# SDIESEL77 AQUASCAPER 900 DIARY



## SDIESEL77 (11 Aug 2018)

*Specs:*
*Aquarium: *Aquascaper 900
*Volume:  *202L* 
Light:  *Twinstar 900S + S2 Pro Dimmer/Timer (7h daily with 1h ramp)
*Substrate:  *Ada Amazonia v2 soil*
Hardscape:  Dragon Stones
Filter: Oase Thermo 600 + Glass Lily & Skimmer pipes
CO2: 20 bps via stainless steel diffuser
Fertiliser: 8ml daily of Tropica Plant Growth Specialised  + 2ml daily of Easy-Life Easycarbo
 Maintenance: 50% weekly water change / bi-weekly pre-filter foams cleaning
Other Devices: Jecob DP-2 Dosing Pump, AutoTop-Up Reefloat ATU-Pro3-20

RECENT PHOTO:





Previous Aquascape:




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Hi All,
After having several freshwater/marine nano tanks for the past years, I finally went back to Freshwater with a bigger tank and got myself a complete setup with an Aquascaper 900 . Really really happy with the quality of it.




















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## SDIESEL77 (11 Aug 2018)




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## SDIESEL77 (11 Aug 2018)




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## FJK_12 (11 Aug 2018)

driftwood is really nicely balanced


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## SDIESEL77 (11 Aug 2018)

FJK_12 said:


> driftwood is really nicely balanced


Thanks mate


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## Warren (12 Aug 2018)

Looking really good man. What fish will you be keeping.


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## SDIESEL77 (12 Aug 2018)

Warren said:


> Looking really good man. What fish will you be keeping.


Thx Warren! I currently have a nano tank I'll transfer the fish from it.
12 Tetra cardinal, 3 red nose, 3 corys, 2 blue ram, 1 Siamese algae eater, 2 Nerite snails and 2 amano.

I'm thinking of adding 10 more Tetra, 2 blue ram, 1 Siamese, 2 amano and some red cherry or blue nano shrimps


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## Siege (12 Aug 2018)

Looking good, 

Yes stick a load of shrimp ASAP (like 15 amano and 25 cherry!)


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## DutchMuch (12 Aug 2018)

Very nice tank setup  twinstar is very good.


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## Siege (12 Aug 2018)

DutchMuch said:


> Very nice tank setup  twinstar is very good.




Good point. Did you get the dimmer as well?


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## Wulfen (12 Aug 2018)

Looking good. Will follow with interest


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Aug 2018)

Siege said:


> Good point. Did you get the dimmer as well?


I have to say I'm amazed with the quality of this light!
For this price they could have added a timer/dimmer but other than that the plant colors are amazing and I can already notice growth after 4 days in the tank! 

I have ordered the timer/dimmer, now waiting for delivery 

Can't wait to finish the tank cycle to add fish and shrimps


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## PAYN3Y (13 Aug 2018)

Looking good. Looks like you took inspiration from the 900 at aquarium garden with the scape. 

I’ve got the same equipment but I went with the Twinstar E. I’ve been struggling to find an online comparison of the two but beginning to wish I’d gone for the S from the start.


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## Siege (13 Aug 2018)

Yes, brilliant light  not cheap but also not expensive in the LED market. The arguably better light, the ADA solar RGB Is £800 plus £200 for the bracket...........

There are 16 settings on the dimmer, start at say 10 and turn it up 1 every 4  days or so.

Check out the hinterfield controller in a thread in their sponsor page if you want a sunset and sunrise function going forward.

You’ll be able to add shrimp a week after planting. The plants will do most of the filteration


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Aug 2018)

PAYN3Y said:


> Looking good. Looks like you took inspiration from the 900 at aquarium garden with the scape.
> 
> I’ve got the same equipment but I went with the Twinstar E. I’ve been struggling to find an online comparison of the two but beginning to wish I’d gone for the S from the start.


Actually, this photo was my inspiration (can't remember where I got it).

I think the difference between the 900E and S is that the S spectrum is whiter


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## Siege (13 Aug 2018)

PAYN3Y said:


> Looking good. Looks like you took inspiration from the 900 at aquarium garden with the scape. .



Your scape would suit a trident fern (Tropica aqua decor, grown already attached to wood so you can bung it in) on each side


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## Siege (13 Aug 2018)

E light is whiter.

S light is slightly brighter and pinker/warmer in colour.

No right or wrong, just different!


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Aug 2018)

Siege said:


> E light is whiter.
> 
> S light is slightly brighter and pinker/warmer in colour.
> 
> No right or wrong, just different!


Ahhh ok


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Aug 2018)

Siege said:


> Your scape would suit a trident fern (Tropica aqua decor, grown already attached to wood so you can bung it in) on each side


There is one here between the root and the rock


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## Siege (13 Aug 2018)

Oh, didn’t see that there!

That’s a traditional standard fern? see what you think, in time may be a bit heavy at the front there.

Trident fern not as thick so won’t dominate the view, if that makes sense.
You could just plonk it ontop of the rocks holding the wood down if you liked the idea of ones already attached to wood. Would also serve the purpose of hiding the rocks (sighing the wood down) and give you height.

I’ve done the same with my 900 - bolbitis on wood and windelov on coconut shell ontop of hardscape wood to hide cable ties and rocks.

Edit. Pic is from Aquarium Gardens tank that is similar to yours, not mine!


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Aug 2018)

Yep, my goal is to try to not have plants over taking the whole tank neither. I still want to see the rocks and roots


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## Siege (13 Aug 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> Yep, my goal is to try to not have plants over taking the whole tank neither. I still want to see the rocks and roots



Cool, your tank. Just a suggestion


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Aug 2018)

Btw really like your tank 
Looks very healthy!
What fish/shrimps do you have?


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## Siege (13 Aug 2018)

Cheers mate, my 600 looks really good. Tonnes of maintenance on that over the last 6 months. Just a dozen ember tetras, a few amanos left and a million cherry shrimp (bred from 10!)

My 900 was only set up a few weeks ago, so just shrimp in at the mo. Added 15 amanos and 25 black cocoa shrimp (similar to cherries but black so hopefully will breed well)
It’s looking a bit ‘meh’ to my eyes at the moment as had loads of crypt melt and am waiting for the fern to tighten up & look like it’s in a high co2 tank 

Think I’ll add cardinal tetras and some ottos in a months time.


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Aug 2018)

I'll be probably adding some Blue Velvet Shrimps if I get a good deal on them


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## Siege (13 Aug 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> I'll be probably adding some Blue Velvet Shrimps if I get a good deal on them



Nice, not cheap though. Check out Facebook breeder groups. You never know someone near you might breed them........


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Aug 2018)

Great little gadget installed today:  the S2pro Smart LED Controller 
This little gadget now controls my Twinstar 900S light amazingly well!

Instead of being on/off it is now fully programmed to start at a certain time then slowly ramping up and finally slowly decreasing until switch off time 

In total over 8 different programmable time slots.

Really really happy about this new thing.

You can get it on eBay for quite cheap and you'll also need to buy 1 small adapter to fit the Twinstar PSU (see photo below)


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## PAYN3Y (17 Aug 2018)

That’s exactly the same as the Hinterfeld one I picked up. Certainly makes the Twinstar what it should have been out of the box. Great bit of kit.


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Aug 2018)

PAYN3Y said:


> That’s exactly the same as the Hinterfeld one I picked up. Certainly makes the Twinstar what it should have been out of the box. Great bit of kit.


It is the Hinterfeld S2pro


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## Siege (17 Aug 2018)

What settings have you programmed?


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## Siege (17 Aug 2018)

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads...e-smart-controller-for-led-fan-dc-pump.52979/


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Aug 2018)

As the tank is currently very new and I'm getting the normal early stage algae, here is the current schedule:
2.30pm 5%
3.30pm 30%
4pm 50%
4.30pm 100%
8pm 50%
9pm 30%
10pm 0%


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## Siege (17 Aug 2018)

Pleased you like it.  Did you get the idea from the forum thread? 

Have you got brown diatom algae? It’s normal, clean it off. I found big water changes helped massively.

I’d be inclined to adjust it to 30 min sunrise and sunset, rest of time at say 60% then increase at 8% - 10% per week. It’ll be easier to keep track of the amount of light you have and you want to avoid 100% lighting initially, then your later lighting is going down sharply, not giving plants time to photosynthesis? 

You can play with it more once your tank is established and ‘more forgiving’.

Also give some thought to my suggestion about some established plants on your rocks at base wood. You want to plant a bit heavilier to begin with, even if you remove them as the tank matures.


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Aug 2018)

Siege said:


> Pleased you like it.  Did you get the idea from the forum thread?



I read about it somewhere once but no sure where



Siege said:


> Have you got brown diatom algae? It’s normal, clean it off. I found big water changes helped massively.



Delicate Brown hairy algae



Siege said:


> I’d be inclined to adjust it to 30 min sunrise and sunset, rest of time at say 60% then increase at 8% - 10% per week. It’ll be easier to keep track of the amount of light you have and you want to avoid 100% lighting initially, then your later lighting is going down sharply, not giving plants time to photosynthesis?
> You can play with it more once your tank is established and ‘more forgiving’.



Ok for the sunrise, sunset. Same amount of time 7h daily?

What do you mean by later lighting going down sharply?

What setup/time would you recommend?



Siege said:


> Also give some thought to my suggestion about some established plants on your rocks at base wood. You want to plant a bit heavilier to begin with, even if you remove them as the tank matures.


What kind of plants? I'm looking for slow growing plants if possible


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## Siege (17 Aug 2018)

Sounds like diatom algae.

Lighting, Yes 7 hours is good. Gradually increase to 8. Half hour sunset/sunrise.
Max power at 60% then gradually increase over a month or 2.

To begin with fast growing plants (hungry stem plants) are good to eat up the excess nutrients. you can change them later if you like.

Before i suggested the trident fern already established on wood from Tropica. Not fast growing but well established and will eat the nutrients. Will also cover the rocks holding down the wood, give you a mid focal point and give some shade to plant below. That’s why GF adds them to most of his clients scapes.

Nothing’s permanent you can remove things later if you like.


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Aug 2018)

Here is the new light schedule:
2.30pm: 0%
3pm: 70%
9pm: 60%
10pm: 0%

Regarding the fern, would you put it on this rock?


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (18 Aug 2018)

Looking good!
I have that same scape saved in my folder of inspirational scales but also can't remember where I found it!! Looks great by the way.
See in this had right minded me I really need to move my gobies out of my scale so they don't keep mixing the two substrates!! Problem is they are an absolute 'mare to catch!


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## SDIESEL77 (18 Aug 2018)

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> See in this had right minded me I really need to move my gobies out of my scale so they don't keep mixing the two substrates!! Problem is they are an absolute 'mare to catch!



Thx Matt! Definitely understand you for the gobies. When I had a reef tank I used to have them too as they were the best fish to watch but they were also a nightmare as they kept covering my corals with sand!


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## PAYN3Y (18 Aug 2018)

I started my tank with 100% brightness as my dimmer didn’t arrive in time and I was impatient. Just made sure the crank up the Co2. A few plants melted but seem to be recovering ok. 

My light schedule is now similar:

2:30pm 0%
3:00pm 100%
9:00pm 100%
9:30pm 0%


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## SDIESEL77 (18 Aug 2018)

Evening photo


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## becks (20 Aug 2018)

Nice tank, I was contemplating this or a 1200, I recently shut down my reefer250 which is a similar size to the 900. Its just the 2ft width of the 1200 actually takes up a lot of room


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## SDIESEL77 (21 Aug 2018)

Arghhhh gutted, I just saw that I have few pest snails in my tank .

 I usually bleach my plants before putting them in the tank. And didn't do it with last batch.

I'll get a single assassin snail tomorrow


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## Grant Binnie (21 Aug 2018)

Great looking tank. Good use of a separation in the middle.


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## alto (22 Aug 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> I'll get a single assassin snail tomorrow



or a Betta or Apistogramma or Ram ... 
(as long as not overfed quite a lot of fish will clean up snails)

or just give’em a squash 

Tanks looks good 
though if not planning on sand sifters, I’d reduce the sand depth, definitely give it a bit of a shuffle during water changes


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## SDIESEL77 (22 Aug 2018)

alto said:


> or a Betta or Apistogramma or Ram ...
> (as long as not overfed quite a lot of fish will clean up snails)
> 
> or just give’em a squash
> ...


I got just in case a single assassin snail this morning.

Blue Ram would eat pest snails?
I have a pair in my old tank that I'm planning to move soon to this new one.

Not planning any sand shifter, is this an issue to keep this level of sand?


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## SDIESEL77 (22 Aug 2018)

More plants, more fish (Otto, ember tetra) added 
First trim and replant. 
These ones are growing super fast:
- Ludwigia sp. mini super red
- Pogostemon stellata
- Alternanthera reineckii 'Rosanervig'
- Hydrocotyle tripartita 'Japan'


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## Siege (22 Aug 2018)

Nice. 

Syphon some of the cosmetic sand out like alto suggested. It’s cosmetic so don’t need it that deep. It’ll only create dead spots.

Yes an established trident on wood would look good where you circled on the photo.


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## SDIESEL77 (22 Aug 2018)

Ok for the sand. 
If you look at the last photo you can see I actually added a trident exactly at this spot


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## alto (22 Aug 2018)

My tanks with the fish I mentione are always apparently “snail free” ... unless I move out these fish - then after some  weeks I’ll see the first baby ramshorn snails (which are ubiquitous in local shops/tanks)
BUT I feed lightly & usually include a weekly “fast day” 
I also feed mostly frozen foods


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## SDIESEL77 (28 Aug 2018)

Brown and green algae finally gone  Cycle doing well .
Remaining fish transferred from old tank.


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## SDIESEL77 (2 Sep 2018)

Yesterday was the day of the EASY LAZY WATER CHANGE


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (2 Sep 2018)

Easier water changes are always a good thing!


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Sep 2018)

I noticed that my sand is becoming browning in some places and that it is probably due to not enough move there.
I added a power head last month however it doesn't seem to help much. I currently do not have any fish moving the sand.
Would you recommend some that wouldn't mess up the substrate? I m thinking of maybe Corydoras Habrosus, wdyt?

I am now running the Twinstar 900S at 100%, 8h daily (including ramping up and down times of 30min)


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## Jayefc1 (17 Sep 2018)

Looks nice mate I do agree about the sand depth if it was shallower easy for you to turn over as you do water changes


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## Iain Sutherland (17 Sep 2018)

No stopping a bit of Browning on light sand, just give it a good stir at water change time.
Tanks coming along nicely though 

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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (18 Sep 2018)

Agree with the above comments though the cories would also help


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## mohsen12251 (18 Sep 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> Yesterday was the day of the EASY LAZY WATER CHANGE



Please provide explanations about the method of changing the aquarium and the items you used to explain or the video.
Thanks buddy


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## SDIESEL77 (19 Sep 2018)

mohsen12251 said:


> Please provide explanations about the method of changing the aquarium and the items you used to explain or the video.
> Thanks buddy


Quite simple, here are the elements used:
Water Container of 20L
Pump Oase Optimax 3000
Basic remote control electric plug connected to the pump
8meters tubing to go from the container in my kitchen sink to the aquarium
JBL InFlow set going in the tank connected to the tubing

Method:
Put the container in the kitchen sink
pump in container plugged to electricity via electric remote control plug
pump connected to 8m tubing
tubing going into the tank with JBL inFlow set in order to not disturb soil/substrate
Set the right water temperature with your kitchen tap (by feeling by hand or with a thermometer)
When the water reach a good level in the container
Go near the tank to monitor the water going in and press the remote that will switch on the pump in the container
Put the relevant amount of dechlorinator liquid in the tank
When reaching required water in the tank, stop the pump with the remote

Quite simple and easy


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## mohsen12251 (22 Sep 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> Quite simple, here are the elements used:
> Water Container of 20L
> Pump Oase Optimax 3000
> Basic remote control electric plug connected to the pump
> ...



tnx
And conversely, how?


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## SDIESEL77 (22 Sep 2018)

Just using the same pipe with the manual siphon method


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## SDIESEL77 (22 Sep 2018)

ATO Reefloat ATU-Pro3-20 (Auto top up) received installed, no more manual daily water top up


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## SDIESEL77 (2 Oct 2018)

Day 1 of new inline CO2 diffuser Qanvee M2. So far no leaks and nice bubbles through the lily pipe. Apparently they'll get smaller after 36h of use. But so far, happy with the value/price, looks very well built.


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## Akmaliano (6 Oct 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> Great little gadget installed today:  the S2pro Smart LED Controller
> This little gadget now controls my Twinstar 900S light amazingly well!
> 
> Instead of being on/off it is now fully programmed to start at a certain time then slowly ramping up and finally slowly decreasing until switch off time
> ...


 Sorry for offtopic but do you know if this would work with Fluval F&P 2.0 59w?
Cheers


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## SDIESEL77 (6 Oct 2018)

I wouldn't know but to be sure, you can go on the following website and ask, they should have the answer 

http://www.hinterfeld.com/hinterfeld-programable-smart-controller-for-led-fan-dc-pump/


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## SDIESEL77 (15 Nov 2018)

Photos of the evening


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## Jayefc1 (16 Nov 2018)

How's that new defuser looks good


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## SDIESEL77 (16 Nov 2018)

Jayefc1 said:


> How's that new defuser looks good


Really good so far. Great results on plants. Had to increase fertiliser dose even.


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## TBRO (17 Nov 2018)

Looking really vibrant, good work. How do you keep the skimming inlet so clean? I find mine a real pain to clean! Love the blue shrimp. T


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## Raquascape (17 Nov 2018)

Really nice to look at, your water is so clear! Do you use purigen?


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Nov 2018)

Raquascape said:


> Really nice to look at, your water is so clear! Do you use purigen?


Yes 1 bag of purigen in my canister filter


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## Raquascape (17 Nov 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> Yes 1 bag of purigen in my canister filter



I will have to get myself some. Do you need to clean it often?


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Nov 2018)

It's been now 2 months, didn't clean it yet. I guess maybe every 3 months.


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## SDIESEL77 (30 Dec 2018)

Update of the day: I don't think I'll ever use an inline Co2 diffuser again!! 

Today, I decided to replace my Qanvee inline diffuser by a JBL one, hoping for more discrete bubbles.
The JBL lasted 10min before breaking and it almost flooded my house !
Never again, done with inline diffusers, I put back my stainless steel one or will get a bazooka, much safer.


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## alto (30 Dec 2018)

Did you find anything that might account for your filter running on air?


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## DutchMuch (30 Dec 2018)

SDIESEL77 said:


> Never again, done with inline diffuser


yep same here! i experienced the same thing with a atomic inline diffuser from GLA, it broke and exploded, *company manufacturing error*
and they wouldnt even refund me or exchange it for me! Never again!


*#NoInlineClub*


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## SDIESEL77 (30 Dec 2018)

alto said:


> Did you find anything that might account for your filter running on air?


There is a chance that it was due to bottom skimmer grid being blocked by dead leaves which made top skimmer sucking too much water and also air.
I changed yesterday the place of the skimmer, I'll see if it's better within free days


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## Zeus. (30 Dec 2018)

I broke one of my JBL too, but was still able to use it just needed a jubilee clip. Broke an UP inline one also . But no major floods.
That's one of the troubles with plastic IMO easy to over tighten and........


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## Fred13 (31 Dec 2018)

Why you change your first difusser? Wasn't good? I think i have the same from co2art but i havent test it yet.
I also have the classic inline atomizer which is pretty good.


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## SDIESEL77 (31 Dec 2018)

Fred13 said:


> Why you change your first difusser? Wasn't good?



The Qanvee is well built and seems reliable but my tank looked like a bottle of Sprite full of bubbles so I was hoping to get more discrete bubbles with the JBL.

I'll keep a standard atomiser, the tank water will look much clearer.


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## SDIESEL77 (31 Dec 2018)

Photo of the day following a good trim


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## Ady34 (31 Dec 2018)

Lovely aquascape.


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## SDIESEL77 (31 Dec 2018)

Thx a lot Ady


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## Harry H (1 Jan 2019)

Beautiful tank, very nice! 

I love the brickwork at the back as well!


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## SDIESEL77 (1 Jan 2019)

Harry H said:


> Beautiful tank, very nice!
> 
> I love the brickwork at the back as well!


Thx Harry . Lovely tank you have too 

Here is a further view


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## SDIESEL77 (17 Jan 2019)

I really like these guys


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## Ady34 (17 Jan 2019)

Stunning


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## Tim Harrison (18 Jan 2019)

Nice honey gouramis, where did you get them from?
The only ones available around my way have been bred to within an ornamental inch of their lives...


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## SDIESEL77 (18 Jan 2019)

I had to order them from a local shop (seahorse) 3 males and 2 females


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## CooKieS (18 Jan 2019)

Awesome fishes, unfortunately the male won't have this coloration forever.

The 'gold' and 'red' breeding version of these honey gourami are ugly compared to this.


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## SDIESEL77 (18 Jan 2019)

Thre 3 males are currently trying to mate with the 2 females so they're very colourful


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## DeepMetropolis (18 Jan 2019)

I have a few males they are always this color if grown up.. I found it hard to determin sex in the shops they all look like females and finding out they are males after months in my tank..


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## Vincent (4 Feb 2019)

Hi SDIESEL77,

How do you experience the use of the s2pro? Is your twinstar working well on this and are the LED's still working well? I read some stories about burning LED's when using wrong LED controllers.

I wanted to buy the s2pro from the brand Hinterfeld, but the site does not seem to work anymore. Now I only see them on Ebay, but from a Chinese brand or something like that. There is at least Chinese text on the packaging. Do you have your s2pro from there?

Like to hear from you


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## Ady34 (4 Feb 2019)

Vincent said:


> Hi SDIESEL77,
> 
> How do you experience the use of the s2pro? Is your twinstar working well on this and are the LED's still working well? I read some stories about burning LED's when using wrong LED controllers.
> 
> ...


Sorry for jumping in @SDIESEL77, but to answer your question @Vincent, the ones on eBay are the same, I have 2 I use with my twinstar 600sp without issue 
These are the ones:



 

Cheerio
Ady


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## SDIESEL77 (4 Feb 2019)

Yes so far no real issue. Only think I saw last week was the LED light doing some on/off ultra brief low flashes for few minutes during the night


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## Vincent (4 Feb 2019)

Hi @Ady34 and @SDIESEL77,

Thanks for the quick respons! Just bought me some controller. No we'll wait  Estimated delivery between 26th feb - 4th apr... !


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## Ady34 (4 Feb 2019)

Vincent said:


> Hi @Ady34 and @SDIESEL77,
> 
> Thanks for the quick respons! Just bought me some controller. No we'll wait  Estimated delivery between 26th feb - 4th apr... !


It will arrive much sooner, mine came in less than 10 days I think


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## Vincent (5 Feb 2019)

Ady34 said:


> It will arrive much sooner, mine came in less than 10 days I think



Let's hope ! Would be nice!


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Feb 2019)

The tank is now 7 months old and I have to say I'm quite happy with the current look of it.
I slightly reviewed my daily dosage and here is the current daily dosing:

6ml of Tropica Premium
6ml of Tropica Plant Growth
4ml of Easycarbo
I also slightly reduced the lighting time and intensity to 4h at 85% and 3h at 100%


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## Ady34 (15 Feb 2019)

I’d be happy too, lovely aquascape and happy plants.


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## PAYN3Y (15 Feb 2019)

Looking great. You had any signs of BBA at all?


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## Jayefc1 (15 Feb 2019)

Looks really good mate grown
In nicely


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## SDIESEL77 (15 Feb 2019)

PAYN3Y said:


> Looking great. You had any signs of BBA at all?


Yes I still have a little bit of it but I slightly decreased the light time and increased fertiliser dose + now daily dosing liquid carbon and it's almost all gone


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## SDIESEL77 (18 Mar 2019)

Now moved from 50% weekly water change to every two weeks and plants seem even happier 






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## TBRO (18 Mar 2019)

Looking super healthy! Love the fish playing chase through the plants. 

Ever tried a background? Can’t help feeling the brick wall, distracts from the beauty of the plants. T




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## SDIESEL77 (19 Mar 2019)

TBRO said:


> Looking super healthy! Love the fish playing chase through the plants.
> 
> Ever tried a background? Can’t help feeling the brick wall, distracts from the beauty of the plants. T
> 
> ...


Thx, no never tried but not a big fan of putting posters on the back glass.
Maybe a white sandy film but it'll highlight algea on the glass (of any)

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## CooKieS (19 Mar 2019)

Lovely honey gourami and super healthy plants, well done


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## SDIESEL77 (10 Aug 2019)

Anubias and Buce starting to have BBA, I'll now try going back to weekly WC (instead of biweekly) to see if it resolve the issue.


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## SDIESEL77 (7 Oct 2019)

Here is something new: 3 weeks ago, I introduced a new plant specie in my tank, bought an Anubias Gold.
It looked nice for approximately 5 days and then started to rot.
Not only a week later the plant was fully dead but the brown rot spread on all my other anubias species and eventually after 2 weeks killed 90% of them. 
The gold plant was bought in my local shop and was from Dennerle.
I'm planning to contact them...

After 1week:






After 2 weeks:


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## Siege (7 Oct 2019)

Anubias rot / melt seems common in Anubias when getting used to being submersed.

Generally cut off affected leaves at 1st sign and all being well it’ll come back. That combined with frequent water changes.

Growers are aware of it but know one knows the cause. Not dennerle’s fault I’m afraid.


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## Siege (7 Oct 2019)

Ps. 

The healthily leaves seem to have a little algae on them so may want to look at that. 

An unhealthy plant will be susceptible to disease far easier than an healthy one, stating the obvious here I know!


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## alto (7 Oct 2019)

I’m less convinced that growers have no shared responsibility or that it’s a submerse response 

I’ve observed overwhelming Anubias melt in plant shipments over some months, I’d never seen anything like it 
While it began with a few leaves falling off, the rhizome also “melted” 
(this is less apparent, until one gently squeezes the rhizome and finds that it mushes  )
And it seemed to spread, Anubias leftover from previous shipments (that had been in apparent good health for 2-4 weeks), over the next few days, began to melt as well 

Nothing in the shop display tank or shop handling of the Anubias had changed .... 

Searching online, I found reports of previous Anubias species melts going back some years - suspicion was some sort of virus, especially as when a newly introduced Anubias melted, and then every established Anubias in the tank subsequently melted as well - and not just leaves falling off, but complete rhizome deterioration 

After some time, Anubias were added back to the usual plant supplier order, I’d check each plant carefully - some of these plants were shipping in with slightly droopy leaf/stem or with “soft spots” on the rhizome, they were placed separately and progressed to complete “melt”

In the last year, I’ve only received one order of Anubias barteri var barteri that was affected - after noting one plant with brown stems, I discovered 3 affected plants ... with a bit of handling, all stems showed loose attachment at the rhizome, I removed these from their pots to find soft rhizomes 

@SDIESEL77 I suggest thoroughly vacuuming every bit of Anubias debris (including rinsing the filter), large frequent  water changes over the weeks, inspect every Anubias plant you have - completely removing any that are the slightest suspect, trim away any affected rhizome + 1cm (if possible) of apparently healthy rhizome, before returning to tank


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## SDIESEL77 (24 Nov 2019)

Following last month Anubias "genocide", the tank is now recovering slowly. 
2 types of Anubias survived (barely): 1 Nana and 1 Pinto.
I also increased my daily fertilizer dose by 2ml
Here are some photos from today







Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk


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## SDIESEL77 (7 Sep 2020)

A small update to day that the tank is still doing fine... Although now I'm tempted to do a full rescape. 
Last night, a little incident happened:
Following 2 years of good use, my Last Thermo 600 had been running all fine until last night where the heater decided to die 
3 fish dead.. it could have been worst...


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## CooKieS (8 Sep 2020)

Again, oase bad quality, sorry for your loss


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## LondonDragon (8 Sep 2020)

CooKieS said:


> Again, oase bad quality, sorry for your loss


This is debatable, I have had this happen on various brands of heaters, hence i do not use heaters on any of my tanks any more (even turned off the one on my Eheim filter now).
The last one this happened too cooked the entire contents of my Rio 125, plants, fish, shrimp! It was from one of the best know brands in the hobby. Temperature sensors are pretty cheap, I would suggest buying one so it turns off the heater at the mains if it gets too warm!

I did buy one for my shrimp tank back in the day, which is still in a cupboard somewhere, I adapted two power outlets into it, one for the heater and one for a fan, it did work pretty well when I used it. all it had in the tank is a little prob to monitor the temp, I guess these could also go wrong! 

Edit: Found a link to it:  Controller I used in the past

Found this one fully assembled already  Controller on Amazon


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## alto (9 Sep 2020)

Sorry for your fish loss 

FWIW I’ve always tended to follow Eheim’s recommendations re which heater for what volume 

Evolution Aqua suggests a volume of 186 litre for the Aquascaper 900
Eheim 125watt heater is suggested for aquariums of  150-200l 

I’d replace that broken 300watt Oase heater with a 125w - 150w heater 
I used a 150watt heater on my 240 litre tank for years, the only time it struggled to maintain tank temperature was when room temp was ~56F 
Fish generally survive the gradual temperature drop more easily than the increase from Heaters Run Amok

If tank temperature does drop, it’s recommended to slowly raise temp - turn up the aquarium heater (or in my case, turn on the house heat) rather than adding warmed water
 (especially do not add very hot or boiled water)


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## SDIESEL77 (15 Sep 2020)

Photos from this evening, probably one of the last ones with this scape. I'm now really getting bored of it and feel it will be time to rescape
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## SDIESEL77 (15 Sep 2020)

Thanks for your messages guys.
I really like my Thermo600 pump however I agree that the heater isn't the best quality. I could see after only few months of use that the inside was getting kind of burnt with oxydation already.


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## SDIESEL77 (21 Mar 2021)

After almost 3 years with this aquascape it was now the time for a change.


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## SDIESEL77 (21 Mar 2021)

Here is the SDIESEL77 V2 SCAPE


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## SDIESEL77 (3 Apr 2021)

The new ADA Amazonia v2 soil was great to set and didn't make the water messy which is great but wow this thing releases A HUGE amount of ammonia in the water!
I have done daily WC the first week otherwise ammonia and nitrite were sky high!
Now everything seems fine, no fish loss 
Plants are slowly growing, shrimps love playing with them and removing some daily from the soil that I need to replant...  (I guess this is while the roots are not fully developed)


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## SDIESEL77 (6 May 2021)

One month has passed, quite happy with the overall growth. No major issue to be reported. Back to standard WC plan with 50% weekly.
Little bit of cyano to fight with but I guess it's normal until the parameters get fully stable.


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## SDIESEL77 (9 May 2021)

It had to happen one day....


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## SDIESEL77 (15 May 2021)

Cyano black out War: Day 1


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## SDIESEL77 (21 May 2021)

5 days later, plants are ok, fish too and cyano disappeared at 99%. Still a bit underground behind the front glass ..


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## SDIESEL77 (4 Jul 2021)

Unfortunately few days after removing the cyano came back.
After trying many different products and technics, I think I finally found the perfect working product: UltraLife Blue-Green Slime.
Within a week 100% of the cyano was gone and never came back so far.


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## tam (4 Jul 2021)

Glad you got rid of it, for future - it might be the bin bags aren't as light proof as you'd think - some are pretty thin when you hold them up to a window. Also for front of glass only, you can tape just strips over the front edge to blackout that section. Running a credit card carefully along (don't scratch the glass!) is good for manual too. I do it now and then for regular algae removal.

It's looking good though, filled out quite nicely


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## SDIESEL77 (30 Oct 2021)

I moved 2 months ago from Tropica Plant Growth fertilizer to Aqua Rebell Basic Ensen + Makro NPK and I absolutely love this product!
Plants look healthier and no algae at all


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## SDIESEL77 (13 Mar 2022)

This is the End....
Not enough time anymore to fully care about it.

I'll come back to it one day


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