# New scape, new plants, new beginning



## Manu (25 May 2015)

Hi everybody,

This is my first tank, it has been running for two weeks now but only managed to post some pictures today.

I would love to hear what you think, bad or good comments 

Here are some pictures when I set up the tank.
I have reopened an old doorway, build a cabinet from scaffolding boards than I have planned and cut.
We can view the tank from both side which is great but it also makes it quite difficult to arrange the plants.


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## Manu (25 May 2015)

Here are some picture taken yesterday :



 



 



 



 



 

Those are from the "back" :



 

 



 

I think there is too many kind of plants but there is so many I like


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## Tim Harrison (25 May 2015)

Hi, good start; plants look really healthy.


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## Ryan Thang To (25 May 2015)

Nice view from both side. I like the ideal.

Cheers
Ryan


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## Steven c (25 May 2015)

Very cool!


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## Richie (25 May 2015)

Really like the look of this....good work!


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## banthaman.jm (26 May 2015)

Really nice 
Jim


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## Swiss_Extremist (26 May 2015)

Hello,  my first post here!  Nice tank Manu.  I also have an aquarium which is viewed from both sides,  so has no back. 

We recently built a new house,  and I decided that an aquarium would make a great room divider between the lounge and kitchen,  so I had the builders create a wall especially for it. 

This is the view from the sofa... 





and from the kitchen.... 





And the end view.... 





It's big, it's bold, it starts conversation! 

Keep up the good work Manu.


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## Swiss_Extremist (26 May 2015)

Ps,  450l Juwel aquarium, running internal Juwel filter, 2 x Juwel T5 daylight and 2 x Juwel nature lights, plus external eheim 350 canister filter,  co2 injection and home made algae scrubber.


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## Manu (28 May 2015)

Hi everyone,

Thanks a lot for your comments!

There's so much to learn, for example, the Aponogeton Ulvaceus is growing so fast and wide that it's soon going to take the whole space in the middle:



I am wondering about moving it somewhere else but I don't like the idea to disturb it when it's doing so well...

I am also thinking to get a second pump and an atomiser diffuser to avoid the fizzy water.




Swiss_Extremist said:


> Hello, my first post here! Nice tank Manu. I also have an aquarium which is viewed from both sides, so has no back.
> 
> We recently built a new house, and I decided that an aquarium would make a great room divider between the lounge and kitchen, so I had the builders create a wall especially for it.
> 
> This is the view from the sofa...



This looks really cool !!!! I'm already wondering where to put a second tank and what style to give it 

Cheers !!


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## Enjoy (29 May 2015)

Someone did their homework. Excellent tank, even I'm inspired now. WD WD WD! Will go through the details when I have some extra time.


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## sciencefiction (30 May 2015)

Manu said:


> I am wondering about moving it somewhere else but I don't like the idea to disturb it when it's doing so well...



It has no problems being moved.  It grows big, mine was reaching a 65 cm tall tank

Edit: And well done with the tank. I wish my first planted tank looked like that.


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## Manu (30 May 2015)

Enjoy said:


> Someone did their homework. Excellent tank, even I'm inspired now. WD WD WD! Will go through the details when I have some extra time.





sciencefiction said:


> Edit: And well done with the tank. I wish my first planted tank looked like that.




Thanks a lot for the compliments  I am so happy it's going so well so far.
This forum has been a great help, better than my local shop...



sciencefiction said:


> It has no problems being moved. It grows big, mine was reaching a 65 cm tall tank



I have just moved it and it looks much better. It's incredible how fast the roots grow, and it was a bit messy as it pulled quite a bit of the akadama but after a few hours the water was clear again 
I'll post some pictures tomorrow and add the specs of the tank... I had forgotten to do that 

Cheers !


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## Manu (31 May 2015)

Hello,

here are some more details about tank:

*Tank :* Custom made 10mm OptiWhite 90cmW*48cmD*51cmH

*Filtration : *JBL CristalProfi e1501

*Lighting :* Aqualighter3 90cm with controller

*CO2 : *JBL Proflora m602, with Neutro 300 glass diffuser

*Substrate : *Akadama, Sphagnum Moss Peat and Osmocote following the great thread from James, Akadama - A cheap substrate

*Fertilisation : *EI using the Micro and Macro from Co2art at the moment

*Plants :*
Anubias barteri var. nana
Ludwigia repens rubin
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Sagittaria subulata var. pusilla
Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala wallichi
Rotala yao yai
Riccia fluitans
Cryptocoryne beckettii
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Didiplis diandra
Echinodorus tenellus

There's a few more cryptocorynes but I don't know the names...

Here are the latest pictures of the tank with the Aponogeton ulvaceus moved on the right side of the tank:



 



 

The rotalas are growing really well 



 

A close shot on the Riccia



 

Here is one of the five Amano's



 

And this is view from the back/stair case



 

Thanks for looking 

Cheers!


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## Tim Harrison (31 May 2015)

You're doing a great job, amazing in fact for your first tank.


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## Manu (6 Jun 2015)

Troi said:


> You're doing a great job, amazing in fact for your first tank.


Thanks a lot, I've been reading a lot on the forum and it's been so helpful. I'm very thorough with everything I do, it was great to follow James thread using Akadama. Everything went really well. I'm now on holiday, I've turned the lights to 8%, CO2 is at a bubble/second and I hope all will be fine went I'm back.
Cheers!


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## faizal (7 Jun 2015)

Hi Manu...yeah this is an amazing first effort. The plants are looking very healthy too.


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## Ryan Thang To (7 Jun 2015)

Very nice and creative for a first tank. Good job

Cheers
Ryan


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## Greenfinger2 (7 Jun 2015)

Hi Manu, Fab Scape for your first Congratulations


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## Manu (17 Jun 2015)

Hi everyone and thanks a lot for the very nice comments!!
I was off on holiday for a week, turned the CO2 down (1bps), the lights at 10%. I was very happy to see that everything was fine at my return  

I have added six shrimps and six otocynclus and they've done a fantastic job at cleaning all the tank and the plants.

I'll soon put a few pictures  

Thanks again for your comments and feel free to give any suggestions on maybe a better way to arrange the  plants or anything else you can think about!

Cheers!!!


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## scootamum (17 Jun 2015)

Very nice!   It looks much nicer with the Aponogeton ulvaceus moved over to the side!


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## Manu (9 Jul 2015)

Hello!

I finally have a bit of time to give an update and upload some pictures tonight 

So here is the tank how it was coming back from the holidays :






I have added a second external filter with an inline atomiser from Co2art to improve the water flow on the front of the tank and it's working really well, all the plants are moving gently.
Although they were doing well, I was not happy with the layout...
The Echinodorus tenellus on the front side of the tank was taking too much place giving the impression that the tank is very shallow (front to back).
So I moved the rock that was in the right rear corner, placed it in the middle and replanted the Echinodorus tenellus.
I have also rearranged the hair grass and planted some Marsilea crenata.
With some floating fish line attached to the new lily pipes I am keeping the Riccia in the right corner. It gives a bit of shade for the fern and the fish.

Here is the result :
















I also got rid of the stupid pompom of Riccia from the small branch and gave a hat to the not so pretty plastic lily pipe and I think it looks much more funky 





Here are few shots of the ottos, cardinals, glowlight danios and the shrimps :






























And two more pictures of the Aponogeton ulvaceus that flowered  :











I want to add just another type of fish to go with the cardinals and the danios. Do you guys have any suggestions? It needs to be a small fish obviously, something that will contrast nicely with the rest...

I hope you enjoy the pictures and I look forward to your comments 

Cheers!

Manu


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## Greenfinger2 (10 Jul 2015)

Hi Manu, Hope you enjoyed your holiday 

Tank is looking great  Love the flower photos


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## Manu (10 Jul 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Manu, Hope you enjoyed your holiday
> 
> Tank is looking great  Love the flower photos


Hi Greenfinger2,

Thanks a lot for your message.
The pictures of the flowers were taken a week ago, another one opened yesterday and two more are coming  

I'm thinking of having a shoal of Boraras brigitae but I'm wondering if it will be too much flow and light for them...
The other I quite like having would be the ember tetras.
Do you have any experience with any of them?
Many thanks!

Manu


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## Manu (10 Jul 2015)

Hi,

Just bought a shoal of ember tetras. They seamed quite stressed, looked very pale too,  but soon relaxed and went discovering the tank. I'm happy with the choice, their color comes out well against the green plants.


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## Keybo (9 Aug 2015)

Hi Manu,

Congrats on the tank, it looks amazing! Also nice photography bro, that pic of the Otto is sick!! My favorite fish for small heavily planted tanks are CPDs... they would look so nice in your tank .

I am currently in the process of rescaping my 70l tank and piecing together another 200l setup. I also just got a new macro lens and love to shoot my tank - your thread was definitely an eye catcher mate .


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## Manu (9 Aug 2015)

Keybo said:


> Hi Manu,
> 
> Congrats on the tank, it looks amazing! Also nice photography bro, that pic of the Otto is sick!! My favorite fish for small heavily planted tanks are CPDs... they would look so nice in your tank .
> 
> I am currently in the process of rescaping my 70l tank and piecing together another 200l setup. I also just got a new macro lens and love to shoot my tank - your thread was definitely an eye catcher mate .



Hi Keybo!

Thanks for you message and I'm really happy you enjoyed the pictures  

Before buying the glowlight danios I was very tempted with the CPDs, I love them too. Not sure anymore why I didn't get them in the end... One day I might swap the cardinals with CPDs  

Today I've moved some plants around to improve the look and also the flow as I was getting some black algae... I'm not finished yet but hopefully I will before the end of the week.

Have you got a journal? I'm on taptalk most of the time so even if you would have the link in your signature I would not be able to see it  
For the lense, I'm using a 100mm macro on 60d canon so it turns it in a 160mm  
Otos are not to hard to shoot as they sometimes stay still but the glowlight are a real pain  

Good luck with your projects and have fun with your new lense!

Cheers!


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## Keybo (10 Aug 2015)

I dont have a journal yet but I think I will start one when I piece together the new setups. I linked my welcome post on this forum in my signature.

So I tried buffing the scratches out of my 70l tank but I cant get them to a level I will be satisfied with. So I am going to order two new tanks through my new job. One around 70l for my nano stuff and then another around 200 for a decent scape. Im getting them both made with Optiwhite glass on 3 sides so im expecting a better viewing experience than my old hand me down tank .


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## Manu (14 Oct 2015)

Hi everybody,

It's been two months since my last update and I am glad I finally have a bit of time to post some pictures today.

Lots happened in two months : BBA, more BBA and the main reason was poor CO2 circulation around the tank.
Having the tank recessed into a wall and visible on both sides make things even more difficult as I want to keep the front and back free of pipes, spray bar...
I tried so many things to improve the water circulation around the tank and I think I have found the solution now.
I have spray bar along the left side and the filter has enough power that the flow actually hits the right side.
On the right side, I have two outlets at the bottom of the tank, one at the front and one at the back, and they blow toward the left side.
Those outlets are on the same filter and most of the CO2 is injected through them, keeping the CO2 bubbles a long time in the water.
I now have a clock wise flow and the outlets at the bottom of the tank help to get the CO2 to the carpet plants.

I have ordered some acrylic pipes to build something neat but here is a picture of the temporary pipe work:










I have also removed the wood, added a stone and I having a go at growing some Fissidens moss 
I have changed the position of many plants, still a lot to learn 

I brought back the glowlight danios to the shop as they kept bullying the other fish, the dominant males were scarring the others (probably not enough females in the shoal) and I found three fish dead on the floor in two days...
I have increased the group of embers and cardinals and they really good.

Here are some pictures of the tank, as you can see, it looks a bit "flat" at the moment but the rotalas should soon take over again... I have been a bit heavy with the scissors... I am trying to get them very bushy, I hope it's gonna work 



















This a wide shot of the tank within the room :





And the back:





The shrimps are breeding, I was so happy to find this shrimplet on the DC :









And here is the big belly of a pregnant amano shrimp:





And more creatures:





















Thanks for watching 

Cheers,
Manu


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## Ryan Thang To (14 Oct 2015)

oh wow. your tank and pictures are amazing. im still up for some camera lesson lol

how the frogbit doing


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## Manu (15 Oct 2015)

legytt said:


> oh wow. your tank and pictures are amazing. im still up for some camera lesson lol
> 
> how the frogbit doing


Hi Ryan,
Thanks mate  
The frogbit is doing well, growing quite fast. Thanks for giving me those  

I'll be happy to give you some tips with the camera. Let me know you're in MK and we'll organise something.

Cheers,
Manu


Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk


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## Ryan Thang To (15 Oct 2015)

Manu said:


> Hi Ryan,
> Thanks mate
> The frogbit is doing well, growing quite fast. Thanks for giving me those
> 
> ...


yes sure. we can go out for a drink


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## Manu (2 Nov 2015)

Hi all,

This is a quick update, but no picture, sorry... 

After a good start from the beginning, then many changes in terms of planting, hardscape and gear, I was quite disappointed by the growth rate I had lately.
I mentioned earlier about the flow issue which is now solved, but I was still not getting the same results that I had at the beginning.
So I decided to make an experiment with two bubble counters.
Yesterday, I connected the JBL bubble counter (that I started with) in-line after the co2 art bubble counter. Most of you won't probably be shocked by the result but anyway, here is why the growth was so slow: with the JBL counter at 1/sec, the co2 art counter was at nearly 4/sec...
When I started the tank I used the JBL counter at 2.5 bubbles per sec. Then I swapped to the co2 art counter and struggled to get the DC lime green with 5 or 6 b/sec... I was scared to kill the fish by going at a higher rate when actually I could have gone to 9 or 10 b/s.
I'm glad I've sorted this out and I'm expecting a lot of growth in the coming days and bye bye algae  

I've also build the new pipes out of acrylic, the flow and co2 distribution is now fantastic.

I'll post some pictures this next weekend  

Cheers, 
Manu


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## Greenfinger2 (2 Nov 2015)

Hi Manu, Glad you have things sorted  Looking forward to the photos


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## Andy Thurston (2 Nov 2015)

Manu said:


> Yesterday, I connected the JBL bubble counter (that I started with) in-line after the co2 art bubble counter. Most of you won't probably be shocked by the result but anyway, here is why the growth was so slow: with the JBL counter at 1/sec, the co2 art counter was at nearly 4/sec...
> When I started the tank I used the JBL counter at 2.5 bubbles per sec. Then I swapped to the co2 art counter and struggled to get the DC lime green with 5 or 6 b/sec... I was scared to kill the fish by going at a higher rate when actually I could have gone to 9 or 10 b/s.



Glad you've sussed this. Bubble counters are only there as a visual aid to set your co2. You cant measure co2 input with one and they all have different size bubbles, this is why you need to watch your plants and fish, they will never lie.

If you want to measure your co2 input then you need an inverted measuring jug to catch the co2 with. Then you can see how long it takes to to inject x amount of co2.

I've never tried this, I'm too lazy, I just use livestock and plants as a drop checker.
Plants melting = not enough co2
Fish gasping = too much.
Plants melting and fish gasping = too much light and/
or poor flow


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## Manu (2 Nov 2015)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Manu, Glad you have things sorted  Looking forward to the photos


Hi Roy, thanks. I can't wait to get the rotalas to get tall and bushy. Hopefully the carpet of Marsilea crenata is gonna grow  

Cheers,
Manu


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## Manu (2 Nov 2015)

Big clown said:


> Glad you've sussed this. Bubble counters are only there as a visual aid to set your co2. You cant measure co2 input with one and they all have different size bubbles, this is why you need to watch your plants and fish, they will never lie.
> 
> If you want to measure your co2 input then you need an inverted measuring jug to catch the co2 with. Then you can see how long it takes to to inject x amount of co2.
> 
> ...


Chers mate,
Just to make sure I didn't mean anything bad about the bubble counter from co2art. I'm a big fan of their products , not to mention the friendly staff,I just think that this bubble counter is maybe for suited for smaller tank where a rather small amount of co2 is needed. In that case, it would be perfect to dose very accurately.

The fish are fine and the plants are pearling nicely so I must be doing something right  

Cheers! 
Manu


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## banthaman.jm (3 Nov 2015)

looking forward to seeing the photos
jim


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## rebel (3 Nov 2015)

Wow, this is a dream first tank. Imagine how your next tank will look like!


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## TallDragon (3 Nov 2015)

Lovely tank.


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## Manu (9 Nov 2015)

rebel said:


> Wow, this is a dream first tank. Imagine how your next tank will look like!


Thanks for the compliment 
I was going to post some pictures this weekend but I've just done some trimming and it's not really interesting, so I will wait another week or two...

Talking about the next tank, I am dreaming about it everyday  I think I would like to set up a biotope for Brigittae rasboras...
It will be low tech this time, feeling a bit lazy 

Cheers,
Manu


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## Manu (17 Jan 2016)

Hi everyone,

It’s been a long time that I didn’t update my journal but it doesn’t mean nothing happened since the last update 
Bad things and good things happened.
Let's start with the bad: I had to remove two embers from the tank. They were really poorly, stressed and one of them got whit spots, the other one had something weird behind his dorsal. I decided that I really need to get more plants for the fish to feel safer.I also decided that the main focus point for the scape would be the front, and that I won't try for now to make a scape that looks good from the front and from the rear. This made everything easier for both hardscape and planting.

The good is that the scape looks much better now, and the fish look happier and they don't seem to be stressed anymore.
I also invested in an Aquamedic co2 reactor and no more mist 
I had enough of this fizzy water and the fish too. It was so obvious that as soon as the co2 shut down the fish were more active.
I also realised that the co2 bubbles were giving me wrong readings of the DC as those bubbles were caught in it easily. Now, I've got no mist and the drop checkers are both green/yellow.
I have changed the pipe work again so it works better with hardscape and I went with two "half" spray bars along the back glass.
It seems to work well and fish have a bit more peace than before. Just need to make them in acrylic and get some nice transparent suction cups and clips...

The updated plant list is:
-Hair grass
-Hydrocotyle tripartita
-Proserpinaca palustris
-Didiplis diandra
-Fissiden moss
-Pogostemon erectus
-Rotala rotundifolia
-Rotala macrandra 
-Alternanthera reineckii "pink"
-Hygrophila pinnatifida
-Vallisneria spiralis
-Vallisneria spiralis red
-Echinodorus bleheri
-Crypts (various)
-Aponogeton ulvaceus

Here are some pictures before and during rescaping and planting:




 



 



 



 


It's now time for the water change, I will put more picture after that 

Cheers,
Manu


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## Greenfinger2 (17 Jan 2016)

Hi Manu,  Last time I see your tank it looked fab.Will be coming up to MK again soon maybe we could meet up again at Destination Aquatics.
The  acrylic spray bar sounds good Order another length of acrylic for me please will sort out the money when I come up 

Looking forward to the updates cannot wait to see you new Aquascape 

See you soon Pm sort out some dates


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## Manu (18 Jan 2016)

Hi everybody,

below are a few pictures of the "new" scape. I've tried to give more depth and height by repositioning the rocks and adding a lot of substrate at the back.
Now, with a bit more experience and learning by making a lot of mistakes, I thought more about the layout of the plants. I hope it will work 
I've placed the Apogoneton in a way that it is giving a lot of shade to the crypts and allows me keep the lights quite bright without getting too much bba. Will see 
It also gives more cover to the fish and they seem to like it.
I've planted the Proserpinaca palustris in front of the Didiplis diandra and my goal is to keep it really short, 5 to 10 cm. It's in the "advance" plant category from Tropica  But I couldn't resist to try it 

Here are the pictures:



 



 



 



 



 

A nice shot of one of the cardinals:



 

And here is one of the new couple of Kribensis, still a bit pale at the moment:



 

Cheers,
Manu


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## Dead Bonsai (18 Jan 2016)

Just read through the whole thread, being really new to hobby I'm still trying to pick up as many pointers or tips that I can from each and every post  
In all the pics that you've posted the first thing that hits me is how healthy a vibrant your tank looks. Great job Manu, you've had an interesting journey so far, I enjoyed reading it.


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## Ryan Thang To (18 Jan 2016)

nice one manu. I love the new layout. would be amazing once plants fill out. awesome pictures btw

cheers
ryan


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## Manu (19 Jan 2016)

Dead Bonsai said:


> Just read through the whole thread, being really new to hobby I'm still trying to pick up as many pointers or tips that I can from each and every post
> In all the pics that you've posted the first thing that hits me is how healthy a vibrant your tank looks. Great job Manu, you've had an interesting journey so far, I enjoyed reading it.



Hi Dead Bonsai,
Thanks for your message and the compliments  I'm glad you enjoyed the journal 
The great people on Ukaps have been so helpful. It's really a fantastic forum with so much information that it's quite overwhelming at first.
Cheers,
Manu


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## Manu (19 Jan 2016)

legytt said:


> nice one manu. I love the new layout. would be amazing once plants fill out. awesome pictures btw
> 
> cheers
> ryan


Thanks a lot mate!
Can't wait to see the plants growing 

Speak soon,
Manu


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