# 90 cm fresh start. Thread finished.



## tim (7 May 2013)

hi folks, thought id start a new thread for this




 90x45x45cm optiwhite
2 cristalprofi 900s filtration
fe co2 jbl reg fluval diffuser and bubble counter
koralia 1600 nano power head
substrate colombo florabase and unipac senegal sand
mini landscape rock and manzinita wood
thanks for looking all comments and criticisms appreciated


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## NanoJames (7 May 2013)

Jeez Tim, you're fairly chucking out the tanks! What have you got livestock wise?


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## stu_ (7 May 2013)

Plant list to, please.
Don't make me embarrass myself by guessing.


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## tim (8 May 2013)

@James at the moment 8 cherry barbs 14 cardinal tetras and a few amano shrimp
@stu plants so far glosso, hemianthus micranthemoides, micranthemum umbrosum, Java fern normal and narrow, fissidens geppi, peacock moss, anchor moss, bacopa Australis, bolbitus, ludwigia sp, rotala sp, hygrophilia rosanervig, think that's all of them.


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## Ady34 (8 May 2013)

Hi Stu, another nice scape 
Could i ask what brand of lily pipes you are using please?
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## tim (8 May 2013)

Stu ?? Sign of old age forgetting someone's name ady  they are just cheapies from eBay snapped my diy acrylic pipes hence the Jbl outtakes, still birthday soon so hopefully the wife will buy me some gush out takes


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## livewire (8 May 2013)

Looking good,

Can I ask if you think the flora base will work its way above the sand over time? I am debating using either flora base or Aqua Soil under some fine gravel but have been told the gravel will work its way under the larger substrate, just wanted to know what your opinion is on this?

I guess because you have a decent depth of sand over the top this wont happen in your tank?


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## tim (8 May 2013)

livewire said:


> Looking good,
> 
> Can I ask if you think the flora base will work its way above the sand over time? I am debating using either flora base or Aqua Soil under some fine gravel but have been told the gravel will work its way under the larger substrate, just wanted to know what your opinion is on this?
> 
> I guess because you have a decent depth of sand over the top this wont happen in your tank?


Hi mate , the flora base is just behind the mini landscape rocks everything else is sand, its already working its way forward due to the amanos chucking it there, but I'll just syphon it out and hopefully the rocks and plant roots will keep it in place, you can use plastic to seperate the sand from the flora base, maybe I should have


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## Ady34 (9 May 2013)

tim said:


> Stu ?? Sign of old age forgetting someone's name ady  they are just cheapies from eBay snapped my diy acrylic pipes hence the Jbl outtakes, still birthday soon so hopefully the wife will buy me some gush out takes


Many apologies Tim, I have no idea why I wrote Stu, I'd just been looking at one of your other journals too so no excuses, maybe I'm just going mad....I'm not that old!! 
I like the shape of those Lily's, although gush ones are very nice, i looked at them myself but the returns won't fit my tank with its silly rim


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## tim (9 May 2013)

None needed ady, I'm sure this hobby drives all of us mad, Lilly's were from this seller http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=250406691136&index=4&nav=SEARCH&nid=14960707835
Thanks for looking


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## Alastair (9 May 2013)

Tank looks great tim. Really nice


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## faizal (9 May 2013)

I love your hardscape. looking forward to seeing this progress.


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## plantnoob (9 May 2013)

looking great already . should be lovely when it grows in .


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## Antoni (9 May 2013)

I like it! When the plants grow it will be a stunner!


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## Brian Murphy (10 May 2013)

Looking good Tim


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## tim (10 May 2013)

Thanks for all the nice feed back guys 
Just to add to the equipment list I purchased an Arcadia 4 39w unit from a member on here will only be using 2 of the 4 tubes. Will try and keep the pictures regular for this journal.
Cheers for looking in.


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## tim (15 May 2013)

Hi folks, just over a week in everything growing, glosso vertically hopefully plenty of trimming will encourage more horizontal growth, 



Before the trim



After



Added in another power head for now for better distribution looking to purchase a bigger filter and at the moment its a choice between an ehiem or a cristalprofi 1500 with glassware ehiem would be sensible for 10x rule cristalprofi leaves me some spare cash for glassware so we shall see  
Thanks for looking in.


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## faizal (15 May 2013)

It looks like it's coming along nicely Tim. Looking forward to see a nice carpet soon.


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## tim (19 May 2013)

Not a great update  
Co2 timer failed leaving the gas running for 24 hours whilst I was out, needless to say returned home this morning to very unhappy livestock, one dead amano shrimp, turned lights on raised power head to break water surface and proceeded with small water changes for a couple of hours.no more losses, will leave co2 and lights off today whilst I sort out a new timer.
Cherry barbs totally unaffected by it all


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## faizal (19 May 2013)

Ah,...I'm sorry to hear about that Tim. You did the best you could under the circumstances. Tim do you by chance run an air stone in there after lights out?


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## Iain Sutherland (19 May 2013)

looking good tim,  timers are a pain...you never know when one might fail.  Could be worse, you could have a £200 led timer that cant count to 24 hrs!
Plants are looking nice and healthy, can see this being great in a few months.  Vertical growth on glosso is often caused by low co2 at substrate level so worth baring in mind.  Barb island was originally glosso but i couldnt get it to stay horizontal, often its worth injecting higher levels but with more surface movement so it doesnt build up to high yet gets good levels down the bottom.
Cherry barbs will be lovely when they colour up and start sparring, still one of my favourate barbs, was sad to give mine back to MA, then felt better as they put them in a display tank rather than selling on again.
Nice work.


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## tim (19 May 2013)

faizal said:


> Ah,...I'm sorry to hear about that Tim. You did the best you could under the circumstances. Tim do you by chance run an air stone in there after lights out?


No mate, maybe something ill consider after this or make sure I move one of the koralias to break the surface.


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## tim (19 May 2013)

@ Iain, thanks mate, may try upping the co2 and the surface movement see if helps with the glosso, maybe replace it with tennelus if not.


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## Ady34 (20 May 2013)

Bad luck Tim.
Funny how different fauna have different tolerances to c02. Seems you caught it just in time though so small consolation.



tim said:


> see if helps with the glosso, maybe replace it with tennelus if not.


or marsilea hirsuta....looks a bit like glosso but easier 
I reckon you can grow the glosso though, keep tweaking till you succeed Cheerio,
Ady.


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## tim (25 May 2013)

Thanks for the vote of confidence ady 
Upgraded the filter to cristal profi 1500 and must've been good this year wife bought these for my birthday




Big trim session planned for later try n get some pics up.


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## Ady34 (25 May 2013)

Hi Tim,
Well done Mrs. Tim, lovely looking Lily's, i have the gpipe but quite fancy the opipe too. could you do me a favour and measure the distance between the very top of the glass lily to the bottom of the u bend please (on the horizontal if you know what I mean) 
I did a big trim the other night too....must be the week for them!
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## tim (26 May 2013)

Hi ady, did you mean like this sorry very crude illustration 



Measures 10cm give or take a mm or two


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## tim (26 May 2013)

3 weeks and just starting to see some horizontal growth from the glosso 


Seeing some diatoms so will continue daily water changes for another week or two also some gsa so little more phosphate added after each water change. Still tweaking co2, flow seems improved with just the one larger filter but I will add another filter or a powerHead back in if needed.



Thanks for looking.


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## tim (2 Jun 2013)

Another week in plant growth has been good, couple of days away from the tank due to work and algae growth has been good too mainly diatoms on lower plant leaves glass and hard scape.



GSA seems to be receding so will continue to add a little extra po4.
Large water change (and a good scrub) this evening another planned for the morning looking better already.



Hoping to have quite a few cherry shrimp on the way in a week or two, 3 of my 10 amanos have walked out of the tank so far


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## tim (4 Jun 2013)

Daily water changes slowly keeping on top of the diatoms, co2 now being run inline with a boyu diffuser on an empty crystal profi 900, noticed after a day dc's colour was darker green confirming my thoughts and the glosso's  that co2 was not optimum will tweak the injection rate slowly over the week due to work then over weekend off will try to get it bang on without stressing livestock.


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## Alastair (4 Jun 2013)

Sorry to hear about the amanos going for walks mate. I had that when my water was too close to the rim. 

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## tim (4 Jun 2013)

Alastair said:


> Sorry to hear about the amanos going for walks mate. I had that when my water was too close to the rim.
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2


It's frustrating mate I keep the water about an inch from the top, still I had a couple walk out of my 60cm which had a hood on it, maybe they just don't like my scapes.


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## Alastair (4 Jun 2013)

tim said:


> It's frustrating mate I keep the water about an inch from the top, still I had a couple walk out of my 60cm which had a hood on it, maybe they just don't like my scapes.



Could be water related too mate??

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## tim (4 Jun 2013)

I thought that too al, had my water tested at lfs to be on the safe side no ammonia or nitrite visible nitrate around 40 ppm ph 7, tds after water change is around 300 not bad for London tap rises by about 50 ppm if I miss a few days water changes, got a couple of white pearls in the tank which hid away in my fluval edge which seem happy too, baffling really thought amanos were fairly hardy.


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## flygja (5 Jun 2013)

What a cracking scape. Reminds me of my first true CO2 injected high tech tank. It will be fantastic once grown in


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## faizal (5 Jun 2013)

Tim i remember once Clive advised someone to position their 2 lily pipe outlets at equidistant from each other at the rear wall of the tank. What Clive says is that the water the comes out from the lily pipe is like a funnel shaped stream. So when they are placed at equidistant from each other the effect of the funnel is amplified ( i think) so the stream do not negate each other. They should hit the front glass & re divert back along the substrate ,...bringing in more co2 to the area. Just saying,...in case if you haven't come across that thread.


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## tim (5 Jun 2013)

flygja said:


> What a cracking scape. Reminds me of my first true CO2 injected high tech tank. It will be fantastic once grown in


Thanks flygja 



faizal said:


> Tim i remember once Clive advised someone to position their 2 lily pipe outlets at equidistant from each other at the rear wall of the tank. What Clive says is that the water the comes out from the lily pipe is like a funnel shaped stream. So when they are placed at equidistant from each other the effect of the funnel is amplified ( i think) so the stream do not negate each other. They should hit the front glass & re divert back along the substrate ,...bringing in more co2 to the area. Just saying,...in case if you haven't come across that thread.


Hi Faizal, yeah I read that thread think I've read a lot of Clive's posts (hurts my brain ) but his info has helped me with the hobby a lot, I tried spray bars pointing forward and everything at the back melted the co2 was hitting the hard scape and disappearing up out of the tank, I read a post by George farmer about island scapes and the ring way/race way?? Method of flow suiting island scapes, even though this is not an island so far this Lilly positioning has given me better results so ill bear with it for a while and work on injection rate.


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## faizal (6 Jun 2013)

tim said:


> I tried spray bars pointing forward and everything at the back melted the co2 was hitting the hard scape and disappearing up out of the tank....................	even though this is not an island so far this Lilly positioning has given me better results so ill bear with it for a while and work on injection rate.


 
Great Tim. Looking forward to seeing this progess nicely. Just a matter of time, that's all.


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## tim (7 Jun 2013)

Few cherry shrimp added today maybe three or four berried females  what I didn't notice was whilst drip acclimatising them one gave birth, cherry barbs soon spotted them when added to the tank and ate them  hopefully the other shrimplets will have an easier start in life.


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## faizal (8 Jun 2013)

tim said:


> ..... cherry barbs soon spotted them when added to the tank and ate them  hopefully the other shrimplets will have an easier start in life.


 
Oh man,...i am so sorry mate. But for what it's worth,....you have provided them with plenty of rocks & stems there. Hope they find nice ,cosy & safe spots till they get bigger.


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## tim (22 Jun 2013)

Hi folks small update, fresh starts not looking so fresh now  combination of factors but it would be easier to list the algae I don't see rather than the types I do  thank ukaps I have the tools to keep it in check.
I phone pic 




Lately it's been a grind but will get there, who ever said bigger tanks are easier should be shot  give me a nano anyday.


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## Ian Holdich (22 Jun 2013)

Looking nice Tim! You planning on adding anything to the back left?


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## tim (22 Jun 2013)

Cheers Ian, I have some rotala there but I've had to top it and replant the tops due to some co2 issues must admit I'm struggling with the scaping and planting of anything bigger than 12 litres


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## Alastair (22 Jun 2013)

Looking good tim. Just looking at your pic are your outlets pointing at each other?? 

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## tim (23 Jun 2013)

Alastair said:


> Looking good tim. Just looking at your pic are your outlets pointing at each other??
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2


Hi mate, the outlet on the right is normally at the back of the tank.


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## tim (6 Jul 2013)

Few changes to this scape lighting has been suspended to assist in getting on top of some algae issues.



Also a few changes/additions to the planting glosso has gone and has been replaced with eleocharis parvula added a mayaca species at the back left to replace the rotala as I've not tried this plant before, also added some lilaeopsis and a few crypts to the mid ground area plus some bolbitus.



Will be fitting an up atomiser tomorrow as I have a few days off coming up to keep an eye on co2 changes still got a bit of bba on the wood not able to spot dose due to it being in amongst the moss so scrubbing and siphoning time.
Thanks for looking in


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## sa80mark (6 Jul 2013)

Its looking good, ive been following this tank, the lilaeopsis could work well my lilaeopsis brasiliensis is growing like mad, will continue to watch with interest


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## tim (7 Jul 2013)

sa80mark said:


> Its looking good, ive been following this tank, the lilaeopsis could work well my lilaeopsis brasiliensis is growing like mad, will continue to watch with interest


Thanks mark, less intensity from the lighting seems to be the way forward for my setups  thanks for your interest mate.


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## faizal (8 Jul 2013)

tim said:


> Hi folks small update, fresh starts not looking so fresh now  ....


 

I am afraid i have to disagree with you on that. That's looking lovely Tim. It's going to look wonderful once it settles in especially once you've got your rotalas in there at the rear left area. With all the corrections made with respect to lighting & co2 issues,...i am very sure it's just a matter of time before it's true beauty will be appreciated in full. .


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## Achintya (8 Jul 2013)

your hardscape is really promising.

i hope you will not mind if a say a few words about your scape.

with this type of woods you can create a center layout too.you just need 1 more layout balancing wood to make a center scape.

if you want to go with this setup then if you wish you can do few changes.you can add 1 more wood from junction of 2 woods which are going upwards direction.this face of new wood will be left corner upward position of your tank.

if you see this image you'll clearly understand what i am saying.


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## tim (8 Jul 2013)

faizal said:


> I am afraid i have to disagree with you on that. That's looking lovely Tim. It's going to look wonderful once it settles in especially once you've got your rotalas in there at the rear left area. With all the corrections made with respect to lighting & co2 issues,...i am very sure it's just a matter of time before it's true beauty will be appreciated in full. .


That's why the pic wasn't a close up mate you'd see the bba, bga, staghorn and diatoms 


Achintya said:


> your hardscape is really promising.
> 
> i hope you will not mind if a say a few words about your scape.
> 
> ...


Hi mate, thanks for the comments, you have a very valid point more wood added to the left would maybe add more balance to the scape unfortunately moving the pieces you highlighted in black wouldn't be possible as its 2 bits joined together, I may see if I can find a piece to add to the left


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## Achintya (9 Jul 2013)

oh


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## tim (22 Jul 2013)

Updated fts couple of weeks after swapping glosso for parvula 



Algae issues becoming manageable just not making great progress shifting the bba on the wood tried spot dosing with liquid carbon but it seems to kill off the moss quicker than the bba  maybe will just have to live with it, it's not spreading now the lights have been raised, trimmed back the stems today, mayaca grows like wildfire should be back at the top of the tank in a couple of weeks.
Cheers for looking


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## flygja (23 Jul 2013)

Looking better now. Moss doesn't like liquid carbon overdose, but it should grow back if it's not completely wiped out.


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## tim (8 Aug 2013)

Stems have been cut back grass is getting cut back Saturday, moss still has bba but its not getting worse, note to self too much light on startup with substandard co2 will cause nothing but problems, must learn from my mistakes


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## tim (5 Oct 2013)

I got bored yesterday evening


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## sa80mark (7 Oct 2013)

What a change, looks great,  what is the rock youve used ? And whats the plant front right hand side of the picture ? Blyxa ?

Mark


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## tim (7 Oct 2013)

Thanks mark  it's dragon stone from aqua essentials ordered it with an iwagumi in mind but I think I would get bored quickly in a tank this size ( plus I can't grow hc  ) yes it's blyxa on the right and some on the left I grew loads in the first scape I did in this tank then it melted all bar a couple of stems when I switched to spray bars, it's bouncing back though.


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## sa80mark (7 Oct 2013)

That dragon stone looks great not the usual colour or maybe thats just your lighting, the blyxa looks great ive got it right on the top of my plant list for my next tank


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## tim (7 Oct 2013)

It does seem darker, I have a couple of bits in there I purchased else where which are more orangey brown, if the blyxa takes off again I may have some I can send your way mate.


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## Gary Nelson (7 Oct 2013)

It looks nice Tim and will look even better as it grows in, what stand are you using to suspend your lights?


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## tim (7 Oct 2013)

Thanks Gary, the stand is diy chrome wardrobe rail with elbows from wickes the light unit is quite light so it does the job, thanks for the nice comment mate.


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## sa80mark (7 Oct 2013)

tim said:


> It does seem darker, I have a couple of bits in there I purchased else where which are more orangey brown, if the blyxa takes off again I may have some I can send your way mate.



Fantastic thanks tim


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## tim (13 Oct 2013)

A week after my re shuffle everything seems to be settling in nicely, I've carried out daily water changes and kept co2 high as possible whilst keeping the livestock happy it's looking a little bear in the background where I have some myrophillium (trimmed already this week) alternanthera roseafolia and polygonum sp. São Paulo 




I plan to add eleocharis sp mini in the foreground and microsorum trident around the rocks to help with the transition.
Thanks for looking.


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## tim (18 Nov 2013)

A pic straight from the iPhone just after maintenance


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## Ian Holdich (18 Nov 2013)

Looks much much better without the wood. This will be a winner when grown in. Well done mate!


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## Gary Nelson (18 Nov 2013)

This is filling out really nice now and looking great!


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## TOO (18 Nov 2013)

Real elegant. Would look great with some more light on the photo. I like the way you have worked with the substrate layer sloping down towards the right.

Thomas


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## tim (25 Nov 2013)

Thanks for the likes and the nice comments guys  
Been a busy work week, up atomiser became blocked or a leak in the line somewhere producing huge bubbles so I've gone back to a glass diffuser until I can sort the atomiser out in a couple of weeks raised the lights to try and keep algae at bay.
Also thought I'd try a black background for a while, think I prefer the white wall.



Opinions on the background gratefully received.


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## sa80mark (25 Nov 2013)

Looking great, very jealous  I know many people arnt fans of black backgrounds but for me they make everything pop the plants, rocks etc

Great rescape


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## Deano3 (25 Nov 2013)

agree with mark the black looks great and really shows the greens and lovely colour of the rocks, plants looking great and very healthy

Dean


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## James R (11 Dec 2013)

Just read this thread, looks great, cant believe how better it looked minus wood. As far as background concerned I like black, going to spray plastidip mine black (peels off if you dont like it) but on yours I like the picture with the white wall


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## tim (11 Dec 2013)

Thanks guys, @ James R black background looks ok but your right the white wall seems to give the scape a lot more depth, I'll play around with the background over Xmas.


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## tim (20 Dec 2013)

Straight from the I phone plants are doing ok 



Bba on the hard scape is thriving 2 weeks off work now so I will start the cleanup


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## Deano3 (20 Dec 2013)

love the re-shuffle and how you going to go about the clean up mate, also some great growth there 

thanks dean


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## Ian Holdich (20 Dec 2013)

Love the look of this Tim! Nicely done mate!


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## martinmjr62 (20 Dec 2013)

Hi Tim, just read the whole journal ,missed this one somehow.Nice to see the tank filling out, growth looks good. BBA is a b******d  nuisance,got some in my Rio on the wood and in the fissedens .I'll see if i can pop round over the hols.

Cheers
Martin


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## tim (21 Dec 2013)

Deano3 said:


> love the re-shuffle and how you going to go about the clean up mate, also some great growth there
> 
> thanks dean


Thanks dean mate, kids have got me one of these for crimbo Pro Picker Algae Tool - Aquascaping Scissors - Aquascaping Tools - Tools & Glassware so will be scrubbing and picking away at the tuffty little bugger until it's gone. I use a small diameter hose to remove it as it comes loose.


Ian Holdich said:


> Love the look of this Tim! Nicely done mate!


Thanks Ian, I'm enjoying being able to swap out the background stems and try a few different species.


martinmjr62 said:


> Hi Tim, just read the whole journal ,missed this one somehow.Nice to see the tank filling out, growth looks good. BBA is a b******d  nuisance,got some in my Rio on the wood and in the fissedens .I'll see if i can pop round over the hols.
> 
> Cheers
> Martin


Cheers Martin, be good to catch up mate


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## greenink (28 Dec 2013)

tim said:


> Kids have got me one of these for crimbo Pro Picker Algae Tool - Aquascaping Scissors - Aquascaping Tools - Tools & Glassware so will be scrubbing and picking away at the tuffty little bugger until it's gone. I use a small diameter hose to remove it as it comes loose.



Does that work?


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## tim (28 Dec 2013)

greenink said:


> Does that work?


First use tomorrow mornings water change so I'll let you know


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## tim (29 Dec 2013)

greenink said:


> Does that work?






For comparison same rock after 15mins picking and brushing this morning



The bba tufts come away easily with the algae picker from apfuk syphon hose in other hand for instant removal will take a few sessions to work my way round all the rocks plus dragonstone is a pita due to all the little crevices but all in all looks much better and no need for liquid carbon which pleases me.


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## tim (23 Jan 2014)

Been a month of scrubbing for this one the hard scape is looking cleaner few bba tufts still hanging in there, three water changes a week, got a spare atomiser and religiously swap them on filter clean fortnightly, plants are healthy enough could do with a trim little bit of staghorn type algae on the java fern so I'm still tweaking co2/ light intensity balance, bba isn't growing back quickly so maybe I'm getting somewhere. 



Cheers for looking


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## scrud (23 Jan 2014)

looking very nice, I like it.


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## Lindy (23 Jan 2014)

It's grown in great!

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## tim (23 Jan 2014)

scrud said:


> looking very nice, I like it.


Thanks scrud 


ldcgroomer said:


> It's grown in great!
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


Thanks lindy, still got a lot of growing to do back left and right of the tank, still need to work on getting the best out of stems takes about a month for them to grow back after a trim on the plus side blyxa has gone nuts throwing up little flower stems too


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## harper (23 Jan 2014)

Looking good, very impressed!


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## martinmjr62 (23 Jan 2014)

Filling out nicely mate,nice to see the dreaded BBA on the decline, must update my threads and get over to see you 

Cheers
Martin


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## tim (23 Jan 2014)

harper said:


> Looking good, very impressed!


Cheers Harper 


martinmjr62 said:


> Filling out nicely mate,nice to see the dreaded BBA on the decline, must update my threads and get over to see you
> 
> Cheers
> Martin


cheers Martin, be good to catch up mate.


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## tim (3 Feb 2014)

Few pics just for the sake of practice



Blyxa gone a bit mental 



New plant ludwigia sp



Poor fts


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## aliclarke86 (3 Feb 2014)

Wow the blyxa really has gone mental!!! Time for some thinning I'd say 

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## LondonDragon (3 Feb 2014)

Excelent tim  looks like  you winning the battle  you need to post a higher res photo  keep it up


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## tim (3 Feb 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> Wow the blyxa really has gone mental!!! Time for some thinning I'd say
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk


Indeed it does mate  will be thinning it out in the next couple of weeks 


LondonDragon said:


> Excelent tim  looks like  you winning the battle  you need to post a higher res photo  keep it up


Thanks paulo, struggling to take a decent image of it to be honest, maybe needs more light over the tank, will keep practicing


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## tim (20 Feb 2014)

Big trim over the weekend also thought I'd use this setup to try a few different things before I finally decide to rescape this.
Path added not sure if I like it or not see how it looks with a month of growth.



Maybe add some moss stones to soften it up a little.
All comments/ opinions welcome.


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## Greenfinger2 (21 Feb 2014)

Hi tim, I like this Super planting


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## tim (16 Mar 2014)

This has also been suffering a few distribution issues so I've switched the in/outlets back to the sides, seeing a bit more movement in the stems so see how it goes in a couple of weeks, don't want to uproot and separate the blyxa until I'm around more for wc changes.


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## aliclarke86 (16 Mar 2014)

Path is looking really nice mate. Good sruff

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## tim (17 Mar 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> Path is looking really nice mate. Good sruff
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk


Thanks Ali, once the stems fill in at the back again I think I may well be done with this scape


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## Alastair (17 Mar 2014)

I think the valley youve chose is a perfect. What a transformation from the initial start of this journal also.
I hope you dont let the stems get too high as the java fern is a lovely focal point and helps give this scap the illusion that the path drops down beyond what we see. 
Your skills seriously have grown so much since you started. Clearly you had a hidden talent that was waiting to come out. Well done tim.


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## tim (18 Mar 2014)

Alastair said:


> I think the valley youve chose is a perfect. What a transformation from the initial start of this journal also.
> I hope you dont let the stems get too high as the java fern is a lovely focal point and helps give this scap the illusion that the path drops down beyond what we see.
> Your skills seriously have grown so much since you started. Clearly you had a hidden talent that was waiting to come out. Well done tim.


Thank you Al, such kind coments, it's taken me a long time to get to grips with running a larger tank ( compared to yours still a nano ) I'm hoping to move on to another scape around May, big chunky bog wood and big chunky plants ( crypts, swords and the microsorum you see here ) hopefully I'll get a decent final image of this one before it comes down.


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## tim (29 Mar 2014)

Tanks lacking a bit of tlc at the moment got some staghorn on the leaves of the slower growers, bga between the front glass and substrate which I'm using a credit card to remove whilst siphoning it out, thinned out and replanted the blyxa and a good trim of the stems, starting to feel I've learnt enough from this layout (rescape on the cards soon )



Thanks for looking.


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## faizal (30 Mar 2014)

Looking sweet Tim....congratulations mate. The path has really brightened up the tank. A huge improvement in hard scape & planting pattern as compared to when the tank was started. Great recovery !!!


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## tim (18 May 2014)

This one is still running, bba still an issue on hardscape just constantly cleaning and picking away at the stuff, it seems to go through growth spurts just when I think it's receeding it'll bloody bloom again still at least it's on the hardscape not the plants, cherry shrimp also blooming, babies all over which is good,also extended the Samoa sand all along the front hydro japan was past it's best needed more constant trimming than I gave it, swapped out for some moss stones looking forward to rescaping this and hopefully rectifying a few mistakes I've made with this scape 



Thanks for looking.


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## James D (19 May 2014)

Looking fantastic Tim. I prefer it with the sand at the front, seems a lot cleaner.


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## tim (19 May 2014)

James D said:


> Looking fantastic Tim. I prefer it with the sand at the front, seems a lot cleaner.


Thanks James, it has brightened the tank up, I'll be using the same sand in my next scape over tropica substrate I'm a little fed up of dusty flora base if I'm honest.


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## Alastair (19 May 2014)

Looking good buddy. I know which one you mean now 

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk 2


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## tim (19 May 2014)

Alastair said:


> Looking good buddy. I know which one you mean now
> 
> Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk 2


Cheers Al.


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## aliclarke86 (21 May 2014)

Glad to see you overcame the urge to tear this one down!, it looks great and the bba issue, to an onlooker is not noticeable and surely shows your dedication to maintaining this tank!!

Ali

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## tim (2 Jun 2014)

Hi folks, stuck a pic of this one into iaplc comp this year, keep the uk numbers up.
Tank has to come down in a couple of months due to a house move so I've decided to run it for the last couple of months with a little more light, interested to see the effect on plant growth, co2 upped accordingly, running 2x39w for 7 hours with 4x39w for a 3 hour burst 2 hours after lights on, will also spend the next month or two trying to get some pics from my daughters nikon d60, so here's a few straight from the camera, any tips much appreciated 
Rotala liking the extra light



Friendly beckfordi, adore these fish



Fts (sort of)



Bba still on the hardscape mostly through laziness on my part, also got a bit of bga between substrate and glass, have had this issue for a few months each year last few years (natural light ?) credit card run along the glass and syphon out works well to keep it under control.
Thanks for looking.


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## tim (9 Jun 2014)

Little update, so far the extra two tubes have increased plant growth and IMO improved colours of the stems but not without cost, co2 increase algae issues I already had grow faster without lots of extra attention, scrubbing hardscape, wiping glass etc etc 3 x weekly waterchanges of around 70-80% I will try and get some pics over the weekend but for now a cr4ppy little iPhone vid of my pencils performing unarmed combat and a little hand feeding for those fish brave enough


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## tim (6 Jul 2014)

Hi folks final update on this journal, tank will come down at the end of this month due to a house move, using it at the moment as a grow out tank for the next scape, I will post the iaplc pic I got from it at some point, but for now here's how it looks at the moment,



I've learnt a lot from the tank in its many forms mostly I struggle to balance co2 with the light offered so once moved I'll be fitting a light stand sturdy enough for the arcadia, and will continue with just the 2 tubes and 4 just for photos, anyway as always thanks for looking


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## aliclarke86 (6 Jul 2014)

Ah bit bummed out, I really liked how this one ended up and look forward to a new big scape from you. Will make a change from all the dinky ones 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


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## tim (7 Jul 2014)

aliclarke86 said:


> Ah bit bummed out, I really liked how this one ended up and look forward to a new big scape from you. Will make a change from all the dinky ones
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk


Cheers Ali  tbh first scape after the move won't be anything special, just planning to get the tank back up and running ASAP because I can't face taking the pencils back to the lfs  thanks for the comments along the way mate.


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## tim (27 Aug 2014)

Final update, tank is now empty waiting for some time to restart a new scape.
Placed 1119 in iaplc.



Thanks for all the comments & likes along the way.


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## Rini (27 Aug 2014)

Lovely! Especially the big Java fern.
What are the smalle fishes on the right in you picture? Corydoras Pygmaeus?


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## tim (27 Aug 2014)

Thanks rini, yes Pygmy Corries, lovely little fish.


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