# 15 UK Gallon rescape journal



## nry (29 Oct 2007)

Hi all,

Below is an image of my current tank layout etc, though I need to sort a new one out, I cannot believe the growth in the past 7 weeks!







I am changing this tank (Juwel Rekord60) pretty much entirely.  Current and forthcoming plans:

Current:

* Juwel internal filter (no carbon, added filter wool)
* JBL AquaBasis Plus beneath (worthless) pea gravel
* 2x15w T8 (all original Juwel lighting removed to give better light spread) - Arcadia Freshwater and Arcadia Original (8 hour photo period)
* D-D Pressurised CO2 running through Dymax ceramic atomiser
* 4dkh drop checker with bromo blue
* Estimative Index dosing relevant to tank size inc. 50% weekly water change

The current plant layout was temporary as I had to rehouse some fish and plants from a different tank.  The new layout etc is planned as follows:

New wood:






* Juwel filter taken out and replaced with TetraTec EX600 and PM Lily pipes
* Paint back of tank with black acrylic paint
* External CO2 reactor (Dymax from AquaEssentials sale for Â£5!)
* Hydor external heater (cheap from eBay)
* Tropica plant substrate beneath Hagen Black River Sand (extra fine)

Keeping windelov fern from current layout to go at the base of the wood above, and I will probably be using some of the vallis mini twister and rotala wallichi to provide a high back-left area sweeping down to the right which will be carpeted with either utcicularia graminifolia or H.C..  The p.helferi is now much bigger and I am aiming to use this around the base of the windelov fern mixed with some 4-5" black pebbles and a handful of <1" black stones.  I have some Indian moss to fix to the wood and that is about it.

I am starting this all tonight with this evening being the setup of a temporary tank to house the fish/plants/filter during the intial stages of the new setup.  I am hoping to do a full photo diary of this, if anyone wants to see anything specific in more detail let me know and I will do appropriate pictures/description!

Livestock:

7 x rasbora maculatus
8 x algae shrimp, plus loads of babies if I can rescue them during the rescape
6 x otocinclus haurani
4 x cordoras pygmaeus


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## beeky (29 Oct 2007)

Any chance of getting close up photos of the tropica substrate and sand? Photos are never close enough to see the grain size on these things and unless you can afford to get a bag of each, it's difficult to compare and get something you like.

Cheers
Graham


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## nry (29 Oct 2007)

Will do my best, if I stick a ruler in the photo with it I assume this will be OK!?


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## beeky (29 Oct 2007)

Perfick!


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## nry (30 Oct 2007)

Temporary tank is set up, the filter is almost as big as the tank!  My wife is not convinced that the new filter will fit in the cabinet of the 15-gallon...it should fit....a bit snug maybe, but it will fit!  I'm also surprised at how quiet the filter is, not noticeable at all.


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## Dan Crawford (30 Oct 2007)

Hi mate, this journal looks good.
May i suggest not painting your tank's background, I can send you a piece of REMOVABLE black opaque vinyl in the post. Paint is far too perminent for me.
I made this background.



PM me for details.
HTH
Dan


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## nry (30 Oct 2007)

That tank looks familiar!

I know there is the typical 'I wish I never did that!' thought possibility in the future - how does the vinyl compare to the complete coverage of paint in respect to bubbles, the stuff lifting over time etc?  I have black film at present but it is taped at the edges, I have seen the vinyl options but opted for Â£3 of acrylic paint (yet to be applied) as I felt it would give me a very even colouring...if the vinyl is not going to drive a picky sod like me nuts then it is certainly worth a go?!


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## nry (1 Nov 2007)

The fish and plants are moved - I noticed this morning that I still have loads of baby shrimp in the 15-gallon tank, cannot believe how many there must be, I reckon on at least 30!

Tonight I am aiming to strip the tank down entirely, remove the Juwel filter box and prepare for painting the back of the tank tomorrow - I may regret this, I may not - I have had a black background for ages now and really like it so not overly concerned at the moment.


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## Dan Crawford (1 Nov 2007)

Sorry for the late reply.
With regards to bubbles there would be none, i'd give you instructions!
It won't peel unless you want it to.
If you already use a black background and you like it then go for the paint! I'm sure it would scrape off with a glass scraper once dry anyway if you did deside to change your mind.
I change my tank and background way too often and i can't paint either for that matter!  
I look forward to seeing it.


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## nry (1 Nov 2007)

The fish and plants are moved - I noticed this morning that I still have loads of baby shrimp in the 15-gallon tank, cannot believe how many there must be, I reckon on at least 30!

Tonight I am aiming to strip the tank down entirely, remove the Juwel filter box and prepare for painting the back of the tank tomorrow - I may regret this, I may not - I have had a black background for ages now and really like it so not overly concerned at the moment.


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## nry (1 Nov 2007)

BigDanne said:
			
		

> Sorry for the late reply.
> With regards to bubbles there would be none, i'd give you instructions!
> It won't peel unless you want it to.
> If you already use a black background and you like it then go for the paint! I'm sure it would scrape off with a glass scraper once dry anyway if you did deside to change your mind.
> ...



You replied just before I posted   Cheers for the offer, time will tell if I regret not taking it up


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## nry (2 Nov 2007)

Stripping a tank down is not pleasant 

The tank is now empty, the Juwel filter out (pretty easy actually!) and the first coat of black acrylic paint is on the background - even with only one coat the depth of black is superb, just what I was hoping for!  Second coat goes on tonight then pictures of initial layouts to follow over the weekend.


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## nry (3 Nov 2007)

Some pictures along the way:






















Need to polish that glass!

Will do a sand/substrate size image tomorrow, need the metal ruler from the shed!

Provisional planting concepts:

* Windelov fern (on some other wood for ease of fixing) to the right of the left-hand upright wood
* P.Helferi to front left
* Vallis mini twister to back left
* HC carpet across remaining substrate
* Indian moss to go on wood

I have some rotala wallichii which as yet I am undecided on, may not use it in the end...


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## nry (4 Nov 2007)

Size comparison of Hagen Black River Sand (Extra Fine) and Tropica substrate:






Ruler shows 1" and smaller lines.

Suggestions as to whether HC or U.Graminifolia would be a better carpet plant choice....eBay has some expensive UG for sale and I am tempted!


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## nry (7 Nov 2007)

Started the planting last night - certainly a right pain tying ferns to wood which is already fixed in the aquarium but I had little choice, it would have been as hard to fit the substrate around the fern if I did it the other way! Pictures taken as I went along (which I will post tonight hopefully), the windelov, p.helferi, indian moss and vallis are all in, just waiting for my U.Graminifolia to arrive.

I have a 'gap' in the aquascape which I will take advice on once the pictures are up - other than that I am extremely happy with this tank at the moment. Thanks have to go to the massive amount of inspiration this forum has given me!

Tonight I am aiming to move the filter in and set it all up, CO2, external heater etc, then maybe tomorrow night move some fish in. Found a dead oto in the windelov fern last night, mustn't have appreciated the temporary home, I'm keen to get the fish back into the 15-gallon ASAP.


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## nry (7 Nov 2007)

Picture update:


















Waiting for some utricularia graminifolia from eBay.  The Dymax reactor I have certainly is not external, even sealed with loads of waterproof tape it leaks like mad!  For now my old Rhinox 1000 is sitting directly under the intake pipe - seems to work well, the bubbles are all going in to the filter which is hopefully blasting things around!  I may look into one of the Jaqno reactors via AquaEssentials or eBay (if i can find them again), mainly to keep things out of the tank and also to further minimise maintenance.

To show how un-fragile algae shrimp are, 3 baby ones came through to the tank with the windelov fern - all are alive and well despite no heated water ever, the tank was filled yesterday with treated tap water, but certainly not heated!  They seem to be loving all the space just for them!

I can also see the teeny whirlpool above the lily pipe outlet spout, rather mesmerising!


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## Dave Spencer (7 Nov 2007)

Loving the Windelov nry!

Sorry if you have already mentioned it, but what lily pipe are you using?

Secondly, have you considered running the tank open topped in the future?

Dave.

Oh, by the way. Amano shrimp and UG are a bad mix in my experience. My shrimp just pulled the UG apart, plant by plant. Every morning there was plant material floating on the surface.


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## nry (7 Nov 2007)

Lily pipes are PM via AE...

I have just been thinking about the tank and open-topped - my main concern is my pygmy cory which have jumped out of my smaller tank in the past, probably when they sip up for air.  I still don't entirely like the lighting spread from the current setup but that may be down to loads of light reflection back from the bare substrate.

As for shrimp, I am dubious about them - partly tempted to leave them all in the 5-gallon for a while to let the UG get a good hold....I did debate HC instead but I'm willing to try the UG given I have wanted to try it in a decent tank for ages, I tried it in my 5-gallon but it all died off (poor lighting, ferts and CO2 I reckon!).....if it doesn't take then I'll go for some HC


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## nry (9 Nov 2007)

Moved the fish over last night.  Left the shrimp out for now, may leave them in the 5-gallon for a while to give the soon to arrive UG time to settle.  One shrimp has eggs again!  I have 5 baby shrimp in this 15-gallon that snook in with the windelov fern, they can stay, I might move some other babies in too next week.

Longer term I cannot house masses of shrimp in any tank, if anyone want some let me know, pick-up only from Carlisle FOC.

Edit: my UG has just arrived 

I also dont trust the CO2 going in to the filter. Every now and again I get a big burst of bubbles into the tank from the filter which I assume is CO2. Unsure how 'stable' this leaves CO2, I've ordered a Jaqno 'CO2 Mixer' from eBay for the sake of Â£20, time will tell how good they are!


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## beeky (9 Nov 2007)

Are they shrimps you mention amano ones or cherry/tiger ones?

Just interested as I'd love to be able to breed my few amano ones as they're so expensive, but no sign of any eggs since I've had them (I know they need brackish water for the larvae).

Looks very nice, I might set my 2' tank up in a similar way (wood, black sand) for a breeding pair of apistos.


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## nry (9 Nov 2007)

I have no clue as to the shrimp breed - they were sold to me as either apparently true amano shrimp or just as 'algae shrimp'.  I also have one rainbow shrimp - this is a lovely dark tan colour with a light stripe down the back, about 1.5" long.


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## nry (9 Nov 2007)

Planted the UG today:







Bring on the algae


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## nry (11 Nov 2007)

Fish are sensitive eh?  Two days after moving my 4 pygmy cory into the new scape and they have significant fun producing eggs everywhere!  That is with full EI dosing from day one too.....think one of my bororas maculata had its tail nipped somehow (maybe in the filter outlet tube gaps?), treating daily with SeaChem Paraguard (does pretty much everything) as I have found this superb previously - plant and filter safe etc etc.  Seems to be improving at the moment.


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## nry (14 Nov 2007)

Jaqno CO2 'Mixer' arrived today.  Seems simple but well made which is contrary to what I have seen others say.  The CO2 enters the cylinder as normal bubbles (suggesting this would work fine with DIY setups) and there is an angled cut in the filter intlet pipe which I am guessing causes the water in the cylinder to blow the CO2 bubbles around hence mixing them with the water which then exits through a normal shaped pipe.  It should theoretically allow for 100% absorbtion of CO2 into the water providing you set your BPM correctly.  Might need some additional filter tubing to connect this up without kinks, will have a look later this week.


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## beeky (14 Nov 2007)

I really like this setup, the green contrasts well with the gravel without looking artificial and the stones blend in nicely and yet still stand out.

Very nicely done!


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## nry (14 Nov 2007)

Cheers - longer term I am hoping the UG will pretty much cover the gravel/sand - I'm also glad that I don't have the Interpet Daylight Plus tubes on this as the contrast between black/green is already slightly towards the flourescent!


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## nry (11 Dec 2007)

The UG is taking forever to do anything.  It has started sending out small numbers of runners but is not looking too good overall.  No idea why, full EI dosing, green drop checker.....been planted for ages now.  I'm giving it until after Christmas and if it hasn't improved I will look for some HC and try that.


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## beeky (12 Dec 2007)

Have you grown UG before? Maybe it's just something that grows very slowly.

Any more pics?


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## Dave Spencer (12 Dec 2007)

My UG has plenty of ferts and CO2, but probably mediumish light by the way all the plants grow (33W over 24l), and it is a painfully slow grower.

At the moment it is chucking out runners and mixing with my Marsilea _sp_. The effect looks quite good, so I guess i`ll have to be patient. I want to hang on to what UG I have as I want to see how it responds in one of my high light tanks.

Dave.


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## nry (12 Dec 2007)

Slow is the word!  Not giving up on it but it really is taking aaaaggggeeessss


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## nry (26 Dec 2007)

The UG is doing absolutely naff-all.  Can't be short of anything, though I've just dropped to half-EI for this tank due to still low plant mass, been getting some long thread algae on the moss which I keep twisting off with a toothbrush every 3-4 days.  I'll give it a week or two more than I'm ditching the UG to try some HC instead.  If anyone has any spare let me know, happy to pay.

Strangely the P.helferi in my 11w/5.5 gallon tank is doing much better than that in my 2wpg/EI/CO2 15-gallon.  Wierd.


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## George Farmer (26 Dec 2007)

I never had much success with UG when I tried it.  

I don't think many folk have used it succesfully in aquascaping so far.

Oliver Knott is the only exception I know of, and Mr G from TFF a good while back.  

I'll be meeting Oliver at Interzoo in Germany next year so will ask him, in my best German!

Even the UG in the ADA winner's tank looks crappy.  I discussed this point with Troels Andersen from Tropica.

Any more pics, Chris?


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## nry (27 Dec 2007)

I'll try to remember to take some more pictures.  Having a good look last night shows the UG is sending runners out, some I'd not noticed before.  A few more weeks should say either way I think.  Still haven't rigged up the Jaqno either, just ordered some extra filter tubing so once that arrives I will have a go.


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## nry (27 Dec 2007)

Picture from today (sorry, it's slanted!):






Inside cabinet (Cheers for the inspiration George, still have to fit a Jaqno reactor in there somewhere too!):






The moss needs a good tidy, pulled loads from the left-branch last week.  P.Helferi looking a bit sorry for itself, not sure why really, lots of new shoots coming through which look better.  Vallis has filled in pretty well, loads of new shoots on this.  Windelov has started to sprout some babies - never sure if this is good or bad!


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## nry (2 Jan 2008)

Darn...finally got my Jaqno out to setup, went to twist the lid off and the water inlet fastening came off, seems perhaps it was over-tightened and cracked the threads.  Having a go to fix it, should be possible to glue/fix it straight to the lid without the need for the screw-thread bit, doesn't seem any reason why they are threaded on anyhow.


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## nry (2 Jan 2008)

And what a s*d to fill the Jaqno with water, in the end I submersed the thing in a bucket of treated tapwater then put the lid on, the only way I could work out how!

Oh, and PS, don't forget to turn the filter pipes to 'off' otherwise you start siphoning the tank water onto the carpet when the bucket gets full 

Time will tell how efficient this thing is, I'm running on half the previous BPM just incase it is superb!  Changed my drop checker fluid at the same time to make sure I know exactly where it puts things.


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## nry (5 Jan 2008)

RE the Jaqno - I don't know whether this is expected but it seemed to take a while to reach a green drop checker (2 days).  I was running back at 60bpm but I've now dropped this down to 30bpm as the drop checker did start to move towards yellow.  It must be doing something OK as in 3 days of running there is little more CO2 in the top of the cannister than at the end of day 1.


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## nry (13 Jan 2008)

Whilst the Jaqno at least works I can't comment on efficiency being better than I had before.  Still needing ~60bpm to get my drop checker green so all I've managed is to get the last bit of equipment out of the tank (purely the glass filter pipes now). 

Still got some thread/hair algae hanging around on the moss - doesn't seem to want to go away, I'm debating ripping the moss out at the moment, perhaps also removing the UG (which is doing little or nothing) and P.Helferi (and maybe the vallis) and carpeting the whole tank with HC.  I like the concept of the wood/windelov fern as a central mound keeping the wood obvious instead of getting hidden by the moss so much.  We'll see.


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## Ed Seeley (13 Jan 2008)

You might want to try a DIY Reactor?  I could get 30ppm with less than 1 bps on my 180 litre tank and it was easy to go over that.  Compared to my new tank with glass diffuser it was way more efficient.  Changes on the drop checker only took a couple of hours too.

Shame the UG is taking so long.  Like you say maybe try something else?  The windelov certainly makes a really striking centrepiece and looks very healthy.

Maybe you could group the UG nearer together into one area and start another carpet in the rest of the floor space.  When that takes off you could pull the UG up if it hasn't got any better?


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## nry (14 Jan 2008)

Thing is that there is little CO2 gas build up in the Jaqno, it must be entering the water column pretty much 100%, otherwise the Jaqno would get full of CO2.  Very wierd!  Had wondered about keeping some UG in one area and some HC perhaps in another, let them go and see what happens.  The UG is shooting runners etc but they are really not doing much, maybe they are looking a little healthier at the moment though...perhaps they prefer a more mature tank.


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## nry (28 Jan 2008)

The UG has 2 weeks.  2 weeks is payday, I am trying to spend nothing this month, so unless the UG starts to do something useful it is going...or at least moving to a small area and planting the rest with HC.  May move the vallis and PHelferi out aswell, they don't fit with the central mound of windelov on the wood.

Oh, and more bloomin' shrimp...


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## nry (1 Feb 2008)

Didn't wait two weeks, eBay had some HC on which arrived today, seems fine so far (Expert Aquatics, got the UG from them aswell).  Hope it does OK, will start planting Monday at water change time.  Ordered some fine tweezers and scissors from AE, be nice if they arrive before I plant as my current tweezers are a bit large for HC...we'll see.


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## nry (5 Feb 2008)

UG is gone, was going to keep a little but it has done diddly-all in the months it has been planted so tough luck on it.  PHelferi is pulled up to be sent to a forum member today, then took about 1 hour to plant a single pot of HC across the majority of the substrate.  Left the vallis in for now but I don't think it works well in the overall layout so at some point I may take that out too.  Hopefully the HC will take OK, had success with it in my 5-gallon when it was high light/CO2/EI so fingers crossed.  And darn I have a major shrimp infestation, they are worse than snails once they start breeding!  I can really suggest to others that it is worth ensuring you buy true amano shrimp as they don't breed in freshwater, no worries over population control!


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## nry (5 Feb 2008)

*Picture update*

Piccy update:







Took me about an hour to plant the HC, best take well   Oh, need to clean my lily pipes too.


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## Themuleous (5 Feb 2008)

That fern is stunning mate.

Sam


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## TDI-line (5 Feb 2008)

Very nice layout.


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## nry (6 Feb 2008)

Ta - the fern is from a single Tropica pot, they have an interesting habit when moved to new tanks where many older leaves die off slowly and go black/brown.  Cut loads out before I planted the HC.  Still don't like the fact that the wood is hidden inthe pictures, partly due to the moss I think - should have some flame moss coming from Ed which I will try - also debating no moss on the back-right wood and going for maybe anubias petite?

Vallis needs to go too but will wait until, hopefully, the HC takes before removing it - first come first served if anyone wants the vallis?


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## Themuleous (6 Feb 2008)

Yeh you might be right about the moss on the wood, some wood showing would add nicely to the scape I think.

BTW what substrate you using again?  I've growing some HC in black quarts gravel with Tropica substrate underneath and its painfully slow.  But I am double dosing EI to keep the water column nice and laden with ferts to compensate.

Sam


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## nry (6 Feb 2008)

Tropica underneath Hagen Black River Sand (Extra Fine).  HC grew fine in this in my 5-gallon, took a little getting going, but once it started it was fine.  Hopefully planting it better in my 15-gallon will help it grow more evenly, it got very lumpy in the other tank as I planted it based on splitting the pot into 8 and leaving it with a little rock wool around the roots.


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## Themuleous (6 Feb 2008)

Yeh, I did a bit of an experiment with my last HC planting, the stuff in clumps (i.e. divided pots like Troipica suggest) had a much greater die back than the stuff I planted individually and its taken longer to get going.  It also seems more prone to becoming dislodged out of the substrate.

Sam


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## nry (11 Feb 2008)

I should have bought some proper scissors years ago.  Alongside decent tweezers they are much better to work with than tiny nail scissors.

Trimmed some more older fern leaves and took the moss back a bit to reveal a bit more of thw wood.  HC seems to be taking well, and had very little floating which was unexpected.


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## nry (16 Feb 2008)

Vallis is not liking the carboplus (dosing to get rid of the annoying hair algae on my moss which is working well so far), taking it out anyhow, ordered some Lilaeopsis brasiliensis and Eleocharis parvula from AE today.  LB to go in place of the vallis which was way too high for the 'mound' of fern, may spread some to the back-right of the fern aswell.  EP will be used sparingly to create a few focal points but not over-doing things hopefully.

May have some spare HC (not loads) and EP if anyone wants them - PM me, I'll send them to the first person who asks and sends me a pre-paid padded envelope.


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## nry (20 Feb 2008)

Plants added - still can't get these darn pictures to look as good as other peoples on here!


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## ceg4048 (20 Feb 2008)

Ooh, that's looking pretty sweet to me. I love the way those stones in the middle play against the the green. If you'd like, we can help troubleshoot the photography if you give us an idea of the camera and your software you're using. 8) 

Cheers,


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## nickyc (20 Feb 2008)

Looks amazing!  Love those stones


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## alexandre (21 Feb 2008)

I wish I could get fish like yours.
One thing, if I may. I would move the island a inch or so on the left. But I might be wrong, those types of layout are not easy. I tried and it took me almost two month to be happy with the location of the hardscape. I would I have put the Lilaeopsis around the islandand leave all the rest for the HC. 
Just my 2 cents


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## TDI-line (21 Feb 2008)

Nice work Nry.


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## nry (21 Feb 2008)

Can't move the wood, it is well and truely buried beneath the substrate zip-tied to a plastic panel so it doesn't float - but I do completely agree, it is too far towards the right....ah well.

I did also wonder about the lp being around the base of the wood/fern, I'll see how it pans out.  Still not convinced on the moss either, it detracts from the wood and the fern a bit I feel.

Camera is a Kodak SLR-type, a few years old now.  I think the issue is more down to the lighting on the tank - once things bed in I may try some pictures with reduced/different tank lighting as that should reduce the washout of detail and over saturation of green.  Name the software and I can probably access it, loads of stuff at work.


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## Themuleous (21 Feb 2008)

Should look good when it fills out a bit 

Sam


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## Martin (21 Feb 2008)

The windelov fern looks spectacular, how long have you been growing it ? I wish mine looked that good. When the new plantlets form on the older leaves do you replant them on wood straight away or let them grow out ? also do you discard the older leaves once you have removed the new growth?


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## nry (21 Feb 2008)

Fern..think I have had it about a year now, maybe a little less - it is still a single Tropica plant, I have never had plantlets from it to speak of.  I remove dead leaves but have yet to trim the rhizome though that is getting close after giving it a good checkover last night, getting massive behind the wood!


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## ceg4048 (21 Feb 2008)

nry said:
			
		

> Camera is a Kodak SLR-type, a few years old now.  I think the issue is more down to the lighting on the tank - once things bed in I may try some pictures with reduced/different tank lighting as that should reduce the washout of detail and over saturation of green.  Name the software and I can probably access it, loads of stuff at work.



Hi,
     You can really do a lot of recovery with Photoshop. The latest version is CS3 but any version will do. Photoshop enables you to alter the color balance and retrieve the sharpness of the images that the camera steals due to some of it's color filtration. There are plenty of other programs but Photoshop seems to be the standard by which all others are measured. an example of what you could do to clean the photo up is provided below: Now, remember I can't see the tank in real life so I just guess at what it might look like if the highlighted areas weren't clipping in the yellow.





Another ting you can do, if you have the ability to "spot meter" is to spot meter the highlighted areas in manual mode and use those exposure settings for the shot. It darkens the rest of the image but it keps from blowing out the highlights. It looks like when I did the corrections the worst hit areas turned white. This is called "clipping" which digital cameras do when the data is overloaded they just go to white.

Cheers,


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## nry (21 Feb 2008)

Blimey - we do have Photoshop available at work, think it may be CS2 - I shall have a play around, that altered picture is much better though it shows up my slightly shakey hand!  May 'borrrow' the camera tripod again when things have grown in.


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## Vase (21 Feb 2008)

Its looking awesome   

Do you have any pics of your lighting set up?


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## nry (21 Feb 2008)

Not much to see beyond a modified Juwel hood!


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## Vase (21 Feb 2008)

No worries, just interested in what you did and how you did it.


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## nry (21 Feb 2008)

I'll take a photo next water change (usually Monday night), ripped all the Juwel stuff out, bolted in two T8 tubes with reflectors in simple terms!


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## nry (15 Mar 2008)

Keep forgetting to take some piccies of the hood, I will try to remember on Monday at water change time - again!

Current played with piccies, used Paint.net which is free, made a little difference I think, need to remember to hunt out Photoshop at work and see how that goes.

Current growth:







Close up of my rasbora maculatus (and some HC too!):






HC growth is doing really well, it is certainly growing more quickly directly beneath the light tubes, will probably need to trim some areas in the next week or so.  Will use any trimmings to flesh out the slower growth areas towards the left/right edges o the substrate.


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## nry (16 Mar 2008)

Question - does an increase in surface scum suggest nutrient deficiency?  I started half-dosing EI for this tank a good few months ago when plant mass was very low, the period when the UG was doing nothing at all.  Having added the HC, parvula etc plant mass is now continuously increasing and I have noticed an increased amount of surface scum building up - wondering if upping back to full EI dose is worthwhile, I dropped down as I was beginning to get a bit of hair-algae developing which has pretty much gone (though two little clumps have no started to grow), perhaps the signs are pointing towards upping the fertilisers?


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## ceg4048 (16 Mar 2008)

Surface scum is related to  CO2 deficiency as well as nutrient deficiency. So is hair algae. Nutrients don't cause hair algae, so dropping down when you saw the algae was an inappropriate action. Try adding more CO2 and more nutrients as well as increased water changes. Doing half EI is like eating half your meals or like earning half your salary. Likewise, the disappearance of  the hair algae is not related to you cutting of the nutrients. This is an optical illusion which causes many to draw a false correlation between nutrients and algae. I know this sounds obstinate and it's easy to be skeptical when you are looking squarely at your algae and shaking your head with dismay.

When a plant faces a deficiency it calculates that it cannot sustain the same biomass and continue to survive. The result is that it cannibalizes itself. Weaker leaves and stems have important compounds withdrawn and sent to stems and leaves that are more likely to survive. As this breakdown occurs the proteins, enzymes and lipids/fatty acids which cannot be reconverted or transported efficiently (i.e the energy required to reconvert or to transport is too high) are jettisoned into the water column. This results in the protein scum that we see at the surface.

Add more CO2 - lots more, (or supplement with Excel/Easycarbo) and dose appropriately. Within 3 weeks you should see the scum start to disappear and your plants will look better as well.

CO2 and Nitrogen are coupled so that an increased uptake of one leads to a demand for uptake of the other. This is not surprising since both are required for photosynthesis. Nitrogen is used to produce the chlorophyll which in turn uses [light + water + CO2] to produce carbohydrates.

This is why playing around with half this and half that more often than not creates problems. Ensuring that your plants have more than what they need, especially Carbon and Nitrogen, will give you a better chance of success.

Cheers,


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## nry (17 Mar 2008)

I dropped to half-EI as much because I had so few plants, one large windelov fern, a little vallis and a single pot of very very slow growing UG.

I'm on water change day so I'll start back with full dosing again as of tomorrow.


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## Themuleous (17 Mar 2008)

Looking good!  The HC is filling out nicely 

Sam


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## nry (21 Mar 2008)

Hc needs trimmed in the centre, it is growing like mad there but a fair bit slower around the left/right of the tank where there is less direct light.

Vague mental debate about ripping the windelov out and going for some stem plants but not sure.  Quite like the slow growth of the fern as it keeps maintenance down, but wondering about other options.  Leaving it for a good while yet anyhow.  Fern needs a good trim too, getting a lot of die back on older leaves plus the thing is getting really big!  I was debating entering some comps with the tank once the HC carpet is complete - don't want to trim the fern back and find it doesn't fill in sufficiently before the HC does.  Still not convinced on the Jaqno but no alternatives for now.


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## planter (21 Mar 2008)

*Re:*



			
				George Farmer said:
			
		

> I'll be meeting Oliver at Interzoo in Germany next year so will ask him, in my best German!



As far as im aware Oliver knott may be doing some tanks for the tropica stand but is not doing a talk. Have you heard something different George? would like to time my visit to meet him too!


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## LondonDragon (21 Mar 2008)

Its looking great, its good to follow these journals to get an idea how fast plant grow etc...
Keep us posted and photos always welcomed


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## nry (25 Mar 2008)

Lighting piccy as promised:






URL Link for proper piccy: http://www.nryonline.co.uk/coppermine/albums/userpics/10002/normal_lighting.jpg


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## nry (26 Mar 2008)

Little hint to me is to clean the filter more often and replace the filter floss pad monthly too (or rinse it anyhow).  My water has been a bit misty recently and after a filter clean last night (putting off because of faffy Jaqno) it is now crystal clear again 

For reference I found a cheat way to stop the Jaqno nicking the water/air when priming my TetraTec - I cleaned the filter and then refilled it with dechlorinated water before re-attaching to the pipes.  No need to prime   Yay, dead easy!


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## John Starkey (26 Mar 2008)

Hi nry, very nice mate i like the look of it very much, i used to have a lot of surface scum when my plants were first planted, but after reading an aqua journal i upped my dosages to suit the fast  growth and now i dont have any to speak of,regards john.


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## nry (27 Mar 2008)

Cheers John - I used some kitchen paper to remove it at the water change this week, there was a fair build up of it, rather oily in my opinion.  A few days later and nothing has yet returned so fingers crossed.  I did up CO2 and ferts this week aswell, probably a combination of low ferts and CO2 due to increased plant growth, never seen as much pearling as I have at the moment, even my windelov is going for it!


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## beeky (10 Apr 2008)

Time for another pic I think!


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## Lisa_Perry75 (10 Apr 2008)

You know how to get rid of surface scum? Hoover it off...











DONT DO IT WITH A NORMAL HOOVER THOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The guys at TGM used an industrial hoover and just hoovered the top of the water to get off all the little trimmings of plants and scum!


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## GreenNeedle (10 Apr 2008)

OR just raise your lily pipe occasionally at night time and it dissipates.

I find the scum arrives when CO2 is working well and I tend to just fishnet some off and the rest then dissapears for some reason.

Andy


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## aaronnorth (10 Apr 2008)

when i got it, usually at first off, i just increasesurface agitation.


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## daniel19831123 (16 Apr 2008)

Lisa_Perry75 said:
			
		

> You know how to get rid of surface scum? Hoover it off...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I nearly missed the bottom bit there and got myself really puzzled for one moment. Then I reread the post and found the bottom part of it. That's cheeky of you lisa. Someone could have sue you for a broken hoover.


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## Garuf (18 Apr 2008)

I find I get surface scum when I need to do a water change, it's normally a new tank thing like diatoms as far as I understand but I've never really been able to shake it, nor have I ever really been able to stay algae free until now though.


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## nry (13 Apr 2009)

Ok, almost a year since the last post!

Current state of play:






Last night saw the beginnings of a re-scape using the existing hardscape.  Masses of lilaeopsis brasiliensis ripped out fro the rear-left, and earlier this year loads ripped out from the rest of the substrate.  Seems to do very well for me and the size suits a smaller tank.

General plans - go for a mound-style layout, with the focus to the left 3rd of the tank leaving quite a bit of substrate bare.  I have a fairly nice HC carpet going in the mid-front of the tank, which I may or may not keep.

The windelov is going to be thinned and moved forward\left next week, with some rotala wallichi going behind\slightly to the left of it as a centre piece to also give some planting height as well.

Crypt wendtii green and brown going around the base of the windelov mixed in with some anubias bonsai.  I'd love to get the anubias growing along the lengths of the wood but there wasn't enough of it in stock at AE for that just yet.  I'd perhaps need to get rid of the moss for that but unsure how to get rid of it permanently.

For now that's the plan...alongside constantly fighting against a randy group of shrimp who seem to breed and breed and breed!  Need to pick up a group of oto's, the previous 6 lasted around 18 months then one-by-one died over a 2 month period.


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