# The Journey



## Brian Murphy (25 Jan 2015)

I have been waiting to start a journal that I can be proud of and I still hope that it works out for me after gaining valuable knowledge on Ukaps.  Like alot of people into aquascaping I couldn't afford a new ADA or NA set-up, so decided to look further afield and found a potential supplier in China that I could afford.  I have never imported a large item before so was I wasn't expecting the hell that I went through before I received the cargo on christmas eve, near 3 months after I put in the order.  
The cargo was supposed to arrive in Belfast port and I expected to go pick it up and pay the customs fees.  Little did I know that the chinese shipping agent that my supplier used had no clue as to where Belfast was and the cargo was sent to Southampton.  I work for a courier and work in the most rural part of N.Ireland with hardly any phone signal, never mind internet connection.  It was also our peak period and I was working stupid hours and having to send emails back and forth.  The cargo sat in storage for 2 weeks at £25 a day while I argued my point that I paid for it to come to Belfast and it only arrived as far as southampton and the chinese shipping agent couldn't understand why i just couldn't pick it up in southampton.  
Anyway, I eventually got my way and they paid the extra cost and I paid the more than expected customs fees.

There is alot more to the story but I don't want to bore you all with the details.  I got my tank and I now want to share the the journey I am about to go on and gain some advice along the way.  The products I got all look amazing but I have yet to set it up.  I have ideas of what I want but until I start scaping it I dont know what way to go.  

My product list includes some items not used on here including Amazon soil that I hope is similar to ADA's amazonia soil and ADA style 1200ex filters.  I will be learning alot along the way so I hope you will aswell. Here are some of the first pics before the actual set-up which I hope to start tomorrow by moving my old tank and replacing it with my new tank.


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## Brian Murphy (25 Jan 2015)

The arrival of the 120cm x 50cm x 50cm tank and cabinet, plus 10 x 9l bags of amazon soil, 2 x 1200xl canister filters, assortment of scissors and pincets.




Building the cabinet with chinese instructions lol 




The goods unpacked


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## Martin in Holland (25 Jan 2015)

Yep...in China they all think that Great Britain is one country...they also think this about Africa...
Next time contact me, I might be able to help.


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## Dantrasy (25 Jan 2015)

Great looking kit. I'm glad to they spelt your name right. I have a Chinese ada mini m knock off - it's identical.


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## Ady34 (25 Jan 2015)

Pleased it finally arrived mate
Look forward to seeing what you do with it....


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## Tim Harrison (25 Jan 2015)

Me too, and I'd be interested to know how the filters perform.


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## allan angus (25 Jan 2015)

great start to your journal  good luck


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## Greenfinger2 (26 Jan 2015)

Hi Brian, Glad you got your kit in the end  Great looking equipment 

Looking forward to seeing the scape


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## ADA (26 Jan 2015)

Interested to see how these goodies work out, thought about buying one of those filters myself.


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## kirk (26 Jan 2015)

What a palava Brian. Glad it worked out and hope it still saved you money. I was just looking at the cabinet, I can see holes in the top is the tank tapped in the base or is that just optional on the cabinet?


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## flygja (27 Jan 2015)

That ADA replica filter sure looks the part too!


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## Martin in Holland (27 Jan 2015)

I am curious if they have the same turnover, those ADA replica filters. I'm also curious if I find them even cheaper here in (mainland) China, cause most replica's come from here, not from Hong Kong.


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## BigTom (27 Jan 2015)

I'm not surprised there was difficulty with the delivery if they just addressed it to 'Brian' and put it on a boat


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## Tim Harrison (27 Jan 2015)

Martin in China said:


> I am curious if they have the same turnover, those ADA replica filters. I'm also curious if I find them even cheaper here in (mainland) China, cause most replica's come from here, not from Hong Kong.


Yep me too...so hurry up Brian and let us know how it's all going.


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## Brian Murphy (29 Jan 2015)

kirk said:


> What a palava Brian. Glad it worked out and hope it still saved you money. I was just looking at the cabinet, I can see holes in the top is the tank tapped in the base or is that just optional on the cabinet?



The cabinet came like that and was designed so it can work with normal pipes and fittings or whatever you like.  I could have asked for it to be altered I suppose but it was no biggie to just cut holes and leave the other holes for something else such as a spraybar in the future.




Martin in China said:


> I am curious if they have the same turnover, those ADA replica filters. I'm also curious if I find them even cheaper here in (mainland) China, cause most replica's come from here, not from Hong Kong.



I'm still unsure as to how they will perform but I don't intend to put much media into the filters so as to get the optimum out of them.  I want to avoid having to use powerheads but have them on standby if needed.



BigTom said:


> I'm not surprised there was difficulty with the delivery if they just addressed it to 'Brian' and put it on a boat



Sure they all know me in Ireland lol



Troi said:


> Yep me too...so hurry up Brian and let us know how it's all going.



Just waiting on my lighting from Alastair and then I will start on the scaping ideas and get the dslr out as the natural and normal room light wouldn't do it justice.


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## Brian Murphy (29 Jan 2015)

I didn't get a proper aquarium matt so just going to use some polystyrene sheets that I have had lying around for this purpose.  I will probably just colour in the edge with black marker so as it doesn't stand out too much


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## Lindy (30 Jan 2015)

The stand looks really smart.


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## angelfishguy (31 Jan 2015)

hi Brian, lovely tank. would you ever buy from that same supplier again? or did all the extra fees make up for the price you paid?


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## Brian Murphy (31 Jan 2015)

Martin in China said:


> Yep...in China they all think that Great Britain is one country...they also think this about Africa...
> Next time contact me, I might be able to help.



Just looking on the map, they aren't that far from you in Foshan, Guangdong


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## Brian Murphy (31 Jan 2015)

angelfishguy said:


> hi Brian, lovely tank. would you ever buy from that same supplier again? or did all the extra fees make up for the price you paid?



I might do if all the equipment works as expected, but a I will use my own shipping agent to deal with it.  Couldn't go though that again lol  ..... I might even be able to take some orders off here from you guys and give you a price etc .... we'll see


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## stu_ (31 Jan 2015)

Brian Murphy said:


> Just looking on the map, they aren't that far from you


Careful;that's probably the same tactic that the supplier used...
Goog luck with the tank.


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## ourmanflint (31 Jan 2015)

I have had similar problems in the past. Its probably not the shippers fault but the trans shipper, as they will probably just buy space in a container, and the trans shippers send everything to southampton for the uk by default. Looks really good though.


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## Martin in Holland (31 Jan 2015)

Foshan is about 4 hours drive away from Shenzhen (depending from what end of Shenzhen I start of....it could take 2 hours more if I start from the far west part)....but if you need something special, maybe I can look for it, show you a few pictures and send it to you (my wife is Chinese, which sometimes makes those things a whole lot easier)


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## Brian Murphy (31 Jan 2015)

Martin in China said:


> Foshan is about 4 hours drive away from Shenzhen (depending from what end of Shenzhen I start of....it could take 2 hours more if I start from the far west part)....but if you need something special, maybe I can look for it, show you a few pictures and send it to you (my wife is Chinese, which sometimes makes those things a whole lot easier)



Good to know, I had thought that although it looks close on the map it probably isn't lol


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## Brian Murphy (31 Jan 2015)

So the hardscape materials that will be used so far are Manzanite wood (Tom Barr) and I am going for Dragon stone as I have a red wall behind the tank and I also want to succeed with a red plant and was thinking of volcanos and fire and going for a reddish look, maybe what mars might be like if aquatic plants took over its red surface.  I dunno yet but there are lots of ideas running through my head as you can imagine with all the excitement.
I love the way Amano still uses alot of tridents and moss on his scapes so I will be using these for a cert.  I want a reddish tip plant at the back such as Rotala Rotundifolia so will blending back into that.  Still unsure if I want a sand path or just carpet with loose rocks and pebble sized dragon stone placed along a river like bed with crypts and hairgrass.  Any ideas welcome as I want to source who I will get the plants off this week.


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## Tim Harrison (31 Jan 2015)

Exciting times...I'm a big fan of the way Amano uses epiphytes and mosses too, and how he uses carpet plants, so personally I'd go with a carpet and maybe an open area of sand.


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## Brian Murphy (31 Jan 2015)

Troi said:


> Exciting times...I'm a big fan of the way Amano uses epiphytes and mosses too, and how he uses carpet plants, so personally I'd go with a carpet and maybe an open area of sand.



Yeah it was my plan originally but I seen a tank recently exactly like the way I wanted it to go so thought about doing something different.  I'm just going to go with something more natural as you would see in the wild.  Biotopes are are foremost in my mind but don't want to go that way exclusively


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## ltsai (1 Feb 2015)

Martin in China said:


> Foshan is about 4 hours drive away from Shenzhen (depending from what end of Shenzhen I start of....it could take 2 hours more if I start from the far west part)....but if you need something special, maybe I can look for it, show you a few pictures and send it to you (my wife is Chinese, which sometimes makes those things a whole lot easier)



Ahh, didn't know that. Should have visited your "LFS" when I was there a few weeks ago. Sadly I ended up with food poisoning at the hospital.


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## Greenfinger2 (1 Feb 2015)

Hi Brian, Sounds Great. Looking forward to seeing the final layout and planting


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## Lindy (4 Feb 2015)

Got your lights yet?


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## Martin in Holland (5 Feb 2015)

ltsai said:


> Ahh, didn't know that. Should have visited your "LFS" when I was there a few weeks ago. Sadly I ended up with food poisoning at the hospital.


Next time you're around this part  let me know, we can go together and talk fish tank the whole day


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## Brian Murphy (5 Feb 2015)

ldcgroomer said:


> Got your lights yet?


No not yet .... hopefully soon though


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## Brian Murphy (17 Feb 2015)

I eventually found a proper black mat that was 120cm x 50cm, so replaced the polystyrene with it and it looks must better.  If I'm gonna do it then I want to do it as right as i can.  


Just waiting on my light to come and was have been waiting on more dragonstone to come from zooplus (both .de and .co.uk) and after a week waiting on zooplus.de, I found a refund in my paypal and then decided to order from .co.uk and after I week I had to email them and they just refunded my money aswell.  I am fuming as I can't get dragonstone from anywhere here in Northern Ireland and any of our sponsors are charging too much for delivery! So I am stumped at the minute as what to do. I need more stone from what you can see.  There is wood still to go in and more substrate and I had also ordered some gravel for the front and that isn't coming either.


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## ADA (17 Feb 2015)

Curious, what site did you buy this from?


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## Brian Murphy (18 Feb 2015)

ADA said:


> Curious, what site did you buy this from?



The tank etc? It was from fireaq


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## Brian Murphy (24 Feb 2015)

I've been playing around with the hardscape over the past couple of days and I think I am getting to something that I am happy with.  I am trying to picture it with the plants grown in and what the critters might think of it considering all the nooks and crannys they will have to explore and find food like they would in their natural environment. I haven't started taking the pics with the dslr yet as I still don't have the light yet but hopefully it will be here tomorrow with the plants and things can start with more momentum.  Have a look and tell me what you think so far.


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## Brian Murphy (21 Mar 2015)

So its been a month or more waiting on my light and plants so have had plenty of time to lay out the hardscape and this is my final scape. I just hope the wood doesn't float after been out of the water for a month as I had it soaking before hand and wasn't expecting the delay in getting the light etc.  I have it under the substrate so it should be be ok but will have rocks at hand in case when I flood it.  Tell me what you think and I still have time to change bits and pieces 
I couldn't resist making a path as it needed it although it left less room for carpet area.

First pics taken with dslr but need proper lens for it


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## Greenfinger2 (21 Mar 2015)

Hi Brian, The Layout is looking good  Bring on the planting 
Sorry to hear about the Delays  These things happen


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## Brian Murphy (21 Mar 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Brian, The Layout is looking good  Bring on the planting
> Sorry to hear about the Delays  These things happen



It has been a 'Journey' to get to this stage alright lol


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## Brian Murphy (1 Apr 2015)

It has been a long wait but I finally got my light and have been putting it through it's paces before I receive the plants tomorrow and start planting on friday.  I have gone with the Arcadia Classica OTL LED 90cm and I am pretty impressed so far with the colours from it.


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## karla (4 Apr 2015)

It looks like a quality tank, keep us updated. The layout is very nice, I am looking forward to seeing plants and water.


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## Brian Murphy (5 Apr 2015)

All planted up and looking good but I am going to hold back on pics as I am thinking of entering a competition if things go well


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## Rahms (5 Apr 2015)

Brian Murphy said:


> All planted up and looking good but I am going to hold back on pics as I am thinking of entering a competition if things go well



must be good!

think I've seen people post closeups if theyre saving full tank shots for comps (hint hint)


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## Brian Murphy (6 Apr 2015)

Rahms said:


> must be good!
> 
> think I've seen people post closeups if theyre saving full tank shots for comps (hint hint)



I think I might just wait in case I ruin it .... hope I haven't already by posting pics of the hardscape? Anyone know what the rules are generally regarding that?


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## Iain Sutherland (6 Apr 2015)

you can post what ever you like, the only photo that shouldnt be used elsewhere is the final image you use for the comp.
Post away.


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## Brian Murphy (6 Apr 2015)

Good to know .... pics coming shortly


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## Brian Murphy (6 Apr 2015)

Pics from planting day ........


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## Brian Murphy (6 Apr 2015)




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## Chrisvx220 (6 Apr 2015)

That looks great, can't wait to see it once grown in a little bit!


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## Brian Murphy (7 Apr 2015)

Having a few problems with the arcadia otl led light as when it is programmed it ramps up to the highest intensity of 24 even though it was set to a lower number. When googled I see that this can't be by-passed! It has to be done manually which is useless unless you are at home everyday to turn it on at the correct time etc .... not happy at all !


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## Andy Thurston (7 Apr 2015)

Hi Brian I dont think its impossible, just a bit tricky, Mark evans used one in this thread
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/...ce-the-joy-of-shrimp.29444/page-5#post-311369
perhaps you could send him a pm and see if he can help, or get in touch with arcadia and see if they can help.


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## Brian Murphy (7 Apr 2015)

Good man ... I dont know if Mark is on here that much anymore though but good to know he was able to do it. I have just set the smaller leds to come on first until i can get home from work and sort it out then. Just wish I knew about it before buying it.


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## Greenfinger2 (7 Apr 2015)

Hi Brian, Looking forward to seeing this when the plants grow in. Looks great already  Sorry to hear about the light problems mate.Hope you get it sorted soon.


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## Rahms (7 Apr 2015)

since you have the arcadia suspended, you could just raise it a bit more? obviously not the most attractive solution, but better than buying another light


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## Brian Murphy (8 Apr 2015)

I have raised it to 40cm above the waterline and I think that should do it considering it is 50cm deep. I will keep a close eye on the plants and adjust again if I feel the need.


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## ADA (10 Apr 2015)

Very nice, what's planted left rear?


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## Brian Murphy (11 Apr 2015)

ADA said:


> Very nice, what's planted left rear?


Limnophilia hippuroides back left, ludwigia Inclinata beside that and didiplis diandra before the sand. Rotala rotundifolia at back right behind the rock. Having some melt with the limnophilia and the micranthemum monte carlo that is at the front right, both at the end of the tank from the outlets so its either Co2 distribution or the fact I hadnt started nutrients and starved them. I added 2 powerheads under the outlets and started dosing Tropica ferts (premium & specialised) at 5 pumps alternate days. Might be too late for the monte carlo and limnophilia so might have to order more.


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## Brian Murphy (14 Apr 2015)

Looks like the Monte carlo has a second lease of life and I am starting to see some new green shoots coming from the melted plants. Not too sure about some of Limnophilia but just going to leave it a little longer to see if any of it comes through.  First time I have seen first hand the effects of adding extra flow and the effects from not adding ferts to adding ferts.  Puts an extra spring in your step thats for sure 
Also seeing some small green shoots coming on the lava rock, even though it was out of water for some time prior to me using it, will be interesting to see what they develop into and could possible add to my look.


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## Brian Murphy (14 Apr 2015)

Also got some Amano & Bumble Bee shrimp at the weekend but going to hold off putting them in just incase there is still some ammonia leeching from the soil.  One filter was on my other tank for a good month or more so should be able to handle everything but I can't find my test kit to check the levels. Was doing 50% water changes e very other day but Im putting trust into my cycled filter and only doing it every 3rd or 4th day.  The white gunk has appeared on the wood but was expecting that.
How does every one add their critters to a new set-up when they are also adding high levels of Co2. I don't want to mess with the Co2 levels quite yet.


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## Andy Thurston (14 Apr 2015)

we dont! most people lower co2 levels before adding fauna then adjust back up over a few days once their settled.
if you are going to add them, add them before co2 comes on and your around to take emergency action if levels are too high


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## Brian Murphy (14 Apr 2015)

Big clown said:


> we dont! most people lower co2 levels before adding fauna then adjust back up over a few days once their settled.
> if you are going to add them, add them before co2 comes on and your around to take emergency action if levels are too high



Yeah was going to wait until I am at home all day so sunday morning might be a good idea .... hopefully I can find my test kit in the meantime

PS I know not to add to the tank when there is high levels of Co2 going in, I just meant in general terms as in having a high tech tank


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## Lindy (15 Apr 2015)

I'd put a couple of shrimp in and watch them for the day. If they stop moving about for long periods of time there is something wrong. If they look happy even at peak levels of co2 then I'd add the rest next day when co2 low again.


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## stefanprisacariu (15 Apr 2015)

Very nice hardscape !


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## Brian Murphy (15 Apr 2015)

ldcgroomer said:


> I'd put a couple of shrimp in and watch them for the day. If they stop moving about for long periods of time there is something wrong. If they look happy even at peak levels of co2 then I'd add the rest next day when co2 low again.


Im going to do it on sunday morning when I am off work and can add them early and let them acclimatise before Co2 comes on at 2pm and then I can intervine if I see them struggling. I dont want to mess with the Co2 and will have to lower the injection rate already and it could set me back with problems I dont want.


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## Brian Murphy (23 May 2015)

Had so many issues recently with the dreaded white scum from the new wood getting all round the tank and delaying the growth. Also had the light too high but have it 15cm from surface. Only got amanos in tank so far but im making sure growth is correct before adding fish


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## Lindy (24 May 2015)

Looks great. I see the dang shrimp have done their thing with your lovely beach


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## imak (24 May 2015)

Yeah, it looks great but that sand got to go...


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## Brian Murphy (24 May 2015)

Yeah I have been trying to think of a way of seperating it but cant find any sieve that has holes the right size.


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## Dantrasy (25 May 2015)

I siphon up stray soil with a small diameter hose.


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## Brian Murphy (30 May 2015)

My dragon stone are giving off a serious amount of dirt and this is the tubing and lily pipes after a week since they where cleaned(see below).
Water also clouds up alot from time to time so I think that is why my growth is slower than it should be. Thankfully everything is growing but it would be much better without so much dirt which is im sure covering the leaves. Would purigen help with this?
 My army of amanos are doing a great job and today I purchased 6 young bristlenose plecos to help with the cleaning.
Is this new growth from my microsorum tridents? It pulls away very easy so was thinking it some sort of algae


1 week since cleaning and adding new filter wool


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## Wisey (1 Jun 2015)

Dragon stone requires some serious cleaning, I have spent hours and hours with a set of bottle brushes and hot water slowly cleaning out every single hole one by one. It is a really time consuming process, I still need to go back to the pieces I am going to use and give them a third clean. It always looks like you have it all out when they are wet, then once they dry you realise there is more mud in there. It's well worth doing though, there is a huge amount of mud in those holes, many holes will go right through from one side to the other, so you can imagine how much mud is in just a single hole. If they are not clean, they will leach mud for ages I would have thought. The other advantage of cleaning them through is you actually end up with a far better looking piece of stone as it opens up some really interesting patterns in the stone.


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## Tim Harrison (1 Jun 2015)

Jet wash it...


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## Wisey (1 Jun 2015)

I wish I had a jet-washer! Unfortunately they are a little over powered for using in the kitchen sink in my flat


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## Brian Murphy (5 Jun 2015)

It was crumbling when I got it so jet washing it would pulverize it lol 
A wee video of my amanos having dinner ..............


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## JohnC (6 Jun 2015)

i ended up taking my ast load of dragon stone to the jet wash. some bits were just loaded with red/iron clays and mud. took ages to get it clean. i've sworn not to use it again. i've not used the stuff from ada just cheaper alternatives, i wonder if the quality is the same across the board.


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## Brian Murphy (21 Aug 2015)

I haven't posted in a couple of months as my tank has not went the way I had wished, mainly down to the leeching of the dragon stone. I will be removing the rocks in the coming weeks and possibly the sand aswell and going for a carpet along the front.
Front view


I got a surprise when I noticed some riccia growing in my tank. Must have been on some plant that I bought



Some things are going well such as the riccia and growing weeping moss above the waterline


Crypts are all doing from starting off in vitro


I got 4 sae's to control bba which had got pretty bad. They done a good job!


Got some bristlenose plecos to help with the algae and hopefully breed when mature


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## Greenfinger2 (21 Aug 2015)

Hi Brian, Nothing ever go's according to plan  Your scape looks wonderful the planting is superb  The happy accident with the Ricca and the emerst growth is Exquisite


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