# Green Pekoe Pond - 40 litres



## Mr. Teapot

Sept 2015 updated equipment list:

*Tank:* ADA 45P
*CO2:* Original Up inline Atomiser, Disposable 600g welding cylinders, filter outlet
*Light:* Grobeam 1500, 100% for 7hrs,
*Water changes:* 25%(10 litres) twice a week with RO water
*Fertilisers: *Tropica specialised, 3 pumps with each water change
*Filter:* Eheim classic 250
*Filter media: *No sponges, Eheim ceramic tubes and coco pops
*Heater:* Hydor ETH 200 External
*Other:* Eheim Skim 350 on timer - every 3hrs for 5mins
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Hi All,

Here's my first attempt at a planted tank…

Equipment:
Tank: 45cm, 40ish litres
Light: Grobeam strip (5hrs, 50% power)
CO2: Disposable 500g bottles, Up inline diffuser on filter intake
Filter: Eheim Classic 2213
Ferts: Aqua Essentials Neutro+
Substrate: Amazonia plus 50% inert black gravel (because I ran out of the expensive stuff)

Plants (from Aqua Essentials):
Anubias nana bonsai
Cryptocoryne parva
Eleocharis acicularis
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Micromanthemum umbrosum
Rotala rotundifolia
Staurogyne repens

Hopefully everything will go well. I'm in my second week after a dry start to give the HC a chance to root. The stem plants had reached the surface so I gave them a trim - I hope it wasn't too soon! Keeping up with the water changes. First week was 60% every day, now every other day for the next two weeks.

Haven't thought about any residents yet but it's going to be beginner level only. Perhaps some Cherry Shrimp and Neon Tetras?


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## Nutty

Hi Mr. T,

tank looks really good, was wondering what type of rock are you using? Also how long did wait before flooding the tank?

cheers,


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## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Nutty, the rocks are mini landscape rocks from Aqua Essentials - really nice stones.

Flooded after about 8 days -  I had to flood earlier than I wanted because I started to get some mold appearing on the wood next to the Anubias... I have to admit I panicked when it appeared!


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## stemag

nice looking tank mate


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## Quetzalcoatl

Looks really good mate. You should be well pleased with that for a first scape. I'm following this now as I've just started a journel myself regarding DSM with HC. Its shame you've flooded already as I could of learnt from your mistakes (if you make any? LOL) Im a few weeks behind you.
Good luck mate.


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## mike455555

wow stunning looking tank, way better than my first planted... -no ones seeing that one, ever :L-


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## Mr. Teapot

Thanks for all the great comments. I spent the best part of a year reading all the journals on here before I started my own tank. There are plenty of mistakes so far - just couldn't get the humidity right for the DSM. The HC did really well but the chopped up moss painted on the wood and rock didn't make it. I think I was so concerned with getting some fresh air in to stop the fungus, it dried up the moss on the exposed surfaces and it all went brown. Oh well, I guess this is a learning process I I think I may try a few jars with moss on wood to see if I can get it right for next time.


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## kevin1962

I think that's very attractive...just looks so natural well done


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## Ian Holdich

Love this! 

Really well executed.


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## plantnoob

really like this .  lovely looking scape


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## Mr. Teapot

Really great to read these positive comments. Ian's journal was one of those I've been reading and being insired for all this time so its given me a real boost to hear you like it!

I'm keeping the CO2 injection rate high at moment at about three bubbles per sec... I imagine its quite toxic to non-plant life at the moment (a couple of nerite snails had a lucky escape a couple of days ago when I nearly gassed them to death). I was thinking of blasting away (sans nerites!) for anther week and then cranking it back towards a more sustainable level after the plants have acclimatised to the flooding. Is this about right or shall I just keep it high until my first residents move in?


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## Henry

You've made a very good job of it, especially since it's your first planted tank. I particularly like how everything transitions smoothly; very well thought out.

I presume you're using the Clarke welding gas bottles. What kind of CO2 diffuser are you using?


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## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Henry! Yes, those are the bottles - 600g. I'm using an UP inline diffuser on the inlet of the filter. Comes on a couple of hours before the lights.


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## Ian Holdich

Also shared on ukaps Facebook page. I'm really impressed with this as a first planted tank. 

One to keep an eye on.


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## Ian Holdich

Ps, as for stocking, I reckon a small group of celestial pearl danios would look great in here.


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## Stu Worrall

Thats a really nice scape there.  Has it got a wooden light?


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## Anthony89

Great first tank. Really need to get some co2 hooked up on my tank.


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## Mr. Teapot

Heehee, wooden light! More a lampshade!! It does have a practical application though. I find the five LEDs very intense and my little girl seems to fix her gaze on them in her highchair. Can't see that's going to be good for her eyes and wanted to find a way to avoid putting a hood over the whole tank. Its just some plywood made into a little box covering the sides and front but keeping the back open for ventilation. 

After the lampshades, It'll be a doily under the tank!


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## markj

tank looks stunning


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## Claire

Stunning!


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## Mr. Teapot

I'm going to see if letting a mini java fern from my old goldfish's tank will grow nicely out of the water. It started life as a plantlet saved from his salad bar (there wasn't a plant in existence he didn't scoff - java moss used to be a favourite), it grew under the hood of a Rio 125 right next to the bulb. Humidity used to be high at night but dryish in the day. The damage to the leaves was while it was under the hood and no further drying out has happened in its new location. Have to wait and see if it works being exposed a little more but I'm guessing the local humidity at the surface will be above normal.


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## faizal

This tank is amazing. Mr Teapot,..congratulations on a lovely scape. I think you are a natural when it comes to planted tanks. Truly an amazing first attempt. looking forward to seeing this progress nicely.


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## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Faizal, it means tons to me that the UKAPS members like my little tank. I don't know about a natural... If I can keep my plants alive I'll be heading in the right direction - have you seen some of real natural ability of the plant growers on this site - absolute geniuses.

As for my tank, in my mind I wanted the rocks to look more massive as though they extended down into a bedrock, I thought I could get this look by tilting the horizontal grain and keeping both stones texture running along the same plane - like when you see rock protruding out of the grass on a coast path.

With the wood, I wanted the impression as though it had lived with its rocks, kind of hugging them and the soil round its roots had been eroded away over a long time (I like it when you see this with bonsai trees). I tried the wood element with a big 'trunk' in the middle but it seemed too massive against the rock... like it was overpowering the two stones rather than visa versa so I ended up keeping it open so you can see through to the back glass.


I don't know the ins and outs of composing a proper scape and I just tried to make it look as natural as possible - personally I think it needs a bit of space towards the left with a little bit of rock poking up out of the HC but I can't really start adding 15cm more onto the side of my tank!


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## tim

You may not know the ins and outs mate, looks spot on too me, very nice scape for a first attempt.


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## Monk d'Wally de Honk

Beautiful. Really nice.


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## Mr. Teapot

Monk d'Wally de Honk said:


> Beautiful. Really nice.



Thanks, I appreciate it! My main aim now is to keep all my plants growing healthily - have to admit, I'm a little nervous I'm going to melt everything and then cover it in thick coat of algae. All in a very public way.


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## Bandersnatch

That's a really nice tank to look at Teapot.


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## Mr. Teapot

Bandersnatch said:


> That's a really nice tank to look at Teapot.


 
Thanks Bandersnatch!

No dramas to report on my little tank after my first week on UKAPS - only a few little things such as a surface film developing after I've slowed down the water changes to every other day. The Rotala is bouncing back after its haircut and producing some nice submerged leaves on the new growth. The Micromanthemum umbrosum is growing like a weed and I can see myself having to trim it twice a week when it gets established. I also have some new leaves on the anubias, crypts and hairgrass.

Now I've come to the end of the second week of flooding I've started to reduce the CO2 injection to a more sustainable level. So far there's no sign of complaint from the plants but I'm keeping a close eye on them for the slightest sign of distress.

… and… no algae yet (fingers are being kept crossed)

Here's a quick picture of progress.


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## LondonDragon

Tank was looking great  you have an update for us?


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## Mr. Teapot

Hi,
The tank has changed a bit... I think I'm on version 2.0.1? Had a bit of a restart just before Christmas. It's been such a great learning experience so far. I'm really surprised how delicate you have to be with the changes - a little change will hake a massive positive or negative influence on the tanks health. I'm getting better at reading the tanks mood- like when it gets a greasy film on the surface gives me a few days notice of something bad about to happen.

BIG update in a while but here's a quick preview:


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## LondonDragon

Great stuff, tank is coming along nicely, and you only learn with time  keep us updated more regularly  we like photos


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## Mr. Teapot

Hi everyone - the big update a promised.



This was a restart of the original layout. Started before Christmas... wish I'd kept pictures of version 1.1.3 - it turned into a horrible mess! The main aim of this tank was to concentrate on growing some plants healthily... making a nice scape would have to take a back seat.




Week 6: Tank flooded (50% light, 1 bps CO2)
Week 8: Ludwigia starts to lose lower leaves
Week 9: Some plants start to show signs of melting - HC and Staurogyne
Week 10: Brown diatom bloom starts on HC near melting plants and soon spreads across tank



Week 11: Lots of cheap plants from ebay added to increase plant mass to see if it has any effect on the diatoms. CO2 increased to 2bps
Week 12: The diatoms don't seem to spread to new leaves. Small patch of green thread algae appears in HC - removed with tweezers.
Week 15: Changed fertiliser brand to APF all in one. Diatoms reducing fast
Week 16: Diatoms nearly all gone



Week 17: Added some new wood - maybe add some more... can you ever have too much? First inhabitants added - red ramshorn snails.


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## tim

Looking lovely mate, keep the updates coming.


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## Mr. Teapot

tim said:


> Looking lovely mate, keep the updates coming.


 
Thanks Tim. I've really started to enjoy my little tank. Been quite a journey to get it to 2.0.3. I'm looking forward to finding some nice cherry shrimps to go with the snails.... maybe one day, some little fish?

Loving your new tree scape!


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## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Congrats on Fantastic Aquascape I love it  Some shrimp will look great in there


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## faizal

It's looking absolutely lovely Mr Teapot . The plants are looking very healthy Very matured looking too now. I hope you will be getting a bigger tank soon & share the experience with us


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## Four50

Peach of a set-up, looks lovely and healthy


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## Mr. Teapot

Greenfinger2 said:


> Congrats on Fantastic Aquascape


 


faizal said:


> It's looking absolutely lovely Mr Teapot


 


Four50 said:


> Peach of a set-up


 
Thanks guys. I'm trying out reverse aquascaping! Grow your plants first and then try and slowly make it look pretty. Hopefully I'll end up with something cool at the end of it but as long as I'm learning how to grow the plants, I'm happy at the moment.

I'm toying with the idea of another echinodorus in the back right corner. Something that's going to grow out of the water. Also moss up the wood a bit.


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## aliclarke86

I think it looks great already mate well done

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## EdwinK

You may try some Polygonum species. It grows nicely above water surface. Echinodorus species usually have a large leaves and maybe out of scale here.


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## Mr. Teapot

EdwinK said:


> You may try some Polygonum species


 
Just had a quick look at Polygonum. Looks really nice and wild when grown out the top - and flowers also. Red submerged leaves look lovely too. Great suggestion.


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## Deano3

Brillant tank mate lookiny very healthy also great jurnal and updates,  keep them coming 

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## Mr. Teapot

Hey Deano, glad you like my little tank. I was glued to your last journal, it was like a battle royal! Have to say, my version 1 was very simular story and have learnt so much over the past six months. I now understand, as long as you learn from the experience, every set back just builds up your knowledge base. I even give the tank a little sniff every day - it's amazing how the smell of the water changes with bits and bobs you do... I changed my ferts and it's given the tank a subtle smell of new leather. Don't know what this says but it's interesting if not a little strange. New books always get a sniff as well!


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## Deano3

love the smell of books lol maybe sniffing is the future you can smell my tank tell me whats wrong co2 ferts etc  hopefully my 60p will work out great still not sure on layout but finishing cabinet and cracking on with scapes on my next 4 off as I am so indecisive would never make my mind up but if I do iwagumi and keep simple next tank could do wood then next layout island etc looking forward to it.thanks for the compliment and this was a great read so keep it up mate


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## Mr. Teapot

As a complete novice I was thinking of starting with cherry shrimp and I'm making sure my tank ready for them. I was wondered if the following TDS readings would cause any issues to the little guys? I've been reading that sudden drops in TDS can cause them problems so I've decided to split my 50% weekly water change into two 25% changes. Does it look OK? (apart from the unknown day I missed a fert dose)

Cheers,


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## Dan walton

Great looking tank


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## Alexander Belchenko

Cherry shrimp is quite hardy beast. I have impression they can tolerate very different water.

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## EdwinK

As Саша already said, cherry shrimps will do just fine in your water however if you are planing to keep CRS then TDS should be lower. By the way, what units are these ppm or uS/cm?


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## Mr. Teapot

Thanks for the info, it puts my mind at ease before I bring the shrimps home today - after not keeping any inhabitants apart from a few weeks with my ramshorn snails, I wanted to make sure everyone would be as comfortable as possible. I think CRS are a long way off my skills for a while… I’m apprehensive enough with cherry shrimps!

Oh yes, the units are in ppm. Max 189ppm, Min 160ppm with about 15-18ppm drop at the waterchange and a 5-8ppm increase when the frets get dropped in. 

Found some great info on here about acclimatising them with a drip over a few hours. I think I’m all set for some new pets today!


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## EdwinK

I would not like to underestimate cherry shrimp but they are really tough guys and a drip method would be too much although you will be certain that you did everything to help them.


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## Mr. Teapot

one of my new little shrimp friends:


 
I think I annoyed the shop by taking ages and choosing specific shrimps  "no not that one, the one over there". I think they're lovely little creatures.


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## Alexander Belchenko

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## aliclarke86

Last time I got cherries from the LFS I gave up in the end and just said I would take them all 

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## Mr. Teapot

Nothing new to report. thought you may like to see a pic I took last night showing my tank's lampshade... I don't know how you guys can stand those retina burning grobeams without one!


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## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Neat idea and very stylish   It sets off your Aquascape nicely


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## pintainho21

nice detail, perfect composition


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## Mr. Teapot

New plants! Made a lunchtime visit to Aquatic Design Centre and couldn't resist. I'm guessing the lovely red Ludwigia will turn green in a few weeks.

Only other developments: I got a bit OCD about my HC lawn piling up against the glass and gave it a bit of a clip - what a mess it made. I've been scooping out the bits for days.


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## James D

Looking good mate!


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## Mr. Teapot

James D said:


> Looking good mate!


Thanks James! 

Any ideas on how to keep the Ludwigia red? Anyone have any suggestions... I can see the new growth is already going green.  I think it was originally the clippings from one of ADC's window tanks - it gets a lot of light there but I don't want to play with fire!


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## Mr. Teapot

I forgot to amend the equipment list I'm running on version 2:

Tank: 45cm, 40ish litres
Light: _Grobeam strip (5hrs, 50% power)  _ Grobeam 1500 Ultima, 100% power, 7hrs, approx. 40cm above surface (with lampshade!)
CO2: Disposable 600g welding bottles, Up inline diffuser on filter _intake _ outflow
Filter: _Eheim Classic 2213 _ Eheim 2017 (Flow greatly reduced with 12/16 hose reducers)
Ferts: _Aqua Essentials Neutro+ _ APF all in one
Substrate: Amazonia _plus 50% inert black gravel (because I ran out of the expensive stuff)_


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## Mr. Teapot

Nothing really to report in my journal this week, the only 'event’ being a big trim of the rotala rotundifolia in the back right corner. Oh yeah, and one of my shrimp met a grisly end - he ended up half in, half out of the intake... hence my new shrimp guard!






Starting to think of which fish to put in my little tank. Front running (and a firm favorite with my little girl): green neon tetras. How many? Having only kept a single huge goldfish for the past 15 years (the original Mr. teapot) , I haven't a clue and could do with advice on stocking levels. These tricky little topical fish are all a mystery to me.


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## Lindy

This looks spotless!


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## Mr. Teapot

ldcgroomer said:


> This looks spotless!



Strange, isn't it? I really don't know where my algae went. It was slowly getting better week by week but at about three weeks ago, it all just disappeared. The brown diatoms, green thread, green smeary stuff. Maybe the snails and shrimps polished it all off?


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## faizal

Oh my ,......spotless indeed. Your plants look so nice & healthy. The tank is looking so clean.


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## Mr. Teapot

Cheers Faizal, I've been really enjoying your new low-tec journal.

Clean I don't mind and healthy plants make me feel I'm finally achieving something. Although I do wonder if I want it all to be a bit wilder -  maybe more plants growing out of the water or some ferns on the wood sticking out the top. Less garden and more pond. Trimmed the HC tonight and it's looking a bit too.... Lawn like. May try some hairgrass randomly planted in there to rough it up a bit.


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## faizal

Mr. Teapot said:


> ..... I want it all to be a bit wilder -  maybe more plants growing out of the water or some ferns on the wood sticking out the top. Less garden and more pond. Trimmed the HC tonight and it's looking a bit too.... Lawn like. May try some hairgrass randomly planted in there to rough it up a bit.



Sounds like a great idea. Can't wait to see more pictures. It's going to look nothing short of awesome,....


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## Mr. Teapot

I initially set my tank up about a year ago after the death of my dear old goldfish friend, Mr. Teapot. My plants seem to be growing, algae has been subdued (for now) and I'm starting to structure the tank into the beginnings of some sort of an aquascape. It's perhaps about time I turned my thoughts to giving it all a name. 

My two option so far:
1. "Green Pekoe Pond"
2. "Oolong Garden"

What do you think? Any other suggestions?


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## Alexander Belchenko

Staurogyne as tea bush?

I actually like the first name  Maybe because it's more directly associated with your green scape


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## Mr. Teapot

Hey Alexander, you noticed my tea theme  SR Tips! 

Quite agree with first one being a little more towards the direction I want the tank to go.


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## Mr. Teapot

How did they get in there!


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## faizal

It's looking so lovely in there


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## stu_

I seem to have missed this previously,very nicely done,love the  _Pogo E. _


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## Mr. Teapot

Cheers guys!




Had a little dig around outside and found this lovely fern (Asplenium trichomanes). I think it's worth seeing if it takes - it was free so worth a punt. There's a lot of other mosses and liverworts out there also - I think I'm also going to give some of them a go.

Also, I now have shrimplets! 

Quick update (3PM Sunday) just read up on my fern... it hates being waterlogged. Opps. I'm going to have to rethink this one! looks like I'm going to have to go down the indoor maidenhair fern route.


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## Mr. Teapot

I bought a nice healthy pot of 1-2-Grow mini hairgrass today. Hopefully plant over the weekend to give the lawn more of a  meadow look. Ludwigia sp. had a big haircut yesterday. Musing about adding a few extra twigs here and there.


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## Mr. Teapot

I had some recent issues with the Staurogyne and the HC after I had to temporally reduced my injection rate to gently acclimatise my new fish. Leaves tuned yellow and fell apart on the Staurogyne and some melt on the HC - classic CO2 deficiency! On the recovery now the gas is back up to its original setting with lots of nice new healthy growth.  My fern is still holding in there and even putting out some new growth. I know eventually I'll have to find a new home for it. The emersed terrestrial moss found in the garden is doing really well and has taken hold of the wood.


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## James D

Looking good Mr Teapot, nice and green. Any chance of a close-up of the emersed moss at some point? I need to try a piece on mine.

Cheers


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## Mr. Teapot

Hi James, I'll get a close up of the main mossy twig with the really nice new moss growth tonight. This is the smaller bit of sticky-out-wood, the moss and fern had some soil on the roots which was great as it stuck nicely onto the wood. I also secured it with some black cotton just in case. Everything keeps nice and moist due to the water being drawn upwards.





Found it, this is the twig with the moss fully attached. Haven't a clue what type it is.




Main mossy twig as promised.


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## Mr. Teapot

Enjoying the bubbles


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## Deano3

looks excellent mr teapot


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## Mr. Teapot

Hey Dean, cheers! Looking forward to your 60P being planted up - everything is looking really good so far.


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## Mr. Teapot

*Problems.*

After reducing my CO2 to acclimatise the fish more comfortably, I’ve had a few problems. Algae has reared its head once again after being dormant for over a month. I now have black brush algae, diatoms, green hairy stuff and green dust - not much, but its there. The HC has taken a real bruising and parts of it are looking terrible.

Interestingly, none of these problems showed up for over a week (nearly two) after reducing CO2 injection apart from the Staurogyne where the leaves curled downwards very quickly, it later turned yellow and developing holes. I knew it was going to be bad when a oily film developed on the surface… at that point the HC started to melt, lose leaves and become ‘leggy’…  and the tank didn’t smell right.

The Staurogyne is now showing signs of lots of nice new growth but it showed the first signs of damage. The HC is starting to grow again but has one or two parts I fear will not come back to health. The stems weren’t damaged apart from algae developing on some of the older leaves.

Plan of action so far:

Reduced lighting by raising light
Injection rate back to pre-crash level
lots of water changes
manually remove algae

I think I’ve caught things before they've completely crashed but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Things are already looking better over the past week


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## Alexander Belchenko

What do you do with oily film? Removing with sheet of newspaper?  Night aeration?

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## Mr. Teapot

Hi Alexander, yes, night aeration removed it nicely by the morning and at the end of the lighting period I soaked up as much as I could with kitchen towels. Luckily the amount is tiny now - hopefully indicating the plants have stopped degrading. Just hoping I don't have an outbraek of Cyanobacteria as a result of all the pollution being released. I always try to keep the surface of the water as clean as possible to help gas exchange... goodness knows what will happen if the filter doesn't get a good supply of oxygen while this is going on - I don't think I've got much room for manoeuvre at the moment!
Cheers,
Paul


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## Mats A

Hope you get the hang on it. It's a nice looking tank


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## Mr. Teapot

Mats A said:


> Hope you get the hang on it. It's a nice looking tank



Hi Mats, It's kind of going Ok(ish)... all the plants are nice and healthy apart from the HC - never recovered from its shock with the CO2 reduction. Started to plant up with hairgrass and probably a couple of other carpeting plants... trying an experiment in harsh pruning of HC in the front to see if it has any effect, otherwise its going to be grubbed out and replaced.

Pic this morning:



 
Cheers


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## Mr. Teapot

Weekly update:
Things are slowly looking up but I think I've months yet until things are back to health. Surviving HC is looking a lot better and now pealing away - it pretty much completely stopped when it was ill. I’ve planted some mini hairgrass and Marsilea hirsute in with the HC and I’m hoping this will eventually replace or at least dominate the carpet. I think HC is lovely but its a real PITA to keep nice. I do however have the remains of some stubborn algae (staghorn), hopefully this will disappear with the usual maintenance schedule plus cutting away whatever I can. Oily film has gone and I've added a couple of rocks.

The damselflies had an early eviction today and are now down the local pond. Good luck to them!


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## Alexander Belchenko

damselflies? OMG!


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## Mr. Teapot

Alexander Belchenko said:


> damselflies? OMG!



Have a look half way down this thread. Interesting little guys - I wanted to see them mature but thought my cherries wouldn't agree.


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## Claire

Noticed you changed filter - did you find the 2213 insufficient for flow? I'm struggling to get good flow around my 35l with it now that the plants are growing in, but could just be the way I have it set up.


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## Mr. Teapot

Hi Claire, My old eheim had a really noisy pump head and tried everything to get it to run quietly. I had the opportunity to buy a nearly new 2071 very cheap - pretty large peice of kit with tonnes of flow even with my existing 12/16 pipework, best of all, completely silent! Don't know what the throughput is but doesn't seem over the top. There's a widget on it to reduce output but the hose reducers seem to do a good job at that.... Have to say, my flow setup is pretty unsophisticated - no lily pipes, I just bash it high up against the far side glass to produce a nice wide, smooth stream downwards towards the substrate and then along the bottom. Works for me.


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## Mr. Teapot

Weekly update:
Things are starting to turn around. The tank's health seems to be getting better weekly. Some algae issues - staghorn has got into the HC along with some long hair algae, to be honest, I don't mind a little... as long as it doesn't get out of hand. Mini hairgrass is going into turbo mode.

My little emerged twig is getting quite varied with a little HC clipping taking root.


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## Alexander Belchenko

Is it pogostemon erectus at front right side? Looks nice and compact. Mine was always grow too big. I like it when it's compact.

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## Mr. Teapot

Hi Alexander, yes, it's pogo erectus - It's a fast grower and reaches the surface in no time, I don't know the plants maximum height but get the feeling it could end up on the large side if not pruned regularly. I keep forgetting to replant the clippings to get a really dense bunch going but it branches nicely. Wouldn't mind seeing one of the stems grow out of the surface to see if it give me a flower one day.


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## tim

Plants look to be bouncing back nicely, nice work mate love the emmersed branch.


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## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Tim, cheers for the encouragement! I have to say, I'm determined to get this one to pull through and back to health. I think its turned a courner and on the mend - boy I've learned a lot through this tank getting ill and stopping it going into a complete crash like previous editions. It was all my fault for fiddling around with the CO2 and If there's one thing to take away from it all, it's to keep things absolutely stable. 

The little twig is starting to become my favourite thing also - love to start a second tank with lots of emersed areas or a little island with some interesting marsh/bog plants


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## Jaap

I have the same size tank and was wondering which light would be best TMC MiniLed 400 or TMC Grobeam 600...I see you have the grobeam...are you satisfied with it or would you have considered the mini led 400?

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## Jaap

Do you have both a grobeam 600 strip and a grobeam 1500 ultima tile?

Isnt it too much?



Mr. Teapot said:


> I forgot to amend the equipment list I'm running on version 2:
> 
> Tank: 45cm, 40ish litres
> Light: _Grobeam strip (5hrs, 50% power)  _ Grobeam 1500 Ultima, 100% power, 7hrs, approx. 40cm above surface (with lampshade!)
> CO2: Disposable 600g welding bottles, Up inline diffuser on filter _intake _ outflow
> Filter: _Eheim Classic 2213 _ Eheim 2017 (Flow greatly reduced with 12/16 hose reducers)
> Ferts: _Aqua Essentials Neutro+ _ APF all in one
> Substrate: Amazonia _plus 50% inert black gravel (because I ran out of the expensive stuff)_




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## Mr. Teapot

Hi there, 'just' the 1500on the tank. I know it goes against advice on here but I found the higher power tile much better for my tank. I decided to replicate the lighting on a healthy tank of simular size. (I think it was one from Viktor Lantos). I also made sure the light was hanging the same distance from the surface.... Hanging height makes a huge difference.


----------



## Jaap

Was the grobeam 600 not adequate?



Mr. Teapot said:


> Hi there, 'just' the 1500on the tank. I know it goes against advice on here but I found the higher power tile much better for my tank. I decided to replicate the lighting on a healthy tank of simular size. (I think it was one from Viktor Lantos). I also made sure the light was hanging the same distance from the surface.... Hanging height makes a huge difference.




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## Mr. Teapot

Anecdotally, I had nearly no growth when in dry-start, with a single 600. I think other people have had success though - I guess the difficult thing to get one's head around is that every tank is different and some things work in different set-ups. It's interesting with my first dry-start, as the only limiting factor was the light level. Therefor don't think it's too much of an assumption to conclude, if I had close to zero growth over three weeks with a 600, I didn't have enough light... With the caveat that I'm no expert in planted tanks!


----------



## Jaap

at what height was the grobeam mounted, which intensity and how tall was the tank?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Tank height: 30cm. Grobeam 600 was at 50-100% @ about 10cm from surface (dependent on what stage the tank was at. Current tile is at about 40-45cm @ 100%


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Weekly update:

Nothing changed.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Just found iMovie on my phone... had some fun on the morning commute stitching this together. Apologies for my lack of movie making skills!


----------



## BigTom

Very lush. I do enjoy a mixed carpet.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Tom, I really want the carpet to go even wilder! I'm over all the manicured neatness of a zen garden. I want my tank to go towards a little pond. Thinking of investing in one of those little plastic shower caddies I've seen with emersed planting for the back right corner, or even better, something tall growing from the substrate to about 20-30cm out of the water.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

The recovery is still going well. I think I'm at nearly 8 weeks of rehabilitation since my mistake with the CO2. Mopping up the last bits of algae with Excel. Never used it before and I have to say, it's pretty potent stuff. 

Black brush algae (or staghorn?) in my carpet:


 
Day 2: Replaced the next day with pink dead algae


----------



## Mr. Teapot

My twig fern is putting on some new growth... must be enjoying its new home


----------



## Nathaniel Whiteside

Very nice Mr.Teapot. 

Love the emergent growth.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Cheers Nath, the little moss covered twig has really got me wondering how I can develop some other areas above the surface. I don't know if I'll try and grow some plants outside or inside the tank - I've had a couple of ideas based around some small acrylic pots I had hanging around


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hello, just finished planting up the start of my pond bank. I'm going to see how this one goes before attempting any more. I've decided to hang it outside the tank rather than inside.

Made from an acrylic pot (Muji) and a ADA stainless steel hook thing that came free with the tank (I knew I'd make use of it one day). Used the same moss and fern as my twig so I know it will tolerate the conditions. Added some other 'leftovers' (Marsilea crenate) to see if it will grow. Anyway, I have no idea if this will work but I think it looks nice and pond like.


----------



## Edvet

Clever, you could use some cotton thread to wick some extra water into the pot if needed


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Edvet said:


> otton thread to wick some extra water



Thanks Edvet. I'll see how the moss draws the water and try your idea if things dry out too much.


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Fab little Scape  Fantastic idea with the little pot  Looks great


----------



## aliclarke86

That looks fantastic. Any chance of some shots from the other sides to see how it looks outside the tank??

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## Mr. Teapot

Here's a side shot. I'll see if I can get some other pictures tomorrow.

Cheers


----------



## Greenfinger2

This gives me a new idea   Wabi- Kusa on the side of a Aquascape


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## Mr. Teapot

I think that sounds a fantastic idea - with your track record in great looking wabi-kusa it will look great! 

ADA will be selling these soon in their showrooms: Wabi-caddies (Wabi-Kadi™)


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Looks like I didn't remove all those damselfly larvae. Times like this I wish I had a posh macro lens.


----------



## Edvet

Haha. Nice!


----------



## Vinkenoog1977

Great pics mate, especially the second one, he looks to be smiling for the camera, awesome!


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Killer photos Photo two is cute and stunning at the same time


----------



## aliclarke86

I was gonna say exactly what ed said 

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## Nutty

wow! great pics, were you just lucky to be there at the time to see this little fella or can you do anything other than endless stare at the tank as its great to look at? and so watch it all


----------



## Mr. Teapot

It's great to see you all enjoyed seeing my little damselfly friend make his way into the world. I'd love to know what species and where he came from. I've had a look at British natives and he doesn't look anything like any of them, so in assuming he's an alien. (If anyone knows, please let me know). He didn't seem to make a dent in the cherry population, which seem to be multiplying at an unbelievable rate and could do with someone eating a few of them... red cherry baguette anyone?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Nutty said:


> wow! great pics, were you just lucky to be there at the time to see this little fella or can you do anything other than endless stare at the tank as its great to look at? and so watch it all


Hey Nutty, haven't seen you on here for a while, hope your tank is coming along nicely. My little tank is in the dining room so I get to stair at it in the evenings while I have my dinner. Try to spend what time I can fiddling about hooking the odd floating leaf out etc... but never enough time for hobbies with a young family to look after. Its nice just wondering through and seeing it all green and full of life and my little girl spotting the shrimps, fish, snails and damselflys.


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Your little Damselfly I think is a female as it has drab colours. The male is the one with all the colour. Females are harder to identify


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Greenfinger2 said:


> Females are harder to identify


Sounds like my local pub.

Its a real shame, but I think my little damselfly will remain an unknown.


----------



## Vinkenoog1977

Mr. Teapot said:


> *Sounds like my local pub.*
> 
> Its a real shame, but I think my little damselfly will remain an unknown.



LOL!


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr.Tea Pot , Photo two is now my screen saver  Even the Wife said it was cute  And she hates bugs


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hey that's brilliant! I really like the thought of Mrs. Damselfly looking over your Word documents. I do feel a little bit guilty now about evicting the other two. I think my little girl thought it was a pond fairy.


----------



## Dan walton

I had 2 of these appear on the wall above my 125 litre I can only assume they came out of the tank itself I also blamed them for the few cherry shrimp heads I found in the tank ! I've seen youtube footage of the larvae eating small fry ! Could they be the culprits re my shrimp ? Great pictures by the way  I think I need to invest in a half decent camera


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi Dan, I'm most definitely the point and shoot type as completely incompetent with fiddle menus and a multitude of options… my camera is a Nikon D40 from 2006/7 and really showing its age now. Terrible for low light and indoors -  camera shake on most pictures as I hate the look the flash gives everything. If I had some spare cash I'd also be looking for a new camera!

The Damselflies didn't make a dent in Cherries and are breeding like no tomorrow. I think its great these creatures find a home in our tanks, surprises me no end they can grow up and emerge and remain hidden in what amounts to a tiny puddle of water.


----------



## Edvet

Mr. Teapot said:


> camera shake on most pictures as I hate the look the flash gives everything. If I had some spare cash I'd also be looking for a new camera!


 You can help your results with a tripod, doesnt have to be terribly sturdy for your indoor use with light lenses, even a gorillapod can be helpfull.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Edvet - I am so going to get myself one of this gorillapod things - how cool are they! Excellent idea, Cheers!


----------



## aliclarke86

They are OK until a little one gets hold of it as it looks like a toy! *snap*

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## Mr. Teapot

aliclarke86 said:


> They are OK until a little one gets hold of it as it looks like a toy! *snap*



I could always turn the tables and make Iggle Piggle into a camera stabiliser.


----------



## Edvet

Wel,i could advise him to buy a carbonfiber Gitzo like the one i have (), hard to snap like a toy.


----------



## aliclarke86

Ed. I'm not sure I could justify buying anything by gitzo. $$$$

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## Mr. Teapot

I think I'm due a progress picture:

Algae almost completely gone. Only dosed Excel on 3 occasions - 5ml directly syringed on the problem areas. I now have a big bottle in the cabinet for future close encounters. Mulling over putting some tall bushy plants in the back right hand corner, behind the wood


----------



## Edvet

Nice pic too!


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Stunning


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

What's the name of your echinodorus behind the wood?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Cheers guys! I was going to try either Micranthemum umbrosum or continue the Pogostemon erectus around the back. I like the idea of the Echinodorus leaves appearing out of the cloud of smaller leaves. 



Alexander Belchenko said:


> echinodorus behind the wood


Hi Alexander, its Echinodorus reni - been there ever since I dry started in December. I initially thought it would grow out the top of the tank but it looks like it will keep fairly smallish (at least at the moment).

Any other suggestions? I’m starting to get the start of collectoritis and really like the way my carpet plants are a mass of different species and wonder if this meadow look is the right way to go with the taller stems at the back.


----------



## Iain Sutherland

I love that, what a great looking tank!  Not sure how ive missed this thread?  my loss!


----------



## James O

Hey Mr. Teapot great looking setup!

I've read thru but must have missed it...what's the fern in the great photo in post #108


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Cheers Iain, it's great encouragement you like my little tank!


James O said:


> what's the fern in the great photo in post #108



Hi James, It's a stick fern and twig moss obviously! 

In all honesty I don't know, I originally bought it without a label from the bargin bin at the palm centre for a quid. Its parent has grown really well outside in a wet, sheltered position for the past four years. I think it looks like a common old hart's tongue but knowing the palm centre it's something much more exotic.


----------



## Ady34

Lovely little scape and a really pleasant journal to read. Love your photos too 
Cheerio,
Ady.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Ady34 said:


> Lovely little scape and a really pleasant journal to read. Love your photos too
> Cheerio,
> Ady.


Thanks Ady, means loads to me you enjoyed my tank's journal. 

Does anyone know what this new plant is erupting out of my twig moss? Is it just the moss changing?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Picture update:
I think the tank is back to health and everything is going OK. The echinodorus has suddenly put on a massive growth spurt... maybe it'll breach the surface.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all, Fantastic tank, one of my favourites





Mr. Teapot said:


> Does anyone know what this new plant is erupting out of my twig moss? Is it just the moss changing?


No, it looks like a vascular plant, you'll need to let it grow, but it may be an _Epilobium_ sp.





Mr. Teapot said:


> Its parent has grown really well outside in a wet, sheltered position for the past four years. I think it looks like a common old hart's tongue but knowing the palm centre it's something much more exotic


 I think if it has survived outside it must be Hart's-tongue Fern (_Asplenium scolopendrium_), because all the other ferns with similar undivided fronds (_Asplenium nidus etc._) are tropical.

cheers Darrel


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## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr TeaPot, Looks exquisite


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## aliclarke86

Really fantastic. You have done yourself and this forum proud  

Big things are expected of you now. If this is your first things can only get better 

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## Alexander Belchenko

I'm scared by your echinodorus.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

- I'm really over the moon you guys like my tank... I think it was touch and go a couple of months back but I'm really chuffed I managed to nurse it back to health again.



Alexander Belchenko said:


> I'm scared by your echinodorus.


Yeah I know what you mean, It's putting out ever larger leaves at an ever increasing pace. The little green neons absolutely love it and use it like a base to nip out exploring. I think it makes them feel secure.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

dw1305 said:


> No, it looks like a vascular plant, you'll need to let it grow, but it may be an Epilobium sp.


Thanks Darrel, I’m definitely going let it grow and quite excited to see what it grows into lets hope its something really interesting and flowers. I’ve been amazed at what just appears in my tank with my bug hunt thread - at this rate I’m going to have to start a plant version.

New photo this morning - seems to be growing slowly but steadily:


----------



## tim

Superb little scape this mr teapot, full of surprises really interesting journal to follow


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Tim, it was a real struggle with version 1, version 2 was a lot easier once I found a combination that worked for me. It's been quite a journey to get to this point and yes, full of surprises along the way. Just trying to work out a plan to try and somehow have a second tank. Hmmm... if only I had a shed.


----------



## T.Tamas

Very cozy little green island had been adopted, the plants are in good condition. 
Congratulation


----------



## dw1305

Hi all, 





Mr. Teapot said:


> New photo this morning - seems to be growing slowly but steadily:


Looks like _Utricularia graminifolia_ on that photo.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Mr. Teapot

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, Looks like _Utricularia graminifolia_ on that photo.


Crikey, how on earth did it get in there? It couldn't have come in with the moss as it's from my garden so I'm guessing it hitch hiked on another plant but nothing has gone in for months except two pots of tissue cultured plants... I have to say, it's brilliant it decided to grow as it's something I've never thought of putting in there. Can you imagine if it flowers! Wow.


----------



## Dominic

I have been keeping an eye on this thread, probably one of my favourite tanks! So natural looking. What type is that fern growing on the emersed twigs?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Dominic said:


> What type is that fern growing on the emersed twigs?


Hi Dominic, Darrel identified my twig fern for me:


dw1305 said:


> I think if it has survived outside it must be Hart's-tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium), because all the other ferns with similar undivided fronds (Asplenium nidus etc.) are tropical.


I don't know how this is going to grow long-term. Being a native fern I do wonder if it needs a dormant period like the carnivorous plants I've started to grow. I guess it will be good for a couple of years but I'd go with the tropical version mentioned above.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,





Mr. Teapot said:


> Being a native fern I do wonder if it needs a dormant period like the carnivorous plants I've started to grow. I guess it will be good for a couple of years but I'd go with the tropical version mentioned above


 I think it will probably be all right, but you can buy small plants of the Bird's-Nest Fern _(Asplenium nidus) _at Garden Centres etc, they would eventually get too big, but would be fine for a few years. Paulo (LondonDragon) bought a really nice terrestrial _Microsorum_ at IKEA, in this thread: <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/my-new-15l-opti-nano-nÂº1.6731/page-3>.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Mr. Teapot

That's a fantastic looking plant for above a tank… a great contender for my Wabi-Kadi™ number two. I definitely think the green neons are really appreciating the extra cover above the surface. Feel a bit guilty they were feeling a bit exposed before. Thanks Darrel.


----------



## Ian Holdich

Just popping my head back in...I love this aquascape. Very very well executed, the perfect nature aquarium in my eyes.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hey Ian, good to see you popping back and can't tell you how dead proud I am that you like my little tank! Everything really happened by accident as I just kept adding plants I liked and wanted to grow. The big sword is becoming my latest surprise - its gone into turbo mode and keeps getting bigger and bigger! I know its out of scale with the tank but the fish absolutely love it…


----------



## James D

Looking great! What is your fert regime on this one mate?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi James, 4ml Aquarium Plant Food's 'complete' per day… if I remember.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

back from a week on holiday... pics of what the tank looked like after a week of no glass cleaning. plants all looked in good condition. Just left it as it has been running with no extra ferts added before I left.

Mid-afternoon before clean up:





Evening after a 20 minute clean up and water change:


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Flower spike appeared sometime last week. Really fantastic news!


----------



## ADA

This little scape is awesome, looking forward to seeing that flowering too.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks ADA. I'm trying to take daily pics of the flower's growth - about 3-4cm a day at the moment!


----------



## ADA

Awesome, I done the same with my Wabi flowering, looking forward to it.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

No flowers yet... 4 days growth:


----------



## Alastair

Beautiful little scape this. Really like it. Congrats on the flower to be. I've had numerous e species flower they do take about a week or two before they flower and They get much taller before hand. 

That fern is still a beaut


----------



## Alastair

Ps definitely worth a Facebook fame moment https://m.facebook.com/ukaps.org?v=timeline&_rdr


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Cheers Alastair, If I can get this to look even half as good as your choco tanks, I'll be a happy man! 

I'm kicking myself as recently stayed at a holiday cottage with absolutely hundreds of little heart's tongue ferns growing next to a little stream running alongside a lane - I could have supplied half of UKAPS with twig ferns! Countless other mosses and liverworts mixed in there as well. Shame I was distracted by the local cider.[DOUBLEPOST=1406903616][/DOUBLEPOST]Hey, fame at last... Andy Warhol was right!


----------



## ADA

Ahhhhhhh man I was thinking I'm about to see it flower lol, looking forward to this, it will prob be hanging over the side by the time it flowers.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

This must be getting really boring for most people, but I just love seeing this flower develop. If I had a larger tank I'd never leave the house as there's always some drama unfolding in my little tank.

Close up of flower buds:


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,
Brilliant I love flowering flowering plants. BigTom will need to find the picture of it, but he had an enormous flowering Amazon Sword  in one of the early incarnations of the "Bucket....". 

Your Hart's Tongue Fern looks good as well, has your unknown plant in the moss grown? and if it has does it still look like it might be _Utricularia graminifolia?
_
cheers Darrel


----------



## Mr. Teapot

It would be brilliant to see those pics from Tom! Really weird when I tried to find out what a Echinodorus Reni flower looked like on Google images - came up with my journal pictures. Heehee - looks like I'm filling in some of the gaps in the interweb now!

My unknown plant started well but looks distinctly 'straggly' now. Looked a bit ill after the water level dropped while I was on my holiday and left it above water for a few days. I've also noticed it's started to spread around the tank - my mixed carpet has woven a new species into the mix. I think you were right, it definitely looks like UG from the google pictures I've seen (just a really bad example of it)

You can see it just about holding on in these pictures


----------



## Mr. Teapot

My mixed carpet is getting more  and more mixed. I’ve just spotted what looks like a liverwort growing away in the corner. I’m assuming it was introduced when I planted my twig fern. If anyone knows what species this is, I’ll be really interested.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

The echinodorus flower has disappeared up my light fitting.


----------



## aliclarke86

Wow its really shot off 

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----------



## Alexander Belchenko

Mr. Teapot said:


> My mixed carpet is getting more  and more mixed. I’ve just spotted what looks like a liverwort growing away in the corner. I’m assuming it was introduced when I planted my twig fern. If anyone knows what species this is, I’ll be really interested.



It looks like lomariopsis lineata for me. A fern.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Alexander Belchenko said:


> It looks like lomariopsis lineata for me. A fern.


That would be cool - I have no idea how all these plants just appear in my tank.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

A progress pic:


 
and for those who enjoy flowers - almost there:


----------



## BigTom

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> Brilliant I love flowering flowering plants. BigTom will need to find the picture of it, but he had an enormous flowering Amazon Sword  in one of the early incarnations of the "Bucket....".



Had a rootle around on the hard drive -


 

It got longer than that. Think it was a little over 5 feet tall eventually.

Really lovely little tank you've got here Teapot, one of my favourites.


----------



## Edvet

Which sword was that Tom? Cordifolius? I have been looking for one to get out of my big tank.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

BigTom said:


> It got longer than that. Think it was a little over 5 feet tall eventually.


Hey that's absolutely brilliant!, those plants went wild. The swords are incredible but the purple lily is out of this world. Something for me to aim for!



Edvet said:


> Cordifolius?


Not that I'm ever going to give a better guess than Edvet, but I'm going for argentinensis.


----------



## BigTom

It was sold as _Echinodorus cordifolius_ 'marble queen' but obviously wasn't. I'd always just assumed it was plain old _cordifolius_ but never gave it that much thought to be honest. It did really well until I mangled the roots (which had completely filled the entire substrate) when moving the tank, sadly it never really recovered from that and slowly died off. The _Anthurium_ with the purple spathes and most of the other riparians went on to a second life in Alastair's first shallow tank, he's still got some of them as house plants, haha.


----------



## Edvet

BigTom said:


> which had completely filled the entire substrate


 Yeah i remember moving a uruguyaensis from one side to the other side, it was planted in a space surounded by wood, i just pulled and wiggled a few minutes every day, roots covered 100x100 cm easily and very thick mat.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Echinodorus Reni in flower:


 
The lower buds are yet to come into flower. Really wonderful - size and colour of apple blossom. Unfortunately no perfume.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

at last


----------



## alex08

Gorgeous flowers, Mr. Teapot!


----------



## ADA

Yeah finally lol beautiful flower


----------



## Mr. Teapot

For those following 'the flower' saga - lower buds have started to come into flower.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Alexander Belchenko said:


> at last





alex08 said:


> Gorgeous flowers, Mr. Teapot!





ADA said:


> Yeah finally lol beautiful flower



Cheers guys! The flowers don't last very long so enjoy them while you can. 

I was getting some oil on the surface, I think from the Echinodorus leaves dying above the water and then decomposing once they dropped back below the surface. Added one of those little Eheim skimmers on a timer - comes on once every 3hrs for 1minute. Keeps the surface sparkly... thinking of adding more wood when I have a bit more time.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

Hmmm. Interesting solution for skimmer!

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----------



## tim

Superb images of beautiful plants, lovely tank mr teapot.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Hmmm. Interesting solution for skimmer!



Gives the more adventurous or unlucky shrimp loads of time to climb out of the inside of the skimmer body. Even when its only on for one minute, its quite surprising how easily they get sucked inside.


----------



## BigTom

Very nice. If you get a small paintbrush you can fertilise the anthers with pollen from the stamens and get swordlets.

Sent from my LT30p using Tapatalk


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Quick update / phone pic.


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot,
Just had a catch up Love the scape Congrats on the flowers


----------



## sajo

Hi Mr. Teapot,
where did you get this Lily Pipe inflow http://screencloud.net/v/6o2N ?
Im searching for a pipe like this 
And nice nice nice work!!


----------



## DivZero

That's one beautiful looking tank! Also pretty darn good for a phone pic


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks guys, the tank has become a real pleasure to live with after a pretty steep learning curve last year. still loads more to learn and trying out other plants when I make room - the echinodorus reni had to be evicted when it grew too big for my little tank. Only other major change I've had recently is swapping six of my twelve green neons for embers - lovely little fish and much more gregarious than the neons. 



sajo said:


> where did you get this Lily Pipe inflow


The glass pipe is from Aquarium Plant Food, part of their cascade range. Nice, robust and excellent quality.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

photo update:


----------



## Edvet

Looking good, i would change the background to a frosted one


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Great idea! I'll try out some other background options as well.


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Superb Scape looking super cool 
The large leaf plant growing on the wood in photo 4 Cracking looking plant What plant is it please


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Greenfinger2 said:


> The large leaf plant growing on the wood in photo 4 Cracking looking plant What plant is it please


Hi, the plant is a heart's tongue fern. Just found in the garden and tied to the twig with some string. The roots dangle in the water. The leaves are a lot lighter and a bit wavy along the edges compared to the one outside, perhaps some reaction to the drier indoor air? They come in lots of different varieties from the garden centre but you can usually find them growing out of walls or alongside lanes if you wanted to find a free one. Very common. 

I must make a list of the plants in my tank. Newest edition is some Rotala Bonsai which has been growing nicely for the past four weeks. The Monty Carlo is gone mad and if it continues will cover the whole carpet in no time.


----------



## BigTom

Lovely jubbly. One of my favourite tanks on here I think - lots of nice textures and attention to detail.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Cheers! I would have thought it was a bit 'nano' for for you Tom .  I'm toying with the idea of a bigger tank next year…maybe. I've been bitten by upgrade-itus and been spending far too long lurking on apistogramma forums. Another twelve months? Perhaps need to upgrade my house first to fit it in?


----------



## BigTom

Heh. I do have three 25l nanos myself, but they're all terrible neglected and mainly used for growing on fry. If you're going to upgrade I reckon aim for 400l+, that's when you can really play around with the sense of scale.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

BigTom said:


> aim for 400l+



Green Pekoe Lake? Green Pekoe River Basin? Green Pekoe Inland Sea?


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

inland sea, please.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all, 





Mr. Teapot said:


> been spending far too long lurking on apistogramma forums


 You can never spend too long on _Apistogramma_ forums. They are the perfect fish for your tanks and soft water.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Mr. Teapot

I'm in my research phase at the moment and in no hurry. Reducing my TDS a little further and aiming for about 50ppm and then keeping this stable over 6 months. Looking into setting up and maintaining live food cultures in my limited space. Lots of time and no hurry and my tetras are going to be really fat and happy while I'm learning!  Enjoying reading lots of new views and approaches.  Starting to be all about the fish for me and making an environment for them. I used to keep convicts and firemouths when I was a teenager and these little guys look just as interesting and just as full of personality.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Nothing really happening in the pond apart from the Monte Carlo going mad -  it fizzes like lemonade when the lights are on.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Cherry shrimps captured on my phone.


----------



## Michael W

This is a really nice scape Mr. Teapot, it has a calm and soothing feel to it.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Michael W said:


> This is a really nice scape Mr. Teapot, it has a calm and soothing feel to it.


Thanks, calming is much better than last year's frustrating!


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Update pics.

The semi emerged UG mat is growing nicely but no sign of it properly breaking the surface. Pity, I really wanted it to take over from the HC - perhaps I'll try replanting some above the surface on top of the HC. The fish love the shady parts of the tank and love exploring behind the wood in the little cave under the anubias and moss.

Slightly bigger tank or twin 40 litre? hmmm... need to plot this one carefully.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

Oh, very nice photo with shade under that branch. It blends to the darkness of the room, so green sides are sliding on the surface of dark substance. Great. I'm lacking English words to express this.

How do you find Hyg.Araguaia there? It's quite light demanding plant and does not like shade areas, isn't it?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Alex!


Alexander Belchenko said:


> How do you find Hyg.Araguaia there?



Seems to do OKish in my tank. The plants shaded under the moss and branches have a shorter and much greener leaf - like the originally purchased plant. They get narrower, longer and browner under the full light (most obviously when they get near the surface. It also takes on a much deeper red/brown when viewed from above the tank.

Here’s a picture of the plant in the deep shade and full light:


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

How long do you grow it?
My Araguaia did not want to grow if there any sign of shade. It started to lack lower leaves, became leggy, eventually the lower part of stem rotted and plant started to float around looking for better life. In good bright light new leaves are always red. I wonder how it's possible to grow it in shade area for any long term.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi Alex, I’ve been growing it for about three months now. Couldn’t tell you why its taken to my tank… perhaps the leaves in the lighter parts support the shaded bits? These plants are fickle things and remain an utter mystery to me.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Operation Apistogramma has reached its first very small milestone! My first live food culture has been up and running for the past month. 

Daphnia or Cyclops, who knows? My eyes are really terrible at closeup.


----------



## Michael W

Nice culture, looks like cyclopes to me.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

I have similar beasts in my shrimp tank. I guess they are cyclops. For some reason mine are mostly jumping at the bottom of the tank around grains of substrate.
I wonder how are you going to catch them to feed.


----------



## Michael W

I think they usually hang around around the bottom due to the build up of debris where they will likely feed. You can siphon some up during water changes or try to catch some using a turkey baster.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Alexander Belchenko said:


> I wonder how are you going to catch them to feed.


Hmmm...that's a thought. Tip half in the tank and refill?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Added a cape sundew to the margins of the pond. Seems to be doing well even with the central heating drying everything out.


----------



## Michael W

That is really nice, the sundew should do very well in a setup like this. I too have a drosera capensis which I place in a takeaway box with water up to at least half of the pot all year round. This means that I did not have to water the plant a part from topping up the tub, so a setup like this should work out.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

It would be great to acclimatise a sun pitcher and have it grow in there as well - I reckon the humidity is far to low to even attempt… but perhaps I'll give it a go gradually in the summer when the central heating is off? Monkey cups hanging from the light fitting - now that would be cool!


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,





Mr. Teapot said:


> It would be great to acclimatise a sun pitcher and have it grow in there as well - I reckon the humidity is far to low to even attempt… but perhaps I'll give it a go gradually in the summer when the central heating is off? Monkey cups hanging from the light fitting - now that would be cool!


 One of the smaller _Nepenthes_ hybrids should be all right.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Fab Scape  The sundew is stunning


----------



## Mr. Teapot

dw1305 said:


> One of the smaller Nepenthes hybrids should be all right.
> cheers Darrel


Excellent, I'll read up on them!


----------



## X3NiTH

I love the accompanying photo for this link for Nepthenes Seeds from AliExpress, I'm assuming he's fishing that beastie out and not putting it, or maybe that's the secret sauce for growing a monster jug!

Ace setup for your micro fauna!


----------



## Mr. Teapot

That's an amazing picture! These plants have really caught my imagination. So many interesting plants... so little space.


----------



## BigTom

Aha, I see this got moved to where it belongs!


----------



## Mr. Teapot

BigTom said:


> Aha, I see this got moved to where it belongs!


Took me a while to work that one out… you guys are the nicest forum on the web! I'm going to have a nice pot of tea to celebrate. Hopefully it will be the evidence I need to forward my case for a second tank .

Thanks everyone!


----------



## ADA

I love this tank, very inspiring.


----------



## Jaap

Mr. Teapot said:


> CO2: Disposable 500g bottles, Up inline diffuser on filter intake



I have the same setup as you regarding CO2 and a TMC 1500 tile at 65% but still no getting good results or any growth...

I was thinking of either increasing light intensity or switching my up inline diffuser from filter intake to filter output....what do you think?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi Jaap, You could try changing your CO2 diffuser to the outflow but I’m starting to think natural systems need stability over all else. My plants are really fussy about changing things too often and too quickly. 

The light question is a really tricky one. My tank has quite a few deeply shaded areas as well as very bright spots - up near the surface the light must be stupidly high but the plants are as healthy as I could hope for. The moss, HC and UG are constantly going from submerged to immersed as the water level drops through evaporation with no problems. Staurogyne and Hygrophila araguaia grow in the shaded low flow areas and the high light, high flow areas. I’m starting to question if there’s a ‘magic formula’ at all! I’m starting to think that as long as you keep the tank as healthy as possible (lots of good clean water changes, high plant mass, clean filters, constantly picking out dead leaf material and a clean, film free surface to maximise gas exchange) the plants will adapt and thrive in a very wide spectrum of CO2 and light levels. The only real difference I can see between our tanks is the amount of plant mass - you could always try a ton of cheap plants already adapted to a submerged life?


----------



## alto

Hint: it's been ages since we've gotten new photos!

(OK time is relative  )


----------



## Jaap

I am thinking that at 65% light intensity, the TMC 1500 tile is a bit more bright than the GroBeam 600...so still I might have less light than "optimum"? 



Mr. Teapot said:


> Hi Jaap, You could try changing your CO2 diffuser to the outflow but I’m starting to think natural systems need stability over all else. My plants are really fussy about changing things too often and too quickly.
> 
> The light question is a really tricky one. My tank has quite a few deeply shaded areas as well as very bright spots - up near the surface the light must be stupidly high but the plants are as healthy as I could hope for. The moss, HC and UG are constantly going from submerged to immersed as the water level drops through evaporation with no problems. Staurogyne and Hygrophila araguaia grow in the shaded low flow areas and the high light, high flow areas. I’m starting to question if there’s a ‘magic formula’ at all! I’m starting to think that as long as you keep the tank as healthy as possible (lots of good clean water changes, high plant mass, clean filters, constantly picking out dead leaf material and a clean, film free surface to maximise gas exchange) the plants will adapt and thrive in a very wide spectrum of CO2 and light levels. The only real difference I can see between our tanks is the amount of plant mass - you could always try a ton of cheap plants already adapted to a submerged life?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Jaap said:


> I am thinking that at 65% light intensity, the TMC 1500 tile is a bit more bright than the GroBeam 600...so still I might have less light than "optimum"?


I think the tiles use twice the number of the same emitters as the 600 so I would have thought 65% would have been a bit above your original 600. Really tricky to advise you to push the big red light button... what if your tank goes into meltdown? I thought the last picture you posted of your tank, it was looking like you were making great progress. 

I've rashly bought a Radion XR15... still in the box. I'm having my own sleepless nuclear light dilemma. Do I, don't I?




alto said:


> Hint: it's been ages since we've gotten new photos!


I see what I have to post after lunch


----------



## Jaap

You are at 100% and 40cm above the substrate yes?



Mr. Teapot said:


> I think the tiles use twice the number of the same emitters as the 600 so I would have thought 65% would have been a bit above your original 600. Really tricky to advise you to push the big red light button... what if your tank goes into meltdown? I thought the last picture you posted of your tank, it was looking like you were making great progress.
> 
> I've rashly bought a Radion XR15... still in the box. I'm having my own sleepless nuclear light dilemma. Do I, don't I?
> 
> 
> 
> I see what I have to post after lunch


----------



## Mr. Teapot

I have to say, I thought my light was a lot higher! I've just measured it - I moved it down quite a bit before Christmas when I was fixing my lampshade.
*Light:* Grobeam 1500, !00% for 7hrs, 30min ramp up and down, 22.5cm from the bottom of the light to the surface of the water. 
*Water changes*: 25%(10 litres) twice a week with RO water. 
*Fertilisers:* Tropica specialised, 3 pumps with each waterchange.


----------



## Jaap

22.5cm from the surface of the water...how much from the surface of the substrate approximately?



Mr. Teapot said:


> I have to say, I thought my light was a lot higher! I've just measured it - I moved it down quite a bit before Christmas when I was fixing my lampshade.
> *Light:* Grobeam 1500, !00% for 7hrs, 30min ramp up and down, 22.5cm from the bottom of the light to the surface of the water.
> *Water changes*: 25%(10 litres) twice a week with RO water.
> *Fertilisers:* Tropica specialised, 3 pumps with each waterchange.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

The tank is 30cm deep - 51cm from the bottom of the light to the bottom of the tank. Measurement between light bottom and the top of the carpeting plants is between 39cm to 46cm.

CO2 level? haven't a clue anymore. Bubble counter water evaporated last year sometime and have never used a drop checker. lots of micro bubbles in the water and the fish don't looked fussed.


----------



## Jaap

I am confused...is the inline CO2 atomiser on your inlet or your outlet...if its in your inlet then you should have microbubbles right?



Mr. Teapot said:


> The tank is 30cm deep - 51cm from the bottom of the light to the bottom of the tank. Measurement between light bottom and the top of the carpeting plants is between 39cm to 46cm.
> 
> CO2 level? haven't a clue anymore. Bubble counter water evaporated last year sometime and have never used a drop checker. lots of micro bubbles in the water and the fish don't looked fussed.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

The never cleaned original UP inline atomiser is on the filter outlet.

 I'm going to put a current equipment list on pg1 for anyone who finds it useful


----------



## Jaap

Did you originally have it on the inlet of the filter as you state in page one?



Mr. Teapot said:


> The never cleaned original UP inline atomiser is on the filter outlet.
> 
> I'm going to put a current equipment list on pg1 for anyone who finds it useful


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Jaap said:


> Did you originally have it on the inlet of the filter as you state in page one?


Yes, on the inlet when I first started.



alto said:


> Hint: it's been ages since we've gotten new photos!







The surface skimmer is getting a bit lost in all the plants. You just about see it at the back under the sundew. Still keeps the surface clean nicely.




The central heating has given the fern a hard time but seems to be recovering now.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

Wow! Welcome to the jungle!


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Heehee, Yes it is getting a bit wild! At some point I’m going to have to give the Staurogyne a bit of a chop as its getting a bit too high along the glass edge. I’m starting to wonder if the plants growing above the surface will eventually completely cover the central part of the tank - that would be a really great planting opportunity with a whole new range of plants to experiment with.


----------



## parotet

Mr. Teapot said:


> I’m starting to wonder if the plants growing above the surface will eventually completely cover the central part of the tank - that would be a really great planting opportunity with a whole new range of plants to experiment with.


From "Green Pekoe Pond" to "Green Pekoe Bog"! Looks awesome mate!

Jordi


----------



## Ady34

Really is a great looking scape


----------



## dw1305

Hi all, 





Mr. Teapot said:


> Yes it is getting a bit wild!


Perfect tank. 





Mr. Teapot said:


> I’m starting to wonder if the plants growing above the surface will eventually completely cover the central part of the tank - that would be a really great planting opportunity with a whole new range of plants to experiment with


 Go for it. I haven't got a picture but I used to have a big plant of _Heteranthera zosterifolia_ that eventually formed floating leaves and flowered, it added a whole new dimension. 

cheers Darrel


----------



## Mr. Teapot

parotet said:


> From "Green Pekoe Pond" to "Green Pekoe Bog"! Looks awesome mate!


Yes, should be dry land within a few years! This is all a bit of an experiment, but I really fancy evolving the pond into part bog. 

The plants are doing a fantastic job at putting down the foundations of a central island - the Hygrophila Araguaia is quite woody above the surface and will grow a nice scaffolding for the two islands to span the gap and create a floating raft (I may need some extra wood for support). Just need to balance this with making sure the plants at the bottom get their fair share of the light.



dw1305 said:


> Heteranthera zosterifolia


I just had a look on google and seen they produce beautiful purple flowers - would look lovely.



Ady34 said:


> Really is a great looking scape


Thanks Ady!


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Death star superlaser set to full power… I know I’m going to regret this little experiment.

The Radion XR15 freshwater is fully operational.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Quick update of the tank...  I don't know if I'm into the odd disco colour effects the new light causes on the wall. I'm going to have to play with the colours as its very cold and blue/violet. Maybe knockout some of the blue.

My new Heliamphora is a bit of an experiment. If it works I'll be happy - if it doesn't make it it's always good to try these things!


----------



## BigTom

Tank is looking amazing. Very interested to see how that pitcher does.

I have to admit I'm also not a great fan of mixed colour LEDs that show obvious colour seperation like that.

Are your emergent stems planted in anything?


----------



## James O

Aww that's lush


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,





Mr. Teapot said:


> Heliamphora is a bit of an experiment


 Very nice. I'd definitely raise it up, so the base is just out of the water.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Mr. Teapot

BigTom said:


> Are your emergent stems planted in anything?


Initially I tied already emerged growth cuttings on with cotton to a little pad of terrestrial moss, the moss has pretty much turned into a peaty mush with the roots just dangling into the water. The roots have got quite long but don’t reach the substrate. They're quite secure now even with the cotton rotted away.

Yes, just got my fingers crossed with the pitcher - I don’t think the CP community would approve of my semi-submerged approach but a lot of the pictures of Heliamphora growing in the wild show them growing in ponds with some of them almost totally covered with water. I think the local humidity close to the water surface should help… but saying that, I admit, I’m guessing at the whole thing!



dw1305 said:


> I'd definitely raise it up, so the base is just out of the water.


I think i'll perhaps give that a go. - its piggy-backing on some anubias bonsai at the moment.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,





Mr. Teapot said:


> I don’t think the CP community would approve of my semi-submerged approach but a lot of the pictures of Heliamphora growing in the wild show them growing in ponds with some of them almost totally covered with water


 It will be interesting to see, it would be brilliant if they will grow "wet". 

It may well be different in the tank. A lot of plants grow well wet in moving water, but don't do so well in standing water (so presumably an oxygen effect). In the tank the water will be oxygenated and moving. 

I admired the ones at RBG Kew late last year (they are in the small "carnivorous plant" glasshouse wing off the Princess of Wales conservatory, in the N. corner by the door).

It is not my picture, but the one on the bottom definitely looks like it is "aquatic emergent".



 

cheers Darrel


----------



## Mark-jan

Looks great! Are the rest of the plants not suffering from the shade that your submerged plants are creating?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Mark-jan said:


> Looks great! Are the rest of the plants not suffering from the shade that your submerged plants are creating?


There's some pretty intense light at the bottom where the carpeting plants grow. The plants seem fine growing in the shade as long as a portion of the plant is also in full light. The shaded areas are actually quite interestingin their own respect with the plant's leaf shape and colour showing adaptation while growing in these parts. There's an area towards the back courner which has been completely taken over by a deep moss carpet - out competed hairgrass and HC to win its space.

The fish also really enjoy the darker u areas and mass of hiding places.


----------



## Crossocheilus

I watched this tank from the start and have really enjoyed the transformations its made. What is the submerged moss on the left hand horizontal branch?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Crossocheilus said:


> What is the submerged moss on the left hand horizontal branch?


Hi there, glad you've enjoyed my little tank's journey! The moss is Riccardia chamedryfolia - I really like the way it stays compact with zero trimming, I've literally done nothing to it and its formed nice mounds which have grown into each other - surprisingly solid and bouncy.


----------



## Crossocheilus

Ok thanks, a nice little plant, I would like to use some but to get even coverage over wood I think the blender/yoghurt dry start is best, how did you attach it?


----------



## genomecop

I'm also curious about the pitcher plant. I have a small collection and usually (the ones I have) require a winter dormant period.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,





genomecop said:


> I'm also curious about the pitcher plant. I have a small collection and usually (the ones I have) require a winter dormant period.


 That is the advantage of _Heliamphora_ spp.  They come from relatively high altitude close to the equator in Venezuela etc. so they don't experience any seasons, just a cooler night. 

I used to have a _Darlingtonia californica & _several_ Dionaea muscipula _ in the lab. in "goldfish bowls" (on a NE facing Window sill) and they did well until we had double glazing installed and no effective thermostat. The _Dionaea_ had been there for ~20 years.

Whether it  was the lower humidity, or the warmer temperatures, they all departed pretty rapidly in the first winter after installation, along with all the sphagnum moss and native _Drosera_.  The year before installation of the double glazing we had a series of very cold nights and that killed the _<"Utricularia graminifolia"> _from this thread.  

I've still got _Pinguicula "moranensis"_.

cheers Darrel


----------



## BBogdan

Amazing tank , so lush! 
Something like this you don't see everyday , i like your style. 

P.S. nice pics


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Crossocheilus said:


> how did you attach it?


A year ago I shoved a few tiny bits in between some anubis and a hole in the end of one of the twigs while the tank was flooded. If I do a dry start again, I'm defiantly going to give the blended moss milkshake a go. 



BBogdan said:


> Something like this you don't see everyday


I really loved these pictures of wetlands with little islands of _Sarracenia_ and _Drosera_ and wanted to take my little pond towards this direction:
http://sarracenia.proboards.com/thread/86/purpurea-tom-swamp



genomecop said:


> I'm also curious about the pitcher plant. I have a small collection and usually (the ones I have) require a winter dormant period.


The dormant period for a lot of CPs was always going to be an issue if I wanted to grow these indoors, so I knew I had to choose a plant from the tropics. Another issue was the high light these plants need to thrive - hence why I'm trying my new gigawatt nuclear laser light. Is the light strong enough, is the lighting period long enough, is it humid enough above the tank and can sun pitchers grow semi submersed over the long-term? I guess we're going to find out. 



dw1305 said:


> I used to have a _Darlingtonia californica & _several_ Dionaea muscipula _ in the lab. in "goldfish bowls" (on a NE facing Window sill) and they did well until we had double glazing installed and no effective thermostat. The _Dionaea_ had been there for ~20 years.



_Darlingtonia californica _is a truly amazing looking plant and who doesn't love venus fly traps! I really love the picture of the _Utricularia graminifolia _in flower - my little submersed patch is hanging on and pushing back the Hemianthus cuba. Above the waterline, the HC has won the battle.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

A little update. All is well with the pitcher so far - I've moved it up a little as per Darrel's suggestion. It has survived a week, fingers crossed! If you look, you can see the water level in the biggest pitcher.




Rotala bonsai also doing OK. You can also see my new disco lights effect on the back wall:



Daytime tank pic:


----------



## BBogdan

Just wonderfull !


----------



## Lauris

ohh mate. your tank is so expiring! I've got already a few ideas for my next setup. I have a plan to re-do my 90l one. and now I have few ideas to start it with. it may be only a start of this summer when I will hav a time. 

But this is one ow my favorit journals so far. love it


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks for the kind words and it's great to hear you like my tank. You're going to have a loads of fun with your 90 litres. I'm on tenterhooks at the moment, looking for signs the pitcher isn't liking the conditions. I'm going to be so chuffed if it grows in there!


----------



## tim

Lovely tank, it's progressed really well, journal is a great Saturday morning read too.


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

Beatiful tank. But where are the fish? Have your plants eaten them?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Alexander Belchenko said:


> But where are the fish?


My fish see me pointing a camera at the tank and hide...they hide most of the time. Little bit annoying really. When they were introduced, they behaved in the same way as when they were in the shop but they have slowly and steadily become more shy over the months. I'm sat here now, very still and they are all out hunting and swiming in the open.


----------



## Andy Thurston

Mr. Teapot said:


> My fish see me pointing a camera at the tank and hide...they hide most of the time. Little bit annoying really. When they were introduced, they behaved in the same way as when they were in the shop but they have slowly and steadily become more shy over the months. I'm sat here now, very still and they are all out hunting and swiming in the open.


Tripod, remote shutter release and a longer lens might help. I have the same problem with my clown loach, I also take fish pics at feeding time


----------



## Alexander Belchenko

Maybe you need to add some new brave fish so other will feel there is no danger and won't hide so often? I saw such tip on youtube.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all,





Mr. Teapot said:


> My fish see me pointing a camera at the tank and hide...they hide most of the time. Little bit annoying really. When they were introduced, they behaved in the same way as when they were in the shop but they have slowly and steadily become more shy over the months. I'm sat here now, very still and they are all out hunting and swiming in the open.


 They are just happy fish, if they have a complex environment they will behave naturally, like they are doing. 

cheers Darrel


----------



## Tim Harrison

Amazing, a little slice of paradise...


----------



## Mr. Teapot

There hasn’t really been any major changes over the past two weeks. The Heliamphora has made it so far but I’ve lost a couple of the pitchers - perhaps due to the plant being grown in the much dryer air of my house. I haven’t misted them at all - I need to remember to give them a squirt twice a day.




The new light is definitely bringing out a red blush. I’m guessing my lighting duration isn’t enough to really change the plant to a deep red the enthusiasts develop in their plants.





The Hygrophila ‘Araguaia’ is colouring up nicely


----------



## Edvet

Some small jewels in there.love it


----------



## Jink82

One of my favorites, very nice. Please keep updating this journal despite the lack of change...


----------



## Tim Harrison

Bijou...and very inspirational.


----------



## Jaap

Amazing...still have the tmc 1500 tile at 100%?


----------



## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot , Great journal  Exquisite tank and planting


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Jink82 said:


> One of my favorites, very nice. Please keep updating this journal despite the lack of change...





Troi said:


> Bijou...and very inspirational.





Edvet said:


> Some small jewels in there.love it


Thanks, really chuffed you like the little tank!


Jaap said:


> Amazing...still have the tmc 1500 tile at 100%?


Hi Jaap, I've gone supernova and running an Ecotech Radion XR15 Freshwater - unbelievably bright. I'm experimenting at running at 100% for the past few weeks. Everything is good and wonder how high high the light could go before I see a decline in plant health. Here's a screen shot of the lighting schedule:


----------



## Laurie Dear

Hi Mr. Teapot.

I'm new to aquascaping and planted tanks so I've been browsing UKAPS for a couple of months now formulating ideas and gathering huge amounts of inspiration . I usually am in awe of the bigger style tanks, but this is just absolutely amazing! i love the combination of submerged and emerged plants that you have successfully grown . It's a first for me to see such a mix of the two and i've enjoyed reading all 15 pages of this. I am also a keen photographer and i love your photos! really amazing. What camera do you use?

Keep up the good work and i shall be watching this thread and am looking forward to the updates!

Laurie


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi Laurie, really brilliant you've enjoyed my little tank's journal - quite a journey and still amazes me every time it decides to subtly change. I'll post some more pictures in the next few days - my sundew has started to flower and the heliamphorais starting to grow new pitchers after suffering from the dry central heating. Hopefully the new growth will be fully acclimatised as we go into some warmer weather, the remaining pitchers have gained even more red colouring. The original hitch-hiking Utricularia graminifolia and Glosso have established a couple of colonies and are growing strongly with my upgraded lighting.

Only one drama. Broken glass outlet… replaced super quick by Aquarium Plant Food.



I'm only a point the camera and click type of picture taker. Only just starting to use the RAW setting and playing with a few of the other bits and bobs. I use a Nikon D40, my fist ever digital camera. Before this I used a Pentax K1000 for over 15 years!


----------



## Laurie Dear

Hi,
This picture here that you took:





what are the plants right bang in the middle with the little leaves? is that the glosso you are talking about, or was that your culture of HC that you put on the outside of the tank a while back?
Really impressed with the quality of your photos and the angles you get. amazing job! I hope the new growth of the heliamphorais will acclimatise alright!

Might i ask, what test kit do you use for your water parameters (gH and kH) as well as your macro and micronutrients.

Cheers

Laurie


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi Laurie, That's right - HC. Grows really well above the water even in the dry, central heating air. Overgrew the moss and Utricularia graminifolia already attached to the twig after a stray clipping started growing after a carpet prune. I love the way the plants battle and retreat over time! The big loser in my tank is hairgrass - almost completely gone, outcompeted by the other plants. [edit:This is how looked in November]:


 

The colony of glosso I noticed popping out from under the heart's tongue fern a couple of months ago. The fern was given a big haircut  a couple of weeks ago and the glosso has just taken off (pics coming).

Never used a liquid test kit - I did use cheap ebay a pH pen once to see what was happening but didn't really give me anything I didn't already know. TDS pen gets dipped in a couple of times a month out of curiosity but other than that no testing. I use RO water with 25% changes twice a week and just squirt a few pumps of Tropica specialised afterwards. I like it simple… have a search for Darrel's duckweed index.


----------



## Laurie Dear

Ah ok, that epic that the HC has grown out. I just find it completely fascinating the mix of submerged and emersed plants you have haha! 

Thanks you letting me know your testing methods. Do you use an RO unit or do you make your own RO water from boiling etc? Sorry for the bombardment of questions!


----------



## Mr. Teapot

No problem with the questions. I use my own RO machine. Takes a few hours to produce the water for a couple of weeks WCs. It was one of those experiments early on in my tank's life I stuck with. My tetras enjoy soft water and the tank is so small it takes no effort or time to produce it… I would use rainwater but the pollution in the London area isn't very nice at the best of times.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Sundew flower








New pitcher growing


 


 

Utricularia graminifolia


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## Greenfinger2

Hi Mr Teapot, Stunning Plants and photos


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## zozo

Amazing!! I'm almost drooling.. And i'm your clonebaby.. The same idea's 
Instead of acrylic hanging pots i was thinking of making me a small elongated acrylic tank and make an auquaponic filter system out of it, filled with excotic plants. And hang it behind the tank against the wall.
Anyway that is my next project when aquarium is done.

Just an idea, maybe something for you as well, maybe it's also allready done.. Never found something about an acrylic decorative filter..

Split the main filter outlet to fill the auquaponic filter and drain in back to the tank with a bell sifon.

I'm planing on making it al in minature 60cm x 15cm x 15cm all acrylic with bell sifon compartment in view. But maybe even smaller..


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Mr Teapot, Stunning Plants and photos


Thanks - I'm I huge fan of your tanks as well! 

Zozo - Looks a very interesting project.

More tank pics:


----------



## Laurie Dear

Nice pics. Very beautiful tank. One of my favourites! Quick question. I've noticed you don't have a bubbler, and neither to many of the tanks. Is it purely from the plants providing o2 during the day? I thought that it wouldn't be enough as night time the plants AND fish utilise the o2 in the water.


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## Mr. Teapot

No bubbles but I do have a lot of flow across the surface and top to bottom water movement. I'm very aware of keeping the water surface clean of muck and run a surface skimmer on a timer.

From my understanding, direct gas exchange from bubble to water isn't the most efficient. The bottom to top flow caused by the airstone is the largest cause of gas exchange.


----------



## Laurie Dear

Ah oki thanks. I've just taken my bubbler attachment to my internal filter out and put a spray bar on, pointing up towards to surface. I'm planning on getting a fluval 106 for my 50l. Do you reckon, if I have enough surface movement it would be good enough. Sorry I don't mean to hijack this or anything. Thanks for your reply. 

Still loving the emersed hc! Amazing


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## Mr. Teapot

I wouldn't like to say, I reckon a case of the more oxygen you have available for your tank and filter the better. The gold standard would be an overflow draining into a wet/dry sump -  but on a small tank you have to be realistic about what you can achieve.


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## Laurie Dear

OK man. Cheers. Appreciate it. You have any big ideas for this tank or you going to let it grow?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Laurie Dear said:


> ideas for this tank


Yes, lots of plans and ideas usually involving multiple tanks… but I'm going to have to settle with enjoying watching this one evolve at the moment. I'd really love to make another twin tank next door to this one - a 'Green Pekoe Spring' or a 'Green Pekoe reef. Currently I have far too many other priorities to have another tank.


----------



## Laurie Dear

Ah. That's understandable. Well, we shall watch... Indirectly...with you!


----------



## Simon Day

I have been looking for some inspiration for my empty 45P sat in the garage ….think i have found it after seeing this really unusual scape. Love it.


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## zozo

This really is very inspiring! This is fine art...



> Zozo - Looks a very interesting project.


Thanks for the help!!

A hanging aquaponic garden above could sprinkle a nice rainy day above a tank like yours..  Or a waterfall, Niagara!!


----------



## Mr. Teapot

I’m looking after these two for a couple of months for a friend. Tank temperature has been raise to just above 26 and I’m stocked up on lots of live food ( the cherry shrimps have all hidden) They're fantastic entertainment... real couple of live wires!


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## Sarpijk

Hi Mr.Teapot I love your tank! I have a question for you. Where is all the emersed growth attached to? I realise that most of it is on your driftwood but is it all in one piece or have you also placed odd pieces of wood in there as well?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

There's quite a large amount of anubias and moss attached to the wood. These take a strong hold and form a good foundation for the other plants. There's also a little Perspex pen holder at the back with my sundew. Other than that, there's no other wood except what's in this earlier picture:


 
Interesting how the plants have used each other to build on. There's quite a large void under all the plants - the fish really like exploring these darker areas and gives the shrimps lots of hidding places.


----------



## Laurie Dear

wow...this really captures how the plants are all basically grown in to one another and like you said "used each other to build on".

looks like you've had a big cut. looking good as always


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## Mr. Teapot

Laurie Dear said:


> looks like you've had a big cut.



Heehee. That's a 'before' pic taken in about October 2014


----------



## Laurie Dear

Oh wow ha... Oops.  Plants must be even more entwined and stuff now. How's the emersed hc?


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## Lauris

Still like it much 
Pair of gbr would be a great choice 


P.s. imho RAW is only to take up a space on your desktop, unless you shooting weddings  

I am planted!


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## zozo

That sunddew you're having is that the South Afrikan? I wonder, because i have this one in a much dryer little planted terrarium and having a hard time to get ti to grow. When i first bought it last year, it died off, i guess because of the sudden surounding and climate changes. And it's trying to get back all this time but seems to hate water. It keeps dying on me when i water it (to much obviously) and comes back after her roots are dry enough again. Delicate and hardy at the same time.

Here it is, that little sprout behind the moss




Its the 4th time now it died off and comes back.

And yours is standing somewhat in a pool of water..


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Lauris said:


> Pair of gbr would be a great choice


Really lovely little fish but just temporary accommodation for a friend while his tank is out of action. Really enjoyed having a fish tank again but reckon long-term they would need more space. Also, the higher temperature is giving the plants a real kicking. Another reason to have a tank upgrade!!



zozo said:


> That sunddew you're having is that the South Afrikan?


Yes that's right, Cape Sundew. It's planted in a little Perspex container. Kept very wet with a wick drawing up water from the tank:
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/green-pekoe-pond-40-litres.27575/page-6
Post 111


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## zozo

Ok!? So i must have it in the wrong soil. It's in a specialized Anthyrium soil with some other plants. That's what the flower shop recomended. I think it's still to rich in firts and that burns it, when i water it. Yours is realy shining beatifully, love that plant (to death till now haha) Got to change that soon.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

This is a bit of a surprise... Mum and Dad showed me their new family this morning. They're doing a good job at keeping them safe from the tetras. Down the shops for some brine shrimp eggs and salt. Anything else to feed them on?

Thinking I'm going to have to get a second tank for all these little chaps... there's over 100 of them! I was only looking after them for a short while and now I have all these little mouths to feed... I going to need a second job.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

I’m not going to get any work done today!

Brine shrimp hatchery is ordered and on its way. My live food cultures have quite a lot of small daphnia and cyclops which I can syphon off and use in the meantime. Fingers crossed, some will make it long enough so they can move them onto dry foods as well.

The parents behaviour is amazing to watch - I always thought Blue Rams were not such good parents - these two are amazing! They keep the fry in a tight formation and guide them across the bottom to graze on whatever is on the plants. Little flicks of Dads fins and they all huddle together - the poor tetras have been corralled into the opposite side of the tank in a confident but not overly aggressive manner. One parent is always with the fry while the other one is off to explore/feed - model parents of the fish world.

In the medium term, I think I’m going to have to get a second tank to house the tetras and eventually use it to grow whatever survives.


----------



## Edvet

Liquifry? Do you have that over there, helps short term.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Edvet said:


> Liquifry? Do you have that over there, helps short term.


Thanks Edvet, I'll pick some up today. Pity i didn't have any warning about their 'activities'. All went on for the past week in the caves at the back of the bike sheds.


----------



## dw1305

Hi all, 





Mr. Teapot said:


> I'll pick some up today.


 You need to feed Liquifry (or powdered dry food) with something that wriggles. You need movement to elicit the feeding response in Cichlid fry, with a bit of luck once they've started on the live food they will sample the dry food fed at the same time.

I've got some micro/Banana  worms and Vinegar Eels you can have (to feed along with the BBS).

At the moment squeeze out a filter sponge for them. There are *a lot* of <"Rotifers"> in the filter mulm. 

I usually put the sponge (or ceramic media etc) into a beaker of water, give it a good scrunch up and down, and then let the mulm etc settle out for ~10 minutes. After 10 minutes very carefully pour most of the water off (leaving the mulm layer). Then swirl the remaining water and mulm around to concentrate it in the central vortex. While the filter is turned off, tip the mulm/water mix into the fry cloud. I usually make sure I have a big chunk of moss in the tank, and this tends to very effectively retain the mulm within the moss tangle.

Have a look a these from  <"Apistogramma forum">: <"How can I feed Ram fry">, <"Breeding Mikrogeophagus..... "> & <"German Ram wrigglers">.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks Darrel, that's all great information. I'll read all those threads straight away.


----------



## DGR

Hi Mr. Teapot,

I've read the entire thread and I must say I find your tank really fascinating! I love tanks with a big variety of plants, thoughtfully mixed of course. 

Right at the beginning you've had a problem with mold. Sometimes I do have the same problem when I start dry, especially with moss. For the next time try spraying cinammon water. It does wonders and it smells good too. You boil 500 ml normal water and add 2 TS cinnamon. Twirl 2-3 min with a twisk and then let it cool itself for 2-3 days. This way the small cinnamon particles will lay out at the bottom. I normally filter the whole once more with a coffee filter paper and then just spray it where you see mold. That doesn't exclude the usual water spraying/misting. After 2-3 days it should all look good.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Thanks again Darrel for those great links, really useful stuff.

Mr & Mrs Ram are still looking after the wrigglers, really fascinating behaviour. Under the thick carpet plants are favoured by the parents for nursery/feeding. The female ram took several goes at burrowing herself down to make an entrance. When the lights dim at the end of the day they both round up the fry, the stragglers are returned to the nest by sucking them up and spitting them out again. They have made a really nice, almost perfectly circular nest under the large branch at the front of the tank. They’re quite efficient at removing plants from the substrate and I dread to think of the damage they could do to a nice HC lawn if they put their minds to it!

Night-time nest: (You can just make out some Marsilea crenate they uncovered - I thought I had lost all of this plant six months ago.)




I gently syphoned a mix of filter mulm and Liquifry under the carpet using a short length of airline while the filter is turned off. Seems to have gone down well with the little ones. Brine shrimp should be ready in the next 24-36hrs.










DGR said:


> For the next time try spraying cinammon water.


That's great info. Definitely try that next time. Hopefully soon!


----------



## Tim Harrison

Mr. Teapot said:


> This is a bit of a surprise... Mum and Dad showed me their new family this morning. They're doing a good job at keeping them safe from the tetras. Down the shops for some brine shrimp eggs and salt. Anything else to feed them on?
> 
> Thinking I'm going to have to get a second tank for all these little chaps... there's over 100 of them! I was only looking after them for a short while and now I have all these little mouths to feed... I going to need a second job.


That's amazing...you couldn't wish for more positive affirmation that what you're doing not only looks awesome but is prime real-estate as well


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## DGR

That's really great! I've heard that just the wild catched rams would do the parenting thing, but as I see the rumours were wrong! I have a very similar sized tank, but I think the open layout I've chosen would not be so suitable for those beauties.



Mr. Teapot said:


> You can just make out some Marsilea crenate they uncovered - I thought I had lost all of this plant six months ago.


That's a funny plant. I have a similar mix in my layout too (Marsilea crenate + HCC + Monte Carlo + Eleocharis acicularis Mini). The HCC and the Monte Carlo are taking over the most of the area. I can see sometimes a few shoots from Marsilea, but they stay hidden the most of the time.

Anyway... I'm happy that you share your experience with the rams. It's really a great pleasure!

Cheers,
Daniel


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## dw1305

Hi all,





Mr. Teapot said:


> I gently syphoned a mix of filter mulm and Liquifry under the carpet using a short length of airline while the filter is turned off. Seems to have gone down well with the little ones. Brine shrimp should be ready in the next 24-36hrs.


Brilliant. Things are looking good. 

There is always a market for local bred Rams, so if you do grow some of them on they could be a useful source of "pocket" money. 

cheers Darrel


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## Iain Sutherland

Keep saying but this tank is a real beaut, it just keeps getting better with each update and now fry to boot.
Its a real inspiration for me of what i will do with my spare 40 after i move house.

What kit do you use for your images?  You really have some great shots.
Keep the update coming.


----------



## Mr. Teapot

DGR said:


> I'm happy that you share your experience with the rams. It's really a great pleasure!


Came as a bit of a bonus when I said yes to looking after them. I have to say, I’ve fallen in love with them both and I really don’t want to give them back now.




dw1305 said:


> There is always a market for local bred Rams, so if you do grow some of them on they could be a useful source of "pocket" money.


Excellent! Fingers crossed I can help some of them along to adolescence.




Iain Sutherland said:


> What kit do you use for your images? You really have some great shots.


I’m really over the moon you’ve enjoyed my little tank, quite funny how much goes on in such a small space. I don’t think I would leave the house if I ever manage to get a bigger tank. I’m a bit of a point it and shoot and don’t really know my way round a camera (Nikon D40). I’ve had it stuck on shutter priority and adjust the exposure on the RAW import. Ends up very, very dark and can’t preview what I’ve shot on the camera but I reckon I got used to doing that on my old manual film camera.


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## Mr. Teapot

Oh dear. No sign of the fry this morning. I think something went wrong last night. Both parents are still sticking together near the nest but absolutely no fry. Looked very long and hard for them. Gutted!


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## Tim Harrison

Oh no...sorry to hear that, it's really bad news, I'm gutted for you too.


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## Sarpijk

That's really unfortunate Mr.teapot!  Don't despair hopefully they will spawn again soon!


----------



## Alexander Belchenko




----------



## Vinkenoog1977

Sorry to hear that mate.


----------



## zozo

Thats quite commen with cichlides, i had about 6 times a nest of Kribs and 3 times Angel Fish always after about 2 weeks taking care of the youngsters and very fanaticaly protecting them. All of a sudden they seem to get frustrated one way or another and start cannabilizing on them over night. All gone in one night.. I do not know why this happened with my cichlides all the time, my brother in law from whom i got them always did bred them with much succes. Back then i was to young to understand all technical and biological aspects around it, i only did observe that and also never had the intention to breed them  in my communitie tank.

First i thought it was because they maybe feel threatened to much by other fish and the 250 liter tank was maybe to small , but this was contradictive from what i saw in the tank from my brother in law. More likely it has to do with water parameters.. But i realy don't know..

Sorry it happened to you as well.


----------



## Wallace

Sad news, I've no doubt they'll spawn again and get it right this time. 

My pair of Kribs spawned at the end of January and raised the fry successfully and I have 11 babies at around 20~30mm. They spawned again around 8 weeks later and the cloud of fry lasted around 3 days before mum and dad ate them all. 

If it was their first batch then this is quite common, they will get it right it might just take them another couple of tries first. 


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## Ryan Thang To

Mr. Teapot said:


> This is a bit of a surprise... Mum and Dad showed me their new family this morning. They're doing a good job at keeping them safe from the tetras. Down the shops for some brine shrimp eggs and salt. Anything else to feed them on?
> 
> Thinking I'm going to have to get a second tank for all these little chaps... there's over 100 of them! I was only looking after them for a short while and now I have all these little mouths to feed... I going to need a second job.


Amazing


----------



## Michael W

Sorry for you loss. I have some theories into why some Cichlids show signs of cannibalism to their broods having had a degree of success with Angels, Apistos and Rams. First one that pops to mind is the same as what the others have mentioned, in that it was probably their first brood so a few attempts should result in some improvements in parental care.

Another reason which I strongly believe could be due to the fact that most of our fish are commercially bred. Why might that be a problem? Well I do believe most commercial breeders minus the ones that perhaps do it as a hobby will pull eggs out to artificially hatch them without letting the parents do their job. Otherwise, the fry may have been able to learn from their parents through experiencing the process. It is probably to the commercial breeders' disadvantage if they have to wait until parent care to be sufficient before pulling the fry at a few weeks old as they risk not producing enough rams for a given amount of time.

A solution to improving parental bond and care could be seen through the use of dither fish. Many dwarf cichlid hobbyists will use fish such as Black Neons and some pencilfish with small mouths such as Nannostomus Eques   and hatchetfish which usually stay at the top of the aquarium. These fish are good because they are unlikely to do any damage to fry but they are in the aquarium to provoke dwarf cichlids to gaurd their fry. Being tetras they usually escape the cichlids due to their speed some little harm are usually done to them. Although, you may still experience cannibalism but they method should be useful after several attempts at spawning. But at the end of the day it depends on the parents' characteristics etc.


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## Mr. Teapot

Been a while...work getting in the way. The Rams are at it again:


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## Tim Harrison

Good news...


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## Greenfinger2

That,s fantastic


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## Mr. Teapot

Thanks everyone. Very quick update. Mum and Dad carefully moved the fry/eggs last night and I think they've started to hatch.


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## zozo

That realy looks stunning, thats such a lovely show when they are breedind and caring for the babies..  Now you better prepare, if they come back so soon and get the hang of it and you're tank has the proper conditions, obviously, they will keep trying till they got it. You'll have a bunch of Rams swimming around one day.


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## Mr. Teapot

Very quick update on the Ram family. Eyes growing.


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## Laurie Dear

Looks amazing mate. Hope they don't cannibalise this lot! Would be a shame  all is good with the rest of the tank?


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## Ryan Thang To

Oh nice. Welcome

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## Mr. Teapot

Laurie Dear said:


> all is good with the rest of the tank?


Tank going OK. lost a few plants with the increased temperature but everything bumbling along now. sorry for the pic - don't know why it came out all over saturated. My camera has a mind of its own these days.
Dad on guard duty... Mum round the back chasing shrimps:


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## Laurie Dear

I love your tank. It looks like a mini landscape. It's amazing. The plants emersed going strong too?

What co2 system do you use? Regulator dual stage or single? With solenoid? I know you have an inline diffuser. How do you find the co2 distribution in comparison to a diffuser?


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi, plants up top are doing OK as well - except the Heliamphora. Didn't like its feet in a warm bath. managed to save some of the plant and trying to nurse it back to health.
I use disposable 600g welding cylinders, cheap £20 regulator, solenoid. I've never used any other diffuser but the inline seems to have fine bubbles everywhere.

Slightly better pic:


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## Tim Harrison

Said it before, but this is just simply a jewel of a tank...


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## Laurie Dear

Thanks for the info re: your co2


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## Mr. Teapot

Another very quick update on the Ram family. They've reached the free swimming stage. I'm a little more prepared this time and I have a good feeling about mum and dad looking after them. One of the embers took a fry when it wandered too close. Mr Ram witnessed it - went utterly mad and I thought the tetras were done for. Hopefully the episode will bring out the parental instincts.

Very long way to go still and I'm in the final planning (negotiation) stages for an additional tank for them to grow in. fingers crossed.


----------



## Edvet

You feeding them in the tank already? Use a Turkey baster


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## Laurie Dear

Love that update on the ram fry. Very interesting! Thank you. Glad the rams seem to be better with their parental skills.


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## JamieB

Stunning picture of the fry. I hope they're aware we're rooting for parents and fry!


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## Mr. Teapot

Edvet said:


> You feeding them in the tank already? Use a Turkey baster


My turkey baster was one of my first purchases. Starting them on some banana worm and filter mulm - yummy.
Parents very attentive and protective. Male had a go at me when I pointed at the babies, rushed towards the glass and started to flick his pelvic fins. I don't know if the fin display was for my benefit or a sign to the fry to hide?


Laurie Dear said:


> Glad the rams seem to be better with their parental skills.


They're definitely more protective but still rubbish at keeping them in formation  - there's always stragglers quite a long distance from the parents. 


JamieB said:


> I hope they're aware we're rooting for parents and fry!


I really hope I get a few out of this.


----------



## zozo

I never had Rams and got curious about these lovely fish with this topic. I stumbled upon this one 
http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Breeding_Blue_Rams.php

The ins and outs.. 
Seems you're in for a treat..  And a hell of a job if you can make it work. Not many can.


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## Laurie Dear

Hey, been awhile. How are the little ones doing?

Be nice to hear about them 
 

Cheers


----------



## Mr. Teapot

zozo said:


> And a hell of a job if you can make it work.





Laurie Dear said:


> How are the little ones doing?


Better than the time before...  but still several problems I think I spotted
!. they get stuck under the granules of substrate.
2. they get lost in the carpet plants. 
3. Temperature too low.
unbelievably they have just laid their third batch of eggs!

Sorry for the lack of updates... very busy elsewhere and I've unfortunately contracted early stage MTS :


----------



## Laurie Dear

Ooo another tank  exciting. 

Ace about the rams!


----------



## alto

Mr. Teapot said:


> !. they get stuck under the granules of substrate.
> 2. they get lost in the carpet plants.
> 3. Temperature too low.
> unbelievably they have just laid their third batch of eggs!



I suspect the first is the biggest issue ... of course now that you have that "fissioned" glass cell (what a clever tank you have!) you might use the Tropica system of _Substrate_ capped with sand (0.8 - 1.2mm range seems accessible re the Tropica videos) in this setup.

In the meanwhile
1) make sure there is a "night light" left on tank
2) reduce the tetras (if you have some place to move them)

I suspect that temperature is the least issue, it tends to affect sex ratio & slows rate of growth (in the egg & after) but as fish are spawning regularly & hatch rate looks to be very good, I suspect tank conditions are fine, you should be able to see the fry turn quite pink when feeding bbs. 

If you move the parents over to the second tank, fill tank with water from Pekoe Pond & move the group in a "Lee's specimen container" rather than netting ... of course moving parents + eggs, or parents + wigglers, can work out very well - or completely disrupt that parental &/or pair bond.

Well Done! hope your friend realizes that the fish will not  be returning until you have some established juveniles


----------



## Tim Harrison

Mr. Teapot said:


> I've unfortunately contracted early stage MTS :


Don't worry it's not fatal...and the symptoms are sometimes self-limiting and may resolve spontaneously without treatment...but for now the only thing you can do is to go with it and hope for the best. Hang in there buddy...we're all rooting for you


----------



## James O

Congratulations Mr. Teapot!  It's twins


----------



## Lauris

Hi!

How do you find Radion XR15w?
I'm looking out for new light setup and I have a tank by these dimensions 23x18x18in (90L)
I'm just trying to find out if something like this will be enough? Seems to be you
are the one who could give a honest feedback on it , if you don't mind me asking
Is it powerful enough? is the beam angle great? Easy to control and program?

Thanks!


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## Crawdaddy

Hi Mr Teapot,

Sorry to hear you're not well. Hopefully it's something you can overcome quickly.

Just wanted to say what a stunning tank you have. There's lots of different ways to do this hobby but I think your take on it appeals to me most. Experimentation, getting a feel (and smell) for the tank, letting nature take its course instead of manicuring it too much. And the end result... beautiful.

Quick question. What do you do re maintenance? Do you vacuum your carpet at all? Can't remember if you said.

Thanks and good luck with tank 2. 

CD


----------



## Mr. Teapot

Hi, thanks. I’m really glad you’ve enjoyed my little tank’s journal. 

Maintenance revolves around two 25% water changes a week and scraping algae off the glass. I haven’t hoovered anything for well over a year. Have no idea whats under those plants for fear of sucking out all the good stuff under there. I’m guessing there’s quite a depth of mulm populated with a whole host of interesting life. Give the carpet a hack back about once a month. Lots of clean water is my top tip.

I think I caught the MTS early so may just stop at two… maybe three… Four? Oh, and I found myself looking at a few salty reefs.


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## Mr. Teapot

Moved the XR15 over to the new tank and reinstated my old grobeam tile over the pond. The Radion is running at 25% with all emitters firing, Grobeam at 100%.


 
hmmm... looks like I'm going a bit salty. I guess everyone has this itch at one point or another and I can easily convert back to a second freshwater if it all goes wrong.


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## Sk3lly

The two tanks sat side by side will look stunning! Will be a really really smart set up once complete


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## BigTom

Nice, should look awesome. I've more or less for my head around nano marines now so shout if you run into any questions. 

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## Mr. Teapot

BigTom said:


> I've more or less for my head around nano marines now so shout if you run into any questions.


Thanks Tom. I'll definitely have more than a few questions! I think I've seen your new nano reef on the Saltybox...


----------



## dfinn

Hi,

Bit of a random question. Did you have any issues with having the tank on the wooden sideboard, it looks like solid oak rather than laminated chipboard. Did you tend to get water marks/ damage to the wood. It looks lovely and thinking of doing this for my 45p which is currently sitting patiently waiting to be setup.

Thanks,

Dan


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## Calotype

Hi !!! this is very nice journal !!!
please what is this plant ? thank's


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## Mr. Teapot

The new twin tank hasn’t started yet as I’m still working out the plumbing and equipment. Just pumping tap water to try balancing everything. Real PITA! 



dfinn said:


> Did you have any issues with having the tank on the wooden sideboard,


Wooden sideboard did get a lot of water marks - definitely don’t put it on your cherished antiques!



Calotype said:


> please what is this plant ?


Hygrophila ‘Araguaia’. I think it works really nicely growing out of a carpet.


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## dfinn

Thanks, glad I went for an IKEA one instead.

Dan


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## Mr. Teapot

I've had a couple of request about how to build my lampshade - sorry about my technical drawing, about as user friendly as your average flat pack instructions!


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## Lauris

bless you!!!
Thanks. It is perfect 

I am planted!


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## Edvet

Mr. Teapot said:


> your cherished antiques


they survived 2-300 years already, quite sure some drops won't kill them, just "add history"


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## Crawdaddy

Mr. Teapot said:


>


Hi Mr Teapot, I'm not really familiar with salty tanks. What is that pipe contraption on top of the tank? Is that the inflow/outflow? Looks crazy (and probably a bit of a filth magnet)!


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## James O

Its a mini marine tuba


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Mr. Teapot

It's all very clever. An overflow that starts all by itself. The output of the return pump crates a Venturi - sucks the air out of the siphon tuba.. You never have to worry about a broken siphon to your sump. The tuba comes apart so cleaning shouldn't be too difficult... Great fun to watch and very quiet compared to most overflows.


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## Sarpijk

Mr Teapot a quick question for you. Just got back from IKEA and I saw two species of carnivorous plants slightly damaged for a fraction of the price. One looks like a sundew species the other as a pitcher plant. I am thinking of trying to grow them like you did. How did you planted them? In the pics seems like the Sundew is placed in a different container  attached to the tank? Have yours survived so far?


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## Mr. Teapot

My heliamphora was doing great up to the point I increased the temperature of the tank water (they like it cool). It didn't like having its feet in a warm bath. The North American pitchers ( most likely The one being sold by IKEA should do ok but they would have to be removed for the winter as they require a dormant period - the sundews would also do ok as they like it wet ( mine is doing really well). You'll need to experiment but could try hanging a container from the back or more interesting planting would be into any emerged growth with maybe some additional moss for it to root into. 

Oh yes, they need very bright lighting!


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## Sarpijk

Τhanks for the immediate response! I will get one or even both pots left and try to attach them in the decor the way you did.


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## EvitaL

Hi Mr. Teapot, firstly I must say that your journal is one of my top favorites here on Ukaps and it has been a great source of inspiration for me! I love especially your emersed planting and would love to try something similar on my 54L. A couple of weeks ago I did a rescape on my tank and added some redmoor wood which comes partly emersed above the waterline. Today I noticed that the whole emersed part of the wood is covered in mould.
Do you have any tips for a beginner how this could be avoided?


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## Mr. Teapot

EvitaL said:


> wood is covered in mould.


Hi, I wouldn’t worry too much about the fungus on the wood. Everything will eventually find its place, something will take advantage of the mould and something else will use the fungus eater for its advantage. Just give it a little time and keep the tank healthy and it'll probably disappear.


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## EvitaL

Thank you for the calming words Mr. Teapot, I still have a lot of patience to learn with my two aquariums  Hopefully some day I will achieve something as beautiful as you have with this scape, but I still have a long road to go


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## Mark-jan

We need more frequent update's here!!


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## Mr. Teapot

All my time has been spent researching the salty side of things... so much to learn.

Only a couple of changes with the pond, removed the twig at the front as the growth was shading everything and pushed the coral moss down to create a little more swim space. Everything working on auto pilot and takes no effort at all apart from a quick water change once a week with a couple of squirts of green fertiliser.


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## Edvet

Just one word.............: horrible................pff


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## James O

Makes me feel all green and fuzzy


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## Tim Harrison

Edvet said:


> Just one word.............: horrible................pff


Yer, I agree...seen one marvellous, virtuoso, superlative - and other synonyms to that effect - scape in the "Featured Journals' section...seen them all...


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## GotCrabs

Very peaceful looking, well done.


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## alto

Mr. Teapot said:


> Only a couple of changes with the pond, removed the twig at the front as the growth was shading everything and pushed the coral moss down to create a little more swim space


complete photo shoot needed  ... there is an addiction (among some ) that has not been met by this single parsimonious photographic display 

(_please_)


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## rebel

Just read this over one hour. WOW! What an inspiration! Thanks for all your photos and information. can't wait to see the salty one on the right!


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## Jaap

Mr. Teapot said:


> The recovery is still going well. I think I'm at nearly 8 weeks of rehabilitation since my mistake with the CO2. Mopping up the last bits of algae with Excel. Never used it before and I have to say, it's pretty potent stuff.
> 
> Black brush algae (or staghorn?) in my carpet:
> View attachment 18421
> Day 2: Replaced the next day with pink dead algae
> View attachment 18422



Did you dose Excel with a syringe directly on to and in between the carpet?


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## Jakes

Mr. Teapot said:


> View attachment 4841



I'm liking this surface skimmer where did you get hold of it?


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## Mr. Teapot

Things got a little hectic recently and I had to put the tank on auto pilot for the past five months. The tank has been running without any CO2  and minimal water changes/fertilisers for that time. 

Sorry -  I’ll try and update more frequently.


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## James O

If that's a current picture after 5 months of autopilot, no CO2 or ferts and infrequent water changes then:

1, you have a beautiful teeny tiny tank that is as balanced as say BigToms 

2, and I've gone right off you 

Glad to see you back Mr. Teapot


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## LondonDragon

Feature on FB Gallery


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## Elliot Downs

5 months autopilot and your tank looks like that? Incredible.


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## Claire

How is your marine stuff getting on?


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## chrismiller12341

Incredible. I love the pitchers incorporated into it.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk


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## BexHaystack

We want more Mr Teapot!


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## Lexy

Loved reading this journal, awesome little scape. Curious as to what happend to the Blue Rams and their fry?


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## DannyH

Hi Mr. Teapot, inspirational journal,

I was wondering what happened to the tank? 

Is it still running on 'autopilot'?


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## Mr. Teapot

Building work on my house forced me to ask a relative to look after both tanks with the expected consequences. I’m aiming to start a new journal in the new year...hopefully!


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## alto

So pleased to hear you're still about!

House rescapes & tank rescapes are all great fun


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## Fiske

Mr. Teapot said:


> Building work on my house forced me to ask a relative to look after both tanks with the *expected consequences*. I’m aiming to start a new journal in the new year...hopefully!



Awww...

Since I just signed up here a few days ago, I gotta say: I have lost count of how many times I've read this journal. Such a beautiful tank, and a huge inspiration.
Looking forward to whatever you make next.


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## Million

You have inspired me to merge emersed growing with my new aquascape. Just wish that there was a suitable pitcher plant I could easily obtain. Might have to go with orchids


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