# My Aquascape - Kīlauea - ( with Crystal shrimp only)



## Jason Burk (28 Nov 2014)

Eleocharis was dying off but getting a lot better now, still more plants to add also


----------



## Michal550 (28 Nov 2014)

looks very nice. what lights you got?


----------



## Easystreet (28 Nov 2014)

Nice. How long has it been up and running? I presume you use re-mineralised RO water? Do you do big water changes? I ask because for shrimp they say small water changes are best but for high tech planted tanks 50% weekly changes are recommended.


----------



## Jason Burk (28 Nov 2014)

Michal550 said:


> looks very nice. what lights you got?


Thanks 
I have 2 Fluval Life 24W T5s


----------



## Jason Burk (28 Nov 2014)

Easystreet said:


> Nice. How long has it been up and running? I presume you use re-mineralised RO water? Do you do big water changes? I ask because for shrimp they say small water changes are best but for high tech planted tanks 50% weekly changes are recommended.



Thanks 
Been running for about 8 months, and yes I use re-mineralised RO, 40-50% water changes weekly  

With shrimp you can do larger changes, just do it more slowly. I use a siphen tube, 1cm wide to add my water slowly


----------



## Jose (28 Nov 2014)

Cool! You know what could really help your grass carpet grow faster? An atomizer. It will also saVe you loads of CO2. But youd have to be more careful not to gas those expensive animals. From What I see you are wasting most of it as big bubbles that rise to the surface. But aside f4rom that its very good to see CRS tanks with CO2 and all. Keep it up!. Also you might want al the flow to go in the same direction.


----------



## Jason Burk (29 Nov 2014)

Jose said:


> Cool! You know what could really help your grass carpet grow faster? An atomizer. It will also saVe you loads of CO2. But youd have to be more careful not to gas those expensive animals. From What I see you are wasting most of it as big bubbles that rise to the surface. But aside f4rom that its very good to see CRS tanks with CO2 and all. Keep it up!. Also you might want al the flow to go in the same direction.


Okay thanks  At the moment the co2 diffuser is under one of the powerheads, I think ill move it to get under the filter flow


----------



## Jose (29 Nov 2014)

Yeah that would be good imho, because you want the flow to have a passage to go and another one to return. This way all your flow adds up and the power head/s complements the filter pump, and you dont break one flow with the other and have vortices. 
The way you have it set up now your grass on the filter side isnt getting any co2. Remember its not about quantity but quality flow.


----------



## Jason Burk (29 Nov 2014)

Jose said:


> Yeah that would be good imho, because you want the flow to have a passage to go and another one to return. This way all your flow adds up and the power head/s complements the filter pump, and you dont break one flow with the other and have vortices.
> The way you have it set up now your grass on the filter side isnt getting any co2. Remember its not about quantity but quality flow.




Ive moved both powerheads to the side of the filter now, you can see that there are very few bubbles reaching the surface now, and they are being cycled round the tank quite well, thanks


----------



## Jose (29 Nov 2014)

Wise move. Im trying right now echinodorus tennellus and it grows amazinly fast. With eleocharis you might need a bit of patience but its a really nice effect when you get there.


----------



## Jason Burk (29 Nov 2014)

Jose said:


> Wise move. Im trying right now echinodorus tennellus and it grows amazinly fast. With eleocharis you might need a bit of patience but its a really nice effect when you get there.



Yeah exactly, ive had to use patience haha - there is a display tank with eleocharis where I work that had spread in just a few weeks, something mine hasn't done in 4 months yet.. Oh well, its on the right track now at least


----------



## Jose (29 Nov 2014)

Yeah well if its getting CO2 bubbles and ferts it will surely grow. You might have many leaves that will just die (the brownish ones). It will be an exponential growth so ithas to get toa critical plant mass to really pick up. Any thoughts on the atomizers?this is a bit of a hard phase because you can get infested with algae since the soil might be new and plant mass is low. This iswhy you have to keep up with wcs.


----------



## Jason Burk (29 Nov 2014)

Jose said:


> Yeah well if its getting CO2 bubbles and ferts it will surely grow. You might have many leaves that will just die (the brownish ones). It will be an exponential growth so ithas to get toa critical plant mass to really pick up. Any thoughts on the atomizers?this is a bit of a hard phase because you can get infested with algae since the soil might be new and plant mass is low. This iswhy you have to keep up with wcs.



I will look into the atomizers, any you have or recommend?


----------



## Jose (29 Nov 2014)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Precision...8?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item41757bbe9e

if you live in uk I would buy this one from co2art. They have very good reviews over here and I use one of those (smallest version) and I love it. Only cleaned once in months. But you have to make sure your regulator can put out 3 bars of preasure or more. I wouldnt buy the chinese ones since ive heard of many coming apart.


----------



## Jose (29 Nov 2014)

Sorry you need 1.5 bars of preassure or more not 3.


----------



## Jason Burk (30 Nov 2014)

Riccia is doing well 




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Jason Burk (30 Nov 2014)

Jose said:


> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Precision...8?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item41757bbe9e
> 
> if you live in uk I would buy this one from co2art. They have very good reviews over here and I use one of those (smallest version) and I love it. Only cleaned once in months. But you have to make sure your regulator can put out 3 bars of preasure or more. I wouldnt buy the chinese ones since ive heard of many coming apart.



Will have a look into it, thanks!


----------



## rebel (9 May 2016)

Nice tank ! Do you out find that shrimp can get caught up in your power heads?


----------

