# Twin Specs



## Alastair (9 May 2014)

Whilst my big tank is growing in in the back ground I thought I'd get another journal going purely for shrimp and maybe a couple of my paros in one..

So I've gone and got 2 fluval spec 19litres to try and scape up which I thought would be a fun challenge. 
Both will be on opposite sides of the kitchen so will hopefully be a nice feature as you walk in. 

Specs:  

2 x Fluval Specs 19 litre in white
Lighting: 2 x 7500k led lighting included 
Filtration: inbuilt at the back with media included 
Heating: tanks will just be at room temp so around 20 degrees but have some nano heaters incase. (especially if adding paros) 

Substrate: Red bee sand 8kg with some genchem biozyme sprinkled on the Base. 
Fertilisers: Seachem Aquavitro plant range. premier Envy Synthesise Propel Activate Mineralize 
And will be adding some tantora catappa essence from shrimp and scape 
Co2: non.

Hardscape: both will have some gorgeous locally collected lava type rock (see pics below) that have a honeycomb look. All are inert. 
Nano Redmoor bought from Ed at  www.freshwatershrimp.co.uk

Plants. Eleocharis sp, hydrocotyle tripartia, microsorum trident and bolbitus
Oh and Fissedens Fontanus 

Both tanks ready

Fluval spec by Mr-T-, on Flickr
And just a couple of variations of the rock I will be picking from.











Will be getting stuck in once I've finished adding more plants to the big tank courtesy of Tom. His bucket of mud will live on.....kind of 

Thanks for looking


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## Tim Harrison (9 May 2014)

You should get an award for the most enthusiastic enthusiast...how many tanks will that be in total?


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## Iain Sutherland (9 May 2014)

sexy little set ups Al, im watching


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## AquamaniacUK (9 May 2014)

This looks really interesting.


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## Gary Nelson (9 May 2014)

Looking forward to seeing these mate, they look great little tanks - I'm sure you will do them proud


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## Brian Murphy (9 May 2014)

Go you !  .... was thinking about setting up a little shrimp tank myself but I am moving house at the end of the month so will wait.  I even was allowed a spot in the living room for my new tank  Will keep an eye on this and maybe pick up some tips !


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## aliclarke86 (9 May 2014)

Yay, been looking forward to these. 

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## tim (10 May 2014)

Love those rocks mate, watching with interest.


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## Andy D (10 May 2014)

I'll watch on here too. I'm sure they will be great!


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## Lindy (10 May 2014)

This looks so cool. You should do a YouTube video  

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## allan angus (10 May 2014)

nice start looking forward to this


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## 1stgolf (10 May 2014)

Look forward to see what you do to these. That rock looks interesting


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## Alje (11 May 2014)

Weekend update, are they wet yet?
Will be following


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## Alastair (13 May 2014)

Troi said:


> You should get an award for the most enthusiastic enthusiast...how many tanks will that be in total?


Ha ha thanks tim. I have got a bit of a planting bug going on at the moment so as I'd donated the lava negro shrimp tank away and given my kitchen a bit of a makeover I thought two of these little beauties would look great either side of the kitchen..
If I include the terrarium that's now upstairs and underway it's 3 small tanks the biggie and the terrarium. 



Iain Sutherland said:


> sexy little set ups Al, im watching


Aren't they just mate. I really like these. I hope fluval can do bigger versions of these at some point with a nice white cabinet. They really are stunning little tanks. 
Thanks for watching mate I'll try my best 


AquamaniacUK said:


> This looks really interesting.


 ta Aqua. Hope you like once I've done 



Gary Nelson said:


> Looking forward to seeing these mate, they look great little tanks - I'm sure you will do them proud


Cheers bud, me too and the first tank I'm really happy with. I'm just finishing off the moss tying (I've always used super glue  I have butter fingers 



Brian Murphy said:


> Go you !  .... was thinking about setting up a little shrimp tank myself but I am moving house at the end of the month so will wait.  I even was allowed a spot in the living room for my new tank  Will keep an eye on this and maybe pick up some tips !


Definitely recommend these Murph. Quality little nanos. And with them being the shape they are they have lots of scope. Perfect shrimp tanks 



aliclarke86 said:


> Yay, been looking forward to these.
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


  thanks Ali 


tim said:


> Love those rocks mate, watching with interest.


They are really nice pieces mate. I have bagfuls hence the delay on the second one as I'm spoilt for what to use. 



Andy D said:


> I'll watch on here too. I'm sure they will be great!


 Thanks Andy..means alot mate 


ldcgroomer said:


> This looks so cool. You should do a YouTube video
> Thanks Lindy. Going to do a time lapse one.
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## Alastair (13 May 2014)

allan angus said:


> nice start looking forward to this


 Cheers Allan really appreciate the following..


1stgolf said:


> Look forward to see what you do to these. That rock looks interesting


 Cheers Mark. I have some real stunning pieces that I just can't get myself to use haha..


Alje said:


> Weekend update, are they wet yet?
> Will be following



Thank you Alje

One is wet yep. The other hopefully tomorrow..
It's been fun jumping to the opposite size wise and is a challenge to keep the scale regarding plants but I hope everyone likes them. 
Just going to sort pics and upload in the morning 


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## Martin in Holland (14 May 2014)

Great sized tanks....would be OK for my office too....


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## Lindy (14 May 2014)

Waiting...

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## sciencefiction (14 May 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> Waiting...



Me too  No pressure Alastair...


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## Lee Sweeting (14 May 2014)

+1 


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## Maple (14 May 2014)

+2


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (14 May 2014)

+ 5


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## sanj (14 May 2014)

Lol you have got the Bug big time... you will end up on one of those programmes about people with hording problems. I give you a few more years. Ive only got 18 tanks running and a couple in storage... [DOUBLEPOST=1400098982][/DOUBLEPOST]I have to admit I have one of these fluval specs, but it wasnt really for show and tell, its got one shrimp in it currently and very low tech, the lighting is a little on the low side, could do with being just a little brighter. You can still grow plants with the kit, just not  anything demanding. You see a lot of people on US forums up grading the lighting, but some go overkill.


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## Alastair (14 May 2014)

hi everyone sorry for the delay, i finally have a few of the photos of the first tank, this is numero uno.

I must Admit i found it a little challenge trying a smaller tamk as im used to the bigger ones. My little girl wanted to get involved so she got stuck in pouring in the substrate and leveling it, and smashing up some rock that we attached some xmas moss to.










DSC_0251 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

wood and rock placement
DSC_0255 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

and planted
DSC_0258 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

filled the tank up and looked great, nice bright lighting, flow is really good from such a small pump especially given the amount of sponge and bio media carbon etc that's in it too.
Adds a nice touch of class to the kitchen.

However...... initially the wood placement and dry hardscape looked great and did planted but i wasnt happy with the wood under water so took it out today, rearranged it and popped it back in and am much happier
DSC_0274 by Mr-T-, on Flickr

still yet to add some fissedens to the wood and hopefully the carpet plant wont take too long to start growing.

Thanks Everyone


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## 1stgolf (15 May 2014)

Looks great Alastair.


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## Edvet (15 May 2014)

Good to see you got profesional help finaly


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## faizal (15 May 2014)

Awesome Al,...looking forward to seeing this grow in. Your choice of plants makes the tank look bigger than it actually is.


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## James D (15 May 2014)

One down.... Looks great Alistair, what fish are you planning to put in there?


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## aliclarke86 (15 May 2014)

Shrimpses 

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## Maple (16 May 2014)

Looks great, Alastair. Decided my first tank will be nano so I am watching it closely


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## Deano3 (16 May 2014)

looks great alastair one down one to go, love the wood and planting, looking forward to number 2


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## Alastair (31 May 2014)

hi sorry for just getting round to doing the second one, have been a bit busy the last few weeks, and earlier today i had the pleasure of having BigTom over for a quick stop on his move down to the coast. Top Guy.. 
After talking tanks and him leaving, i decided to give myself a kick up the rear and get the second done with the very little hardscape I had left over. 

i wanted to try something different with this and one that would be very deceptive space wise if you didn't know what the tank was already, and im going to stick with only two species of plant in this, although really i quite like it dry ha. 

so here is the hardscape set up and ready for planting tomorrow
fluval spec v by Mr-T-, on Flickr

cant wait to get planting tomorrow now. i just wish someone lived near me who had a pair of very narrow pointed tweezers. 

thanks for looking everyone


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## tim (31 May 2014)

Looks good, lovely sense of depth for such a small tank, look forward to seeing this planted up mate.


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## aliclarke86 (1 Jun 2014)

My word this looks huge mate you pulled off the deception well!

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## Alastair (1 Jun 2014)

tim said:


> Looks good, lovely sense of depth for such a small tank, look forward to seeing this planted up mate.


Cheers Tim. I'm very happy with the sense of depth and rock and substrate layout. I'm just a little unsure of whether to remove the wood......
I know they'll look like trees with moss added but wondering whether to just remove them completely 



aliclarke86 said:


> My word this looks huge mate you pulled off the deception well!
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


Thanks mate. Believe it or not I didn't intend on this layout I was fiddling with another then this just popped in my head. 

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## tim (1 Jun 2014)

Think it would work very well either with or without the wood mate, but you gotta look at it everyday, go with your gut feeling Al.


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## Maple (2 Jun 2014)

I like it as it is. Looks great, and bigger than it is. What rocks are you using?


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## Alastair (2 Jun 2014)

tim said:


> Think it would work very well either with or without the wood mate, but you gotta look at it everyday, go with your gut feeling Al.



Cheers buddy that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm keeping the wood in. 
I've got monte carlo fissedens and mini xmas moss to use. 
I would love to leave it as is but it needs planting. I just love the eary feeling it gives. 



Maple said:


> I like it as it is. Looks great, and bigger than it is. What rocks are you using?



Hi maple. Me too ha ha. The rocks I'm using are a lava type rock but slightly different..

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## tim (2 Jun 2014)

Definitely got a tim burton feel to the hardscape, look forward to seeing it planted mate.


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## 1stgolf (3 Jun 2014)

Loving the second spec mate. Keep them updates coming


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## Pinkmummy79 (18 Mar 2015)

Dude, this is looking fun, watching this with interest as I've been pondering over a new shrimp only tank for a while to go in the hallway, Fran has a sort of shabby chic long thin table which has a sort of emptyness atop it's painted shell! I got to thinking a nice tank would look sweet on there, but looking at these spec's I could do a couple, she'll not notice if I try and beat your 8 mins tank fill time.

looking forward to your sweet progress and more pics soon including when the shrimpses arrive
Clive


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