# Aquascaper 600 - Fry



## Fiske (22 Apr 2018)

So I've spent an inordinate amount of time considering what tank I'd want for upgrading from my 45P. Starting out considering a 60P, from there on fantasizing about 90Ps and 120Ps (ignoring the fact that my floors seems to be made of custard). Back to the 60P as an immediate upgrade. Then I was thinking about the reasons (apart from litreage) that made me want to upgrade: the front to back depth of the 45P. This is not much higher in a 60P. Enter the 60H-(45). The 60 x 45 footprint is nice, but the height bothered me, I still was damn close to pull the trigger here.
More thinking: Drive to Sweden to get an Opthiwhite, eg 80 x 40 x 40? Find someone willing to ship an Aquascaper tank to Denmark (reeeally not something I was ready for, costs and risk of damage etc.)? Buy a custom tank and take out a second mortgage to pay for it?

Then I sort of remembered George Farmer talking about Aquascaper tanks on youtube. Did he mention something about availability of these outside the UK? Yes, why, he did! "UK, Australia and Denmark" sayeth the man. Weird; I hadn't seen it anywhere despite searching a LOT. So I asked him in comments if he could elaborate, and surely; within just a short time (I think 1-2 hours) I had a pointer. Good man!




 

Absolutely great! Really beautiful tank, with a lovely footprint, with very good minimal silicone work. And a very nice cabinet too, with a nice oak veneer. This stuff might not be ADA, but it is awfully close (I'd say that the silicone work on this particular tank is as good as my 45P), at a much more palatable price. Just to compare, an ADA 60H(45) plus an ADA stand would probably cost twice as much, or there about.

Also bought a Kessil A160WE Tuna Sun + controller.

Which I kind of regret. This thing is NOISY. Annoying buzzing whirr, that can be heard clearly several meters away. Even the overbearing Mrs. Fiske put her foot down. Kind of sours them grapes...


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## alto (22 Apr 2018)

Fantastic tank 

The A160 - RETURN IT
The humming should only be noticeable up close, not loud even then but the pitch grabs my attention

In theory the 360 should be less prone to noise as more space in the light holder 

There are other lights equally as nice - I like this one for access to the tank without moving anything, but easy enough to slide the Twinstar back as well


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## Zeus. (22 Apr 2018)

alto said:


> The A160 - RETURN IT



+1

I have four 160 tuna suns and if I was doing a Aquascaper 600 I wouldn't use one either, think I would go for the Twinstar better spread of light, two 160 tuna suns maybe if I had them already. The kessil controller nice piece of kit for the money IMO.
Think you may struggle with getting enough light to the ends of the tank, but if doing an island type scape the 160 could work well


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## Fiske (30 Apr 2018)

I went back to the seller with the Kessil. After a bit of listening, and compairing with the other units he had running in the shop (in general shop noise + radio), I had to admit I couldn't hear "my" unit being more noisy than the others. Luckily, and much to the store and the sellers credit, he was completely willing to take it back despite the fact I had opened all the packages and assembling everything. He also reimbursed the price difference in cash between the Kessil and the Twinstar 600S I ended up with instead. So 110% excellent service.


Zeus. said:


> Think you may struggle with getting enough light to the ends of the tank, but if doing an island type scape the 160 could work well


 Initially I was going for an island type, so that wouldn't be a problem; I am however reconsidering that. Light is not a problem with this unit:



 


I most definitely am off to get a TC420!


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## Zeus. (30 Apr 2018)

Fiske said:


> the Twinstar 600S



Completely different light and a better choice IMO thinking of getting some Twinstars myself just talks ATM with some other members on how to resolve the hanging of them as the pendant hanging which twinstar do isnt that good IMO


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## Fiske (1 May 2018)

Zeus. said:


> Completely different light and a better choice IMO thinking of getting some Twinstars myself just talks ATM with some other members on how to resolve the hanging of them as the pendant hanging which twinstar do isnt that good IMO



Yeah, this is definitely a death star photon blaster as ceg would call it. And while I'm a bit miffed that the Kessil didn't work out, the light quality colourwise is way better on the Twinstar. I'll miss the single point shimmer effects, and I liked that the unit was so small (although the clunky gooseneck kinda ruined that), but this was the better choice. 
I shyed away from the pendant version for exactly those reasons btw.


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## Fiske (4 May 2018)

Did a small leak test. Not going to fill it all the way until I got a system sorted for waterchange. Not exactly a Python, but maybe a... Boa?

More techie stuff:
Got the TC420. Nifty piece of gear, and the manual is hilarious. Tried it out. Works nicely. But Twinstar is being silly and the female connector on the lamp will not accept any male connector in the house. Not the one I fitted on the TC420, not the extra one with terminals I have, not the one I fitted on my ADA451 diy dimmer. Only the one on the powersupply. Seems there is no way past some cable cutting here, which annoys me. Is Twinstar being Apple-ish? So I have to cut. I could make a vote here: Cut lamp or powersupply?

BTW, if anyone wonders how Aquascaper stands look on the inside, here's your chance; I had a hard time finding pics of this less fashionable view.

It's not leaking from the bottom:



 

Testing TC420:



 

Twinstar going Apple (this is the silliest thing all week):



 

Roooomy:


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## Andrew Butler (4 May 2018)

Fiske said:


> Twinstar is being silly and the female connector on the lamp will not accept any male connector in the house


I can't remember what size it is but the size does exist and I agree it's strange how it fits one way but not the other.
The size fitting on the E is different to the S though.


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## Kalum (4 May 2018)

You can get a connector from maplin, pretty sure it's 5.5mm/2.5mm, no cutting needed


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## Fiske (4 May 2018)

It's a freaking standard DC barrel jack. Not exactly rocket science. 

All other connectors fit with each other, except that one. Looks a bit like there are some flanges on the center protruding part inside the female connector, I think maybe there's something wrong there, but it's hard to see. I'll cut the damn powersupply, fit a new jack on that, and use the one from the PSU to connect to the lamp from the 420. A power supply is easy to replace. (Although finding a new one ACCEPTABLE to this picky female might be harder


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## Kalum (4 May 2018)

Feel free to cut away but like I said a simple trip to maplin to get an off the shelf connector, I've got it on my twinstar 600s and tc421


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## Fiske (4 May 2018)

Some quality time with a Vernier gauge revealed that despite the fact that all connectors could... well, connect, except one: all mine are 2.1 mm and Twinstars are 2.5 mm, as others have pointed out. I'll refrain from commenting on how the Twinstar male connected great to a 2.1mm, and just mention that an adaptor has been ordered. I guess less than half a millimeter makes an enormous difference...  at least for females.


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## Fiske (7 Oct 2018)

Sorted the connector issue in the spring; apparently it confused the dealer I used too and they sent the wrong one first time around. So there's that. I wonder if it's some metric/imperial/whatever confusion resulting in a 0.4 mm difference, in practicality it doesn't prevent connection, which would be the logical reason for a difference. Anyway...

For a long time nothing happened...

I slowly got everything aquired and planned, more or less. Then, as it usually happens, an explosion of activity and energy (Hah!).

Some hardscaping:





Now the fern had grown attached to this wood; which is balanced precariously on top of another piece of wood. I guess you can see where this is going...

Still going with this, added some water, a few C. wendtii. And some buces visibly glued to the wood 





And this is the point where I broke my 3½ week cigarette break


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## Fiske (7 Oct 2018)

So yeah, there is a reason I'm cutting this update into more than one post.

The above picture is from the point where my planning went tits up. It might not be visible, but at this moment my filter isn't hooked up. There's a few hoses, but I still needed to connect the atomizer, and before I could do that I wanted to make sure it was properly sealed. And to do that I needed to fit my regulator on the CO2 bottle, so I could blow some pressurized CO2 through the atomizer. And to do that I usually use a pair of multigrip pliers, since there's a safety bar on the bottle that doesn't leave much room for tools. So I went into the workshop I share with the rest of the residents in the "compound" (LOL). 

And they were gone.

All of the 2-3 ones that had a suitable size for the job.

Every single one.

And no usable substitutes (which I kind of knew, since the multigrips really were substitutes in the first place).

Some times I consider how easy my life could be if I was a hermit.
On an otherwise deserted island...

Cue cigarette break.


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## DutchMuch (7 Oct 2018)

1 word



l o l


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## Fiske (7 Oct 2018)

DutchMuch said:


> 1 word
> 
> 
> 
> l o l



I wish that could have been my reaction at the time 

Anyway. Next day, hit the shop, buy multigrips; 2 pairs. With the intention to never let them outta my sight. Test the atomizer, yeah, it needs a tightening. Fit it on hoses, filter is ready to go, just add a bit of material from old filter. Boy, we are ROLLING!

And take a long hard look at my work from the day before.... Looks like *oop, doesn't it?

Yeah.

And that top piece of wood balancing on another piece of wood? Yeah, it wobbles like an ether binge on a unicycle. Like cough in the next room, and it would topple.

Magic solution? Yup. Superglue. Know what happens when you try to glue two WET pieces of wood together?


...


Nothing, that's what. Except, if you has immense luck like me, you might risk sticking them to your hands instead. Try tying your shoes then.
Another long think. And another cigarette...


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## Fiske (7 Oct 2018)

So, logical step: try plastic strips. Wasn't working in a way that I liked. At all.

Solution: Rip plants off driftwood, take the 2 pieces, lay them on the substrate, side by side, really. And get to planting, doofus; since we're approaching the end of your 2nd of two days off. And experience has kindly pointed out that plants don't survive well in buckets.

So yeah, end of day 2 ended up with this, warts and all. And it looks like dung. But a lot of the plants got in, filter is running, CO2 is running, lights, camera etc.



 

At this point a couple  of cherries had slipped in and seemed happy. I blame poor eyesight.


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## Fiske (7 Oct 2018)

On the third day of planting...

Actually, I had to sort out some distractions (work), before I could dedicate a long afternoon to getting the last plants (heh) in, and get the tank in a somewhat finished state. Starting this journal I mentioned that this should be an upgrade (as in replacing) my ADA 45P. What I didn't mention was that I also had 4 Parosphromenus in a 25l. One of those died during the winter, not sure why. Gradually I saw less and less of the remaining 3, and I actually had started to scavenge wood, botanicals and plants from the tank to use in this one. And there they were!

Since I had partly demolished their home, and I sort of have given up on getting a brood out of them since I couldn't get water params right in their tank; well, they'd have to move too. So they moved to the ADA whilst I dismantled the 25L.

I had grossly underestimated how many plants were actually in these 2 tanks.

So I'm finishing up on the planting, and moving some of the botanicals from the 45P. I took care to empty them of water, so I was fairly sure no fish or shrimp were inside. Well, suddenly I notice one of the Paros looking disapproving at me from inside the new tank. Oops!
The couple of canary shrimps were still fine, and the tank reused plants, hardscape, some water and filtermaterial from existing tanks, I decided to move everyone. Shrimp, CPDs, Paros, and one lone Hara jerdoni all made the transfer. And thus the 3rd day ended in a succesful way:





Total count: 11 CPDs, 3 Paros, 1 Hara. Oodles of shrimp.

All plants from the previous tanks, except the parrot feather; nabbed a few stalks from my tub.


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## Fiske (7 Oct 2018)

Last post on this for today, promise 

Tech:

Aquascaper 600
And stand
Twinstar 600S w. TC420
Oase Biomaster 600 with Oase 150W heater, stock outlet and spraybar for now.
Qanvee atomizer on return hose
Probably an Eheim skimmer at some point, but not at the mo.

Inside:

Tropica Aquarium soil
Riversand
Seiryu stone
Manzanita
Botanicals from tanninaquatics.com

Plants

Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae
C. wendtii
C. albida "brown"
C. undulatus
Cryptocoryne ? (can't for the life of me remember... willisii, maybe?)
Bucephelandra "red"
Microsorum pteropus
Aponogeton undulatus
Myriophyllum sp "Roraima"
Limnobium
Lemna minor


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## Tim Harrison (7 Oct 2018)

Looking great


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## alto (7 Oct 2018)

Awesome post series 

I really enjoyed your frustrations report   - I have plants sitting waiting (degrading ) while I try to sort out something not completely awful in my 60P 
Everything came back out again last night


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## alto (7 Oct 2018)

Fiske said:


> Well, suddenly I notice one of the Paros looking disapproving at me from inside the new tank


Funny how much fish can convey when they lack eyebrows


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## alto (7 Oct 2018)

I forgot to say how much I like your scape at the end!

Got a bit worried  over the wide expanse of sand 
- until the aqua botanicals went in 

This was my downfall actually - trying to make that sand/stone/soil transition not look totally crap


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## alto (7 Oct 2018)

Just saw this new section at Tannin Aquatics 

Studio Tannin 

Andrea Freel has still done my favouritist Aqua Botanical scape (clearwater)


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## Fiske (7 Oct 2018)

Thanks for the likes guys (and gals). It means a lot.



alto said:


> I forgot to say how much I like your scape at the end!
> 
> Got a bit worried  over the wide expanse of sand
> - until the aqua botanicals went in



For a looong time I thought I was going for a more south american morichal look. Then I noticed I had 2 tanks full of crypts 

They are twigs, nuts and leaves. No one is going to notice it's the wrong continent.



alto said:


> Just saw this new section at Tannin Aquatics
> 
> Studio Tannin
> 
> Andrea Freel has still done my favouritist Aqua Botanical scape (clearwater)



I'm an unashamed Tannin Aquatics fan. I'll check it out.


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## DutchMuch (7 Oct 2018)

agree with tim!


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## Jayefc1 (9 Oct 2018)

Looks great and a very funny look in to the life of an aquascaper and what it can drive us too we have all been the there 

Good luck


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## Fiske (10 Oct 2018)

Tank receives a fair deal of ambient light.

Partly in response to that, and my general impression of the Twinstar light, I have further reduced light intensity. Down from 30% to 20%, there is still plenty of light. 1 hour ramp up, 5 hours at 20%, and a 2 hour ramp down. This unit puts out metric tons of light!

Waterchange 40-50% every 2-3 days.

Bit on the fence with ferts though. On one hand plants haven't been fed for a while in the previous tanks, on the other (correct me if I'm wrong) most of my plants are rootfeeders, and had roots trimmed on replanting. So ferts wouldn't be of much use at this point?


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## dw1305 (10 Oct 2018)

Hi all, 





Fiske said:


> on the other (correct me if I'm wrong) most of my plants are rootfeeders, and had roots trimmed on replanting. So ferts wouldn't be of much use at this point?


All plants can take in nutrients throught their leaves, so root feeders isn't a particularly useful term.

Because you have some Frogbit (_Limnobium laevigatum_), and emergent _Myriophyllum, _you could use either of those as a visual indictor of nutrient status, via the <"Duckweed Index">. 

You will only get the quicker growth advantages of using CO2 if nutrients are available.

cheers Darrel


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## DeepMetropolis (10 Oct 2018)

Your thank looks great in sunlight!


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## Marc Davis (10 Oct 2018)

Fiske said:


> Tank receives a fair deal of ambient light.
> 
> Partly in response to that, and my general impression of the Twinstar light, I have further reduced light intensity. Down from 30% to 20%, there is still plenty of light. 1 hour ramp up, 5 hours at 20%, and a 2 hour ramp down. This unit puts out metric tons of light!
> 
> ...



The low levels of light are making the scape look so authentic in my opinion. Really well done.


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## Fiske (10 Oct 2018)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, All plants can take in nutrients throught their leaves, so root feeders isn't a particularly useful term.
> 
> Because you have some Frogbit (_Limnobium laevigatum_), and emergent _Myriophyllum, _you could use either of those as a visual indictor of nutrient status, via the <"Duckweed Index">.
> 
> ...



I was fairly sure you could correct me on that. Duly noted. Thanks  

Currently dosing 1/2 dose EI, but was a bit on the fence with that. I will continue, and keep an eye on plants on when to up it. 



Marc Davis said:


> The low levels of light are making the scape look so authentic in my opinion. Really well done.



Thanks. That picture is in sunlight only. I really like it too! Favorite spot for a bit of coffee before work. Hopefully it won't prove too problematic. (the sunlight, not the coffee)


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## dw1305 (10 Oct 2018)

Hi all,





Fiske said:


> Currently dosing 1/2 dose EI


I'd keep going with that, and see what happens.





DeepMetropolis said:


> looks great in sunlight!


Certainly does, when I used to have Black Neon Tetras their tank used to get the morning sunlight at ~07:00  around about the equinoxes when I'd just got up, and they would be in the sunlit corner sparring, lit up like little jewels. You won't have known they were the same species as dowdy fish that you saw in the shops.

At other times of the year they didn't get the sunlight on the tank and it didn't happen.

cheers Darrel


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## Fiske (11 Oct 2018)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,I'd keep going with that, and see what happens.



Will do.



dw1305 said:


> Certainly does, when I used to have Black Neon Tetras their tank used to get the morning sunlight at ~07:00  around about the equinoxes when I'd just got up, and they would be in the sunlit corner sparring, lit up like little jewels. You won't have known they were the same species as dowdy fish that you saw in the shops.
> 
> At other times of the year they didn't get the sunlight on the tank and it didn't happen.
> 
> cheers Darrel



Never owned a fish that didn't like a spot of sunlight (not entirely true, I had a couple of cavefish as a kid/teen that probably never saw the sun , also Pangio sp. and Hara jerdoni and similar couldn't care less -- but you get my drift).

Added a few Cyperus helferi to the area between the C. crispatula -- really helped fill that area out and add a bit of colour. Hope it will fill out nicely. Got a few new Bucephelandras too: "Bukit Kelam/Sintang" and "Lamandau Purple"; also from Aquasabi (do I need to plug these guys here? Quality stuff). Spent some quality time with those and superglue  during what ended up being a ~70% waterchange. I had some Riccardia moss surviving on a bit of mesh for a LOOONG while -- ripped it off and glued it to some of the uppermost wood... Not expecting much, but we'll see.

Obligatory crappy phone pics right after my messing about, will add better later (lights not this high usually, just turned on the emergency light for the shot):


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## Fiske (18 Oct 2018)

So, yeah, a small 2nd week update:

Everything is chugging along nicely, am about to do the first clean on the Oase 600 prefilter... I've been putting it off for a while since I really need to restructure the inside of the cabinet first. If your cabinet feels to roomy, stuff a big freaking external filter in there, problem solved. It's a mess really:





All the electric stuff needs to go on the right hand side. Looking out for a magnet for my tools. Might need someting for plant/fish food too, not sure what to do here yet...

Lots of growth happening, C. crispatula making new leaves, prompting me to remove some more of the old leaves that had a bit of algae on them.

Aponogeton finally taking off! I'm chuffed! These are plants I for some reason don't see too often (no idea why -- they are exceptional IMHO). Aquasabi was out of stock (usually are), but I signed up to an email alert, and got one after a while. I picked up 2 bulbs ASAP and dumped them in my 45P. This was some 6 months ago. And they were not pleased. They didn't grow much, and one lost all leaves, probably didn't like being under a blanket of java moss... The other stopped growing, produced a plantlet on a stalk, and grinded to a halt. Now new leaves are shooting on all three bulbs and the largest are doing some serious rooting. Can't wait for these to fill in!





Two old bulbs on the right, new one to the left, all with new shoots.

The guys are in:





His brother from another mother:





It was the plan all along to get some Otos. The habrosus kind of dropped into the bag because I liked them a lot. Still do. Their size is perfect for the sense of scale I want to achieve.
LFS guy was feeling generous so I got one more of each species; total tally 7 otos, 13 cories.
Seven Otos are a bit overkill, but I hope they will fit in nicely. Not seeing yuge amounts of schooling from either, Otos go around on their own mostly, the cories in groups of 2-6.
I'm not going for more fish for the foreseeable future, tank is plenty busy now.

Feeding frenzy at the OK Corral:





Ending up on the obligatory FTS:





There's some stuff happening along the road after this pic, more on that later.


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## Hendre (18 Oct 2018)

Wow! Just read through this and I must say it's absolutely awesome! It's clean and green. Honestly, this tank is a keeper


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## Fiske (18 Oct 2018)

Thanks for the likes, guys.

Full disclosure: I have plenty of algae. And things might still tilt the wrong way. Although passing the 2 week line now, at least massive crypt melt seems to have been avoided.

Bonus:

Chilling with a tab at Catfish Corner:


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## Fiske (20 Oct 2018)

Cleaned the prefilter on the Oase today, after sorting my cabinet. Much needed, I might skip using the prefilter in the future if I need to clean it every week. Cabinet is still messy, but way better than before. Got the electrics lifted of the floor, and mostly separated from the watery parts (don't look to closely, kthanx, I am contemplating a solution that will fix it proper). Still a bit WIP.



 

I have to haul the Oase all the way out of the cabinet to empty it. Coming from Eheim, I was a bit amazed I had to prime the filter to get it going again, even though I didn't empty it. Not sure how keen I am on that. It seems to trap air very easily, and have a hard time getting rid of it again. So quite a bit of farting from the spraybar. Tilting it helps, but this thing weigh 10-12 kilo with water, and it all seems a bit precarious. I can just see it slipping and ripping a hose loose. 



Fiske said:


> There's some stuff happening along the road after this pic, more on that later.



Yeah this. So the java fern in the middle was just stuffed in. Fairly big piece, and not being fastened it tilted a bit unto the crypts. I took it out, made 2-3 smaller pieces and tried to stuff them in better. Seems to work so far, hopefully they will root good. 
Not to happy about the right side of the tank at all. The Aponogetons are placed a bit too close to each other, and that will be changed once I see some decent growth on them. The crypts in front are currently transitioning from the old leaves to some new ones that seem to be a bit smaller and lower, hopefully. If not, I might lose them altogether... Good thing I planned for this tank to be able to have removing plants and replanting a less messy deal than my former tanks. The undergravel Tropica Substrate works great, but remove plants, and everything is a muddy puddle for days, and then your filter is a mess.

Shot a crappy vid, but the LEDs were dimmed so it is stripey. Should be avoidable by running lights at full tilt death star level, so noted for the future:


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## Hendre (20 Oct 2018)

The colour in those cherry Shrimp is insane!


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## Fiske (21 Oct 2018)

Hendre said:


> The colour in those cherry Shrimp is insane!


They are a mix of garden variety cherries and some Fire Reds Sakura Red. They also get lot of catfish tabs and stuff, plus the Twinstar light makes some good work towards making reds POP. So a combination of factors, really. But yeah, they do light up the joint.
Did a 40-50 % wc today and got to see a huge school of otos and cories going around  all the cories were like "Hey, let's follow the big guys"! No time to shoot a vid, alas.


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## Hendre (21 Oct 2018)

They are lovely! I just have some cherries tucked away on my top shelf munching on algae all day. Looking at this I need some nice ones for my next scape.

The huge numbers of catfish really looks great. good job


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## Konsa (21 Oct 2018)

Fiske said:


> Cleaned the prefilter on the Oase today, after sorting my cabinet. Much needed, I might skip using the prefilter in the future if I need to clean it every week.




Hi
 If I were U I wouldn't do that.
U dont want that gunk on your biomedia.Plus better cleaning prefilter every week and removing debri than leaving them in your system.Try adapting coarser sponge if is too fine(Not familiar with prefilter sponge density in Oase filters)
Regards Konsa


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## Fiske (22 Oct 2018)

Konsa said:


> Hi
> If I were U I wouldn't do that.
> U dont want that gunk on your biomedia.Plus better cleaning prefilter every week and removing debri than leaving them in your system.Try adapting coarser sponge if is too fine(Not familiar with prefilter sponge density in Oase filters)
> Regards Konsa



You're probably right. I changed the original prefilter sponges before I started using the filter, from 45 ppi to 30. Happy I did that. Doesn't seem like they have any coarser than those. Some parts of this filter are well thought out, but I feel there's a few small things that are annoying.
Then again; bleed valves are unheard of in the aquarium biz, it seems...

Anyway, not gonna make any major changes at this point, maintenance and stability for now.

My largest Aponogeton reached the surface yesterday, so I'm happy for now. It has really taken off these last couple of days.


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## dw1305 (22 Oct 2018)

Hi all,





Fiske said:


> Doesn't seem like they have any coarser than those.


Could you fabricate your own from a block, or sheet of, PPI20 sponge? You can sew it up with nylong fishing line or button thread etc. 

I'm always reluctant to buy branded sponges, because you don't get a choice of pore size and they are expensive for what you get.

cheers Darrel


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## Andrew Butler (22 Oct 2018)

Fiske said:


> I might skip using the prefilter in the future if I need to clean it every week


Completely with @Konsa on this one; that's the whole idea of a pre-filter!
The length of the filter and having to take it our of the cabinet everytime I wanted to clean the pre-filter is what put me off.


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## Fiske (22 Oct 2018)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,Could you fabricate your own from a block, or sheet of, PPI20 sponge? You can sew it up with nylong fishing line or button thread etc.
> 
> I'm always reluctant to buy branded sponges, because you don't get a choice of pore size and they are expensive for what you get.
> 
> cheers Darrel



I have a huge piece of 20 ppi, so I have considered this already. Might go for it. 

Branded sponges cost an arm and a leg too...



Andrew Butler said:


> The length of the filter and having to take it our of the cabinet everytime I wanted to clean the pre-filter is what put me off.



Hey! It means you can skip the gym


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## Fiske (26 Oct 2018)

Short phone video shot yesterday using only ambient sunlight. Choose highest resolution for best results.


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## Edvet (26 Oct 2018)

I love sunlight in a tank, mine has it in the winter with low sun.


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## Fiske (7 Nov 2018)

I'm a bit baffled this has run for a month without major issues. Fingers crossed tightly as I say: No major crypt melt, no massive algae.

I do have a some smaller issues though, hopefully someone can help:

1. I do get a few holes in leaves on crypts (crispatula and wendtii mainly). I'm guessing it's a deficiency, but a bit unsure which. Dosing APFUK EI (micro/macro alternating days, standard recipe) at full dosage this last 10 days or so in response. It is not massive, mostly older leaves on the wendtii; new AND old on the crispatula. Makes sense since crispatula should be quite a nutrient hog, AFAI have read. Seeing a bit of the same on the Limnobium.

2. Most algae I have are carry overs from the old 45P mainly. So there's a bit of GDA and BBA on one of the rocks (slowly dying away it seems), and on some of the old Buces. The algae on the Buces seem a bit harder to get rid of. I've spotdosed with EasyCarbo several times, but it seems to die too slow for my taste. I'm going to try peroxide soon if I don't see some changes. Also having a low level infestation on the crispatula, which I treat the same way. I have removed most of the old leaves, but the blahblahblahblahblahblahblah persists with infecting the new ones. Still, it's not massive; you have to look for it, but yeah... I'd like to kill it off for good.

If I can pin point the deficiency I'd love to back off to 3/4 or 1/2 dose EI, since I'm seeing a tiny bit of green algae on the glass. Probably caused by sunlight though.

I just know CO2 will come up so here goes: I'm currently trying to see how far I can push it within safety margins for critters. I believe the amount currently is fine, although I have not done a profile, if anything it's more a question of timing. Will do a complete profile at some point when I get the time. Suffice to say, I'm fairly close to have dc's a light limegreen from lights on to lights off. In anticipation, today I'm checking pH from CO2 on to lights on (3 hour interval). Will update this post later today. *Results are in, they are LOL: pH@CO2 on 6.9-ish. 3 hours later pH@lights on 6.4. BPS is something like 5 or 6 at the moment. Remember though, my tap KH is somewhere between 16-20, probably closer to 18-20. Those of you who like pH/KH/CO2 charts can try to find my values there.*

Will nab a few pics when light comes on, this is 5-6 days old:


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## Edvet (7 Nov 2018)

Be carefull with sunlight!. I love sunlight in a tank, but it can be a lot of light which means CO2 problems. It can help if you time your lighting to coincide with the sunlight, best starting just before, and time the CO2 with that too.


Fiske said:


> Limnobium.


Use this as the "duckweed index" by Darrel. If these show problems up the micro's and macro's untill the new leaves are lush green.


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## Fiske (7 Nov 2018)

Edvet said:


> Be carefull with sunlight!. I love sunlight in a tank, but it can be a lot of light which means CO2 problems. It can help if you time your lighting to coincide with the sunlight, best starting just before, and time the CO2 with that too.



Sunlight is not the biggest problem this time of year, luckily. It's fading fast. I've got a few ideas on how to handle it, including curtains and timing of light.



Edvet said:


> Use this as the "duckweed index" by Darrel. If these show problems up the micro's and macro's untill the new leaves are lush green.



So I'll continue dosing as I do now, or even up it slightly, while I continue pushing CO2 to the limit.


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## Fiske (7 Nov 2018)

FTS from today:



 

Still contemplating some changes to the right hand side.

Did a complete filter clean today, was probably needed. I've had some surface film for a while; started when I noticed Oto's preferred their cucumber blanched, and nice and goopy after 24+ hours in tank. Also huge waterchange (twice a week for these at the mo'). And some spot dosing on a few places with resilient algae.

Added a couple of handfuls of blue and green Neocaridina a week ago. I know all these colours will not stay 'clean', but no matter.

All fishes should be alive and well. I say should be, since the Oto's are a bit hard to get together in the frame. Hidey beggars. Last count gave me 6, guessing one wasn't feeling sociable.

Cyperus helferi is probably a poor choice, seems like it is dying?


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## Fiske (21 Nov 2018)

Small update:

Around week 6. Still no huge issues. Did a few changes:

1. Changed the direction of the spraybar. Well, actually, I just moved the outlet to the other end, sort of flipped the whole arrangement. Water jets from the spraybar were skewed a bit the left side, where the inlet to the filter also was. Result was a bit of a dead-ish zone in the back right corner, not that the Aponogetons  minded that though. I feel it's a bit better now. Consequently; skimmer is now on the right side still facing towards the front. Added bonuses: Aponegeton leaves not bunched up in current; all filter hoses are away from the electrical outlets in the cabinet. Hurrah.

2. Installed a JBL Countsafe to better eyeball CO2 bubbles. Much better. My old one didn't really give any indication apart from: none, one, lots. Thx JBL. So I'm slowly upping my CO2.

3. Removed much of the Java fern and put in some Bolbitis. Wish me luck.
4. Inspected the above Cyperus, decided to give it a chance, moved it forward a bit to catch more light, and planted Eleocharis vivipara in its place.
5. Moved the largest Aponogeton (YUGE roots) away from the other smaller two.
6. Removed a suffering Buce "Red", and added a Buce "Theia" instead. Will have to divide it though.
7. Moved a few of the Wendtii about and added lots of S. subulata to different bald spots.

So happy I went with Tropica Soil for easy replanting in this tank.

I've gotten some snails, dunno if they got it bad in transit, it seems the ramshorns died fairly quick on arrival. One Clithon doing fine, the other a bit lethargic; I'll give it some time. Also got some M. granifera: One was an €2 empty shell, one has died... I think the remaining are ok though. Trying to do another order from another place on ramshorns and Clithons. Water should be OK, shrimps, fish and my original MTS and bladdersnails are fine. Strange.
I might have lost 1-2 Oto's, but yeah, not sure. The ones I see look fat and happy.
Still having some melt on the C. crispatula. I hope my slightly increasing CO2 might help. They did kind of fine in a 45P with no CO2 and only sporadic ferts for months. It'd be MASSIVELY nice if they came around...

Crappy phone FTS:


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## alto (22 Nov 2018)

Tank is looking good 

I suspect the C crispatula is just sulking about all the changes (45P to current tank etc) - I find it takes its time establishing good roots (or whatever it’s actually doing ) before finally putting out decent leafs (that don’t melt when the wind changes direction)

C helferi - I don’t find this plant is particular about lighting etc but then I have very soft tap water 

Oddly I set up my 60P with new Tropica soil etc BUT added Tropica Nutrition Capsules as per Jurijs mit JS, and have noticed extraordinary rooting by the Cyperus and the Hemianthus micranthemoides in the ~5 weeks its been running 
Tank has actually been rather neglected with maybe 3 water changes since planting 
I borrowed filter media from other tanks so I did add some Clithon corona snails and a few shrimp around Day 3 (or 5 or ...  well sometime in the first week)
Light and CO2 have also been erratic 
No visible algae  though my Elatine hydropiper slowly melted (it wasn’t in the best condition when planted and when it chose to give up, I rather ignored the poor tank)

Re snails, I suspect they are sensitive to overheating during transit (from farms to wholesaler to retailer) 
Last shipment, C corona all arrived and appeared active, but then slowly became empty shells collection over some weeks 
New shipment C corona has been much more active from arrival and no losses after few weeks


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## alto (22 Nov 2018)

Fiske said:


> One was an €2 empty shell


This is always disappointing 

Your seller should replace/credit


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## Fiske (1 Mar 2019)

Looks over last post.... Dang, it's been a while!

Got a refund for the snails from the one seller I actually got around to contacting 

So nuthin much has happened for a while, except I had what I suspected was BBA in low volume. I also couldn't get rid of it completely. Growth was not impressive, natural since all plants except the Aponogetons were slow growers. The C. helferi I had was struggling, and so was the Eleocharis viviparus (IIRC) I replaced it with. I think they might have gotten too cold during transit, although Aquasabi does a good job on packaging. Anyway, they mostly melted.

Shake the bag try something new, I thought. Let's try some rotundifolia, some P. erectus, some L. aquatica, even a bit of H'ra. The Limnophila did fairly well, so did the rotundifolia, the Pogo grew a bit, then stalled. H'ra told me: "More light, CO2 and everything please". It also was placed badly.
It was here I also soured on the spraybar (I know some love them; I find them ugly, and have a hard time getting rid of dead spots with them. Failure in application? Might be. Not loosing sleep over that!), and changed to the lily pipe I originally bought for this tank, it works for me, so bite me 

Still, I was not completely happy, planting was a bit of a mess, not much actual growth apart from the Apo's sprouting 5 new daughter plants on average weekly; an that darn BBA was spreading... except!

It wasn't BBA, it was a YUGE index finger pointed at me that said: "You SLOTH!"
It was staghorn, lot's of it and spreading. Now, my lights were at 20-30 %, my CO2 whilst not entirely on the spot is certainly very much playing ball in the ballpark, my ferts on the light side, flow is getting around; what I DID have was LOADS of mulm (really; after months of melting?). The 2 big roots in the middle? Check, Detritus City. The large patch of Dwarf sag along the backpane  ? Check, Mulmsville. Etc, etc, etc.

Only one thing to do.

Earthquake time.

Look at this little village hiding horrible truths:



 

It was going to get torn apart, and although I usually wouldn't do massive work on a tank like this with the inhabitants still in, it would have to do; I had nowhere else to put them.
My preparations were in place, though. Apart from intending to use some existing plants, I also wanted to get rid of some that wasn't plain working, or had been problematic from the get go.



 

The procedure the following days:

1. Remove sandy beach of chaos. It wasn't working, although shrimps loved it. Lots of botanical particulate, quite some mulm, decaying botanicals and a general eyesore after a while. Replace sand with aquasoil.
2. Remove roots and remove stones. Last part was tricky, because they were holding the aquasoil in the back, and I wanted an earthquake, not a mudslide. 
3. Remove all plants, and vacuum the substrate. I did this in portions, one side at a time, in order to keep some plants in for the critters to hide in. I sincerely believe they appreciated that. 
4. Get epiphytes onto 1 root (instead of 2) and a couple of dragonstones.
5. Sort plants, what lives and what is compost.
6. Plant. (No, no, really... Plant.)

All interspersed with frequent waterchanges and (pre-)filter cleans. 

Here's a heap of piccies to show some of the mess:



 

Roots out, sandy beach gone.



 

Careful planning, less mess.



 

Plants in their natural environment; the bucket.

Then, after lots of mulm sucking, on to planting:



 

New stems, right hand side: Pogo erectus (sounds like a punk band) on the left, Rotala H'ra on the right. Both in vitro, Limnophila tops planted in front. I plan to keep this fairly short. We'll see.



 

Left hand side: Reused epiphytes + new in vitro pinnatifida, that mostly looked like something I could find under my sofa. Eleocharis dwarf grass in front. New AND old Riccardia moss on wood. Some chain swords on the right. C. albida on the very right. Old Apo's and new in vitro C. crispatula balansae along the back (that's right I finally gave up on my old ones, they never got around since the move).

FTS from yesterday, I couldn't continue anymore, I was beat! 



 

That bare spot is for HC. The day ended with a waterchange. All critters alive and well, if a bit hyper, new surroundings and all.

Today was finish up day: Plant HC, a few adjustments, clean filter and do a wc. HC in, fiddle a bit. Then waterchange, last point was the wc. When else does disaster decide to strike?

Now, I use a JBL In-Out, it works fairly well. Although the hose they supplied was 8 m (IIRC), I need about double. So I've retrofitted with Eheim hose in the proper length. This might explain why sometimes the hose pops off the faucet attachment. Happened twice, and great fun everytime  Additionally (if that wasn't plenty) my mixer is some crappy limestone suffering POS, it is very hard to get the right temp, and KEEP it. So a fairly simple, and supposedly not work intensive job: Except for me it involves running back and forth repeatedly: Is the hose about to pop? Is the temperature right? Is everything ok at the tank? Is it overflowing? Etc.
Today suddenly I notice that the water is very cold, trying to get it more around 20 C, checking the tank and I see one Cory and one Oto lying tits up. ARGH! Oh, they're still breathing, albeit faintly.
Finish up quick! Get some water moving! Get some heat on! Luckily, they got around fairly fast. I think they accidentally swam through some of the water that was  maybe only 5 C and got knocked out. They seem fairly well now I hope, although I managed to drop overall tank temp to 17 C. 



 

Final shot as of now (ATMITAS?)

Leaving for a couple of days tomorrow, with light on a fairly low setting, plenty CO2 (ascertained today I wasn't gonna gas anyone while away), and very minimal ferts for the older plants.
Hoping to not return to a muddy pool of algae and floating plants etc , instead to beginning growth.


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## soggybongo (1 Mar 2019)

like it mate


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## alto (1 Mar 2019)

Looks grand 


Great photos!


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## Ady34 (2 Mar 2019)

What a post and what a series of battles. Fingers crossed you have won them all 
The tank looks great


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## Hades (2 Mar 2019)

Fiske said:


> Final shot as of now (ATMITAS?)




I owe you 4 more likes!
At least! 

Great post BTW!
Made me laugh whilst i was still feeling the suffering a few times!
That's how it's done!


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## Duplicareus (2 Mar 2019)

Love reading your journey!


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## Fiske (6 Mar 2019)

Thanks for the comments and likes everyone.

It was with some trepidation I did the rescape and then left for Berlin for 4 days. In preparation I set the lights low, put the skimmer on 24 hour duty (it is normally on a timer to run a couple of minutes every other hour, and for a handful of hours during night) and left the CO2 on its regular setting. I left a few glasses with measured amounts of low dose ferts for my step-dad-in-law (or some such) to pour in on 2 of the days. I refrained from doing a waterchange on the morning before I left; didn't want anything to go awry, as I wouldn't have time to fix it. Needless to say I found myself worrying a bit while away. 
Back home; quite a few floating plants (as expected), and one fish has left the building, as evidenced by a minute pile of bones. It might be yet another cory; I've unfortunatly been loosing these at a steady rate over the last couple of months. I think I'm down to 3 now, and not really been able to pinpoint the reason (except for the 2 that got caught in the skimmer during a mesh malfunction).
Amazingly, even though I've indicated the opposite at times: All 7 Otos are still alive and well. So there's  that.
Replanted the floaters, did a 50% wc (no disasters this time, thankfully), dosed a bit of micro. Running lights a bit high today (maxes at 60% for 1 hour, full period 7 hours including ramp up and down at either end), and might keep it like that if I can get a pH profile done soon. My old pH meter was as reliable as a stick in a turd, so bought a new cheapo; cheaper than changing the electrode on the old.
Plants overall looks fine. I can see that all the new plants are starting to orientate towards the light source. My old clump of Riccardia seems to have taken badly to the move around and has turned a sort of brownish green. Bit sad about that. But the rest looks fine still so fingers crossed. One lump of pinnatifida still looks mostly like a dustbunny, the other has started to resemble a plant.

FTS as of today, need to pick a few floaters out of the Limnophila, it has a talent for catching them:




 

Sorry about the reflections.

Speaking of Berlin; those of you familiar with the city might have visited Dussmann Kulturkaufhaus, a huge shop with loads of books, cd's and LPs. It has a garden wall made by Patrick Blanc, in adjunction to the cafe; it's quite a sight usually. Unfortunately it wasn't looking to good this time around, don't know if it is getting to dry in the central heating (although it looked fine last year about this time). Still pretty impressive:



 

Yeah, that is basins with aquatic plants at the bottom.




 



 



 

It might just need a do over, I'd be sad to see it go.


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## Fiske (10 Mar 2019)

Short crap video, with assorted kitchen background sounds, of the current state:


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## TBRO (10 Mar 2019)

Looking really a lot better! I’m coming to the conclusion that sand beach looks nice but needs lots of replacement to keep it that way. Thinking of doing a carpet in my AS 900. 

What is the wavy leaf plant in the back? 

Shame that geen Wall is suffering. They are amazing instillations! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Fiske (10 Mar 2019)

Background plants is Aponogeton ulvaceus. And Cryptocoryne crispatula balansae, but they are still quite low.
Yeah, hopefully the vertical garden will bounce back. I've seen it when it was in full glory, and it was impressive. It is really massive in size.


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## Mark Timms (12 Mar 2019)

Looks very crisp and like the addition of those leaves!


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## Conort2 (12 Mar 2019)

Looks great. Watch that ulvaceus! they get bloody massive and the leaves will take over the tank if you let it.

Cheers

Conor


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## Fiske (12 Mar 2019)

Conort2 said:


> Looks great. Watch that ulvaceus! they get bloody massive and the leaves will take over the tank if you let it.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Conor



I hope so! There is plenty of room behind that wood. At an estimate, around 18-20 centimeters to the back glass. I hope to actually have to remove plants at some point.


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## Conort2 (12 Mar 2019)

Fiske said:


> I hope so! There is plenty of room behind that wood. At an estimate, around 18-20 centimeters to the back glass. I hope to actually have to remove plants at some point.


Ah don't worry it'll fill that in no time at all lol, it'll then proceed to fill the top of the tank. It used to fill the top of a three foot tank in a few weeks if I let it. It's a beautiful plant by can get to monster sizes quickly.

Cheers

Conor


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## Fiske (23 Mar 2019)

So, a bit of a change up.
The Limnophila aquatica wasn't working at that spot, besides the lower parts was very infested with algae, so out it went. I've got a few stems of it in my lowtech, though. Likewise, the C. albida has been ailing for so long it is not even funny no more; out and into the lowtech with that. In place of these I've put in:
- A few small rocks to act as a border between the HC and the rotala.
- A bunch of Hygrophila 'Araguaia'
- A bunch of Limnophila hippuridoides

The Rotala H'ra is doing good, I intend to keep it low and bushy; rapidly approaching first trim, so I need to think about how to handle that business. Some of them have been moved forward to where the L. aquatica was, in order to make room for the hippuridoides. That one seems to take off fast.
For some reason I've never had Pogo erectus working well for me, this one seems slow on the uptake too, so we'll see. Riccardia doing well. Same for C. crispatula and the hairgrass, the HC seems to start carpeting after I have replanted every one at least 500 times (cats and shrimp and snails seem to "uproot" these regularily during establishing).

Have taken a zero tolerance to staghorn popping up on (older) leaves. Cut them off on sight. In combination with other efforts this seems to have some effect. Took a heavy toll on Aponogetons and C. wendtii though, but new leaves look good so far. Still a few remnants here and there. Fingers crossed.

The other efforts? 
Well, first order: Get some actual numbers on CO2. This means giving up the expensive, but not working pH-meter. Chinese industry comes to the rescue with a cheapo, calibrated with a screwdriver. Short story: No wonder my fish looked a bit stressed; regularily hitting 1.1-1.2+ drop. So I've backed up a bit, and is fine tuning at the moment.
Secondly; all the lowish light, ½ dose EI was not helping any plants, but algae LOVED it. I've grown tired of ailing deficient plants, furried up with staghorn.
New order: light @ 100% for about 3 hours in mid period, MASSIVELY overdosing EI (125 percent APF EI mix, plus Tropica ferts + extra iron). Getting a bit of green algae on glass, much to the pleasure of Otos and snails). Been running this way for 2 weeks, so far so good. Am actually pleased to see that algae can be green, not blackish grey  Starting to see some actual growth.

As for layout, LOL, will not be winning any contests with this though. I am ok with that, just want to grow some plants at this point. Frankly it is a mess. The wendtii might go, I'm not too sure. Same with the chainswords, not sure they are right here.

Bunch of crappy phone pics and a short video:


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## Fiske (1 Apr 2019)

Small update:

From this:



 '

To this in 1 month:



 

I must say; I'm fairly happy with this. There's still some BBA and Staghorn popping up here and there, mostly on the Buces and a bit on the Bolbitis, but it is not much: I suspect the wood is the culprit here, I've been using this piece constantly for 3 years, and it is getting soft. I did buy another piece for the recent rescape but had to refrain from using it due to time constraints. Have a bunch of in vitro epiphytes coming in, and I think I will do something about it soon. Out with the old, in with the new.

Will do a larger CO2 themed update soon-ish, but for now just a pic of some new denizens in Casa Fiske:



 

Got 4 of these guys saturday, unfortunately one jumped during the night. I think it stressed about the current from the skimmer; I've decommisioned that for now. Hopefully the rest will calm down and stay wet, at least it seems like that for now. Also upped the count of CPDs from 11 to the just as prime number of 17, hope they will get a little more confident and outgoing. So far it seems to work. As usual, a scrawny bunch of criiters, these CPDs, but so were my old ones before they got FAT. Now they're just a marauding bunch of chubbies. I swear the new ones are only half size in any direction.


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## TBRO (3 Apr 2019)

Looking really nice. I like the red/bronze  crypt in the middle, which species is it? 

Peacock Gudgeon are really cool. Nice work. T


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Fiske (3 Apr 2019)

TBRO said:


> Looking really nice. I like the red/bronze  crypt in the middle, which species is it?
> 
> Peacock Gudgeon are really cool. Nice work. T
> 
> ...



C. wendtii "Tropica" if memory serves. These plants have been with me for years, and are MASSIVE. I really don't feel they fit too well at that spot, but I have a hard time removing them since the only place that has room is the compost. Besides, the fishies like them.

The gudgeons are a bit more aggressive than I expected, both towards each other, and everyone else. Or rather one of them is a right little bugger. The other two are more balanced. I think I've might have ended up with 3 females, though. Might have to search for a rooster  Awesome little fish, I've postponed having these for way too long.


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## Fiske (5 Apr 2019)

That large CO2 post I threatened? Yeah, here it is. Skip if you find CO2 as interesting as drying paint. 

So when I started the hi-tec route with injecting and all, I looked at quite an expenditure. Finally I decided to buy a CO2art regulator set that included everything but the bottle. Because I'm sometimes a penny pincher, I decided on a single stage regulator. Actually, I just wanted to keep the initial cost as low as possible. So I got a lot of time to contemplate how annoying it was to constantly adjust the injection rate as the bottle emptied. Thus that dual stage reggie was always at the back of my mind. Also, the bottles I use has a safety bar which made installing the reg a &/"!/%! to say it nicely. As an aside; unless you have the connections, the FE route wasn't really viable for me. It might just be some weird danish thing; apparently we like overpaying. I did spend an afternoon having a look, but unless I wanted to pay through the nose, yeah, well, nope.

Finally, I took the jump, and invested in a Tunze 7077. I'm not dissing CO2art here, but it was like going from a rusty Honda to a BMW. This regulator probably weighs double of my old one. The housing on the solenoid broke a long time ago, but I hoped to reuse it at least for a while. But when I finally got it separated from the old reg (which meant disassembling everything), I could see it wouldn't work without at least 2-3 fittings. So I had to assemble the old reg again, and of course now it was a bit leaky. Also, the solenoid had given up completely.
Cue a couple of days of manually turning CO2 on and off, whilst waiting for a new solenoid to arrive. 

Parts:



 



 

Assemble:



 


Easily tightened by hand.

Everything up, and ready to roll:



 


So I'm back to calibrating CO2, but honestly it's been a breeze. Need to run a pH profile to get back to my 1.1-1.2 drop, but I'm very close just by eyeballing.

Next up; trimming and root canal. Uh, fresh wood. Uh... Well.


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## Fiske (7 Apr 2019)

Huge trim of stems finally done. I have removed loads of plantmass. Since everything was getting a bit messy, I cut the tops of the Rotala and the L. hippuridoides, scrapped the lower parts and replanted the best looking tops. Once grown in I will start using blackcurrant method on them. Before I cut the Limnophila I noticed this:



 

Very chlorotic areas on the leaves. So some deficiency, at a guess I'd say Fe? Which is hilarious since I have been dosing Fe several ways. I guess I need to look at chelators, as I've planted everything in some very viscous rock that goes by "water" around these parts. Oh, damnation...

Also, I finally took the plunge and changed out the wood to a new piece. I had been eyeballing  the new piece and was fairly certain it was about the same size as the old one. Refraction called, and sure enough, the new one is almost twice as large. Good, more room for epiphytes: More Riccardia (which apparently I can grow well and algae free, as opposed to so called 'easy' plants. Go figure. ), more Bolbitis and more H. pinnatifida. The old Bolbitis and the old Buces? Into the lowtech for de-algaeing. Only plant left with visible algae is the HC, which after 500 replantings have started to grow on stilts, there's room for parking your Volvo between the plant and the substrate. I think I might change it out for more hairgrass, unless it ups its game. Gave it a large trim anyway.

It looks a bit naff right now:



 

Warts and all. Obligatory rock, because, hey, wood floats.

Look at that happy gudgeon! You know why it is happy? That's because it doesn't have to stay home with the kids. Yup, I checked all the savu pods for inhabitants, because I wanted to give them a glut treatment (the pods, not the inhabitants ). So I shone a powerful light into each while holding the pod to the front glass just below the surface. "Oh, this one's empty. Wait, what is that greyish stuff. Oh, it moves. Oh, there's daddy!" So I got all of the gudgies sexed. Two females, and one stay at home dad. That's why he was so extremely aggressive. They must have spawned almost immediately on introduction, I think I saw 2 of them enter that pod he has been guarding so ferociously, on the second day. I hope some will survive, although chances are slim. Will they take vinegar eels once free-swimming?


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