# Aquascaper 900 - Comeback Lockdown Tank :)



## LondonDragon

Hi everyone,

As some might have seen this thread "Thanks to UKAPS" I have an empty tank in my living room for quite a while 






Over the last couple of years I have been obtaining all the equipment I wanted on bargain hunters (eBay), now that I have all the pieces I decided to finally make it happen. (missus was fed up with an empty tank in the living room and since I had the rocks and hardscape in there over some Akadama for a long time people that came over kept asking if I had a snake in there )

This is the Evolution Aqua Aquascaper 900 tank, a little photo shoot I did one day while I was bored with looking at the tank.

























Really good quality glass and cabinet, at the time I got it was pretty new in the market but now a lot of you have it also 

Also got a Twinstar 900E LED unit, again this at the time was one of the first in the UK but since its old news lol





Full Equipment List:

Aquascaper 900 Aquarium and cabinet (90x50x45cm) around 180l

Twinstar E900 LED Light + with timer/dimmer controller

Eheim Professional 3e 600T Thermofilter
Borneo Wild Metal Lily pipe set (also have glass lily's but decided to use the metal)

CO2 Dual Gauge Regular and Solenoid (with 5Kg FE)
ADA Pollen Glass Beetle 300 CO2 Diffuser  (decided not to use the Aquamedic 1000 reactor or inline reactor)

GHL 4 pump auto doser, 2 litre fert container with magnetic stirrer (why not )
Will be using a formula based on the standard EI with some tweaks to dose enough K but not too much nitrite.
Mixture is calculated to dose 50ml per day which should last around 40 days.

Hardscape:
Thanks to  @Piece-of-fish  (His Facebook Page)

Manzanita wood
Pagoda stone
Tropica Soil back and bottom layer
Tropica Soil Powder for front and top layer





Plant List:
Thanks to  @Piece-of-fish  (His Facebook Page)

Rotala rotundifolia Green
Rotala rotundifolia 'Orange Juice'
Rotala species 'Yao Yai'
Ludwigia brevipes
Ludwigia ovalis
Juncus repens
Cryptocoryne beckettii
Cryptocoryne legroi
Bolbitis heudelotii
Bolbitis Rare Dwarf Species
Bucephalandra wavy green
Bucephalandra Theia
Bucephalandra sp. Red Tropica
Microsorum pteropus 'Needle Lead'
Microsorum trident
Anubias barteri var nana
Anubias barteri var nana Pangolino
Anubias barteri var nana bonzai
Anubias barteri var nana 'Paxing'
Lilaeopsis 'Novea-Zealandiae'
Eleocharis sp. 'Mini'
Taiwan Moss

In the end might have gone a little too crazy with the stems! Let see how it goes, might add some extras here and there as time goes by and see what works best, most of these plants I have also not tried before, fun and games ahead  , I haven't done this in a long time and still a noob! My 7 year long planted tank journal I was using plain gravel!


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## LondonDragon

So last Friday decided to scape the tank!! 

While I waited for the plants to arrive at 10am I started to work on the hardscape, the wood had been soaking for a couple of weeks as I wanted to get rid of the tinge and also ensure that when I filled up the tank it all didn't just float and wanted to see what the colour of the rocks looked like underwater. Also managed to set up and test all the equipment before planting.

Finally sunk!!




Did not have a lot of hardscape to play with and could not be arsed to get any more that might not use and just takes up space around the flat! lol This is what I came up with!

Just phone photos, took me long enough lol and could not be arsed to mess around with cameras and time lapses 

The Final hardscape:




The plants eventually arrived at 3PM:





So the fun of planting it all began and see if I didn't get myself into more than I could handle 

Planted stems at the back, did have more than I thought I would, so they are quite compact, lets see how they do, instant bush I am hoping 





Then planted a row of crypts in front of the stems and the Juncus after that. Attached the ferns and Bolbitis to the hood.
Buces and anubias also went into the wood just above the rocks.





Then the painstaking job of planting the carpet, this is a mixture of Lilaeopsis and Mini hairgrass, this was the result:





Lilaeopsis is a little wild at the moment and need to wait until new leaves start growing before I start chopping off the old ones.

Then filled the tank up and to my surprise not one single plant floated up, which was a nice result  I was done by 8PM!









What lies under the tank, still need to do a bit of cable management! and deciding if I am going to attach that moss to the wood or not!!





For the time being photo period of 6 hours per day, CO2 comes on 2.5 hours before lights and goes off an hour before lights off!
50% water changes for the first week, then 3 times for the second week, then will start on once a week.

Thanks for looking and hopefully I won't kill the plants in a week  If I don't post again you know why! haha

Cheers
Paulo


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## X3NiTH

Looks like an awesome start!

It’s a really nice tank, I’m still waiting for the Marin Pro900s that I bought on lockdown day to be ordered, I can only dream about delivery at the moment.


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## alto

LondonDragon said:


> Rotala rotundifolia Green





LondonDragon said:


> Juncus repens


Excellent choices 

Fantastic to see this going!

50% daily water change is the “minimum”, Amano often mentioned 80-90% water changes, and continuing daily water changes well past that first week, especially if you observe any plant melt or visible algae

George Farmer has also been recently doing daily water changes on his established 1200

(I’m assuming you’re not limited to a bucket)


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## CooKieS

You wouldn’t need to do daily water change with tropica soil IM, just do 2x times a week 50% wc...for example.

ada soil is full of ammonia hence why the daily wc recommendations, the tropica soil is much more easy to start with.

nice start anyway!


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## Jayefc1

Really nice tank and scape


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## LondonDragon

X3NiTH said:


> Looks like an awesome start!
> 
> It’s a really nice tank, I’m still waiting for the Marin Pro900s that I bought on lockdown day to be ordered, I can only dream about delivery at the moment.


Many thanks, hopefully not as long wait as I had it empty 



alto said:


> Excellent choices
> 
> Fantastic to see this going!
> 
> 50% daily water change is the “minimum”, Amano often mentioned 80-90% water changes, and continuing daily water changes well past that first week, especially if you observe any plant melt or visible algae
> 
> George Farmer has also been recently doing daily water changes on his established 1200
> 
> (I’m assuming you’re not limited to a bucket)


Many thanks, after looking at various Nature style aquascapes that I liked I picked the plants that I liked the look off and mostly never tried before, might not be a good idea off the bat, but we shall see 

As @CooKieS says with Tropica there should be no need for daily, but I will keep an eye on it and see if that is a requirement and indeed I don't use a bucket LOL



CooKieS said:


> You wouldn’t need to do daily water change with tropica soil IM, just do 2x times a week 50% wc...for example.
> ada soil is full of ammonia hence why the daily wc recommendations, the tropica soil is much more easy to start with.
> nice start anyway!


Many thanks, pretty happy with the result so far and most importantly that its planted and full of water haha 



Jayefc1 said:


> Really nice tank and scape


Many thanks


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## lazybones51

Looking good


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## mlgt

Fantastic. Looking forward seeing this one grow in. Its been too long of a wait


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## Deano3

Looks excellent, great nature scape.

I am very interested as starting my AS900 next few months.

I am also doing EI and would love a auto doser so will be asking about that on a different post at some point.

Looking forward to seeing it grown in.
Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


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## LondonDragon

lazybones51 said:


> Looking good


Many thanks 


mlgt said:


> Fantastic. Looking forward seeing this one grow in. Its been too long of a wait


Many thanks , yeah was thinking it would never kick off lol got there in the end 
P.S. that signature is out of date 


Deano3 said:


> Looks excellent, great nature scape.
> I am very interested as starting my AS900 next few months.
> I am also doing EI and would love a auto doser so will be asking about that on a different post at some point.
> Looking forward to seeing it grown in.


Limited hardscape only option was more a Nature style which has always been my fav, tried a gumi before and got bored with it very quickly. For me Nature you can always adapt the scape by just swapping out some plants!
Was lucky enough to get my GHL for 20 quid on eBay! Still, can't believe it!
There is a good thread on them here: https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/37255/
Many thanks


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## Tim Harrison

Sheer class...great to see this up and running and you scaping again


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## LondonDragon

Tim Harrison said:


> Sheer class...great to see this up and running and you scaping again


Many thanks Tim  let's see how I get on, bit rusty haha


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## FishKeeper55

I like what you done with this 👍


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## LondonDragon

FishKeeper55 said:


> I like what you done with this 👍


Many thanks


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## alto

LondonDragon said:


> As @CooKieS says with Tropica there should be no need for daily, but I will keep an eye on it and see if that is a requirement and indeed I don't use a bucket LOL


Well I’ve definitely proved that you can set up a scape with Tropica Soil and not change the water for a month (or more)  
but it really depends on how well plants adapt (which tends to reflect their health before you became part of the equation) and water parameters etc etc

In general it’s much easier to change water and limit algae that way, than to subdue the algae horde running rampant 
(I’m just lazy)


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## CooKieS

alto said:


> Well I’ve definitely proved that you can set up a scape with Tropica Soil and not change the water for a month (or more)
> but it really depends on how well plants adapt (which tends to reflect their health before you became part of the equation) and water parameters etc etc
> 
> In general it’s much easier to change water and limit algae that way, than to subdue the algae horde running rampant
> (I’m just lazy)



 I’m lazy too 

and not fond of all that wasted water


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## LondonDragon

One week later and the first maintenance, cleaned all the filter pipes were a little dirty from when soaking the wood and only got my cleaning brush this week.
Also gave a trim to the carpet and moved some plants around a little, had some Fissidens on my low tech looking a little brown so moved it to this tank to see if it recovers, going to use some of it to plant in certain areas around the rocks and wood, also have some Taiwan moss to place on some pieces of wood, trying to think where it would be best placed.

Here some snaps using my phone, after first week maintenance:

















Also managed to get hold of a TP-Link Kasa power strip which I will be swapping out tomorrow with the power adapters, see how that works!

Thanks for looking!


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## Ryan Thang To

hello mate

tank looking good. once the stem getting very busy it going to look awesome nature style 

add some moss on the rocks. give it extra colours

cheers


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## LondonDragon

Ryan Thang To said:


> hello mate
> tank looking good. once the stem getting very busy it going to look awesome nature style
> add some moss on the rocks. give it extra colours
> cheers


Many thanks Ryan, rocks I am thinking Fissidens, moss top bits of the wood, maybe the larger pieces in the middle, also want to add some more Buces to the layer of wood/rocks, loving these Buces


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## Ady34

Excellent, so pleased to see this up and running and you sharing the experience.
Tank looks really well balanced, great kit and some lovely plant choices.
Looks like you haven’t lost your touch Paulo, some impressive stem growth already 
Hopefully this journal will last as long as your
previous ones 
Cheerio,


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## Deano3

Looking good and healthy starting to fill in nicely, mine in due beginning of july so watching your jurnal very closely. Are you just dosing standard EI ? I ordered the APF starter kit so hopefully goes well. Been waiting for your update looks really promising so far mate will lool very natural when filled in and i also love bucephalandra .

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


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## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> Excellent, so pleased to see this up and running and you sharing the experience.
> Tank looks really well balanced, great kit and some lovely plant choices.
> Looks like you haven’t lost your touch Paulo, some impressive stem growth already
> Hopefully this journal will last as long as your
> previous ones
> Cheerio,


Many thanks, happy to be back also, and so far enjoying it.
I did have a look at various scapes from various people to determine the plant choice and so far happy with it, I am just going to get some more Buces as I love these now 
Hopefully a long term journal as I am not into regular scaping, and I am no scaper lol



Deano3 said:


> Looking good and healthy starting to fill in nicely, mine in due beginning of july so watching your jurnal very closely. Are you just dosing standard EI ? I ordered the APF starter kit so hopefully goes well. Been waiting for your update looks really promising so far mate will lool very natural when filled in and i also love bucephalandra .


Many thanks, happy days ahead 
I am using a twist on the standard EI that I used in past with success, I dose lower amounts of KNO3 and add more K2SO4, so to dose the recommended ppm of K per week and not dose too much of NO3, I am actually going to redo my ferts again and eliminate totally KNO3 from the solution and only add K2SO4, in the hope that eliminating Nitrates I will get the Rotala and Ludwigia to turn red 
If that works out I will share my results and formula if people are interested. Cheers


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## Chris PP

This thread is brilliant to say the least ! As I am just starting back into the hobby I like you have been waiting until I have all the bits ready. Got the tank, filter and co2 all ready. Got to pick up a Twinstar later today. Next is my struggle with plant choice. Soo much to choose from. Looking forward to watching this thread


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## LondonDragon

Chris PP said:


> This thread is brilliant to say the least ! As I am just starting back into the hobby I like you have been waiting until I have all the bits ready. Got the tank, filter and co2 all ready. Got to pick up a Twinstar later today. Next is my struggle with plant choice. Soo much to choose from. Looking forward to watching this thread


Many thanks, start with less demanding plants, most of the plants on my list are less demanding, hence I picked them, so I have a better chance to succeed in my first go, and then later maybe replace/add some more demanding ones  good luck


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## zozo

That's a darn nice setup...  And nice to finally see you come out of hiding from behind the scenes...


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## LondonDragon

zozo said:


> That's a darn nice setup...  And nice to finally see you come out of hiding from behind the scenes...


Thanks Marcel, long time coming I guess, and just made a new batch of ferts also to see if I can get the rotala red!! I will use the previous on the houseplants! Just gotta make sure I don't over dose them! lol


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## LondonDragon

Just a quick update on my EI dry salts mix.

So this was my first week dosing mix:





Everything has grown in great as you have seen, I did perform 50% water changes every 2 days! No sign of algae or any deficiencies or something that I never heard before until recent years "toxicity", which I think is a load of BS!!


My stems growing at a great rate, but they are green, speaking to a couple of more experienced aquascapers this week I was advised to lower or add no Nitrate! So this is my week two solution which I started dosing today:





I am still going to perform 50% water changes every couple of days this week and next week will do every 3 days! Let's see how the tank behaves with the new dosing mix!!

I am using a dosing pump that took me a while to calibrate but doses exactly 50ml every time.

Cheers


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## hypnogogia

@LondonDragon , what’s that dosing calculator excel that you use?  Looks nice and simple.


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## LondonDragon

hypnogogia said:


> @LondonDragon , what’s that dosing calculator excel that you use?  Looks nice and simple.


It's my own spreadsheet, to work out the actual ppm being dosed I use https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php it is not done automatically by the spreadsheet. I am just making it simple for me and trying not to overcomplicate it, also I do not really care about what is being dosed by my tap water, just making sure the plants have what it needs. If you have the right balance between CO2, Light and flow then you shouldn't have an issue with algae! Time will tell


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## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> It's my own spreadsheet, to work out the actual ppm being dosed I use https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php it is not done automatically by the spreadsheet. I am just making it simple for me and trying not to over complicate it, also I do not really care about what is being dosed by my tap water, just making sure the plants have what it needs. If you have the right balance between CO2, Light and flow then you shouldn't have an issue with algae! time will tell


So you changed water evey 2 days for the first week so water change one day miss a day then water change the next, think i will do the same when set up mine.

I am very unexperienced with dry salts and dont even know what is in salt etc so i think i will be following the starter kit advice from aquarium plant food and maybe adding potassium sulphate as someome suggested but i will add more questions only my tank etc arrives,seems very confusing at first but hopefully start to learn and learn if seeimg defficencys what salts need added etc.

Great jurnal so far mate and very helpful. 
Dean

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## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> So you changed water evey 2 days for the first week so water change one day miss a day then water change the next, think i will do the same when set up mine.


Depends on the soil you are using, if ADA I would recommend doing it every day for the first couple weeks.



Deano3 said:


> I am very unexperienced with dry salts and dont even know what is in salt etc


Here to provide some guidance if needed 

Cheers
Paulo


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## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> Depends on the soil you are using, if ADA I would recommend doing it every day for the first couple weeks.
> Here to provide some guidance if needed


Thanks mate i will certainly be asking if you dont mind and i will be using tropica soil thinking 2 bags of 9l.

Thanks dean

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## LondonDragon

These were the stems after 4 days:





These are the stems today, around day 10:





Top view today:





Lets see if over the next week I start to see some colour


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## Deano3

Thats some impressive growth mate  

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## Jayefc1

Wow those stems look amazing hope the new ferts do what you want them too


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## Ady34

That view from above  Stems are looking great......Green is the new red


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## LondonDragon

Jayefc1 said:


> Wow those stems look amazing hope the new ferts do what you want them too


Many thanks, there is a mixture of green and red, so not all will go red hopefully some haha 


Ady34 said:


> That view from above  Stems are looking great......Green is the new red


Many thanks, new ferts and as they get taller higher PAR so fingers crossed  just have to figure out at what level do I trim them!


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## Ady34

LondonDragon said:


> just have to figure out at what level do I trim them!


Go low, best chance of extra bush in the future......although they look pretty full already!


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## LondonDragon

Quick update, two weeks since planted, things still growing in well but stems are still very green, might be because the light is not that strong so time will tell, have been doing frequent water changes which might be keeping nitrates high.





Added a second drop checker but looks like added too much bromo as its very dark, need to re-do it again, also CO2 diffuser is due a clean!

Also trimmed all the leaves of the trident ferns since they were emerged growth to encourages not leaves to grow and avoid the old leaves just decaying and become algae collectors, also did that to most of the bolbitis leaves too.

Hairgrass growing well but the Lilaeopsis seems to be taking its time.

Also got hold on of a Twinstar to see if that does help against algae  so far the plants are very clean, but its only week two!





Also was having a major issue as I would like the lights on when I am in the living room in the evening, but the LED's are so powerful that I needed sunglasses while I was in the sofa which is right in front of the tank.

Got a 1mm sheet of aluminium and tried to create a shade, not to easy to bend and would benefit from a press, or maybe a 0.5mm sheet instead, but didn't come out too bad in the end and reasonable for now.





At least now I can seat in the sofa and enjoy the tank and watch TV without any issues.

Some plant shots, love the Buce's might get some more this week!









Thanks for looking


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## rebel

Light spillover seems to be a big issue these days. Better lensing could improve but could cause color shadows inside the tank. Maybe a light design should be hang it really high with very focussed beams. I'd rather  my light be up in the ceiling than near the tank for aesthetic reasons.


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## LondonDragon

rebel said:


> Light spillover seems to be a big issue these days. Better lensing could improve but could cause color shadows inside the tank. Maybe a light design should be hang it really high with very focussed beams. I'd rather  my light be up in the ceiling than near the tank for aesthetic reasons.


Yeah, not really happy with it but either that or when I am in the living room I have to turn the tank off, which is not great either! Weird light cycles and I can't enjoy the tank while I am there!
Guess it's time to think of an alternative solution! Or ditch open tops altogether!


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## SRP3006

Watching this thread with interest for future plans. Loving the look of the tank and gotta love those buces.


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## LondonDragon

SRP3006 said:


> Watching this thread with interest for future plans. Loving the look of the tank and gotta love those buces.


Many thanks  I have just placed an order for a few more Buces  just can't resist!


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## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> Many thanks  I have just placed an order for a few more Buces  just can't resist!


Yeah your lovimg them buces at the minite, must admit i do aswel just a nice slow grower.

Keep the updates coming mate seems to be ticking along nicely.

Dean

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## rebel

LondonDragon said:


> when I am in the living room I have to turn the tank off, which is not great either!


Yeah this happens to me because family switch off the lights to the tank when they watch movies etc and don't bother to turn it back on. Also they spook the fish by suddenly turning lights on and off.


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## rebel

A slight tilt mechanism to the light might be helpful. I think the Chinese are on to this already. Some aliexpress lights can be tilted.


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## LondonDragon

rebel said:


> A slight tilt mechanism to the light might be helpful. I think the Chinese are on to this already. Some aliexpress lights can be tilted.


My solution is working a treat  now I can leave the tank on much later which doesn't disturb me watching TV, and I can glance at the tank once in a while


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## Deano3

Any updates mate 

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## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> Any updates mate


Haha you are keen, not a lot has changed in the last week, few things that changed:

- Added some Buces ( 2 Tropica red, 1 Aquafleur Theia Red  and one Tropica Kedagang) hopefully not too many!
- Moves some Buces around
- replaced my ADA Beetle CO2 diffuser with a Twinstar CO2 diffuser, had to reduce the CO2 pressure by half, really effective the Twinstar and a very fine mist of CO2, going to ditch the ADA and get another Twinstar and alternate between cleans.
- Had quite a few gaps on the back right-hand side carpet so planted an extra pot of hairgrass in that corner.
- Stems are growing pretty well, looks like I have to start thinking about giving them a trim soon.

I posted a quick video on YouTube, raw out of the phone, need to work out how to edit videos next! lol



Thanks for looking


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## Deano3

Yes i am keen to see your progress Wow thats looking great,great growth on the stems and never too many buce , the twinstar is a great diffuser i have the small one on my 45p and never had any problems at all, i am going to be going inline with my 900 though so hopefully works out ok and the cloudiness doesnt bother me like last time before i went to intank diffuser 

Looking brilliant paulo 
Dean

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## LondonDragon

Today managed to edit this template for the thickness of my glass, works out a treat for the dosing tube:

3D printed on clear PLA filament:






Really simple and out of the way


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## LondonDragon

Side shot from the right-hand side, taken at the weekend, today some stems have reached the surface! Guess I will have to chop them at the weekend!


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## Deano3

Lovely colours there paulo you must be happy and great growth, i love rotala but such a fast grower thats only thing, it keeps getting out of hand for me as dont want to be trimming weekly so with my 900 what arrives next week i will have to think longer about spacing when plant it up and make sure leave room to grow and not take over etc as so dence when replanting tops but hard to keep ontop of it.

Looking great though mate 

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## Geoffrey Rea

Looking lush 😍 Looking forward to seeing this grown in @LondonDragon


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## Ady34

LondonDragon said:


> not a lot has changed in the last week


Erm, apart from 19 foot of stem growth! 
Looks great, and like the auto doser tube fixing  Just got myself an auto doser from Andrew Butler, it might just sit in the cupboard tbh but had considered buying some glass u bends to go over the rim.


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## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> tbh but had considered buying some glass u bends to go over the rim.


Usually too long and go into the water, you don't want the tube ends in the water as it may take back water! 
I can print some for you if you like, just PM me your glass size  they are quick to print and use very little filament!


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## castle

LondonDragon said:


> Today managed to edit this template for the thickness of my glass, works out a treat for the dosing tube:
> 
> 3D printed on clear PLA filament:
> 
> View attachment 151356
> 
> Really simple and out of the way



I think PLA will absorb quite a lot of moisture over time, I used PLA to build something very similar (clips for dosing and temperature) and over a year they did swell and were above water


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## LondonDragon

castle said:


> I think PLA will absorb quite a lot of moisture over time, I used PLA to build something very similar (clips for dosing and temperature) and over a year they did swell and were above water


Thanks for the heads up! that could be an issue long term I guess! lets wait and see! my printer doesnt do PETG!


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## Ady34

LondonDragon said:


> Usually too long and go into the water, you don't want the tube ends in the water as it may take back water!
> I can print some for you if you like, just PM me your glass size  they are quick to print and use very little filament!


Thanks Paulo, yeah your right, don’t want a back flow. I’ll let you know if I ever get round to actually installing the auto doser


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## LondonDragon

Had an issue with the Amanos I purchased which I thought might have been CO2 related but CO2 was very low for 4-5 days and shrimp still had some issues, ones remaining seem to be OK now so let's see how it goes. Low CO2 for a few days brought some signs of algae so now upped again and hopefully a quick recovery.

Before a water change last night and a glass clean!






Filter and pipes will be cleaned at the weekend!
Stems have pretty much reached the surface in some areas, specially the green, I am not sure about the Ludwigia ovalis so that might go to keep the leaves more uniform. I do like the Ludwigia brevipes 





Some plant shots!

The dwarf bolbitis:





And the full size version with stems at the back!





You can just about see the crypts coming through! Lots of leaves on them now and lovely colours! They just grow very slow, I did chop off all the leaves when I planted them, those 2cm leaf stalks that I left have now completely melted.

Need to consider pruning the stems, any advice on that?

Cheers
Paulo


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## steveno

Hiya, just want say your scape is looking lovely, such amazing growth is such a short time. Despite the recent very minor set back, which I'm sure you'll going to get on top off.

I have quietly been following your journal with interest, as I have recently set up a similar sort of (lockdown) scape after a year or 2 away from the hobby. I would be a very happy if I manage achieved something even half as lovely as yours. 

Great photos, and very insightful journal, thanks for sharing.


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## LondonDragon

Many thanks Steveo, has been an interesting journey so far, I have decided to concentrate on growing the plants for now and not worry too much on colour, give it a couple of trims and then see how it goes.

Next thing is start thinking about fish, maybe in a couple of weeks time it will be ready for that, any suggestions' anyone?


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## Conort2

LondonDragon said:


> Many thanks Steveo, has been an interesting journey so far, I have decided to concentrate on growing the plants for now and not worry too much on colour, give it a couple of trims and then see how it goes.
> 
> Next thing is start thinking about fish, maybe in a couple of weeks time it will be ready for that, any suggestions' anyone?


Danio tinwini.

About half the size of a zebra danio with a lovely spotted golden pattern. Nothing too flash and they don’t distract from an aquascape at all. Plus they’re good shoalers and follow each other around most of the time. Also very hardy as you’d expect from a danio.

cheers

conor


----------



## LondonDragon

Quick comparrison of the progress:





This weekend cleaned the pipes again and also cleaned the filter for the first time, other than the filter pads the media was pretty clean, only had 2 of the 4 trays with media, this week filled in the other 2 trays! I am only using Alfagrog media in the trays and the fine and coarse pads!

Moved the CO2 diffuser to the right-hand side (thanks to a comment by @Ryan Thang To ) which is a lot more effective and have moved the Twinstar to the back (not on photo at the moment, had removed it to clean glass).

Week 4 full tank shot (should have waited a little later still a few reflections from the sunlight):





Next weekend will trim the stems for sure 


Ferns recovering well from my 100% trim of all leaves! This is  couple weeks growth:





Juncus and crypts finally starting to show some growth:





Grass filling in nicely, Lilaeopsis is so slow that the grass if dwarfing it, haven't seen much growth of it.

Buces doing great and shooting a lot of flowers at the moment:





Haven't had a need to clean the hardscape yet, still algae free!  thanks for looking


----------



## PARAGUAY

Looking good and like the foreground


----------



## Putney

Wow that looks impressive already


----------



## hypnogogia

Looking really good.


----------



## SRP3006

I like this tank, stems are coming along fast. Interested to see if you decide to try and bring out the reds in them.


----------



## LondonDragon

PARAGUAY said:


> Looking good and like the foreground


Many thanks 



Putney said:


> Wow that looks impressive already


So far happy with it, lets see if it remains on track!


hypnogogia said:


> Looking really good.


Many thanks 



SRP3006 said:


> I like this tank, stems are coming along fast. Interested to see if you decide to try and bring out the reds in them.


Many thanks, I was trying to do that too early maybe, so now I am going to concentrate on growing the stems, trim and replant them a couple of times to make them fuller, then go for the reds 
Although they're already showing signs of getting a little reddish! My light might not be enough for that!



Conort2 said:


> Danio tinwini.
> 
> About half the size of a zebra danio with a lovely spotted golden pattern. Nothing too flash and they don’t distract from an aquascape at all. Plus they’re good shoalers and follow each other around most of the time. Also very hardy as you’d expect from a danio.


Many thanks, after watching some videos I do like them! Maybe one to consider mixing with something else!


----------



## Nuno M.

Good to see you back to the hobby Paulo,

Tank is looking really nice.

Congrats


----------



## steveno

Danio tinwini are lovely little fish, but I'm pretty sure I've read that they like jump, so may not be suitable for open top tanks.


----------



## Conort2

steveno said:


> Danio tinwini are lovely little fish, but I'm pretty sure I've read that they like jump, so may not be suitable for open top tanks.


Ah sorry, forgot it’s open top.

Chances are some may jump then, I’ve lost one to jumping through a gap in my mesh cover I use.


----------



## LondonDragon

Nuno M. said:


> Good to see you back to the hobby Paulo,
> Tank is looking really nice.
> Congrats


Obrigado Nuno, I know it's not the best hardscape to even compete with you guys  but its a start back into the hobby, if I get a decent NA style tanks which is always my fav type I will be happy 




steveno said:


> Danio tinwini are lovely little fish, but I'm pretty sure I've read that they like jump, so may not be suitable for open top tanks.


Thanks for the heads up, guess I will have to pass on that one 
I am now thinking Glowlight tetras and not sure what else to mix with!!


----------



## LondonDragon

Just a quick update, so I moved a mesh of fissidens to the tank couple weeks back from my shrimp low tech which was suffering a little, good news is the fissidens is doing great, bad news is that it introduced a lot of snails to the tank  my bad!!! Now have to get on top of that, I like snails but not too many!
The lowering of the CO2 because of the shrimp has shown some signs of algae specially some black stringy stuff, I have slowly increased the CO2 over the past week and hopefully that will soon start to clear up. Couple of set backs here but things growing in nicely still.

Quick angle shot:




As I have next week off work I am planning on Monday/Tuesday to visit my local store (ADC) and get some fish, clean up crew at least (couple of SAE, 3-4 Ottos, maybe couple of Nerite snails, I already have 15 Amano Shrimp in there), then will see what fish they have in stock that I might fancy as the main shoal. Been thinking Glowlight Tetras or Odessa Barbs (the later might be jumpers anyone kept them before?).

So that I am not disturbing the fish right after adding them I will be trimming the stems this weekend very low and replanting what I can squeeze in the middle to make the stems thicker. That should then take another 3-4 weeks before needing another trim!

Looking forward to some fish movement in the tank, it's not that exciting watching stems grow! lol

Thanks for looking


----------



## Nick72

Your tank is looking great Paulo!

I really like Odessa Barbs, I've not kept them because  my tank runs too hot for them, but they're on my wish list.

@Geoffrey Rea has some in his main tank.  He hasn't mentioned any jumping tendencies, but maybe you could ask him.


----------



## Geoffrey Rea

LondonDragon said:


> Odessa Barbs (the later might be jumpers anyone kept them before?).





Nick72 said:


> @Geoffrey Rea has some in his main tank. He hasn't mentioned any jumping tendencies, but maybe you could ask him



They’re fine as long as there’s no sudden on/off lighting taking place. We have a lamp on a timer in the evenings near the tanks as the light fixtures above both main tanks are on/off with no ramp down. Softens the blow. With the Twinstar unit and it’s ramp up/down you should be alright.


----------



## GHNelson

Hi Paulo
Good progress there!
Odessa barbs are one of my favourite little fish, the males are lovely... I won't be surprised if you end up with little tiddlers.
Remember to have a good gas exchange in your tank before you add fish from the LFS.
🍻


----------



## Onoma1

Superb growth. I started my new tank just about the time you did and my plant gowth is no way near as lush as yours. I am in awe.


----------



## LondonDragon

Nick72 said:


> Your tank is looking great Paulo!
> I really like Odessa Barbs, I've not kept them because  my tank runs too hot for them, but they're on my wish list.


Many thanks  read mix messages in regard to temp and most say that lower than 25C will be fine!



Geoffrey Rea said:


> They’re fine as long as there’s no sudden on/off lighting taking place. We have a lamp on a timer in the evenings near the tanks as the light fixtures above both main tanks are on/off with no ramp down. Softens the blow. With the Twinstar unit and it’s ramp up/down you should be alright.


Many thanks, I have installed the light controller last week, so now I have a proper sun rise/set effect on the tank, which works great, as my Amanos jumped out a couple of times with the light coming on  I want to see the fish live in the store also, so will have to wait and see what they have in stock.



hogan53 said:


> Good progress there!
> Odessa barbs are one of my favourite little fish, the males are lovely... I won't be surprised if you end up with little tiddlers.
> Remember to have a good gas exchange in your tank before you add fish from the LFS.


Many thanks, I like barbs due to the larger more defined scales, but most of them grow too big.
I am taking my time with the fish as I want to get things right for them and get the CO2 right also, I did get a Eheim skimmer that you can lift higher to create a nice flow of oxygen bubbles into the water or lift the return pipe to create some agitation after lights out. Just the skimmer I can place on a timer and run it overnight and the pipe I might forget 



Onoma1 said:


> Superb growth. I started my new tank just about the time you did and my plant gowth is no way near as lush as yours. I am in awe.


Many thanks, looks like I can still grow plants, CO2 has always been an issue to get right balance and seem to have some issues with it this time round also, lets see if I got it balanced now. In terms of fast growth my light is not even that powerful (only 55w) all you need is good flow to distribute the CO2 and ferts around the tank!


----------



## Nick72

LondonDragon said:


> Many thanks  read mix messages in regards to temp and most say that lower than 25C will be fine!




Yeh but my tank runs at 28.5c without a heater, so they will have to stay on my wish list a while longer.


----------



## Deano3

Love this thread mate very helpful and tank starting to grow in nicely, agree i love the NA style and i will be aiming for something very similar.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

So decided to trim the stems this afternoon, I have never grown stems in this scale so this is new to me, seeing some videos, some threads with advice, some comments people made, I went for it and let's see how it goes 

So there was a lot more in there that it looked! 






How it looked after trimming from the side:





From the top:





Funny enough the area on the right gets more flow and yet has the yellowest leaves of the lot, also this area tends to grow slower than the rest, is the heavy flow actually taking nutrients away and the plants cannot consume them fast enough?

I did manage to replant most of the trimmings and after it looked like this from the side:





and from the top:





So let's see how long it takes to recover and if it does indeed recover well.

Full tank shot after a water change and also added Taiwan moss to some of the wood, had this in vitro cup for a while, lets see if it survives and recovers, on the right-hand corner have some mini Xmas moss from @Kalum so if the Taiwan fails I will replace it with that!





Looks a little bare again! I wanted the first trim to be really low to thicken up! Fingers crossed 

Ignore the red head on the skimmer, that is a 3D printed version I made with a mesh built-in so it doesn't suck in the shrimp!

Thanks for looking


----------



## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> So decided to trim the stems this afternoon, I have never grown stems in this scale so this is new to me, seeing some videos, some threads with advice, some comments people made, I went for it and let's see how it goes
> 
> So there was a lot more in there that it looked!
> 
> View attachment 151922
> 
> How it looked after trimming from the side:
> 
> View attachment 151923
> 
> From the top:
> 
> View attachment 151924
> 
> Funny enough the area on the right gets more flow and yet has the yellowest leaves of the lot, also this area tends to grow slower than the rest, is the heavy flow actually taking nutrients away and the plants cannot consume them fast enough?
> 
> I did manage to replant most of the trimmings and after it looked like this from the side:
> 
> View attachment 151926
> 
> and from the top:
> 
> View attachment 151927
> 
> So let's see how long it takes to recover and if it does indeed recover well.
> 
> Full tank shot after a water change and also added Taiwan moss to some of the wood, had this invitro cup for a while, lets see if it survives and recovers, on the right hand coner have some mini Xmas moss from @Kalum so if the Taiwan fails I will replace it with that!
> 
> View attachment 151928
> 
> Looks a little bare again! I wanted the first trim to be really low to thicken up! fingers crossed
> 
> Ignore the red head on the skimmer, that is a 3D printed version I made with a mesh builtin so it doesnt suck in the shrimp!
> 
> Thanks for looking


Great job sure will recover well i may do same thing, have you kept same plants together in same area and not mixed them ?

My current 45 is far to wild and mixed next time i want to keep same plants together.

Also i noticed the skimmer and was going to ask  as long as does the job.

Yoi still adding recomened amount of ferts and whats your current BPS of co2 and how often doing water change of dont mind me asking.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> have you kept same plants together in same area and not mixed them


Yes as I was cutting I was putting them in the tray in order and then planted them back in the same order (I hope) 


Deano3 said:


> Also i noticed the skimmer and was going to ask //emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji1787.png as long as does the job.


I am working on a new model at the moment and I have black filament also 


Deano3 said:


> Yoi still adding recomened amount of ferts and whats your current BPS of co2 and how often doing water change of dont mind me asking.


I am going to mix a new batch tomorrow, most likely going to keep the same recipe as week 2 with no nitrates (refer to page 2). In the end I did mix some of the week 1 with week 2 rather than chucking them away and just concentrate on growing the stems rather than worry about colour for now, so hopefully the colour will be redder in the next few weeks.
I find BPS irrelevant as all bubble counters are different, I am just going with the drop checker and aiming for a lime green, but with the Twinstar diffuser built-in bubble counter I can work it out at just under 2 BPS.
Due to the recent noticeable algae I have been doing 3 water changes per week.


----------



## hypnogogia

LondonDragon said:


> Ignore the red head on the skimmer, that is a 3D printed version I made with a mesh builtin so it doesnt suck in the shrimp!


Looks good!


----------



## mohamed elsorahy

cool


----------



## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> Yes as I was cutting I was putting them in the tray in order and then planted them back in the same order (I hope)
> 
> I am working on a new model at the moment and I have black filament also
> 
> I am going to mix a new batch tomorrow, most likely going to keep the same recipe as week 2 with no nitrates (refer to page 2). In the end I did mix some of the week 1 with week 2 rather than chucking them away and just concentrate on growing the stems rather than worry about colour for now, so hopefully the colour will be redder in the next few weeks.
> I find BPS irrelevant as all bubble counters are different, I am just going with the drop checker and aiming for a lime green, but with the Twinstar diffuser built in bubble counter I can work it out at just under 2 BPS.
> Due to the recent noticeable algae I have been doing 3 water changes per week.


Thanks for that mate after house decorated i can start working on mine, lookomg great by the way and love yhe organised plants thats what i will do to start, wonder if worth soaking my mazi wood for now so doesnt float, will it be ok in garden with open-top comtainer you think ?

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## Ady34

Looking epic Paulo. Love how dense the stems are and really lush growth all down the stem to the substrate. I’m sure they will recover well.
I particularly like that mini bolbitis you have, that seems like a nice option to add the look of bolbitis without the size which can overtake a scape easily if left to its own devices.
Odessa barbs are beautiful, checker barbs are also lovely and smaller if you want less chance of shrimp snackers  Anyway, enjoy the visit to your local fish store, maybe you will return with something surprising.


----------



## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> wonder if worth soaking my mazi wood for now so doesnt float, will it be ok in garden with open-top comtainer you think ?


I did not want to risk and soaked it for 2 weeks before planting! I just used the tank and was a good way to test the filter, adjust the CO2 ready for the start (so you don't have to mess about it the days after planting, right level of CO2 from day 1) and make sure it all worked beforehand.



Ady34 said:


> Looking epic Paulo. Love how dense the stems are and really lush growth all down the stem to the substrate. I’m sure they will recover well.


Many thanks Ady, yeah was quite pleased with the stems and had a lot more in there than I thought! See how long it takes for them to recover now, I would say a couple of weeks before noticeable growth.



Ady34 said:


> I particularly like that mini bolbitis you have, that seems like a nice option to add the look of bolbitis without the size which can overtake a scape easily if left to its own devices.


That one was a gift from the plant seller which was quite a nice bonus, he gets first dibs when it gets too big and needs a trim, you can get seconds 



Ady34 said:


> Odessa barbs are beautiful, checker barbs are also lovely and smaller if you want less chance of shrimp snackers  Anyway, enjoy the visit to your local fish store, maybe you will return with something surprising.


Thanks for the recommendation, I might come home empty-handed with this lockdown and stocks and crazy prices! Let's see how it goes, otherwise I will just get a shoal of Mountain Minnows


----------



## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> I did not want to risk and soaked it for 2 weeks before planting! I just used the tank and was a good way to test the filter, adjust the CO2 ready for the start (so you dont have to mess about it the days after planting, right level of CO2 from day 1) and make sure it all worked before hand.
> 
> 
> Many thanks Ady, yeah was quite pleased with the stems and had a lot more in there than I thought! See how long it takes for them to recover now, I would say a couple of weeks before noticable growth.
> 
> 
> That one was a gift from the plant seller which was quite a nice bonus, he gets first dibs when it gets too big and needs a trim, you can get seconds
> 
> 
> Thanks for the recommendation, I might come home empty handed with this lockdown and stocks and crazy prices! Let's see how it goes, otherwise I will just get a shoal of Mountain Minnows


Sorry if this is a daft question ,Can i ask, i thought the more plant mass you have the more co2 and ferts required as the plants using them up from the water column.
So how does it work setting them up before planted and lights on as thought more light equals more co2 required or am i totally wrong  sorry if i am asking stupid question just sounds a good way to soak wood and fine tune if this works also get filter working.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> Sorry if this is a daft question ,Can i ask, i thought the more plant mass you have the more co2 and ferts required as the plants using them up from the water column.
> So how does it work setting them up before planted and lights on as thought more light equals more co2 required or am i totally wrong //emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji848.png sorry if i am asking stupid question just sounds a good way to soak wood and fine tune if this works also get filter working.


Was just to ensure all the kit worked, as nothing uses the CO2 it will just build up in there and you are right not an accurate indication of what is actually needed, but I could at least test the drop checkers, had to redo them twice for some reason the solution I was using was pants and had to buy new bromo (see worth the test already), and then was just setting up the timers, testing the dosing pump, calibrating it, etc... to ensure when I planted all I need to do was turn light schedule on and dosing schedule, then add more CO2 if needed. Again you don't have to do any of this!!



Ady34 said:


> checker barbs are also lovely and smaller if you want less chance of shrimp snackers


Funny enough these were on the tank next to the Odessa barbs and I prefer the look of them so I purchased these instead (17 of them) 
Quick question in future can I mix these with some Cherry Barbs?

I am now acclimatizing the fish slowly, also purchased an SAE and 4 Ottos!

To be honest there was not much choice at the moment in more than 5-6 of each!


----------



## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> Was just to ensure all the kit worked, as nothing uses the CO2 it will just build up in there and you are right not an acturate indication of what is actually needed, but I could at least test the drop checkers, had to redo them twice for some reason the solution I was using was pants and had to buy new bromo (see worth the test already), and then was just setting up the timers, testing the dosing pump, calibrating it, etc... to ensure when I planted all I need to do was turn light schedule on and dosing schedule, then add more CO2 if needed. Again you dont have to do any of this!!


Thanks for that mate i am with you, i may do this even to soak the wood etc so doesnt float and make sure no leaks etc and everything works.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## Ady34

LondonDragon said:


> Funny enough these were on the tank next to the Odessa barbs and I prefer the look of them so I purchased these instead (17 of them)
> Quick question in future can I mix these with some Cherry Barbs?


Awesome, in numbers like this they should feel comfortable and begin to show their real beauty. The males stay smaller but their colours become really distinguished. Can’t wait to see them actually as it’s been a long time since I kept them. They will reward you with great little spars and shouldnt be too shy in these numbers. I think these and cherry barbs will work really well together and both like it cooler so you may not even need a heater, win win.


----------



## Conort2

LondonDragon said:


> Funny enough these were on the tank next to the Odessa barbs and I prefer the look of them so I purchased these instead (17 of them)
> Quick question in future can I mix these with some Cherry Barbs?
> 
> I am now aclimitizing the fish slowly, also purchased an SAE and 4 Ottos!
> 
> To be honest there was not much choice at the moment in more than 5-6 of each!


Good choice! The cherry barbs will make perfect tank mates. The males are great to add a splash of colour to a tank.

cheers

Conor


----------



## ChrisD80

Wow looks superb. The density of stems is amazing and all over plant health looks really good, plus your hardscape looks spotless!


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> Awesome, in numbers like this they should feel comfortable and begin to show their real beauty. The males stay smaller but their colours become really distinguished. Can’t wait to see them actually as it’s been a long time since I kept them. They will reward you with great little spars and shouldnt be too shy in these numbers. I think these and cherry barbs will work really well together and both like it cooler so you may not even need a heater, win win.


Thanks for the recommendation Ady, really enjoying these little fish, they were a little shy at first and grouped together at the back, by the end of the evening they were nicely coloured and shoaling around the tank and not even afraid of me any more, also feed them a little 3 times during the afternoon and evenning, and they are all eating well already, the SAE has also found some new friends and shoals with the barbs lol Even the Ottos play tricks on them and three of them shoal together and the barbs follow them! You can tell it's the first time having fish in almost a decade! haha
I will let these guys settle in and then in a week or so think about adding some tank mates!
I did add a little video to my Insta stories!! 



Conort2 said:


> Good choice! The cherry barbs will make perfect tank mates. The males are great to add a splash of colour to a tank.


Many thanks Conor 



ChrisD80 said:


> Wow looks superb. The density of stems is amazing and all over plant health looks really good, plus your hardscape looks spotless!


Thanks Chris, so far so good, think I have the CO2 back on track also and just happy the fish are settling in well, I can already see the stems perking up again after a couple of days so all seems good so far 

Some hair grass did show some signs of algae on the old bits, so might need to just trim it all and let it regrow! I will see by the weekend.


----------



## LondonDragon

Quick update, loving the fish in the tank, shame that 2 barbs jumped off the first night, rest have been fine since so not sure why they did that  they are great little fish and settled in quite well and now come to me when I approach the tank for some food, they would hide the first 2-3 days!

Algae seems to be going away, the SAE and the Ottos doing a good job also, and the stems are recovering OK new growth over the last week, not sure about the CO2, I redid my two drop checkers with the same amount of bromo and still next to each other I get different results in each so seems a little off to me! Might have to buy some more solution from another source and see, what do you guys use?

Taking some macro shots with my DSLR also noticed some nasty Hydra in the wood, a dose of Panacur which I always have to hand (dogs and shrimp tanks) and they were all gone the next day! They were not visible to the naked eye!

Loosing track of the weeks, think this is week 6, carpet is filling in nicely:









Stems from side and top, looking very compact now:









The Juncus is finally starting to take shape, how do you trim this plant and propagate??





Did make a video with the fish, see if I can upload that to YouTube at some stage!

Edit: Uploaded quick video of the fish:




Thanks for looking


----------



## Deano3

Filling in very nicely looks so dense at the back 

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## Nuno Gomes

LondonDragon said:


> The Juncus is finally starting to take shape, how do you trim this plant and propagate??



You trim it pretty much wherever you want and it will grow from there, like any other stem plant, but from my experience it takes a long time to recover from a trim and it'll be a couple weeks until you start seeing new growth.
When I have just a few stems I tend to cut right above a node, just because it makes sense to me, but I've trimmed big quantities of Juncus freely without any issues.


----------



## Melll

So many flowers getting ready to bloom  Really nice tank.


----------



## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> Filling in very nicely looks so dense at the back


Sure is, so far so good, just not that happy with the snails lol



Nuno Gomes said:


> You trim it pretty much wherever you want and it will grow from there, like any other stem plant, but from my experience it takes a long time to recover from a trim and it'll be a couple weeks until you start seeing new growth.
> When I have just a few stems I tend to cut right above a node, just because it makes sense to me, but I've trimmed big quantities of Juncus freely without any issues.


Many thanks Nuno, I will give it a go this week to the tallest plants and see how it goes  want to make the Juncus a little denser too.



Melll said:


> So many flowers getting ready to bloom  Really nice tank.


Many thanks, I have some flower shots on my Instagram account also, see if I get those photos on the PC to post some here also!


----------



## LondonDragon

Since @steveno asked for a video on another thread and I thought I would keep all the info here, here is the Magnetic Stirrer in action.

First video is mixing the trace elements, after I had already mixed the  Ascorbic Acid and Potassium Sorbate, you can see how quickly it dissolves with the stirrer!



Second video, is adding the Magnesium (100 grams) to the same solution, after I had already mixed some of the other salts.



As you can see from my original post of the cabinet I have the solution on top of the magnetic stirrer, I have placed a timer on it also, so it mixes the solution every day for 2 minutes before the dosing pump kicks in a minute later. So far no issues.


----------



## LondonDragon

Was messing around today and created a new video:



Thanks for looking


----------



## Nick72

Nice video Paulo.

I liked seeing your shrimp so active.

I assume you turned off your filtration for the purpose of the video, as you have no surface agitation?


----------



## LondonDragon

Nick72 said:


> Nice video Paulo.
> 
> I liked seeing your shrimp so active.
> 
> I assume you turned off your filtration for the purpose of the video, as you have no surface agitation?


Thanks, indeed everything was off as I had just fed the fish before hand too! Usually there is a lot of surface movement.


----------



## Ray

Is that one 2dKH and one 4dKH drop checker so you can better gauge your CO2?


----------



## LondonDragon

Ray said:


> Is that one 2dKH and one 4dKH drop checker so you can better gauge your CO2?


They are both 4dKH but for some reason cannot get them to match (same amount of 4dKH solution and same number of drops of bromo), one is almost empty at the moment too after I spilled it on the floor lol, given up on the drop checkers and just go with what the plants tell me, that seems to have worked out better lol


----------



## Tim Harrison

LondonDragon said:


> Was messing around today and created a new video:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for looking



Very relaxing, almost like actually sitting in front of it


----------



## LondonDragon

Tim Harrison said:


> Very relaxing, almost like actually sitting in front of it


Do find myself in front of it quite often in the evenings now, love the behaviour of the barbs, great little fish.


----------



## Ray

LondonDragon said:


> They are both 4dKH but for some reason cannot get them to match (same amount of 4dKH solution and same number of drops of bromo), one is almost empty at the moment too after I spilled it on the floor lol , given up on the dropcheckers and just go with what the plants tell me, that seems to have worked out better lol


How interesting! I was thinking “that’s very clever to use 2 different dKH for more accuracy across the scale” but it seems actually this a case study for just how useless drop checkers are then?  Most of us never had 2 running so don’t know this...


----------



## Artichoke

This is gorgeous, and all the inhabitants look so happy, could stare at it for hours 😁


----------



## LondonDragon

Ray said:


> How interesting! I was thinking “that’s very clever to use 2 different dKH for more accuracy across the scale” but it seems actually this a case study for just how useless drop checkers are then?  Most of us never had 2 running so don’t know this...


It could be my 4dKH solution which is about 15 years old, I did not expect that to change but who knows! I will get a new one and see, also the bromo I have around has been in the cupboard for donkeys so did not expect that to go bad either, so I will buy some new stuff and see if that makes a difference 



Artichoke said:


> This is gorgeous, and all the inhabitants look so happy, could stare at it for hours 😁


Many thanks, I do find myself staring at the tank too often now too


----------



## Jayefc1

Great vid Mate really nice to see you enjoying the tank it does look stunning and still very young means many more hrs of pleasure


----------



## CooKieS

Are you dosing anything yet? Your hairgrass seems an bit yellow or is it just me?


----------



## LondonDragon

Jayefc1 said:


> Great vid Mate really nice to see you enjoying the tank it does look stunning and still very young means many more hrs of pleasure


Many thanks  yeah lets see how it matures if I can keep it in check! the low CO2 for a couple of weeks did not help it at all!



CooKieS said:


> Are you dosing anything yet? Your hairgrass seems an bit yellow or is it just me?


Could have been due to the low CO2 for a couple of weeks, looks greener to the eye from how it looks on camera so not sure! lol I am dosing and stems growing well! My dosing solution needs renewing this weekend see if that helps, I mixed Week 1 with week 2 solution and that might have not been a good idea!  I am going to revert to the original solution and worry about the reds later! Thoughts?


----------



## alto

LondonDragon said:


> worry about the reds later! thoughts?


Don’t forget the Twinstar E series will never show reds the same way as the S series 

Sometimes (ofttimes?) reds take some time for the plant to develop - how did colors develop as stems neared the upper 1/3 of the tank?

And just because I can’t resist posting another FAAO video


----------



## LondonDragon

alto said:


> Don’t forget the Twinstar E series will never show reds the same way as the S series


I am looking into getting a new light unit don't think this one will cut it out for me, I used to run 146wT5 on my Rio 125 lol



alto said:


> Sometimes (ofttimes?) reds take some time for the plant to develop - how did colors develop as stems neared the upper 1/3 of the tank?


They were getting redder until I trimmed then haha  now they are recovering again. don't see much red, but its early days and was doing WC quite often too!



alto said:


> And just because I can’t resist posting another FAAO video


Haha I have seen that one and most of the others lol next time I go to the north of Portugal I will let you know you can pop over, and we got and have a drink with Filipe lol


----------



## alto

LondonDragon said:


> next time I go to the north of Portugal I will let you know you can pop over, and we got and have a drink with Filipe lol


I wish 
But it’s a long pop from West Coast Canada   so you’ll have to drink twice!


----------



## LondonDragon

alto said:


> I wish
> But it’s a long pop from West Coast Canada   so you’ll have to drink twice!


Not that far off, just across the pond  I am sure Filipe will visit Canada on his World Tours sometime in the future


----------



## Ady34

Tank and inhabitants are all looking great Paulo, love the video, so relaxing.
With regards the drop checkers, have you tried switching their positions, ie put the lighter one to the darker ones position and vice versa. This will offer an indication of if it is simply difference due to circulation? I know they are close together but it could be that critical which is why co2 is so hard to get right.
Cheerio,


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> Tank and inhabitants are all looking great Paulo, love the video, so relaxing.
> With regards the drop checkers, have you tried switching their positions, ie put the lighter one to the darker ones position and vice versa. This will offer an indication of if it is simply difference due to circulation? I know they are close together but it could be that critical which is why co2 is so hard to get right.
> Cheerio,


Many thanks Ady, I did add 6 Odessa barbs today (3 pairs)!  couldn't help it! They are like mini torpedoes in comparison to the Checkered! Not sure I can now add 6 Cherry barbs also! Might be 6 barbs too many! Wanted another SAE but none in stock 
I am going to redo the two drop checkers with tomorrows water change and filter cleaning and see how that goes. I have some new bromo!

Did meet a fellow UKAPS member at the store @Alex Papp so that was a nice surprise


----------



## kishan313

Tank is coming along nicely, and great videos too. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

kishan313 said:


> Tank is coming along nicely, and great videos too.


Many thanks


----------



## LondonDragon

Quick update, couple of photos:










Photos taken after tank maintenance, still haven't trimmed the Juncus, still trying to think the best way to do it.

So the CO2 issues seemed to have lasted for at least 3 weeks which seems to be under control, I have noticed some algae starting to go away and also the snail population reducing, do barbs eat snails? I see them on the grass and plant leaves picking stuff of it and it seems to have gone down quickly since adding the fish! Most likely coincidence.

This week also have redone my ferts, have gone back to me original recipe with a little more of Nitrogen as someone mentioned maybe yellowish grass and I have seen a couple of the older Anubias leaves going a little yellow too, also increased the dose from 50ml per day to 60ml, now that I am doing less frequent water changes and not adding more nutrients with the tap water could be some deficiencies.

I did also notice that on the right-hand side that gets lots of flow from the filter the grass and the plants on that side were doing less well and growing more algae than the rest of the tank where the flow is lower, I have for just over a week reduce the flow quite a bit and that seems to be helping also.

Also moved my CO2 diffuser back to the left-hand side, when it was on the right it was taken the full force of the flow from the filter which I guess the pressure from the flow seemed to create large CO2 bubbles which just went straight to the surface, now back on the left and that no longer happens and getting more pearling from the plants. So will leave it there for a couple of weeks and see again.

Stems were trimmed a couple of weeks back and seems like a very slow recovery, could have been related to CO2 or fertilizer! So again need to see how they develop over the next couple of weeks. Fun and games being back in the high tech game!! 

Thanks for looking


----------



## GHNelson

Hi Paulo
Looking good, see you got the Odessa barbs
When the males get into breeding colours they are stunning


----------



## LondonDragon

hogan53 said:


> Hi Paulo
> Looking good, see you got the Odessa barbs
> When the males get into breeding colours they are stunning


Many thanks  yeah got 6 in the end, they are awesome and blend in very well with the Checkered, not sure I can add any more fish now! 21 barbs might be more than enough now!!


----------



## GHNelson

Odessa/Checkered barbs don't grow that big!
Incidentally, male chequered barbs go very dark nearly black when in breeding mode....which is a nice surprise


----------



## LondonDragon

hogan53 said:


> Incidentally, male chequered barbs go very dark nearly black when in breeding mode....which is a nice surprise


Yes I have noticed they look awesome, shame I only have 3 males of the 15, I had 5 originally but on the firts night two jumped out  no more jumpers since then really weird!


----------



## alto

LondonDragon said:


> Yes I have noticed they look awesome, shame I only have 3 males of the 15, I had 5 originally but on the firts night two jumped out  no more jumpers since then really weird!


It’s always good to drop water level (by several cm’s from rim) when introducing new fish - makes jumping out a more determined effort 
Fish often explore their new home with vigour (especially after the nosy folk have gone away) 
Leaving on a dim “night light” can also reduce _out of the tank_ jumpers 

Rather than more species, I’d increase the Odessa numbers by a few, and pick up a couple more male Checkers 

Though if you really want 3 species (how to resist ) select one for the dense stems https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/eirmotus-octozona/
(though these will need 22C as a minimum & I’d begin with at least 12-14 group, depending on condition and whether shop quarantines etc)


----------



## alto

LondonDragon said:


> still haven't trimed the Juncus, still trying to think the best way to do it.


Filipe Oliveira does mention this in some video (though perhaps it was a workshop - AG should have good experience on Filipe’s tank (unless they’ve lost the Juncus))
- you can treat it as a stem plant, wherever you see the node with roots already developing, this will easily transition to a new plant; just take care that they aren’t too heavily shaded in the new site (afterall you’ve just removed them from lots of light)
Meanwhile the trimmed base plant will send out new shoots


----------



## LondonDragon

alto said:


> It’s always good to drop water level


Did leift up the lilly pipe to create more surface agitation for the night for the first few nights until they got used to the CO2 and the tank, wonder if that was counter productive, the idea for the cherry barbs was to add something with a little more colour, and the Checkered males have plenty of females to chase around now lol but I think more barbs will be too much now for the tank, but I always liked lots of fish in the tank so we will see, the filter is more than capable of supporting the load, I will have to think about it 



alto said:


> just take care that they aren’t too heavily shaded in the new site


I did notice that under the wood where there is less light they have not grown that much, but where they get plenty of light they are now very tall indeed, but they still growing under the shade, just very slowly.

Took a quick handheld video last night:



When I approach the tank now they just come forward wanting food, not shy any longer!

Thanks for looking


----------



## Melll

Nice video,  👍


----------



## alto

LondonDragon said:


> the Checkered males have plenty of females to chase around now lol


Sometimes more males is good for the females, as the boys get distracted into out-showing each other and less time actually chasing girls that are NOT interested (as not in spawning condition)

For color and different activity, consider 
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-heteromorpha/
With a group of at least 18, they are amazing in their shoaling behaviours (more varied than observed with smaller groups)


----------



## Tom Ryan (@aquascaperay)

Nice scape!


----------



## Alex Papp

LondonDragon said:


> Did leift up the lilly pipe to create more surface agitation for the night for the first few nights until they got used to the CO2 and the tank, wonder if that was counter productive, the idea for the cherry barbs was to add something with a little more colour, and the Checkered males have plenty of females to chase around now lol but I think more barbs will be too much now for the tank, but I always liked lots of fish in the tank so we will see, the filter is more than capable of supporting the load, I will have to think about it
> 
> 
> I did notice that under the wood where there is less light they have not grown that much, but where they get plenty of light they are now very tall indeed, but they still growing under the shade, just very slowly.
> 
> Took a quick handheld video last night:
> 
> 
> 
> When I approach the tank now they just come forward wanting food, not shy any longer!
> 
> Thanks for looking



those Odessas coloured up nicely!!


----------



## LondonDragon

Alex Papp said:


> those Odessas coloured up nicely!!


Over the last week they have coloured up even better, I have seen some babies this week, not sure if from Odessa or Checkered! Doubt that any will survive, we shall see, but looks like the fish are enjoying their environment.

Some shots of the tank I took yesterday:













Ignore that little filter on the right, put some used media in it and its there ready for the Betta tank I am setting up!

So the lack of Nitrates and difficulties in controlling the CO2 played avoc for 2-3 weeks, and some plants struggled a little and did get some algae, things seem to be recovering now after a new batch of ferts back to my original dosage with recommended ppm's see if it goes away completly or if I need to do some manual cleaning! I have not cleaned the hardscape at all, so thats good.

Carpert is doing OK and now the Lilaeopsis is showing signs of growth too, did get affected by some algae, what is the best long term plan for the carpet? Trim is all close to gravel?? How often??





Loving the Dwarf Bolbitis, this is a very nice plant and seems to grow much faster than the normal Bolbitis on the left side! Might eventually replace it all with the Dwarf when it goes big enought to trim!





My fav Buce still, need to figure out a way to reduce the snail population!





Some other shots, all the photos just taken with my phone!


















Did post a video on my Youtube channel sometime ago feeding the fish:




Thanks for looking!

Paulo


----------



## Wolf6

That is so relaxing to watch... could get totally lost in front of that tank  Great job! Love those barbs too, might just end up getting those as my main fish for my next tank.


----------



## Tim Harrison

LondonDragon said:


> I have seen some babies this week, not sure if from Odessa or Checkered!


They're obviously loving it in there, and why wouldn't they. It's looking great 👍


----------



## Deano3

Looks great and tank has coloured up nicely regarding the hair grass i would trim close to gravel and rub hand over it to get detritus up when doing water change as mine was lovely colour then started yellowing and loosing colour as suspected build up of organics etc so try keep on top of it mate.

Looking really good though
Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Wolf6 said:


> That is so relaxing to watch... could get totally lost in front of that tank  Great job! Love those barbs too, might just end up getting those as my main fish for my next tank.


Many thanks, I do find myself in front of the tank quite often just watching the behaviour of the barbs, chasing each other between the plants and hardscape, they are great fish and blend in pretty well with the plants.



Tim Harrison said:


> They're obviously loving it in there, and why wouldn't they. It's looking great 👍


Many thanks Tim  so far so good, some issues here and there but nothing major 



Deano3 said:


> Looks great and tank has coloured up nicely regarding the hair grass i would trim close to gravel and rub hand over it to get detritus up when doing water change as mine was lovely colour then started yellowing and loosing colour as suspected build up of organics etc so try keep on top of it mate.
> Looking really good though


Thanks for the tip, it was yellowing a couple of weeks back but looks like the change of the ferts has helped, need to consider when to trim it maybe sooner rather than later  There is quite a lot of flow going into the right side of the grass which keeps it cleaner but it grows slower in that area, could be the flow taking away the nutrients and CO2 maybe, finding the balance is always the tricky bit.
Let's see how it goes before I get the mower out


----------



## LondonDragon

Feeding the little ones, so far so good, stems struggling a little, arranged the flow a little better and pushed the light unit a little further back also:



Thanks for looking


----------



## Melll

I have just watched it


----------



## oatfish

Nice video!  I like the barbs too.


----------



## Tim Harrison

Looking great 👍


----------



## Gill

Looks amazing, and thr barbs look great. 

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## steveno

Lovely, looking great, how you create the ripping effect on water surface at the beginning of the video?


----------



## Fiske

Stahp! You're demolishing my efforts to NOT buy a 900.


----------



## LondonDragon

Melll said:


> I have just watched it


Many thanks, hope you liked it 


oatfish said:


> Nice video!  I like the barbs too.


Many thanks, love their behaviour, not the most logic aquascape fish selection but I wanted to keep these fish, and they are already breeding in the tank! I did add 3 pair of Cherry Barbs recently too! and now that is the full quota for this tank!


Tim Harrison said:


> Looking great 👍


Many thanks Tim 


Gill said:


> Looks amazing, and thr barbs look great.


Many thanks Gill


steveno said:


> Lovely, looking great, how you create the ripping effect on water surface at the beginning of the video?


Many thanks, the rippling effect was just the filter jet pipe, I asked Alexa to turn off the filter before feeding the fish haha


Fiske said:


> Stahp! You're demolishing my efforts to NOT buy a 900.


You know you wanna!


----------



## Melll

LondonDragon said:


> Many thanks, hope you liked it,



I did  

You have a comment from a young lady with her boobs out, I think she liked it as well, either that or she want you to look at her channel


----------



## Fiske

LondonDragon said:


> You know you wanna!



It is not because I don't wanna, but had a brief look at the weight. Also need a bit of free wall somewhere. Still thinking it can be done...
 I'd of course I'd also need the OK from the patient Mrs Fiske. Now, do I ask before or after I ask to put 150l tanganyika tank in the bathroom and a stack of smaller gourami tanks wherever. 

Maybe I should just pack my stuff LOL


----------



## LondonDragon

Melll said:


> I did
> You have a comment from a young lady with her boobs out, I think she liked it as well, either that or she want you to look at her channel


She is just fishing for worms!! 


Fiske said:


> Maybe I should just pack my stuff LOL


If you move her stuff out then you have more space!!


----------



## Deano3

Looking good paulo cant wait to get mine set up, need to start working out my plants list this next week as off mid September  i was actually going to ask you how this one was doing but looking great.

Think i am going to stick with recomended EI micro one day macro the next.

What bps to you start with as starting to plan now.

Thanks mate

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> Looking good paulo cant wait to get mine set up, need to start working out my plants list this next week as off mid September //emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji16.png i was actually going to ask you how this one was doing but looking great.


Many thanks, now is just plants waiting to grow in, crypts are taking forever, and might replace the juncus with something else or add something else to the middle of it!!


Deano3 said:


> Think i am going to stick with recomended EI micro one day macro the next.


Either method works, so do what is best for you, also means you can tweak each dosing amount individually, add more of one without increasing the other!


Deano3 said:


> What bps to you start with as starting to plan now.


Started with 1.5bbps I am not at around 2bps, but might need to increase a little, I don't want to stress the fish too much, rather deal with some algae and slower plant growth than gas my fish!


----------



## Fiske

LondonDragon said:


> If you move her stuff out then you have more space!!



That's true. Why did I never think of that? 
To be fair, with 4 (5) existing tanks + paraphernalia, a large record collection and stereo, 3+ meters of comics, a wall full of blurays, and a newly bought telescope; I think I'm winning the "lets-fill-the-place-with-stuff" competition. A bit of hoola hoops, yoga mats and crocheting-stuff is peanuts compared.
I'm actually just happy I can have real loudspeakers and fishtanks without any complaining, bless her soul.


----------



## LondonDragon

Fiske said:


> I'm actually just happy I can have real loudspeakers and fishtanks without any complaining, bless her soul.


Sounds like you got a keeper! Maybe consider getting rid of the Bluray and go digital, I have been fully digital since 2004 have not brought any physical media since then!!! lol Comics can go digital too


----------



## Fiske

LondonDragon said:


> Sounds like you got a keeper! Maybe consider getting rid of the Bluray and go digital, I have been fully digital since 2004 have not brought any physical media since then!!! lol Comics can go digital too


She is.

They'll pry my physical media from my cold dead hands.

My tastes can be somewhat eclectic, having to wait for the off chance that some weird japanese movie becomes available for streaming can be long indeed. It's a matter of availability mainly. It may be a danish thing, in relation to what is available to stream, but it is really meagre, and hella expensive too.  Say I wanted to stream CROCODILE DUNDEE (I wouldn't), that would be 5-6 quid. For a film from 1986. It would cost me the same btw to stream relatively new vietnamese beat-'em up FURIE (I would) if it was even available (it isn't).
I can see digital working, sort of, if you just need the newest Hollywood blockbusters; but for older almost-classics, genre movies, world cinema, czech new wave. obscure georgian art movies, latinamerican magic realism etc. you're outta luck.

And I have never aligned myself with digital comics, or e-books for that matter. Gimme print on paper.
I've found digital streaming working for music, mostly, so there's that. Hasn't stopped me buying though 
Horses for courses and all that.
I'll refrain from further OT'ing your lovely thread


----------



## DannyH

Lovely scape and great fish choices 👍🏻👍🏻


----------



## LondonDragon

Fiske said:


> It would cost me the same btw to stream relatively new vietnamese beat-'em up FURIE (I would) if it was even available (it isn't).
> I can see digital working, sort of, if you just need the newest Hollywood blockbusters; but for older almost-classics, genre movies, world cinema, czech new wave. obscure georgian art movies, latinamerican magic realism etc. you're outta luck.


There are other ways  I won't go into those here  
No worries on the off topic, I kinda of motivated it in some ways 
Also physical media retains a lot of its value when digital media means you pretty much threw your money away! 



DannyH said:


> Lovely scape and great fish choices 👍🏻👍🏻


Many thanks


----------



## LondonDragon

Was doing a water change on Friday morning when I noticed this growing on the wood 










Never seen this before!! Did not last long, was gone that same afternoon.

Quick video that I made from an area of the tank, the fish have coloured up pretty well 



Thanks for looking


----------



## Ady34

Cool little video, expresses the barbs behaviour very nicely.
Tank is looking great too, it’s filled in really well, even growing shrooms in there


----------



## Graham1426

Great looking scape, plants look lush.


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> Cool little video, expresses the barbs behaviour very nicely.
> Tank is looking great too, it’s filled in really well, even growing shrooms in there


Many thanks, mushrooms were a surprise, but they are there one minute and gone the next, have seen now 3-4 different ones although short-lived. Plants finally doing better and stems taking shape, not sure what happened but took me a while to get the CO2 right, was afraid of gassing the fish!



Graham1426 said:


> Great looking scape, plants look lush.


Many thanks


----------



## SRP3006

Cool little shroom, I'm loving how to tank is looking, been following it closely since the beginning, very similar set ups.


----------



## LondonDragon

Not much to report  plants growing well, still messing about with the CO2, don't think its quite right yet! But its working much better now that I put the diffuser just below the filter intake! 

Also moved some bits of wood around at the bottom as they are not fixed to anything, in particular the one on the right-hand side.

Some photos taken with the phone today, wide angle shot:





Fullt tank shots:








Thanks for looking


----------



## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> Not much to report  plants growing well, still messing about with the CO2, don't think its quite right yet! But its working much better now that I put the diffuser just below the filter intake!
> 
> Also moved some bits of wood around at the bottom as they are not fixed to anything, in particular the one on the right-hand side.
> 
> Some photos taken with the phone today, wide angle shot:
> View attachment 153798
> 
> Fullt tank shots:
> View attachment 153799
> 
> View attachment 153800
> 
> Thanks for looking


That is looking really good mate very green and healthy, do you not want to try inline diffuser to see if any better co2 distribution ? You wouldnt think there was any issues looking at that looks stunning.

Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> That is looking really good mate very green and healthy, do you not want to try inline diffuser to see if any better co2 distribution ? You wouldnt think there was any issues looking at that looks stunning.


Many thanks  it's getting there.

I do have aquametic 1000 reactor and also inline diffuser also, but I don't like changing too many things when the tank is already up and running as then I will have to start with the CO2 all over again!, I think I just had the CO2 pretty low for a long time as looks like my drop checker is not to be relied on, See how the stems respond in the next couple of weeks.


----------



## SRP3006

It's looking good @LondonDragon, nice lush green growth. How soon after planting did you start trimming your stems? And how if you don't mind me asking? Replanting, trimming at base etc?
Still trying to work out my ferts also, did you stay with your original fert recipe?
Apologies for the questions, just don't want to mess it up.


----------



## LondonDragon

SRP3006 said:


> It's looking good @LondonDragon, nice lush green growth


Many thanks 


SRP3006 said:


> How soon after planting did you start trimming your stems?


First time at 5 weeks, not every 3-4 weeks.


SRP3006 said:


> And how if you don't mind me asking? Replanting, trimming at base etc?


Trimmed it pretty low and just replanted the trimmings in the middle of the exiting stems, making it fuller.
Although stems don't like me, they are OK but not as lush as I would like them, I think there is a lack of flow at the back of the tank, I have tried adjusting the filter flow around the tank, but might need some help at the back getting some flow between the stems. Time will tell.


SRP3006 said:


> Still trying to work out my ferts also, did you stay with your original fert recipe?


This is my current formula, I have increased doses from 50ml per day to 60ml, might increase it to 70ml soon as the plant mass grows.




My major issue has been CO2, that as always been an issue for me, I think I am almost there now, been very slowing increasing it every 3-4 days to make sure the fish are OK. It's taking its time but at least I won't gas the fish!



SRP3006 said:


> Apologies for the questions, just don't want to mess it up.


Ask as many as you want, that's why I do the journals  learn and share ups and downs!


----------



## SRP3006

Thank you very much for the detailed reply very helpful. Getting co2 on point is the hardest thing to get right, mine is probably too high at the moment so I'll have to knock it back slightly when I add stock.


----------



## LondonDragon

SRP3006 said:


> Thank you very much for the detailed reply very helpful. Getting co2 on point is the hardest thing to get right, mine is probably too high at the moment so I'll have to knock it back slightly when I add stock.


No worries, I thought I was dosing too much CO2 and have now realized I was dosing almost nothing  so I am actually surprised I did not have as many algae issues as I did, the initial every other day water changes really did the trick. I am doing 2 water changes a week at the moment.


----------



## SRP3006

My original ph is 7.4 or 7.5 and lights on ph is 6.4 or 6.5 so still a little work to do on it.
I did daily water changes the first week now I'm down to every other day. Takes 25min to drain and refill so no dramas. 

Do you dose K2S04 to add the needed potassium without adding the nitrate you would with KN03?


----------



## CooKieS

Nice tank mate!


----------



## LondonDragon

SRP3006 said:


> My original ph is 7.4 or 7.5 and lights on ph is 6.4 or 6.5 so still a little work to do on it.
> I did daily water changes the first week now I'm down to every other day. Takes 25min to drain and refill so no dramas.


I would not worry about PH, I have never measured it on any of my tanks. My water change timing is about the same.


SRP3006 said:


> Do you dose K2S04 to add the needed potassium without adding the nitrate you would with KN03?


That is correct 


CooKieS said:


> Nice tank mate!


Many thanks


----------



## Wookii

Tank is looking lovely! Does the Eleocharis carpet require much maintenance/trimming?


----------



## LondonDragon

Wookii said:


> Tank is looking lovely! Does the Eleocharis carpet require much maintenance/trimming?


Many thanks, at the moment I only gave it a trim here and there nothing major yet, due to the CO2 issues I had it did start getting some algae but that is now almost gone, I am considering cutting it at soil level sometime and let it grow back again nice and clean. But it has been 3 months with very little trouble, and has filled in nicely. I have tried various other carpeting plants and was initially only going to plant  Lilaeopsis, but @Stu Worrall said it would look better if I mixed it with  Eleocharis and I am glad I went with his advice


----------



## FishKeeper55

Just managed to read this and watch the videos, absolutely stunning, could just sit and watch this on repeat, Thanks for shearing


----------



## LondonDragon

FishKeeper55 said:


> Just managed to read this and watch the videos, absolutely stunning, could just sit and watch this on repeat, Thanks for shearing


Many thanks, comments appreciated


----------



## Jayefc1

Tank is looking lush mate great work so clean too


----------



## LondonDragon

Jayefc1 said:


> Tank is looking lush mate great work so clean too


Many thanks  there is still a bit of algae here and there, specially some green filament on the mosses and the grass! Not sure how I am going to shake that off! Might be too long of a photo period, I increased it recently by an hour and that might be the issue, need to make some adjustments to that and see!! 
Also working on my next move in terms of fertilizer! Thinking of going leaner and also not dose every day, but instead dose every other day as per Filipe's recommendation on my FB post and see how it goes


----------



## Sammy Islam

LondonDragon said:


> Many thanks
> 
> First time at 5 weeks, not every 3-4 weeks.
> 
> Trimmed it pretty low and just replanted the trimmings in the middle of the exiting stems, making it fuller.
> Although stems don't like me, they are OK but not as lush as I would like them, I think there is a lack of flow at the back of the tank, I have tried adjusting the filter flow around the tank, but might need some help at the back getting some flow between the stems. Time will tell.
> 
> This is my current formula, I have increased doses from 50ml per day to 60ml, might increase it to 70ml soon as the plant mass grows.
> View attachment 153856
> 
> My major issue has been CO2, that as always been an issue for me, I think I am almost there now, been very slowing increasing it every 3-4 days to make sure the fish are OK. It's taking its time but at least I won't gas the fish!
> 
> 
> Ask as many as you want, that's why I do the journals  learn and share ups and downs!



Is that po4 figure correct? If so i've been massively under dosing. Always assumed 3-5ppm po4 was good unless im interpreting it wrong.....


----------



## LondonDragon

Sammy Islam said:


> Is that po4 figure correct? If so i've been massively under dosing. Always assumed 3-5ppm po4 was good unless im interpreting it wrong.....


Well spotted, actually it should read 8 grams which will give you 4.27ppm! looks like I place 25g on two cells rather than just on the KNO3 :/ I will correct it not to confuse! cheers


----------



## SRP3006

LondonDragon said:


> Well spotted, actually it should read 8 grams which will give you 4.27ppm! looks like I place 25g on two cells rather than just on the KNO3 :/ I will correct it not to confuse! cheers


I better change my ferts too, just changed over using your formula. Any disadvantages to overdosing?


----------



## LondonDragon

SRP3006 said:


> I better change my ferts too, just changed over using your formula. Any disadvantages to overdosing?


Not really, I am pretty sure I added that on the last make , for the plants its pretty safe, it can be toxic to fish but not in these levels!


----------



## LondonDragon

@Sammy Islam @SRP3006 that got my puzzled and I had a look at my notes that I make for each change in the fertilizer quantities, and there is a reason for the increase after all, I increase Phosphates as my stems were not doing that great and also had some green spot algae on my anubias which both could be a lack of Phosphate, and since increasing Phosphates doesn't do any harm to the plants I went for it, and I am on week 3 of my new batch of ferts and those two issues have improved considerably.


----------



## SRP3006

LondonDragon said:


> @Sammy Islam @SRP3006 that got my puzzled and I had a look at my notes that I make for each change in the fertilizer quantities, and there is a reason for the increase after all, I increase Phosphates as my stems were not doing that great and also had some green spot algae on my anubias which both could be a lack of Phosphate, and since increasing Phosphates doesn't do any harm to the plants I went for it, and I am on week 3 of my new batch of ferts and those two issues have improved considerably.


Thanks for clearing that up 
I'm still very much learning about ferts and the signs of deficiencies and so on. Looking forward to getting a download of the fert calculator when it's available so I can play about with different options.


----------



## Sammy Islam

[/QUOTE]


LondonDragon said:


> @Sammy Islam @SRP3006 that got my puzzled and I had a look at my notes that I make for each change in the fertilizer quantities, and there is a reason for the increase after all, I increase Phosphates as my stems were not doing that great and also had some green spot algae on my anubias which both could be a lack of Phosphate, and since increasing Phosphates doesn't do any harm to the plants I went for it, and I am on week 3 of my new batch of ferts and those two issues have improved considerably.



Fair enough i may have to up my po4 a bit and see if it helps. Was shocked and confused when i saw your po4 numbers considering we are use to numbers like 3-5ppm.


----------



## frothhelmet

Wow. Stunning colours. The layout reminds me of your old Australian Rainbow aquascape.


----------



## frothhelmet

This poster is an imposter. I don't see any red cherry shrimp. What have you done with the real LD?


----------



## LondonDragon

frothhelmet said:


> Wow. Stunning colours. The layout reminds me of your old Australian Rainbow aquascape.


Many thanks Gerard, I did consider the rainbows again (neon dwarf blue)! but went with something different, should have stuck to my original choice lol the barbs are a nightmare, uproot all my stems!



frothhelmet said:


> This poster is an imposter. I don't see any red cherry shrimp. What have you done with the real LD?


I have a tank just for them, still have the colony that you saw in my study nano going  that was a very long time ago!!


----------



## LondonDragon

Quick update, been adding plants to the outside of the aquarium also  






How the tank was looking before maintenance today:





For the first time trimmed the hairgrass carpet, is it edible? LOL





How the tank looks after the trim, also trimmed the stems at the back, those are still struggling! Stems might not be for me!!









The dwarf bolbits grows so fast! that will need some major prunning soon also!





Thanks for looking


----------



## Luketendo

Looks very nice. Random question but is the aquascaper sticker removeable?


----------



## Steve Buce

Tank is  looking great Paulo


----------



## LondonDragon

Luketendo said:


> Looks very nice. Random question but is the aquascaper sticker removeable?


Many thanks : ) It's just a clear sticker with the logo and yes can be removed.


Steve Buce said:


> Tank is  looking great Paulo


Many thanks Steve  still needs a lot of work to get it where I want, might need a few more crypts in the there, one of the species I brought it too small for mid ground.


----------



## Nuno Gomes

LondonDragon said:


> How the tank looks after the trim, also trimmed the stems at the back, those are still struggling! Stems might not be for me!!



The reason for your problem with the stems is probably a combination of that light fixture and the low substrate height at the back. The 900E isn't that powerful and stems only really start to grow nicely when they reach the top third of the tank. You need to keep trimming them at around 1/3 until you get the density you want and then you let them grow up for a few weeks. Then you do one trim right below the point you want them to grow to, at around 2/3 of the height. Once the new growth has acess to light, it will be much healthier.


----------



## Deano3

Looks great paulo and the plants around the tank really add to the aquarium and its beauty. I hope to do something similar eventually 

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Nuno Gomes said:


> The reason for your problem with the stems is probably a combination of that light fixture and the low substrate height at the back. The 900E isn't that powerful and stems only really start to grow nicely when they reach the top third of the tank.


Thanks Nuno, the height of the substrate at the back is pretty high 14cm on the left then slopes down on the right-hand side to about 8-10cm. Behind the rocks its quite high, the substrate is only low in front of the rocks.





I think the light is not that powerful and it doesn't help that the tank is 50cm deep, I did move the light quite far back to get more light on the stems, but not a huge improvement, I might get a new light soon, so we shall see. I did consider adding an 900S at the back and keep the 900E at the front.



Nuno Gomes said:


> You need to keep trimming them at around 1/3 until you get the density you want and then you let them grow up for a few weeks. Then you do one trim right below the point you want them to grow to, at around 2/3 of the height.


I have been trying that, the ludwigia does fine, but the Rotala is struggling. also my barbs are not helping they like to play in the middle of the stems and pull them out lol need to see if I can get the balance right.


Nuno Gomes said:


> Once the new growth has acess to light, it will be much healthier.


Indeed, once it gets to the top 3rd then they race and look a lot better, but that is short lived because then I have to cut them back lol



Deano3 said:


> Looks great paulo and the plants around the tank really add to the aquarium and its beauty. I hope to do something similar eventually


Many thanks  it's been a decade since I last did this so bit of a learning curve again, what has stumped me was the CO2. and I used to run 144w of T5 over my Rio 125, this 55w Twinstar doesn't cut it lol 
Need to get some more crypts to the middle, to fill in that section nicely. Also looking at what other plants species I can mix in to add some more textures.


----------



## Nuno Gomes

LondonDragon said:


> Indeed, once it gets to the top 3rd then they race and look a lot better, but that is short lived because then I have to cut them back lol



By then you need to reduce N and P to slow everything down and keep trimming always at the same spot. As for the substrate height, it's obviously not shallow in the back but it's not as high as I normally like it. 1/2 of the height of the tank is usually good enough for stems even with a light fixture that's a bit on the weaker side. I have two TS900E on my 90x45x45 and it helps a bit because I can place one right on top of the stems in the back. I'll be upgrading to a 90x60x45 in a month or so and hopefully the same setup will work as well as it does now.


----------



## LondonDragon

Nuno Gomes said:


> By then you need to reduce N and P to slow everything down and keep trimming always at the same spot. As for the substrate height, it's obviously not shallow in the back but it's not as high as I normally like it. 1/2 of the height of the tank is usually good enough for stems even with a light fixture that's a bit on the weaker side. I have two TS900E on my 90x45x45 and it helps a bit because I can place one right on top of the stems in the back. I'll be upgrading to a 90x60x45 in a month or so and hopefully the same setup will work as well as it does now.


Many thanks Nuno, 1/2 the height is a little too much for my hardscape, I might just have to go with some lesser demanding stems, convert it all to ludwigia maybe, that seems to grow like a weed, I guess time will tell  
Great choice on 60 deep, opens up possibilities.


----------



## Sammy Islam

LondonDragon said:


> Thanks Nuno, the height of the substrate at the back is pretty high 14cm on the left then slopes down on the right-hand side to about 8-10cm. Behind the rocks its quite high, the substrate is only low in front of the rocks.
> 
> View attachment 154384
> 
> I think the light is not that powerful and it doesn't help that the tank is 50cm deep, I did move the light quite far back to get more light on the stems, but not a huge improvement, I might get a new light soon, so we shall see. I did consider adding an 900S at the back and keep the 900E at the front.
> 
> 
> I have been trying that, the ludwigia does fine, but the Rotala is struggling. also my barbs are not helping they like to play in the middle of the stems and pull them out lol need to see if I can get the balance right.
> 
> Indeed, once it gets to the top 3rd then they race and look a lot better, but that is short lived because then I have to cut them back lol
> 
> 
> Many thanks  it's been a decade since I last did this so bit of a learning curve again, what has stumped me was the CO2. and I used to run 144w of T5 over my Rio 125, this 55w Twinstar doesn't cut it lol
> Need to get some more crypts to the middle, to fill in that section nicely. Also looking at what other plants species I can mix in to add some more textures.



I am considering buying another twinstar light, theres one for sale in the sales section with metal legs the same as mine. The layout of my scape limits light as my two "mounds" are pretty high. I feel like if i add a light to the back just for the rotala they might grow better and more colourful. But i'm still fairly happy and realise adding more light will increase maintenance and possible algae


----------



## Andrew Butler

Looking good Paulo.

@sammy71 I'm selling a 900S at the moment I've had adapted, so I can have either the original metal legs on or use it in an adjustable form, so it could be hung from the ceiling or similar. In my opinion the suspended version of the Twinstar lights are not great as with only on wire on the light it is very unstable and a job to get it sitting pointing exactly downwards, I recall visiting a well known Aquascaping shop who had them with a pen lid balancing one light!

The advantage of being able to adjust the height I think is great and also saves having something else on the rim of the aquarium.


----------



## jaxx365

Hi, 
I've been following this post for a while now in which its stunning! and am now setting up my own900 aquascaper tank in which I've been preparing for for many months. Just a quickie on your stocking. How are you finding the amount of livestock you have for this tank? Do you have any so called clean up crew other than the SAE and how has the SAE done in this tank on its own?. 

Looking to stock around 12 Harlequins, similar number of Black neon Tetra's or cardinals and then move over more 6 corys and female betta from an existing tank and looking for some sort of clean up whether that be otto's or a bristlenose or SAE.
Thanks for any advise!


----------



## LondonDragon

Many thanks Jax, apologies for the delay, read it on the phone then forgot to come back to reply!



jaxx365 said:


> How are you finding the amount of livestock you have for this tank?


I have 21 barbs, mixture of Checkered, Odessa and Cherry. Think there is room for more but i am leaving it as is for now and see how big they get in the next 6 months before looking at stocking again.


jaxx365 said:


> Do you have any so called clean up crew other than the SAE and how has the SAE done in this tank on its own?.


I have 1 SAE, it is very active on plant leaves, not actually sure how effective it is, they tend to get big, and I am glad I only brought one! I also added 4 Ottos, unfortunately one died (only death so far, apart from the couple of jumpers) in the first few days but the other 3 have been fine and also very active. I also have some Amano shrimp, from reading around the forum I think I might have added them too early as I had some jumpers too, some say best to add them once the tank is mature, I am down to about 6-7 from the original 15, so one to remember next time, haven't had any jumpers shrimp/fish in a long time.


jaxx365 said:


> Looking to stock around 12 Harlequins, similar number of Black neon Tetra's or cardinals and then move over more 6 corys and female betta from an existing tank and looking for some sort of clean up whether that be otto's or a bristlenose or SAE.


Stocking levels seems sensible do not see any issues with that. Heavy planted tanks the bristlenose might uproot stuff, but depends on what you intend to keep  good luck and look forward to that journal.


----------



## adavin

This is a really nice looking tank.  I've just ordered my 900mm and nice to see what can be done.


----------



## LondonDragon

adavin said:


> This is a really nice looking tank.  I've just ordered my 900mm and nice to see what can be done.


Many thanks and good luck  don't forget that journal


----------



## Medoka

Excellent tank. And i hope you share the progress more frequently. Invaluable for newbies as myself.


----------



## LondonDragon

Medoka said:


> Excellent tank. And i hope you share the progress more frequently. Invaluable for newbies as myself.


Many thanks


----------



## adavin

LondonDragon said:


> Many thanks and good luck  don't forget that journal



Will do..


----------



## Nikola

We didn't see your tank for a while, u could throw in some pics to enjoy more in this journal 

Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Nikola said:


> We didn't see your tank for a while, u could throw in some pics to enjoy more in this journal
> 
> Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk


I will post an update soon, I have posted some snaps in my Instagram account but not much here.
I have been very lazy with the tank and spending too many evenings with the Forum rather than the tanks! I have been making quite a few changes to the forum in terms of features and upgrades to the backend, also did spend most evenings during last week looking into SEO! Now that was an eye-opener! 
Most of my stems are now gone, I did not realize my ferts had run out for over a week  so that was the first mistake! water changes every couple of weeks did not help, and my CO2 diffuser had clogged by about 50%, the barbs like to play in the middle of the stems and keep ripping them up! so I will have to look at some alternatives


----------



## Nikola

Totally understand you, I'm backend programmer too. And when I'm up to some project I forget about everything else. Lol.
Well too bad for the tank but I'm sure you can restore it easily after u finish up things on forum. Good luck with SEO, was styding it for one year, interesting subject very, important for every website.
Cheers 

Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Just noticed the Instagram integration working on the forum so this was my last update on insta:


----------



## Andrew Butler

Love the hand on top - ROCK ON!
ps where can I get one?


----------



## LondonDragon

Andrew Butler said:


> Love the hand on top - ROCK ON!
> ps where can I get one?


It was a gift from my cousin in Portugal, not sure you where you could get one in the UK!! 🤘🤘


----------



## Nikola

How many lph is that wave maker? Lower power which I found is 2000lph which is too much for me.


----------



## TheOslo

What happened to the grass in the front


----------



## LondonDragon

Nikola said:


> How many lph is that wave maker? Lower power which I found is 2000lph which is too much for me.


It's a Koralia Nano pump, it's rated at 900lph, had it in the cupboard and decided to add it to create flow at the back of the tank rather than adding another filter, seems to work ok.

Although I have neglected this tank a little, and due to a back injury recently I have not done any water changes since Xmas Eve! Hoping I can manage one tomorrow!



TheOslo said:


> What happened to the grass in the front


I gave it a heavy trim, and it didn't like it, it's recovering but very slowly, also the barbs dig up a lot of it looking for food that drops to the bottom, those barbs are a nightmare on the short grass! Shouldn't have cut it so low! you live and learn!
Also have removed the original stems, and trying some Limnophila hippuridoides that I got off UKAPS member @Deano3 , that is starting to take off now, so will trim and replant that at the back! 
The dwarf bolbitis was getting too big on the right-hand side so moved to the bottom left below the standard bolbitis which fills in nicely the space, moved some crypts around so they get some more light as they were dying off. The buces are doing great!


----------



## LondonDragon

Quick update via Insta


----------



## Deano3

LondonDragon said:


> Quick update via Insta


Looking amazing , i added a eheim skim for a little extra flow as one oase 600 filter just didn't seem enough for this tank. Looks great and must be a very well established tank as no water changes since xmas eve thats very impressive. 

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


----------



## LondonDragon

Deano3 said:


> Looking amazing , i added a eheim skim for a little extra flow as one oase 600 filter just didn't seem enough for this tank. Looks great and must be a very well established tank as no water changes since xmas eve thats very impressive.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk


Many thanks, I also have an Eheim skimmer at the back left, and added a Koralia to the right-hand side for extra flow, but did not save the stems, I have a lot of issues with CO2 distribution, as always been an issue for me, I have tried the ADA glass diffuser, I have tried the Twinstar and also a CO2 Art one, I am now using an inline diffuser! As the plant mass grew the CO2 distribution just wasn't enough and was never able to get high enough to support the plant mass! I have been getting it back on track now with more regular water changes and the algae is slowly going away! let's see


----------



## hypnogogia

@LondonDragon Do you keep RCS with the Odessa and Cherry Barbs?


----------



## LondonDragon

hypnogogia said:


> @LondonDragon Do you keep RCS with the Odessa and Cherry Barbs?


Only large Amanos, I did have some other shrimp in there and they wiped them out so wouldn't recommend it.


----------



## hypnogogia

Thank you, that’s what I was trying to establish.


----------



## LondonDragon

hypnogogia said:


> Thank you, that’s what I was trying to establish.


They tend to be hunters and always scavenger for food in the plants and carpet, I did spot some baby fish in there once not sure from which Barbs/Ottos but they also wiped them out quickly. They also tend to try and eat small snails and pull up the hairgrass all the time! I would not recommend other than the Cherry Barbs any of the others for planted tanks lol I will put up with them now that I have them


----------



## LondonDragon

Quick photos on the phone yesterday, how things looking at the moment, algae is pretty much gone and plants recovering well, I was waiting for a Vivid 2 light unit that someone offered, but that didn't materialize, so I will keep this going as is with the Twinstar and see how things go, the Twinstar is an original version 1 900E and for the tank depth it really needs two or something you can hang higher (hence the Vivid would have helped). So just have plant accordingly as you cannot have strong light levels at the back and front of the tank using a single Twinstar. So was either save the carpet or the stems! 










Trimmed the Buces on the left for the first time, need to trim the green in the middle! 
Thanks for looking


----------



## DaveWatkin

Flowers everywhere! Looks excellent.


----------



## Ady34

Matured nicely mate 👌🏻


----------



## LondonDragon

DaveWatkin said:


> Flowers everywhere! Looks excellent.


Yeah the Buce Theia flowers very often, the others not really, green is rare other buces never! So if you like flowers go for Theia  Cheers


Ady34 said:


> Matured nicely mate 👌🏻


Many thanks, think that sometimes I need to take pruning a bit further


----------



## LondonDragon

Quick one, was thinking of adding a couple of larger fish to go with the barbs, thoughts? and ideas what? Cheers


----------



## SRP3006

I'm at that stage now. Want something to go with the wcmm and cpd's, only trouble is I want them to leave my shrimp population alone. Not easy to find a suitable fish.


----------



## LondonDragon

SRP3006 said:


> I'm at that stage now. Want something to go with the wcmm and cpd's, only trouble is I want them to leave my shrimp population alone. Not easy to find a suitable fish.


Only have half a dozen large Amanos in mine so should be OK shrimp wise 

I saw some Pelvicachromis kribensis that I kind of like the look of them, anyone kept this in a community planted before?


----------



## Courtneybst

LondonDragon said:


> I saw some Pelvicachromis kribensis that I kind of like the look of them


Kribs would be beautiful in there! I've wanted to keep them for ages but never got round to it.


----------



## LondonDragon

Courtneybst said:


> Kribs would be beautiful in there! I've wanted to keep them for ages but never got round to it.


Was down at ADC on Saturday and saw them there and looked cool, orange/yellow with 3 dots on the tail!


----------



## Hufsa

Keep in mind the kribs can do some rescaping for you, they can dig a surprising amount


----------



## LondonDragon

Hufsa said:


> Keep in mind the kribs can do some rescaping for you, they can dig a surprising amount


Better not then  thanks for the heads up


----------



## Wookii

How about some Apistos - I believe @shangman has several babies that she has bred, and is in London too: The Nymph's Spring (EA900)

Alternatively how about some Honey Gourami's if your Barbs aren't too boisterous?

I've not kept either species myself incidentally, but always admired them from afar!


----------



## Tim Harrison

I've kept honey gourami with barbs, they were fine together, especially in a heavily planted tank like Paulo's. And it continues the asian fish theme. I much prefer the wild type, as in the male and female below. But I haven't seen any for several years. Seems to be rare or bred out in favour of ornamental varieties.


----------



## shangman

Haha I'm glad @Wookii suggested it, I'm trying to avoid being known at that pushy apisto keeper!! If you're not into the macmasteri, I saw on the ADC facebook they have some lovely borellii apistos too which are powder blue-lilac and yellow, they would be a nice contrast with your barbs and are apparently the most chill of all apistos. I was planning on getting a pair of these before being given my fish. They also don't destroy carpets the way kribs do. I'm not sure about your water, but I've read they are one of the most happy in tap, and also like a cooler tank (low 20s).


----------



## PARAGUAY

Tanks looking good 🙂


----------



## LondonDragon

PARAGUAY said:


> Tanks looking good 🙂


Many thanks, there is some algae on a few of the older leaves but its not nature scape without some algae


----------



## LondonDragon

Since I posted these on Youtube, full tank:





And a close up of the fish!



thanks for looking  and ignore the algae!


----------



## LondonDragon

Just had a look at week 1 and now! crazy how plants just overtake the scape!

WEEK1




NOW



Did loose the stems! the casualty of this scape!

How some of the plants were moved from one position to the other:





Thanks for looking!


----------



## Michael1212

Looks amazing.  Would you say that is 1 years growth for the bolbitis heudelotii and microsorum narrow?  Or would it be much bigger if not for trimmings?  I ask since I just planted these two species but have no idea how long I will need to wait for them to start to get massive.


----------



## LondonDragon

Michael1212 said:


> Looks amazing.  Would you say that is 1 years growth for the bolbitis heudelotii and microsorum narrow?  Or would it be much bigger if not for trimmings?  I ask since I just planted these two species but have no idea how long I will need to wait for them to start to get massive.


Many thanks  I have taken some cuttings for my low tech tank but very little, I do trim off leaves once a month, older leaves that develop algae, I would say about 10-20 at a time from both the bolbitis and fern. I am very lazy when it comes to trimming and let things get possibly too big! Let's see how long I keep this going, but tank is long term, no plans on rescaping anytime soon!

Top view of the bolbitis and ferns:


----------



## Ady34

Beautiful top down view Paulo
Growth has hidden the hardscape, it’s amazing how the stones are completely covering the rocks now.


----------



## LondonDragon

Ady34 said:


> Beautiful top down view Paulo
> Growth has hidden the hardscape, it’s amazing how the stones are completely covering the rocks now.


Many thanks, yeah the Buces taking over, they need a good trim, I have trimmed one section to see how it recovers since I have not trimmed Buces before. Then I will take the scissors to the rest soon 

Also with my new CO2 reactor things are pearling like crazy now by the end of the photo period 





No more cleaning and blocked diffusors  happy days


----------



## bazz

Good morning Paulo,
Would it be possible for you to let me know where you bought your reactor from and its approximate dimensions please?
I started off using the AM 1000 first with the supplied bio balls, then empty and finally with Siporax, on a separate loop using a Eheim Compact 2000 running at 1000 l/hour and couldn't get the drop checker yellow despite running at an unacceptable bubble rate and spitting out lots of CO2.
I then ended up having to run a CO2 Art Inline Diffuser in tandem on the filter return just to get acceptable CO2 levels.
I have now swapped both of these out for a Sera Flore 1000 of which I am getting superb dissolution at a countable bubble rate, but do you know what, I just don't trust it. It's a shame no one manufactures a more robust take on this model because the design and functionality is top notch.
Many thanks,
bazz


----------



## LondonDragon

bazz said:


> Would it be possible for you to let me know where you bought your reactor from and its approximate dimensions please?


Have a look at this post:






						CO2 Reactor UK sellers?
					

Anyone know if I can get one of these in the UK?  https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/aquarium-co2-reactor-16-22mm.html  Cheers Paulo



					www.ukaps.org
				




It is quite large, 37.5cm high and 12cm diameter! Hold's 2.5 liters. But in my experience for a reactor to work properly it needs to be large anyway, I have an AM1000 also and its pants!


----------



## Regent

LondonDragon said:


> Many thanks
> 
> First time at 5 weeks, not every 3-4 weeks.
> 
> Trimmed it pretty low and just replanted the trimmings in the middle of the exiting stems, making it fuller.
> Although stems don't like me, they are OK but not as lush as I would like them, I think there is a lack of flow at the back of the tank, I have tried adjusting the filter flow around the tank, but might need some help at the back getting some flow between the stems. Time will tell.
> 
> This is my current formula, I have increased doses from 50ml per day to 60ml, might increase it to 70ml soon as the plant mass grows.
> View attachment 153856
> 
> My major issue has been CO2, that as always been an issue for me, I think I am almost there now, been very slowing increasing it every 3-4 days to make sure the fish are OK. It's taking its time but at least I won't gas the fish!
> 
> 
> Ask as many as you want, that's why I do the journals  learn and share ups and downs!


Just wondering if you're still using this ei ratio and having success with it?


----------



## LondonDragon

Regent said:


> Just wondering if you're still using this ei ratio and having success with it?


off course, made a new batch today, at £2 per month would not use anything else 
Need to take some updated photos of the tank and post here!


----------



## Regent

It looks to be working great, I've copied your EI mix and I'm definitely getting less Green spot with good growth, hence me wondering if you've tweaked any further.

I'd love some upto date shots!


----------



## LondonDragon

Recent photo I posted on Instagram 18 months later the jungle that needs a trim


----------



## zozo

Amazing!! 😘


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## LondonDragon

Looks like the crypt nurri I got from @GHNelson is flowing underwater, which seems strange for a crypt, have been keeping crypts for 20 years and never seen this before.


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## shangman

It looks incredibly stunning! 😍 I love a nice aroid flower. What is that cute lil baby on there?


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## LondonDragon

shangman said:


> It looks incredibly stunning! 😍 I love a nice aroid flower. What is that cute lil baby on there?


Many thanks  looks great just never seen one before 
The fish is a panda loach, got a trio recently, wish I had got another trio! they are great to watch.


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## hypnogogia

It really is a stunning crypt.


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## Tim Harrison

Beautiful


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## LondonDragon

Didn't post this one here, so here it goes, my lovely crypt and my panda loaches!



Cheers
Paulo


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## GHNelson

Crypt Nurii and the Buce Theia Dark...looking great!
Love those little loaches👍


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## rebel

Great journal and scape man!!

I have the same Borneo Wild pipes. What are your thoughts on the turbulance that the outlet causes on the water surface? I find that it's a bit much for my 160L tank but perhaps I am using a too large filter.


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## LondonDragon

rebel said:


> Great journal and scape man!!


Many thanks 


rebel said:


> I have the same Borneo Wild pipes. What are your thoughts on the turbulance that the outlet causes on the water surface? I find that it's a bit much for my 160L tank but perhaps I am using a too large filter.


I have outflow pointing downwards rather than straight, so the bottom sucker the metal pin is almost completely out and that works well.


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## rebel

LondonDragon said:


> I have outflow pointing downwards rather than straight, so the bottom sucker the metal pin is almost completely out and that works well.


Gotcha.

I will try this but struggle as the pvs pipes are kinda stiff and difficult to work with.


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## LondonDragon

For those that are interested this is my current dosing regime, has been this for around a year now! 






I reduced the Nitrate and increased the Potassium, also increased the Phosphate! My algae went away and my ferns and bolbilts love it, also all the holes in the leaves of the Buces went away, and the tank has been algae free for quite some time. It's turning into a little bit of a jungle now! and I really need to trim it!!

I did increase the dosing from 50ml to 60ml per day as the plant mass increased. The ppm values on the image above are correct, might have forgotten to update them slightly on previous images! But I have now worked out the formulas to automatically calculate the ppm when I change any values


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## Karmicnull

Hey Paulo thanks for this - I was just reading up on the lean dosing thread about K, looking at the holes in my leaves and concluding that I maybe didn't have enough (as well as too much N) - This is more evidence in that direction.  Also I'm really good at making Java ferns unhappy.  Based on your experience maybe I can sort that out at the same time.


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## rebel

Karmicnull said:


> I'm really good at making Java ferns unhappy. Based on your experience maybe I can sort that out at the same time.


Yes, Java really needs good K and PO4. The latter will avoid GSA on the leaves also. You can grow HUGE java by tripling KPO4 and pumping CO2.


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## Regent

LondonDragon said:


> For those that are interested this is my current dosing regime, has been this for around a year now!
> 
> View attachment 183779
> 
> I reduced the Nitrate and increased the Potassium, also increased the Phosphate! My algae went away and my ferns and bolbilts love it, also all the holes in the leaves of the Buces went away, and the tank has been algae free for quite some time. It's turning into a little bit of a jungle now! and I really need to trim it!!
> 
> I did increase the dosing from 50ml to 60ml per day as the plant mass increased. The ppm values on the image above are correct, might have forgotten to update them slightly on previous images! But I have now worked out the formulas to automatically calculate the ppm when I change any values


Thanks Paulo,
I'm still using a recipe based on your earlier fertilizer mix, with the e=xception of more nitrates it's not far from this! I was just wondering what your source water report is like?
Scott


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## LondonDragon

Regent said:


> Thanks Paulo,
> I'm still using a recipe based on your earlier fertilizer mix, with the e=xception of more nitrates it's not far from this! I was just wondering what your source water report is like?
> Scott


Hi Scott, to be honest I do not care for my water report, I just dose and monitor plants and adjust. Sometimes if things doing well I reduce something for 3-5g and see how that affects the balance, if nothing I leave it lower and after 3-4 weeks tweak another!


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## Regent

Thanks for the quick reply! That's a nice way to do it.  I'm just noticing interveinal chlorosis on some of my new growth and trying to work out the cause..
I'm still loving this tank, I've just been back through the whole thread.


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## LondonDragon

Not the best photos (direct from phone), but this was the jungle 2-3 weeks ago before I gave it a good trim, I have used the cuttings on my low tech nanos.







Most of the moss is now gone, don't even know where that stringy moss at the top came from! I have trimmed all the buces and crypts by the front glass, removed a lot of the older leaves from ferns.
Also, I did notice that I had been running low on CO2 for the past 3-4 weeks, since I cleaned the pipes and the CO2 reactor and left the valve almost shut on the reactor side! Since then things are pearling like crazy again! What happens when you get busy and ignore the tank for a while!


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## Garuf

What kind of chainsaw do you use for maintenance?


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## LondonDragon

Garuf said:


> What kind of chainsaw do you use for maintenance?


What happens when you don't touch the plants for 4 months! only thing I have to do manually is water changes, the rest is all automated, so I forget about it sometimes!


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## Garuf

And no co2 tinkering to adjust for the biomass changing?


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## LondonDragon

Garuf said:


> And no co2 tinkering to adjust for the biomass changing?


I did increase it every couple of months or so.


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## Regent

Looking great! Personally, I really like the overgrown look..


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## LondonDragon

Regent said:


> Looking great! Personally, I really like the overgrown look..


Yeah for me the same, I let nature take its course, I have never been much of tidy aquascapes! the fish also love going into and coming out of the plants chasing each other


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## LondonDragon

Someone asked me on my previous photo what I cut out to the right hand side of the screen!
When I used to have stems in the tank I did a lot of research into ways to get stems to be reder and the starvation of certain nutrients to achieve this, I never got to test this properly hence I cut it out, from people that achieved this in the past the average values are given in the column that I cut out to the right:





as you can see I have Nitrate and Potassium very close to these values, I increased Phosphate due to some issues I was seeing with the buces and that resolved the issue so I kept it this high and have not reduced it again. I might not need that much Mg but for now since there are no issues I decided not to touch it.


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## mort

Is that a new barb addition or have I been dopey and not noticed them before?

I've been thinking of going for a barb tank and had settled on what I would probably go for but now you've got me thinking again.


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## LondonDragon

mort said:


> Is that a new barb addition or have I been dopey and not noticed them before?


You are right, I added 6 highfin barbs back in December  they are awesome! Need to get some close up shots of the fish!



mort said:


> I've been thinking of going for a barb tank and had settled on what I would probably go for but now you've got me thinking again.


Was not sure about barbs but always wanted to try them, from the 4 species I have, only the chequered are jumpers, so I would stay away from those, the Odessa, Cherry and Highfin are all fine.


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## LondonDragon

Couple of Buce photos


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## Solomon

Lovely scape, really enjoyed reading through your journal! 

Can I ask what the stem plant is in the bottom left hand corner? Don't recognise it, and couldn't seem to find it in the text. 

Thanks


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## LondonDragon

Solomon said:


> Lovely scape, really enjoyed reading through your journal!
> 
> Can I ask what the stem plant is in the bottom left hand corner? Don't recognise it, and couldn't seem to find it in the text.


Many thanks 

The stem is one of my fav plants of all time Potamogeton gayi, someone on UKAPS was selling it and I just couldn't resist to add a little to the tank. At the bottom of that there is a bit of Blyxa also!


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## LondonDragon

Posted this video on Insta yesterday also, shrimp is on the Potamogeton gayi which has some stringy moss mixed with it! 



These shrimp I got from the Shrimp King himself at Vivarium 2011, before I added the fish to the tank I got a net into the nano and grabbed around 50 shrimp and put them in the tank, I was expecting the fish to snap them all up but a few have made it to a decent size and they are looking pretty good.

Chris seems to think they are C.holthuisi but to be honest I don't remember what he said they were at the time! I have a colony of 200+ on my low tech 60l that has been running since 2010!


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## Wookii

LondonDragon said:


> Chris seems to think they are C.holthuisi but to be honest I don't remember what he said they were at the time!



Google seems to suggest that Cherax holthuisi is a large orange crayfish growing to 9cm, so I'm not sure that's the right ID. Do you have a clearer picture of them?


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## LondonDragon

Wookii said:


> Google seems to suggest that Cherax holthuisi is a large orange crayfish growing to 9cm


caridina holthuisi 
I will have to try and catch one on the open with my DSLR and macro lens!


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## Wookii

LondonDragon said:


> caridina holthuisi
> I will have to try and catch one on the open with my DSLR and macro lens!



That makes more sense 🤣 (Bloody Google didn't even bring them up!) - thought you'd have noticed if you had 200 of these wandering around your tank:






😂🤣😂


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## LondonDragon

Wookii said:


> thought you'd have noticed if you had 200 of these wandering around your tank


that would have made a nice meal!


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## LondonDragon

Quick snap how the tank is looking  had a major trim a couple of weeks back and still in recovery!


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## Tim Harrison

Looking awesome Paulo 👍


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## GHNelson

Lovely, the Dark Theia....is looking great!....


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## mlgt

Seeing this tank in the flesh is even better. I had the chance to enjoy it over a cup of coffee


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## Chrispowell

Incredibly healthy and beautiful tank! Congrats on an amazing job


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## LondonDragon

Many thanks guys


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## LondonDragon

As posted elsewhere, for my dosing pipes, I designed this using SketchUp:





This is my second version, which keeps the holes above the glass line, and added a little 2mm pin in the middle so that it doesn't seat flat on the edge of the glass which created a syphon and extracted water from the tank down the edge of the glass.

This is how it looks on the tank, 10mm glass (can print to any thickness) both in clear and black filaments!


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## ScapingScotsman

LondonDragon said:


> Quick snap how the tank is looking  had a major trim a couple of weeks back and still in recovery!
> 
> View attachment 190341


So lush and vibrant Paulo. Those buces are very eye-catching 👀


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## LondonDragon

Many thanks, the layout is not great to be honest and probably could do with a rescape, but that is a lot of work to rescape so lets see how it goes and how it evolves


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## LondonDragon

Quick Video of the tank I posted on Insta!!


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## _Maq_

LondonDragon said:


> For those that are interested this is my current dosing regime, has been this for around a year now!


Very interesting. Yet to make the information complete, would you kindly add the mineral composition of your tap water (or whichever else) that you use for your tank *before* mineralization/fertilization?


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## LondonDragon

_Maq_ said:


> Very interesting. Yet to make the information complete, would you kindly add the mineral composition of your tap water (or whichever else) that you use for your tank *before* mineralization/fertilization?


To be honest I do not care or perform any water tests, I go by what the plants tell me and adjust accordingly, at the end of the day the most important thing is CO2, and if you get that right, fertilization is the easy bit! and the thing that everyone over thinks


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## _Maq_

LondonDragon said:


> To be honest I do not care or perform any water tests, ...


If that's the case I can see no reason why you took the pain to inform the community on your fertilizing schedule.
_My water contains 15.6789 ppm Mg precisely PLUS unknown amount from my tap_. 🤣


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## LondonDragon

_Maq_ said:


> If that's the case I can see no reason why you took the pain to inform the community on your fertilizing schedule.
> _My water contains 15.6789 ppm Mg precisely PLUS unknown amount from my tap_. 🤣


As everything it's a starting point, then you adjust to suite your needs!  but a quick search I am sure you can find the water report for London if anyone were that curious!


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## LondonDragon

Recently acquired an Intaqo controller, www.intaqo.com
The Version I have is only with two dosing pumps, temp and PH probe, and on and off switch for a 12v DC Solenoid.






So far pretty impressed with it as it is pretty easy to use and configure out of the box, there are versions that can also control the lights with two inputs for those, but not something can test with my version! Maybe in the future if I stick with it.

You can control all the features on the local wifi network, or you can connect it to the internet and view the information on the web. Here what mine looks like on the website:




BTW I only dose 60ml per day, on Thursday I made a new batch of fertelizer and then dosed 60ml manually to fill the pipes for the next day! 

I did not get a Solenoid with mine, so at the moment I just set the on and off scheduled on the controller to match what I do on the timer for CO2. @Geoffrey Rea kindly sent me a @CO2Art.co.uk  solenoid which I am going to replace my existing with, so then I can test controlling CO2 using the PH values, to see how effective that is.

I did print my own PH/Temp sensor holder for my 10mm glass and also some clips for the tubes that I had posted before, together with a nice holder to mount it on the side of my cabinet. There is a version that Intaqo do that has a metal screw in it to adjust to the glass size but its an ugly thing! So I edited and made my own to match the glass thickness, I have since made 6mm, 8mm and 12mm versions too if anyone is interested let me know.





I will post my findings once I start playing with the controller automating the CO2 on and off!

Might be a little overkill but I like the geeky side of it!


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## Yugang

This looks very interesting - especially that it comes with data logging and controls that can be customised.
Reading their website, I love their vision and implementation with web and app.


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## LondonDragon

Yugang said:


> This looks very interesting - especially that it comes with data logging and controls that can be customised.
> Reading their website, I love their vision and implementation with web and app.


I am pretty impressed with it, most of it looks like its 3D printed and based on an Arduino board, but a lot of effort has gone into the software, there are always room for improvements, so not sure if they push out firmware upgrades to this or not! Was not clear.

The App is pretty good also, nothing overkill but straight to the point and easy to use.

This is the main screen:




This is the config for pH/CO2:





This is the config for the pumps:



It also provides historical data like you mention, This is the menu to view historical data:


You can see the PH history, when you go into it, it shows the last 3 days worth:




But you can create a report from any date to date! Here is the last 7 days:




You can also compare any two days data for PH, by default shows the last two full days:




And also 2 days for temperature:




I am just curious now to see how it can control the CO2 via the PH levels.

Do you guys know if I need to insert the kH value for it to work properly?

Cheers
Paulo


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## Yugang

LondonDragon said:


> I am just curious now to see how it can control the CO2 via the PH levels.
> 
> Do you guys know if I need to insert the kH value for it to work properly?


Just like any pH/CO2 controller as far as I can see. They have nice instruction videos on their website.

The tread Using a PH controller may be a usefull reference. Just don't mess around with KH (keep it constant) and you will be fine. Regular calibrations (initially weekly) recommended.

I am currently not using my pH controller, as I continue testing and optimising the stability of CO2 spray bar. But I must admit, the more I learn about CO2 balance in tank, including surface agitation and flow, the more I love (again) my pH controller. It is especially the day-to-day and week-to-week stability that is hard to achieve without a controller, whatever injection device is used.

Your new gadget is so impressive that I may put that on my wish list for the future. Looking forward to your user feedback @LondonDragon


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## LondonDragon

Yugang said:


> Just like any pH/CO2 controller as far as I can see. They have nice instruction videos on their website.


Once I get my 12v DC Solenoid installed then I will have a proper look on how to automate it, @Courtneybst is using one so I will pick his brains at some stage.

I custom-made and 3D printed a little bracket to mount the unit sideways inside my cabinet:













Turned out pretty well, I use the velcro straps so that I can easily removed it, also the space between the feet and the base are perfect dosing tube management to keep everything nice and tidy


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## Yugang

LondonDragon said:


> I am pretty impressed with it


So much that your nice journal went silent for 3 months  
How is it going? Started a low tech tank?


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