# Midori no mori (until I can think of a proper name)



## James D (15 Apr 2014)

I fancied trying something different this time so out went the rocks and aquasoil and in came some wood and sand. I was planning on planting exclusively onto the wood with nothing in the substrate but I might add a bit of Blyxa to break up the transition between the sand and wood.

I spent most of last night glueing moss to the wood and filled it up with water, I'm fairly pleased with the results but I was too knackered to bother taking any photos, I'll try and finish off my planting tonight and get some pictures taken.

In the meantime here's a quick phone pic I took before I started, sorry about the quality........








Tank: ADA60P
Filter: Eheim 350 Experience
CO2: FE via TMC Aquagro  2909 Diffuser
Lights: Grobeam 600 & Pro Z series LED
Hardscape: Wood (don't know what it is!), Unipac Maui Sand (12.5kg), LLangollen Slate
Plants: Microsorum (narrow?), various mosses (Flame, Fissidens, Spiky, Weeping, Christmas), Blyxa Japonica
Fauna: 2 Otos,  4 Amanos, Rosy Tetras, Green Tetras


Cheers

James


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## Deano3 (15 Apr 2014)

that's some nice wood mate also think ill look great with bylxa breaking it up love that plant meant to be very co2 demanding if I remember correctly best of luck and keep us posted, what specs filter etc  ?

thanks dean


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## James D (15 Apr 2014)

forgot to put all the specs on. Time for an edit.


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## Lee Sweeting (15 Apr 2014)

The hardscape is looking great. Can't wait to see it planted 


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## Martin in Holland (15 Apr 2014)

Looking good...but a lot of shade to the front. Are you going to move the lights more to the front or is it done on purpose?


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## James D (15 Apr 2014)

Cheers Lee. 

Martin: My light is suspended from the ceiling and it was pulled back towards the wall to allow access to the tank, I've only got one bar switched on as well.... under normal circumstances it's not that shady.

I wish I'd taken a photo when I'd finished attaching the moss, it looked great...... until I flooded it, it's all looking a bit scruffy now.


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## James D (15 Apr 2014)

I've just read a similar question in another journal but I don't want to sidetrack Mikka's thread - Is there any reason why I can't add my livestock back in immediately?

My filter is mature, my plants have just been moved from my old tank (apart from a bit of new moss), my substrate is inert and my wood was soaked for weeks.


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## Dan Wiggett (15 Apr 2014)

James D said:


> I've just read a similar question in another journal but I don't want to sidetrack Mikka's thread - Is there any reason why I can't add my livestock back in immediately?
> 
> My filter is mature, my plants have just been moved from my old tank (apart from a bit of new moss), my substrate is inert and my wood was soaked for weeks.


Nope


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## Alexander Belchenko (15 Apr 2014)

Great wood, great hardscape. Watching with interest how it develop. Just one thought: just don't overgrown it. That wood is so dramatic, it would be a pity to bury it under the layers of plant mass 
Maybe you even can avoid blyxa there, you can use some light green moss (attached to small pebbles or fragments of wood) to smooth transition to sand, but I'm sure you already have some plans


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## James D (16 Apr 2014)

Dan: I thought so cheers, I'll put them in tonight and I'm finished!

Thanks for the advice Alexander, I totally agree. If I can get it looking as nice as your tank I'll be very happy. As you know the Blyxa is very easy to move about in the sand so I'll eventually get it arranged as I like, there are only a few of them in there anyway. I've already done what you suggest with the moss stones, I had them in my last set up and had to trim them all right down to get the moss for my wood so they look a bit threadbare at the moment.

I've just got temporary equipment in there for now (green eheim pipes, in-tank heater etc) but I'll get all my proper stuff installed again tonight and try and get some photos.


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## Martin in Holland (16 Apr 2014)

Can't wait to see those new pictures...


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## James D (17 Apr 2014)

Here we go......

http://s28.postimg.org/jzqtg0w2l/72new_setup3.jpg

http://s15.postimg.org/lof5n23rf/72new_setup2.jpg

http://s23.postimg.org/7uxgkmv97/72new_setup1.jpg

I left the CO2 on so there are plenty of bubbles spoiling the pics a bit, I'm quite happy with them though, it's the first time I've really fiddled about with the EOS400D. When the tanks settled down and grown in a bit I'll try again with a tripod.

I've got to say I love having white sand, it makes the tank seem much lighter and cleaner than my previous hairgrass carpets with aquasoil - I doubt I'll go back!

Cheers.[DOUBLEPOST=1397721592][/DOUBLEPOST]BTW I think I'll remove some some if not all of the Blyxa, I'll have a look at it for a few days and decide.


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## Mr. Teapot (17 Apr 2014)

Wow, that looks really great. Your right about the sand, gives it a lovely crisp look. You must be really pleased with the result.


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## James D (17 Apr 2014)

Cheers Teapot. To be honest I did very little except selecting the right piece of wood. It's literally a flat layer of sand with the wood (slightly sawn and reassembled with glue) plonked on top, it took more time taking my old set up down . Hopefully it'll be low maintainence as well, apart form keeping that sand clean.


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## James O (17 Apr 2014)

Now that's sexy 

Now you need little fish.....


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## Martin in Holland (17 Apr 2014)

loving it .....but bigger pictures would make it easier to see...the sand gives a nice contrast with the wood indeed


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## James D (17 Apr 2014)

> Now you need little fish.....


  Always with the fish!

I'm going to get some more at the weekend, I'll be doubling my Rosy Tetra group if they've got any left, they look really nice in there.

Here you go Martin:






They look a bit crappy at a bigger size though.


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## tim (17 Apr 2014)

Looks lovely planted up James, very clean & crisp island scape, the blyxa on the left seems to disrupt the island somewhat though. This will mature very nicely, good job mate.


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## James O (17 Apr 2014)

I just can't help myself 

The Rosys will look great swimming in, out & through that wood setup


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## Deano3 (17 Apr 2014)

Mr teapot beat me to it WOW   looks excellent and I totally agree about the sand I was going to ask what sand you used but does look so much more light and bigger I think but well done mate looking great, whats you dosing regime and maintenance and also BPS ?

cheers mate


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## James D (17 Apr 2014)

Cheers Dean

I'm dosing EI, I got this kit here, I was doubling the suggested daily dose with my old set up but I haven't got so many plants now so I might tone it down a bit.

BPS is about three or four bubbles a second,  I don't think these plants will be too CO2 hungry (I'm going to remove some Blyxa tonight) and I'm only using 1 Grobeam 600 at the moment.

30% water changes daily. I'll try to stir up the sand a bit at the same time to minimize any dirty looking algae.


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## parotet (17 Apr 2014)

Looks superb mate! White sand is very nice. I got some on my 60 cm tank and I think it makes the tank look lighter but also larger than with a dark substrate. I got an Eleocharis carpet on the sand (because I also put Aquasoil and it was invading the sand... really a pain) but if you keep it like this, without carpet plants, the advantage IMO is that it is extremely easy to replace it and it makes the tank look fresh like the first day. Low maintenance substrate, low demanding plants and lovely setup... Good combination!

Jordi


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## Martin in Holland (17 Apr 2014)

Nope ..not a bit crappy at all, I LIKE it a lot ...and I think the Blyxa looks nice in there...


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## Omegatron (17 Apr 2014)

Looks great James!

+1 on the Blyxa (i like it)


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## ourmanflint (17 Apr 2014)

Looks great James.


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## Duran (17 Apr 2014)

what fish you planning on adding?


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## James D (17 Apr 2014)

We'll I was feeling quite pleased with everything until I arrived home.... 

Disaster has struck. I don't know quite how it happened but every single fish with the exception of one oto is dead. .

The Co2 was really bubbling away and the lights hadn't come on so I assume it was that, I'm gutted to say the least.

The shrimps seem ok after a quick water change and when I went to take an oto out it moved a bit so I left it there, it hasn't moved since though.

I'm sure it's the Co2 but is there any chance of there being another cause, they were all fine yesterday and this morning. I hope it's safe to put some new fish in at the weekend.

It's certainly taken the shine off my new set up.


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## parotet (17 Apr 2014)

So sorry James...


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## Omegatron (17 Apr 2014)

Sorry to hear James, didnt your lights go on at all the entire day? My guess is a co2 overdose aswell.


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## Tim Harrison (17 Apr 2014)

Nice scape James.


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## Martin in Holland (18 Apr 2014)

sad to hear about your fish mate...


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## Deano3 (18 Apr 2014)

sorry to hear James just have to get back  on the horse so to speak and continue this great scape hope you get it sorted


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## James D (22 Apr 2014)

Well the remaining Oto recovered and is as good as new so it must have been Co2 related rather than something more sinister. While I didn't have any emotional connection to the fish I still feel quite bad as obviously it's our responsibility to look after any living creatures in our care.... It didn't help that my wife has been calling me a fish murderer as well.

Anyway, I've been to the Garden Centre at the weekend and got 6 Columbian Tetras and 6 Black Neons. On reflection I'm not entirely sure that these are the best combination as from a distance neither of them has got a lot of colour at the moment - although the black neons are slowly darkening up. I'm thinking now that maybe I should have got at least one more colourful type instead but I really like the Columbians and wanted to give them another go.

The tank's looking good so far, there's not much change yet obviously I have removed some of the Blyxa around the left hand side so I've got a strip of sand going all the way around.

When I was looking for the dead fish I discovered that the wood can be easily lifted out in one piece and placed in a washing up bowl which is going to make maintenance of the sand a doddle.


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## James D (23 Apr 2014)

I really need to work on my photography skills, I was fiddling with different settings last night but my memory card filled up so I couldn't take any more . I need to try and find some posts that might help me out a bit today, the photos below have been enhanced in Photoshop (mainly colour and brightness). My white balance is one of the biggest problems, do people tend to use the auto setting or one of the presets?

Anyway, here are my new fishies.

http://s27.postimg.org/nuk3offgj/72_IMG_4343.jpg

http://s22.postimg.org/uezccv18h/72_IMG_4334.jpg

Thanks for looking, any criticism is welcome. [DOUBLEPOST=1398246261][/DOUBLEPOST]I forgot to ask, I can't remember what type of Microsorum it is, any got any ideas? I also think it's a bit big, are there any similar but smaller varieties?

Cheers.


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## parotet (23 Apr 2014)

Fantastic, perfect fish for a beautiful tank... Congratulations!


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## Deano3 (23 Apr 2014)

parotet beat me to it Beautiful mate absolutely stunning and as said I think great fish choice seem to blend in so with the sand and colours


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## Lindy (23 Apr 2014)

James D said:


> there any similar but smaller varieties?


You can get a mini one. The green machine sell it.


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## James D (24 Apr 2014)

Thanks Lindy, I just ordered some from Aqua Essentials, it's £7.99 in TGM. 

I'm determined to improve my photography so this thread is likely to be very photo heavy. I think my main problem is that I need more light.  I can borrow the lights from work but I think I'll leave it for a week or two until the moss grows a bit.

http://s8.postimg.org/74vpdc7kl/72_IMG_4364.jpg

http://s2.postimg.org/qj2n5uap5/fishy.jpg

Thanks for looking.


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## Deano3 (24 Apr 2014)

photography defiantly looking better mate I need a decent camera for great shots aswel, what did you purchase mate ?


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## James D (24 Apr 2014)

Cheers Dean. I borrow the camera from work (it sits in my drawer anyway). It's a Canon Eos 400D, it's probably a bit old now but at least it's free!


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## Deano3 (24 Apr 2014)

James D said:


> Cheers Dean. I borrow the camera from work (it sits in my drawer anyway). It's a Canon Eos 400D, it's probably a bit old now but at least it's free!


that's the thing what puts me off don't want to spend £300 or more for just taking pics of aquarium so not be happening anytime soon, but honestly looking really good and pichure coming on and very colourful, looking pro


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## Edvet (24 Apr 2014)

If you realy struggle (doesn't look so) get a neutral grey card from any decent camera shop. Take a picture with it in the pic, use it as a reference point in your postproduction.


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## James D (24 Apr 2014)

Cheers Edvet, I'll look into that. My photos look ok because of all the corrections in Photoshop, I shouldn't need to do that though should I? They should be ok straight from the camera.


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## Edvet (24 Apr 2014)

Wel depends, basically when shooting RAW format the camera just captures the data and doesn't proces it.
Shooting a preset way (like "portret"or "landscape") will proces the pic in a predetermined (by the manufacturer) way.
Shooting in JPG format will proces the info too.
Shooting raw uses most storage room but leaves the post production to you. While jpg's can look nice straight out of the camera the data is managed and lost in that proces. Raw pictures will (always, at least for me) look worse fresh out of the camera, but can be postprocessed to look their best in your eyes.
For instance sharpening, most camera's have some sort of filter (moire) in front of the CCD.This causes the image to be soft (not sharp) removing it would give sharper images, but less control over other unwanted effects (Moire) wich would be much harder to remove. Sharpening pp is easy. JPG's are sharpened in camera already.

So JPG's can look better out of the camera, but there is less info stored, so pp isn't easy (loss of data).
Camera RAW often look worse, but with pp can give a far better picture.


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## Mr. Teapot (24 Apr 2014)

Hey James, none of the photographers I know would be embarrassed about using PhotoShop for their final pictures. Like the camera, it's just a tool to get the result you're aiming for. Your photos already look really excellent.


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## James D (25 Apr 2014)

Cheers Ed and Mr Teapot.

I put my Microsorum Mini in last night, it looks a lot better (to me). Hopefully my purigen will arrive tomorrow so my water will clear up. I also plan to give the mosses a trim to get rid of all the 'shaggy' bits tomorrow. I think I'll be finished then, I can sit back and watch it all grow in. 

It was a nice surprise to see my tank on the UKAPS Facebook page, thanks whoever did that.


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## James D (1 May 2014)

I've been away for a few days and when I got back yesterday I've found a weird growth on the tips of a couple of Microsorum leaves, it looks a bit like BBA but is red / brown, I'll get a couple of photos tonight see if anyone can identify it - because I can't.

I discovered my local Pet Shop has got some baby oto's in at £1.20 each , I bagged a couple because I only had one left after the CO2 disaster.


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## James D (2 May 2014)

Anyone know what this is?

http://s28.postimg.org/qiybdaxrx/growth.jpg


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## tim (2 May 2014)

Possibly a new fern plantlet, they normally sprout from the end of the leaves.


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## James D (2 May 2014)

Is that what they do?!?! I thought it was some weird sort of algae come to haunt me , Cheers Tim.


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## aliclarke86 (3 May 2014)

Defiantly new plantlet mate. Lookinnnng great too BTW 

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## James D (12 May 2014)

No real updates to report, the fissidens is growing in nicely but slowly and the tank still looks as clean as the day it was planted. I've got a couple of questions though....

One of my mosses, either 'spiky' or 'weeping' I'm not sure which, is looking very yellowy brown and sorry for itself, is there much I can do about it, I'm not sure what the defiency is as the Fissidens and Flame moss look perfectly healthy.

The second thing is should I go low tech and dispense with the CO2, I've wondered since day one if it's actually necessary. I've only got a couple of Microsorums and various mosses in there now. I'm also only using one TMC grobeam 600 which is suspended a fair distance from the water (as can be seen on the pics although I switch on an extra LED for taking photos). I really want as little maintenence as possible so I'm not worried about fast growth, just healthy plants. I could always just add a bit of Easycarbo now and then but I'm under the impression it's not great for moss.

The last thing I want is to upset the balance of the tank , so I'm not too sure.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

James


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## dw1305 (12 May 2014)

Hi all,





James D said:


> The second thing is should I go low tech and dispense with the CO2, I've wondered since day one if it's actually necessary. I've only got a couple of Microsorums and various mosses in there now. I'm also only using one TMC grobeam 600 which is suspended a fair distance from the water (as can be seen on the pics although I switch on an extra LED for taking photos). I really want as little maintenence as possible so I'm not worried about fast growth, just healthy plants


 I'd say definitely go low-tech, once tanks are established with mosses and ferns they can run very successfully on ambient CO2, and are virtually no maintenance. 

I always have some floaters as well (partially so that I can use them as indicators of when to feed via the "Duckweed index" and partially because the fish like them), but they aren't strictly necessary. 

cheers Darrel


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## James D (12 May 2014)

Thanks Darrel, I appreciate that mate.

I think I'll keep the CO2 until the FE runs out, which shouldn't be too long, and then see how it goes without. I assume I need to keep up my EI regime though, maybe just reduce the amounts a bit?

Time to go and read up on the 'Duckweed index'.

Cheers James


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## dw1305 (12 May 2014)

Hi all, 


> I assume I need to keep up my EI regime though, maybe just reduce the amounts a bit?


Once you aren't adding CO2 you can reduce fertiliser levels. Whether you add fertilisers regularly in small doses, or just use the health of the floating plants as an indication of nutrient deficiency is entirely up to you.

You'll probably need to have a bit of a juggle with the light levels as well. I don't worry too much about how much light I have, I just increase the plant mass (and particularly the floaters) if I have a brighter light, but I'm not too bothered about aesthetics and I tend to believe a happy fish is one you don't see very often.

cheers Darrel


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## James D (13 May 2014)

Thanks again Darrel.

I had a good think about it last night and I can't make my mind up about what to do as everything seems so well balanced at the moment (kiss of death!).

I must admit my primary reason for having the tank in the first place is purely aesthetic rather than a particular interest in flora and fauna (although I like to keep both happy). I'm a bit concerned about compromising the look of the tank with floating plants - of course they might actually make it look better though, decisions, decisions.


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## Rich_the_gamer (13 May 2014)

Great tank james 

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## James D (14 May 2014)

Cheers Rich. 

Fate has struck, I managed to snap the glass u-connector on my CO2 tube last night so I took the whole thing off.... I'm now low tech! I'll order some floating plants today and see how it goes.


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## Rich_the_gamer (14 May 2014)

James D said:


> Cheers Rich.
> 
> Fate has struck, I managed to snap the glass u-connector on my CO2 tube last night so I took the whole thing off.... I'm now low tech! I'll order some floating plants today and see how it goes.



Dont!

Just get a cigarette filter from the shop the kind you use to roll your own.  Squeeze one end into the co2 tubing and weigh the co2 tubing down with a plant weight.

You will be suprised how well it works as a diffuser I found it on YT when I needed a diffuser and store was closed very fine bubbles

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## James D (14 May 2014)

Cheers Rich, good tip, but it's not the diffuser, it's just a glass u bend that goes over the top of the glass of the tank.


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## James D (15 May 2014)

Well, I've just put a bag of Salvinia Natans in the tank and it's covering about 50% of the water surface (all down on the left of the tank thanks to my flow) and I've got another bag that should give me full coverage of the surface if I decide to use it.. I can't say that I'm particularly impressed by it though, I was under the impression that the leaves would be joined together by 'runners' (not the right term probably) but they're mostly individual or in small clumps (three or four leaves).


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## Iain Sutherland (15 May 2014)

like most floaters it doesnt travel well as its quite delicate but within a week you'll have loads of new growth, all on runners, looking fresh and healthy.  I thrown most of the original salvinia i got 2 weeks ago away now and just new growth left looking awesome


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## James D (16 May 2014)

Cheers Iain, yes I think that's the case, I'll keep weeding out the less healthy ones.

I think I might have over done it a bit ....

http://s28.postimg.org/ocxmn18st/16_05_2.jpg

It's very dark underneath all the floaters so none of my FTS's worked out, there's not much change anyway.

http://s29.postimg.org/j5z08n4x3/16_05_1.jpg

I'm still not sure I'm loving the 'dingy' style, I'll stick with it for a bit though, thinning out the floaters should help. The fish seem to be loving it but everything is tinged with a greenish look that makes the tank look dirty.


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## Deano3 (16 May 2014)

looks good mate I actually really like the floaters


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## James D (23 May 2014)

I loved the crisp, clean look of the tank until the floaters went in. I thought I might get used to having them but it hasn't happened, the green light filtering through the leaves made the tank look like it was dirty and full of algae, not really a look I'm after . Anyway, they've all come out now apart from maybe 10 leaves which I'm going to try and grow just out of interest, the tank's back to it's pristine condition with no ill effects from the lack of CO2 (it's back on now).

The point of this post is that I'm off on holiday for a week on Sunday and there's no one about to do my EI dosing, so I'm wondering what the best option is....

Lights and CO2 off all week with no ferts
or
Shortened lighting period, no CO2 and no ferts
or
Normal lighting, leave CO2 on (not too sure about this as I poisoned all my fish recently) and no ferts.

I'm thinking the first option will be best, what do people normally do?

Thanks

James


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## Rob P (23 May 2014)

Paint the inside of your cabinet you lazy chuff  lol


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## Edvet (23 May 2014)

How about  less light and less CO2, this will lower the demand for ferts but wont starve the plants. CO2 can't be overdosed (for the plants that is)


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## James D (23 May 2014)

> Paint the inside of your cabinet you lazy chuff  lol



Mind your own business Sherlock! 



> How about less light and less CO2, this will lower the demand for ferts but wont starve the plants. CO2 can't be overdosed (for the plants that is)



Cheers Ed, after killing all my fish a month or so ago I'm reluctant to leave my CO2 on though.


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## Greenfinger2 (23 May 2014)

Hi James, Super Scape  The DW & planting is Fab


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## Deano3 (24 May 2014)

can you not lower lights and co2 and chuck a load of EI in before you go to make it last good 4-5 days ? sure I read someone doing this

Dean


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## James D (3 Jun 2014)

I got back from a week in Paris and I'm happy to say the tank fared well apart from a slight blackening of the Microsorum leaves and one or two tiny bits of BBA. I slightly shortened the lighting and CO2 periods while I was off and it only had a midweek dose of EI instead of daily. Anyway, no problem, the offending leaves have been plucked and after a serious water change it looks the same as when I left (apart from the Fissidens which seems to be doing really well). 

I've also got an exciting project to get stuck into, my sister in law bought a new chinese takeaway business with a large filthy looking fish tank full of unsuitable carp of some sort. I've been asked to rescape and restock it so hopefully it'll take my mind off fiddling with my tank too much.  Low tech and low maintenence will be the order of the day!


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## Edvet (3 Jun 2014)

We need pics of that tank of course, and we will get ideas for you.


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## James D (16 Jun 2014)

Although I haven't updated the journal much changes are afoot.

I've been gradually switching to RO water (not pure, about a 70/30 mix) and at the weekend I rehomed my Columbian Tetras at a mates and added a pair of German Blue Rams. I've fancied a pair of these little fellas since I first bought my tank but was concerned I couldn't give them a proper home.

The tanks looking a bit shoddy at the moment because I removed a fair bit of Java moss off the wood to be replaced with fissidens, at the moment there are white glue marks everywhere but I'm not going to add the new moss until the new fish have settled a bit.... so I'll wait until then to get some photos up.


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## Edvet (16 Jun 2014)

Was talking about the restaurant tank........we need pics of that to come up with some briljant ideas...........


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## James D (16 Jun 2014)

That's looking unlikely now Ed unfortunately , my bro-in-law wants to change it, however my chinese sister-in-law feels the bigger carp are 'lucky' and is reluctant to go ahead. Speaking as a man with a Chinese wife I think he's unlikely to change her mind.


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## Edvet (16 Jun 2014)

If the film industry is true it seems chinese wifes are the boss


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## James D (18 Jun 2014)

My TDS pen arrived yesterday so I decided to test the RO water I got from Maidenhead Aquatics.... 240ppm!! To check it was working ok I tested my tapwater (260) and rainwater (17).

I'll be having words with them on Saturday.


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## Iain Sutherland (18 Jun 2014)

Take the pen with you, my MA was knocking out RO at 250 a while back. 


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## James D (18 Jun 2014)

It's not good is it, surely they must realize? It's not the couple of quid that bothers me, what if I was relying on the quality of the water for whatever reason? If they are aware of the parameters it's out of order.


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## Iain Sutherland (18 Jun 2014)

It's not good that's for sure, funny thing was they were using it for there soft water discus tanks too without knowing. Just think they don't test it.


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## aliclarke86 (18 Jun 2014)

That's incredible!! My tap water is only 68!!

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## James D (18 Jun 2014)

How much are you charging for 25 litres?


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## James D (24 Jun 2014)

Nothing exciting to report really, after getting my RO unit last week I've managed to get the TDS in my tank down from 450 to 140.

I've got no photos as the tanks looking a bit scruffy, I really need to add some of the moss I've been growing on stones round the back of the scape, but I don't want to disturb my new Rams who are still settling in. For some reason one species of my moss (plain java moss I think) has all died away since the original rescape so there are a few bare areas on the wood covered in white glue .

I also think it's time to increase my lighting as any growth is incredible slow so from tonight I'm going to change to two LED bars.


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## James D (8 Jul 2014)

The two LEDs didn't work out to well (unless you like algae). I've gone back to the plan of floating plants, low light and no CO2. I've had a bit of BBA but the tank seems to have stabilized now. I've also switched to 95% RO (the other 5% comes from the kettle) and started adding Catappa X. I've been trying a dried leaves in there but I just can't get used to the tannins.



img


upload img


Thanks for looking.


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## Mr. Teapot (8 Jul 2014)

Looking really, really great James. Those pieces of wood above the surface would make a lovely home for a little emersed moss colony.


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## James D (8 Jul 2014)

Cheers Mr T, I did try a bit but it more or less died and fell off. It was just a bit that I found in my guttering one day, maybe I'll try a different kind sometime, I do like the look of it.


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## Greenfinger2 (8 Jul 2014)

Hi James, If the DW is damp all the time ?" By the look of the photo it should be " Try a Aquatic moss  That should do well


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## dw1305 (8 Jul 2014)

Hi all,





James D said:


> It was just a bit that I found in my guttering one day, maybe I'll try a different kind sometime


It has probably come off the roof, and roof-top mosses are fairly xerophytic and don't tend to like being damp all the time.

If you can find some moss in your lawn or a local wood it is likely to be more successful. Any of the pleurocarpous (non-tufted) moss would do, and one really common one_, Calliergonella cuspidata_ <http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/mosses/Calliergonella_cuspidata.pdf> & <http://www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants/calliergonella-cuspidata> does fine fully submersed. 

You can see it all around the garden pond in this post, but it does fine in a tank as well. 
<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/moss-in-the-pond.27913/#post-290005>

cheers Darrel


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## Mr. Teapot (8 Jul 2014)

I just found mine in a damp area of the garden attached to a rock - have no idea what it is. If you have some of the moss dipping into the water it wicks up nicely and keeps things moist. Secured with some black cotton it attaches after a month. Best thing is that it creates a first hold for other plants to grow on a moss 'Island' after a while, if you can get some fragments of HC, it loves it.


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## James D (8 Jul 2014)

Cheers, I'll keep my eye out.

I was at llanrhaeadr waterfall the other day and there was tons of the moss everywhere, it never occured to me to pocket a bit as I was too busy trying keeping my daughter away from the water!


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## Alexander Belchenko (8 Jul 2014)

That's just great tank ATM.


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## James D (5 Aug 2014)

Took a few photos last night as I've made a few minor changes. My moss never really seemed to attach itself with the superglue method (maybe I didn't use enough!) bit's were falling off and the white glue was exposed so I retied it all with cotton over the weekend. I also replaced some of the moss with miniature Anubias as it was all getting a bit shaggy in there.

I've added a few pebbles but I'm not too sure about them now, they look like a bit of an afterthought (which they are). I might have to have a rethink and maybe get some bigger ones to try and integrate into the scape.

I've eventually found the fish I'm happy with. I never really wanted neon tetras as I thought they were a bit 'normal' (as my Mrs would say), I must say I'm very pleased with them though as they stand out a lot more than the Black neons I swapped them for. Unfortunately my experiment with German Blue Rams was not a happy one, they either died or spent all day bullying each other, so I got a pair of Kribs instead and they're proving to be awesome little fellas.

Overall I'm fairly pleased with the results although the moss all needs to grow back again, I think low tech will be the way for me from now on, algae is a thing of the past as is fiddling with CO2 settings and equipment. Although I'm still doing 2 x 50% water changes a week I'm going to try changing to just one.

Thanks for looking.

James


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## Edvet (5 Aug 2014)

I like the pebbles, in fact i would do more


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## Vinkenoog1977 (5 Aug 2014)

I agree with Ed, more pebbles, but I would opt for some smaller ones, randomly (as far as that's possible) added in between the larger ones. They really suit the layout IMO.


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## Alexander Belchenko (5 Aug 2014)

I really like the couch view. Very very clean and nice to watch. Pebbles look good too.


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## James D (5 Aug 2014)

Cheers, I've still got loads of stones left over so I might give them a go.

That's where I sit in the evening Alexander, half the time I look at the TV, the rest of the time I look at my tank!


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## Alexander Belchenko (5 Aug 2014)

Your tank looks bigger than 60cm. Maybe that's because your cabinet has 2 doors.


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## Rob P (5 Aug 2014)

Looks great mate, would look perfect in a doctors/dentists waiting area (not an insult btw lol, I mean it's very easy on the eye, very clean to look at )

Nice work


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## Greenfinger2 (5 Aug 2014)

Hi James, Looking great I like the stones too Lots of little river stones mix's around the larger stones would look great  I spend more time looking at my tank than whats on TV  Well there's nothing on the TV


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## James D (6 Aug 2014)

Thanks for the comments.

I chucked in some more pebbles last night (big and small). IMO it looks a bit more natural, problem is I keep having to dip my hands in every 10 minutes to rearrange them slightly. It's amazing how hard we have to work to contrive a 'natural' look . I'll let the moss grow in a bit before I bother with anymore photos though.

Cheers

James


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## Vinkenoog1977 (6 Aug 2014)

There's nothing harder to arrange than "random".


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## Greenfinger2 (6 Aug 2014)

Hi Some times it takes an hour and it all falls into place  Other times it takes days to get that random look  And then sometimes it does not work at all  So you start all over again  But we always get there in the end


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## James D (18 Aug 2014)

Sorry, no new pictures but I have got some exciting news..... Krib babies! 

Actually, I realize that it's probably more difficult to get them to stop breeding rather than to get them to breed but it was exciting news for me and my family. There's just the question of what to do with them now, I've got the equipment to set up another tank for them if they can survive the first week or two but I'm not sure I want another tank to maintain and loads of Kribs to deal with, I'll have to think about it.

I could really have done with them waiting for a few weeks as we're getting a new carpet fitted on Saturday and I've got to move the tank back and to.


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## James D (24 Sep 2014)

I haven't got much to update, since raising my already puny LED growth is incredibly sloooooow. I'm currently having some minor BBA issues on the wood but I've started treatment this week. I'm just wondering if anyone's ever had the problem of fish eating their Amazon Frogbit, they seem to be deteriorating in health recently and I sometimes see my Kribs pecking at them, is this likely to be the case or is it probably something else like nutrients or too much flow? Several weeks ago they were thriving.

I've also been working on something in my shed.......






Opinions welcome!


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## Alexander Belchenko (24 Sep 2014)

Awesome wood.
Those small braches look like liana on trunk of big tree. You only need some liana-style moss or plant on it, probably. Maybe murdania keysak gently tied with fishing line, and a nice carpet of grass like (tenelus or hairgrass).


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## James D (25 Sep 2014)

Cheers Alexander, it's taken me months to find the right wood, it's actually a few pieces but I haven't screwed them together yet, I think I might adjust the big root on the far left and I'm not too happy with the furthest forward middle root . I'm glad you picked up on the 'liana' idea, hopefully a bit of moss will make it look better. The idea is actually to keep planting minimal and low maintenence, I'll mainly use the plants from my current set up.


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## Alexander Belchenko (25 Sep 2014)

James, I think such great wood should be kept alone and not hidden with huge plant biomass. So your plan to keep it minimal and low maintenance is actually the right thing for me.
Only recently I began to understand the true power of philosophy "less is more".


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## Lauris (30 Sep 2014)

that's a massive piece of wood! 
should be impressive when scaped in


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## James D (2 Dec 2014)

I still haven't got round to taking this one down, unfortunately my new scaping materials are all out in the shed so I haven't had a chance to sort them out with these dark evenings. I've got a massive box of Manzi to use for my next scape rather than the wood above, it's just a case of finding time.

In the meantime here's some updated pics. As it's low tech nothing much changes, you can see just how high my light is suspended on the first photo, it's probably less powerful than the grobeam I tried for a bit too but at least I'm not getting any algae! Unfortunately it means that my photos didn't turn out too well though.















Edit: Just noticed I've accidentally put an old picture on, I'll replace it!


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## Alexander Belchenko (2 Dec 2014)

Why do you need a plastic ring on surface? You keep floaters around the center of the tank? Just curious what is the reason?


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## James D (3 Dec 2014)

Yeah, it's just to stop my floating plants from swirling about, they don't like it. The problem is the tube somehow reacts with my water and gives off a white slime!


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## kzeller (18 Dec 2014)

James D said:


> Yeah, it's just to stop my floating plants from swirling about, they don't like it. The problem is the tube somehow reacts with my water and gives off a white slime!


 The ring likely isnt Co2 resistant?  The level of Co2 in the water column is causing the tubing to react.  Use Co2 safe tube and it will go away.  This is common with non polyethelene (Co2 safe) tubing.


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## James D (11 Mar 2015)

After a year of having a carefree tank I'm having a few issues and it always looks a bit grubby, even a few days after cleaning. So tonight I'll be moving my fish into their temporary home and stripping everything out.

I spent most of the weekend staring at bits manzanita and I've got five pots of Christmas moss on my desk......


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## Andy D (11 Mar 2015)

Looking forward to the new one.


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## Greenfinger2 (11 Mar 2015)

Hi James, All good things must come to an end  Looking forward to the new Scape


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## James D (12 Mar 2015)

Cheers fellas!

I'm off to start a new journal.


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## rodoselada (12 Mar 2015)

look great!


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