# Taiwan Bee not so nano



## Iain Sutherland (19 Aug 2018)

Having had my old Taiwan bee breeding tank for 4 1/2 years and given that the new kitchen is finished it seemed fair to find a spot for a wide 60 as a new breeding tank.

Tank 60x45x30 
Chihiros light running at 30%
Eheim liberty 200 hob filter, a second Eheim liberty 120 will be added when the current tank is broken down
Mix of substrate, mostly tropica soil I think
Maple leaf rock
Manzanita branches and twigs
TDS 145 RO remineralised with Bee Shrimp mineral gh+
Temp 21c
Ferts are Tropica specialised 2.5ml daily
Water change 10ltrs a week for now and biweekly in a few weeks once established.

Plants
Monte Carlo
Crypt pigmaea 
Chladoflora moss balls
Bucephalandra theia
Unknown brown crypt
Needle leaf microsorum

Right hand piece of wood floated so will sort once soaked...











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## PARAGUAY (19 Aug 2018)

Looks great Iain like the look of the HOB too


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## alto (19 Aug 2018)

Gorgeous kitchen finish!

The hardscape choices seem to reflect the kitchen colours 

Great to have you back


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (20 Aug 2018)

Wow, looks fantastic 

Are you going no-CO2?


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## Iain Sutherland (21 Aug 2018)

PARAGUAY said:


> Looks great Iain like the look of the HOB too


Cheers, I love the Eheim hobs, great flow rates and little maintenance.

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## Iain Sutherland (21 Aug 2018)

alto said:


> Gorgeous kitchen finish!
> 
> The hardscape choices seem to reflect the kitchen colours
> 
> Great to have you back


Thanks alto, I built the extension and kitchen myself from scratch with a little help from you tube.  Concrete counters are a pain in the ass!!

Hardscape choice is coincidental, just what I had knocking around.

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## Iain Sutherland (21 Aug 2018)

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> Wow, looks fantastic
> 
> Are you going no-CO2?


Cheers, no co2 in this one, all low demand plants.


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## Iain Sutherland (24 Aug 2018)

Quick update.. 

Day 2 saw a huge bacterial bloom, the water was like milk so gave it a 100% water change and all good since.

Day 3 I noticed some diatoms appearing as expected, just some brown dust on the Monte carlo so threw in 150 shrimp.

Day 4 Diatoms no more, shrimp having a ball and tidying everything up.

Monte Carlo is doing well, new horizontal runners appearing so will trim all vertical stems from when it was planted over the weekend and give a little mechanical assistance ( press it down) to ensure the runners root.
Few crypt leaves melting from the move so trimming them out daily when seen.
Will also move as many of the remaining shrimp I can catch from the 40 over the weekend and break that tank down. The best method is still putting a big net in the tank with some food, scooping out every 20 minutes.  The hundreds of babies, maybe 1-2mm will probably largely  be lost. 

Also made a rooky error in that the wood is a bit close to the glass to get my oaf hands in to clean the glass.  As all the wood is bonded with the rock via superglue and cigarette filters I will have to live with it. 

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## buttons (24 Aug 2018)

Tanks looks amazing, loved your last journal. 

Would like to ask a few questions please?
- do you like 1 ehiem Liberty 200 would be enough on a ADA 60p, do it need a shrimp guard?
Are you still breeding Taiwan bees or just hybirds now? Do you get much survival of Taiwans if so
- when you water change are you dropping it in or just pouring it staright in. 

Thanks 

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## Iain Sutherland (24 Aug 2018)

buttons said:


> Tanks looks amazing, loved your last journal.
> 
> Would like to ask a few questions please?
> - do you like 1 ehiem Liberty 200 would be enough on a ADA 60p, do it need a shrimp guard?
> ...


Hey, glad you liked the journal.

If it's for a low tech shrimp tank the liberty 200 would be fine.  I would happily run this tank just with the 200 which has more volume and bigger footprint than a 60p, it's only because I have both I'll run both.  That and I want to keep the ficus on the filter again which is a nightmare to move as it's rooted in the filter pads.  It does need a shrimp guard but goes fit straight on.

Depends how you define Two bees, as I understand it any shrimps with the Tai bee gene are Tai bees, the hybrids are the shadows, bolts, smiley face, king kongs etc.  Most of mine are effectively crs, cbs and smiley faces now.  Will get some blue bolts and shadows soon as the gene pool is limited after 5 years of breeding in isolation.  Hopefully start selling again in a few months.

At water change i just fill with RO at tap temp and then remineralise the whole tank to 140ish.  The temperature change and tds change stimulates breeding the same a rain fall in the wild. 

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## buttons (24 Aug 2018)

Your journal was amazing, if you have time check mine out of my 60p  

I was referring to king Kong, blubolt babies about your survival and breeding rate. 

My 60p is a a Taiwan bee, tatiibee tank but seeing your now I change it to more of a low tech scape. 

When you say about your water change, I'm a little confused on your method, do you put straight  0tds in your tank then bring the whole tank back to the right TDs by adding your salts to the tank? Your not pre mixing before hand then poring the correct TDs water in. 





Iain Sutherland said:


> Hey, glad you liked the journal.
> 
> If it's for a low tech shrimp tank the liberty 200 would be fine.  I would happily run this tank just with the 200 which has more volume and bigger footprint than a 60p, it's only because I have both I'll run both.  That and I want to keep the ficus on the filter again which is a nightmare to move as it's rooted in the filter pads.  It does need a shrimp guard but goes fit straight on.
> 
> ...



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## Iain Sutherland (24 Aug 2018)

Hey your 60p looks great.

In regards to the hybrids, it's been a long time since I've had anything interesting I know off but then I haven't really been able to see in the tank for a year or so.  It was really neglected for a long time.
The genetics in the shrimp are also pretty poor, hence I'll sell off a load of them soon and get some new genes, I was contemplating starting again with some shadows only but decided against it for now. I did kull a few dozen very pale ones during the move, by way of throwing then in the paludarium, they may survive... tds is 380 in there.

Yes exactly that for water change.  I used to pre mix but given I only change 10% it's makes no odds, TDS will drop from 180 or so to 130 then remineralised to 140/150.  About once a month I'll do a bigger water change, maybe 40% to ensure the mineral content gets refreshed for the shrimp, I'll probably pre mix this. 
 Also have a mineral stone in the back and a few catappa leaves tucked behind the filter intake for grazing.

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## buttons (24 Aug 2018)

Thanks for taking your time out to answer my questions and look at my journal, I look forward to watching this journal and the shrimp you breed, when your selling next I could be interested in buying a load off you. 





Iain Sutherland said:


> Hey your 60p looks great.
> 
> In regards to the hybrids, it's been a long time since I've had anything interesting I know off but then I haven't really been able to see in the tank for a year or so.  It was really neglected for a long time.
> The genetics in the shrimp are also pretty poor, hence I'll sell off a load of them soon and get some new genes, I was contemplating starting again with some shadows only but decided against it for now. I did kull a few dozen very pale ones during the move, by way of throwing then in the paludarium, they may survive... tds is 380 in there.
> ...



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## Iain Sutherland (30 Aug 2018)

Had a slight drama with this in that the heater locked on over night, when I went to fish out a dead shrimp I spotted it was like a bath! 27c and about 50 shrimp dead in the end. I'm glad it didn't wipe them out entirely and the plants.
Other than that all is good, I got time to break down the old tank so the second hob is moved over now along with a new Eheim 50w heater.












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## buttons (31 Aug 2018)

Absolute bummer about the heater and shrimp, hopefully the one that are still alive haven't been affected to badly. 

I've redone my shrimp tank in to a low tech centre island type aquascape, it's running a Twinstar 600 dimmed down, I bout some tropica fertiliser to use as I seen you and a few other use it. I was wondering if you could advise my on how much I should be using in my tank, I see in your old journal that you was adding 1ml or 1.5ml at times was that a guess when using the pump on the bottle? I says it uses 2 ml per pump on the description. 

I'm just a little confused on it as I normally use EI on high tech tank. 

Sorry to spam your thread. 





Iain Sutherland said:


> Had a slight drama with this in that the heater locked on over night, when I went to fish out a dead shrimp I spotted it was like a bath! 27c and about 50 shrimp dead in the end. I'm glad it didn't wipe them out entirely and the plants.
> Other than that all is good, I got time to break down the old tank so the second hob is moved over now along with a new Eheim 50w heater.
> 
> 
> ...



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## Iain Sutherland (2 Sep 2018)

buttons said:


> Absolute bummer about the heater and shrimp, hopefully the one that are still alive haven't been affected to badly.
> 
> I've redone my shrimp tank in to a low tech centre island type aquascape, it's running a Twinstar 600 dimmed down, I bout some tropica fertiliser to use as I seen you and a few other use it. I was wondering if you could advise my on how much I should be using in my tank, I see in your old journal that you was adding 1ml or 1.5ml at times was that a guess when using the pump on the bottle? I says it uses 2 ml per pump on the description.
> 
> ...



No problem,  of course you can use dry ferts, i just like the ease.  I have the Tropica ferts in an old ADA fert bottle as i have 5ltr tub of it and that pump is 1.5ml.
Id suggest a 2ml pump a day and see how it goes, if all seems well dose the same every other day and then see if you get any negative effect.  As little ferts as possible is the goal as it will raise TDS which should be kept around 140 - 150 , 180 max as breeding slows down the higher it is.


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## buttons (2 Sep 2018)

Thanks for the info. 


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## Iain Sutherland (10 Sep 2018)

Livestock nightmare at the moment in this.. continued to lose shrimp after my last post and unsure why as all should be well with mature filters, parameters good and temp stabilised. Currently thinking that maybe it's bacterial which continuous loses usually are, maybe the tank move induced it all.  Thankfully haven't lost any for a few days now so fingers crossed its over with however numbers are now decimated!

Also had a water flea/seed shrimp invasion... unsure if this could be related? Literally everything is covered in them and now also free swimming!  They have always been present in the substrate of my shrimp tanks but this is next level... every spot you see is a flea...

May have to drop some of my ember tetras in to sort it out, just worried I'll never get them out again with the hardscape 



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## rebel (11 Sep 2018)

Maybe add some tiny fish such as spotted rasbora. Embers may snack on your shrimp...


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## CooKieS (11 Sep 2018)

rebel said:


> Maybe add some tiny fish such as spotted rasbora. Embers may snack on your shrimp...



I've never seen embers eating shrimps but who knows


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## buttons (11 Sep 2018)

I've been having the same problem since my rescape, I've lost blue bolts, blue shadoe mouras and alot of other shrimp. I feel your pain, I hope I can get into on top of it soon. 

I have embers is with my red rili shrimp in my high tech setup, loads of shrimp and babies in there, I've never seen them eat one. I sure you'll be fine. 

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## rebel (12 Sep 2018)

Good to hear about the Embers!


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## Iain Sutherland (15 Sep 2018)

Not much to update, started adding BT9 again to help bacterial colonies given the deaths of late.  Still no new deaths so looking positive. 
Carpet had it's first trim today, it's filling in pretty well for the light level.
Some new pics to keep track.










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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (16 Sep 2018)

Carpet is filling out nicely!


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## Iain Sutherland (21 Sep 2018)

Water fleas have gone bananas!  I remove about the same amount as in the video every 3 days at water change but they just keep coming.

Anyone have any info on their lifecycle, maybe it can be interrupted? @dw1305
Really loathed to put a few fish in as unlikely I'll get them out again with the glued hardscape 



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## alto (21 Sep 2018)

Fish traps 

Trio of juvenile molly should do it & they’re usually easy enough to net later 
Or guppy group etc 

I was going to suggest a Betta but best not to test with rare/expensive shrimp - individually some Betta seem to instantly hunt shrimp, others take weeks to months before deciding to try out the shrimp banquet, a few seem to never go shrimp hunting ...

(I’ve had single angel, betta, licorice gourami, ram juveniles that instantly went on shrimp killing sprees (separated by time & distance) - not eating but a slash & hunt frenzy  )


Or perhaps some micro fish species that will happily coexist with shrimp long term


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## alto (21 Sep 2018)

I suspect continued shrimp deaths were related back to the heater issue - if shrimp arrive in poor condition, significant number dead in bag or dying within a few days, mortality rate in that group will be higher over the next months as well.

Macro photos are great for seeing early signs of disease


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## Iain Sutherland (26 Sep 2018)

alto said:


> Fish traps
> 
> Trio of juvenile molly should do it & they’re usually easy enough to net later
> Or guppy group etc
> ...


Hey, really not looking to put some fish in, just know it will be a nightmare to get them out.



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## Iain Sutherland (26 Sep 2018)

So I increased the temp a few days ago to 24 and increased water changes, so far the reproduction of the fleas seems to have slowed. 
The ficus in the filter is pretty established again and making it's way up the wall, filter maintenance will be impossible again at this rate.






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## Ady34 (30 Sep 2018)

Lovely little tank, love the emerse growth and you sicken me with the ease at which you grow carpets  
Kitchen looks spot on btw, and that splash back is epic, along with the painstakingly polished concrete worktop too of course.


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## Iain Sutherland (10 Oct 2018)

Ady34 said:


> Lovely little tank, love the emerse growth and you sicken me with the ease at which you grow carpets
> Kitchen looks spot on btw, and that splash back is epic, along with the painstakingly polished concrete worktop too of course.


Hey Ady, thanks mate. The carpet is just Monte Carlo so couldn't really be any easier.  Can't wait to see your now pal.

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## Iain Sutherland (10 Oct 2018)

Added a handful of blue shadow mosura bees, this should help the gene pool somewhat as well as increase the likely hood of more interesting bees appearing.   They seem to have settled well and growing fast.





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## Iain Sutherland (18 Oct 2018)

Future aquascaper in the making..



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## CooKieS (18 Oct 2018)

Very nice, and without co2!

Can you tell me the name of the plant in the filter?

And What's your routine with the pilea? It's looking awesome, mine seems dying and making some small curly leaves


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## Iain Sutherland (18 Oct 2018)

CooKieS said:


> Very nice, and without co2!
> 
> Can you tell me the name of the plant in the filter?
> 
> And What's your routine with the pilea? It's looking awesome, mine seems dying and making some small curly leaves


The plant in the filter is ficus Columbia from dartfrog    http://www.dartfrog.co.uk/plants.html

The carpet is Monte Carlo, it's really no trouble as long as it has good flow around it. It's had a couple of trims already, if it's not kept short it starts going upwards..

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## Iain Sutherland (19 Oct 2018)

CooKieS said:


> And What's your routine with the pilea? It's looking awesome, mine seems dying and making some small curly leaves



Hey, I missed this bit, the pilea.... It's done really well for me as it's only about a year old and was 3 inches tall when I got it.  All the new leaves come through curled up and can take a week or two to unfurl. The hard bit I find is stopping the older big leaves from yellowing and dropping off.
The only care it gets is a really good weekly watering, standing in the sink for half a day.  But I won't do it until the soil is pretty dry, it likes a to dry out between soaks.  Every other week I've now started using seaweed plant feed in the sink water as well.

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## Sarpijk (19 Oct 2018)

Hi , really love the tank. Do you reckon I could use some ficus pumila  to achieve the same result in my HOB?


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## Kezzab (20 Oct 2018)

Sarpijk said:


> Hi , really love the tank. Do you reckon I could use some ficus pumila  to achieve the same result in my HOB?



You could. I grow pupils just tied to a bit of wood above tank with roots dangling in the tank.


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## Kezzab (20 Oct 2018)

Pumila...


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## Iain Sutherland (25 Oct 2018)

Ticking along nicely, had a good trim of the old leaves on the needle leaf microsorum as they were gathering algae as old leaves do and a partial trim of the carpet to keep it compact.
The original leaves on the crypts and buces also still had the old hard diatoms from set up so trimmed most and added 6 horned zebra nerites who have started the clean up process.
Had the first shrimp hormone frenzy a few days ago so hopefully start seeing babies in about 30 days but may be sooner as have seen a few berried females before.










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## Iain Sutherland (27 Oct 2018)

Testiment to nerite snails....
It's been years since I had some and now I'm wondering why I stopped keeping them in a planted tank.
The two images are 2 hours apart...







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## Tim Harrison (27 Oct 2018)

Looking good Iain, somehow I've missed several updates. 
Going to have to get some of those nerite snails


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## alto (27 Oct 2018)

The _Clithon corona_ species seems fantastic (Jurijs mit JS & Green Aqua highly recommended) - other Nerites I’ve kept eventually donate a multitude of tiny (& not so tiny if larger snail species ) white egg casings which are extremely well adhered to various surfaces 

I’ve recently added a few “batik” snails - another Nerite species - no eggs yet but they can take a year sometimes before blessing your tank with children


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## Aqua360 (27 Oct 2018)

Are you not worried about chemicals from sprays etc in the kitchen landing on the water surface? 

Assuming sprays are used of course


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## Iain Sutherland (27 Oct 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Looking good Iain, somehow I've missed several updates.
> Going to have to get some of those nerite snails


They are brilliant mate, plants look more pristine by the minute.





alto said:


> The _Clithon corona_ species seems fantastic (Jurijs mit JS & Green Aqua highly recommended) - other Nerites I’ve kept eventually donate a multitude of tiny (& not so tiny if larger snail species ) white egg casings which are extremely well adhered to various surfaces
> 
> I’ve recently added a few “batik” snails - another Nerite species - no eggs yet but they can take a year sometimes before blessing your tank with children


I'm pretty sure that was why I stopped using them previously Alto, hopefully these don't cause such an issue as I remember the eggs are almost impossible to remove. 





Aqua360 said:


> Are you not worried about chemicals from sprays etc in the kitchen landing on the water surface?
> 
> Assuming sprays are used of course


It's not an issue as we avoid sprays generally anyway, cream cleaners on a cloth for the stove but otherwise hot water does most jobs 

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## Tim Harrison (28 Oct 2018)

Iain Sutherland said:


> I'm pretty sure that was why I stopped using them previously Alto, hopefully these don't cause such an issue as I remember the eggs are almost impossible to remove.


Okay...so is this still an issue with _Clithon corona?_


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## Iain Sutherland (28 Oct 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Okay...so is this still an issue with _Clithon corona?_


No idea Tim , hoping not so much.  If I start seeing them the snails will be taken out.  

After a quick Google Clifton diadema, zebra horned nerite, require brackish water to breed so possibly won't lay eggs until salt is detected???

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## CooKieS (28 Oct 2018)

Nerite and clithon sp will lay hard white eggs everywhere on your hardscape, they're very very hard to remove and very annoying on iwagumi or woods setup...but it seems they won't do that in every tank? My iwagumi was full of eggs at the end so I don't use these no more and use toothbrush and excel instead 

Otherwise, nice snails


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## alto (28 Oct 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Okay...so is this still an issue with _Clithon corona?_


I’ve had some of these for over a year, still no eggs

BUT there is another similar horned Nerite (sold as “sun” something) which is significantly larger than Cc - and different in appearance once your eye is accustomed - which do start up with the egg busy-ness 

Note that I’ve only had “sun” Nerites leave eggs on wood (basically need to scrape off the top layer of wood to remove egg cases ... they usually do release larvae which then die quickly) and occasionally on glass which are easy enough to remove 
They must just not _like_ my rocks 

_Zebra_ Nerites, _Onion_ Nerites and other larger species seem much more determined to attempt to breed and I’ve observed egg deposits within a few weeks (unless very small juvenile snails)


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## Iain Sutherland (29 Oct 2018)

These blue clowns are growing fast...



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## CooKieS (30 Oct 2018)

What is that sexy moss sp please?


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## Iain Sutherland (30 Oct 2018)

CooKieS said:


> What is that sexy moss sp please?


It's mini Christmas moss, it's taken amazingly well given no it has no co2.

Can be tough to find but Dave at Aquarium gardens can probably help you if wanted some, in their high tech tanks it stays even more compact.

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## jameson_uk (30 Oct 2018)

CooKieS said:


> Nerite and clithon sp will lay hard white eggs everywhere on your hardscape, they're very very hard to remove and very annoying on iwagumi or woods setup...but it seems they won't do that in every tank? My iwagumi was full of eggs at the end so I don't use these no more and use toothbrush and excel instead
> 
> Otherwise, nice snails


I found that species are not well identified and Clithon Corona and Clithon Diadema seem to be interchangeable but obviously different species.

In my 22l shrimp tank I have three horned nerites from P@H and one does seem to be a slightly different species to the other two.  I have read that having more snails actually reduces the amount of eggs (they think the population is already large enough).  Either I have been lucky to only get males or this is true.

In my main 180l tank I have two large zebra nerites and two horned nerites.  They do seem to go after different things and the larger snails prefer the glass and wood where as the smaller horned nerites seem to prefer feeding from the leaves and ornaments.  I do get eggs all over some driftwood but it doesn't bother me too much here so I live with it


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## Iain Sutherland (2 Nov 2018)

Bucephalandra Theia in flower all across the tank. They must be talking to each other....secret life of plants.



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## Konsa (2 Nov 2018)

Hi Iain
Beautiful scape U have there and awesome shot of the shrimp "pollinating " the Bice flower.
Do U find that the Maple leaf rock  sheds fine dust (clay) like particles when U wave something near it.How did U clean it before placing in the tank 
Regards Konsa


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## DutchMuch (3 Nov 2018)

What kind of moss is that in the last 2 images, looks beautiful!


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## Aqua360 (5 Nov 2018)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Testiment to nerite snails....
> It's been years since I had some and now I'm wondering why I stopped keeping them in a planted tank.
> The two images are 2 hours apart...
> 
> ...



Can I please use these images on a FB fish group I admin for?  Just to show people how good these wee snails are as algae eaters


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## Iain Sutherland (6 Nov 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> Can I please use these images on a FB fish group I admin for?  Just to show people how good these wee snails are as algae eaters


no problem


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (18 Nov 2018)

I'm on forum catchup here... so sorry for being a little late to the party on this one but I just wanted to congratulate you on an amazing low tech tank and great journal


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## Iain Sutherland (18 Nov 2018)

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> I'm on forum catchup here... so sorry for being a little late to the party on this one but I just wanted to congratulate you on an amazing low tech tank and great journal


Thanks Matt, I pop you a pm soon.

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## Iain Sutherland (18 Nov 2018)

This keeps plodding along, slowly filling in to how I want it but nothing happens quickly without co2.

Interestingly the mini Christmas moss has all gone to seed, which I haven't seen happen immersed before..







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## Dreadlockdog (18 Nov 2018)

Moss looks really good

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## buttons (19 Nov 2018)

Moss looks amazing. 

Would you be will to sell some on you next trim please,?

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## dlambe (20 Nov 2018)

Looks really good. Yup i'm running 2 non-co2 tanks and everything seems to take 10x longer than c02 injected but good for long term setups


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## Iain Sutherland (20 Nov 2018)

Dreadlockdog said:


> Moss looks really good
> 
> Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk


Thanks I'm really pleased with it, so many mosses look scruffy low tech but not this one.

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## Iain Sutherland (20 Nov 2018)

buttons said:


> Moss looks amazing.
> 
> Would you be will to sell some on you next trim please,?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


Sure but you might be waiting a year, it's so slow in low energy. Aquarium gardens sell it from their high energy tanks and I think tropica will be selling in pots soon...

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## Iain Sutherland (20 Nov 2018)

dlambe said:


> Looks really good. Yup i'm running 2 non-co2 tanks and everything seems to take 10x longer than c02 injected but good for long term setups


Sure does, think this will run for a good 3 or 4 years so no rush...

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## dlambe (20 Nov 2018)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Sure does, think this will run for a good 3 or 4 years so no rush...
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk



Yup that's my thinking. 2 kids means less time, so longer term aquascapes for a while


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## Iain Sutherland (24 Nov 2018)

Still blown away by quite how good the nerites are a keeping it spotless.



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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (24 Nov 2018)

They are ok when ok don't have a sand substrate, otherwise their poo shows up... and they sure know how to poo!


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## Filip Krupa (24 Nov 2018)

Very nice. Love it being on the worktop.

Fil


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## dw1305 (24 Nov 2018)

Hi all, 
I <"like the _Cladophora_ in this scape">. It never grows for me and I would really like some wood covered in it.





Iain Sutherland said:


> Still blown away by quite how good the nerites are a keeping it spotless


Are they showing shell attrition? I was thinking about having a harder water tank to keep some  different snails in (_Theodoxus fluviatilis etc)_. 

cheers Darrel


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## Iain Sutherland (24 Nov 2018)

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> They are ok when ok don't have a sand substrate, otherwise their poo shows up... and they sure know how to poo!


They sure do poo but a good siphon  cleans it all up

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## Iain Sutherland (24 Nov 2018)

Filip Krupa said:


> Very nice. Love it being on the worktop.
> 
> Fil





dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> I <"like the _Cladophora_ in this scape">. It never grows for me and I would really like some wood covered in it.Are they showing shell attrition? I was thinking about having a harder water tank to keep some  different snails in (_Theodoxus fluviatilis etc)_.
> 
> cheers Darrel


Hey Darrel, the clado does grow but not in a way I thought. It seems to grow really long almost hair algae like strands with little star shaped 'leaves along the length. I'll see if I can get a pic tomorrow, it's quite odd.

The nerites arrived pretty damaged from posting, a lot of horns broken and the 'crowns' looked chipped and showed a lot of white.  This seems to have only got better though, I guess as most of the hardness from shrimp GH remineraliser is calcium? 


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## Iain Sutherland (25 Nov 2018)

Had a good clean and trim today, carpet was getting far too dense.
Before and after..






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## Iain Sutherland (25 Nov 2018)

@Darrel
Growth on the clado, these pop up on all the clusters along with what is similar to but not hair algae...




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## dw1305 (25 Nov 2018)

Hi all,





Iain Sutherland said:


> these pop up on all the clusters along with what is similar to but not hair algae


That is interesting, pretty sure the stems are a Charophyte, a complex green algae that is a <"sister group to all the higher plants">.

You can't tell which genus without fruit, but a _Nitella spp._ would be my guess.

cheers Darrel


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## Iain Sutherland (6 Dec 2018)

Slowly filling in and buce's are flowering again.  Saw my first mm sized shrimplets yesterday which is reassuring. 

Thinking of adding some pintos, up side is I love how they look but the downside is it will mix the genes which may work to start with but 12-18 months from now may just mean ugly babies... neither strong bees or strong pintos? Hmmmm




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## CooKieS (6 Dec 2018)

I don't like the cladophora but the buces and the mosses looks awesome, congrats about the shrimplets too.


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## Iain Sutherland (10 Mar 2019)

Little update on this one. Had some issues with diatoms again so increased ferts and dropped the water level a little and it seems to be passing.  The surface film has being making me crazy, I was managing it daily with 30 mins of a surface skimmer but I hate them in the tank so wanted another solution.  It seems that the increase surface movement and ferts has done the trick with the diatoms and surface film so will look into raising the filters as like the tank filled to the brim. Chicken and egg as to whether the film caused the diatoms or vice versa.  Can be sure the film caused the bba on the wood though.. easily dosed with carbon at Wc mind.

Shrimp are in full spring breeding mode, tiny shrimplets everywhere which is great to see.












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## Iain Sutherland (11 Apr 2019)

This one is still trickling along, not much to report aside hundreds of sub 10mm babies now and all adults carrying eggs so population boom is imminent.
I've concluded I can't win the pest snail battled so time for a little chemical warfare 








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## mort (12 Apr 2019)

Is that ficus growing in your filter? and is it growing up the wall or supported by something? Would like to create a backdrop in my tank and it looks perfect.


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## dw1305 (12 Apr 2019)

Hi all, 





mort said:


> Is that ficus growing in your filter?


I was just admiring that as well. From earlier in the thread





Iain Sutherland said:


> The plant in the filter is Ficus Columbia from dartfrog http://www.dartfrog.co.uk/plants.html


I couldn't find much about, but it looks like it might be a selected small form of <"_Ficus pumila">_

cheers Darrel


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## Iain Sutherland (12 Apr 2019)

mort said:


> Is that ficus growing in your filter? and is it growing up the wall or supported by something? Would like to create a backdrop in my tank and it looks perfect.


Hey, I started each vine with a dab of super glue and then the plant does the rest. It fixes pretty well, when I moved it last time the vines pulled all the paint from the wall. Just took a few months to get used to the low humidity when I first bought it 5 years or so ago. What you see is just since this journal started.

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## dw1305 (12 Apr 2019)

Hi all,





Iain Sutherland said:


>





dw1305 said:


> I <"like the _Cladophora_ in this scape">. It never grows for me and I would really like some wood covered in it.


I'm still suffering from green algae envy.

cheers Darrel


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## Iain Sutherland (17 Apr 2019)

More blue babies on the way 




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## buttons (18 Apr 2019)

Iain Sutherland said:


> More blue babies on the way
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Congrats, should have some really nice offspring off her. Mine have not even started breeding yet, was hoping they would of started by now. 

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## Iain Sutherland (18 Apr 2019)

buttons said:


> Congrats, should have some really nice offspring off her. Mine have not even started breeding yet, was hoping they would of started by now.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


They generally start breeding properly at 6-8 months  old and around Feb/march time in the uk so if you haven't had any yet then you should soon. Failing that check the parameters... high tds and high temp generally stall breeding. Good luck.

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## Iain Sutherland (28 Apr 2019)

6 weeks since the last carpet trim and it's well over due, it's a mission as the shrimp swarm the new exposed substrate which makes trying to not chop shrimp up fun. Also trimmed out some needle fern and nailed as many snails as possible. Having admitted defeat on the snails I also dosed gastropex today, tank is 86ltr full with no hardscape so dosed based on 50ltr to be safe. 






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## GHNelson (28 Apr 2019)

Very nice... Iain.....
hoggie


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## Lauris (28 Apr 2019)

Love it!!!


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## zozo (29 Apr 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, I was just admiring that as well. From earlier in the threadI couldn't find much about, but it looks like it might be a selected small form of <"_Ficus pumila">_
> 
> cheers Darrel



It goes around as Ficus pumila var. minuta or Ficus sp. Colombia 

There is another Ficus sp. panama going around in the terrarium shops that actualy is identified as Ficus punctata.

Probably both oficialy originated from Asia and escaped as excotic into the wild in South America. But nobody realy knows.

There is quite some quareling going on around Ficus ID.. Another small gem of climbing Ficus is the Ficus quercifolia (oakleaf ficus) also goes around as Ficus scandens and or Ficus pumila var. quercifolia. I have no idea which one is officialy correct.

But all 3 are smaller leaved climbing tree ficus to be used for that look..


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## PARAGUAY (29 Apr 2019)

Made me chuckle that@ Iain the shrimp risking it when you trim the carpet


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## Iain Sutherland (30 Apr 2019)

This popped up on my FB timeline from 4 years ago, same shrimp stock in this tank.
Always makes me smile 



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## Iain Sutherland (19 May 2019)

Was long over due a water change as it had been 3 weeks  tds was 325 now back at 190.  Added some pogostemon heferi as fancied something with a different texture along the front. It's been in a few weeks and seems to be doing well low tech aside a few in vitro leaves softening which the shrimp have nibbled.
Im dosing about 10ml a day now which I think the ficus takes a lot of as its rampant at the moment, wouldn't be wanting more 3-5ml in a tank this size low tech normally.
Hope you all had a good weekend.







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## Tim Harrison (20 May 2019)

That is looking fantastic Iain even for a high-energy scape, but low-energy that's amazing


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## Eplov (20 May 2019)

Amazing aquarium, especially for low-tech!


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## Iain Sutherland (20 May 2019)

Tim Harrison said:


> That is looking fantastic Iain even for a high-energy scape, but low-energy that's amazing


Cheers Tim, I seem to have found a pretty happy balance with this one that does almost give an illusion of a high tech carpeted tank without the faff. 
I pretty sure having the tank shallow with good flow via the waterfall outlets on the eheim really helps with good oxygen/co2 delivery into the system.. I'd guess I'd  have a harder time acheiving this look with a traditional filter outlet?  The MC carpet even pearled the other day when I left the lights on high after some snail genocide!




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## JEK (21 May 2019)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Cheers Tim, I seem to have found a pretty happy balance with this one that does almost give an illusion of a high tech carpeted tank without the faff.
> I pretty sure having the tank shallow with good flow via the waterfall outlets on the eheim really helps with good oxygen/co2 delivery into the system.. I'd guess I'd  have a harder time acheiving this look with a traditional filter outlet?  The MC carpet even pearled the other day when I left the lights on high after some snail genocide!
> 
> 
> ...


Your tank really is an inspiration. I've decided to go low-tech with my upcoming 60-P in part thanks to this journal. 
Do you think normal outlet + a skimmer could achieve a similar surface agitation? Also how many watts is your Chihiros on? Trying to figure out how many % I should run my Twinstar on.
Thanks in advance!


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## Iain Sutherland (9 Jun 2019)

Had a little tidy up and trim today.  Pogo heferi would be going great if it wasn't for the shrimp eating it so that will be coming out and the moss has come back with avengance after a massive die back.










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## Aqua360 (10 Jun 2019)

Iain Sutherland said:


> More blue babies on the way
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That is absolutely stunning, well done maintaining the planted tank alongside the needs of the bee's!


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## Ady34 (10 Jun 2019)

An absolute beeauty....
Everything is in a happy place with this tank currently, love the ‘honeycomb’ splash back too, all seems very fitting


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## Iain Sutherland (10 Jun 2019)

Aqua360 said:


> That is absolutely stunning, well done maintaining the planted tank alongside the needs of the bee's!


Thanks a lot 

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## Iain Sutherland (10 Jun 2019)

Ady34 said:


> An absolute beeauty....
> Everything is in a happy place with this tank currently, love the ‘honeycomb’ splash back too, all seems very fitting


Cheers ady, you dont want to know how long the grouting took on that tiling!!

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## buttons (10 Jun 2019)

Tank looks amazing  wish I would of done an journal on my low tech shrimp now as I set up around the same time as you. 

What are you feeding your shrimp, are you feeding the babies a food or they just on the biofilm? 


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## Iain Sutherland (8 Jul 2019)

buttons said:


> Tank looks amazing  wish I would of done an journal on my low tech shrimp now as I set up around the same time as you.
> 
> What are you feeding your shrimp, are you feeding the babies a food or they just on the biofilm?
> 
> ...


Thanks.
I use a variety of foods every other day, largely 'pop' varieties like snowflake, shrimp king pops as they aren't such a bundle to feed from meaning even the smallest baby shimp get a share. Also add bt9 and gravitas after water change and always have an almond leaf tucked away in the back for grazing.

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## Iain Sutherland (8 Jul 2019)

Just a pic I liked from the weekend... bucephaldra are looking amazing at the moment.



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## Iain Sutherland (28 Jul 2019)

Next gen...



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## Tim Harrison (28 Jul 2019)

Crikey, I'd forgotten how quickly they grow up...
And that's a really crafty way to keep your polished concrete kitchen worktop polished.
Scapes looking awesome btw.


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (28 Jul 2019)

Fantastic shot... someone needs a top up on ferts!


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## Iain Sutherland (28 Jul 2019)

Tim Harrison said:


> Crikey, I'd forgotten how quickly they grow up...
> And that's a really crafty way to keep your polished concrete kitchen worktop polished.
> Scapes looking awesome btw.


I know, it blows my mind how grown up she is getting Tim. I love that she loves watching the shrimp so much... big tank is getting a proper planted community 'fish tank' makeover in the autumn. I miss the movement in the lounge and she is fascinated.
How are you mate?


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## Iain Sutherland (28 Jul 2019)

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> Fantastic shot... someone needs a top up on ferts!


Thanks Matt.
I know, the 5ltr bottle is almost empty as well £££!!

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## Tim Harrison (28 Jul 2019)

Iain Sutherland said:


> I know, it blows my mind how grown up she is getting Tim. I love that she loves watching the shrimp so much... big tank is getting a proper planted community 'fish tank' makeover in the autumn. I miss the movement in the lounge and she is fascinated.
> How are you mate?Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


I'm good thanks Iain. It's great when they show an interest in nature. Looks like she's already a chip off the old block 
And it'd be good to see the big tank up and running again.


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## grathod (30 Jul 2019)

awesome shrimp haven this!


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## Iain Sutherland (18 Aug 2019)

Few pics off the phone from tonight.
Ficus is taking over... 












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## CooKieS (19 Aug 2019)

One of the nicest non-co2 tank I've Seen, well done. And that ficus wall is crazy


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## Arana (19 Aug 2019)

Both the scape and the shrimp are stunners


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## GHNelson (19 Aug 2019)

Amazing....just shows everyone, what you can do without dosing...Co2!
Love it


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## Iain Sutherland (20 Aug 2019)

Thanks a lot folks, I'm genuinely made up that you all like the tank.  When I started this tank my secret goal was create a tank that looked liked a high tech scape but with out the 'energy' one requires.
It is all to easy to fail in appreciating your own tank as the 'flaws' are so obvious to the creator, especially when chasing the illusion of a perfect high energy set up. 
I think I can honestly say that this one and my last low tech have given me more pleasure than all my high energy tanks together, warts and all.
Minimum input, maximum output...moto for life 



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## Sarpijk (20 Aug 2019)

Very inspiring scape Iain! May I ask what model of Chihiros light you are using? Is it an RGB version?


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## Iain Sutherland (9 Sep 2019)

Sarpijk said:


> Very inspiring scape Iain! May I ask what model of Chihiros light you are using? Is it an RGB version?


Sorry it's a pretty old one and cant remember. It's certainly not rgb.


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## Iain Sutherland (9 Sep 2019)

Had a few really nice red shadow no entry shrimp appear in the last few days, the whites are really pure with colour running into the legs.  Unsure where they have been hiding as quite large and one is berried! 
Wish I had a selective breeding tank!









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## alto (10 Sep 2019)

Gorgeous shrimp


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## Iain Sutherland (12 Sep 2019)

More curious every day... bedtime cant start until she says goodnight to the shrimp.



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## Iain Sutherland (1 Dec 2019)

It's a ficus take over!!





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## Deano3 (1 Dec 2019)

That is still looking amazing Iain, them bucephalandra look great, i have some and i am curious do they grow much to propagate or did u order a lot of them as i would love more.

Thanks dean

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## Sarpijk (1 Dec 2019)

Lovely tank. Have the Clithon Corona snails laid any eggs so far?


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## mort (1 Dec 2019)

Love it. Is that a brightly lit wall during the day or does that ficus grow that mad in lower light conditions?


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## Iain Sutherland (1 Dec 2019)

Deano3 said:


> That is still looking amazing Iain, them bucephalandra look great, i have some and i am curious do they grow much to propagate or did u order a lot of them as i would love more.
> 
> Thanks dean
> 
> Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


Think ive had 4 or 5 pots now, they grow out pretty quickly when happy. If you look back you can see the growth in a year...

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## Iain Sutherland (1 Dec 2019)

Sarpijk said:


> Lovely tank. Have the Clithon Corona snails laid any eggs so far?


Only when they were first introduced then stopped 

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## Iain Sutherland (1 Dec 2019)

mort said:


> Love it. Is that a brightly lit wall during the day or does that ficus grow that mad in lower light conditions?


Hey, no direct light on the wall, most houseplants I've had in similar area have struggled, the ficus seems pretty undemanding. 

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## Iain Sutherland (11 Jan 2020)

Frozen peas always pull in a crowd.



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## Deano3 (11 Jan 2020)

Wow thats a lot of shrimp,  i need to purchase nore shrimp actually as love the little fellas, tank looking good ian.

Dean

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## steve Short (4 Feb 2020)

loving the shrimp going to invest in some for new tank


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## CooKieS (4 Feb 2020)

Looks like bacon bits on salad.

Perfect low tech tank!


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## alto (9 Mar 2020)

Must be time for an update photo shoot 

Which sorts of shrimp did you add initially?


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## Iain Sutherland (6 Jun 2020)

alto said:


> Must be time for an update photo shoot
> 
> Which sorts of shrimp did you add initially?


Was originally just a taiwan bee mix, mostly crs and cbs and one blue bolt in the first set up with these shrimp. When I started this tank I added 5 blue shadow pandas... 

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## buttons (6 Jun 2020)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Was originally just a taiwan bee mix, mostly crs and cbs and one blue bolt in the first set up with these shrimp. When I started this tank I added 5 blue shadow pandas...
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk



Any update photos please? 


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## Iain Sutherland (6 Jun 2020)

Very neglected, no water change since lockdown began but they didnt seem too bothered and loved grazing the green glass caused by direct sunlight this time of year.... tds was 245
Now clean and adjusted to 185, will clean again next week to get it back to 160 ish along with the impossible carpet trim.










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## Iain Sutherland (6 Jun 2020)

buttons said:


> Any update photos please?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




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## buttons (6 Jun 2020)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk



Quality mate fairplay. 


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## hypnogogia (6 Jun 2020)

Lovely tank, and I guess the ficus helps reduce the nitrates too.

oh, and loving those pendant lamps!


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## CooKieS (7 Jun 2020)

Very nice shrimp tank, lovely buces and that plant on the wall is just epic


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## Ady34 (14 Jun 2020)

So cool.
how do you find the mixing of shrimp? I’ve fancied adding a few types of cardinia  to my sons nano, but have always been put off by not keeping the strains pure......I want to just get over it and do a mix now. Such a cool and impressive tank for many reasons mate


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## LondonDragon (15 Jun 2020)

Love this tank, can I have all those Buce's please?? haha Featured on the UKAPS Facebook Page


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## Iain Sutherland (14 Jul 2020)

Ady34 said:


> So cool.
> how do you find the mixing of shrimp? I’ve fancied adding a few types of cardinia to my sons nano, but have always been put off by not keeping the strains pure......I want to just get over it and do a mix now. Such a cool and impressive tank for many reasons mate


Hey fella, caradina mix pretty well, at least for a while. They dont go muddy or revert to wild colours like neos will. Having the Taiwan gene means the patterns hold better which I think is the main advantage. If you want some Taiwan's mate just drop me a pm 

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## Iain Sutherland (14 Jul 2020)

LondonDragon said:


> Love this tank, can I have all those Buce's please?? haha Featured on the UKAPS Facebook Page


Thanks mate.

They may be coming out, I get the feeling the tank would benefit from a freshening up pretty soon... catching the shrimp is whats causing the procrastination! 

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## Ady34 (16 Jul 2020)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Hey fella, caradina mix pretty well, at least for a while. They dont go muddy or revert to wild colours like neos will. Having the Taiwan gene means the patterns hold better which I think is the main advantage. If you want some Taiwan's mate just drop me a pm
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


Thanks Iain, I may well take you up on that when the nano is finally running.....bloody superjet filters delayed due to COVID. Tank looks epic though, hope you are well?


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## Iain Sutherland (2 Nov 2020)

Had a couple of serious trims in this over the past weeks so it's all looking a lot roomier now. Otherwise all is well and not much to report 
Its amazing how quickly the buce recover and multiply, in just a few weeks where the stem is cut as many a 4 new stems will begin to appear.








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## mort (3 Nov 2020)

Do you always have that many in flower? I've noticed that whilst my anubias don't flower often my buce's seem to have lots, though not anywhere near to the extent of your fine floral display. Wondering if the pruning (I don't really trim them) stimulates them to flower.


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## Iain Sutherland (3 Nov 2020)

mort said:


> Do you always have that many in flower? I've noticed that whilst my anubias don't flower often my buce's seem to have lots, though not anywhere near to the extent of your fine floral display. Wondering if the pruning (I don't really trim them) stimulates them to flower.


I dont remember them ever not being in flower and looking back it seems all images are full of flowers just hadn't really noticed. Ive no idea what stimulates it though as previous tanks havent been so prolific.

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## Iain Sutherland (13 Feb 2021)

Evening all,

So this tank was getting pretty over grown so gave it a severe trim today.  I'd actually forgotten it was maple leaf rock in there as it's been hidden for a year or two.  I didnt remove any plants, just trimmed the bucephalandra back.  It was quite surprising how dense and branched the original plants were, as you may have seen in the sale section just over 70 stems were removed.  Its takes about 4 weeks for the cut stems to properly sprout new growth so I'm interested to see how long it takes to come back fully.
Shrimp numbers are also crazy and breeding is clearly going on this year already as when clearing out hundreds of tiny shrimp were forced out of hiding, surprisingly quite a few blues and pandas which I last saw baby blues about 6 months ago.  This does also make it obvious that the more interesting shrimp are just not making it to adulthood, as I'm yet to have any interesting adult shrimp like king kongs, red wine or blue bolts.  To try and remedy this I will now be increasing powder baby foods and decreasing the adult feeds, hopefully this will show improved survival rates.
I'm also really keen to remove the needle leaf microsorum as the shrimp nibble all the fresh shoots meaning ugly damaged leaves that attract bba, luckily it doesnt spread anywhere else in the tank.  I'm open to alternative low maintenance suggestions....??


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## Tim Harrison (13 Feb 2021)

Very awesome 👍


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## Iain Sutherland (13 Feb 2021)

Oh and for anyone interested the ficus has actually now taken over the kitchen, even comes out the other side and the top of the extractor 🤯


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## Sarpijk (13 Feb 2021)

You just read my mind! I was wondering how big it has got and whether it attaches so well that if removed you need to paint the wall again!


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## Tim Harrison (13 Feb 2021)

Haha, I actually thought it was a wall stencil the first time I saw it.
Looks great


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## Iain Sutherland (13 Feb 2021)

Sarpijk said:


> You just read my mind! I was wondering how big it has got and whether it attaches so well that if removed you need to paint the wall again!


It does get a trim every few weeks as its rampant, luckily the paint is eggshell so can scrub off the suckers pretty well.


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## Iain Sutherland (13 Feb 2021)

Tim Harrison said:


> Haha, I actually thought it was a wall stencil the first time I saw it.
> Looks great


It's funny, no end of people would eat a meal at mine and think the same until they actually touch it normally hours later 🤣 pre covid of course...🤪
Hope your well mate👍


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## alto (14 Feb 2021)

Iain Sutherland said:


> king kongs, red wine or blue bolts. To try and remedy this I will now be increasing powder baby foods and decreasing the adult feeds, hopefully this will show improved survival rates.


Often these extreme color morphs are slower growers and less resilient 

You’d likely have better success if you move these to their own tank, and slowly establish a colony that throws more KK, RW, BB etc by culling plainer offspring (for sale, other tank)

I’d also try selling off a good portion of the larger adults (keeping behind enough of each variant just in case)


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## Iain Sutherland (14 Feb 2021)

alto said:


> Often these extreme color morphs are slower growers and less resilient
> 
> You’d likely have better success if you move these to their own tank, and slowly establish a colony that throws more KK, RW, BB etc by culling plainer offspring (for sale, other tank)
> 
> I’d also try selling off a good portion of the larger adults (keeping behind enough of each variant just in case)


Agreed and have several more ranks sitting around, just the idea of more tanks doesnt fill me with joy...
I think a better option may be similar to you and sell off most of the standards once spring comes, unfortunately the affordability of more fancy varieties means the demand for normal Taiwan's bees is pretty low.


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## CSouthgate (17 Feb 2021)

Iain Sutherland said:


> I think a better option may be similar to you and sell off most of the standards once spring comes, unfortunately the affordability of more fancy varieties means the demand for normal Taiwan's bees is pretty low.


Id be more than happy to buy some from you in a few months, waiting to move house then i'm going to shamelessly steal almost everything about this set up and will need some decent shrimps never had much luck buying from shops...


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## Iain Sutherland (20 Feb 2021)

CSouthgate said:


> Id be more than happy to buy some from you in a few months, waiting to move house then i'm going to shamelessly steal almost everything about this set up and will need some decent shrimps never had much luck buying from shops...


Sure thing, they're going to need a new home as the population is now stationary... will post a for sale thread as soon as it warms up.👍


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## Wookii (20 Feb 2021)

Just love this tank - it’s just incredible for a low tech! Do you ever do anything to the filter Iain given how overgrown with plants it is, or is it just left as is?

Also registering an interest in some of the CBS and darker coloured Caridinas! 👍🏻


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## Iain Sutherland (20 Feb 2021)

Wookii said:


> Just love this tank - it’s just incredible for a low tech! Do you ever do anything to the filter Iain given how overgrown with plants it is, or is it just left as is?
> 
> Also registering an interest in some of the CBS and darker coloured Carolina’s! 👍🏻


If im completely honest, the ficus in the filter is a massive pain in the blahblahblahblah in respect to the tank.  From the 6 filter 'pads' I can only clean one as the roots own the others. If I had a do over I'd create a filter box for the ficus and have a beautifully maintained filter 🤣 maybe a seachem tidal just to test one out.
Give it a month and I'll be selling loads off at good prices 👍


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## CSouthgate (23 Feb 2021)

Holy **** that's a lot of shrimps , also curious about the filter, did you change anything inside or is it just standard pads? also looking at the seachem tidal as it seems eheim dont make the liberty anymore.


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## Courtneybst (23 Feb 2021)

Wow! That is a lot of shrimp. Makes me want to start my shrimp tank up again.


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## Iain Sutherland (23 Feb 2021)

CSouthgate said:


> Holy **** that's a lot of shrimps , also curious about the filter, did you change anything inside or is it just standard pads? also looking at the seachem tidal as it seems eheim dont make the liberty anymore.


Standard pads with about 3 or bits of alfagrog in the impeller space.
I have a feeling the tital will be really good from what I've seen...


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## Iain Sutherland (23 Feb 2021)

Courtneybst said:


> Wow! That is a lot of shrimp. Makes me want to start my shrimp tank up again.


DO IT!!!


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## Courtneybst (23 Feb 2021)

Iain Sutherland said:


> DO IT!!!



FEEDER!


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## CSouthgate (2 Mar 2021)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Standard pads with about 3 or bits of alfagrog in the impeller space.
> I have a feeling the tital will be really good from what I've seen...


Nice to know it was kept pretty standard, i'm not one for having to do too much modifying to get good results, id better get more posts under my belt so i can see sales threads


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## castle (4 Mar 2021)

CSouthgate said:


> Holy **** that's a lot of shrimps , also curious about the filter, did you change anything inside or is it just standard pads? also looking at the seachem tidal as it seems eheim dont make the liberty anymore.


Are you sure they don’t make them? Bought a new one a few months back


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## CSouthgate (4 Mar 2021)

castle said:


> Are you sure they don’t make them? Bought a new one a few months back


I'm probably wrong but when i google them the only results for shopping are all outside the uk or ebay which will probably be outside the uk, im leaning more toward the seachem hang ons anyway as i like the idea of the plastic bit that pops up when its getting clogged and needs cleaning.


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## castle (4 Mar 2021)

CSouthgate said:


> I'm probably wrong but when i google them the only results for shopping are all outside the uk or ebay which will probably be outside the uk, im leaning more toward the seachem hang ons anyway as i like the idea of the plastic bit that pops up when its getting clogged and needs cleaning.



Yeah, we’re only getting them in from Europe, but they can be gotten into stock at your local lfs if they stock eheim through John Allan Aquariums. I've been using Liberties, _almost_ exclusively for 10 years and they have never clogged, never broken down and I think I have cleaned them out maybe once each. They look a little naff, but they do a good job.


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## CSouthgate (4 Mar 2021)

castle said:


> Yeah, we’re only getting them in from Europe, but they can be gotten into stock at your local lfs if they stock eheim through John Allan Aquariums. I've been using Liberties, _almost_ exclusively for 10 years and they have never clogged, never broken down and I think I have cleaned them out maybe once each. They look a little naff, but they do a good job.


Ah fair enough, I work at a maidenhead but John Allan isn't on our supplier list and my normal wholesaler for eheim doesn't list them, could be worth a punt asking them if they can get them if not I'll end up trying out the seachem.


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## castle (4 Mar 2021)

CSouthgate said:


> Ah fair enough, I work at a maidenhead but John Allan isn't on our supplier list and my normal wholesaler for eheim doesn't list them, could be worth a punt asking them if they can get them if not I'll end up trying out the seachem.



I'd be interested to hear your review, I nearly got a Tidal some time ago but my LFS could get some Eheim Liberty in. The largest model is a bit of a beast.


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## Wookii (4 Mar 2021)

I have the Tidal 55. It’s a decent filter, the integral skimmer is good, as is the self priming and removable media basket. The pain for me (being a maintenance phobe) was the prefilter being on the very bottom of the basket, so you have to take everything apart to clean it.

I see some of the HOB’s have vertical cartridges for each media type, which makes maintenance easier.

Also, as seems to be par for the course with filters, the flow is no where near the rating once the media basket is filled. The 55 wasn’t really enough for me in a 60 litre tank, and I wished I’d got the next size up.


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## aec34 (24 Jul 2021)

Just a shout out to say how much I love this tank! I’m fully low tech and am hoping to start a caridina tank soon, and this journal is really inspirational. Already loved a nice buce 🙂


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## Iain Sutherland (2 Mar 2022)

What's going on folks!? I'm shocked to see its been a year since I've contributed to this thread or more importantly the forum!😔
Sometimes life is just straight up busy and a new job turned out to be all encompassing and pretty stressful.  That said I think I've touched bottom and now building up..... so much so I have even got a little tank sat empty in my office I may actually put water in now the urge to throw in the towel has passed.

This little tank is still going, running on little more that hopes and 🙏 .  Its amazingly resiliant and many won't believe this may have had, at best, 3 water changes in the past year.  Its topped up with RO when the trickling  causes veins to pop out of the wife's neck, a couple of pumps of tropica ferts once a week and my daughter throws in a variety of food, both in quantity and type, about 3 times a week.
The ficus has broken through the cooker extract and is staking a claim on the other side of the kitchen.  I remain convinced the ficus is the key to the tanks stablility.  The ficus seems to have an ability to do absolutely nothing for long periods yet remain healthy but when the tank gets over fed or I remember to fert consistently i can actively observe new growing tips within 12 hours.  This ability to buffer nutrient levels makes me look good 😁 
With a little luck I'll be seeing a bit more of you all👍🏻


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## Tim Harrison (3 Mar 2022)

Looking good Iain. And good to see you posting again 👍


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## Deano3 (3 Mar 2022)

Still looks great @Iain Sutherland cant belive been a year , where does the time go , i am guilty of being a bit absent lately but due to same reasons,  life just gets busy.

Great to hear all is well and tank still ticking along nicely


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## Sarpijk (3 Mar 2022)

Looks great one of my favourite journals!
Do you still dose Tropica Specialised and if yes what is your dosing schedule?


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## Iain Sutherland (3 Mar 2022)

Sarpijk said:


> Looks great one of my favourite journals!
> Do you still dose Tropica Specialised and if yes what is your dosing schedule?


Thanks, yes still on specialised and really don't have a schedule but would guess it averages about 3 pumps a week?


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## rebel (7 Mar 2022)

Wow that Ficus may damage your wall or maybe not???


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## Ian Holdich (9 Mar 2022)

Alright Sutherland!

Thank looks insane!

Quality wee scape mate


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## Jackflash33 (9 Mar 2022)

This is absolutely amazing! So nice to see such a great scape over a long period of time.


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## Iain Sutherland (9 Mar 2022)

Ian Holdich said:


> Alright Sutherland!
> 
> Thank looks insane!
> 
> Quality wee scape mate


Sh@t the bed it's Ian Holdich!!
Hello mate, we've missed you 😥

Your scaping fingers itching?


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## Ian Holdich (9 Mar 2022)

Iain Sutherland said:


> Sh@t the bed it's Ian Holdich!!
> Hello mate, we've missed you 😥
> 
> Your scaping fingers itching?


Got a 60 litre up and running at the moment, it’s only been going about 4 weeks. Nothing special, was going to keep it as a low tech, internal filter etc…but you know how these things go, c02 installed yesterday, internal ripped out and external fitted. Will get some pics up later x


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## Iain Sutherland (9 Mar 2022)

Ian Holdich said:


> Got a 60 litre up and running at the moment, it’s only been going about 4 weeks. Nothing special, was going to keep it as a low tech, internal filter etc…but you know how these things go, c02 installed yesterday, internal ripped out and external fitted. Will get some pics up later x


That's great to hear your dipping your toe back in, next thing you know @Stu Worrall  will be starting a journal... 😍😂


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## Ian Holdich (10 Mar 2022)

Iain Sutherland said:


> That's great to hear your dipping your toe back in, next thing you know @Stu Worrall  will be starting a journal... 😍😂


We can dream brother…we can dream


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## PARAGUAY (11 Mar 2022)

And George Farmer Dan Crawford and Tim Harrison are overdue a UKAPS journal 🙂


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## Iain Sutherland (27 Mar 2022)

What a difference a day makes... major trim that had a few challenges.
When removing some buce the whole hardscape started coming apart, normally I would have decided there and then to rescape but I'm away soon so it will have to wait. 
The buce 'mother plants' are massive, be interesting to see how long regeneration takes this time.


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## Ady34 (28 Mar 2022)

The gift that keeps on giving. 
This little scape will be four years old in august, that is incredible. It’s amazing how nature takes care of things, and this scape has found an incredible balance of flora and fauna. 
Good to see you active again and fingers crossed for the office tank 🤞
Cheerio,
Ady.


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