# First Journal - A beginners insight to the south americas! *now with updated pics!*



## krazypara3165 (20 Nov 2012)

As some of you may have noticed i have been pestering everyone for answers recently and i thought i would update everyone on whats going on!

     So last week i had a delivery of my first 'proper' aquarium' i have a fluval edge but do not really consider it to be in the same league and will be closing it down once my new tank is running. the tank i have is to replace a 4ft one i got from ebay which collapsed during testing. instead of repairing i thought i may as well do it properly and get a new tank. the tank i chose is a 4ft 285l beauty from All pond solutions which i will be reviewing at a later date.

.........The tank, i really underestimated how big this was!





once i managed to unpack it and move it inside i have put the substrate in and have been running all the equipment, here is how it looked yesterday....




I would like to thank a few members from here, firstly 'Antipofish' (chris) for the co2 setup




And 'alanyusupov' (Alan) for the great unusual selection of south american plants which arrived today!



CLINOPODIUM CF. BROWNEI 3 stems 
 Echinodorus tenellus nice portion 
Bacopa sp. 'Sazlmanii' 3 stems 
Eriocaulaceae sp. 'type 2 3 stems 
Eriocaulon Goias 1 stem
Hyptis lorentiana 1 stem 
Hygrophila polysperma 'Tiger' 3 stems 
Hygrophila sp. Araguaia 3 stems 
Lobelia cardinalis Dwarf 
Ludwigia Inclinata
var. Verticillata Cuba 5 stems 
Polygonum sp. 'Porto Velho' 
Persicaria Sao Paulo 1 stem 
Potamogeton gayi 
Rotala Mexicana sp.Goias 5 stems 
Sagitaria Dwarf 
Staurogyne sp. Porto Velho 
Staurogyne sp. Repens 
Flame Moss


And so it begins!


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## krazypara3165 (20 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Finally finished planting, its a bit haphazard as its all new to me. im quite pleased with the results and now i cant wait for them to grow in!

Specs, 

280l aquarium
2x 2000lph All pond solutions filters,
300w hydor inline heater
500g pressurized co2 fed into filter intakes
4x 52w t5 lights (only 2 on for 6 hours a day whilst the tank matures) i assume this should be enough?

anyway here is the results!


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## ceg4048 (20 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*



			
				krazypara3165 said:
			
		

> 4x 52w t5 lights (only 2 on for 6 hours a day whilst the tank matures) i assume this should be enough?


Hello,
   The question you ought to be asking is: Is 500g of CO2 enough for a 300L tank?

Cheers,


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## krazypara3165 (20 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

well i have 2 cannisters, and i get them refilled for next to nothing so i can bump it up to whatever it needs to be!


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## foxfish (20 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

As a very basic guideline, I use 2kg every 10 weeks on my 200lt. tank. I am using 2 x 39w T5 & 3 x 9w LEDs for 6 hours a day, the lights are 50cm above the water.


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## Ady34 (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Hi Krazypara,
looking good and seems like youre doing the right things with c02 on the inlets to redistribute evenly via the spraybars   
As others have touched on, id raise your light unit as high as it will go as this will allow you a little room for error on the c02 injection until you get it set at the right levels. Also while you have the opportunity with having no livestock, id ramp the c02 right up (get a yellow drop checker colour for lights on) to give the plants the best possible start.....9 times out of 10 its too much light and not enough c02 availability that kills plants.
Good luck mate, looks to have great potential   
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## krazypara3165 (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

unfortunatly thats as high as the lights go altho I will be looking into modyfying it slightly to make it go higher. And there will be no livestock until at least next weekend so I will ramp up the co2 today!


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## jack-rythm (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

If your struggling to raise the light, have you thought about taking out a t5 bulb?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## krazypara3165 (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*



			
				jack-rythm said:
			
		

> If your struggling to raise the light, have you thought about taking out a t5 bulb?
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


Well im only using 2 out of the four bulbs, still think this is overkill?


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## jack-rythm (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

I couldn't say, if your experiencing problems assuming its related to light and can't raise your unit then I guess take a bulb out. Its difficult to say. I guess you can try and see how it does. Its best to have too little light than too much?

Sent from my Nexus 7


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## MikeG747 (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Hi Krazypara,
I have the same tank and the same lighting setup. I found that running all lights for 6 hours for the first 3 weeks was ok. 
I had an outbreak of stag horn algae after about two weeks, but this was entirely co2 based. But then my tank was a bit more heavily planted than yours. Now that all is grown uni run the lights for 8 hours a day with no real issue. 

Mike


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## krazypara3165 (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

cheers everyone, managed to raise the lights slightly. and also whilst there is no livestock in the tank its getting blitzed with co2. just a matter of playing the waiting game now!


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## tim (21 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Nice plant list mate tank looks good just remember with this hobby patience is a virtue


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## krazypara3165 (22 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

So today I went downstairs to find a white film over some of the plants and the water is a tad cloudy. Im assuming this is the tank settling and I have read several reports as to what it could be with no difinitive answer. Either way I will up my water changes and see what happens.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (22 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

I'd have said it was a bacterial bloom. Should clear in a few weeks. Don't overdo the water changes, keep them small but frequent. Say 20-30% a day if possible.


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## krazypara3165 (22 Nov 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*



			
				Whitey89 said:
			
		

> I'd have said it was a bacterial bloom. Should clear in a few weeks. Don't overdo the water changes, keep them small but frequent. Say 20-30% a day if possible.



That was what i thought, nice to have someone that agrees. started 20% water changes today so i will continue for as long as it takes. ive also got the surface skimmer running just to help out as it was starting to build up on the surface


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## krazypara3165 (11 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Well i thought i'd post my three week update.

A lot of things have changed from my original concept, now at the moment i have around 15 tetras keeping the tank running, i have now decided to get rid of the tetras and go discus! it will be a lot of hard work, but ive already put a lot into this tank and i feel it will look stunning if i can pull it off. however i will be waiting till after christmas so my tank has a little longer to settle.

So far.......
It appears algae is creeping in, unfortunatly as my co2 is on full whack i cannot boost it higher, which leaves me the only option of reducing the lighting. i have managed to bodge, the lighting to raise it by 15 inches hopefully that will help, i will be continuing dosing as usual. if anyone has any more recommendations im all ears!  so far it is only appearing on old leaves but i'd rather catch it now rather than letting it get worse.

apologies for the poor quality pictures as they were taken from my mobile. 

i also apologise for the tinsel LOL (girlfriend)

FTS (with the now raised lights)




Algae creeping in




Lower leaves of Bacopa sp struggling (lack of co2?)




rotala mexicana (getting binned next week if no improvement)




All is not bad though! most plants are thriving considering the temp is 27 degrees ready for the discus!

some of the good!

echiodorus tennellus is growing fantastic, new runners everyday!




and the ludwiga cuba is also thriving!




So..... three weeks down. all in all i am really pleased with the results so far, due to the high temp i did get far more plants than needed as i knew at one point they would need thining out. so far im pleased with the results!


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## krazypara3165 (12 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Finally found out how to increase the working pressure for co2, came in today to find the drop checker has finally gone lime green!  hopefully this will stop the algae, and by next week ill know if the plants pictured above are struggling with the heat or lack of co2.


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## Antipofish (15 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*



			
				krazypara3165 said:
			
		

> Finally found out how to increase the working pressure for co2, came in today to find the drop checker has finally gone lime green!  hopefully this will stop the algae, and by next week ill know if the plants pictured above are struggling with the heat or lack of co2.



Keep your eye on the DC to make sure that you have not over compensated.  Hope the extra CO2 will make all the difference.  There is a theory that the addition of liquid carbon can also help.


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## krazypara3165 (15 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

cheers! ironically i got hold of another co2 setup today fe and hong kong reg, and tested the solenoid on it and it worked! :S but the other one came in the post today and that works on my existing setup so all sorted. ill be keeping my eye on the drop checker and adusting it accordingly over the next few days. im trying to steer clear of liquid carbon as its a bit expensive and ill need a lot for my tank, id rather just pull the plants that dont work as they only equate to less than 5% of the plant mass.


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## foxfish (15 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

So what working pressure do you have now?
liquid carbon might not be as expensive as you think! there are several suppliers out there that sell in largish amounts quite cheaply. I must confess to being a liquid carbon user, I like to add 5ml a day to my 200l tank.


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## Alastair (15 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Tanks looking great mate 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## krazypara3165 (15 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*



			
				foxfish said:
			
		

> So what working pressure do you have now?
> liquid carbon might not be as expensive as you think! there are several suppliers out there that sell in largish amounts quite cheaply. I must confess to being a liquid carbon user, I like to add 5ml a day to my 200l tank.


Haha I honestly have no idea :s the second gage on my reg only shows you how far youve opened.up the valve... Pretty useless tbh. I used to use excel on a nano tank but I always seemed to get better results without it, its kinda put me off using it on my larger tank now


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## jojouk (16 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Lovely tank, whats the quality of the tank and stand?


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## krazypara3165 (16 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Heres a link to a video review ive done here http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=24463&p=250694&hilit=aps+review#p250694

All in all its worth the money but the stand is not the best of quality. i also forgot to mention on that video that i opened the stand upside down and managed to scratch the top too easily.....


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## jojouk (17 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*

Ahhh, thanks for the review. I have been thinking of taking a look at the APS ranges of tanks, but was a little concerned about the quality, as they were quite reasonably priced


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## Antipofish (17 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*



			
				jojouk said:
			
		

> Ahhh, thanks for the review. I have been thinking of taking a look at the APS ranges of tanks, but was a little concerned about the quality, as they were quite reasonably priced



What do you have at the moment jojo ? We'd all like to see your setup as it is now along with a journal of your new venture


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## krazypara3165 (17 Dec 2012)

*Re: First Journal - A beginners insight to the south america*



			
				jojouk said:
			
		

> Ahhh, thanks for the review. I have been thinking of taking a look at the APS ranges of tanks, but was a little concerned about the quality, as they were quite reasonably priced


The price was the part that made me go out and get one, for a 4 bar t5, a braceless tank, a 200lph filter and a stand it was definatly worth it even.if the stand is not the best of quality.... And for 450 after discount I really cant complain. Also gives me a project to build a new stand over summer when I get bored


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## pancho (19 Dec 2012)

Tank is looking nice fella .looking forward to seeing it mature


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## krazypara3165 (19 Dec 2012)

cheers, me too! due to get some discus just before the end of the year so really looking forward to watching the tank mature.


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## krazypara3165 (2 Jan 2013)

wow, looking at the old pictures on here im long overdue an update! better get the camera out tonight!


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## krazypara3165 (4 Jan 2013)

Well, i think i am long overdue an update!

Its been a few months and i am really pleased with the results! looking back on my pictures growth has been great and ten days ago i picked up my discus from Steve Punchard at aquascope (really recommend, quality fish!!)

However not all has been plain sailing, algae has crept in (unsure what type) and im getting green spot algae on the glass that i have to remove every fortnight.
The algae im putting down to adjusting my co2 settings to compensate for the 02 that ive started pumping into the aquarium (to help the discus settle in more) and possibly due to the occasional missed E.I dose. now that im on top of it all ill wait it out a few weeks and make an informed decision then. im pretty sure ive got great flow as the drop checker is very lime green in all areas! 

Also a couple of my stem plants are struggling lower down, im pretty sure this is due to my higher temps (28 degrees) if they get too bad ill look into getting more tolerant plants.

so here are some pics!

FTS




Bonus for finding the 8 Discus that are hiding!

Algae







Residents




















And finally...... Discus! 













I would like to finish off by thanking all of the members for the help so far! and especially the lads that helped me learn how to take better pictures! im way off from where i want to be but its a great start!


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## krazypara3165 (6 Jan 2013)

managed to take a few more pics today that i am really pleased with! ill try and get them up in a while


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## krazypara3165 (5 Feb 2013)

i fancied a bit of a change, cleaning the tank after beefheart feedings was becomming a chore and i wanted to make it easier so i did a bit of a re-scape





as you can see the slate it gone, ive trimmd down a lot of the plants and binned the struggling ones.
i am a lot happier with the results and it makes maintence a lot easier!


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## krazypara3165 (10 Feb 2013)

quick update- everything seems to be doing well. was dosing liquid carbon but it was having detrimental effects on my grass (disintergrating) so im only dosing it now when needed.

tried to get a few pics of the fish today but they were being pests. managed to get one pic tho!


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## KeyboardWarrior (14 Mar 2013)

Cool looking tank and really nice fish I'd love to be able to keep discus one day


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## mi casa (14 Mar 2013)

Hi dude tanks looking good and your Discus are looking mighty fine


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## krazypara3165 (15 Mar 2013)

Cheers guys. Long overdue a update so ill try and get some more pics up tonight.


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## KeyboardWarrior (15 Mar 2013)

You got a link to where you ge them co2 bottles? They look like a good size for a nano


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## krazypara3165 (16 Mar 2013)

Harrogate Aquatic DENNERLE 500g Refillable CO2 Cylinder  i got the kit from a member on here. Did not realise how much they cost brand new lol.


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## KeyboardWarrior (16 Mar 2013)

Cool thanks for the link buddy


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## RobS84 (25 Mar 2013)

Not that I'm any better myself at updates, but would be good to see how it's coming along now since your last changes.


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## krazypara3165 (26 Mar 2013)

.....working on a competition tank atm so this tank has random plants and junk in it, ill get an update sorted early april!


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