# Tom's 40cm



## Tom (28 Dec 2007)

Might as well make a journal of this tank now as its planted up   

Hardscape:













Took a trip to P*ts at Home this morning, and came back with far too many Tropica plants    I got 2 big Microsorium "narrow", 3 pots of Micranthemum umbrosum, and a pot of something I haven't heared of before but looks like Hydrocotyl   

All planted up now, so here you go...









I've had to add some more Aquasoil on the right, and some small pieces of rock to hold the Aquasoil back, and I have lessened the angle of the main branch. Also I had a play with the "roots" in the back left but you can't see them now anyway.  

I've started it off with 1ml Brighty K and 1ml Step1 daily, along with 1bps CO2. It all looks a bit tacky and messy now but give it a month or two to get going...  8) 

Tom


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## daniel19831123 (28 Dec 2007)

nice! Much nicer than my 60cm tank  Wished I started off on the right foot. Saving on the wood and plants and CO2 is not worth it.....


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## Ray (28 Dec 2007)

Very nice start.  Its a 40cm 25L, right?

Excuse me if this is already in another thread but what light is that?  How long and high above the surface?  I have a 40cm 25L with a mini desk lamp style 13w but the problem is I don't get an even intensity accross the whole tank as you would with a strip lamp.  Should I just mount it higher?


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## Tom (28 Dec 2007)

25l, yep   

It's a 24w Interpet T5, roughly 12" long and 3" above the surface. I would think 13w is fairly low lighting for a 25l. If you mount it higher you would probably lose more intensity. If I were you I would consider either a 24w or 18w compact T5 for your tank. 

Tom


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## Tom (28 Dec 2007)

Better picture:





Tom


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## daniel19831123 (28 Dec 2007)

Tom your filter outlet is right above the micrathemum umbrosum.... Would it be blown to pieces when it grow a little higher?


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## Tom (28 Dec 2007)

Thanks for pointing that out, I'll move it up a bit!! Was just trying to avoid the flow breaking the water surface but I can see it might be better higher up.  8) 

Thanks,  

Tom


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## daniel19831123 (28 Dec 2007)

no problem. What is the flow rate of that filter? My tank only seemed to have 1x turnover of the tank volume. was thinking if I should add another pump in the tank to increase the turnover rate. How would love turnover rate affect the plants? Anyone here to enlightened me?


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## Tom (28 Dec 2007)

Elite reckon 220 litres /hour on full, but I doubt it works out that much with media in. So saying it's 200lph, I'd have a turnover rate of about 8x. I would definitely look to go higher than 1x though, as long as the plants aren't going to be buffeted by the flow.


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## daniel19831123 (28 Dec 2007)

sorry my bad. Miscalculated my filter output. It's rated 400l/hour and my tank is 60l so even if output is half I should be getting nearly 4 time flowrate.


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## Tom (28 Dec 2007)




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## Tom (30 Dec 2007)

I've just added some of my baby cherry shrimp I found in my last tank and they seem to be enjoying the nicer conditions than the 1g they were being kept in    They are much hardier than I thought they were and so far seem indestructable, even at 2mm   

(By the way the filter has been running nearly 2 weeks and was re-seeded a week before adding them so I'm not worried about water quality and cycling issues. My 6 Emerald Eye Rasbora are doing well in there to   8)  )

Tom


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## Tom (2 Jan 2008)

A few days in now, and there's already noticable growth on the umbrosum and Hydrocotyl. The moss is getting lighter green tips now so thats starting to spread out too. I am thinking of getting some more stems, maybe Rotala "green" and/or Rotala indica/wallichi to go behind the Java fern.

I'm getting a weird film on the water surface at the moment which builds up fairly quickly, but I suppose that's just from the substrate or wood and will hopefully stop soon. 

Tom


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## George Farmer (2 Jan 2008)

This is gonna be good, Tom.  Keep up the good work mate.


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## Themuleous (3 Jan 2008)

Yeh, it should really develop over the next few weeks 

Sam


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## Tom (3 Jan 2008)

Time for some more pics. I've done 2 versions, at different focal lengths. I prefer the wider angle but I'm gonna need more backgroud for those   

You can really see it starting to grow now:

Wide:




Not so wide:




I don't know whether I'll change the Java fern out for stems yet, but I think I might at some point. I'm not patient enough for these ferns!!

Tom


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## Garuf (3 Jan 2008)

I don't know about swapping the ferns for stems, to me its the stem's that look out of place, lovely scape though can't wait to see it grow out.


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## Tom (11 Jan 2008)

Thanks Garuf. 

Just done my first trim after getting back from college. The moss if growing great, nice and compact. The umbrosum seems to be suffering a bit, whether it's just adjusting or not I don't know. Also, the Hydrocotyl is growing like mad but the leaves are a bit yellowy in the top few. 

Looking at James's deficiency guide I could have sulphur, nitrogen or iron deficiencies. I am dosing 1ml Brighty K every day, and 1ml of Step1 and Spec Lights every other day at the moment. Should I just up these doses? I am currently dosing the same as I did for the last tank, which had far far more plants in. Any input would be great   

Tom


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## Tom (18 Jan 2008)

I brought some HC and a bit of Riccia home from college yesterday and thats all planted in now, just needs to fill out. I also bought some of what I think is a Red Myriophyllum for the back behind the Java Fern. 

The umbrosum is still struggling a bit, but the new growth seems nice and healthy. The moss is still going like mad and to my surprise the Java Fern is growing new (1-2") leaves so the old ones might be cut off soon. 





Tom


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## johnny70 (18 Jan 2008)

very nice, very natural look, what are the plans for fish stocking?

My umbrosum that I got from here is struggling too, got some new growth coming , hopefull it will start picking up soon


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## Tom (18 Jan 2008)

I'm not sure on fish stock yet, but I want something that won't jump. I'm fed up of fish just jumping out overnight (Boraras brigittae and Emerald Eye Rasbora so far).


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## Ray (21 Jan 2008)

Tom said:
			
		

> I'm not sure on fish stock yet, but I want something that won't jump... Boraras brigittae ... so far).



Bother! Best laid plans of mice and men...  How about some hatchet fish?    But seriously, what's you attrition rate - is this a one off thing or a regular occurance?

I wonder if floating plants stop jumpers?  I mean, evolution would surely weed out any fish silly enough to jump onto a lilly pad?!


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## Lisa_Perry75 (21 Jan 2008)

I guess in the wild though they could just hop back in mainly.

Can you not have a really thin (4mm) piece of see trough acrylic and just have whatever fish you want? This would also minimise evaporation.


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## Tom (21 Jan 2008)

Hatchets    

I suppose I could use acrylic. Before when I've used it on 2ft tanks it has warped in the middle, but this is a much smaller tank. And before, it got loads of scum on it from the water, but this might not be a problem now I'm using rainwater

Tom


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## Garuf (21 Jan 2008)

Rain water?!


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## Tom (21 Jan 2008)

Yep. This tank and my last tank use rainwater. pH 6.4ish, 0 hardness etc. I've had great results.

Tom


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## Garuf (21 Jan 2008)

Sounds like a bad idea to me, I analysed rainwater when I used to do science and the amount of toxins and general cack in the samples meant it was borderline toxic.


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## Tom (21 Jan 2008)

I haven't noticed any negative effects on fish so far, and plants grow like crazy. :?  Whereabouts were you sampling? I'll have to look into that


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## Garuf (21 Jan 2008)

Stoke-on-trent, If your not seeing any negative effects then it's probably fine, just saying it's something I'd never do since doing tests on stokes rain water.


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## Ed Seeley (21 Jan 2008)

I used rainwater off my shed roof in Nottingham for a couple of years before getting an RO unit and never had a problem with the water quality.  I always filtered it through carbon slowly before use.

I just found it was sooo cold in winter going to fetch it from the top of the garden and then waiting for it to warm up.  I also had to keep cleaning the barrel out as mulm collected.  And then to cap it all off, we had a dry period one summer and I ran out!!!

Much happier with my RO unit now.


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## Tom (21 Jan 2008)

I heat it by boiling 1 or two kettlefuls from the bucket. I keep the tank fairly cool anyway.


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## Tom (9 Feb 2008)

Just done another trim on the umbrosum today and replanted the tops on the left hand side in the place of the Java Fern, which wasn't doing well at all. 

Another thought I've had is to have a short carpet of Riccia over the foreground and down the centre, as it would suck up the rest of the nutrients and hopefully limit the algae growth I'm getting...

I'm getting a bit of what I think is hair algae or possibly stagorn, mainly on the wood and rocks but also in the moss a bit. I got a new CO2 bottle today, so I've increased the bubbles to just over 1bps. 

I'm nervous about whether to trim the R. indica as well as the umbrosum just in case I get more algae as a result of the lack of plant matter. Should I be ok to trim both or should I do it at different times?

Tom


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## Tom (15 Feb 2008)

Well this tank will probably be taken down this week, as I've basically messed it all up. All the umbrosum melted this week for some reason and so I was taking it out. When I was doing that, I knocked the big bit of wood over, and of course all the aquasoil/sand/rocks and plants went everywhere and the water now looks like soup. If I've ever wanted to quit anything totally, I think its now. I might try and recover it in the morning if I feel like it (which I doubt) but as it is at the moment, everything is on the desk/floor/wherever it landed when I got fed up with it


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## Arana (15 Feb 2008)

Don't give up now Tom!!    
 just go back to it once you have calmed down a bit and plan how you are going to turn it back into a wonderful scape.


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## George Farmer (15 Feb 2008)

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, Tom.

I understand the urge to start over, believe me...

Whatever you choose, I'm sure the outcome will be very nice indeed.


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## Vase (15 Feb 2008)

Tom, welcome to my world   

I'm sure you'll get it sorted again in no time. At least it will give you the chance to change anything that you were not keen on before


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