# Referb and restart after 30 years. Low tech.



## The grumpy one (17 Apr 2021)

I have been meaning to start a journal for this little project for ages.
I have all the pics, just have not found the inclination.
So here goes:
The tank has not had water in it for about 30 years. It is only a Small Tank 30.588L, size cm 49.4w x 25.8d x 26.5h
It used to be my breeding tank. Had great success with cherry barbs, 3 generations and my local aquarium shop got all the extra ones for free. Gave me very good discount.

First off. I have put some shelves in the bedroom to take the tank.

Lighting: I wanted to reuse as much of my original equipment to save money.
I had a emersion heater timer and added a household LED dimmer.
I purchased 4 PAR 16 Parcan, 230V black and 4 5W GU10 LED Spotlight, 6400K, 380lm 38deg, Dimmable to go with them.
This gives me 50 lumens per litre.
Wired it all up and it works. The dimmer is only to allow me to reduce the light, but keep the time period.







So now onto resealing the tank.


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## Hufsa (17 Apr 2021)

I cant wait to see The Grumpy Tank after all the planning work


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## The grumpy one (27 Apr 2021)

My baby house plants basking in the aquarium lights


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## The grumpy one (27 Apr 2021)

Resealing the tank: This is how I did it and it is OK. I am sure there are easier ways and people will let me know what I have done wrong.
First to take off the old silicone.
Taking off frame. 

 
I was worried that the frame was the only thing holding everything together. Just to be safe, plenty of PVC tape.

 Well, so far so good. Frames came off very easily, just wiggle and pull carefully.

 What a mess the silicone is in. You can tell it was a cheap tank.
The glass is only 3mm except for the base, which is 4mm.


This taking off old silicone is fun. Must be careful not to scratch the glass. Or you will make a weak point, like when you score glass to cut it. Very sharp razor blade to start from middle to glass at a 30 deg angle seems to work. Little bit at a time, don't go too deep. 
Use a scalpel for the fiddly bits.


I put the frame back on at this point. Had to drill 1.5mm holes to let air out as I pushed it on. Put silicone all along the groves
then pushed it on. I knew it was good, because silicone came out of the 1.5mm holes.
So then I cleaned glass with isopropyl alcohol and applied masking tape.



Put silicone on
Use a spoon to smooth, dip in water then run along silicone at an angle. Don't do it more that 3 times or the silicone will start to go all over the place as it sets a skin. Then Pull off masking tape up away from the silicone (got tape all over my hands, silicone then started to set. What a mess, no pics, could not hold the camera).




When I used to use this tank, I never filled it above halfway. If filled to the top, the glass bowed alarmingly.
I decided to put glass bracing in. Local glass shop cut it to appropriate length and only 20mm wide.





Cleaned off all the silicone that went where I did not want it, With razor blade at a very low angle. Took ages.


Waited 48hrs for silicone to set.
Then for the water test. 2 days of no one able to have a shower was horrendous. 




Finished and no leaks.
Now you may be wondering "why the brace across the tank" all will be revealed in the next thrilling episode.
Stay tuned.


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## John q (27 Apr 2021)

A master silicone craftsman at work... I'll pencil you in for when I need the bath doing.

On a serious note it looks like you've done a good job on it.


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## The grumpy one (27 Apr 2021)

John q said:


> A master silicone craftsman at work... I'll pencil you in for when I need the bath doing.
> 
> On a serious note it looks like you've done a good job on it.


You should have seen the first run. It was awful. The second run was a lot better. So I took it off and did it again. Had to get another tube of silicone.


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## The grumpy one (15 Jun 2021)

Slight delay since last post. Due to the madness going on in the outside world I have waited 20 month for an routine op. Gallbladder taken away 3 weeks and 1 day ago.

Now for my adventure into Acrylic.







A nice raised cover for my little tank.

Now for the next Acrylic cantata.


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## The grumpy one (16 Jun 2021)

And so the Cantata begins.
The rig.





The bits,
.


The Glue.



Now to hold it rigid for the thing to set.



Next the side.

So what do you think it is?
No it is not a box for putting bits and bobs in.


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## The grumpy one (21 Jun 2021)

Moved on a bit since last post.











After the does it leak test. Still wet but I think it enhances the pic.
It only leaked a very little from chamber 2 to 1. Not at all outside (but that does not matter at all).






I was getting better at not having hand shake and putting the glue everywhere towards the end.

Now for the live test with the tank and pump (Back to work today, so that might be a while).


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## The grumpy one (4 Jul 2021)

Speaker foam sealing tape to stop pump vibrations transferring to the table top.


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## The grumpy one (4 Jul 2021)

Filter finished. Tested. Pic shows pump on. 
Had too much foam at first and water did not get through as fast as the pump was taking it away. The last chamber then went down almost exposing the pump.
Took out half white fine filter and one medium blue foam. Worked perfect after that.
Blue foam stuck to outside of filter is to reduce pump vibrations getting into the glass.
Also stuck course black foam around the pump to further stop the transfer of vibrations to the outside world.
Tank is in my bedroom. Must be OK as I could not hear it at all, when I went to bed.

Next to start the scape and redo that horrible looking blue foam on the outside.


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## The grumpy one (18 Aug 2021)

45 days later I manage to get some hobby time.

Just a small simple scape for what is only a hospital/quarantine/breading tank.

Made some acrylic rock stand, 20mm high


 Lucky I have access to a good supply of cast acrylic offcuts from work. Used acrylic glue, very smelly.

Stuck the rocks on top. One of those 5kg bag of 6 pieces you can get.


 Only broke up one rock to make this. A bit fiddly sealing all the holes between back and front. used silicone sealant to stick everything in place.

Now for the sub straight.


 Used a mix of 5:1 Nyasa Sand and Limpopo sand at the front, 20mm deep. I just felt that the Nyasa sand was too light against the slate.
                                                         Used Tropica Aquarium Soil Powder in the back section, 50mm deep.
                                                         The acrylic rock stands do a good job of keeping soil and sand separate, well until I have fish to move it all around.

So the whole setup now looks like this.



Next to get some plants. I want a South American theme.
Was hoping to get:
1 x HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA -  to grow by the filter to hide it a bit.
1 x HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM - on the left of the tank.
1 x ECHINODORUS RUBIN - for the centre.
Hopefully I have chosen plants that will not grow so high as to come out the top of the tank.
Any suggestions for alternative plants?

Next the hunt for in stock plants.


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## The grumpy one (21 Aug 2021)

Ordered plants on Thursday from Aquarium gardens.
Had a senior moment ant thought it was Wednesday and specified next working day delivery.
Tried to contact Aquarium gardens to get delivery changed to Saturday and pay the difference.
They did not reply and then I got an email on Friday, saying plants had been dispatched and would be delivered Monday.
Never mind, I am sure that they will be OK.

Went out the front door to do the recycling at about 4pm today (Saturday). Low and behold, there was a parcel on the doorstep.



 So now I am the proud owner of 3 plants.

Bit of a rush to plant, fill the tank and cook dinner. Dinner was only an hour late.
Left: HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM
Centre: ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA'
Right: HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA

Now for the daily water changes for a week.


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## The grumpy one (28 Aug 2021)

Its now been 7 days since I planted and filled the tank.
Been doing 30% water changes every day.

I have been dosing the following:

ProductFrequencyDose / LDose for LTRs(ml)(ml)(L)API Tap Water ConditionerEvery water change0.01670.16710Water change volumeDennerle Carbo Elixir BIODaily0.010.2828TankTNC CompleteWeekly0.12.828Tank

Any suggestions or am I doing it all wrong?

Done my first water test today. I think it is a bit OTT to do it every day, after all there is still another 5 weeks before I can put fish in and I can sort issues later.

NT Labs Aquarium Lab Water Test SetDateAmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃mg/Lmg/Lmg/LdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.25​12.65​7.58​6.21​28/8/21 after 7 days of start0.50​0.50​10.00​7.50​3.00​5.00​

Any issues you experts can see?

Substrate is Tropica Aquarium Soil Powder with some TNC Plugs around the HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM and the Echinodorus 'Aquartica'

I have been taking a pic every day after water change. You can definitely see plant growth, so I must be doing OK?
















Well that's it for now. Feel free to comment on anything I am doing wrong

Just thought of an issue I had this week. My Acrylic cover, I made, has been warping. It is because I only have access to extruded Acrylic and that has stresses built in due to the process. I have had to put some more x members in strategic places to stop it warping. I was having trouble getting it off the top of the tank. One day I will replace it with cast Acrylic, which has no built in stress.


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## John q (28 Aug 2021)

The grumpy one said:


> Any suggestions or am I doing it all wrong?


It's amazing how we doubt ourselves... if your aim is to grow healthy plants then I'd suggest at this point it's mission accomplished, for now 😉


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## The grumpy one (29 Aug 2021)

That's my problem John Q. With all the people on here that struggle to grow plants and I manage it first try. That can't be right, especially low tech?


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## noodlesuk (29 Aug 2021)

Great project, love all the DIY stuff. Am a big fan of those in tank back sump filters (is there a technical name?) . Keeps it so clean.


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## The grumpy one (29 Aug 2021)

internal sump filter seems to be the popular name noodlesuk. I love them. You can make them very quiet and no chance of a leak. It is also very easy to clean filter medium, pull it out and rinse in a bucket.


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## The grumpy one (29 Aug 2021)

What a difference a day makes. Just look at the growth on the Helanthium Bolivianum (left), that runner has grown by 25mm in 24hrs.



Now to train it to root where I want it to. Glad I kept the ceramic weights from the bottom of the pots.

The (slow growing!!!!!) Echinodorus 'Aquartica' (centre) centre leaf has also grown by a silly amount.

Odd that the Hydrocotyle Leucocephala (right) does not seem to have grown at all? So much for being told that this plant grows very quickly.


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## The grumpy one (4 Sep 2021)

Water test day. Before 30% water change, results after 14 day of start.

NT Labs Aquarium Lab Water Test SetDateAmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃mg/lmg/lmg/ldKHdGHTap water from supplier0.25​12.65​7.58​6.21​28/08/21 after 7 days0.50​0.50​10.00​7.50​3.00​5.00​04/09/21 after 14 days0.20​0.25​7.50​7.20​2.00​5.00​

Well it seems everything is heading in the right direction. Only a small amount of brown algae visible on the top of the spray bar.


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## The grumpy one (4 Sep 2021)

Photo time. Day 9 to 14, taken after water change.
I moved the Echinodorus 'Aquartica' forward a bit. The other two were going to crowd it out, so I made it the centre of attention.















Growth seems to have slowed except for Helanthium Bolivianam, which seems to be determined to grow lots of babies. There are now 2 on the runner. It's a bit of a trial truing to get it to go the way I want and not just take over the centre of the tank.


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## Wolf6 (4 Sep 2021)

What are your plans, stocking wise?


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## The grumpy one (5 Sep 2021)

I really want a South American theme and the plants are all South American.
 I was thinking:

Dwarf corydoras x 4 (2.5cm x 4 = 10cm) They would be the first thing I stock.




Then if I can get the water parameters to within what they need Ember tetra x 8 (2.0cm x 8 = 16cm)




Giving 26cm of fish in a 28l tank. Bit tight but the filter is well over the top.

If the Ember tetra's are a no no due to water parameters, then I will have to find another small South American fish.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## dw1305 (5 Sep 2021)

Hi all,


The grumpy one said:


> I really want a South American theme and the plants are all South American.
> I was thinking:
> 
> Dwarf corydoras x 4 (2.5cm x 4 = 10cm) They would be the first thing I stock.
> ...


I think you would need much more structure for _Corydoras pygmaeus_. A lot more plants, structural leaf litter etc. They are also much better in a bigger group.

I don't think any really small fish would be happy in fairly bare tank, they are all more secure with more cover.

Cheers Darrel


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## shangman (5 Sep 2021)

I really agree with @dw1305, corydoras need a minimum of 10 (in my experience, any less and they hide all the time and don't move much at all) to feel confident, and they also need lots of hiding places. Ember tetras are similar, they will be very shy if these needs aren't met which won't be enjoyable to watch. Really in a tank this size you should only keep one species at most.

The way you're thinking about stocking in terms of inches is considered a bit old fashioned as it can be misleading, it's now more about looking on places like seriouslyfish.com and aqadvisor.com and seeing what minimum tank size the fish you want need, how big a group they should be (some fish singles, some in big groups) as well as all their other needs/how they live in the wild and making sure your tank mimics what they have in the wild so they're as comfortable as possible. People on UKAPS also have a really good understanding of the needs of fish and can advise you with their real-life experiences on stocking. Some people don't mind keeping their fish in smaller tanks (or overstocking medium-sized tanks), and some people have more strict standards for keeping their fish (keep to a small number of species and give them as much space as possible + mimic their natural environment). No judgement either way, but personally I went from the first group in thinking about stocking (I wanted to keep every creature I liked in one tank) to the second group (I now keep a limited no. of small fish species in larger groups, in a larger tank) purely from experience - I have noticed the fish are significantly "happier" and exhibit lots of interesting natural behaviour when I apply those stricter standards, and I find that that is much more satisfying to watch and experience. There is much less anxiety in fishkeeping when I know all my fish's needs are met too. 

I have noticed my fish are at their most confident when they're surrounded by big bushes of thriving real plants, big handfuls of dried leaves and dappled light from floating plants and hardscape. This makes sense because tiny fish like pygmy cories, ember tetras, etc, are so small, and thus everything in the wild finds them to be a delicious snack. They are naturally shy and need hiding places to escape into to feel safe enough to come out. Adding a few handfuls of leaves is super easy, will soften your water a bit, and just makes tanks look more natural in a beautiful way. I use oak, beech, catappa, walnut & my favourites right now are magnolia grandiflora if you have one of those in your area, they look beautifully tropical in a tank. I also suggest that you add a few more plants to the tank, I know you want to leave space for the plants you have now to grow but it will 100% make any animals you add happier now, and it's fun to try different plants. Another good option is some floating plants to dapple the light, animals really like that too, in the wild they have trees and plants dappling in the light and hiding them from predators. Floating plants grow very fast too, so you don't need much to start with.


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## The grumpy one (5 Sep 2021)

Points well taken guys. Well I have at least 4 to 6 weeks to decide. I was going to get more plants once there is a better stock from suppliers.
I like the idea of leaves. Will have to research how to do them. I have a large oak tree in the graveyard at the end of my garden.
I have used the sites suggested and they all seem to give a min tank size of 60cm x 40cm. The sites seem to differ as to min group size.
According to one Salt and pepper cory will be OK in my size tank at a stocking level of 4. the other says at least 10.
One says I can have 4 x Salt and pepper cory and 8 ember tetra.

So now I am very confused and feel that my tank is too small for anything except shrimp.


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## Wolf6 (5 Sep 2021)

10 embers would fit fine, or another small group fish like kubotai. Getting some more plant mass will help for sure. Shrimp can always be added too.


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## erwin123 (6 Sep 2021)

The Helanthium Bolivianam will carpet your tank in no time if you let it, while the Echinodorus should easily hit 20-30cm height.  Tropica Soil and TNC root plugs will provide them the nutrients they need to grow fast and big.


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## The grumpy one (11 Sep 2021)

21 days old. Water test day and Day 15 to 21 pics.
No real issues this week. Bit of green stuff growing on and in filter but not anywhere else.


NT Labs Aquarium Lab Water Test SetDateAmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃mg/Lmg/Lmg/LdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.25​12.65​7.58​6.21​28/08/21 after 7 days0.50​0.50​10.00​7.50​3.00​5.00​04/09/21 after 14 days0.20​0.25​7.50​7.20​2.00​5.00​11/9/21 after 21 days0.50​0.25​5.00​6.75​1.00​5.00​

















Have a good week.


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## The grumpy one (18 Sep 2021)

"28 Days later"
This week the breakout of brown algae (I think it's called Diatoms?) on the rocks, glass and spray bar has really taken off. Green algae (It looks like Green dust algae?) in the filter and on the spray bar suckers. Stringy algae on the plants (Some sort of filamentous algae?).
So Today I:

Removed the stringy algae with tweezers.
Cut off the dead leaves on the Helanthium Bolivianam.
Did 50% water change, giving the sub straight a really good sucking. I managed not to syphon up all the sub straight, by pinching the pipe to control the flow and allow the soil and sand particles to fall back down the pipe.
Gave the filter media a thorough splashy clean in the tank water I removed.
Did another 50% water change.
Gave the tank it's weekly dose of TNC complete, 2.8ml.
Did the daily dose of Carbo Elixir BIO, 0.28ml.
I went to my local fish shop to see if they had any Bladder or Ramshorn snails that they might donate to me. Just to try to reduce the algae a bit. I am one of those that think these type of snails are not pests but pets. I was hoping that I would get some free on my plants, but no luck. LFS expert searched all there tanks with no luck. Said, "That's just typical, we had a breakout last week.

I hope this Journal is being useful to the other novices out there?

NT Labs Aquarium Lab Water Test SetDateAmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃mg/Lmg/Lmg/LdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.25​12.65​7.58​6.21​28/08/21 after 7 days0.50​0.50​10.00​7.50​3.00​5.00​04/09/21 after 14 days0.20​0.25​7.50​7.20​2.00​5.00​11/9/21 after 21 days0.50​0.25​5.00​6.75​1.00​5.00​18/9/21 after 28 days0.10​0.25​5.00​6.75​1.00​4.00​

Nice to see Ammonia is going down.

Daily pics. day 22 to 28:
I like to step through them to see the plants are growing. It is a pity I have not got that software that matches the frames up. I can never seem to get the camera in the exact same place.


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## erwin123 (19 Sep 2021)

I really admire the patience involved in taking one photo every day and resisting the temptation to add new plants (I would have filled the tank to the max with plants long ago).

I found the maintenance routine for the Helanthium Bolivianam to be quite tough. Eventually I pulled the dying leaves out by hand rather than using scissors . As the plant grows, the dying leaves will be partially obscured by the mass of new leaves the plant is throwing out and I found them pretty hard to cut off cleanly without cutting the new growth by mistake.


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## The grumpy one (25 Sep 2021)

It's Saturday. Time to bore. 35 Days later.
So this week I got my first animals in the tank. Copepods, Cyclops. Going in the right direction, water wise, as they seem to be thriving.
Went to another local fish shop looking for Bladder or rams horn snails to start on the algae, no luck. They just had loads of assassin snails in all tanks.
I might have to go to a bad LFS, buy a plant, put it in a fish bowl and wait for the snails to hatch.
If anyone around the Gloucestershire area has bladder or rams horn snail infestation, I would love to come and take some off your hands.

NT Labs Aquarium Lab Water Test SetDateAmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃mg/Lmg/Lmg/LdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.25​12.65​7.58​6.21​28/08/21 after 7 days0.50​0.50​10.00​7.50​3.00​5.00​04/09/21 after 14 days0.20​0.25​7.50​7.20​2.00​5.00​11/9/21 after 21 days0.50​0.25​5.00​6.75​1.00​5.00​18/9/21 after 28 days0.10​0.25​5.00​6.75​1.00​4.00​25/9/21 after 35 days0.00​0.13​0.25​7.25​1.00​5.00​

Ammonia has finally reached zero. Nitrite and Nitrate are good too. Looks like I have a good health colony in the filter.

Another week to go before cycle is complete. Then I just need the plants to establish and fill the tank.
I am thinking of getting another plant. The HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM does not seem to be growing any more! Maybe it will pick up.
Looking for something to go along the back that only grows about 6cm deep, preferably South American origin. Any suggestions?

This weeks pics, Day 29 to 35:
















Thanks for reading.


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## dw1305 (25 Sep 2021)

Hi all, 


The grumpy one said:


> If anyone around the Gloucestershire area has bladder or rams horn snail infestation, I would love to come and take some off your hands.


I'm a bit further a field, but I have plenty. I'm working away next week, but if you don't have any joy PM me at the end of the week and I can post you some. They travel well in damp moss.

cheers Darrel


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## erwin123 (26 Sep 2021)

The grumpy one said:


> ​
> 
> Ammonia has finally reached zero. Nitrite and Nitrate are good too. Looks like I have a good health colony in the filter.
> 
> ...



Regarding your comment that the plant has stopped growing, Is "0.25" nitrate level suitable for growing the plants in your tank like the Helanthium? Maybe its adapting to a low nitrate environment?

South American and 6cm, here we go: Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
It is not as red in Low tech, but the colour will still be an attractive contrast to the greens.


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## The grumpy one (26 Sep 2021)

Thanks erwin123. I will try one Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini' next time I need to get some supplies. 
Hopefully I will soon have some fish and the nitrate level will increase.


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## dw1305 (26 Sep 2021)

Hi all, 


The grumpy one said:


> Hopefully I will soon have some fish and the nitrate level will increase.





erwin123 said:


> Regarding your comment that the plant has stopped growing, Is "0.25" nitrate level suitable for growing the plants in your tank like the Helanthium? Maybe its adapting to a low nitrate environment?


You could try just adding a bit more fertiliser. There are a <"number of issues with nitrate testing">, because of this I wouldn't worry too much about what the test kit says and <"just go by how green the plants look">.

Are the tap water nitrate (NO3) values from <"your water company?"> The water companies values will be right and you can use them to calibrate your test kit.

cheers Darrel


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## The grumpy one (26 Sep 2021)

> Are the tap water nitrate (NO3) values from <"your water company?"> The water companies values will be right and you can use them to calibrate your test kit.


Yes they are. So I will test my tap water. Subtract or add the difference between test results and Water company values. 
Then when I do a test of tank I just add or subtract from the value of test kit. Simple. I wish I had thought of it.


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## dw1305 (26 Sep 2021)

Hi all, 


The grumpy one said:


> Subtract or add the difference between test results and Water company values.


I didn't think of it as such, it is standard practice in science and what we do when we test water samples, make up <"calibration solution"> and <"then dilute that solution to make a standard curve">.  

cheers Darrel


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## Ian61 (28 Sep 2021)

#25
I really agree with @dw1305, corydoras need a minimum of 10 (in my experience, any less and they hide all the time and don't move much at all) to feel confident, and they also need lots of hiding places. Ember tetras are similar, they will be very shy if these needs aren't met which won't be enjoyable to watch. Really in a tank this size you should only keep one species at most.

Hi. I have 6 panda corys in a 340l tank and they’re always very active and visible and now spawning. Highly recommended as an option.

Regards Ian


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## erwin123 (28 Sep 2021)

I have 5 Orange Venezuelan Corys (including 1 gold variant) in my tank and they are super active too- they go everywhere and dig everything up.  I have lost 1 tub of tissue culture Eleocharis Aricularis and 1 tub of tissue culture Rotala bonsai to them. My 24x filtration is barely keeping up with the stuff they dig up. 😅

Some of them also love playing with the Co2 bubbles from the diffuser. When it comes to feeding, they don't give an inch to the much bigger Denison Barbs


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## The grumpy one (2 Oct 2021)

Day 42
This week:
Upped the dose of of Carbo Elixir BIO to 0.6ml per day, from 0.28ml per day.
Upped the dose of TNC complete to 0.6ml per day, from 2.8ml per week.
Bugs are still there, so at least the water is still healthy. It seems to have helped the plant growth and water parameters.

NT Labs Aquarium Lab Water Test SetAmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃Datemg/Lmg/Lmg/LdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.25​12.65​7.58​6.21​28/08/21 after 7 days0.50​0.50​10.00​7.50​3.00​5.00​04/09/21 after 14 days0.20​0.25​7.50​7.20​2.00​5.00​11/09/21 after 21 days0.50​0.25​5.00​6.75​1.00​5.00​18/09/21 after 28 days0.10​0.25​5.00​6.75​1.00​4.00​25/09/21 after 35 days0.00​0.13​0.25​7.25​1.00​5.00​02/10/21 after 42 days0.00​0.50​7.50​7.00​1.00​6.00​

I now have some Nitrate for the plants to use.

I think things are now going in the right direction?
Weekly pics: Day 36 to 42


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## erwin123 (3 Oct 2021)

Really admire your patience. There is probably some website that allows you to stitch all your daily photos together to create an animated graphic.

The increase in Nitrite levels is worrying though. By day 40+ it should be consistently 0.

It could be a lighting issue, but the Helanthium leaves in day 42 look less 'green' and more 'translucent' than say, your earlier photographs (eg: day 14). If it was a deficiency, then the added ferts should help sort it out.


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## aec34 (3 Oct 2021)

Chipping in on the ember tetras - I’m also in Gloucestershire and have a 35 litre tapwater tank with 6 embers in it. They’ve only been in a week, but seem happy and at home.
It’s heavily planted and has wood and leaves (and a few cherry shrimp) but is tap water. Thought I’d pass that on if you’re worried about parameters. Tank has been set up for 8 weeks.


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## The grumpy one (6 Oct 2021)

dw1305 said:


> I'm a bit further a field, but I have plenty. I'm working away next week, but if you don't have any joy PM me at the end of the week and I can post you some. They travel well in damp moss.



Thanks to DW1305 I now have a host of snails eating their way through my brown algae. Already have snail paths appearing in the worst of it.
Also included from DW1305 were some 
_Crangonyx, _they are great fun to watch running round the sub straight. My they can move fast. 
Lumbriculus have totally vanished, I assume into the sub straight.

Thanks Darrel.


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## not called Bob (7 Oct 2021)

erwin123 said:


> Really admire your patience. There is probably some website that allows you to stitch all your daily photos together to create an animated graphic.
> 
> The increase in Nitrite levels is worrying though. By day 40+ it should be consistently 0.
> 
> It could be a lighting issue, but the Helanthium leaves in day 42 look less 'green' and more 'translucent' than say, your earlier photographs (eg: day 14). If it was a deficiency, then the added ferts should help sort it out.


don’t think you can do it retrospectively but 1 Second Everyday would work for a fresh start


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## The grumpy one (9 Oct 2021)

Day 49
This week:
Kept the dosing the same. The _HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM_ is still dying back? The other plants are growing at least a leaf a week on all stems.
Since adding the snails donation, from DW1305, the brown algae has been put under control. 
I decided to keep the moss that the snails came in and tied it to a rock using monofilament line. You never know when a bit of moss will come in handy.
Snails are doing OK, only one empty shell so far. 
_Crangonyx _are doing OK, but I have only seen two at the same time. Fun to watch zooming around the tank
I have not seen the Lumbriculus, but then they are worms and will be deep in the sub straight.


NT Labs Aquarium Lab Water Test SetAmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃Datemg/Lmg/Lmg/LdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.2512.657.586.2128/08/21 after 7 days0.500.5010.007.503.005.0004/09/21 after 14 days0.200.257.507.202.005.0011/09/21 after 21 days0.500.255.006.751.005.0018/09/21 after 28 days0.100.255.006.751.004.0025/09/21 after 35 days0.000.130.257.251.005.0002/10/21 after 42 days0.000.507.507.001.006.0009/10/21 after 49 days0.000.255.007.001.006.00

Nitrite has started to go down again. Good sign. 
I am using API Tap Water Conditioner at the recommended dose for fresh water when doing water change. I have not seen any chlorine bubbles on the side of the plastic jerrycan after adding the conditioner. I have been putting the water in via the filter intake. I have now stopped that practice just in case the conditioner is not removing the chlorine and that is killing off my filter bacteria. I am also leaving the fresh water overnight and then giving it a good shake. I have been getting bubbles forming in the tank after water changes, This could just be oxygen coming out as the water warms up by about 6c once in the tank.

Weekly pics Day 43 to 49


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## The grumpy one (16 Oct 2021)

Day 56:
This week.
Busy day today and so I forgot to do water tests before water change. Unless something changes visibly, I will miss this week.
Moss: Is doing well now I have tied it to a stone. No idea what moss it is. It maybe VESICULARIA MONTAGNEI?
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Had a prone today and planted the offcut at the front of the rest. It is still growing one or two leaves om each stem a week.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': is growing about one new leaf a week. Some of the other leaves are showing signs of holes.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: has not grown at all, but only lost one leaf this week. Very odd as this is and easy plant which needs roughly the same conditions as the other plants. The way it is not growing, I am tempted to replace it with ALTERNANTHERA REINEKII MINI (If I can find one in a pot).
BLADDER SNAILS: Are laying eggs. I am quite surprised how fast they move.
RAMSHORN SNAILS: Not sure if they are laying eggs. I like watching them doing acrobatic moves on the root of the pennywort.
CRANGONYX: They seem to have had babies. Very small (<1mm) white things running all over the filter. The two adults live in the roots of the pennywort and under the filter.
LUMBRICULUS: I have not seen any all week.
CYCLOPS: Lot of these darting through the current.

Weekly pics Day 50 to 56
















As far as fish goes. I am waiting until I have a good dense plant growth for them to hide in.
I am enjoying the animal life I have in there. It is fascinating watching this little ecosystem mature and stabilize.


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## The grumpy one (23 Oct 2021)

Day 63:

AmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃Datemg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.2512.657.586.2128/08/21 after 7 days0.500.5010.007.503.005.0004/09/21 after 14 days0.200.257.507.202.005.0011/09/21 after 21 days0.500.255.006.751.005.0018/09/21 after 28 days0.100.255.006.751.004.0025/09/21 after 35 days0.000.130.257.251.005.0002/10/21 after 42 days0.000.507.507.001.006.0009/10/21 after 49 days0.000.255.007.001.006.0016/10/21 after 56 days23/10/21 after 63 days0.000.007.507.002.008.00

The nitrite looks better now.

Weekly pics day 57 to 63















I am beginning to think the HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM is lacking nutrients. Looks like iron? The ECHINODORUS RUBIN older leaves are going yellow at the edges?


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## erwin123 (24 Oct 2021)

The Helanthium may be past the point of rescue rather than an indication of current conditions (i.e. if you put in a new Helanthium it might grow fine since you have increased the TNC complete dosing)

 Given the test kits are not that accurate there might be a huge margin of error. So even your test kit says 0.25-5ppm NO3 in the past few weeks, it might have been closer to zero which would not have been good for the plants.

As you have pointed out, you only dosed TNC complete 0.4ml/day for the first 42 days before increasing to 0.6ml/day. This apparently adds only 2ppm of NO3 a week (no matter what the test kit says). MichaelJ in your water chemistry thread has pointed out/suggest  that *3ml/day *is needed to add 10ppm NO3 a week. I stand corrected if my maths is wrong, not easy to figure the numbers 

As for Iron deficiency, I found this quote from Tom Barr which suggests that Fe is used to help with NO3 uptake... but if you don't have enough NO3 in the first place...


> Plants need to use Fe as an enzyme co-factor for nitrate reductase enzyme systems, so when plants process nitrate into the proteins they are made from there is a requirement for Fe.
> Up to 70% of Fe is used for NO3 uptake. Using NH4 and other forms of N can help reduce the need for Fe since plants use it(Fe) mostly for NO3 uptake. So under Fe limitation, NH4 sources of N are best.











						Can low Fe disturb Nitrate uptake?
					

Can low Fe disturb Nitrate uptake?




					barrreport.com


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## The grumpy one (24 Oct 2021)

Thanks erwin123 and michaelj. I now understand what dose TNC complete should be to stop nutrients running out. 3ml/day.
I will increase it slowly, just in case all hell breaks loose. As of today I have upped it to 1.2ml/day.
It is my imagination, but they look healthier a couple of hours after the first dose.
I will keep this dose for a week, then review any changes. 
With the idea to increase to 1.8ml week two, 2.4ml week three then 3ml week four.
That way I can see the difference and let the plants and animals get acclimatised to the new dosing.


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## dw1305 (24 Oct 2021)

Hi all,


erwin123 said:


> Given the test kits are not that accurate there might be a huge margin of error. So even your test kit says 0.25-5ppm NO3 in the past few weeks, it might have been closer to zero which would not have been good for the plants.





The grumpy one said:


> I now understand what dose TNC complete should be to stop nutrients running out. 3ml/day.  will increase it slowly, just in case all hell breaks loose.


That is why I <"watch the plants">,  your eyes (the plants) <"can't lie">. 


The grumpy one said:


> It is my imagination, but they look healthier a couple of hours after the first dose.


It might not be your imagination,  you will get a <"pretty instant greening"> with the mobile nutrients.

cheers Darrel


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## dw1305 (25 Oct 2021)

Hi all,


The grumpy one said:


> It is my imagination, but they look healthier a couple of hours after the first dose.


How are they looking today?

This is a <"non-mobile nutrient (iron (Fe))"> but you can see the effect. This is over several weeks, with nitrogen (N) you really can see the leaves get greener over a couple of hours.

Before


 

After




cheers Darrel


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## The grumpy one (25 Oct 2021)

Looking good today.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': has gone a darker green. The slightly yellow leaves have got green at the stem, working slowly up the leaf.
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: has doubled it's growth and new stems are appearing.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: seems to be growing new leaves. The baby one might even survive.
Lots of baby snails with little shells visible today.

Water looks a bit green. Might turn the lights down by 5% to 60%?


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## The grumpy one (30 Oct 2021)

Day 70:

Reading some of the threads here. I see that some people consider my tank as high tech! Apparently because I am adding Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO this makes it high tech. I think I will just call it a tech tank.

Bit of a long one today. I hope that this is helping some of you. I hope the data and daily pics at least give people a datum regarding progress and cures for when it does not go as planned.

When I used to keep fish, I just had terrible troubles growing aquatic plants, so this is an achievement to have healthy growth for this long. Thanks to all those people out there who have put me on the right track.

Wildlife:
LUMBRICULUS: I finally saw them! About 11pm after lights off (lights on 12noon lights off 8pm) I shone a torch into the tank. As I slowly swept it around, there they were sticking up head first out of the soil, darting back down their hole as the light hit them.
BLADDER SNAILS: Have taken to riding around in clumps of up to 4 on each others backs. I wonder what they could be doing!!!
RAMSHORN SNAILS: Getting bigger and bigger. One has taken to water sky diving. It lets go from the spray bar and fly's around the tank in the current. After 15min or so another water sky diver, It looks like the same one!
CYCLOPS: Seems to be fewer now. Maybe because I don't notice them so much with everything else so active.
CRANGONYX: The adults are now out all of the time. When I was cleaning the tank today and doing the 33% water change, one was following the siphon and jumping on anything that got washed up. I wonder if I should start feeding them? What with, anyone know?? Just wait until I finally get some fish (If I ever do), they won't be so bold then.

Water:

AmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃Datemg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmdKHdGHTap water from supplier0.2512.657.586.21Tap water measured0.000.000.007.508.0028/08/21 after 7 days0.500.5010.007.503.005.0004/09/21 after 14 days0.200.257.507.202.005.0011/09/21 after 21 days0.500.255.006.751.005.0018/09/21 after 28 days0.100.255.006.751.004.0025/09/21 after 35 days0.000.130.257.251.005.0002/10/21 after 42 days0.000.507.507.001.006.0009/10/21 after 49 days0.000.255.007.001.006.0016/10/21 after 56 days23/10/21 after 63 days0.000.007.507.002.008.0030/10/21 after 70 days0.000.005.007.002.008.00

Looks like Hardness has stabilised. Think I will stop doing that test weekly and maybe only monthly just to check it has not gone mad.
Bit worried that the Nitrate  NO₃ is still swinging between 5.0 and 7.5. Nitrite NO₂ has finally settled down.

Plants:
All doing well. At the beginning of the week I upped the daily doses of TNC complete from 0.6ml to 1.2ml and Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO from 0.6ml to 0.8ml. The plants seemed to be enjoying this.
Since the members here said that I should be dosing 3ml of TNC complete a day, I have been upping the dose each week by 0.6ml. so today I dosed 1.2ml. Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO is going up to 1ml per day. Lets see what that does to the plants and wildlife!
I have moved the stone with the moss in ........ anticipation of getting some ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI to put at the back left.

Pics:


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## Karmicnull (31 Oct 2021)

AR mini will give you some good contrast and it's generally easy to grow - good choice.


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## erwin123 (31 Oct 2021)

The grumpy one said:


> All doing well. At the beginning of the week I upped the daily doses of TNC complete from 0.6ml to 1.2ml and Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO from 0.6ml to 0.8ml. The plants seemed to be enjoying this.
> Since the members here said that I should be dosing 3ml of TNC complete a day, I have been upping the dose each week by 0.6ml. so today I dosed 1.2ml. Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO is going up to 1ml per day. Lets see what that does to the plants and wildlife!
> I have moved the stone with the moss in ........ anticipation of getting some ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI to put at the back left.



When I add more ferts, my Sera test kit usually shows a darker colour (i.e. indicating higher No3 levels). In your case, after doubling the amount of ferts you are adding, your NO3 test shows a 33% drop in NO3 ... I think your test kit is way off.


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## The grumpy one (31 Oct 2021)

erwin123 said:


> When I add more ferts, my Sera test kit usually shows a darker colour (i.e. indicating higher No3 levels). In your case, after doubling the amount of ferts you are adding, your NO3 test shows a 33% drop in NO3 ... I think your test kit is way off.


Mmmmmm Interesting. I am using NT labs. Yesterday I tested the tap water, dechlorinated and left it over night. Took a test sample in the morning. Water suppliers say NO₃ is between 6.54mg/l and 20.36mg/l from 8 results and my test said zero. There is something wacky going on. The water supply in this area comes from a lot of different sources (springs everywhere peculating through all that Cotswold stone). The tests are in date. Anyone else use NT labs and had problems with the NO₃ test? Might have to go to LFS and pick up a different make NO₃ kit just to check.


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## The grumpy one (6 Nov 2021)

Day 077.
This weeks dosing:
Daily 1.8ml tnc complete.
Daily 1.0ml Carbo Elixir BIO

Wildlife:
SNAILS: Are multiplying at a tremendous rate. I have very clean glass. Got a bit of brown algae on plants, Snails are having a good old party.
LUMBRICULUS: Still allusive.
CYCLOPS: Numbers seem to be stable. I don't know what they eat?
CRANGONYX: 3 adults out today. They seem to eat something on the surface of the substrate. As soon as I started to clean, they were out. One stopped in the same place for ages eating something. Better get an extension tube for my camera and do some close-ups.

Water:
Did a 33% water change today. Did not bother to do water tests. I am thinking of getting some API 5 in 1 test strips. Then I can do a quick test every week before water change. Only use the full test kit if I find a problem.

Plants:
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': It has grown two leaves this week and the leaves are longer.
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: I had to do another prune today. Planted it after cutting of all the lower leaves.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Still alive and growing very slowly. Maybe next weeks increase in fertiliser will make a difference.

Pics:


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## Karmicnull (6 Nov 2021)

The grumpy one said:


> I am thinking of getting some API 5 in 1 test strips. Then I can do a quick test every week before water change. Only use the full test kit if I find a problem


Yeah this is the way I went. Then the vagueness and inconsistency of test strips led to CBA for those too, and now I just test TDS every couple of weeks. Haven't done any other test for about 6 months.


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## The grumpy one (13 Nov 2021)

Day 084.
This weeks dosing:
Daily 2.4ml tnc complete.
Daily 1.0ml Carbo Elixir BIO

Wildlife:
SNAILS: Are doing their job, polishing my leaves.
LUMBRICULUS: Still allusive.
CYCLOPS: Numbers have increased.
CRANGONYX: Have decided they like living in the first two compartments of the filter. Cleaned all sponges, except one medium one. Saw at least 6 in there.

Water:
Did a 33% water change today. As suggested by DW1305. Instead of relying on test values, I have been watching the colour of the plants. They look a nice shade of green to me.

Plants:
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': Now it is getting quite big leaves.
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Yet another prune this week. Getting quite a dense patch to cover the filter and spray bar.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Has started to grow back. We will have to see what happens after next weeks fertilizer increase to the magical 3ml/day target for this size of tank.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (20 Nov 2021)

Day 91
This weeks dosing:
Daily 3.0ml tnc complete.
Daily 1.0ml Carbo Elixir BIO

It seems to have got to the stage of trying to balance the whole eco system by controlling the amount if light.
I am going to try to achieve this by reducing the brightness. Keeping the photo period the same at 7hrs.
My lights can give out 1520lm. I know it is not a good way to measure light. PAR is what you should use.
At least it is a good guide to the amount of light going in when you can't calculate the PAR nor measure nor get it from the manufacturers.

On Tuesday I noticed a small patch of blue green algae on the rocks. So turned the lights down by 5% to 60%
On Thursday I noticed a small patch on the edge of a leaf of the ECHINODORUS RUBIN. So turned down the lights by another 5% to 55%
Today the algae is still there but it is not growing very fast. I turned down the lights by another 5% to 60%

Wildlife:
All doing well.

Water:
Did a 33% water change today. Gave the pump a good strip down, clean and lubrication. I use JBL silicone spray as lubricant. I found that when I run the pump, after lubrication, a lot of the silicone ends up floating in little clumps in the tank. So, I now run it for 15 min in the bucket with the old water. I just make it the last thing I wash in the bucket.

Plants:
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': Yet another big leaf. Colour is very good.
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Did not prune this week. It had come out of the water and was spreading over the top of the filter. Just pushed it back in the water.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Fertilizer increase to 3ml/day has seemed to save this. Its size is stunted, but it is growing new leaves and the colour is good.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (27 Nov 2021)

Day98
This weeks dosing:
Daily 3.0ml tnc complete.
Daily 1.0ml Carbo Elixir BIO

On Tuesday I had to turn lights down to 55%. Wednesday to 50%. Then Thursday to 45%
Bluegreen algae started to grow again. Today I noticed some sort of tufty black algae. It is only about 1mm high, so can't tell if it is black brush algae or Staghorn.

Wildlife:
All doing well. 
LUMBRICULUS: I moved a plant today and as I disturbed the soil there were quite a few running for there lives.

Water:
Did a 33% water change today. Changed the fine filter floss for new. It was getting past it's useful life. The water was milky/cloudy after water change and plant messing. I assume it is linked to new fine filter and disturbing the sub straight.
Did a water test today before water change.

AmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃30/10/21 after 70 days0.000.005.007.002.008.0027/11/21 after 98 days0.000.0010.007.251.0010.00

Nitrate is high. General hardness is high. Might be down to ferts??

Plants:
ECHINODORUS RUBIN: Growing well.
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Gave it a very good prune. It had almost reached the other end of the tank in two weeks.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Still very small leaves, but it is growing new ones. Moved the original plant to the front. This is in anticipation of buying a Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'. It would look good in that corner.
VESICULARIA MONTAGNEI?: This moss is growing very fast. Small bit have attached themselves around the tank and started to grow. If nothing else, I can have a tank full of moss.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (4 Dec 2021)

Day 105:

Added ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI today. It is 1-2 grow. Quite fun trying to get it to stay in the soil and not just float away.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (11 Dec 2021)

Day 112:

Pics:


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## dw1305 (11 Dec 2021)

Hi all,


The grumpy one said:


> Day 112:


It looks pretty good.

cheers Darrel


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## The grumpy one (11 Dec 2021)

Thanks Darrel.

It's beginning to look like a real aquascape!!!! I am getting a lot of pleasure just growing plants. Even started to think of getting a real tank (150l+)


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## The grumpy one (18 Dec 2021)

Day 119:

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (24 Dec 2021)

Day 125: Early this week. Cos it's that day tomorrow where I have to be sociable or else.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (1 Jan 2022)

Day 133:

Pics:


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## John q (1 Jan 2022)

It's looking very healthy.


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## The grumpy one (8 Jan 2022)

Day 140:

Pics:


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## Hufsa (8 Jan 2022)

I admire the very thorough way you are documenting the development, its gonna make for a sick timelapse later on. Plants look really good


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## The grumpy one (15 Jan 2022)

Day 147:

Had to give it a very good trim today. Planted most of the trimmings. I won't have to buy many plants for the next tank.
Gave the filter media a jolly good sploshing in the old water. My it was a bit dirty. Too much snail poop.
Pics:


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## John q (15 Jan 2022)

Looking really good @The grumpy one  are you cheating and using Tom barrs magic water 🤫


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## The grumpy one (15 Jan 2022)

John q said:


> Looking really good @The grumpy one  are you cheating and using Tom barrs magic water 🤫


Just have not been doing any water changes at all! ( For those new people, if you don't do water changes you will end up with a tank full of poison. A bit of an forum in joke)


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## John q (15 Jan 2022)

Haha are you related to Stan 🙈


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## erwin123 (17 Jan 2022)

looking good! if you could stitch all 150 photos together in a slideshow or time lapse, it would be very instructive to beginners on the virtues of being patient  (just don't mention the no water change bit)


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## heliophyte (17 Jan 2022)

Cool progress!


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## The grumpy one (22 Jan 2022)

Day 154:

Continuing the goal of trying to get the light at the right level to let the plants grow and not the algae. Its got a name the point at which plants stop growing because of lack of light, I just can't remember what it is. I bet Mr dw1305 can help this foggy brain remember what it is? This week I think I have found the balance point for my plants to grown well. I am so glad I went down the route of LED spot lights for my tank. This allows me to focus the light in specific areas of my tank. My ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI needs more light than the others and my moss needs less. So I have focused my lights to cover the area where the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI is planted and pointed them away a bit from the moss.  As far as I am concerned this give a much more natural look, Rivers have trees shading some areas and full sun in others. The plants tend to colonise the areas where the light is what they need to do well. Every plant has its own light intensity needs and with most of the popular LED lighting units it is not possible to change the intensity in separate areas of the tank.

Did a set of water tests before water change today:

AmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessIronNH₃NO₂NO₃FeDatemg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmdKHdGHmg/L22/1/22 after 154 days0.000.1020.007.502.0012.000.080

Nitrate seems a little high. Probably because this week I was trying the lights at 35%.
General hardness is a bit high. PH is a bit alkaline.
Might be time to add a bit of acid buffer to try to get rid of some of that hardness or a big water change 90% to get rid of all that GH?
What are peoples opinion on that?

Pics:


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## John q (22 Jan 2022)

The grumpy one said:


> What are peoples opinion on that?


Lcp: Light Compensation Point ~ that's the name regarding plants stopping growing.

If the Gh and Ph are drifting northwards and you feel you need to reset things I think the best advice would be to do the water change. I re set my tank over Christmas with 2x 50% changes over a few days.

Your tank continues to look good 👍


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## dw1305 (24 Jan 2022)

Hi all, 


The grumpy one said:


> Its got a name the point at which plants stop growing because of lack of light, I just can't remember what it is. I bet Mr dw1305 can help this foggy brain remember what it is?





John q said:


> Lcp: Light Compensation Point ~ that's the name regarding plants stopping growing.


Yes, <"Light Compensation Point">. It is a really useful concept, but we don't have actual LCP values for the plants we grow. 

We can make some educated guesses, plants with <"slow growth rates and dark green leaves"> (most Mosses, _Anubias barteri, Bolbitis heudelotii_) are likely to have very low LCP values and "turned up to eleven" plants like <"_Victoria amazonica_"> or <"_Ludwigia sediodes_"> high ones. 

cheers Darrel


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## dw1305 (24 Jan 2022)

Hi all,
There is a useful review article:
Pedersen O, Colmer, T. & Sand-Jensen,  K. (2013) "Underwater Photosynthesis of Submerged Plants – Recent Advances and Methods"  _Frontiers in Plant Science_ *4 *     <"https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2013.00140">

cheers Darrel


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## The grumpy one (29 Jan 2022)

Day 161:

Can't believe it's been another week. Soon be Xmas.

My dimmer is one of those normal rotary house dimmers. Made a large Perspex (Perspex again!) disc with a hole in the middle. Worked out the throw angle of the potentiometer and divided the angle by 10. Used a scalpel to score lines to mark a scale of 0 to 10, with half marks as well. So now I can get a more comparative idea of how much light I am putting in the tank. I say comparative because dimming curves are different for different types of dimmers, manufacturers and the type of lamp. So you can not say if the amount of change of light between 6 and 7 is the same as between 5 and 6. I am deliberately not using % for that reason.

Sorry ramble over......

Wildlife:
All doing well. The Ramshorn snails are look quite wonderful. Their shells have taken on a very pleasant copper hue. I got concerned and did a copper test of the water. All is fine.

Lighting: 
This week I ran the lights at 6 instead of 4. Did this just to see of there was a marked growth difference with more light. Looking at the pics I would say no difference? So close to confirming my standard light level.

Plants:
The only difference with increasing the light to 6 is an outbreak of Spirogyra. Next week lights at 5. Took ages picking out as much Spirogyra as I could find. Most of it was on the moss. Had to trim the HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA again. My that plant can grow. At least 1 new node on each stem per day.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (5 Feb 2022)

Day 168:

Wildlife:
CRANGONYX: Have not seen one all week. How odd. I thought they were hardy as hell. Maybe all hiding in the filter.
LUMBRICULUS: The population has had a bit of an explosion. Maybe they are eating all the dead CRANGONYX.
BLADDER SNAILS: They are everywhere. They will insist in riding the Ramshorn's shells. Looks like they have become sentient and are breaking in the Ramshorn's. Maybe they have developed tools and have hunted the Crangnyx to extinction.
RAMSHORN SNAILS: Some of these have got really big. One is so big that it is having trouble getting it's shell upright. 

_Better stop there or you will all think that I have taken something. Also the Bladder snails might be reading this? BT turned up in the week and installed  internet in the tank. Apparently it was ordered by a Mr B L Adder._

Plants: 
Very stable growth. 
This week you can see a bit of growth in the top shoots of the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (12 Feb 2022)

Day 175:

I am having an outbreak of Thread algae, looks like Spirogyra. Very long pea green threads growing from the tips of leaves.
I checked for a ammonia spike, which was zero.
Turned the lights down from 5 to 4.5 of 10 and used the fork end of my Perspex fork spade and gently twirled it like it was spaghetti, very easy to get out this way.
There was some today, but not much and not so long, easily removed with the spaghetti method.

Wildlife:
CRANGONYX: Saw one the other night, just before I went to bed (Well after lights out), when I checked the tank with a torch.

Fish:
As my tank is only 30l (5 gal) with a 5l internal filter, I can only keep shrimp or small solitary fish like Least Killifish.
I would love a small shoal of small south American fish, but there are none small enough who would thrive in my small tank.  When I have some free time, I must start planning my100+l tank.

I will stop this thread when I get to day 365. Or if I miss a day. So you must all hope I miss a day

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (19 Feb 2022)

Day 182

Still got thread algae. Not to bad, comes out easily enough. 
Had to give the substrate a jolly good clean today. Snail poo build up. At least it, mostly, settles in that gap at the front in the sand. That was the idea during the design phase. Somewhere with low flow for the detritus to settle out.
Washed all the filter sponges in old tank water. The water was quite brown after. I know you should not wash all the sponges at once, but I do have other filter media in there to stop total devastation of bacteria life.

Plants:
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': My this has got big. Looked at the first pic of this and it looked lost in the sea of substrate.
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Yep, I can confirm this grows fast even without CO₂. It had grown right over the top of the filter this week. I have put all the stems over the glass brace that goes from back to front on the filter side. Hopefully this will stop it constantly shading out everything else.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: This has really established itself. I am pruning any runners that head away from that corner and letting the rest do there thing. There are in excess of 8 plants now.
VESICULARIA MONTAGNEI?: This moss is now very attached to the stones I tied it to. Keep finding patches starting to grow in other places, which I remove or I think it would take over,
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: Yep this is a very slow growing plant, It was a Tissue culture and I understand that these can take a far time to establish a good root system. There is growth, but only about 1 leaf a week on some of the stems.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (26 Feb 2022)

Day 189:

Fighting the thread algae. Today turned down the lights to 4 of 10. This is my light compensation point, so I will have to check that the plants are still growing during the week. Lucky that the HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA grows so quickly. I am going to make yet another acrylic tool to make it easier to remove the pesky thread algae. At least I have not had any other breakouts of algae, Just luck I suppose.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (5 Mar 2022)

Day 196:

Still fighting the thread algae and also found a small amount of BBA on one of the moss fronds.
So last Saturday the lights went down to 4/10 and stayed there all week.  There is noticeable growth by all plants for the last 7 days.
Even the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI, which is the most demanding when it comes to light levels that I have, put on a few leaves.
So, this week the light will be set at 3.5/10 and I will keep an eye on the plants to check that they are still growing.

Wildlife:
BLADDER SNAILS and  RAMSHORN SNAILS: Population has noticeably reduced. Might have to start feeding them this week at this rate. I have purchased a small tub of OASE ORGANIX SHRIMP GRANULATE, from my local fish shop (the most suitable thing they had). Tried a few granules and the snails just loved them. Only needs about 5 granules a week, I think. Otherwise I might cause a Ammonia spike?
CRANGONYX: Not seen one all week. I can only hope they are living in the settling out partition of the filter.
LUMBRICULUS: These pesky worms are everywhere. They seem to like living in the medium sponge. If I disturb the substrate at all, then I get several free swimming. Almost impossible not to hover up a few, when using the gravel cleaner.

Plants:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: This has decided to grow out of the water over the top of the filter. I am having to prune the shoots that are above the water and train the rest into the tank.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: This is sending so many runners. That corner is just a forest of them. I am having to prune a lot of runners that insist on heading into the rest of the tank.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': I am hoping that this might send out babies soon, I understand that this is one way it propagates?
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: Growth slowed quite a lot. Only one new leaf.

Pics:


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## Hufsa (5 Mar 2022)

I love this journal, its so unique especially with the photos 🥰 All the patience and control in the world, everything I wish I could be 
Keep it coming @The grumpy one


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## The grumpy one (12 Mar 2022)

Day203:

200 days, can't believe it has been that long since planting up. 29 weeks and still remembering to take a pic every day.

Still got thread algae, but only on the plants which receive the most light, 2 spots. It is easy to remove as it grows about 75mm long in a week. You can see it on Day 202 behind the ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA', poking it's head above. It is growing off the centre bunch of the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI. Must mean the tank is healthy as thread algae is the closest to plants and likes the same conditions.

I will leave the lighting at 3.5 of 10 for another week. I could turn it down some more as there is still visible plant growth. In fact I can't see any slowing in the growth rate of any of the plants.

Plants:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA:  This has now decided that it likes the top of the filter and looks wonderfully green and dense. I am just giving it a harsh prune every week back to the edge of the filter.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: More runners, one of which decided to grow into the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI. Removed that one. Took quite some time to untangle it without disturbing the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI. Seems a waste throwing away healthy plants with formed roots. Yet another reason the start my bigger aquarium. Maybe I will take two weeks off over Easter!!!
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': No babies yet.  It has grown a whole new leaf in a week. Might be time for some more root tabs.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: The growth on this has visibly slowed, maybe even stopped???? I could focus more light in that corner, but that will only encourage the thread algae. "Catch 22".

Very busy week at work, so did not get much time to watch the Aquarium.

Pics: (NB sorry about the quality of Day 198 and Day202. Only time of year that the sun gets to the Aquarium and I did not notice the flare.)

















PS: Hufsa, Thanks for the words of encouragement and praise. Much appreciated.  I am glad that people are getting some enjoyment from my unique way of doing this journal. It is my way of reminding myself how I did things on the next Aquarium.


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## GHNelson (14 Mar 2022)

Hi 
Great journal....and a good read, thumbs up  for the documentation!
Use some floating plants to help reduce thread algae, you might have to up your Nitrate fertilization as they will suck a fair amount out the water column!
hoggie


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## The grumpy one (19 Mar 2022)

Day 210

Thread algae is better this week. Still got some, but much less growth. Turned the lighting down to 3 of 10 on Sunday as there was a outbreak of green dust algae on back glass. I read that green dust algae is caused by "low CO₂, low nutrients and common in new setups" well yes I have low CO₂ as it is low tech. But the other two? Nutrients are defiantly high. setup is still quite new after 210 days of cycling?????
*Algae Guide*. Well just proves one size does not fit all. 

Wildlife:
There has been an explosion of CYCOPS. I have read that they like still water. Well mine must be super-cyclops as they spend most of their time swimming into the fast currents and then going round and round the tank. Never see them in the calm areas of the tank. Maybe you just can't see them if they are not moving!
The rest of the wildlife population has stabilised. Although I did observe the LUMBRICULUS gathering on a bit of sponge by the filter. There must have been about a dozen of them writhing in a ball. Must have found something they like to eat there!!!!!!

Plants:
Even with the lighting down to 3 of 10 the plants are all still growing. Even the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI has put on a new leaf on some of the stems.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (26 Mar 2022)

Day 217

Yet another week. Soon be xmas. I seem to have got the thread algae under control. I have been running the lighting @ 3 of 10 for nearly two weeks. This week I will turn it up to 3.5 of 10 as the plant growth rate has slowed. The Green dust algae is still there, but the two patches have not got bigger. I was hoping that the snails would get rid of it. They do not seem to like it. I have often seen them grazing right over it, but no tram lines have appeared.

Wildlife:
BLADDER SNAILS: More babies. Some of the older ones are now the size of a 5p (Remember cash! It seems like years since I used cash last.) or a shirt button.
RAMSHORN SNAILS: My, there are a lot of them. Especially in the filter.
CRANGONYX: Shame, I liked watching them running about the substrate. I have not seen one for over 14 days now. Might have to go down the canal and see if I can find some replacements. I would be concerned that I misidentify and get some carnivorous bugger that eats all my snails and/or plants.
LUMBRICULUS: Never see much of them until I hover the substrate, then there are loads swimming for their lives.
CYCOPS: Yep, got a few of these! Still in a population explosion.

Plants:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: A bit disappointed with this plant. It said it was good at hiding a filter. Not in my case. They way it grows, it looks like it would be happier growing flat across the substrate and not up the filter. I don't know if in the wild it grows as a carpet and not up things.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: This is doing so well. I am having to search out the stolons (well I assume the runners are called stolons? Like strawberry plants) and cut any that grow out of their area. Found one 3 baby long growing through the dense Reineckii, must had been there a week.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': I love this plant. It sends out a new leaf every week. It is a nice shade of green and has interesting texture to its leaves. The only thing is how delicate the leaves are. There are now a few holes and rips in the leaves, where I was over zealous with the tweezers or the gravel cleaner.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: I love this plant too. It is just such a slow grower without CO₂. This week, with the light @ 3 of 10, there has been very little growth if at all. But it does grow very dense. That corner looks so heavily planted.
MOSS: I have decided to put this by the filter to fill in the hole left by the pennywort going straggly at the bottom. Just have to watch it does not get sucked into the filter holes.

Pics:















Thanks for reading. 
Ian.


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## The grumpy one (2 Apr 2022)

Day224

And so it is Saturday again. Only a week until Easter break and I need it. Two weeks doing what I want to do will do me the world of good.
I had a idea on Monday! It is difficult to have a perspective on how much the plants have grown. So I got one of my steel rulers and taped it to the back of the tank. Now I can see exactly how much growth there is, without it just be relative to other plants or how many new leaves there are.

Water:
Thought I would just check the parameters. Not done it for 64 day. No reason why I should, but it is nice to have an idea if it is stable.

AmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃Daysmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmdKHdGH1540.000.1020.007.502.0012.002180.000.005.007.506.0012.00
Nitrite is finally zero, at last my tank is cycled. Nitrate has gone down nicely. Carbonate hardness has tripled , which will at least let my snails grow some healthy shells ( yes I do read other posts "Shells turning white") as some of mine have suffered from this. Now I know why. Thanks all.

Wildlife:
Not much change here. The worms are having a party again (writhing around in a big ball). At this rate I will be able to sell them as fish food.

Plants:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: After giving it a very hard trim last week, growth has slowed right down. Must remember not to give it such a close hair cut.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Sending out yet another stolon. I will defiantly have to thin this out soon. I just can't bring myself to.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': Another whole leaf this week. Now I can say each new leaf is about 10cm long. So since my lights are on for 8hrs a day, that equates to 14mm per day or 1.78mm per hour.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: This might be slow growing and the thread algae loves growing on it (brightest part of the tank as this plant needs more light than the others), but it is a very nice plant. This week some of the stems have grown 5mm. The main reason I put the ruler there was to see if it is growing at all.
MOSS: This gets everywhere. Pieces break off and before you know it, there is a new clump. Found some right inside the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI patch. Pulled it out and it was about 7cm long. Still does a great job as a pre filter and collects all the big bits of stuff heading for the filter intake.

Pics:
















As it is a sequence and not a detail of something, I like to reduce the size of the pics to 160 width. Speeds up page loading time, I hope. And if you want to see close you just click.

Thanks for reading and don't buy to much chocolate this week, you will only make yourself sick.


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## Karmicnull (2 Apr 2022)

The grumpy one said:


> HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Sending out yet another stolon. I will defiantly have to thin this out soon. I just can't bring myself to


I suffer from this problem too.  I'm not good at being ruthless with happy plants. The chain sword does look fantastically happy in that corner.


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## The grumpy one (9 Apr 2022)

Day 231

I am so glad that I have 2 weeks annual leave booked over Easter. It has been a very long term and has taken all my energy. Time to recharge and maybe plan my new tank.

Water:
I dose 3ml/day of TNC complete and 1ml/day of Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO.
This week I thought I would experiment a bit just to get an understanding of what, or even if, the Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO is doing to growth.
I reduced the dose to 0.5ml/day on Sunday. I am going to continue with this dose for at least another week.

Wildlife:
BLADDER SNAILS: There are a lot of very small ones all over the ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA'. I wonder if the reduced dosing is having an effect on population???
RAMSHORN SNAILS: There shells are looking quite white. Odd as the dKH and PH are well within the good range for decent shell growth. I will give them a bit of shrimp food just in case.
CRANGONYX: Missing them. I wonder what caused there demise? Maybe the tank is just to clean for them to do well.
LUMBRICULUS: I managed to hover up at least 6 by mistake today. Not a problem as I estimate that the population is in the 100's
CYCOPS: Pity these are so small, I love the way the swim around. I bet they look quite interesting under a microscope.

Plants:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Although it looks, from the pics, like it is not growing. It is. Most of the growth now occurs out of the water. I am tempted to remove it all and replant it submerged?
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Two more stolons the reduction in Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO has had no effect to its growing rate this week.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': Another leaf and a half this week. If anything it is growing faster without Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: Very little growth this week maybe the odd leaf. According to the ruler at the back, now growth has taken place. So is this why I should keep the Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO dose at 1ml/day? Time will tell.
MOSS: Just getting on with trying to take over the whole tank. Found lots of little bits, which had attached themselves all around the tank.

Pics:
















Thanks for reading.


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## dw1305 (9 Apr 2022)

Hi all, 


The grumpy one said:


> CRANGONYX: Missing them. I wonder what caused there demise? Maybe the tank is just to clean for them to do well.


They might all be in the filter compartment.

cheers Darrel


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## Hufsa (9 Apr 2022)

The grumpy one said:


> Time to recharge and maybe plan my new tank.


Tell us more about this? 😃 
Will it be an addition or a replacement? Size, style?


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## The grumpy one (14 Apr 2022)

Hufsa said:


> Tell us more about this? 😃
> Will it be an addition or a replacement? Size, style?


Still at the early planning stage, Hufsa. A bit of a spoiler (before I start another Journal). My living room has a hand made pine sideboard, 140cm x 46cm and 80cm high. I am thinking of building tank stands in the same style as the sideboard, either side. So it would be two tanks the same size (I would do them one at a time, that way I can learn from my mistakes). My TV is situated on the sideboard, so tanks would be the same height as the TV. Lots of design decisions on size of tanks. How high to make it and still be able to get my arm in to maintain without a ladder. Ratio between height and width? Was thinking of the golden ratio between visible water, but this would make it not very wide or very tall. Thought about TV 16:9 ratio? but this makes its width even less that golden ratio. I think that tanks need to be quite deep (As I can go deeper than the sideboards 46cm, by moving it away from the wall) and this will have an big effect of volume.  The total volume is another issue as I feel that it is important to be at least 150 litres. The lighting and if I want to have a closed box in top of the tank. I will have a closed tank with condensation cover, I think it open top tanks would not be a good idea? The amount of condensation going into the house and the evaporation rate worries me, Harder to control the water parameters.

Sorry, thoughts just came flooding out. It is a total juggling act until I come up with a solution. Whatever dimensions I come up with, I will get a bespoke tank. Probably from "Aquariums4life".

Then we get to the self made internal filter or off the shelf external filter............... Argh, Sorry started to flood ideas again.

Might have to start new journal sooner than I was planning, just to cover planning stage. 
But what to call the journal???? Any suggestions?

I bet you wished you had not asked, Hufsa.


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## Hufsa (14 Apr 2022)

The grumpy one said:


> I bet you wished you had not asked, Hufsa.


Not at all 😄 I love the passion, I bet it will look great and look forward to the journal 😃
Maybe consider if condensation will get into the TV?


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## KirstyF (14 Apr 2022)

The grumpy one said:


> Still at the early planning stage, Hufsa. A bit of a spoiler (before I start another Journal). My living room has a hand made pine sideboard, 140cm x 46cm and 80cm high. I am thinking of building tank stands in the same style as the sideboard, either side. So it would be two tanks the same size (I would do them one at a time, that way I can learn from my mistakes). My TV is situated on the sideboard, so tanks would be the same height as the TV. Lots of design decisions on size of tanks. How high to make it and still be able to get my arm in to maintain without a ladder. Ratio between height and width? Was thinking of the golden ratio between visible water, but this would make it not very wide or very tall. Thought about TV 16:9 ratio? but this makes its width even less that golden ratio. I think that tanks need to be quite deep (As I can go deeper than the sideboards 46cm, by moving it away from the wall) and this will have an big effect of volume.  The total volume is another issue as I feel that it is important to be at least 150 litres. The lighting and if I want to have a closed box in top of the tank. I will have a closed tank with condensation cover, I think it open top tanks would not be a good idea? The amount of condensation going into the house and the evaporation rate worries me, Harder to control the water parameters.
> 
> Sorry, thoughts just came flooding out. It is a total juggling act until I come up with a solution. Whatever dimensions I come up with, I will get a bespoke tank. Probably from "Aquariums4life".
> 
> ...



With all that going on, it sounds like ‘double trouble’ to me. 😂

Maybe there’s a name for ya! 

Enjoy! and looking forward to seeing it! 👍


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## The grumpy one (16 Apr 2022)

Day 238
It is so nice not to think about work related things. Well try not to think about it! Never mind, I have less time to retirement than the number of years already worked.
It has been quite a week in the tanks. Two weeks ago I reduced the dosing of Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO from 1ml to 0.5ml. This seems to be effecting the plant growth.
My thread algae is gone! Not even a little bit. I wonder if the water chemistry has changed that much. Did the full range of water tests to see.

Water:
Water change today. 33%. Did the tests before I changed the water.

AmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃Daysmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmdKHdGH1540.000.1020.007.502.0012.002180.000.005.007.506.0012.002360.000.0030.008.004.0012.00
Now that is interesting. 
I think that Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO has an organic acid base. I reduce the dose and the PH goes up by 0.5. My tap water comes from the Cotswold hills and is full of limestone which is an Alkaline. The tap water company say that the PH is between 7 .24 and 7.92. Maybe the tap water PH is just high at the moment. I read on here that the micro elements are more available to plants the higher the PH? Well I think I read that?

Lighting:
Because my thread algae (well all my algae is less) has gone, I am going to put the lighting up from 3.5/10 to 3.75/10. Will have to wait and see if it comes back.

Wildlife:
BLADDER SNAILS: A lot of these, even with the possible reduction in algae.
RAMSHORN SNAILS: A lot of these too. Their new shell growth looks a lot better this week. Maybe this is down to PH going up and hence more available calcium? 
CRANGONYX: Nope none at all. Cleaned half the filter sponges today and kept my eyes out to no avail.
LUMBRICULUS: Pesky worms. Always trying to escape via the gravel cleaner. Little do they know that they will end up in the water butt.
CYCOPS: Lots and lots.

Plants:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: This defiantly likes to grow out of the water. I suppose it is because CO₂ is readily available to its leaves that are in the air and so it gives up on the submerged growth.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: This has gone nuts. Two new and very long stolons. The leaves have grown in height by about 15mm. Much more growth than before the reduction in Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO. When it was only about 5mm.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': This has made 2 1/2 new leaves this week. That is also up from the normal 1 new leaf per week.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: Even this is growing quicker. Although it is hard to see because of the HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM growth hiding it, I think it has grown by about 10mm this week.
MOSS: The moss just keeps on as if nothing has changed. But it is in the darkest corner of the tank.

Pics:

















In conclusion:
Well who would have thought that reducing the Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO would appear to have such a dramatic effect on growth.
Does anyone else use Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO? If so, what dose do you use and have you tried reducing it?
Pity I am not good at that chemistry thingy, I might be able to work out what is going on? I am more of a physicist.


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## The grumpy one (18 Apr 2022)

I was having a think, whist sitting in the garden soaking up the sun and enjoying all the trees unfurling their leaves to the sun.

I would highly recommend anyone who wishes to try their hand at a planted aquarium to get a small, nothing bigger than 30l, tank.
Do not have any fish, just common snails and all the other small critters that will not last with fish in the tank.
Use this to experiment with growing plants. If you have a disaster, then you are not loosing fish, you will only loose maybe a few plants.
You can pick one up second hand for about £25. Then a bit of substrate, small 300l/h internal filter, cheap 6000k dimmable light, mains time switch for light and heater.
You might be lucky and find it all second hand or even on freecycle sites.

I have learned so much for only a little outlay. The most expensive thing I purchased was the substrate. It has also allowed me to experiment with changing dosing, lighting and temperature without having to worry about the demise of any fish.

Now I feel confident to get a bigger tank and have nice plant growth


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## erwin123 (19 Apr 2022)

The grumpy one said:


> I would highly recommend anyone who wishes to try their hand at a planted aquarium to get a small, nothing bigger than 30l, tank.
> Now I feel confident to get a bigger tank and have nice plant growth





You could get a 2nd small tank and set them up side by side like this!


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## The grumpy one (19 Apr 2022)

erwin123 said:


> You could get a 2nd small tank and set them up side by side like this!


Now there is a good idea. You could then change something in one and have the other as control. That way you could easily see what difference any changes have made.


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## The grumpy one (23 Apr 2022)

Day245:
Yet another week.
Not much to say this week.
Since I reduced the dose of Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO by half, the plants are growing twice as fast. Even the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI has grown another 8mm. As far as thread algae goes, there was none at all today. Odd that reducing the Elixier BIO gets rid of my very small algae problem.
I checked the PH and it is stable at 8. Bit high for my liking, but as long as the plants are growing at the rate they are!
I was thinking of a tinker with the fertilizer dose. Going down to 2.5ml instead of 3ml. I decided to leave it another week, to make sure plants are still happy and then maybe try.
Had a late night torch hunt and found one of the illusive  CRANGONYX under the filter box. It swam away ever so quickly, when the light hit it. So you were right once again dw1305.

Pics:


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## jaisol (24 Apr 2022)

Absolutely brilliant thread, I read all 6 pages. It has made me think about setting up a small tank myself.


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## The grumpy one (24 Apr 2022)

jaisol said:


> Absolutely brilliant thread, I read all 6 pages. It has made me think about setting up a small tank myself.


Thanks jaisol.


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## The grumpy one (30 Apr 2022)

Day 252:

Not much to say this week.

I spent the morning repotting my Tomato and sweet pepper plants. I grow them in the conservatory , which now looks like a greenhouse.

The dreaded filament algae is back. Had to turn the lights back down to 3.5/10.
Still got good growth of all plants. The ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI is growing quite quickly. Even without CO₂.
During water change today I noticed that the filter sponges were a bit smelly, so I washed half of them in old tank water.
Will wash the others next week.
One of my Ramshorn snails has got rather big. I would say that it is getting to about 8mm. All the snails shells are looking a very healthy colour, lucky my water comes from the limestone Cotswold hills.

Pics:
















Sorry for the short post. Very busy week at work sorting out next years budgets and spending what is left of this academic years budgets.


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## The grumpy one (7 May 2022)

Day 259:

Well, the filament algae seems to be under control. There is a bit, but only about 40mm long. Easy to remover with the old tooth brush. Just twirl it round and round. Then hay presto, filament algae all in the bristles. Wipe it on your best bath towel (which happens to be green). So my lighting level has to be 3.5/10. At least if I turn in up, I know where to turn it down to, to stop the pesky algae.

Everything is growing well. Today, I finally decided that the HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA (Pennywort) looked horrible. The growth out of the water was superb. But the growth under the water was leggy and stemy. (Very few leaves). As much as it hurt to do it, I gave it a very bug trim. Untangled the large mass and selected half of it to replant. Now just to wait until it starts filling the corner.

I empty my waste water into the garden water butt. When I took the lid off today, I found the most wonderful Bladder Snail. It had to be 6mm long and the most wonderful dark colour. I left it in there just in case I have miss identified it or it has picked up some nasty things whilst on holiday in the Garden.

At work, I have just ordered our first 3D filament printer. Need some ideas as to what to make, for the aquarium, as the test/setup/practice pieces?

Pics:


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## dw1305 (7 May 2022)

Hi all, 


The grumpy one said:


> Wipe it on your best bath towel (which happens to be green).


Now you are talking <"my sort of language">. 

cheers Darrel


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## The grumpy one (4 Jun 2022)

Day 287:
Yes, I am still here. I just decided to update log every 4 week. This achieves two things: 1) I might have more to say. 2) You will have less ramblings to read.
It is end of year madness at work. Students franticly trying to finish assignments, exhibitions of student work, final performances, planning for summer work, planning for next year and the dreaded final grade debates. So, with all that, I have been a bit lax with the tank.
I am still battling the thread algae. But since it is very similar to plants, I am not going to complain. At least I do not suffer from any other algae except for diatoms. The snails do an excellent job of keeping that under control. I did have a small outbreak of dust algae but slightly less light spilling in from other sources into the tank sorted that out. I just angled the light next to the tank away a bit.

Lighting:
I have turned the lights back down to 3.5 of 10. This is the level where I get the best plant growth and the least algae growth. Theory proved and will stop playing with the light levels from now on.

Wildlife:
BLADDER SNAILS: Still a good population and lots of eggs. Interesting observation: I put my wastewater change water into the garden butt. I noticed in there the bladder snails grow a lot bigger. Maybe, food is more plentiful, light levels are less and they like the dark or it is just one of those mysteries.
RAMSHORN SNAILS: Got some quite big ones. There shells are looking a bit white. Next week I will do the whole range of water tests.
CRANGONYX: Still elusive, have not seem one. I am sure they are under the filter laughing at me trying to find them.
LUMBRICULUS: Worms, worms everywhere. I only have to disturb the substrate to find loads. If I ever get round to a tank with fish, I will have a lot of live food for them.
CYCOPS: Numbers have stabilised. There are a few, but not the clouds I have had.

Plants:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: After giving is a really aggressive prune, this does not seem to be growing very quickly. Not to matter as everything else is.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: Such a difficult plant to control. Solons are an annoyance. I have to hunt them down and trim them. Otherwise, they would take over the entire tank.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': What a lovely plant. It makes such a good focus plant. I am wondering when it will have babies.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: The stem at the front has grown about 2.5cm in 28 days. I think that this stem is doing well because it is at the edge of the tank current. Now I have a 3D printer at work, I will have to solve that with a redesign of the spray bar. If I get time.
MOSS: The moss just keeps doing its job of hiding the filter. I just wish I would not keep shedding little bits which then start growing where I don’t want them to.

Pics:


























































Wow that is a lot of pics. I hope the server will let me post this many in one go?


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## The grumpy one (2 Jul 2022)

Day 315:

Not much to talk about this month. I did do a bit of an experiment, after a power cut and having to rest the timer. I set the lighting period from 8hrs to 6hrs. I left this for a week, Day 301 to Day 307. I then put it back up to 8hrs.
You can defiantly see the difference in growth. 
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Not much growth anyway. I think it is being outcompeted by the other plants.
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: I gave this a really good prone and cut all the runners. Removed the smaller plants. Hopefully it will look better and grow better.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': When the photoperiod was 6hrs the growth defiantly slowed. Now it is going mad again.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: One is growing fast but the rest is still hardly growing. Another good example of the slowdown in growth with the shorter photoperiod. Still got to sort out the flow in this area.
MOSS: The moss is still there and is the main place the thread algae grows.

Pics:


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## The grumpy one (30 Jul 2022)

Day 343:

This month I noticed that the plants are all suffering one way or another:
HYDROCOTYLE LEUCOCEPHALA: Seems to be dying off. There has been some growth from the bits high in the water column. Probably shading from the centre beast. 
HELANTHIUM BOLIVIANUM: It is growing, but slowly and not new runners. Lots of leaf die back.
ECHINODORUS 'AQUARTICA': Still growing, but slower. Had to prone several dead leaves this month.
ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI: One is still growing fast, 10mm this month. The others are suffering. They seem to be rotting out at the base and floating away. I have been replanting and so far they are surviving.
MOSS: The moss is still there and is the main place the thread algae grows. I am having to prone off the top 10mm each week.

So with all this going on with the plants I decided to change things:

First week I changed nothing.
Second week I upped the lighting to 4 of 10 and upped the TNC complete dose to 4ml from 3.
Third week I upped the Carbo Elixir BIO to 1ml from 0.5.
4th week I did nothing.
Looking at the pics. After the second week there is defiantly an improvement in growth. The growth does not seem to increase after the 3rd week.

Today I decided to do the water test thingy. this is after the 33% water change (hence the NO₃ being 10 and not 30 as the previous tests were done before water change).

AmmoniaNitriteNitratePHCarbonate hardnessGeneral hardnessNH₃NO₂NO₃Daysmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmmg/L or ppmdKHdGH2380.000.0030.008.004.0012.003430.000.5010.008.005.0012.00

A bit worried about the PH still at 8 and wondering if this is why my plants are not growing (Water can hold less CO₂ when alkaline?).
So I added 75mg of Seachem Acid Buffer after the water change. After 15 mins I redid the PH and dKH tests. PH went down to 7. dKH did not change.

I remember using copious amounts of Seachem Acid Buffer 30 years ago in an attempt to stabilize a non planted tank with London water in it! Fish did not seem to care and even started breeding. Will test the PH next week and see!

Pics:


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## Hufsa (30 Jul 2022)

Hmm.. Your plants do look a bit pale
Hows the temperature in the tank been?
With the heat wave, if the temperature in the tank has been higher this would have caused an increase in plant metabolism.
It might explain why demand seems to have gone up perhaps?


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## John q (30 Jul 2022)

Tanks are looking ok  mate, the reason the alternanthera is suffering is lack of co2, why would that be.

Second week I upped the lighting to 4 of 10.


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## The grumpy one (31 Jul 2022)

Temp went up to about 30c from 25c, for two days, in heatwave.


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## The grumpy one (27 Aug 2022)

Day 371:

Well, plants have now been in for over a year. How time flies.
Who would have thought that I would remember to take a pic every day for 371 days.

This month I have been upping the lighting by 1 per week. It is now 7 of 10.
The  ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI:  has started to grow quite a bit (even without CO₂). A good 10mm this month and some of the other stalks are beginning to grow. I had noticed bubbles under the substrate in that corner. I have started to push a small probe in one a week to degas it. I assume it is Ammonia or methane and that is what has caused some of the stems to rot just below the substrate. The rotting problem seems to have stopped since I took the degassing step.

I think I will be stopping doing daily pics and maybe put this journal to bed. I have learned a lot from a small plant only tank and to boot I have a perfectly healthy hospital/quarantine/breading tank.

There is a lot that I would do differently next time. Especially the design of the in-tank filter. I will leave all the other stuff I would do differently until I get round to starting a 200l tank.

Thank you all for the useful comments and encouragement and I hope others gained some useful information on the way.

Pics:


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## Hufsa (27 Aug 2022)

Very fond of this journal, you had better keep us updated with the new one if this one is shut down 😘
That you have taken a photo every day for well over a year is very impressive to me, although I wouldnt blame you if you took a more casual approach on the next one 😁
When are the insane timelapses using the accumulated photos coming? 😇


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## The grumpy one (23 Oct 2022)

Hi All, I hope you are all well.

With the squeeze on everyone's finances, I decided to update the tank a bit.

The pipework has always been a bit unsightly:





I believe the flow in the tank could be improved. With a vertical spray bar at the back and a horizontal spray bar along the filter box, but only 2/3rds of width of tank to allow for the skimmer section to work better.
So, this is what I have come up with:



And for those who would like to know how it all fits together:




The green pipe is 12/16 standard pipe
I got a 3D printer at work about 2 months ago that I am still learning how to use it.
Next week I will try to print the black bits, using PLA.
Then it is just designing, drawing and printing the spray bars.
The joys of CAD.


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## The grumpy one (17 Dec 2022)

Went to take some pics today and found these on the memory card.






Day 378 and Day385

Everything is OK. I am still fighting the filament algae.


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## The grumpy one (17 Dec 2022)

The real reason for taking pics.
I finally finished designing and 3D printing a new spray bar and pipe work. 
3D printers are very finickity. It has taken a long time to tame. When you think you have beaten it, it turns around and bites you on the ass.
Anyway the pics:


 came home with this bag o bits on the last day of work until 3rd January.


 Tipped them out and started to clean up the biggest bit (shiny one in the middle) that I managed to print on the last day at work. That one piece took 5hrs 27mins to print.

The number of times I have printed some of these bit and the print has failed for various reasons. 

Blocked nozzle, had to replace it as it was beyond cleaning out.
Broken extruder head, had to get a new one as it had cracked in half between heater block and heatsink.
PLA filament took on too much moisture from the air, had to buy a filament dryer box .
Bowden extruder stopped working several times, had to strip it down and clean all the slivers of PLA that had built up.
Filament stopped and started feeding, Bowden tube had sharp edges where it was cut to length. Had to chamfer the inner diamiter of the tube.
Several other mishaps on the way.
I finally seemed to be able to diagnose all the issues that can occur with 3D printers!!!!!!!!!!!! 






 
All the bits laid out (note 1 taken before I cleaned the big bit. 2 taken after).

Now to figure out how long all the bits of tube need to be to put it together.




Install it on Day483.


 looks so much better.
The long vertical spray bar is in the substrate right to the bottom glass. The short horizonal spray bar is higher and shorter than the old one.

I noticed just how much more flow I get now. So much that I had to take out one of the two medium sponges.  The head was pumping all its water out of its chamber and not enough was getting through the filter media. I now have 3 coarse, 1 medium and 1 fine.

Time will tell if this will improve the growth of the ALTERNANTHERA REINECKII MINI. I have been putting the TNC complete dose right on top of it after water change and I seems to be responding.
Also I noticed that this week the filament algae had grown a lot less. Could this be down to the slight reduction in outside air temp this past week?
Maybe I will try dropping the temp by a degree and see (once it gets warm again).

Sorry I have gone back to doggerel writing again. I will stop now.

PS have a nice festive season and a great new year.


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## John q (17 Dec 2022)

The grumpy one said:


> PS have a nice festive season and a great new year


And you my friend.


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