# here goes nuttin folks....



## leetaylor (28 Feb 2009)

Hi,

Before I start I think it best to warn you that I am very dyslexic so please excuse my spelling....its Bad..I know it but children in need spent shed loads of money 20 years ago on me teaching me to read and write as well as I do..and I dont think it is going to ever get much better now im in my 30's


Anyway.......

After keeping tropical fish since i was about 8 gradualy increasing the sise of my tank I came to a point about 12 months ago when I looked at my Aquastart 500 and it looked back at me and we both decided that planting was the way forward.

I added some plants with no knowlage of anything other than plants needed light water and somthing to weigh them down.

Nateraly they didnt last too long.....
so I did some reasearch and ended up with co2 and a bit of liquid fert...she ended up looking like this....







The Java moss in the corner went mad and I got some cherry red shrimp:





Unfortunatly I think my clown loach decided it liked them as snacks so RIP shrimp!


I then learnt about proper substrate....
I also remember having to remove the substrate once many years ago when I had an undergravel filter that clogged up so realy didnt want to have to go through that again.
So
My tank and I looked at each other and decided it was time to tell my Girl Friend (saint that she is for putting up with me) that we wanted/needed....well it was essential that I got a bigger tank.

This took 6 months....

The deciding factor was our local fish shop had a sale on....I managed to get the Fluval Roma 125 for Â£160 (and I checked with them about the leaks..apparently its been fixed now...and I know where the guy lives so it had better be!)

I also decided that this time i was going to get all the kit before putting any water in the thing...

I baught a new teratex ex700 as my current canister filter was not quite man enough...decided to go for a CO2 reactor (which I plug into a fire extingushier) and decided (just before I ordered any plants) to get the hydor inline 200w heater.

So....pre plants this is what I have:




Notice this is before the inline heater arrived....I also got an extension to the spray bar to ensure a more even flow around the tank









This was taken during the leak check....no leaks I was impresed with myself!

And I had to...yes _HAD_ to ...put some moonlight LED's on the thing...









Substrate.
Ok...Im no expert so I whent with a gut feeling after reading stuf...

Lower layer...Tetraplant compleet substrate...5KG
Middle layer...Seachem Flourite Red (in what ever sised bag it came in
Top layer...standard gravel

It looks far more nateral than the Blue stuff anyhoo










More updates to come when water and plants added!!!!!!!!


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## L number Banana (28 Feb 2009)

Nice.
How do you stop yourself from playing with those cool rocks   I'd be arranging and re-arranging them endlessly. I think I'd stick the big one in the middle and then two minutes later, I think I'd like them staggered from front to back. Can't wait to see the rest of your adventure.

Your writing is just terrific, perfection is boring anyways....not that I'd know much about it!


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## leetaylor (28 Feb 2009)

Thanks for the comments on my writing...I do try my best...typing is not so bad...my handwriting now that could easily be sold as a picasso!

Re the rocks...
I wanted to go for a slope from left up to right....
3 reasons..

1 the big rock then hides the  inlet pipe for the filter

2 the tank is in the corner of a room so you cant see in from the right hand side so this is where i want to build up the bigger plants so smaller things would be pointless

3 this is my "atristic" vision of the tank....I have this idea that I want it to looklike geological fault line with sedimentry rocks pushing up out of the ground....Been facinated with earthquakes and volcanoes since I was a Kid so this kind of picks up on this...I picked the rocks so the sediment lines flow as best as I could.


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## leetaylor (28 Feb 2009)

*Waters here!*

Most of the plants arrived so in went the water...despite the substrate washing it is still all clowdy....ill update when its not pea soup!


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## Luketendo (28 Feb 2009)

Haven't seen anyone use rocks with holes in, but they actually like quite nice!

About your spelling, I honestly wouldn't have noticed! It's fine.


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## leetaylor (28 Feb 2009)

The fish...especialy the plecs love them!

When neons get randy...not that the eggs have ever managed to survive the drop  to the bottom of the tank befoe getting munched...they dart through them....it looks especialy good unter moonlight when they do it.


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## JohnC (1 Mar 2009)

I'd be well tempted to plant stuff in the holes in the rocks.


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## leetaylor (1 Mar 2009)

Id love it if the carpet ends up going through them I must admit


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## L number Banana (2 Mar 2009)

Those rocks are definitely cool. My catfish would love them too. I can see otos sleeping in them out of the current! Oto hotel.
You could fit a mossball into one too.
I'm glad I don't have a masonry bit that large, I'd never keep my paws out of the water. Just imagine the shadow play possible.
Thanks, leetaylor, I can't wait to see it evolve.


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## leetaylor (3 Mar 2009)

Ok....proper update number 1

After reading lots of posts on here I have decided 3 things

1 I am going to het one of those Hydor pumop to improve fllow
2 I am gona be brave and mix some dry ferts for my self (although I am foing to start off with Tropica plant nutrition + first to give the plants a good start and a fighting chance in case I dont get it right)
3 Im going to get a drop checker

Any other ideas of kit I should have (with in a non lottery winners budgit) that I might need????

Anyway Back to the tank...the plants are in and already showing signs of growth (the background plants have grown a coupple of inches already....the growth I am most impressed with is on the hair grass though as you can realy see the new shoots.





I also have bubbling plants too so I must be getting the CO2 nearly right! 





Now I know you are all seeing the bits of dirt on the leaves...this is left over from the origonal tank filling up and hence why I think I need more flow!


I have added a coupple of fish too now as the ammonia cycle "seems" to have finished..

5 Neons and this sucking loach transplanted from my old tank....













Now you can see why I have rocks with holes in...I think the fish look cute looking out from there little hidy holes!


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## leetaylor (14 Mar 2009)

oh dear......NEVER accidently buy the wrong type of Apple snals....I have more plants floating on the top of my tank now than planted in the substrate!....GRRRRRR


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## leetaylor (25 May 2009)

*Re: here goes nuttin folks.... May Update*

Hi,

Right things have been growing nicly...appart from HC which I am havuig no luck with!

I am having to prune abit too...

Big thanks to London Dragon for the shrimp..they are fantastic!

Here is a pic..I did take some closeups but can never get anything in focus!...need to reevaluate shutter speeds etc.


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## leetaylor (28 Apr 2010)

Quick update .....shortly after this pic was taken I got an infestation of black brush algie which covered the rocks and plants with brown fury gunk....following the advice on here i OD'd with flourish excell which worked but all the "grassy" plants died back....then came what I now see as my Nemisis od 09/10......duck weed....I dont know how the hell it got in there but I was soon taking armfulls of the stuff out daily! it has taken me about 7 months of fighting this I had to abandon all plant keeping so ferts were stopped as was co2 to try and get a hold of them and at last......3 weeks with no duckweed! yay!.....also the black brush algea has gone too!!!!

I now have an explosion of Java moss that has covered the rocks (there must have been a spore on one of the rocks from the old tank)...it looks ok if that is the look your going for but it is growing soo quickly it is quickly outcompeeting the plants left in there....

so

the new plan!

Much as I liked them at the time I am going to swap the rocks for bog wood...rip out all the plants that are not salvagable and start a fresh!.....nuttin 2 will be making an appearance soon I hope!


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## leetaylor (15 Jun 2010)

*Re: here goes nuttin folks....mk2*

Hello again all....rescape time!
Right....I decided to take the rocks out and go with a Bogwood look...having looked at the rocks for a year..nice as they were I wanted somthing more nateral looking

So...after buying the bogwood...and more plants to replace everything that had died My tank now looks like this:



img7072t by leetaylor, on Flickr


I also had to replace my regulator as my old one shered off when screwing it back onto the FE...lesson learnt dont buy a disposable bottle reg system and expect it to be brilliant! what i like about the new one is I have the bubble counter attached and it is soooo less noisy than the old jbl one

I do have a question/ask for feedback thingy though...as you can see from the pic i have a bare spot behing the bog wood...any suggestions for somthing that would look good there?


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## leetaylor (25 Mar 2011)

Had to move the tank (orders from the wife!)...had a mass death of neons but everything else was ok. Will get some pics up soon


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## leetaylor (5 Jun 2011)

HI,

The carnage of the move has settled down and I actualy prefer the new spot for the tank (its not in a corner anymore)

The tank is growing well



img7527e by leetaylor, on Flickr

I still think the back right needs a lot more...any ideas for plants there would be realy welcom!!!

You can see all the chrerie red shripm on that pic, thanks to london dragon for these which I bought about 10 of 18 months ago...they have been breeding like mad and realy add to the tank....some are VERY red...but this Male one was posing so I though he would make a good pic



img7533d by leetaylor, on Flickr

please let me know your thoughts....


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## Alastair (5 Jun 2011)

Looks really nice now mate. I dont think you need to put anything behind those crypts at all, maybe build the rear sides up a little and just personal preference, a darker back ground maybe, :0)


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## leetaylor (8 Jun 2011)

I was hoping to cover the background compeetly with greenary


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## twg (9 Jun 2011)

Have you considered a white backing? I think it could really bring out the colours in this   

Very nice!


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## Alastair (9 Jun 2011)

leetaylor said:
			
		

> I was hoping to cover the background compeetly with greenary



What about a moss wall across the back mate?


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## leetaylor (9 Jun 2011)

ohhh not doing moss again....only just seem to manage to get rid of the java mos....still get sprigs of it appear from nowhere.....I have the origonal rocks still covered in Java moss if anyone wants to make an offer?


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## leetaylor (10 Jun 2011)

Got my tripod out and took some more pix, got one of the very red shrimps too




img7540xi by leetaylor, on Flickr



img7549j by leetaylor, on Flickr


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## leetaylor (19 Jun 2011)

Ok.....got a moonlight update for you



img7564mm by leetaylor, on Flickr


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## leetaylor (6 Jun 2012)

Disaster this morning!
Well, I had just got the tank looking nice again after a re scape I was about to take some new pictures….when I got up this morning and went to check on the fish I instantly thought something was wrong. The room felt warm and there was a fishy smell..
My Hydor inline heater thermostat seems to have malfunctioned.
I was met with a cloudy tank where my poor fish had been cooked…..many had exploded….
I had to go to work and as there were obviously no survivors (the glass was hot to touch) I switched the heater off and will get back to it this afternoon.

I’m gutted…I had so many cherry red shrimp and a lovely clown loach in there too (who was not interested in eating the shrimp)
Looks like I’ll be fishing out the bodies and hoping the plants have survived.
I’m thinking that all the bacteria in the filter will be cooked too?


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (6 Jun 2012)

Sad to hear that mate,
I VERY! Nearly did the same thing the other week, caught the hydor roller switch and knocked it right up.
Luckily, mine got to 30 degrees and I noticed, by chance I happend to put my hand in the top and it was getting like bath water!

As you said, my glass was warm to the touch too!

Hope some livestock Has survived,
Regards


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## leetaylor (6 Jun 2012)

Unfortunatly I dont think anything will have made it though it....The tank is cooling down over the day so "hopfully" somthing will have survived but if im honest if you battered those fish you would have served them with chips


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (6 Jun 2012)

Ah nightmare, 
Did you manage to save anything?


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## hobbyshrimp (6 Jun 2012)

Was just about to say how fantastic it look and how your shrimp had such good colour. Was so gutted when read the last post about your heater.


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## leetaylor (7 Jun 2012)

ok...i got home and after a day of the tank cooling down it was still at 29 degrees....got in there with the net hoyked all the bodys I could get at out (felt awfull when I got my 5 inch clown loach out...id had him for years). oh and when i tested the heater...gues what working perfectly now!..I think the bimetallic strip must have just got stuck but ive ordered a new heater any way to be on the safe side and a temprature moniter with an a cut off and alarm just in case as I am NEVER going through this again!

i did about a 2/3 water change...I didnt do the whole thing as lets face it if any nasty bacteria were in there they would have been cooked away!...and put some filter start in there (I asume the filter will have been nuked too)

I was also anoied that the pesky baby snails which have been feeding my clown loach nicly seem to have all survived to so I will end up needing to do somthing about them...

BUT!!!!!!

as i was looking in falawnly I noticed a little movement....

I have counted thus far three baby shrimp which have survived! Hopfuly with I wil have at least one of a diferent sex to the others and they will repopulate!...they also have no fish to try and eat them so should have a decent chance of surviving!

I am VERY gutted though


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## sparkyweasel (7 Jun 2012)

Sorry to hear this, good luck with survivors, there may be a few more you haven't noticed yet as well.

btw this; "the other week, caught the hydor roller switch and knocked it right up."
sounds like bad design. Once your temp is set right, could you put a spot of silicone (or other easily removeable sticky stuff) on the switch to keep it in the right position?

In a big tank, or where the livestock is valuable or much-loved, it's worth thinking about using two heaters. You use the same total wattage, but if one sticks 'on' the tank will only overheat very slowly (if at all) as only half the heating is stuck. And if one fails, the other will slow down the temperature drop, giving you more time to notice and fix the problem. 
That protection device you mention sounds like a good idea too, but I've never tried one.


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## leetaylor (7 Jun 2012)

Unfortunatly this was no case of "knocking it"...god how guilty would I feel now if it was! when i first noticed it i checked the dial and could move it all the way around and it would not switch off....

the failsafe is this
http://www.reefdreams.co.uk/acatalog/AT ... TIMER.html
for the sake of £25 its a no brainer realy.....


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (7 Jun 2012)

Sparky,

It was during a tank move, obviously its connected to the pipework so i removed it in a oner, I didnt check it was at the normal level when i reinstated it in the ADA cabinet.

Just a slight error that could have had the potential disastrous effects listed here.

Fortunately it did not, and although it did not cause any ill effects, Ive still learnt to be even more vigilant than i already am.

Expensive livestock or not, every life is just as precious.

Regards,


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## leetaylor (7 Jun 2012)

I agree mate...specialy the clown loach....baught him from a LFS as it was closing down too for a pittance


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (8 Jun 2012)

Gutted, its times like this that you wonder is it all worth it. I do when something happens  chin up mate and get back on that pony.

All the best,


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## Timms2011 (8 Jun 2012)

I know from time to time I think of taking my aquarium down, but I know within a week I'll be itching to put it back up. I've only had the one problem since I've been keeping fish and that also was a faulty heater, so now I just don't use one, problem solved!


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## leetaylor (8 Jun 2012)

Well i saw a surviving shrimp again today (doing 1/4 water changes daily as there is no way i managed to get all the bodys out of the fowlage).....and there is no chance of me giving up...my marine tank is going well and a planted tank looks so nice how could you give up?
I am soooo hoping that as these babies are so small there are a few of them in there i just havent seen.

Anyway...replacement heater and failsafe on the way....Ill give it about 2-3 weeks for the filter to start working properly again and to fish anything out that i find in ther then im back in business....so...as i have a virgin tank with no fish to anoy ewch other...what do you recon I should re stock with?


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (8 Jun 2012)

Celestial Pearl Danios


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## leetaylor (22 Jun 2012)

ok...update...been watching the tank like a hawk and i think i have about 5-6 surviving shrimp one of which is deffinatly femail!!!! (unfortunatly not particularly red but hopfully this is stress induced) however...I got home today to hear what could only be described as a drill going off under the tank...the impeller in the tetratec ex700 had broken!!! arrrgh!!!!!!!!! what more can it chuck at me!!!!
new one ordered and on the way....as there are no fich in the tank yet I am hoping a 10% daily water change will keep it ok for the few shrimp till it arrives


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## leetaylor (26 Jun 2012)

Ok impeller installed...I guess just as everything had settled down the few days with the filter not running will have knocked all the bactria out so I will have to wait another week or so to add any fish....having no fish in there has let loads of little creatures spawn though....they look like tiny sea monkeys so I asume they are dafnia which the fish normaly would munch...not sure how they got in the tank though but I think the first fish to go in will get a nice feed!

I deffinatly have at leat two feemail shrimp left as they are now sporting egg saddles so hopfuly the repopulation will start very soon!

I think a coupple of small plecs to start with......


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## awtong (27 Jun 2012)

What sort of plecs are you considering?  I have a bit of an obsession with them and have no more room so I need to see what others are doing with them now 

Andy


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## leetaylor (20 Jul 2012)

I like brittle nosed plecs. I think its funny when they bristle out their gills when they are trying to scare you off....

So stock update....i was getting some surface algea so i put 5 guppys in there just to munch it away just males so i wont get an endless supply like before), I have got a brittle nosed plec and 3 clownloach. I aldso got 10 tetras (cant remember the name of the species though unfortunstly, they have a spot on them line an eye and have a large black dorcal) starting to come back to life in there now thank goodness....been building up stock gradualy...think i may have to make a trip to my LFS again this weekend


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## leetaylor (26 Jul 2012)

The tetras are black phanotm tetras, I added 10 harlequins in there too now....

Just waiting for the shrimp to breed so I can have a prune of the plants as they have gone a bit mad now then Ill take some more pics.....

The derded white spot arrived (presumably from a LFS!) so ive upped the temp to 30 to kill it off


Also the powersupply to the moon light leds died too....I think some things were just comming to the end of their life"


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## leetaylor (3 Aug 2012)

White spot gone....time to turn the heat down


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## leetaylor (13 Feb 2013)

Well...long time since i updated......I am quite a happy bunny currently as 1...im now a Dad! and 2 i have a tank full of Cherry Red Shrimps of the London Dragon lienage!!!!! the few survivors have repopulated and I have shed load of them now.

In restocking I added 3 small clown loach which seem really happy along with the brittle nosed plec the 20 tetras and harlequins and a couple of glass catfish....given that I am up to my armpits with nappy's the planted element is having to take a backseat for the time being so the CO2 is off but the plants seem to be coping ok (although not growing fast)


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## StevenA (13 Feb 2013)

Congratulations mainly on number 1 Lee, but great to hear you have a plethora of shrimp now too. Upload a pic when you get time


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## ian_m (13 Feb 2013)

Clown loaches favourite food is shrimp!!!

Quite a few people have ended up providing a nice expensive snack for their loaches.

Mind you some people have been ok with shrimp and loaches the plants providing enough hiding spaces for shrimp to escape and shrimp breeding fast enough to make up any losses.

I have 3 very active loaches and despite plenty of plants and hiding places have not risked shrimp yet.


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## LondonDragon (13 Feb 2013)

leetaylor said:


> and 2 i have a tank full of Cherry Red Shrimps of the London Dragon lienage!!!!!


Can't believe those are still going  



ian_m said:


> Clown loaches favourite food is shrimp!!!


Have to agree with Ian! goodbye shrimp!


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## leetaylor (19 Jan 2014)

update time...My nipper loves looking at the tank but I admit it has been some what neglected (maintained for health of livestock rather than plants). I haven't ever had an issue with clown loaches eating shrimp...and this tank is no exception...loads of shrimp still....The male guppies I bought just to get it going again are gradually reaching the end of their time on this earth though....

I am planning on keeping the tan on tick over until my lad is a little older then we can go and restock with plants and livestock properly and start to teach him about responsibility etc...but that will be in a year or so's time.

I am looking forward to getting back into it again but the nappies, horsy back rides, tickles and constant "no don't touch the telly" is taking too much of my time to do things properly


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## Andy Thurston (19 Jan 2014)

What about clown loach destroying plants


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## leetaylor (4 Mar 2015)

Hi everyone, long time since my last update.....
Well...my nipper has ended up killing all my marine fish by banging on the tank so if anyone wants a trip to Banbury for a 60 liter nano marine tank with about 10-15KG of very happy live rock its yours for £100

My planted tank well......

Its still growing! had a massive clean out of overgrown stuff (got two bucket loads of Bio mass out of it...then grrr the tetratech filter decided to not play any more...i managed to get it to limp whilst i got a replacement but the water quality suffered as a result and the majority of my shrimp have bought it...the new filter (An Ehime experience) is now installed and running in. I need to replace some of the pipe work but getting flow back and the filter bedding in was my prime priority.

Im toyiing with the idea of replacing the gravel substrate with aquarium soil so i can get the CO2 on again and get some HC growing as it could never take roote on the gravel as it was too big any recommendations as to what to use?

Oh and big clown....ive never had an issue with clown loach destroying plants if they are fed frozen live food


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## leetaylor (6 Aug 2015)

Hi all...
Writing this with the cricket on as we have the auzzes at knocked out for 60!
The new filter is sooooooo much better than its predecessor...im ehime all the way from now on!

Although im taking care of my plants since my local fire extinguisher shop has closed I have no way of getting CO2...does anyone know where I can get refills near Banbury? even if it means buying a refillable tank..


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## leetaylor (6 Aug 2015)

Oh and the London Dragon Shrimps are still going!


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## leetaylor (11 Aug 2015)

Bitten the bullet...bought a adapter so i can put soda stream canisters on the tank


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## leetaylor (17 Aug 2015)

Ok....so the soda stream adapter arrived and its all plumed in and working perfectly...after just a day the plants left in the tank started to produce bubbles...time to buy some more plants me thinks!!! the shrimp obviously like the water a little more acidic as they are all out feasting (maybe its made some algae grow?) the fish are getting used to the situation still...

Im looking for a carpet plant which isn't HC as ive never had any luck with it....somthing small and grassy would be good anyone got any ideas? please help!


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## Andy D (17 Aug 2015)

How about Eleocharis sp. like this:

http://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Eleocharisacicularis'Mini'(132BTC)/4571


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## leetaylor (18 Aug 2015)

that looks awesome....anywhere you would recommend buying it from?


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## leetaylor (31 Aug 2015)

Did a rescape....pics to folow!


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## leetaylor (2 Sep 2015)

Ok using flicker for the first time...here is how the tank looks right now....

My rescape by leetaylor, on Flickr

I hope this has worked...
As you can see ive moved the hardscape...that's because the tank has moved and the left hand side is not the "back" of the tank...., new smaller gravel and the plants are just starting off again
Ive got new led lighting on order and hoping the HC will take now i have the smaller substrate

My marine tank has now been dismantled  but i genuinely didn't have enough time for it)


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## leetaylor (3 Sep 2015)

Some of the HC is beginning to pearl!!!! i hope this means its going to grow this time!


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## leetaylor (3 Sep 2015)

Look evidence!!!

Pearling by leetaylor, on Flickr

I am hoping my new led lighting will arrive tommrow


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## leetaylor (4 Sep 2015)

Gutted...one of the led lamps was faulty 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


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## leetaylor (11 Sep 2015)

Afternoon guys so the tank is progressing well and my HC actually seems to be growing for the first time!!!! Huzahhhh!!!!
ive also undertaken to build a new hood for my tank so i can control the lighting better...equipment on the way and updates will follow!

Anyone got any advise?


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## leetaylor (16 Sep 2015)

still waiting for all the equipment to arrive...well one bit..the lights are already and working...


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## leetaylor (2 Apr 2016)

Hi peeps

Well a lot has happened since my last post...I built my hood...which is now sagging so plan for tommroe is to brace it with alluminium tubing.

also the battery went in my timer when we had a powercut so co2 flooded my tank and I lost a lot of stock...

This is behind me now and i have started...operation carpet!!

Operation carpet by leetaylor, on Flickr


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## leetaylor (13 Apr 2016)

Hi All...this is me mixing my ferts


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## ian_m (13 Apr 2016)

Scales...scale...what in earth are scales for ? 

Spoons is much easier, just mix x spoonfuls in water job done. My spoons were £2.99 for six from Robert Dyas. 

All the original EI research used spoonfuls.


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## leetaylor (13 Apr 2016)

The fert recopie I have is in grams not spoons. hence why I use them.


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## ian_m (13 Apr 2016)

Most spoonfuls are 5-6gr.


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## leetaylor (14 Apr 2016)

Surly that depends on the density of the item your measuring ...e.g. my trace elements are heaver than my potassium therefore you would get a miss match?


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## ian_m (14 Apr 2016)

leetaylor said:


> Surly that depends on the density of the item your measuring ...e.g. my trace elements are heaver than my potassium therefore you would get a miss match?


Within realms of 5-6gr you are fine. Remember your are trying to dose in excess of what the plants require, so dosing 3gr is probably in excess (level spoonful), so is 5gr (heaped spoonful)..so just dose spoonful's you will be fine. If worried about under-dosing use heaped spoonful's, the ingredients are cheap.

If really worried you could weight 1 spoonful of each ingredient to know what it actually is, then alter spoonful dosing accordingly.

EI was meant to be simple and easy and difficult to get wrong, so no need to mess around weighing things, just spoon away.


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## leetaylor (14 Jun 2017)

Hi, update time,

I had a big algae outbreak which I have finally got on top of.

Here is what she is looking like now:



Tank today by leetaylor, on Flickr



2017-06-14_06-46-53 by leetaylor, on Flickr



2017-06-14_06-47-19 by leetaylor, on Flickr


Also how do other people stick things up under their tank? ive tried all types of doubble sided tape with no joy


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## leetaylor (6 Jul 2017)

Hi, so I have been a busy monkey this week.

Firstly my new shrimp have had babies after turning a glorious red colour



2017-06-22_07-48-51 by leetaylor, on Flickr



Baby shrimp by leetaylor, on Flickr

So thats the fauna news....

The real news is I have upgraded my lighting and .... oh yes and!!!! I have made my tank Wifi controled!!!!

I have got rid of my extension lead with an inbuilt timer and installed Wifi sockets.



New bits box by leetaylor, on Flickr

Here you can see the CO2 plug with the two lighting plugs next to them. they only cost a tenner each and the best bit is I now have an app on my phone which I can not only run the timing of them but also manually intervene...



My WiFi tank! by leetaylor, on Flickr

My tank is in the dining room so if i have people over or just want to check up on things i can control the lights with the app as i couldn't bi pass the timers before.

The lighting I have got is the three bar interpet 75CM lighting bar



triple_led_2 by leetaylor, on Flickr

The light is a bit "colder" to the eye but definitely brighter than the two T8 led strips I had in there....I shall upload some pics later as the lights have gone on and off too much tonight and I dont want to stress the fish


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## Natasha (6 Jul 2017)

Nice cherries there and a great set-up. 

I've been using Wemo to control my tank lighting schedule for a while now and I love it. I travel a fair bit so it's nice to be able to check everything has been running as it should. I also have hooked the lighting up to Alexa (amazon) so I can ask the light to turn on by voice which is good for anything I need to switch the lighting on for. 

I have yet to hook up my CO2 to a smart socket, think that's my next task. I've resisted so far in part because smarthome products are still bedding in and an outage which might fail to switch off CO2 when required worries me. I guess so long as you aren't running at max CO2 a blip wouldn't hurt too much.


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## leetaylor (7 Jul 2017)

My Co2 is controlled by the PH monitor (the grey box on the right hand side) so even if it fails to turn off then it will never over load the CO2. all the wifi is doing is switching the monitor off and on.

It is awsom to be at work and think...."I can turn the lights off from here" lol

right...time to actualy do some work...Ill take pics of the tank with the new lighting tonight!


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## leetaylor (7 Jul 2017)

So pic update of the tank with the new lights.

the plants are pearling like MAD so there must be a lot of extra light in there

So here are the lights in the hood



New lights by leetaylor, on Flickr

the brightness of them was making the camera not focus

so onto the tank its self...



New lighting by leetaylor, on Flickr



New lighting by leetaylor, on Flickr

It is deffinatly a lot brighter...i think i will need to get used to it

I also cought sight of another baby shrimp so had to take a pic 



Another baby shrimp by leetaylor, on Flickr

So now fingers crossed there will be enough light in there to get a carpet growing!!!!


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## Natasha (7 Jul 2017)

leetaylor said:


> My Co2 is controlled by the PH monitor (the grey box on the right hand side) so even if it fails to turn off then it will never over load the CO2. all the wifi is doing is switching the monitor off and on.




Nice  that's the trick.


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## leetaylor (11 Jul 2017)

Hi,

My shrimp have been very busy and I have a couple of broods of babies in there now, Its great to see them swimming about and munching the algae.



Two broods of baby shrimp by leetaylor, on Flickr

This is two babies from the two broods one much bigger than the other.

I thought I would also show a pic from my other hobby, growing the succulent plant Lythops or "living Stones"

This is a plant I grew from seed and have just potted up so I can have it on my desk at work...I've decided to call it Brian



Lithops by leetaylor, on Flickr


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## leetaylor (16 Jul 2017)

So an update, I have acquired a couple of bits of bogwood with annubus attached.



Looking good by leetaylor, on Flickr

I think its looking quite good now....I think i need to prune the plants at the front though


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## dw1305 (17 Jul 2017)

Hi all,





leetaylor said:


> I think its looking quite good now....I think i need to prune the plants at the front though


Yes, it is looking good. 

Rather than pruning the _Cryptocoryne_ at the front, I'd take the dead leaves out of the Java Ferns, they won't green up again but new green leaves should grow from the rhizome tips.

cheers Darrel


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## leetaylor (17 Jul 2017)

Ill give them a trim thanks for the tip


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## leetaylor (19 Jul 2017)

Ok, so I've tried taking a walk around vid of my tank



Let me know what you think!


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## leetaylor (23 Jul 2017)

grrr just looking at my tank today and I have these dam snails eggs everywhere!




Dam snails eggs by leetaylor, on Flickr


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## leetaylor (4 Aug 2017)

Hi all,

I went on holiday (took my lad camping for the first time in Sussex) and came home to find a VERY noisy filter, lots of green dust algae BUT one of the Anubis has started to flower!



Anubis starting to flower by leetaylor, on Flickr

One clean out of the impeller and the filter is fine now and I have bought some Siamese Algea Eaters to help with the algea


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## leetaylor (5 Aug 2017)

So today was pruning day.....I thought today was a good day to do it as there was another load of snails eggs on the swords at the front and a prune would mean getting rid of them

so the before shot....


Before pruning by leetaylor, on Flickr

And the after shot



After pruning by leetaylor, on Flickr

I know from experience the swords at the front will bounce back in no time and the stumps will melt away too


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## Andy Thurston (5 Aug 2017)

You should cut the stumps as close to the substrate as possible then they don't rot and foul the water


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## leetaylor (5 Aug 2017)

I know but i had my 4 year old hanging onto me at the time


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## Andy Thurston (5 Aug 2017)

Fair do's I can related on that I have 3 kids and their very demanding


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## leetaylor (5 Aug 2017)

Well Andy I have trimmed them back now he has gone to bed



Shorter stumps by leetaylor, on Flickr

Also I ran out of potassium Nitrate today when mixing my ferts....I cant believe people buy pre mixed...it cost me £7 inc postage for enough to last me a couple of years and you would be paying £15 for something which would only last a few weeks!


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## Andy Thurston (5 Aug 2017)

Awesome lee! the less rotting material you have in your tank the easier it will be for you to keep. The tank is looking great by the way keep up the good work. If you have any problems feel free to get in touch


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## leetaylor (6 Aug 2017)

Thanks Andy....its years of being a member on here and picking up tips!!!

Although if anyone has any tips on getting rid of java moss if very much like them!


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## leetaylor (6 Aug 2017)

leetaylor said:


> Thanks Andy....its years of being a member on here and picking up tips!!!
> 
> Although if anyone has any tips on getting rid of java moss if very much like them!


Oh the joys of a 4 year old....so I noticed my plants were going mad pearling....and my fish were very lack luster yesterday..today the fish were gasping for Air and the plants had bubble dirorea! So out came the chemicals and tested for everything amonia fine....nitrite fine nitrate fine....pH however was well off...my ph monitor that controls the tank was showing 8 and the test showed under 6! So I got the buffer solution out and yes my monitor was well off? So I corrected it...my lad saw me doing this and said "that's what I did to help you daddy" aaaahhhhh!!!!!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


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## GHNelson (6 Aug 2017)

Purchase some Assassin Snails....to keep the pest snail population down!
hoggie


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## leetaylor (6 Aug 2017)

hogan53 said:


> Purchase some Assassin Snails....to keep the pest snail population down!
> hoggie


Hi....I did the other week....they are munching!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk


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## GHNelson (6 Aug 2017)

....Nice one!


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## leetaylor (16 Aug 2017)

Hi all,

Update time....

So my Anubius is flowering a lot!


Anubis flowers by leetaylor, on Flickr

I have got some of my fave fish...kuli loach...I have always loved them.,,,they are fun, here are two of them playing in the Anubius stems



Two kuli loach playing in the Anubis by leetaylor, on Flickr

And my shrimp are all either berried or about to again...I think im going to be a Dad many times over again lol



Berried shrimp by leetaylor, on Flickr


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## dw1305 (16 Aug 2017)

Hi all, 





leetaylor said:


> .I have always loved them.,,,they are fun, here are two of them playing in the Anubius stems


They seem to like wood and plants with epiphytic roots. Have a look at <"The missing Kuhli loaches......">.

cheers Darrel


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## leetaylor (25 Aug 2017)

Afternoon.....

I took a pic of the Kuli loaches swimming in the blue moon light



Kuli loaches swimming at night by leetaylor, on Flickr

And had a pic shared to me which I think should be in every Local Fish Shop!!!



What every fish shop should have by leetaylor, on Flickr


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## leetaylor (28 Aug 2017)

What a turn up for the books.....I managed to link my wifi switches to google assistant on my phone and now I have a voice controlled fishtank!!!!!!


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## Eduard18 (30 Aug 2017)

voice controlled tank ; that's cool 
Could you tell me please if the kuhli are jumpers or not ?


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## leetaylor (30 Aug 2017)

It's great...I'm going to take a video and post it lol....anyway...they are all still in there so not jumpers...they are just getting settled in so just starting to swim about a lot

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## leetaylor (30 Aug 2017)

So Video time!

As I said I have got my fish tank voice activated....I was very impressed with myself I must say!



The "Magic" happens all because of three of these

http://sonoff.itead.cc/en/products/residential/s20-socket

£9.99 each off of ebay which is not much more than a normal timer. they come with their own controller app for Android/Apple https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.coolkit&hl=en_GB 

This app will let you set your normal timings up and set up any "Scenes" so for example I can switch everything off in on go If I need to. Google assistant has a connector to the controller app (I'm not sure if Siri on Apple does but if it doesn't its another reason not to buy apple).

Once linked together you name the plug or the scene and away you go telling it to switch on and off!


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## leetaylor (5 Sep 2017)

Another Video update today...this time of the fish doing fishy things


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## leetaylor (24 Nov 2017)

Slight problem to report today....My PH probe has gone on the fritz...this meant that the co2 flooded the tank...the plants LOVE it...the fish not so much! ive had a couple of harlequins go but im hoping i cought it in time before a lot of other stock dies...new one on order...no co2 going into the tank for a bit


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## Edvet (24 Nov 2017)

leetaylor said:


> My PH probe has gone on the fritz


does that mean you have a CO2 regulator via a pH probe? ( because that would mean you have the risk of fluctuating CO2 levels)


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## leetaylor (24 Nov 2017)

Yes, it "should" be set to keep it stable but my probe was reading over 11! so it was gunning the CO2! ive been using it for 10 years an the tank seems really good for it I do let the levels drop over night as the plants are not photosynthosysing so they dont need it


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## leetaylor (3 Dec 2017)

Hi,

Thought id post an update pic




2017-12-03_09-38-22 by leetaylor, on Flickr






Its not got some grass to hopefully make a carpet


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## leetaylor (29 Dec 2017)

hi all, so update time....My PH controler went nuts! i bought a new probe if that was the issue but it wasnt...it was reading -2 ph which i think was accurate would burn a hole down to the center of the earth,

So i got a new one so this is going free (+Postage) to anyone who wants to try fix it



Free to a good home by leetaylor, on Flickr


As I have had no co2 going in the plant growth has been prety slow but its looking lush still



Tank comming along by leetaylor, on Flickr

So heres to 2018 and some CO2 going into my tank (10p says my fire extinguisher runs out now lol


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## Doubu (29 Dec 2017)

Very healthy and lush. Love those crypts up front with some pebbles here and there!


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## leetaylor (29 Dec 2017)

not that you can see much of it i went for a bogwood look not a rocky look....those crypts at the frount look much better when the Co2 is working as they flattern out rather than grow up


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## leetaylor (29 Jan 2018)

So little update time, I have trimmed back some of the Java fern as I was getting some algea build up on it but i am sure It will grow back...

I bought a new baby :


New baby by leetaylor, on Flickr

Ok I bought 2



Ok I got a boy and a girl by leetaylor, on Flickr

And they look awesome under the moon lights



And they look awesome at night by leetaylor, on Flickr


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