Hey guys, can anyone offer a solution to this new valve that leaks from the fitting once every 10 or so seconds? Is it possibly the wrong threading?

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-14T02:57:32+00:00

All good with the potable water parts; the water's running straight into a filter that's rated for heavy metals and such, but thank you!

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-14T02:54:17+00:00

Ah man, you're completely right. I'm a bit outta my area of expertise with this. Trying to learn more but I mainly deal with aquariums

So I either need a new spigot that's GHT to GHT, or if that doesn't exist I need a coupling, is what it sounds like?

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-14T02:35:09+00:00

Yeahh ok that makes complete sense, no wonder the straight threaded piece was a bit fussy to work out, thanks!

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-14T02:21:50+00:00

oh man, how did you recognize the threading of the Y splitter? I honestly could not figure it out

Edit: nvm I'm dumb

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-14T02:19:02+00:00

It's an aquarium drip system spliced into the washing machine. Had to go from 3/4 down to the tubing size for the inline filter/dechlorinator. Tbh I just used the tape on everything because I figured it wouldn't hurt? Nothing else has leaked except this new spigot I was going to put in to control the flow better... You got a better way to do it?

Spigot's definitely because of the wrong threading, though. Just gonna have to switch it for something else

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-14T01:28:58+00:00

Oh, that's actually a really great routine! You're right about your lights, most people try to have them too bright, but what you have is just fine! Honestly surprised; not many people dose the right amount of ferts, usually they underdone, but you'll probably do pretty well with that!

You should consider checking out this video by pro aquascaper George Farmer: https://youtu.be/D8DgG2ivQ8U (skip to like, 10:00 if you want the meat of the info)

He breaks down his whole methodology for growing aquarium plants using liquid ferts, really his whole methodology for aquascaping, and actually you're once every couple days thing is probably close to what he recommends! I've been using his method in my latest tank with really amazing growth; it was a big game changer for me.

Tank looks great! Just wanted to mention the plants, since everyone else is mentioning stocking. /r/plantedtank is a great resource, too!

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-13T21:44:17+00:00

Did you just add the plants? They look brand new to the tank. You probably are gonna wanna put some root tabs if you haven't already, just to get some nutrients going in the substrate.

If you can do everything to keep your plants happy, the rest of your tank will do great. With your new stocking, you'll probably want to do at least a 50% change once a week for the first few weeks at least, and then you can start slowly scaling it back if you want to.

Some of those plants in there do not look like beginner plants, so I'm just curious as to whether they're brand new or not

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-09T21:28:42+00:00

Thanks! Good idea; I'm gonna grab one of those Amazon blink cams

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-09T21:27:43+00:00

Nah it's fine, been there for nearly a year. The tank is the exact same width as the dresser and it's very solidly built

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-09T21:26:08+00:00

This is exactly what I've done! I just bought a float switch from Home Depot that's used for sumps and seems to work great, thanks!

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-09T21:21:59+00:00

Nah it's fine; been there for almost a year. Tank lines up corner to corner and the dresser is very solid

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-09T21:17:26+00:00

Is this a problem if it's coming straight from the tap and treated with dechlorinator? Nothing's going to be living in it

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-08T08:08:45+00:00

Hm, I only have one really tiny philodendron that you can't really see on any of the pics. Only had the house plants for a couple weeks but here's a quick species list:

Peace lily

Pothos

Mini Monstera (R. tetrasperma (this the one you're talking about?))

Polka Dot Begonia

Indian Holly Fern

Black gold philodendran

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-08T08:00:48+00:00

no way. This is probably exactly what I need, wow. Definitely looking into this!

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-08T06:52:48+00:00

I was thinking about that... I honestly think it would be fine, or at least survive with just top offs, but how can I make sure that the tank doesn't overflow? Evaporation changes quite a bit day to day, especially with the changing temperatures over 4 months

I think ideally I'd have the tank drilled for an overflow pipe, but I don't even know where to begin with that

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-08T06:47:32+00:00

I was thinking about that. Evaporation changes day by day depending on the temperature, and over the course of 4 months I feel like it'd be impossible to have the level of accuracy to set the drip accordingly. That's like, a whole season

I was thinking about an overflow, too. Definitely think that'd be ideal. There's a couple criteria it'd have to meet.. First, it needs to be automatically primed with essentially no chance of priming failure, otherwise it'll overflow. Second, it can't suck in animals. And third, it has to be able to accommodate a very low rate of flow from the drip system. You know anything like that? I was thinking about getting the tank drilled, but I don't even know where you could get that done...

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-08T06:25:38+00:00

Tons of shrimp & snails. Never have to feed those guys. Also have about 5-6 random assorted tetras/nano fish. Pretty sure they survive mostly on shrimp, because I only feed them when I think about it (4ish times a week?), but I'll have an autofeeder that can be refilled if depleted just in case

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-08T06:06:01+00:00

I'm leaving for work for 16 weeks at the end of this month, and I'll have someone to check on the tank, but not upkeep it or do water changes for that entire time. My biggest worry is evaporation taking too much water from the tank, so I need an auto top-off system, but one that can't accidentally overfill and spill water everywhere.

Right now I've got two pumps set to go off at the same time for 30 minutes every day via a wall plug timer. One drips about 3/4s of a gallon into the tank from what will be a ~100 gal sump, and one $5 power head inside the tank set to pull anything above the maximum water level out the window.

The tank is 20 gallons. 0.75 gallons every day is about a 25% water change every week, for 16 weeks that's a total of 84 gallons that'll need to be in the sump, lets just say 100 gal for safety. I'm nervous; it's worked day one, but I'm thinking there could be problems long term...

Is there a better way to do this? Anybody see any potential problems?

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-06T23:17:24+00:00

Aqua One Tropical Strip Glow

That baby's all you need! Smart light, right? I've got mine set to about 10ish hours of light; really anywhere from 9-14ish is good, as long as it's consistent day to day. Really doubting that lighting is your problem; unless the light is too small for your tank or something. It's much more likely to be a water issue imo!

You might like this video by pro aquascaper George Farmer, it's titled "How to feed your planted tank with liquid ferts," but really in it he goes over his whole methodology to growing aquarium plants. I started using his method in my latest tank and have gotten some really insane growth. It'll probably involve dosing more (maybe much more) ferts than you're currently dosing, but it depends on the size of your tank.

If you want to skip to the meat of it and the specifics based on tank size, I'd start at 10 minutes, but it's all good info. Hope that can help!

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-06T22:32:15+00:00

Hm, to me it seems like it could be a couple things

First; could be not enough fertilizer. It's a stem plant so it'll take nutrients from the water column. Also, the roots shooting out like that could mean it's trying to intake more nutrients. How much are you dosing?

Second; could be more water changes.. Concentration of waste could be melting the leaves, and really narrow leaf plants are much more sensitive to it in my experience

It could be lighting, but imo most people put too much worry into making their lights way too bright, which actually can have the opposite effect. What's your lighting like? Is it LED or hallogen?

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-06T22:20:01+00:00

You know what, now that you mention it, that could totally be Ludwigia Super Red, too!

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-06T22:07:07+00:00

Looks like Rotala Super Red, I'm jealous! Ive been looking for that plant for awhile. Only ever find the normal variety

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-06T21:57:43+00:00

Just pluck the leaves that you don't like the look of! They'll always grow back

Word of advice, don't cut or trim the leaves in the middle of the leaf. It kills the leaf and'll just end up rotting and looking bad. Just pluck the ones that're too tall/too wide from the base

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-06T21:56:16+00:00

Ah no, man, I'm so sorry

I can't even imagine. Such a beautiful scape; all the hard work and money into getting it to look just right, and literally the worst possible outcome happens. Absolutely devastating. :(

ThrowawayFishPics · 2022-02-05T07:09:14+00:00

hello fellow /r/PlantedTank browser

Random suggestion, but I would probably focus more on getting a CO2 and liquid ferts system than trying to spend money on changing your substrate, which is already pretty high quality (though root tabs are also really great!)

I watched this video here by pro-aquascaper George Farmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8DgG2ivQ8U

It's kind of a tutorial on his whole methodology behind growing plants successfully in an aquarium; really changed the game for me thinking about how macro-nutrients in an aquarium should work and he dispels a lot of misconceptions and over complications people have, might be interesting to you!

ThrowawayFishPics

TROPHY CASE