# The upgrade!



## Egmel (20 Aug 2008)

Well I went and picked up my new tank on Sunday, it's a metre long Juwel Rekord 120l.  

I've kept the original filter but just filled it with filter wool in place of the sponges.  My eheim 2213 is doing the brunt of  the biological filtration.

I've got the original 30W lamp in still and have added 2 15w lamps from my old 70l.  So I currently have 30w of GE 'white' and 30w of arcadia 'freshwater'.

At the moment my DIY CO2 kit is still leaking so I'm using easy carbo, about 5ml per day (~2ml per 50 litres).

I'm using a DIY TPN+ with double the normal phosphate levels and adding 20ml per day.

My substrate is plain play sand from argos.

Current livestock is 1 gold spot dwarf plec (similar to the pitbull plecs), about 20 cherry shrimp, 5 apple snails, 2 mini nerites and lots of trumpet snails of various types.  Any recommendations for fish greatly received as I've found someone willing to ferry me to a fish shop in return for tea and cake 

So... some photos 




Adding the substrate, my original idea was to use hydrocela (fired clay balls) as a base under sand.  They floated while I was priming them but I figured if I put enough sand on top of them then they'd get the idea and stay down.  I was wrong  but since they float they're easy enough to fish out.  I think there's still a few left in there but most popped up as soon as I added the water   




I know you're meant to start with the hardscape but I knew I wanted a 'curtain' of vallis at the back to help hide the pipe work/wires behind the tank (this tank is without a background).  I also wanted to use the swords to hide the Juwel filter a bit.

Once these were in I could get on with the hardscape.



I'm using wood for the 3rd on the right and slate for the left and centre thirds, I'm intending that the right hand side should be more woodland feel whilst the left hand side a cleaner finish.



I've used the stems from my old scape still in their bunches.  I'm not sure that I'm entirely happy with their positioning and I may end up swapping them all about.  Since they're still in lead that should be a simple enough task.



I split the foreground crypts etc into green and red to ensure an even spread, these are the green ones in, I've used more at the wood end than at the slate end.



And with the red crypts and hairgrass added.  I've used the hairgrass exclusively on the right by the wood to add some depth under the long stemmed crypts.



The finished tank after the water has had a chance to clear and the inhabitants have been introduced to their new home 



Under its own lights.

All these photos are available in original resolution on my flickr site in the 30G fish tank set


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## beeky (20 Aug 2008)

Looks good. You'll have to be heavy with the ferts if there's no nutrient substrate though, especially with crypts and swords.

How about some corys, they'll love that sand. And maybe a pair of apistos? Not sure if they'll snack on the shrimps though.


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## Egmel (20 Aug 2008)

beeky said:
			
		

> Looks good. You'll have to be heavy with the ferts if there's no nutrient substrate though, especially with crypts and swords.


That's the plan, I'm basically aiming for EI levels but with DIY TPN+ since it's easier to dose (I can never remember what day of the week it is!)


> How about some corys, they'll love that sand. And maybe a pair of apistos? Not sure if they'll snack on the shrimps though.


I really like the idea of getting some panda corys, I've always wanted them, not sure if the tank will be to cluttered for them though.
I'm not a huge fan of cichlids, I was looking more for some sort of shoaling fish.  I had some penguin tetras which were cool, but they never really shoaled, they tended to be quite territorial in fact.


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## beeky (20 Aug 2008)

The best shoaling fish IME is the rummynose. Nearly everything else disperses on their own once they get settled. I've got 7 glowlights which shoal most of the time though, but they share with 2 angels to keep them on their toes/fins!

I've also got some pandas in my jungle and they seem happy enough.


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## a1Matt (20 Aug 2008)

beeky said:
			
		

> The best shoaling fish IME is the rummynose.



Without a doubt, couldn't agree more.  

They even inspire other fish to shoal!   

30 neon tetras just lazed about in my tank, I put just 3 rummy's in and the whole lot were shoaling all the time!


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## LondonDragon (20 Aug 2008)

Looking great  now you just have to let those plants grow and fill it in more, keep us posted


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## Egmel (21 Aug 2008)

beeky said:
			
		

> The best shoaling fish IME is the rummynose. Nearly everything else disperses on their own once they get settled. I've got 7 glowlights which shoal most of the time though, but they share with 2 angels to keep them on their toes/fins!


If I didn't have shrimp then I might consider getting some bigger fish to encourage smaller ones to shoal.  Saying that a group of one or 2 types of fish, even if not shoaling tightly all the time still look good.


> I've also got some pandas in my jungle and they seem happy enough.


So very nearly convinced... not sure they'd be best going in first, although the filter is mature it's had a very low bio-load for quite some time now.  I might be best off getting other fish first.


			
				a1Matt said:
			
		

> beeky said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Now that's an interesting point.  I was looking at some other tetra or small danios so possibly I could have a shoal of each and see what happens.

Unfortunately I'm going to be slightly limited by what they have in stock at my LFS, I have as yet to find any review, good or bad, on shops in my area.


			
				LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Looking great  now you just have to let those plants grow and fill it in more, keep us posted


Cheers LD, I'm looking forward to the crypts creating a dense little jungle on the right and probably splitting the stems up a bit to fill out the mid ground.  Then of course there's the vallis curtain though I'm not sure that it'll make any great headway whilst the main carbon source is EasyCarbo.


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## Egmel (1 Sep 2008)

Well in return for tea and cake my friend played taxi and took me fish shopping 

Since the tank has had a low bio-load for the last month or so I decided to start slowly and i got 10 Rummy Nose tetras and 6 ottos.




These guys are shoaling beautifully and even confuse my ottos into shoaling with them sometimes!



Though not when there's food about, then they're all about the algae wafers!

I'm really happy with these and over the next month I need to decide whether to add another small shoal of something else or to up the number of rummy noses.  The ottos are better than I expected, I've never had them before, always been told they were a little weak and prone to dying easily, but when I looked at them in the shop I decided to take the risk.  They seem to really be enjoying the fact that the tank is planted, they must look really lost in a non-planted tank in comparison.  

Unfortunately the staghorn nerites weren't happy and I'm fairly certain they're dead, plus a couple of my apple snails seem to be on their last legs (not that they had any to start with).  I've moved them all into a holding tank so that if they are dead they wont pollute the water for my new fish but if they're alive then I can keep an eye on them.  Fingers crossed.


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## Garuf (1 Sep 2008)

My ottos always shoal with what ever fish they are in the tank with them. They're my favourite fish to watch, I find them really characterful.


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## Egmel (1 Sep 2008)

Garuf said:
			
		

> My ottos always shoal with what ever fish they are in the tank with them. They're my favourite fish to watch, I find them really characterful.


I've heard mixed things, as I say I think they come into their own in a planted tank.  Which is probably why people on this board rave about them but others are less enamoured!  I'm loving them, they're fun to watch and they do seem to be nibbling on just about everything!


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## a1Matt (1 Sep 2008)

Otos and Rummies what a great start Egmel


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## beeky (2 Sep 2008)

Got another full pic of the tank now?


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## TDI-line (2 Sep 2008)

It's coming on well Egeml.


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## Egmel (2 Sep 2008)

beeky said:
			
		

> Got another full pic of the tank now?


Will try to get one this evening, it needs a prune so it might well be before and after shots if you're lucky


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## Egmel (4 Sep 2008)

Sorry for the delay on these, w*rk's been getting in the way.

The vallis as predicted isn't making the bid for freedom that I'd like it to, though it has started to put out some new runners 

The crypts have stopped melting (I only lost a couple of leaves in the end) and are bedding in well.

The stems are growing well, at the moment I'm concentrating on getting them to spread out so I'm chopping the long ones in half at each prune.  Seems to be doing the trick nicely.

I've shuffled a few things about to try and pull some of the slower growing stems out of the shadow of the faster growing ones.

Prior to a good prune (please excuse the flash)

After a good prune (need to get the knack of getting the stems to face the right way)


A couple of inhabitants photos...
MTS in full glory

A nice chunky bellied Otto


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## beeky (4 Sep 2008)

Great pics, and nice tank. Definitely a jungle in its infancy!


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## Egmel (4 Sep 2008)

beeky said:
			
		

> Great pics, and nice tank. Definitely a jungle in its infancy!


Thanks, I'm sure it'll change a lot before I'm truly happy with it.  I can't wait for the swords and vallis to take over their respective roles, by then the stems will hopefully be bushier and healthier too.

You may notice I'm back on the nutrafin ladder, my DIY kit refused to play ball so I reverted to tried and tested.  As I say I'm hoping to get pressurised CO2 for my B'day in Oct and that should make life easier.  Until then I'm going to use the nutrafin kit and easy carbo.


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## GreenNeedle (4 Sep 2008)

I really like it.  Reminds me of my first scape (left of signature) only brighter.

I never found Otos weak or sensitive but they do seem to starve quite easily.  Yours look great though and you have a great position there in a nice bright room.

AC


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## Egmel (4 Sep 2008)

SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> I really like it.  Reminds me of my first scape (left of signature) only brighter.
> 
> I never found Otos weak or sensitive but they do seem to starve quite easily.  Yours look great though and you have a great position there in a nice bright room.


Thanks, the room actually has only one window and it's on the east wall, but it's a magnolia wall colour (rented accom) and whilst I have way too much furniture almost all of it is white to keep the room feeling light.  I've tried to position the tank out of direct sunlight on the south wall and in fact now I've got the bigger tank it's the only place it can go!

The ottos have only been in under a week so I'm going to have to defer to MA@Guildford for them looking healthy, fingers crossed they're looking as good in a couple of months time.

I think the reason I so like the jungle scapes is that you can fit so many plants into them.  At the end of the day, that's the bit of this that I really like, the plants.  I love all the different colours and shapes, they don't all go together but then sometimes I think life is a bit like that.


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## beeky (5 Sep 2008)

The only thing I would say, is that I'm not too keen on that piece of vertical slate. Looks like a partition's been put up.


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## Egmel (5 Sep 2008)

beeky said:
			
		

> The only thing I would say, is that I'm not too keen on that piece of vertical slate. Looks like a partition's been put up.


I was thinking the same thing!  There are lots of bits of vertical slate, that one's just the most prominent, maybe I'll have a switch around next time I prune things.  Try and balance it a bit more.


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## Egmel (30 Sep 2008)

Figured it's probably time for an update... it having been almost a month since my last one!

Quick photo taken this morning under naff lights





As you can see the stems have filled out lots, but now I'm not sure if I like them!

I've got some java moss attaching itself to some wood in a holding tank and I'm seriously considering removing the stems and having more low level darker plants with a patch of glosso allowed to grow up and some more bits of wood.  My crypts are looking great and I really like the effect they give with the wood.  I'm tempted to emulate this across the rest of the tank.

I can keep the stems growing happily in my holding tank if I do decide to make the change.  Nothing's going to happen anytime soon anyway since I need to wait for the java moss to attach itself to the wood.

My rummy noses are also hiding behind the big slab of stems and they don't come out until lights out 

Will see if I can get some better photos tonight to show what's working and what isn't.


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## a1Matt (30 Sep 2008)

Egmel, if you take off your tigers head costume* the Rummies might come out      I wish I could offer something more constructive, but I have never had Rummies continuously hide.

I followed a similar pattern to you with my tank, little bit of wood and fern, then repeated it across the tank.
I still have the wood but have removed 95% of the fern biomass as they just got so big they ended up taking over.

The tank is looking good, it has a really healthy glow to it  

* EDIT - I just saw my own avatar after posting. I think I'm asking for trouble   ...


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## Egmel (30 Sep 2008)

a1Matt said:
			
		

> Egmel, if you take off your tigers head costume* the Rummies might come out      I wish I could offer something more constructive, but I have never had Rummies continuously hide.


I had to give the Tigger costume back after the campaign so unfortunately that's not the solution 


> I followed a similar pattern to you with my tank, little bit of wood and fern, then repeated it across the tank.
> I still have the wood but have removed 95% of the fern biomass as they just got so big they ended up taking over.


As far as I can tell I haven't got any ferns, plenty of crypts and possibly in the future Java Moss but no ferns (though my aquatic plant identification isn't as good as it should be!)


> The tank is looking good, it has a really healthy glow to it


Thanks, everything appears to be growing at last, except for the vallis which is sending out plenty of runners but not gaining any real height, I'm beginning to wonder if I have a dwarf variant with just a couple of odd long leaves!


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## a1Matt (30 Sep 2008)

oops, my mistake.  I misread ferns for crypts


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## Egmel (17 Oct 2008)

Ok, so last night while doing the water change (at last, it's been almost 2 weeks   ) I decided to rip out the stems and move the glosso across.  On a plus note, despite the lack of water changes, my water was still clear and there was little to no algae.   

Not all the slow growing plants are in great nick at the moment but I'm waiting until the new growth has taken off before removing some of the algaed leaves.
*Before*






*After* - Excuse the naff camera phone pics, I'd left my camera at work   







On reflection I think the glosso is still too tall and should have been trimmed down further, I'll see if I can do that sooner rather than later.

The old stems are sitting in my holding tank with a dose of ammonia, hopefully this will remove the snails without damaging the plants.  If this works then I'll post at least some of them on the buy sell and swap section.


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## Ray (18 Oct 2008)

I like the way this is going.  You could also grow moss or even riccia (!) all over your cobbles, that would make a nice transition to the sandy foreground.

When you first added your rummies that photo made me think I wanted some, but ever since that first photo they have been hiding.  Have you tried a black backdrop to make the rummies feel more secure?  I recall reading somewhere it alleviates stress in clownfish so maybe it helps with rummies too?


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## sari (19 Oct 2008)

Removing the hygrophila has made the tank look loads bigger and now your rummies have no place to hide... Like said, you could try a black background. My hengeli rasboras were quite skittish until I put a black bacground in place and now they are like different fish.


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## Egmel (20 Oct 2008)

The rummies are getting bolder, they are out in the foreground more often, they still have room to hide behind the glosso and the slates/wood but now they have a clearer escape route if they feel threatened.

I think their timidness might be a mixture of the bright sand and no background but I don't really want a black background or darker substrate, they're fully rummed up so I don't think they're actually stressed by it, I may consider getting some sort of floating plant though to give them a bit of shade.

Having started a thread about their behaviour elsewhere it seems that mine are more timid than most.  Other people don't have the same problem with them at all.

I've got some wood with some moss attaching itself in a holding tank, I'll probably put this in when it's got into full flow.  Not sure I really want to attach anything to the cobbles, I like their red/pink colour.


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## Egmel (4 Nov 2008)

Yeay for Birthday's

I now have pressurised CO2 via the FE method and 12 Copper Harlequin rasboras. 

The rummy noses are much happier now that they have someone to show them the big tank isn't so scary, they pop out to the front a lot more often and the rasboras have only been there 2 days 

No photos as yet but I'll get some when I'm next home before lights out!


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## a1Matt (4 Nov 2008)

Happy Birthday Egmel!  8) 

I'm really pleased that your rummies are coming out for you now.


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## Steve Smith (4 Nov 2008)

Happy birthday Egmel!


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## Egmel (7 Nov 2008)

Ok so I'm going to have a go at better arranging the crypts and foreground plants this weekend, now that they've had a chance to grow in I can see the various heights and colours better than when they first arrived (maybe I should buy better plants next time!)

Here are some photos of the tank as it was yesterday evening.  There's quite a bit of algae on lots of the older leaves but the new ones are looking good and now that the CO2 is in they're really taking off.  The snails are out in abundance, something else I'm going to have a go at this weekend.

If anybody has any idea of the names of any of the plants that I don't refer to by name then that would be great 

So first off the full tank shot.


Egg laden shrimp in the Dwarf Hair Grass


I've no idea what this is but I love the pink underside's to its leaves 


Again another unknown, possibly a ludwegia of some sort with creeping jenny in the background.  I'm really pleased with this one though as it's just starting to show non-algefied leaves so I can start to remove the algae covered ones 


Some rummy noses with spiral and plain vallis in the background and a greener version of that possibly ludwegia stuff!


Really don't know what this one is... maybe dwarf sag?!!  It's about an inch to 2 inches tall and very similar to vallis.


Another unknown, similar to the one above but broader leaves (about 1/2 inch) and bigger <4 inches tall.


Crypts, Glosso and my lilly


More Crypts (and some perfect examples of me getting tall ones at the front!)
    

So tasks for the weekend

Sort out crypt/grass/foreground plant arrangement
Start removing algae covered leaves
Beat the pest snails into submission
Remember to wipe the water marks off the glass before taking after shots!


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## a1Matt (7 Nov 2008)

Thats a nice set of pics.  The tank is looking really nice.  

I fall into the same trap as you with regards to plant sizes.  I think it is one of the things that sets us apart from the experienced aquascapers on here.  Now you have added CO2 you will see many of your plants not just grow faster but also much larger   

Take Dwarf sag (which I can confirm from your pic is in your tank!) - Mine stayed at about 2 to 3" in height. After CO2 it just creeps up and up. I took it all out of my tank last week and the tallest leaves were 2foot in height and were still getting taller


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## Graeme Edwards (7 Nov 2008)

This has come on some way hasnt it!!!!

The Sag, is Sagittaria subulata..it should stay small even if Co2 is added. a1, it doesnt sound like SB that you have.

The other plant looks like an Echinodorus uruguayensis to me.


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## Egmel (8 Nov 2008)

Thanks for the comments and species identification


			
				Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> The Sag, is Sagittaria subulata..it should stay small even if Co2 is added. a1, it doesnt sound like SB that you have.


Unless, you have 'certain conditions' from the tropica description on AE


> This plant may cause problems because in certain conditions it suddenly grows to a height of 50 cm when it grows older. But if it is then moved into the background it may become low again.





			
				Graeme Edwards said:
			
		

> The other plant looks like an Echinodorus uruguayensis to me.


Looks about right to me, not sure about it growing to 55cm  might have to move that slightly further back!

Still no wiser on the random pink plant but I think that the ludwigia might be a repens variety.


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## Graeme Edwards (8 Nov 2008)

Ahhh, thats interesting...

The red/pink plant looks like Alternanthera reineckii 'Pink' (roseafolia). Google it and you will see it looks like what you have. Lovely plant, I had it in my 90cm, grows well emursed too. Big plant and can get stems as thick as your finger on them.

Hope that helps.


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## Egmel (8 Nov 2008)

That's the one, I completely overlooked that tropica picture because it didn't look big leaved enough.  Now of course I realise they were showing a big plant!

I got a little bit carried away this afternoon and took out everything except the vallis and the swords in an attempt to reduce the number of pest snails and organise the crypts.  

My moss has attached itself to the wood and I'm just taking a tea break before putting everything back in again.  I want to get rid of the slate and try to have the woodland feel more prominent.  

Will hopefully get some photos tomorrow evening (I don't anticipate getting everything done this evening and there will invariably be some stuff left in buckets of water overnight.).

Right back to work!


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## keymaker (8 Nov 2008)

Great tank, Egmel!
What confuses me though is that I read you have Glosso in your tank. Can it grow that high (just like a stem plant)? By the shape of the leaves I first thought it is HM, but now, I don't know any more.


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## a1Matt (9 Nov 2008)

Egmel said:
			
		

> Thanks for the comments and species identification
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I hear what you are saying Graeme, but I am still sure that the plant is Sagittaria subulata.  The quote from Tropica seems to describe my plant quite well. It did stay small for a couple of years. Then CO2 gave it a good boost, and when then coupled with increased macros it went into overdrive! I had to increase my CO2 from 1bps to 3bps to cope with the increased mass.  The leaves point straight up at the high growth rates as well, not to dissimilar to Vallisneria Spiralis in appearance.  I think without the higher CO2 the plant would never have transformed.  It was maybe quite an extreme example to illustrate how you can get an overall increase in size from your plants when adding CO2    

I've donated and sold the plants away to a few members on here, so would be curious to know if they have had the same high growth in their tank.


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## Egmel (9 Nov 2008)

keymaker said:
			
		

> Great tank, Egmel!
> What confuses me though is that I read you have Glosso in your tank. Can it grow that high (just like a stem plant)? By the shape of the leaves I first thought it is HM, but now, I don't know any more.


Fairly certain that it is glosso, the tropica website says that it grows up if light is poor. I've got about 60W t8 over a 30G tanks so I'm guessing 2wpg is low enough to allow it to grow tall.  This site seems to confirm my theory. (Though he calls it 'ugly vertical growth'  :?  I quite like it!)

I finished the re-scape last night and I'll try to get some photos up later.


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## GreenNeedle (9 Nov 2008)

The one point I would take from that article that is very true is when he says that the growth is fine further toward the centre of the tank where it is directly under the lights.  This shows how important the positioning of the lamps are.

In stock tanks the positioning varies quite a lot.  The Juwel I bars tend to have both tubes fairly close together whereas the old Fluval hoods had a large ballast recess which positioned the tubes quite far apart.

Also shows the difference between PCT5 and T8 in terms of light seeing as he only went from 60W of T8 to 72W of PC.  12W wouldn't be a huge difference.  It was the PC efficiency that made the major difference.  T5HO would be even more of a difference.

I do think he gets carried away when saying at least 3WPG would be needed.  3WPG of what?.  I think 2WPG T8 positioned well and with good dosing allied with high CO2 would be able to grow a nice low carpet.  Think more high CO2 and adequate light rather than just high light.

Does help to move onto T5 linears though.  intense light and unlike PCs you have the choice of where to position the "2" tubes.

AC


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## Egmel (9 Nov 2008)

SuperColey1 said:
			
		

> I think 2WPG T8 positioned well and with good dosing allied with high CO2 would be able to grow a nice low carpet.  Think more high CO2 and adequate light rather than just high light.


Possibly, mine has never been that enthusiastic about growing compactly.  It's got good growth but the leaves are quite well spaced.

As promised, photos of the current scape.  I cleared out all the pest snails I could see and I think if I do the same over the next few evenings I might just get on top of the problem!

First off my CO2 kit since I've been raving about it to everyone for the last month or so!


Then there's the tank from the front (Please excuse the snail porn going on in these pics     )


And from the angle I see when I sit on my bed and use my chest of drawers as a table (which is most of the time I'm awake and in my room!)


And finally, this is my current holding tank with spare plants and the like.  It's also where I attach plants to hardscape before putting it in my main tank as sometimes that thread I'm using to hold it on can be quite fishing net like!


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## Egmel (16 Nov 2008)

A small illustration of where I sit on the OCD scale... I decided to re-organise the cupboard under my tank yesterday...

Though as I was discussing with my housemate, it's the process of organising that I enjoy rather than the result.  So time will tell how long it will stay like that!


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## Steve Smith (16 Nov 2008)

Looks great Helen!  Loving the organisation!  So many tubs!  What's in all of them??


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## Egmel (16 Nov 2008)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> What's in all of them??


Everything! They are all labelled and the labels say ...
Left Column
misc spares
TPN+ Capsules
Trace
Ascorbic Acid + Potassium Sorbate
KNO3
MgSO4
Freebies, Flubenol 15, Tonic Salts
Stones

RIght Column
Suckers and Clips
Measuring Spoons and Pipettes
Lead Weights
Cleaning Bits
Granulated Food
Wafer Food
Jelly Food
CO2 Glassware
Test Kits 

So basically anything that arrived in a plastic bag or a box has been transferred to something uniform and stackable.  All the dry ferts and food are still in their plastic bags as I don't think for one minute that the boxes are air-tight! I have a box under my bed for all the bulky infrequently used stuff like filter floss, spare heaters, air pumps etc.

What I'd like to get is a pill tray type box that has different sections into which I could put different types of food so each morning I could just choose what I'm putting in easily.  At the moment they're mixed in the 2 normal sized containers at the front, wafers (4 different types) with the yellow lid and granules/flake (5 different types) in the blue lidded one.  It would need to be airtight though and have at least 9 sections.


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## aaronnorth (16 Nov 2008)

at first i didnt thik your OCD was bad  but after seeing this




> What I'd like to get is a pill tray type box that has different sections into which I could put different types of food so each morning I could just choose what I'm putting in easily. At the moment they're mixed in the 2 normal sized containers at the front, wafers (4 different types) with the yellow lid and granules/flake (5 different types) in the blue lidded one. It would need to be airtight though and have at least 9 sections.



It just made it worst   

very neat, mine is a right tip, i have to pull evrything out just to get a net


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## Steve Smith (16 Nov 2008)

I wish I could even get into my cabinet.  I have a damned sofa in the way   I have to drag it out of the way when doing water changes etc to get at the filter.


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## Egmel (16 Nov 2008)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> at first i didnt thik your OCD was bad  but after seeing this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


hehe, I am resigned to the fact that I will always have a place for everything, whether everything is in its place though is another matter! 

The basic problem is I have too much stuff.  I need to keep everything organised or it just ends up spilling out onto the floor.


			
				SteveUK said:
			
		

> I wish I could even get into my cabinet.  I have a damned sofa in the way   I have to drag it out of the way when doing water changes etc to get at the filter.


Know the feeling, it took me ages to get the layout of my room just right. I had been used to having a 2 bed flat and now I'm in a single room!  One of the things I had to do was make sure that I could get at everything easily.


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## Steve Smith (16 Nov 2008)

Yeah, I have far too much stuff.

And I'm not overly organised.  In some aspects I can be fairly organised, such as with work related things, but at home, I'm totally disorganised.  It might be the bachelor lifestyle


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## Themuleous (19 Nov 2008)

I think most hobbies general lots of 'stuff' and fish keeping, I guess somewhat surprisingly, fishkeeping is no different.  I have enough equipment to set up at least two if not three more tanks just from bits I have around the house, including the tanks!

Gotta love a bit of OCD 

Sam


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## Egmel (26 Nov 2008)

Egmel said:
			
		

> keymaker said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Having just sent some of this plant to someone more knowledgeable than myself I have been told it's definitely not glosso!   

They too suggested that it might be Hemianthus micranthemoides, whatever it is it's growing well and bushing out beautifully


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## LondonDragon (26 Nov 2008)

Egmel said:
			
		

> Having just sent some of this plant to someone more knowledgeable than myself I have been told it's definitely not glosso!
> They too suggested that it might be Hemianthus micranthemoides, whatever it is it's growing well and bushing out beautifully


Thats more like it, from the photos I don't see any glosso either and I have been growing it for a few months now


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## keymaker (26 Nov 2008)

Egmel said:
			
		

> ... I have been told it's definitely not glosso!
> 
> They too suggested that it might be Hemianthus micranthemoides, whatever it is it's growing well and bushing out beautifully


HM it is, then!   Nice little plant, you'll see how thick it will get, check out what's in planter's hand on the fourth photo of this thread.


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## Egmel (26 Nov 2008)

That's probably one of the better photos of it I've seen, looks almost identical to mine when I haul it out for a proper trim


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## aaronnorth (26 Nov 2008)

here is a close pic of my HM:


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## Egmel (26 Nov 2008)

That's the one, though the main stem in your pic is a 4 leaf version, must be lucky, mine are mainly 3 leaf versions with only a couple of 4 leaf ones!


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## aaronnorth (27 Nov 2008)

Egmel said:
			
		

> That's the one, though the main stem in your pic is a 4 leaf version, must be lucky, mine are mainly 3 leaf versions with only a couple of 4 leaf ones!



I never knew there was a difference, although looking, i have a couple of 3leaved stems


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## Egmel (30 Dec 2008)

As usual it's been a while!  I've added in quite a few plants (thanks to my secret santa) and removed a couple too.  I took 4 days away for Christmas at my parents, I shut off the lights and CO2 for my absence as I wasn't going to be there to dose the nutrients and I wasn't sure how long I was going to be away for.  However other than a bit of crypt melt here and there everything seems fine.

So in has gone water lettuce, Crypt Wenditti 'Tropica', Java ferns (bog standard and 'WindelÃ¸v'), Limnophila aromatica and some Limnophila sessiliflora I treated myself to from ebay.  Out has come the dwarf hair grass which always seemed to be covered in BBA regardless of how much flow there was or where it was placed, it was the only thing in the tank to be affected!

Anyway some shots from the pre-Christmas prune.



Hope everyone had a good Christmas and that you're all set for 2009


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## Egmel (10 Jan 2009)

Themuleous said:
			
		

> Gotta love a bit of OCD


Keep that in mind for the next photo...

If you're interested in what the foods are then click on the photo to go to the flickr page where I've labelled them all up   
I'd like to plug http://www.discusessentials.com/ it's where I bought the generic food and the fish think it's great.  I prefer it to the tetra prima as the granule size is that much smaller.  The wafers are good but they don't go down as well as the Hikari ones, I've yet to find any that do!


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## viktorlantos (12 Jan 2009)

nice tank mate! congrat! the plants look really good.


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## Egmel (30 Jan 2009)

Right, I was just getting involved with a question about lighting when I realised that since I upgraded my tank I only actually have 60W over a 30USG tank... which may explain why some of my plants are quite leggy!

So I'm looking to upgrade the lights at some point (probably in the next few months when the bank balance is happier) but I'll start the research now.  I'm not sure how much I want to go up by.  I currently have two separately controlled 30Ws of light (one the original juwel ballast the other a dual 15w arcadia ballast).  Should I add another 60W using a dual 30W arcadia ballast and then if it's too much I can kill one of the single 30W sections or should I be conservative and just add the 30W.  I currently have good CO2 and nutrients and I think I can up these to match the lighting - I've even just looked at getting a CO2 DIY inline reactor from Ed (see the hardware and DIY section  ) so if anything my CO2 will be getting even better (more efficient at least) soon anyway.


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## Egmel (5 Oct 2009)

Well life is nice and busy at the moment, I'm in the final throws of thesis writing and buying my first house.  In the meantime I've moved into my sister's and I took the chance to re-scape the tank.  






When I move into my new place I'm going to replace the sand with akadama and probably strip out the old juwel filter which is taking up much too much room in the back corner.

There have been a few casualties, I lost a couple of rummynoses and an otto in the move, mainly because I used traps to catch the shrimps and managed to catch some fish too.     Which was a dud lost as during the time I've been at my sister's my entire shrimp population has disappeared, I'm assuming they've died since there's nothing new been added to the tank that's able to eat them.  At a guess I'd say it's something in the water as that's the only thing that's changed but I'm at a loss as to what.  Again something I'm going to leave until I move to try and rectify.


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## Steve Smith (5 Oct 2009)

Tank is looking lovely   Shame about the losses but I guess it can't be helped  :? Have you moved far?  Is it a different water company etc?


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## Egmel (5 Oct 2009)

SteveUK said:
			
		

> Tank is looking lovely   Shame about the losses but I guess it can't be helped  :? Have you moved far?  Is it a different water company etc?


Not far but it is a different water company which is why I suspect that.  Some of my snails have also kicked it so it might be copper in the supply.  As I say, I'm just keeping on top of maintenance, the fish seem fine so I don't think it's a nitrate/nitrite/ammonia problem, though I haven't tested in a while.


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## Egmel (8 Feb 2012)

Ok, so I'm still alive, I'm still keeping fish and I still have a high tech tank... sort of!

We're in the process of renovating the kitchen diner so the tank has moved to the only other space in the flat - the bathroom.





Poorly taken, with water spots all over and cucumber fishing lines but you get the idea!

Having also begun to miss having fish in the kitchen we've added a Betta Splendens to what was a live food tank and that's beginning to take form.

Meet Dorian




In his tank where I shoved some stuff to keep him happy.




And an in-situ view - the blank bit of plaster is where we had a chimney/gas fire removed (hence the main tank being elsewhere - this one is small enough I can move it when we actually get round to decorating)


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