# 120cm - Colours



## flygja (11 Aug 2013)

I was getting bored of the scape in my 120cm 300L tank so I've been planning a rescape for some time now. Previously I had a low-ish maintenance scape with mainly slower growing ferns and crypts. I've decided to create a scape with as much colour as I can, using a combination of stem plants. The 4 day weekend gave me the perfect opportunity to get it going!

Here's some specs
120 x 50 x 50cm - 300L
Eheim Pro3 2080
Eheim 2217
Pressurised CO2 through UP Aqua inline diffuser
DIY 100W LED lighting (10x 10W Cree XM-L)
ADA Amazonia aquasoil
EI dosing

It started on Wednesday evening by taking out plants which I was sure I won't be needing in the new scape. Took about 2 hours or so.

On Thursday, I removed all the plants that I wanted to keep, removed all the driftwood and the caught all the fish and placed them into their temp homes. I then removed the remaining rocks and gave them a good soaking in bleach. That took around 5 hours.

This is what I was left with.





On Friday, I created the hardscape. Started by placing a row of lava stones at the back of the tank. The main purpose was to reduce the amount of aquasoil I needed. It should also provide a great place for beneficial bacteria colonies and reduce any anaerobic spots in the soil.




I then pushed all the old soil on it and topped up the substrate with another 3 9L bags of Amazonia. I think there were 2 bags previously, so thats 5 bags in total. Had to run out and get another bag as I ran out.




With my main aim being as many plants as I can cram into the tank, I went as light as I dared on the hardscape. Just 4 pieces of driftwood (which look like 5) and 5 dragon stones.




That was another 5 hours of work. My knees were screaming in agony now... but there was more to come.

Saturday. Planting time! Unfortunately the online retailer which I've bought plants from before was probably on holiday too and their list of plants was incomplete. They usually have about 100 species but it was down to 7. Oh well, time to make do with what I had. When I went to get the soil, I also picked up 4 pots of Mayaca fluviatilis (I think), 1 pot of Rotala wallichii (I think) and 4 pots of Rotala macranda (pretty sure of this).

My chosen carpet was Eleocharis sp Japan. They were growing well in my 60L tank so I just ripped out a bunch. Unfortunately they were also infested with Riccia. I hope it isn't too bad in this scape, else out comes with Excel overdose. Dividing it up into individual bunches. Not fun work.




Filled up the tank with just enough water to cover the planting area and got stuck in.




Then filled it up a bit more so I could plant the Cryptocoryne wendtii "Green".




Water kept filling at a slow pace and it was time to put in the Anubias coffeefolia, Anubias barteri var nana around the rocks. Microsorum pteropus "narrow" was tied to the driftwood. I then planted the Rotala walichii mid left and the Mayaca fluviatilis around it. Rotala macranda went to the rear right. The Barclaya longifolia "Red" was overshadowed by Cryptocoryne wendtii "Brown" in my previous scape so I made sure to plant it mid-ground where it would get a lot of light.




And here it is 7 hours later. Knees and feet were screaming bloody murder by now.




On Sunday, the water cleared up somewhat.




Have I lost you guys yet?  I'll be hunting down a bunch of more plants in the coming weeks to complete the scape. Here's what I have in mind:

Midground
Eleocharis parvula from my 60L tank (as soon as I cleanse them of nasty BGA)
Blyxa japonica
Staurogyne sp.
Micranthenum micranthemoides
Another round-leafed Crypt

Background (I'm really oepn to anything but these are what I'll be actively searching for)
Rotala nanjean
Rotala rotundifolia "Green"
Rotala rotundifolia "Red"
Eustralis stellata

Comments good and bad are most definitely welcomed!


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## flygja (12 Aug 2013)

Day 2 and its waterchange day. Changed about 40%.




Also had the opportunity to take a quick PAR measurement. It's 50-80 umols at the substrate level and around 60 umols on the stems. Hopefully its enough on the stems!


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## flygja (12 Aug 2013)

Deleted


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## Kogre (12 Aug 2013)

Looking great mate.  Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's planted even more.  

Good job, and I hope you're knees are okay now.


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## Yo-han (12 Aug 2013)

I love it!


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## flygja (13 Aug 2013)

Thanks for all the comments! I must keep my momentum up... taking photos and sharing is the only way of making sure I take proper care of my tanks!


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## flygja (16 Aug 2013)

Just sharing a screenshot from the Seneye device. Too bad the pH measurement doesn't go below 6.4, so its always 6.4 for me. I really only bought it for the PAR meter.

NH3 ammonia levels pretty low. 5 days after my previous waterchange sees it at 0.013ppm. Should be safe to add my fish back into the tank this weekend after another water change.


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## Gill (16 Aug 2013)

flygja said:


> Day 2 and its waterchange day. Changed about 40%.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

Where did you get the pipe holder from please


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## faizal (20 Aug 2013)

Wow Flygja,...that's a lot of PAR at substrate level. Loving the new look of the tank. So this was what you've been up to during the long weekend holiday. What a great way to spend it by the way,... . I love your narrow leaf java ferns. They look so lush.


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## faizal (20 Aug 2013)

Gill said:


> Where did you get the pipe holder from please


 
Here you go Gill :


 Aquarium Hose Holder for Mount Tube Make Your Job Easy | eBay

HQI, fish items in aquarium store on eBay!


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## Pedro Rosa (20 Aug 2013)

Flygja, very nice tank. Those Dragon stones are beautiful.
Can i ask you where did you bought that blue accessory you're using with your hose?


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## aliclarke86 (20 Aug 2013)

pmgsr said:


> Flygja, very nice tank. Those Dragon stones are beautiful.
> Can i ask you where did you bought that blue accessory you're using with your hose?


I think faizal just answered your question 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4


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## faizal (20 Aug 2013)

pmgsr said:


> Can i ask you where did you bought that blue accessory you're using with your hose?


 
 We must have posted each others post at about the same time. Mine delayed in getting posted by a few seconds.


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## George Farmer (20 Aug 2013)

Very nice!


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## flygja (21 Aug 2013)

Thanks for the help Faizal. Gill/pmgsr, the pipe holder is an Ista pipe holder. Very useful for water changes. No more balancing books or squeezing with tweezers and risking the pipe coming off and water all over the floor.



faizal said:


> Wow Flygja,...that's a lot of PAR at substrate level. Loving the new look of the tank. So this was what you've been up to during the long weekend holiday. What a great way to spend it by the way,... . I love your narrow leaf java ferns. They look so lush.


Thanks Faizal. Yeap, I've been busy during the long weekend holidays. The PAR on the substrate is high, but not so in the mid and upper levels of the tank. I guess its because the beams of the individual LED chips will combine as they reach deeper into the tank. Tom Barr's dutch tank has 50 umols/s on the substrate so thats what I'll be aiming for too. Honestly I don't know if the narrow leaf ferns will work. They're too close to where the stems will be bunching up and therefore get caught in it. We'll see.



George Farmer said:


> Very nice!


Thanks a lot George! Means a lot coming from you!

Added back my fish over the weekend. That'd be one discus, 8 Congo tetras, 2 Treadfin Rainbows, a lonely Penguin tetra, a sole Glowlight tetra, 5 Corydoras trilineatus and 3 Panda cories.

The largest leaves of Cryptocoryne wendtii "Green" have started to melt, I'm guessing its because of the changes in temps and CO2 levels when it moved into a temp tank for a few days. All of those have been trimmed off. Growth quite apparent in the Mayaca fluviatilis and Rotala Macranda "Green". The Japanese hairgrass (which were growing in another tank of mine) have started spreading too. So all is well!


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## flygja (21 Aug 2013)

Eggs!! Thats what I came home to discover today. I don't know who they're from, either the cories (trillineatus have spawned before) or the Congo tetras.

Here's one stuck on my cheapie thermometer




A 100% crop of the above




Two more on the rather dirty filter intake pipe. There are actually a few more along the pipe.




And one in the hairgrass




I also discovered these eggs in the substrate. They're either snail eggs or tubifex worm eggs 




I don't know the first thing about breeding fish though...


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## Tim Harrison (21 Aug 2013)

yummm...a couple of lovely trails...


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## faizal (24 Aug 2013)

How beautiful the Lord's creations are. I love the blue hue that it gives off,...splendid.


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## flygja (31 Aug 2013)

Thanks Faizal. Unfortunately they're all gone now. Must've been eaten up.

Anyway... plants!! LFS gave me a call to tell me their shipment of plants had arrived and I went straight over to get first dibs!




Here's the planting plan. I have to admit that I only drew up the plan after I planted it 




1. Elecharis sp Japan
2. Cryptocoryne Wendtii sp Green
3. Lobelia cardinalis
4. Syngonanthus sp. Belem (not Tonina fluviatilism thanks Edvet)
5. Rotala rotundifolia
6. Mayaca fluviatilis
7. Rotala wallichii
8. Rotala rotundifolia sp Green
9. Limnophila aromatica
10. Myriophyllum matogrossense
11. Rotala macranda sp Green
12. Barclaya longifolia sp Red
13. Blyxa japonica (might be aubertii, will have to wait for emersed coloration)
14. Anubias barteri var nana (in and around the rocks, not labelled)
15. Anubias barteri var coffeefolia (in between middle rocks, not labelled)
16. Microsorum pteropus narrow (on driftwood)

All planted up, full tank shot




From higher up, so you can see the new plants




Left detail




Right detail




You may also notice I have a lot more fish now. My friend who's moving to another city gave me all his fish, which consists of black neon tetras, neon tetras, a few guppies and a blue cory. He's got more to catch and give to me.

Now for the bad news... Crypt wendtii green is still melting, taking a while to adjust to the new tank. Anubias are doing badly too. Getting covered in BBA or some other type of algae. Coffeefolia starting to brown even. Might be something to do with getting direct lighting with no shade above. CO2 drop checker is a lime green and circulation looks good with tiny bubbles all around the place.


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## Edvet (31 Aug 2013)

Why are there what seems to be fans?


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## flygja (1 Sep 2013)

Edvet said:


> Why are there what seems to be fans?


 

They're for cooling. I live in the tropics - Malaysia - the temperature is usually 30 - 34'C in the daytime. The fans help keep the water temps at around 28'C. It's not ideal for plants, as 26'C would be better. The only alternative would be to use a chiller, which I already have on a 60L I own and my wife won't let me have another.

I do need to modify the fans a bit. It's shadowing the area underneath it, which is where the Myriophyllum matogrossense is.


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## flygja (1 Sep 2013)

I'm also really tempted to remove all the rocks so I have more place for plants! I have a few crypts and mid-ground plants in mind, like Staurogyne sp and Pogostemon helferi. What do you guy think? I'll tie all the Anubias to the driftwood instead.


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## aliclarke86 (1 Sep 2013)

I like the rock

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## flygja (12 Sep 2013)

aliclarke86 said:


> I like the rock


 
Thanks Ali, I'll keep the rocks for now.

Broke out the camera for some shots tonight. Here's the FTS





First up, it looks like my emersed plant identification is crap. What I thought was Rotala rotundifolia red is probably some sorta Ludwigia, maybe Ludwigia brevipes. And what I thought was Myriophyllum matogrossensse is... I don't know yet.

Tonina fluviatilis is growing well, doubled in height in about 2 weeks.




The plant I thought was Myriophyllum is the fastest of all, tripling its height in 2 weeks. Gonna trim it this weekend. The pinkish stem on the left is Rotala wallichii. 




Limnophila aromatica is also growing slowly, but submersed growth is fully green in colour. Am hoping it'll turn red as it nears the lights.




A shot of cardinals schooling. With a neon tetra behind pretending to be a cardinal LOL




And a bunch of shots of my friend's black neon tetras. I never really found these appealing enough to buy, but these have really changed my mind! Prepare for pic overload!
















Hope you guys like it!


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## Ady34 (12 Sep 2013)

Stunning looking aquascape flygja!
Great photograhs also.
When the grass grows in it will soften the rocks nicely, i like them too 
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Edvet (12 Sep 2013)

Your Tonina doesn't look like fluviatilis to me, more like Tonina sp Manaus or T. sp Belem (renamed nowadays to Syngonanthus spp)


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## flygja (13 Sep 2013)

Ady34 said:


> Stunning looking aquascape flygja! Great photograhs also. When the grass grows in it will soften the rocks nicely, i like them too


Thanks Ady! No doubt the rocks look okay, I just wanted space for more mid-ground plants! Collectoritis! 



Edvet said:


> Your Tonina doesn't look like fluviatilis to me, more like Tonina sp Manaus or T. sp Belem (renamed nowadays to Syngonanthus spp)


Geez you're right! I always thought Tonina fluviatilis was the one with fine leaves while Tonina sp. Belem is the one with triangular shorter leaves. So confident was I that I didn't even check online before typing it in! I've corrected my posts to read Tonina / Syngonanthus sp Belem now. Thanks!


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## Edvet (13 Sep 2013)

Just an unrelated question: not sure where in Malaysia you are but aren't you interested to make a beautifull malaysian biotope with fish and plants you collected yourself?
Maybe it's a stupid proposition because you live in the middle of a big city, but me being a biotope nut, i would try to go for that. (not want to disrespect your choice in anyway btw).


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## tim (13 Sep 2013)

Looking really good flygja, top photos as always too, maybe just remove a couple of the rocks free up a little more space for collectorits planting, it's looking great mate.


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## flygja (14 Jan 2014)

It's been a while since I've updated. Quite a bit has changed. On the equipment side of things, its now running 2x Eheim Pro3 2080s with their included intakes and goosenecks. I have also increased the lighting from 10x 10W Cree XML LEDs to 20x 10W Cree XML LEDs. Mainly for better spread of lighting though, I don't run them at full power unless I wanna take pictures or when visitors come over.

Plants have changed quite a bit. I've been pulling stuff out that have failed and replacing them. Rotala macranda, Mayaca fluviatilis, Rotala rotundifolia, Barclaya longifolia red have all but failed as I keep trying to find the balance between light and algae. About the only plant that is really successful are the ferns and the Tonina. Even hairgrass refuses to spread. I've got Ludwigia palustris, Proserpinaca palustris, Hygrophilla sp Araguaia and Rotala nanjean (I think) as new additions.

Here's what it looks like. 




In terms of algae, here's what I've been battling. GSA on Anubias coffeefolia and barteri nana. I've sub-divided my ferns to try and shade them.




Slight bit of BGA on the front glass and lots of BBA everywhere. I've been treating BBA with spot-dosed Excel and it seems to have slowed down a bit.




Pathetic condition of Lobelia cardinalis. It was growing fine for a while, then became very stunted.




Any tips on algae? I've adjusted my lighting to generate about 50-60 PAR on the substrate. In mid-water where the stems are its around 80-100. CO2 is running at uncountable bps through an inline UpAqua diffuser (the Y-shaped one) on the outlet of one of the 2080s. Outlets are places on the right facing the left. There is flow and tiny CO2 bubbles pretty much everywhere. I've also started injecting air at night through an airstone, as you can see in the FTS.


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## flygja (14 Jan 2014)

Edvet said:


> Just an unrelated question: not sure where in Malaysia you are but aren't you interested to make a beautifull malaysian biotope with fish and plants you collected yourself? Maybe it's a stupid proposition because you live in the middle of a big city, but me being a biotope nut, i would try to go for that. (not want to disrespect your choice in anyway btw).


 
That's a great suggestion! I'm not really into biotopes but might give it a try one day. I haven't seen much indigenous plants in rivers except for Egeria densa, which seems to be everywhere. Malaysia's supposed to have a lot of Crypts and Buceps but those are mostly on the island of Borneo. What I would really love is to collect some wild fish like bettas!


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## flygja (14 Jan 2014)

My first video! Still got a lot to learn.


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## TOO (14 Jan 2014)

Looks really good. Love the shimmer effect from the LEDs. Are you not running co2?

Thomas


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## flygja (16 Jan 2014)

Thanks Thomas. The LEDs do give that sorta shimmer effect if there's surface movement. I am running CO2. The video was shot after the CO2 has switched off and the air pump switched on.

Two nights ago I captured this - looks like Congo Tetras spawning after their regular feeding time. Apologies for the camera shake and darkness of the video. Didn't want to turn up the lights or set up a tripod and scare the fish. Shot with the 100mm macro I had on my camera at the time, so depth of field is also limited.


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## aliclarke86 (16 Jan 2014)

Love the music 

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## Pedro Rosa (16 Jan 2014)

What a video! 
Great images and great music.
Thanks.


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## Pedro Rosa (16 Jan 2014)

flygja said:


> Thanks Thomas. The LEDs do give that sorta shimmer effect if there's surface movement. I am running CO2. The video was shot after the CO2 has switched off and the air pump switched on.


 

Sorry for asking but why are you using an air pump after CO2? Trying to give a better life for your fish?


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## TOO (16 Jan 2014)

Great video. Made me dizzy watching them circulate around each other .

Thomas


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## alex08 (16 Jan 2014)

flygja, very nice clips! 
Also, i think i'm in love with your fish (congo tetras).


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## Ady34 (16 Jan 2014)

Hi,
You seem to have quite a lot of light now, to battle the algae id always suggest reducing lighting intensity and increasing water change frequency for a while.
oh, i also think that is dominance sparring between male congo tetras rather than spawning, impressive to watch none the less 
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## flygja (18 Jan 2014)

Thanks all. The music track is something I got from YouTube's royalty free music collection. I think its called Get Out of Here or something. Replying on my phone so can't check it.

I'm better at plants than fish so can never tell sexes or rituals. Thanks for the correction. Will need to change my YouTube title now.

Ady, I've tried reducing lighting before. Since my DIY LEDs are dimmable, I had them producing 30 umols/s at the substrate. No new development of GSA and dead BBA stays dead. But all my stems except the Tonina suffered greatly. Have thrown away a ton of macranda, rotundifolia and countless others. Still trying to find a balance.

Right now GSA developed on Anubias leaves within 3-4 days of unfurling. Kinda frustrating. When the lights come on today I'll tweak them again.


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## flygja (18 Jan 2014)

alex08 said:


> flygja, very nice clips!
> Also, i think i'm in love with your fish (congo tetras).



Besides discus, Congo tetras were another one of my dream fish when I was a boy. If not for wanting to keep more discus, I'd definitely get more Congo tetras. They spook the discus out.


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## flygja (18 Jan 2014)

pmgsr said:


> Sorry for asking but why are you using an air pump after CO2? Trying to give a better life for your fish?



Can I say Twin star? LOL. Amano pumps are into his tanks after lights out. And with the seemingly successful experiences from others with Twinstar, I thought I'd try adding air at night too. Can't tell if its helping or not. I only had a JBL pH test kit and can't tell the diff between shades of green LOL.


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## flygja (30 Mar 2014)

Hey guys, here's an update.






There have been a few changes.
1. I have decided to try T5HO lights instead of LEDs. Main reason being that with the 6500K Cree LEDs, my red plants just aren't turning red. Since most of the pros still use T5s, I decided to get myself a 6x 54W lighting unit. It's got some China-brand bulbs called Katana. They're about 8500K to my eye. With 2 bulbs on, it makes about 35 umols/s on the subtrate. With 4 bulbs its about 80 umols/s. With all 6 on, its a solar explosive 145 umols/s. I ran it on 2 bulbs only for about 3 weeks to try and control BBA. 35 umols/s isn't enough to grow lush Rotala rotundifolia Green. So now I've switched on 4 bulbs for 7 hours a day.

2. Dug up the ADA Amazonia at the front and added some gravel. This is the feeding spot for when I feed frozen bloodworms. My fish were ripping up the carpet when I was feeding frozen bloodworms and I was getting annoyed.

3. Changed to dual spray bars on the right side of the tank instead of previously using 2 "shepherd's crook" outlets. Circulation looks ok, but not as strong on the bottom right as previously.

4. Changed back to the Up Aqua style Y-shaped inline diffuser. I tried foxfish' high flow diffuser but it just didn't work for me. Perhaps wasn't done right. Tank looks like fizzy pop now. Not ideal for viewing but as long as I can keep algae away! 

5. Since there's a drought here, I've reduced water changes from weekly 50% to 20-30% every 2 weeks. I hope it doesn't mess up my tank with its increased lighting.

Comments are welcomed as always.


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## Kogre (30 Mar 2014)

Your tank looks absolutely stunning mate. A beautiful inspiration.


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## faizal (31 Mar 2014)

The tank is looking stunning Flygja. Congratulations buddy.


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## flygja (18 May 2014)

Time for an update, and not a good one. You guys wants warts and all, well here it is. 3 weeks ago I was at an LFS and saw they had a new fish I haven't seen before - Buenos Aires Tetras. They were similar to the Colombian/Argentinian Red Fins I had before, so I assumed their temperaments would be similar. Scooped up 10 of them and brought them home. At first I was really impressed, they were super active and they shoaled wherever they went. The next day though, I caught a few of them nipping my plants! Within a week they have seriously decimated some plants.

Limnophila aromatica stripped of lower leaves. The leaves on top are growth. I plan to let them grow another 2 inches or so, then trim and replant the tops.




Blyxa aubertii




Ludwigia repens was completely decimated till there were no leaves left so I had to rip them up. Even Helanthium tennelus was not spared. Must never buy on impulse anymore! Thankfully I managed to give it away to a friend who kept ferns and mosses. He told me they weren't nipping those plants.

My narrow leaf ferns are starting to blacken. I wonder if this is what Amano calls "fern disease"? I trim some leaves at every water change, am afraid to trim them all because 99% of them have black spots like this.




BBA is rearing its ugly head again. I have reduced lighting to 2x 54W for now. Some pics of badly affected Anubias barteri.




You can see the root system and stubs left from trimming are badly affected. The roots themselves have turned black. Should I throw them all out? Some of these Anubias have been with me for 6 or 7 years so I'm quite hesistant to throw them out. I can probably salvage the tips of the rhizome with 3-4 leaves each.




One of the places that gets a lot of BBA are on the root systems of the ferns. Spot dosing with Excel gets rid of them, but they'll be back. Should I trim off all the roots?




Having a really hard time right now. CO2 is at 6-7 bps through Up-Aqua type inline diffuser, so my tank looks like fizzy lemonade most of the time. Drop checker is yellow. Circulation looks good as I see small bubbles everywhere in the tank. I changed from the dual spraybars back to the two shepherd's crook outlets. I noticed that the spraybars were creating deadspots as the flow "droops" before reaching the opposite pane of glass, thus disturbing the flow on the substrate, which flows from left to right. 

I have a new shipment of plants (mostly stems) coming in next week to replace those I've lost. I hope I fare better.


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## Edvet (18 May 2014)

What's your pH drop?


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## flygja (20 May 2014)

Hey Edvet. I don't have a pH pen, only a JBL test kit. To my eye, and my dynamic range isn't that great, I get about 0.5 to 1 drop between CO2 on and lights on. CO2 is about as far as it goes without gassing my fish. I think it can take a little more. The bubble rate keeps changing as the cylinder looses pressure.


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## Edvet (20 May 2014)

ahh that's bad. i think a pH pen and a good regulator are mandatory for a high energy tank


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## flygja (21 May 2014)

Hey Edvet. Assuming that the amount of CO2 is already as high as it goes without gassing the fish, does it matter that the difference is +1 at the start of CO2 on? Meaning that its also important to gas off the CO2 that much during lights off?


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## Edvet (21 May 2014)

The plants seem to need the CO2 the most at lights on, so you want optimal values then, at the end of the lighting period CO2 seems to be a bit less critical, so diminishing amounts don't seem to have a lot of influence. At night the plants produce CO2, if you have CO2 still on this might put the fish in danger. So you''ll need good surface agitation at night, or have your CO2 off . I used to have it on 24/7, but i aways have lots of surface movement. (now i have a solenoid and start CO2 2 hours before full blast, on till 2 hours before end)


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## flygja (8 Sep 2014)

So all is still not well with my tank. Below is a hastily shot video to explain. I still can't shake the BBA off. It keeps coming back after a few weeks. Plants are still melting and getting covered by BBA. I'm currently running 2x 54W, about 20cm above the water surface. I've recently gotten myself a cheap dealextreme pH pen and took a pH profile yesterday.

1230 7.01
1400 6.23 (CO2 comes on at 1300, but I wasn't home to take a reading)
1500 5.95 (Lights come on)
1700 5.92
1800 5.85
1900 5.60 (Reduced CO2 bubble rate slightly after taking this reading)
2000 5.71
2100 5.84 (CO2 turns off)
2200 5.83 (Lights turn off)
2300 5.90

So it looks like I'm getting my 1 point pH drop. I've also been messing around with distribution and am now trying 2 gooseneck outlets, one on the back right facing the front glass at about 45 degrees. The other on the front left, facing backwards at about 45 degrees. I get better flow on the right side of my tank right now. But you can still see in the video that there's a ton of BBA where the flow is strong.



The only upshot of all this misery is that the Barclaya longifolia "red" has decided that these are the perfect conditions and have grown like its never grown before in my tank.


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## Edvet (8 Sep 2014)

BBA is CO2 related, try to get in more. Having BBA problems means try to get in more and more.
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm


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## flygja (8 Sep 2014)

Hey edvet. Anymore CO2 and fish will be gasping at the surface. Should I be trying to add surface agitation to balance the CO2 and O2 levels?

I got myself and API KH test kit my KH is about 2-3dKH. Is that too low? Should I add coral chips to my filters?


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## Edvet (8 Sep 2014)

At those KH levels you probably should even get a bigger drop (maybe even 2 points).You'll need more CO2 and more O2 probably, when are they gasping?
If you absolutely can't get more CO2 in, make sure circulation/distrubution is very good (you still habve the spraybars on one side?, maybe try a large one over the entire backside). The last option is to lower the PAR, looks like a lot of light.


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## REDSTEVEO (8 Sep 2014)

Edvet said:


> Why are there what seems to be fans?



Probably cooling fans for the DIY LED's...


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## flygja (9 Sep 2014)

Hey Edvet, if I increase the CO2 by any tiny bit more, some fish (not all) will start gasping. I'm afraid of adding more in. I've changed the orientation of the outlets. The spray bar on one side was causing lack of flow directly below the spray bar. Right now I have one gooseneck back right, pointing at the mid-way point of the front glass (about 45 degrees) and another gooseneck front left, pointing at the mid-way point of the back glass. All plants are moving in the current now. 

I'll try adding coral chips to my filters, see if higher KH leads to more stable pH readings and drop.

REDSTEVEO, the cooling fans are for the water. I live in the tropics so air temps can reach 34'C in the afternoon.


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## Edvet (9 Sep 2014)

Adding KH doesnt change the amount of CO2 needed, it just changes the effect on pH of a given amount of CO2!


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## ltsai (9 Sep 2014)

flygja said:


> REDSTEVEO, the cooling fans are for the water. I live in the tropics so air temps can reach 34'C in the afternoon.



Does a chiller help since it reduces the need for co2 and increases solubility? But didn't I read from somewhere that warmer temperature doesn't matter at all. 

I have considered a chiller before since I'm living in the tropics except not in Malaysia but Singapore. The exhaust heat and electricity bill is a turn off.


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## flygja (9 Sep 2014)

A chiller definitely helps but like you said, electricity costs and the heat it generates in the house prohibits the use of it. I have a chiller on a 60L tank and its set to 28'C which is acceptable to my wife.


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## flygja (9 Dec 2014)

Over the weekend I re-scaped this tank so this aquascape is no more. I guess I've never been quite happy with it. I designed it with the idea that I'd have loads of brightly coloured stems. In the 16 months that its been going, I've completely failed to achieve this. The only stem that grew well is Hygrophilla polysperma sp "Rosanervig". The others either started well and then failed after trimming, or didn't do well from the start. I think its more than just CO2 or circulation related, but I never quite figured it out. 14x flow, LEDs and T5s, CO2 diffused through reactor or inline diffuser, ADA Aquasoil, EI... I would like to think I have all the ingredients in the recipe but I just didn't have the instructions to put it together.

This is roughly what it looked like before it was re-done.
IMG_20141122_103540 by flygja, on Flickr

Last month, I borrowed a friend's action camera - an HDCAM SJ4000 wifi - which is a GoPro clone. It costs about a quarter of the price of a GoPro. I took it home, checked it make sure its watertight, then proceeded to dump it into the tank  The rock was used to hold it down as it was a bit buoyant. 
IMG_20141113_212728 by flygja, on Flickr

Here's a feeding time video. My fish are being fed frozen bloodworms. I only edited the video length and added music, no other effects.


Thanks everyone who commented, liked and helped out along the way. On to something different!


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## GTL_UK (9 Dec 2014)

GoPro discus action ;]


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## daizeUK (9 Dec 2014)

I enjoyed your journal - sorry it didn't work out as well as you wanted.  I would have loved to see if you could figure out that algae problem and crack it on the head.
Nice looking scape, even so


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## flygja (10 Dec 2014)

GTL_UK said:


> GoPro discus action ;]


Not really GoPro, but good enough. I made a mistake, its SJCAM, not HDCAM. There's a good video review below (maybe some of you might recognise the shopping mall). He also has a comparison to GoPro Hero, check his Youtube listings. 




daizeUK said:


> I enjoyed your journal - sorry it didn't work out as well as you wanted.  I would have loved to see if you could figure out that algae problem and crack it on the head.
> Nice looking scape, even so


Thanks a lot for the compliments. I think I was on the right path to cracking the algae problem. I had to clean BBA every 2-3 weeks until I got myself an army of 8 SAEs. The BBA disappeared and I didn't have to clean BBA for a few months. Also changed the direction of my filter outflows a bit and it seemed to work as well. I was just sad that I couldn't grow the stems that I wanted.


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