Loren Sackett's 75 Gallon Algae Farm

Intro:

For ages, I have wanted to set up a high-light planted aquarium.  Then in December I finished school and got a job.  It is amazing how much easier it is to buy aquariums and supplies when you have income.  This meager attempt at a website will show how my aquarium evolves and will provide info about this particular setup.  I do list where I bought the supplies and equipment in case anyone is curious.

 Setup info:

Aquarium info: It is 75 gallon glass tank.  I bought the tank and stand at a local aquarium store called The Aquarium.

Substrate: 160 lbs (8 bags) of EcoComplete.  I really love the color and it is great for the plants.

Lighting: I bought a 4x55 Watt kit from ahsupply.com  I have two 6500K bulbs and two 9325K bulbs that I got from atlantalightbulbs.com  I really like the color from this combination of bulbs.  Many of the tanks I see on the web are a little to green for my tastes.  I like the reds to stand out, and the red light from the 9325K bulbs really helps.

CO2: I have a pressurized CO2 setup.  I bought the Milwaukee SMS122 and MA957 from aquariumplants.com  And I made a diffuser out of a Rio pump and soda pop bottle.

Filter: I use a DIY internal filter.  It works great but will be hard to maintain.

Heaters: Two 300 Watt ViaAqua steel heaters.  I love how these submersible heaters have the temperature dial outside the aquarium.  I purchased these at drsfostersmith.com

Fertilizers: I fertilize with powders purchased mostly at gregwatson.com  The powders I add are CSM+B, Potassium Nitrate, and Potassium Phosphate.  I have just barely set up the aquarium and am still figuring out a suitable dosing schedule.  I also add Flourish Excel.

Fish: platies, swordtails, guppies, and cory cats.  These are the fish out of my old tank.  I plan to get more fish soon.  I am sure that I will soon need an algae eating crew.

Plants: I bought all of my plants from aquariumplants.com  I know it is too many species, but I figure that there is more choice this way.  I choose which plants I like.  The plants choose which ones will grow and the fish choose which ones they will devour.  So far they love to eat the Rotala Magenta.

Plant list:

April 22, 2006: Day 1

It took me two days to get all of the plants put into the substrate.  Most of the plants were pretty healthy when I got them, but the Rotala Magenta and Alternanthera cardinalis are in pretty sad shape.  I like red plants, so I hope they bounce back.

April 30, 2006: Day 8

Most of the plants are doing quite well.  Both Myriophyllum species and both Cobomba species are growing quite tall and fast.  The Rotala roundifolia is not growing upwards as I expected it to.  Instead, it is growing a tangled, snarled bush.  I have not yet decided what I think of this.  Both the Rotala magenta, and the Alternanthera cardinalis are just hanging on by a thread.  I will probably pull them out soon.  - Or just let the fish continue to snack on them.

I am having nitrate issues with the tank.  The nitrates should be used up very quickly in a tank like this but they are not.  Either my testing is inaccurate, my few fish are making more nitrates than expected, or my plants are using a lot less nitrate than expected.

I am kind of sad that Cabomba pulcherirma and the Myriophylum heterophyllum are a brownish green instead of a nice red.  But at least they are growing quickly.

There are way too many bubbles in the tank.  Of course I don't mind pearling, but there are tons of bubbles floating around and getting stuck on some of the plants.  There is a particularly large amount of bubbles on the Myriophullum heterophyllum as can be seen on the far left of the tank.  I don't know why there are so many bubbles coming out of my filter outlet.  There are not that many going in.  There are a lot of bubbles coming out of my CO2 diffuser.  I have has tried several different methods for CO2 reactors, but have not yet found one that does not allow CO2 to escape.

I am also getting a lot of staghorn algae.  I am looking into how to fix this.

May 29, 2006: Week 5

A couple weeks ago, this tank was hit by a cloudy-white bacteria bloom.  Then an cloudy-green algae bloom hit also and the two blooms battled for dominance in my tank.  The battle raged on for a couple weeks and then the green water subsided, leaving only white-cloudy water.  The bacteria bloom was victorious!  The bacteria bloom is now mostly gone, so I decided to post another pic. 

I am quite happy with the way most of the plants are filling in.  The decreased light from the blooms seemed to really hurt the two Cabomba plants.  Both are not doing very well.  A friend gave me some new plants that I am going to use to replace the two Cabomba plants.  I just tossed them on the left of the tank to grow a little more before I put them where they belong.

Between the dying Cabombas, the cloudy water, the need of a massive trim, and the plants just "tossed" in on the left, I am quite unhappy with the way the tank looks right now.  But I am seeing a lot of potential.

June 10, 2006: Week 7

I did a major trim today.  It looks a lot better, but still needs a lot of pruning.  I also threw out some plants I didn't like.  I learned today that it is important to keep up on the pruning.  After having gone too long without a trim, the tank was almost too full to work on.  Also, too much pruning at one time leaves the plants looking a little "hacked."

August 15, 2006: Week 16

For a long time, I have had trouble with cloudy water.  The solution: move to a new county.  After the move, the water has stayed crystal clear.  I don't know what is different about the water here at our new place, but I am glad my tank is clear.

After moving, I have had a little bit of spot algae start to show up.  I have been intending to address this but have been too lazy.

September 19, 2006: Month 5

My tank needed some major re-aquascaping.  I received (and followed) several suggestions to make my tank less symmetric.  I know that the right side of my tank still needs some work.  I am trying to find some slower growing plants that I can place in front of the taller plants in the back.  I am also starting to dislike how much space the filter takes up in my tank.  It has two main compartments that are 7"x7"x4".  It is easy to hide them in the back of the tank, but this does not leave a lot of room to put several plants of different heights (front to back).  I am considering getting a canister filter, but will have to wait and see.

 

February 5, 2007: Month 10

Lots of changes have been made over the past few months.  I have made several plant changes over the past couple months and will be making several more in the near future.  My wife is letting me get a canister filter soon.  I will then be getting rid of the DIY internal filter and will have lots more planting options.  I am currently looking at different aquascaping options.

 

Additional Pics:

Driftwood

 

Overgrown (June 10, 2006)

 

Contact Me:

If you have any questions or comments you can send an email to lorensackett@comcast.net  But I make no promises to the speed of reply.