# 40 liter



## Samjpikey (4 Oct 2013)

Starting another journal on a small tank , 


Tank - 50x25x30 
Filtration - fluval 205 
No lighting yet (low light) 
Liquid carbon 

Manzi wood 
Lava rock 
Sand / cat litter Ada soil 

This is just what I came up with tonight, all subject to change of coarse . 
This tank won't be up and running for another month as I'm moving house in a couple weeks so I will probably strip it down. 
But I wanted to share and get peoples opinions on plants/light etc.
I am thinking fissidens fontanus to cover the lava rock and maybe eleocharis mini around the rocks . 
I would like low output gu10 LEDs as I want to keep lighting as low as I can and to avoid co2 injection and keep to liquid carbon at the most.
Will be way over filtered but I want to keep maintenance down as much as I can . 
Cheers


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## Samjpikey (8 Oct 2013)

Hi guys just had a price for optiwhite glass , 
I would like to make my own tank to replace this one . 
I can get a 60x35x35 optiwhite 6mm polished edges for £60 . 
Is that a good price ?? 
I'm a glazer/carpenter  so I have an art at sealing things etc so I'm confident to make my own . 
Cheers 


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## James D (8 Oct 2013)

I don't know about prices, but when I bought some float glass I asked for polished edges and they beveled them slightly as well, it made it almost impossible to get the silicone off the outsides of the joints neatly.

The hardscape looks nice BTW.


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## Samjpikey (8 Oct 2013)

Ahh ok as the glass isn't toughened so it needs to have polished edges as they would be very sharp and not very esthetically pleasing .
And looking at my current tanks they have polished edges as well  
Cheers 


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## sa80mark (8 Oct 2013)

Seems pretty reasonable I had prices from 3 companies for the glass tobdo a 60x40x40 and they came in from £64 - £79 (my brother in law can do it for £78 but thats 8mm thick


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## James D (8 Oct 2013)

I agree they need polishing, I'd have a word with them about the beveling when you order it though, I didn't and as a result ended up buying myself a new tank.  .

Sounds like you know what you're doing though (unlike me) it should end up looking great!


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## Samjpikey (8 Oct 2013)

Yea there is a lot of difference in a bevel edge to a polished edge  and also in price 
Cheers 


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## Samjpikey (8 Oct 2013)

And I like to think that I know what I'm doing.  haha 


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## Samjpikey (5 Feb 2014)

Soooo ...... 

Time to get this one going ,  I'm certain that this will be low tech.
I decided to split this tank apart , clean off all the horrible black silicone and re-seal the whole tank in a clear silicone, it may have been easier to buy some new glass but if I screw up then it's not a big loss and besides I like to recycle . 
Here's the finished result , looks loads better  




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## Wallace (6 Feb 2014)

Looks good Sam, job well done id say but then you being a glazier I'd expect nothing less lol

What silicone have you used? I'd like to do something similar with my old 60cm Juwel tank, and haven't got a clue where to start. 

Thanks


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## Samjpikey (6 Feb 2014)

Haha gotta make sure it holds water yet ....

I used this http://bit.ly/19qOsgO

Seems ok to me  

I think I'm also 
going to bend my own acrylic to make the inflow and outflow, so that's the next plan of action and also making the unit . 
Cheers 


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## Samjpikey (6 Feb 2014)

Ok so it holds water .... And an almost invisible silicone seal.  

 


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## Samjpikey (6 Feb 2014)

Wallace said:


> Looks good Sam, job well done id say but then you being a glazier I'd expect nothing less lol
> 
> What silicone have you used? I'd like to do something similar with my old 60cm Juwel tank, and haven't got a clue where to start.
> 
> ...




White spirit is brilliant at breaking down the old silicone  


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## Deano3 (6 Feb 2014)

wow that ADA tanks looks great mate  amazing silicone work


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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

You need a little SJP sticker for the corner now mate 

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## Samjpikey (8 Feb 2014)

That's the lighting sorted  

I was thinking about bending my own acrylic for the pipe work  but if it's inexpensive I will just buy some , anyone know of a good place ? 
Cheers 


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## Samjpikey (8 Feb 2014)

There are these on the flea of the bay for £17...... 
I would prefer uk sourced though 


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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

I found this a few months ago Primochill 3/8" ID - 1/2" OD (10-13mm) Rigid Acrylic Tube 36" Single Tube : Clear |Specialtech UK Water Cooling Shop

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## Samjpikey (8 Feb 2014)

Some more pics.  
A cheesy before and after shot of the tank but looks loads better for the cost of a silicone tube  

I may or may not include the wood this has just gone in to get a scale of things , the tank is currently in the garage, the lighting will be raised slightly once set up in the house.











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## sanj (8 Feb 2014)

Sam,

Looks like you could have a new side line.


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## aliclarke86 (8 Feb 2014)

I agree, I'd buy one Sam .,.. At the right price 

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## Samjpikey (9 Feb 2014)

Hahaha

 I think I could do the tanks at £30 each.  


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## Samjpikey (18 May 2014)

About time this started to see some action  

Lights all wired up and connected to a trailing-edge dimmer , works perfectly  

On the look out for some glassware or acrylic , may have to do a want in the for sale section . 
Got Ada soil / jbl sansibar fine white sand and some nice shaped lava rock 


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## Greenfinger2 (19 May 2014)

Hi Samjpikey, What a fab thread Looking forward to seeing this one come to life


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## Samjpikey (27 May 2014)

She's all plumbed in and ready for pre scape . 
Hoping to order plants next Monday but I will start with another full tank spec + plant list with an empty tank shot followed by a few different scape shots .

Cheers 


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## EnderUK (28 May 2014)

looking very nice, what gu10 lighting did you go with and how high above the tank?


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## Samjpikey (28 May 2014)

Hi and thanks .
I bought the bulbs from a generic uk eBay seller . I replaced my whole house with them . They worked out at £3.80 a bulb , I also bought the trailing edge dimmer switch on eBay for £10 (another uk seller).
The bulbs are 3x 4watts each at 6000k (I think). They have 60 degree lenses and can be dimmed from 48 watts to 10 watts.
Cheers 


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## Samjpikey (28 May 2014)

Ahh and also it is raised 250mm above the top of the tank 


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## EnderUK (28 May 2014)

Are nice, makes sense to put a dimmer switch in them, planning my nano upgrade and haven't yet decided on gu10 or just a straight forward LED strip. Have you decided on plants and stock yet?


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## Samjpikey (28 May 2014)

Yup defiantly worth putting the dimmer in .
The plants im thinking of using are : 

Fissidens fontanius 

Monte Carlo 
Mini hairgrass 

Amania sp bonsai 
Staurogyne repens 
alternanthera reineckii mini
Maybe some hydro sp japan (maybe) 
Cheers 


These are just a consideration, there's just so much choice it's really difficult to make a decision.
Cheers 




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## Samjpikey (1 Jun 2014)

Well I decided to have a little scape , this is my first attempt . 
I've placed the rocks in as they are and they haven't moved yet .

What's people's first thought ? 
I'm planning to use a white medium grain river sand around the edge . I won't add that untill I'm certain I want to stay with the chosen layout . Also I will probably gain some more depth in the substrate once the sand is in to support what's there. 
Cheers  


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## Samjpikey (1 Jun 2014)

So frustrating hahah  


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## Greenfinger2 (1 Jun 2014)

Hi Samjpikey, I like this one


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## Samjpikey (1 Jun 2014)

Hahaha the 3 faced rock !! 


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## tim (1 Jun 2014)

Nice rocks Sam, my only input is you could do with maybe 1 larger rock.


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## Samjpikey (1 Jun 2014)

I'm going to leave it for a bit and go outside and do some gardening 
hahah 

Doing little is more I think !! 
To much rearranging rocks gets you know where ? What large rock looks best to you ? 


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## Samjpikey (1 Jun 2014)

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## Samjpikey (1 Jun 2014)

Still ummin and arrrin 


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## Samjpikey (1 Jun 2014)

Another jiggle and it's nearly there ..... I think 


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## Samjpikey (2 Jun 2014)

Plants ordered 

Amania sp bonsai 
micranthemum monte carlo
Staurogyne repens 
Eleocharis sp mini ,( I already have this in another tank) 

I may also make the island slightly bigger and take some sand out . 



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## Samjpikey (2 Jun 2014)

This is much better don't ya think ?? 


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## Samjpikey (2 Jun 2014)

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## Lindy (3 Jun 2014)

I think its better but I prefered the first shot of this version when the biggest rock was a little more upright.

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## Samjpikey (6 Jun 2014)

Finally got this one planted this evening and here are a few pics . Took forever but I've had no floaters since filling .
Planning to upload a flooded pic once it's cleared as I added a load of matured mulm from another tank and the water is a bit murky , well very murky hahaha . 
Cheers 

Full plants list 

Fissidens fontanius 
Queen moss 

Monte Carlo 
Elecharis sp mini 
Elecharis acicularis 
Ammania sp bonsai 
Staurogyne repens 
alternanthera reineckii mini
Pogo Stellatus narrow ??? 

Roll on the co2 


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## aliclarke86 (6 Jun 2014)

Looking nice mate. Hope the ammania goes well. 

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## Deano3 (6 Jun 2014)

looks great mate looking forward to seeing it fill in


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## Samjpikey (6 Jun 2014)

I'm hoping the Ammania goes well also hahaha well I hope they all respond well .
I know it's filtered well and co2 supply can't fall short . I've got the lighting on a dimmer so it should (touch wood) be good to go . 
Mixed in some bacteria enriched Ada soil along with matured filter media . Took my time with this hhaha but I'm ready to tackle that algae when it comes  



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## Samjpikey (8 Jun 2014)

So far so good . 
Drop checker in the yellow / ph drop @ 1.3-1.4 at lights on 

1.5 bps 
Photoperiod  5hrs 
Light is 40% so around 20 watts. I will increase it slightly every few weeks. 
Dosing Ei and planning to do 50 % water change every day for the next 3 weeks . 
Excuse the heater , I'm hoping to go inline once it's settled in . 
Cheers 


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## aliclarke86 (8 Jun 2014)

I see the substrate has already infiltrated the sand ha. Looks great fella., good luck 

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## Samjpikey (8 Jun 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> I see the substrate has already infiltrated the sand ha. Looks great fella., good luck
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk



Yea that's from when I first scaped it , keep forgetting to pick it off hahahah 
Cheers 


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## tim (8 Jun 2014)

Syphon it out with your daily waterchange you lazy bugger, interested in the queen moss Sam any links on info for it.


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## Samjpikey (8 Jun 2014)

I play ignorant towards it rather then being lazy. !! Haha 





That's all the info I have on it buddy , I got it from a friend on a Facebook group ., rare in the uk . 
If you don't find any before I've got enough to have a cutting I will send you some  


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## Samjpikey (8 Jun 2014)

It's a fast grower 


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## tim (8 Jun 2014)

Looks nice Sam may hold you to that cutting in a couple of months if that's ok, stressful house move coming up with lots of tanks to move, scapes looking good mate.


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## Samjpikey (9 Jun 2014)

Yea that's fine matey , 
I've just thought I've got a tripod and a half decent camera at home , I've been rude not to use it , time to Get rid of the iPhone amateur pics hahahah 


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## Samjpikey (9 Jun 2014)

tim said:


> Looks nice Sam may hold you to that cutting in a couple of months if that's ok, stressful house move coming up with lots of tanks to move, scapes looking good mate.




I quoted to grab your attention  

Do you normally dose Ei from day 1 with Ada soil ?? 
Cheers 


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## tim (9 Jun 2014)

Samjpikey said:


> I quoted to grab your attention
> 
> Do you normally dose Ei from day 1 with Ada soil ??
> Cheers
> ...


Lol, I've never used Amazonia mate I'm too tight, I use florabase though which is similar and I dose from day 1 never seen it do any harm, plus lots of 80% waterchanges with the nanos so gets diluted out anyway, hope that helps mate.


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## Samjpikey (9 Jun 2014)

Yes cheers , I ask because just came home from work and there was a slight film already on the surface :/ 
Nothing major but it wasn't as clear as yesterday 
I've raise the lily pipe to break the surface but I'm just a little concerned that it could be to much nutrients . 
There is new growth on the Monte Carlo though.  


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## tim (9 Jun 2014)

Samjpikey said:


> Yes cheers , I ask because just came home from work and there was a slight film already on the surface :/
> Nothing major but it wasn't as clear as yesterday
> I've raise the lily pipe to break the surface but I'm just a little concerned that it could be to much nutrients .
> There is new growth on the Monte Carlo though.
> ...


IMO the film is more to do with co2 than nutrients, water changes and good surface movement should see it off.


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## Samjpikey (9 Jun 2014)

I did up the co2 anyway it's at 2bps now.

There's only so much surface movement you can get out of a lily pipe . 



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## tim (9 Jun 2014)

Raise it up mate or maybe an ehiem skim, just need to check for small fish shrimp daily, I run mine with a bit of stainless mesh that I clean every other day, keeps the livestock out.


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## Samjpikey (9 Jun 2014)

tim said:


> Raise it up mate or maybe an ehiem skim, just need to check for small fish shrimp daily, I run mine with a bit of stainless mesh that I clean every other day, keeps the livestock out.




I have got the ehiem skim but I will see if  the adjustments I've done today make any difference in a few days time . If not then the mighty ehiem will have to come out to play ha 
Cheers 


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## Samjpikey (9 Jun 2014)

Well Tim it's vastly improved already  


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## Samjpikey (9 Jun 2014)




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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

Haven't been on for a long time. A lot has happened but now I'm bk  
This tank was neglected and at one point I couldn't see in from the algae on the glass , 
All the plants melted (well most) 
So last week I got stuck in cleaned and replanted what I had . 
 4 LEDs bulbs were way over kill so I've removed 2 and all the plants have responded brilliantly (touch wood) and there is no sign of algae after a week.
My ottos did a superb job  

Excuse the heater my small one died so this is temporary and I'm on the look out for a neat small one.  

Anyways I'm looking for some mini hairgrass if someone is kind enough to donate some. 
Cheers


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## Andy Thurston (28 Sep 2014)

Looking good sam
That fissidens is looking nice an healthy, looks like the changes you made have done the job


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## aliclarke86 (28 Sep 2014)

Cracking little scape bud! T
You wouldn't know you had neglected it!

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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

I need to get a better camera really , an iPhone never does it justice (you know this) .

I'm only running this tank at the minute .
Only added fish last week as well , 
Just had a lot on and didn't have time to look after any of my tanks. 
But once I pulled bk the curtain of algea it wasn't so bad . 
Did debate if to add a spray bar but see how it goes with the lily , honestly the plants are so healthy now I'm really looking forward to seeing it fill out. 
I'm adding just less then 1bps on the co2 and that seems to be enough. 
Just looking for some mini hair grass to fill out the right foreground . 
Cheers


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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

Big clown said:


> Looking good sam
> That fissidens is looking nice an healthy, looks like the changes you made have done the job



The fissedens was swallowed in green hair algae up untill last week , but it's now completely gone and looks sweet  
But takes forever to grow


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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> Cracking little scape bud! T
> You wouldn't know you had neglected it!
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk




I'm hoping it will look better once it fills out abit and I can get some better shots with a decent camera. 
Also maybe add some a red plant inbetween the ferns at the bk . 
The wife did turn the whole thing off at the switch ( it was in a bad way ) 
That's when I needed to sort it , but I'm glad she did because it's sweet now . 

Cheers


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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

Not forgetting some nice shrimpies , I need shrimp


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## aliclarke86 (28 Sep 2014)

Shrimp have taken over for me! Scapeing has really taken a back seat but I'm itching to get back to it! My tmc is looking rather bad! If it wasn't for the shrimp and Otto's I'm sure it would be covered in algae!

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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

Yea that's what I want a small self sustained family of shrimp  

It took a major bk seat for me also but I'm glad I'm bk on it


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## Greenfinger2 (28 Sep 2014)

Hi Samjpikey, Looks great.Plants are looking healthy  Hope you stay on top of the algae


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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Samjpikey, Looks great.Plants are looking healthy  Hope you stay on top of the algae





Cheers , looks great but WILL look better .  

The plants are the healthiest I've ever had, I think I've always gone over kill with lighting .


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## Samjpikey (28 Sep 2014)

Day shot at lights on 



And a shot right now


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## Samjpikey (7 Oct 2014)

Hey guys I've just stuck a temporary spay bar along the back to see if the distribution is better , but I'm worried that my ehiem skim will have a conflict with the main flow 
What are your thoughts ?? ,


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## Wallace (7 Oct 2014)

You know the answer already Sam. 

It will interfere. Can you shorten the spraybar so you can get the skimmer on the back glass?


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## Samjpikey (7 Oct 2014)

The spray bar is already a little short so there is room but it's more convenient where it is already , would be handy if I can get away with it . 

It's on a timer, only runs for 15 mins at a time every few hours or so . Wasn't sure if that would have a negative effect on things .


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## Samjpikey (8 Oct 2014)




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## Greenfinger2 (8 Oct 2014)

Hi Samjpkey, Your Scape is looking fab  The plants are settling in nicely and looking lush


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## Samjpikey (8 Oct 2014)

It's getting there , been a lot of growth recently and planting some eleocharis sp mini in the foreground , so should be good once it all grows in


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## Samjpikey (8 Oct 2014)

The sp mini arrived today from eBay seller underwatergarden , good quality and good amount for £3.99 posted .


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## Samjpikey (16 Oct 2014)

2 quick pictures from just now


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## Samjpikey (30 Oct 2014)




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## Samjpikey (8 Nov 2014)




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## Samjpikey (10 Nov 2014)




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## Andy Thurston (10 Nov 2014)

Looks like you could do with a little less co2 sam. The gills on that fish look very red.
 The plants look very healthy though


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## Samjpikey (10 Nov 2014)

Ahh ok . 
I didn't think I have been adding enough. 
Ph only drops from 6.7-5.6  and drop checker just about hits lime green ( water is very soft )
If you do a basic search online for cherry rasorbas/tetra/barb the red gills look fairly common on the females .


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## Andy Thurston (10 Nov 2014)

Might be that then Red gills is one of my early warning signs


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## Samjpikey (11 Nov 2014)

Cheers for the heads up though , I will keep an eye on that now


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## Samjpikey (12 Nov 2014)

What do you guys think of the black background ??


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## parotet (12 Nov 2014)

Great, I love dark backgrounds, they help quite a lot to define tour plants and give a lot of contrast. Light backgrounds work very well for aquascapes imitating terrestrial landscapes, but black or at least dark colours IMO match much better with aquatic scapes.

Jordi


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## Samjpikey (16 Nov 2014)

I had a very very quick mock up of some LED back lighting , 
Placed behind the tank and it looks effective . 
When I get some spare time I will rig something proper up but I think this could go down well , 
I have warm white , day white , cold white and royal blue LEDs so I could have a few settings .


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## Samjpikey (21 Feb 2015)




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## Samjpikey (1 Sep 2017)

Soooooo after a long winded two years of not having a tank set up due to personal reasons .... I've now got a project under way. 
Bought myself a few new little bits but still using the same tank. 

Had a little play last night and this is what I have come up with it. 
Posting for some constructive criticism  
I do have some manzantia wood which I could also include but kinda like it without. 
Haven't even thought about plants yet. 
Ive got all the time in the world so want to take my time and get it right  
Cheers 








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## Daveslaney (1 Sep 2017)

Nice rock placement.
If you grow stems trimmed to the same slope as the rocks along the back it would look great.


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## Samjpikey (1 Sep 2017)

Added a black background today. 
I'm guessing it will become more effective once it's planted and as for planting and trimming stems to the shape of those rocks .... that's a good piece of advice 



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## Samjpikey (12 Sep 2017)

.


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## Samjpikey (12 Sep 2017)

Few close ups of some Monte Carlo And staurogyne repens in my current dsm.... not the best in the world but I still find them Interesting! 







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## Samjpikey (12 Sep 2017)

Yay .... love the glass 




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## Samjpikey (13 Sep 2017)

Wide eyes 



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## Samjpikey (14 Sep 2017)

10 days into DSM .....
10 more days to go before I ‍♂️‍♂️‍♂️



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## Samjpikey (17 Sep 2017)

Just waiting for this heater to arrive then I shall be filling. 
Hopefully it will do the job! 



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## Samjpikey (19 Sep 2017)

Managed to flood my tank this evening, although everything seemed to go wrong and I'm no sure if my reg/needle valve is working correctly...but I'm well chuffed with the denerelle heater as you can barely see it ! 
Lights are on 40% ... hoping all goes well !



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## Deansie (19 Sep 2017)

Looking forward to seeing this progress


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## Samjpikey (19 Sep 2017)

Deansie said:


> Looking forward to seeing this progress


Yea man me too  
Nice solid routine, fine tuning and hopefully will be nicely grown in by the end of the year! 


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## Samjpikey (20 Sep 2017)

So did a quick ammonia test and it seems there is little ammonia in the water depending how accurate those api tests Are! 
I don't think that's not bad at all after a 15 day dry start!



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## Samjpikey (26 Sep 2017)

Few pics from 7 days after flooding, not the best quality but taken from my Samsung. 
Noticed the eleocharis was melting and turning yellow (i believe is common when transitioning) and the Monte Carlo was melting in a couple places over the weekend. Drop checker has been in the yellow and ph drop has been decent! But I had realised I haven't dosed any magnesium  ! 
So yesterday I dosed 2.5 grams , then last night I doubled the injection rate, added the ehiem 350 (started to get the film) and reduced the lighting intensity. Dosed 2 grams of magnesium again this morning and this evening all the plants had noticibily become more vibrant within a day of carrying out those tweaks ! 

With the added flow and skim from the ehiem the ph had dropped back to 7.8 this morning too as without it the ph hasn't returned above 7 even over night.... so I'm guessing the gas exchange is more efficient when using it as there is no bio film to restrict it. 
Of course I maybe completely wrong with my observations. 














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## Dantrasy (27 Sep 2017)

is it still 8 drops of each solution bottle? (to test for ammonia) 

If so the water line in the test tube should be higher, shouldn't it? bit hard to tell, but thought it worth mentioning.


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## Samjpikey (27 Sep 2017)

Dantrasy said:


> is it still 8 drops of each solution bottle? (to test for ammonia)
> 
> If so the water line in the test tube should be higher, shouldn't it? bit hard to tell, but thought it worth mentioning.


Hi. 
Still 8 drops from each bottle, 
So yea I guess that's just the level once the drops are added. 
I tested again this morning after reading your post and it's exactly the same  
Cheers 

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## Samjpikey (25 Oct 2017)

So after coming back from alicante to a major fail of my tank I turfed it all out and 're scaped.
 Happier with this than the last. 
Also The kessil is much more powerful than I thought, now on about 20%. 
Look forward to adding some inhabitants 



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## AverageWhiteBloke (25 Oct 2017)

Samjpikey said:


> With the added flow and skim from the ehiem the ph had dropped back to 7.8 this morning too as without it the ph hasn't returned above 7 even over night.... so I'm guessing the gas exchange is more efficient when using it as there is no bio film to restrict it.
> Of course I maybe completely wrong with my observations.



I would say you are 100% right with your observations, I found the difference in co2 required when skimming the surface substantial. Before skimming I would get a film build up now and again, I know people will say that this surface scum means the plants aren't happy about something but I've seen the pros suffer from it and in my tank the plants were growing fine even with the scum so what do you look to adjust even when the plants seem happy other than the scum?

The intermittent surface scum in my tank meant my co2 was up and down like a yoyo, fish gasping when it was there and not when it wasn't, as least with the surface skimmer I now don't have any so I can dial in the co2 to be right without the scum and know I'm not coming home to panicking fish.


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## Samjpikey (11 Nov 2017)

Planted some more eleocharis sp min  today 
Any tips for what to put in the top of the ehiem skim to stop fish getting sucked in ? 
I have stainless mesh but seems to heavy. 
Cheers 



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## Samjpikey (11 Nov 2017)

It's ok I've gone down the fishing line route 

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## Daveslaney (12 Nov 2017)

Alot use the elastic loom bands round the skimmer top to stop small fish and shrimp getting sucked in.
Nice rescape


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## AverageWhiteBloke (13 Nov 2017)

Daveslaney said:


> Alot use the elastic loom bands round the skimmer top to stop small fish and shrimp getting sucked in.



Yeah that's what I use the black ones. Recently I've had a couple of incidents where they've popped off and found them either in the tank or in the skimmer itself. Good skimmer this but I wish Eheim would acknowledge the problem and bring out an adapter. I've personally lost a couple of tetras, an Otto and countless shrimp because of it. I now check it twice daily to make sure nothing is in there by switching it off, taking the top off and wiggling a wooden BBQ skewer round so anything in there jumps out. Also, always check before dropping water level.

I've seen people use rolled up plastic mesh before and very coarse sponge, I might try one of these other techniques if I can find some flexible mesh that isn't too heavy to sink the skimmer.


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## Samjpikey (13 Nov 2017)

AverageWhiteBloke said:


> Yeah that's what I use the black ones. Recently I've had a couple of incidents where they've popped off and found them either in the tank or in the skimmer itself. Good skimmer this but I wish Eheim would acknowledge the problem and bring out an adapter. I've personally lost a couple of tetras, an Otto and countless shrimp because of it. I now check it twice daily to make sure nothing is in there by switching it off, taking the top off and wiggling a wooden BBQ skewer round so anything in there jumps out. Also, always check before dropping water level.
> 
> I've seen people use rolled up plastic mesh before and very coarse sponge, I might try one of these other techniques if I can find some flexible mesh that isn't too heavy to sink the skimmer.


I've used fishing line and it's held on with small spots of superglue, seems to work well but think I need a bit more as I had a mountain minnow trapped inside. 
Maybe super glue will secure the lume bands ?? 

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## Samjpikey (15 Nov 2017)

Ahh when your single and have a chill zone 



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## Edvet (16 Nov 2017)

Samjpikey said:


> when your single and have a chill zone


Why isn't that a 200 gallon tank, or a whole row of tanks???


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## Samjpikey (16 Nov 2017)

Edvet said:


> Why isn't that a 200 gallon tank, or a whole row of tanks???


This is a very good question ..... 
My excuse is that I'm still learning and with a small tank maintenance and water changes are quicker/easier.
I don't want to go back onto a larger tank untill I'm fully confident it will be successful. 


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## Rodgie (16 Nov 2017)

Mate,

I bet once you get married, I'm sure you won't want any bigger tank than that. I have a 15 gal tank, been with me for four years. Now I want to sell it, and just aquascape a 5 gal one.

Enjoy bigger tanks while you have time

Cheers


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## Samjpikey (16 Nov 2017)

Rodgie said:


> Mate,
> 
> I bet once you get married, I'm sure you won't want any bigger tank than that. I have a 15 gal tank, been with me for four years. Now I want to sell it, and just aquascape a 5 gal one.
> 
> ...


Haha I was married and I've been single for over two years now.... so no rush for me in that department  

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## Rodgie (16 Nov 2017)

Samjpikey said:


> Haha I was married and I've been single for over two years now.... so no rush for me in that department
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk




Haha! 
Well, I wish you the best in the fish hobby. I'm sure you can explore and try more challenging scapes. 

Good day


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## Samjpikey (16 Nov 2017)

Rodgie said:


> Haha!
> Well, I wish you the best in the fish hobby. I'm sure you can explore and try more challenging scapes.
> 
> Good day


Cheers pal... I enjoy having a small tank.
Everything seems easier 



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## Edvet (16 Nov 2017)

I am married, and have 400 gallon


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## Rodgie (16 Nov 2017)

Edvet said:


> I am married, and have 400 gallon



Haha I knew somebody will say that.
Congrats to you Edvet for keeping everything balance with life and hobby. 

I think it all depends on what set up we have and how busy we are with personal life between work and family. 

For me, a low tech 5 gallon would've a perfect one for now. That way I'll only need to remove 2-3 gal per week. Unlike 2 four gal buckets weekly before haha.

Cheers all


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## Edvet (16 Nov 2017)

Well i used to work from home, that made things easier, Nowadays i work away from home, but the tank is setup to run without much input, automated daily waterchanging (dripping it in with a RO unit) and a large sump. I feed it 5 times a week and use ferts or micro's 5 times a week. Clean once a month.


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