• TransporterAccident1
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    811 months ago

    That’s gorgeous! I love the plants growing out the top.

    Sorry for my ignorance, but what are all of the terra cotta colored pipe like things toward the back?

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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      711 months ago

      Thanks! Those are sewage pipes that I have made into filters. Half of them are intakes filled with sponges for mechanical filtration that then pur the water into the remaining pipes that are filled with bio filter media (ceramic rings) for biological filtration (breaking ammonia down to nitrite and nitrite down to nitrate). Works really well bit is too messy to clean. Must evolve this in future designs for easier maintainance.

      • TransporterAccident1
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        311 months ago

        Ah! That’s really cool. They blend right in and make a nice background, so superior to most factory filter systems in that respect. Even many of the factory filter systems are really hard to clean.

        • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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          211 months ago

          My issue is that whenever I take them out to be cleaned, the water flushes backwards and releases too much debris. I can put a bucket in and lift it out, but it gets really heave and awkward to work with

      • TransporterAccident1
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        111 months ago

        Ah! That’s really cool. They blend right in and make a nice background, so superior to most factory filter systems in that respect. Even many of the factory filter systems are really hard to clean.

  • @ScrotesforGoats@lemmy.world
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    511 months ago

    That’s beautiful. I had a 20 gallon setup for a while but my water is too hard and I got tired of battling with it. Yours looks amazing though.

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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      611 months ago

      My water is basically liquid rock. Very few plants make it and PH is above 8. In my experience it’s better to go with it and adjust to what you can keep in it, rather than try to change the parameters. Rough plants, goldfish or some African chiclids work really well with hard wster

  • Shawdow194
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    411 months ago

    Looks like some huge, happy and healthy fish in there!

    Awesome setup :)

    • @cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldOP
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      111 months ago

      Thanks! The fish are still mostly pretty small. Some of them are rescues that I don’t expect will grow much. But they do seem happy!