tank. We are building a stand for it as we speak. It still needs to be skinned and painted. 

As you can see the tank was incredibly calcified with turtle poop. I spent a full day working at it with vinegar and a razor blade. I will take after shots.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

This is what the tank looks like now. For size perspective I added a large bottle of cuervo tequilla mix. I find its useful to add things people recognize. And admittedly, I have been keeping it close since this project started.


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

gonzo do you have any photos of when it was a reef? I've done both and currently in the middle of getting back in to the reef hobby with a 27g cube, and then my planted tank is getting redone. I ended up getting BBA again.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Actually, I bought this tank used with the intention of making it a reef. But it is just too large for that. At least with my budget constraints (single dad). I was heavy into Reefs about 10 years ago. I loved them and still do. All in all I had 5 100 gallon reefs going on around the house. When I think of the amount of work that was it scares me. We lost power during a massive cold front for a week and the livestock that I was not able to rehome died. That was the end of my reefing days. I sold all the tanks and until I bought this tank a couple weeks ago I have not had an aquarium since.

I could not resist this tank because of the dimensions. It has a massive amount of surface area and is very shallow to allow tons of light penetration. Since I had decided against reefs, planted became the obvious addiction to choose. lol



fishyjoe24 said:


> gonzo do you have any photos of when it was a reef? I've done both and currently in the middle of getting back in to the reef hobby with a 27g cube, and then my planted tank is getting redone. I ended up getting BBA again.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

I was playing with the wood and think I have decided on the backbone of the aquascape. Now I need to skin the stand and wire the lights. I am getting anxious! The wood on the left is about 20 inches round with branches extending 36" or so. The one on the right branches 38" long.


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## TanyaQ2000 (Jan 31, 2010)

I like it!


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

TanyaQ2000 said:


> I like it!


Thanks Tanya! I have my 1st order of slow growers in to ship Monday. I should have the tank ready to roll by Sunday. I am going to need all the fast growing stems and carpets that I can get my hands on! lol

I love waiting on the little brown trucks, it reminds me of Christmas when I was a kid. lol


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

looks good. I understand about the whole reef thing. it's a $$$$$ hobby. I keep wanting to have a big reef tank, for tangs and then I see the prices and fall down.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Everything about reefing is expensive. I had a pretty good hook up on reef rock and such years ago. But even at this prices I would have to have spent thousands setting this tank up correctly. They are beautiful. And this tank would be really spectacular as a reef. I am hoping that it is not too shallow to make a great plant tank out of it. We shall see! It is coming along nicely. Should have water in it Sunday.


fishyjoe24 said:


> looks good. I understand about the whole reef thing. it's a $$$$$ hobby. I keep wanting to have a big reef tank, for tangs and then I see the prices and fall down.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Guess If I am rambling on just tell me to shut up. Today we got the lights figured out. I wanted a suspension that was cheap and different looking. I came up with this and it seems darn solid. The lights are each 50watt 6500k led spot lights. I am impressed. They were all well grounded and bright as all get out. Cheap too! I am going to time three to come on in the morning, followed by three more in to simulate afternoon, them turn three off to simulate sundown.

The filter is powered by 5 pumps. Four of them will push 300gpj, the 5th will push 400 gph.


Here is a picture of the progress. I put the German in the photos for size perspective. Please ignore the mess.

I have 6 bags of Scotts topsoil soaking as we speak.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Well it was a productive day. Dirt is in, sts is in, black diamond is in. Steel wool is mixed with dirt. Backbone for scaping is done. I am whipped! I am ready for water!

We will be finishing the skin for the tank as soon ad tank is running and i figure out where I will need doors. 

Please guys, I really could use some input. I have plants on the way,


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

if it was me I would change the driftwood around but other then that it looks like a good start.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Ignore the two goofy rocks holding the driftwood down. Its getting there. Hows it look?


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

now that's I see plants it looks real real good.


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## gonzoman (Apr 10, 2015)

Thank you, it is coming along. Patience is not one of my greatest virtues.


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