Upgrade #1 4x8x2'

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Pump is on and I added about 180 lbs of pool sand. Temp is up to 77F and Cycle is started. This 6" comet has been in for a week helping keep the cycle going, getting overfed and dealing well with the ammonia and nitrite.

Had a scare today, thought the tank was failing. Walked out to the garage and found water all under the tank. Looked all over the tank for the leak and couldn't find it. I hooked up the rena pump to water my banana and pothos plants yeaterday and the tube came off at the ball valve. luckily the intake is higher on the rena than the big pump. The rena pumped out about 20 gallons from the sump before it ran dry. attached the tube better and all is well now.


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Tank's been full for a month without issue. Hot as it's been here the tank is sitting at 83F(with water changes dropping the temp a couple degrees a couple times a week).

Running one pipe to the sump at full siphon and the other three are skimming. Filtration is currently two buckets with floss for mechanical sitting atop two buckets full of small rock as well as plant filtration using banana plants, pothos vines, and a big alocasia. May have to replace the pothos as it's been moved a few times and is looking pretty beat up. The bananas look worse for wear as well but are quickly growing long roots into the tank and have some good new growth in the foliage as well. The alocasia has gone back and forth from planted to aquaponic to planted and now back to aquaponic. Roots are just starting to show through the net pot. There is only one large leaf that's fully open and it's looking like it will die off, which is normal judging by every other time I've moved it, but there is another leaf opening now and it looks like it's healthy. Within a month it should be back to having a huge root system and three 12"+ leaves on 2'+ stalks, which is what it's generally maintained when kept in one place for awhile.

I added a saddle valve controlled line from my hot water heater's output so I can do water changes without drastically changing the tank temperature and will be adding a thermostat controlled solenoid valve to this line when the weather starts cooling down. I've found that when I run a decent bit of the poly line underwater before the output the water comes out just slightly warmer than the tank water so I should be able to do this and use a carbon filter to remove the chlorine. I have a thermostat that I will be hooking up to a fan shortly to keep the temp under 86, though I don't know if that'll be an issue. I have the thermostat and the fan so why not. I left the fan on a few days ago to see what it could do and it dropped the tank temperature by about 4F over a day.

Update on cats is in my sig, all doing well other than RTC who was doing pretty poorly and is hopefully recovering now.
 
sashimimaster said:
I hope you don't get all sorts of creepy crawlies under your tank. With those gaps I can see lots of bugs getting in there.
Click to expand...

I have too many spiders for any other creepy crawlies to survive in the garage and the spiders don't bother me. I kill an occasional black widow but mostly I have daddy long legs, house spiders, and jumping spiders all of which are harmless.


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