# My Vision 180



## pompeyfan

Hi, This is my 180L Juwel tank i re-worked as a high tech tank in april this year.






I'm still evolving the layout, but am pleased with the progress from Tropica and Eco complete substrates with adjusted EI dosing. This has been a worthwhile step-up from a 'mid tech' Dennerle system.





The filter is an Ehiem 2076 with electronic flow control, which comes in handy to control my DIY surface skimmer. CO2 is pressurised 1 to 2 bubbles per second into 'flipper' diffuser and four 39W Linear T5 lamps, light the tank 10 hours a day.
I made an auto top up control which helps with about half of the micronutrient dose, which is peri. pumped from an R.O. and fert. mix tank.


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## George Farmer

Welcome to UKAPS!

Very nice, well done.

Can you share more details?  Lighting, CO2, ferts, substrate etc?


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## Ed Seeley

Very nice mix of colours and leaf shapes!  Like the Nymphaea too, what species is it?  I also like the DIY ideas, espeically the top up - like George said more details!


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## Themuleous

Gorgeous looking tank, excellent work


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## pompeyfan

Thanks guys, for the positive feedback.  The lotus is Nymphaea Zenkeri "green tiger lotus", i asked andy at Greenline.

I'll post some shots of my 'bodges' in er, DIY i reckon in due course.

Respect to all who contribute, especially articles, without which i would probably still be messing about with Nitrazorb and Rowaphos,   instead of GROWING plants.

Pete.


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## zig

Welcome Pete from another Pete  

Good job for your first tank, if I could add some suggestions.

I would concentrate on adding some interest to the midground area and I probably would not have the plants touching the surface of the tank, having them not touching the surface and improving the midground will add more depth to this tank and improve this layout quite a bit IMHO. I do understand this is a Juwel tank so depth from front to back is an issue here but having the plants growing so high at the back without a real midground makes the job harder for you to make this tank really good, again IMHO.


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## George Farmer

Hi Pete and welcome to UKAPS!

I can't believe I missed this.

This is a lovely aquascape full of great colour and texture - well done.

I agree with zig, that one area for improvement could be to nail the midground, especially over to the left i.e. between the glosso and Rotala.

FYI, Pete, I graduated from the Dennerle principles into EI too.


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## pompeyfan

George/zig,

The crypts in the mid ground don't seem to keep 'pace' with the rest of the plants, in comparison to my old Dennerle setup. Do you think C. Becketii, C. Wendtii and C. Cordata don't like the frequent water changes required by EI? I trim the odd melted or tatty leaves weekly, but new growth seems a little sluggish so i added the lobelia, but prefer the crypt's leaf shapes. I can't imagine i'd need to use root fertilizing balls/tabs yet after 4 months :?: 
It's a question of timing, i think, to get a layout looking it's 'perspective' best. When the lotus has newer, lower leaves i should get all the stem plants trimmed and re-planted to lower the background a bit.

Pete.


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## ceg4048

Hi Pete,
              I love the right hand 2/3rds of the scape. Such rich colors and textures really draw you into the tank. That's also a nice carpet in front, really well executed. The left hand 1/3rd could use some improvement though, as zig mentioned, and something radical you could do is pull the grass-like plants out completely and put some of the crypts there. I can assure you that crypts love EI, no doubt, therefore if you have melting leaves they are trying to hit you over the head with a message; namely that they are having to adjust their chemistry to fit what they consider unstable or unsuitable conditions. Since you've got excellent growth otherwise, we have to assume that the dosing scheme and water changes are good. The only obvious things would be light or possibly crowded roots. They do seem a bit obscured but that might be an optical illusion in the photo. I think they might appreciate a bit of elbow room, at least from what I can see in the photos.

George has a set of really nice tutorials in the aquascape forum. Article part 2 summarizes the concept of space usage and geometry. I think thinning would be a good idea and while you're at it you may want to think about opening some spaces by use of the geometric patterns mentioned. For example you could go for the triangle from the right descending left, opening up that left side for the crypts. Descending back to front is also a good idea to avoid a "fenced in" feel. If you don't want to move the crypts, as they're already stressed, you could simply trim behind and above them to get some space.

Cheers,


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