# - Redemption -



## Andrew T (19 Oct 2020)

11/29/2020




11/05/2020



10/29/2020



Fall air and relentless rain has made me fall in love once again with the tank and everything related to it. My wife says I’m so predictable...
As for the name of this journal, this aquascape gave me a sense of somberness ; burnt trees , empty branches etc.
Transforming this into a bright, green place full of life will feel like redemption. 

I took down my old 60p (old journal here: Edge of the Jungle).
Got a new 60p and inserted it into the wall where the old one was.

Light: Chihiros RGB Vivid 2
Filter: Eheim 2217
Glass: CalAquaLabs x1 and F1 inlet and outlet. They’re the smallest pipes I could find and I’m loving them.
Soil: ADA regular and powder type
Wood: Manzanita branches
Rock: Mexican pot rock
Co2: pressurized with Aquario Neo in tank diffuser

Plant list:
-Glosso
-MC
-Anubias
-Bolbitis
-Pinnatifida UK
-Hygro araguaia
-Weeping moss
-Ludwigia arcuata
-Rotala Wayanad

The plan was to keep the hardscape as simple as possible this time around and clean looking. Nothing like my old scape.
Then cram in there as many plants as possible.
So until my light gets here on Wednesday, I flooded the tank so I can get as much ammonia and tannins possible out through water changes...and boy is this manzanita leeching out tannins..
Anyway, here’s a pic of the scape with a weak bulb I had laying around.
Enjoy!
_

_


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## rebel (19 Oct 2020)

OMG it looks like a fairytale.  I reckon you should grow some MC in the foreground and HC in the background. Forget too many plants.

Or just pure UG.


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## Andrew T (19 Oct 2020)

rebel said:


> OMG it looks like a fairytale.  I reckon you should grow some MC in the foreground and HC in the background. Forget too many plants.
> 
> Or just pure UG.


You know...I was thinking something different such as UG would be pretty crazy looking...in a good way!
I’m debating if I should fill the branches with HC Cuba or not to make it look like a tree then have open grassland down below except upper corners where I’d like some stems.

Maybe I’ll go crazy and add the ADA lighted background.


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## Andrew T (20 Oct 2020)

A small nature aquarium store that I just stumbled upon in my town sells these Tucano tetras that I’ve never seen before. Fully mature they measure between 0.5” - 1”  long but they’re 20$/each. Big ouch!!!...never seen a tetra go for this amount before.

So expensive yet so beautiful...the person running the shop tells me she’s feeding them freshly hatched brine shrimp every day. 
Not sure if that automatically demands a higher asking price or what... 

20 fish would set me back 400$ ; tank, lily pipes, hardscape and soil didn’t cost that much lol...they did school beautifully in her 180p though ...she probably had 100+ of them.
What do you guys think?


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## Conort2 (20 Oct 2020)

Andrew T said:


> A small nature aquarium store that I just stumbled upon in my town sells these Tucano tetras that I’ve never seen before. Fully mature they measure between 0.5” - 1”  long but they’re 20$/each. Big ouch!!!...never seen a tetra go for this amount before.
> 
> So expensive yet so beautiful...the person running the shop tells me she’s feeding them freshly hatched brine shrimp every day.
> Not sure if that automatically demands a higher asking price or what...
> ...


Lovely fish however I’d say they probably need water with a low tds longer term as they’re a black water species. Not sure what the water is like where you’re from ? Do you know if it is soft? If so give them a go.

cheers

Conor


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## Luketendo (20 Oct 2020)

Andrew T said:


> A small nature aquarium store that I just stumbled upon in my town sells these Tucano tetras that I’ve never seen before. Fully mature they measure between 0.5” - 1”  long but they’re 20$/each. Big ouch!!!...never seen a tetra go for this amount before.
> 
> So expensive yet so beautiful...the person running the shop tells me she’s feeding them freshly hatched brine shrimp every day.
> Not sure if that automatically demands a higher asking price or what...
> ...



They are pretty rare I think hence the price.


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## Andrew T (20 Oct 2020)

Conort2 said:


> Lovely fish however I’d say they probably need water with a low tds longer term as they’re a black water species. Not sure what the water is like where you’re from ? Do you know if it is soft? If so give them a go.
> 
> cheers
> 
> Conor


Yes the water in Seattle is very soft. The only thing holding me back is the price...
I’ll think about it..


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## Andrew T (21 Oct 2020)

Ever had moments as a kid when you were so excited about something only to get really disappointed moments later? I guess we get that as adults too;
Amazon damaged the light fixture in transit. 😖
Only one vendor on Amazon sells this light so I have to order another one through them. Delivery date this coming Saturday.
First world problems...


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## CooKieS (21 Oct 2020)

Andrew T said:


> Yes the water in Seattle is very soft. The only thing holding me back is the price...
> I’ll think about it..


Got 10 of these tucano in my last scape, they’re fantastic, boldest and smallest tetra I’ve ever kept with fascinating behavior (male are sparring and can be territorial) and they’re always hungry (baby brine shrimp, frozen, pellets, flakes...they love everything).

got mine for 7€ Piece which isn’t cheap but usually they go up to 13-15€ each in France. 20$ is too much IMO


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## Andrew T (22 Oct 2020)

CooKieS said:


> . 20$ is too much IMO


I agree. Will go with some ember tetras or something similar perhaps...


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## Conort2 (22 Oct 2020)

Andrew T said:


> I agree. Will go with some ember tetras or something similar perhaps...


Black neons may give you a similar ‘look’. Pencil fish also look good but are not used much.

cheers

Conor


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## adavin (22 Oct 2020)

Brilliant less is more...


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## Andrew T (28 Oct 2020)

Well after multiple delays with the shipment the RGB Vivid 2 finally got here today and wow....it is better than my previous Twinstar 600S in every aspect.
The colors are unreal .
I’m planting the tank at the moment with some fine leaf stem plants I’ve never used before like Ludwigia arcuata and Rotala Wayanad in the background.
They should make the tank look a little deeper with the tiny leaf shape ; at least in theory.
The hardscape has changed quite a bit as well, incorporating some thicker manzy pieces up front. The twigs looked a little off all by themselves.
Either way, a FTS is coming tomorrow after the cloudiness from planting and changing filter media has settled.
I saw the ADA RGB today in person at my LFS and it’s amazing, however, the Chihiros RGB does all that for less than half and it’s controllable. Built quality is very good as well and something I honestly didn’t expect.
All in all a great investment.


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## Andrew T (29 Oct 2020)

Removed all of the Eheim mechanical media from the filter except the Seachem Matrix. Added some sponges/ filter floss + a bag of Purigen. 
The flow improved big time! Here’s the vortex created by the lily pipe outflow.


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## Andrew T (30 Oct 2020)

ADA light screen installed...
I need more plants...


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## Andrew T (31 Oct 2020)

I realized there’s maybe another benefit of the light screen beside the pretty look and helping with photography; 

This picture was taken with the main lights off; only the light screen is on. 



Given the tank is in a closet that is dark, there’s no ambient light so it’s solely lit by the light screen. When stems get real bushy and tall, the light from the top won’t get to the bottom and stems tend to look bad and leggy down there. Wouldnt this extra light down at the root of the stems help with the plants overall health?

Of course this is true only for the bush at the very back against the glass but maybe the most important?

I’m curious to see what you guys think...


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## Andrew T (1 Nov 2020)

6 ottos and 10 amanos have gone in tonight!
The bulk of the fish in about a week...still deciding which way to go. I was thinking embers but I still have a soft spot for green neons.


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## Andrew T (2 Nov 2020)

Just because....


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## Andrew T (5 Nov 2020)

Rotala Wayanad pearling away...


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## Andrew T (6 Nov 2020)

The belly is proof he’s doing alright...


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## Andrew T (6 Nov 2020)

6 days of growth. Everything doing amazing; no algae..water change 60% every day still...running purigen and it works a treat removing tannins. I’ll probably add some carbon as well.

4 ml of Tropica premium fertilizer daily.
Switching to Specialized once this bottle is over.
Thinking of some AR mini in between stems and the Monte Carlo. Not sure if that’s gonna look too big...
I left that space empty for something...maybe crypts.
Still not sure how to make the “tree” more tree-ish. Maybe eventually pinnatifida will fill in but still looks kinda empty.
I was planning some buces but the light will be too much...ideas?


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## Jayefc1 (6 Nov 2020)

Looking really good Andrew I think once the moss starts to fill out with some pinta like you said it will fill out the tree nicely how are you finding the vivid 2s have 2 over my 1200 and just can't believe how good they are and real good value for the money with the controllability and I don't even hear the fans in mine at all really happy with them


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## Andrew T (6 Nov 2020)

Jayefc1 said:


> Looking really good Andrew I think once the moss starts to fill out with some pinta like you said it will fill out the tree nicely how are you finding the vivid 2s have 2 over my 1200 and just can't believe how good they are and real good value for the money with the controllability and I don't even hear the fans in mine at all really happy with them


Thanks, I agree the pinnatifida is crazy once it takes off. 
I just love the vivid 2. The light is in a closet since this tank is in wall so I really can’t hear  a peep, but even when messing around the tank I can’t hear the fan unless I’m right next to it looking into the tank.
The colors are ...well...amazing. The controllability is cool. Got tired of playing around with the colors and just chose the “Red” preset. In conjunction with the ADA light screen, it gives a very nice color balance to the tank as a whole. I keep switching between “red” and “Buce” presets.
 The Buce has a little more blue and less red which enhances the green that much more...one of these days ill settle on one
Which one do you use ? Or did you go with your own?

I must say, the tank looks very different with the light screen off and I’m sure I would change the light spectrum if I didn’t have the screen. Somehow that white light blends the whole thing a little nicer...not sure how to explain it. I might post a picture with the screen off just for comparison.


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## Ady34 (6 Nov 2020)

Great photos.


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## Wolf6 (6 Nov 2020)

You could consider blyxa as an alternatieve to crypts as well. But I think a brownish crypt would suit it better  Looking good! I wouldnt add more species to the tree, just let it grow, if you add more it might start looking too crowded


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## Jayefc1 (6 Nov 2020)

I just go with the buce setting like you say really brings the green out but I have tonnes it down to about 70%


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## Andrew T (6 Nov 2020)

Jayefc1 said:


> I just go with the buce setting like you say really brings the green out but I have tonnes it down to about 70%


How high up is your light mounted and how deep is your tank? My tank is only 14” deep and the light mounted around 12” or 30cm above the rim. I left it at the roughly 100watt intensity the “Buce” setting runs from the factory. I noticed Green Aqua mounted their ADA RGB which is 130 watt bond imma let between 30-35cm or 12-13 inches respectively above their bigger 120-180P but also run them over their 60P’s for 7 hours photoperiod so really that’s a lot of light if you think about it.

I’ll see how mine progresses; healthy no algae tank is the goal here.

I’m also shying away from EI dosing.
I ran out of salts so no reason to implement it again like I got tempted last time around.
Not saying it’s bad, it certainly worked, but I wanna experiment with lean(er) dosing .


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## Andrew T (6 Nov 2020)

Wolf6 said:


> You could consider blyxa as an alternatieve to crypts as well. But I think a brownish crypt would suit it better  Looking good! I wouldnt add more species to the tree, just let it grow, if you add more it might start looking too crowded


Blyxa is beautiful but has been a weed for me in the past . I’ll experiment with some crypts maybe.


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## Andrew T (6 Nov 2020)

Ady34 said:


> Great photos.


Sometimes the iPhone can be decent at taking pics


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## Jayefc1 (6 Nov 2020)

Andrew T said:


> How high up is your light mounted and how deep is your tank? My tank is only 14” deep and the light mounted around 12” or 30cm above the rim


Mine are hung from the ceiling and can change the hight they hang about 30cm from the tank its Ea aqascaper 1200 I believe its 53cm deep im glad I got the shades 😎


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## Andrew T (6 Nov 2020)

Since I’ve got a mature filter with a few pounds of Seachem matrix that’s half a year old at this point, I got the fish today.
_Poropanchax normani - lampeye killifish. 20 of them _



Their blue eyes are really stunning in person. I reckon even more so under the Vivid 2.
Pictures to follow.


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## Andrew T (8 Nov 2020)

Quite a turn of events...
11 of the 20 fish died overnight.
They were all eating and being very active ever since I introduced them.
Checked co2, same rate same schedule as before.
The only thing I’ve done differently last night is lift the lily pipe out of the water and aerate the tank overnight because I saw some of the fish gasping for air at the surface after the lights went off. They were acting very normal at the end of the photoperiod.

The other 9 fish that are left are fine.

Removed all dead fish and performed a 70% water change. 
All I can think of is an ammonia spike or more likely some of the weaker souls of the 20 kicked the bucket after being exposed to higher co2 levels after lights off...

Ottos grazing continuously and Amanos doing their job.
Weird...


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## Wolf6 (9 Nov 2020)

That sucks man  Hope the rest will be ok!


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## PARAGUAY (9 Nov 2020)

If the fish seem to start tooccupy just the area near the surface  it's probably CO2 related and best thing stop CO2 altogether  until_  and run a airstone


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## Andrew T (9 Nov 2020)

Lost another fish, from the same batch. No amanos or Ottos; those are doing fine!
I see the killifish (some of them) gasping for air at the surface but only at night. During the day all is well like nothing’s wrong.

What could be happening is plants are releasing oxygen during the day in enough amounts that fish get by, but as soon as night comes and plants start consuming oxygen the levels are quickly depleted and fish are suffering or dying in my case.

But why aren’t the ottos and amanos behaving erratically? Are killifish a more sensitive fish to these water conditions?


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## Andrew T (9 Nov 2020)

PARAGUAY said:


> If the fish seem to start tooccupy just the area near the surface  it's probably CO2 related and best thing stop CO2 altogether  until_  and run a airstone


The co2 is on a timer, 9 hours on. Running 3 hours before lights on and off an hour before the lights go off.
Fish show no sign of distress during the photoperiod. Only at night.


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## PARAGUAY (9 Nov 2020)

This is probably what's happening your plants are adding extra CO2 at night and you already have a high level of CO2 in the photo period. The plants in the photo period are helping and guessing your fish are coping . A airstone at night will help degas levels a bit during the day a small powerhead could help surface agitation but for now l would stop CO2 altogether . Fish you have lost maybe?  fish what are higher energy so succumb first You could carry on W/C need not be 70% just regularly. Very sad losing fish maybe someone will have something to help


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## Wookii (9 Nov 2020)

Andrew T said:


> Quite a turn of events...
> 11 of the 20 fish died overnight.
> They were all eating and being very active ever since I introduced them.
> Checked co2, same rate same schedule as before.
> ...



Have you checked ammonia levels?


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## Andrew T (9 Nov 2020)

Wookii said:


> Have you checked ammonia levels?


Hi wookii,
I haven’t. There’s no way there’s ammonia with such robust plant growth and if there was even a minimal amount of it, the Amano shrimp would have died before anything else correct? 
That’s one of the reasons we don’t particularly pay attention to the nitrogen cycle in a heavily planted aquarium.


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## Wookii (9 Nov 2020)

Andrew T said:


> Hi wookii,
> I haven’t. There’s no way there’s ammonia with such robust plant growth and if there was even a minimal amount of it, the Amano shrimp would have died before anything else correct?



Yes, possibly the Amanos would have shown effects of excess ammonia.

I just know from my two recent tanks (both heavily planted) that with Tropica soil that it took a week and a half of 80%+ water changes to get the ammonia levels down to zero (and that is with fully matured 9 month old filter media), and you have Amazonia which puts out a lot more ammonia than Tropica soils. You've added the fish within inside two weeks of setting up the tank, so it was just a thought that ammonia leaching could still be an issue.


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## dw1305 (9 Nov 2020)

Hi all,


PARAGUAY said:


> This is probably what's happening your plants are adding extra CO2 at night and you already have a high level of CO2 in the photo period


That would be my guess. Because the blood haemoglobin transports both CO2 and Oxygen, it would depend on the <"(Bohr) Root Effect">, which differs between fish.

I've kept _Poropanchax normani, _but not in a CO2 added tank.


Andrew T said:


> I see the killifish (some of them) gasping for air at the surface but only at night.





Andrew T said:


> 11 of the 20 fish died overnight.



I'm not pointing the finger, but in these circumstances I don't see why you *didn't just turn the CO2 off?* and then leave it off for a few days? If you are more worried about the effect on your plants (of having a short break in CO2), rather than killing the fish, I just don't find that acceptable.  

cheers Darrel


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## Andrew T (9 Nov 2020)

Wookii said:


> Yes, possibly the Amanos would have shown effects of excess ammonia.
> 
> I just know from my two recent tanks (both heavily planted) that with Tropica soil that it took a week and a half of 80%+ water changes to get the ammonia levels down to zero (and that is with fully matured 9 month old filter media), and you have Amazonia which puts out a lot more ammonia than Tropica soils. You've added the fish within inside two weeks of setting up the tank, so it was just a thought that ammonia leaching could still be an issue.


That’s true and I thought of that; Amazonia does leech lots of Ammonia; I’ve done huge daily water changes for more than a week before adding the CUC, and had absolutely 0 issues with them.
So days later, drew the conclusion that with a mature filter it should be no issues adding fish based on how great everything was going.
I have one possibility where all this started though considering the other batch of fish and shrimp is still alive and kicking:
Introducing livestock when co2 levels are low say before the photoperiod starts is the way to go in my opinion; that gives them time to accommodate to it slowly and that’s what I’ve done with the CUC.

This batch was introduced in the evening just because I didn’t want them in a bag overnight and I bought them after work.
 After the drip acclimation, they were introduced . Could it be that the higher levels of co2 at that time have done more damage in that instance more than anything else and the health declined rapidly because of it?
Questions running through my head...
Don’t want to turn down the co2 rate just yet; Seems like a good level right now for both plants and the CUC. 

If all inhabitants would have died then yes...one answer: ammonia...but things are looking more and more like co2 asphyxiation of frankly a weak fish.
Thats my opinion and I’m not saying its right


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## Andrew T (9 Nov 2020)

dw1305 said:


> I'm not pointing the finger, but in these circumstances I don't see why you *didn't just turn the CO2 off?* and then leave it off for a few days? If you are more worried about the effect on your plants (of having a short break in CO2), rather than killing the fish, I just don't find that acceptable.
> 
> cheers Darrel


Hi Darrel,
When I noticed the dead fish, the damage was already done. So I turned down the co2 just a notch while aerating the tank with the lily pipe out of the water in hopes that it will resolve the issue.
Had 2 other fish die in this time frame but things look to be back to normal for now.
We will see how it looks today after I’m back home from work.
Here’s another question : does well water contain more co2 than say city water and how does that affect the tank if any when performing a water change?
I know mineral levels can vary greatly in a well summer vs winter time but just throwing this out there...


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## dw1305 (9 Nov 2020)

Hi all, 


Andrew T said:


> does well water contain more co2


Yes, it could do. If the water was under-pressure, then it would be able to hold more dissolved gases, and there could be biological, or geological, processes that increased the CO2 content. 


Andrew T said:


> When I noticed the dead fish, the damage was already done. So I turned down the co2 just a notch while aerating the tank with the lily pipe out of the water in hopes that it will resolve the issue.
> Had 2 other fish die in this time frame but things look to be back to normal for now.


That would be one reason for turning the CO2 off, it takes a variable out of the equation if there was something wrong with the fish and the CO2 levels were just a coincidence.  I'm never going to be a CO2 user, for me the risks, to the fish you have a duty of care for, are too great.

cheers Darrel


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## Andrew T (9 Nov 2020)

I guess co2 is trial and error and takes a bit of fiddling until you get the right amount for both fish and plants to be happy and sometimes there’s unfortunately casualties involved be it too much (dead fish)...too little (dead plants /algae or being limited to specific low tech plants only).
Maybe one day I’ll switch to low tech, who knows


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## Vijay_06 (9 Nov 2020)

That sucks. I hope the remaining fish pull through. I have never seen them before, but they look really good from the photo you has posted.

Do you mind checking the exact thickness of the ADA light screen? I don’t know if you or anyone else can answer this question - If evolution aqua light hanging kit is fitted at the back of a stand, will there be enough clearance between the back glass of the tank and the vertical legs of the light stand to fit the ADA light screen between them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Conort2 (9 Nov 2020)

Andrew T said:


> This batch was introduced in the evening just because I didn’t want them in a bag overnight and I bought them after work.
> After the drip acclimation, they were introduced . Could it be that the higher levels of co2 at that time have done more damage in that instance more than anything else and the health declined rapidly because of it?


One thing I always do when adding fish to a CO2 enriched tank is not turn the CO2 that day at all. This then gives the fish a chance to acclimate slowly to the co2 as it slowly increases the following day. Rather than going from an aquarium in your local shop where CO2 levels are low to then being dumped in water with high co2 levels.This along with the stress of being transported can be lethal. Leave the lights off the whole day too as this will allow the fish to settle and also will mean that your plants won’t actually have any demand for co2.

Adding fish to a CO2 enriched tank near the end of the photoperiod when co2 is at its highest is a recipe for disaster. 

cheers 

Conor


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## Andrew T (10 Nov 2020)

About as much light as I get when I start to fish the rivers




All inhabitants are well at the moment. No more unfortunate incidents..


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## Andrew T (10 Nov 2020)

Vijay_06 said:


> Do you mind checking the exact thickness of the ADA light screen?


It’s 1/4” thick but because of the mounting hooks it sits another 1/16” out so 5/16” total.


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## Vijay_06 (11 Nov 2020)

Andrew T said:


> It’s 1/4” thick but because of the mounting hooks it sits another 1/16” out so 5/16” total.



Thank you! This helps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Andrew T (11 Nov 2020)

So I talked to the LFS owner, apparently these particular fish are wild caught and the survival rate is hit or miss with them.
He recommended going with some rasboras or other tetras that are hardier in the future. Espei / embers etc and not the delicate blue or chilli rasboras...

Unfortunately this particular store doesn’t have any kind of warranty on fish like the other one I use so I’ll take my fishy business to the other store because of things like these and the peace of mind. Having a 2 week money back guarantee in case something goes south is great especially since 15-20 fish at 5$ a piece isn’t exactly cheap...
Anyway...I’m glad the rest of the fish are well.


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## PARAGUAY (12 Nov 2020)

Would have been informative to know the stores quarantine time for these fish from the store going off what was said


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## Andrew T (12 Nov 2020)

PARAGUAY said:


> Would have been informative to know the stores quarantine time for these fish from the store going off what was said


No one really knows. And if they tell you, how do you know it’s the truth?
Sometimes I wish I picked my own fish out of their tanks...


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## dw1305 (12 Nov 2020)

Hi all,


Andrew T said:


> apparently these particular fish are wild caught


Bizarre, there aren't very many imports of wild African fish and these are easy to breed.

cheers Darrel


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## PARAGUAY (13 Nov 2020)

Andrew T said:


> No one really knows. And if they tell you, how do you know it’s the truth?
> Sometimes I wish I picked my own fish out of their tanks...


Get to know the shop ask them can you see the quarantine area. Do it when it's a quiet time. If theres a issue with a purchase a good shop will advise beforehand.


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## Andrew T (14 Nov 2020)

R. Wayanad is such a fast grower, left the Ludwigia in the dust ...same with glosso...outperforms MC in both color and growth. I quite like it !


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## Andrew T (18 Nov 2020)

Everything doing mostly well. Some stringy diatom algae started appearing on the most upper branch within the moss strands. Looks like light related. 
Turned the light down to 60% intensity.
I need to start trimming the Rotala and the carpet . Getting too big and it’s shading the nearby plants.


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## Andrew T (24 Nov 2020)

Just when I thought everything couldn’t go any better...Ive started to have some issues with the CO2 and plants suffered as a result.
The Neo in tank diffuser was making some fine bubbles but also some large ones that shot straight to the surface.
I tried placing it under the flow, opposite side of it, put a small powerhead in to blow the bubbles across the carpet etc etc..I was just not getting enough co2 down to the bottom 1/3rd of the tank even with 5bps the fish were doing just fine which was kinda weird but ok; got to work...
Plants started to partially melt . So I got the GLA in-line diffuser out of the closet and installed it . Turned the co2 down to 3bps and the mist coming out of it was just crazy. Sprite water quite literally...
The fish started gasping for air so turned co2 and light off for the day. That was yesterday...
Today I started off with only 2bps and by the time it got to the middle of the photoperiod I noticed the fish were hanging around near the water surface.
I’m going to leave it like this hoping the fish will acclimate to the levels. The surface aeration is vigorous and I’m planning to leave it like that with the current injection rate.
The plants were literally pearling out of this world today so we will see in a few days if the melting continues or not but as far as in-line vs in-tank diffuser, the in-line wins hands down. Only downside is the not so clear water while the co2 is on but I’ll get over it.
That’s the story for today...


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## Nico Felici (24 Nov 2020)

Bit of a niche question Andrew, will you be trimming the Pinnatifida's roots soon or keep them hanging longer and longer? I will be trimming my epiphyte's roots every now and then for aesthetic reasons but I wonder if that could be compromising?


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## Andrew T (27 Nov 2020)

Nico Felici said:


> Bit of a niche question Andrew, will you be trimming the Pinnatifida's roots soon or keep them hanging longer and longer? I will be trimming my epiphyte's roots every now and then for aesthetic reasons but I wonder if that could be compromising?


Hi Nico,
I think they’ll stay like this for now until they reach the bottom I’ll see how I feel about them after that


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## Andrew T (27 Nov 2020)

On a side note, all carpet and stems came out.
White sand is going in all around the “tree”. That’ll be more in line with the initial vision I had with this scape!


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## Andrew T (30 Nov 2020)

Quick evening shot of the changes made. Nice and easy to keep clean now; stems definitely helped the first couple weeks to keep algae in check . I might put in a few more plants but don’t know what yet...



Another benefit of the light screen or similar backlighting setup : you don’t really notice the co2 mist going around the tank because of the white light coming from the back practically hiding the mist in plain sight.
If I turn it off, the mist is really unpleasant;
Just thought I mention it ...


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## CooKieS (30 Nov 2020)

Love the scape but sad to see the carpet go. I do love the color of the lightground too. One thing to take note it’s that it’s better to take the power of it down while taking final shot otherwise the scape will look to dark, especially with an weak light unit like the aquasky rgb (doesn’t seem to be an issue with an vivid like yours)


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## Andrew T (30 Nov 2020)

CooKieS said:


> Love the scape but sad to see the carpet go. I do love the color of the lightground too. One thing to take note it’s that it’s better to take the power of it down while taking final shot otherwise the scape will look to dark, especially with an weak light unit like the aquasky rgb (doesn’t seem to be an issue with an vivid like yours)


The carpet was struggling same with the stems. That’s why they came out really;I blame the co2 from the in tank diffuser paired with the light on the high side...just not enough of the gas being distributed well and bubbles larger than I liked them...

Another less probable reason could be plant melt because of the fresh aqua soil powder...once I started trimming I realized what was really going on underneath and stems down below - significant melt....Hooked the in-line diffuser and I’m happier with the mist and distribution since it comes right out of the lily pipe.

Also wasting way less co2 and less things in the tank which is a plus.
I also couldn’t believe my eyes how much mulm had accumulated in all the hidden corners in only a month since I set this up . Flow was also an issue...
So I decided that open sand area is better for all the reason stated above.

Thanks for the tip with the light screen on low while taking pictures...I’ll try that even though I keep it at 100% the rest of the time.
The vivid 2 is very bright but there’s something about RGB lights that make them look a bit dim under water not sure how to explain it.
For me it’s just not pleasant to view the tank below 70% intensity looks too dim and blah...but 100% is perfect lol.
My twinstar 600s seemed brighter... I’m sure it’s the human eye playing tricks... Or maybe I’m getting old...


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## Andrew T (5 Dec 2020)

Added a group of six Venezuelan red sailfin cories.


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## not called Bob (6 Dec 2020)

I bet that looks stunning in the flesh, I think the camera sensor has blown out the image a little, as the left seems very bright, but it does look nice


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## Andrew T (8 Dec 2020)

I noticed new fish take a few days to acclimate to co2 levels...

One or two always swim in circles, the others lay down low within the plant mass not moving much especially in the later hours of the photoperiod.

If the “dizzy” ones are removed in time, put in fresh tap water they bounce back within the hour. As days go by, they develop some sort of immunity to the co2 levels...

I’m experimenting with a powerhead aimed at the surface besides the lily pipe setup in the same way. Higher o2 levels should allow higher co2 levels being pumped in.

There’s no surface scum when I aerate the water overnight so this should only help. 

I don’t like the sight of the powerhead in there but it’ll do for now.

I watched a green aqua video and they were using an Oase Biomaster 600 on an ADA 60P which I thought it was insane but after noticing my Eheim 2217 underwhelming performance on my 60P I’m willing to get that huge Oase 600 filter and call it good as far as flow goes.


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## Andrew T (8 Dec 2020)

Loving the bloodworms even though he can’t chew them too well


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## Andrew T (17 Dec 2020)

For people considering the Chihiros RGB vivid 2, make sure it is connected to a timer and don’t trust the app too much.
Here’s what happened when I simulated a power outage: if it’s plugged back in within a minute or so, it works perfectly and no errors or weird glitches happen.
Last night we had a real outage that lasted from midnight til about 2:30 in the morning..(at least that’s when the power company predicted the power will be back on)..I was up until 1:00AM and when I woke up in the morning the light was on full power..not good ! It was only supposed to come on at 1:00PM.
I plugged it into a timer without doing anything else to it such as messing with the app....at 1:00PM it came on just as scheduled.
That gets me thinking: The light doesn’t lose its programming as far as duration ,intensity and spectrum; however the ON/OFF or at least the ON function is lost when it gets power to the terminal.

I will say, it happened the other way too, where after a long clean up of the tank with the light unplugged, when plugged back in it actually stayed off when in fact it was in the middle of the photoperiod and should have been on so you really can’t trust or know if it’s going to stay off or on in such circumstances.
Better plug it into a cheap timer and have peace of mind that it’ll work every time the way you programmed it.


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## Vijay_06 (17 Dec 2020)

Does the light have a battery somewhere? Maybe for the Bluetooth emitter? 

I remember someone mentioning on the forum that replacing the battery ensured that the light did not turn on outside of the programmed schedule. I could be wrong though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Andrew T (17 Dec 2020)

Vijay_06 said:


> Does the light have a battery somewhere? Maybe for the Bluetooth emitter?
> 
> I remember someone mentioning on the forum that replacing the battery ensured that the light did not turn on outside of the programmed schedule. I could be wrong though.
> 
> ...


Honestly that’s the first time I’m hearing that.
Could be under the fan cover? Really not sure but I’m assuming those batteries should last for years and not be something that need replacement on a fixture that came out in 2019.
I’ll dig more into this....


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## Wolf6 (17 Dec 2020)

My current setup has the same issue, if the power is off for a bit more then a few minutes, the controller resets to 00:00 until it makes a network/bt connection and can get the time restored, or I set the time on it manually. I always assumed all lights with controllers had that, never occured to me others dont  Tbh here in NL power outages or so rare, I dont even take them into account, and should one occur I'd make a round checking everything regardles. But thanks for the warning, its good to know!


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## not called Bob (17 Dec 2020)

sounds like the 


Andrew T said:


> For people considering the Chihiros RGB vivid 2, make sure it is connected to a timer and don’t trust the app too much.
> Here’s what happened when I simulated a power outage: if it’s plugged back in within a minute or so, it works perfectly and no errors or weird glitches happen.
> Last night we had a real outage that lasted from midnight til about 2:30 in the morning..(at least that’s when the power company predicted the power will be back on)..I was up until 1:00AM and when I woke up in the morning the light was on full power..not good ! It was only supposed to come on at 1:00PM.
> I plugged it into a timer without doing anything else to it such as messing with the app....at 1:00PM it came on just as scheduled.
> ...


Hue Lamps before Philips re programmed them

if there was a power out, your house was illuminated at max brightness on the resupply of power, now it remembers its last state, handy if a guest does not realise there are other options in play as opposed to the old rocker switch as well.

living in an area with frequent power blips, it was not long till I found out the hard way in the small hours about that flaw.


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## Andrew T (18 Dec 2020)

Well that was short lived.
Plugging in the light into a timer essentially simulates a power outage when the timer is OFF...duh
So now the light comes on full power instantly when the timer kicks in...
Not good; I wanted the ramp up and down.
So back it goes to the initial setup until I figure this out somehow...


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## Andrew T (18 Dec 2020)

Wolf6 said:


> My current setup has the same issue, if the power is off for a bit more then a few minutes, the controller resets to 00:00 until it makes a network/bt connection and can get the time restored, or I set the time on it manually. I always assumed all lights with controllers had that, never occured to me others dont  Tbh here in NL power outages or so rare, I dont even take them into account, and should one occur I'd make a round checking everything regardles. But thanks for the warning, its good to know!


Being surrounded by tall trees in the woods in the PNW, power outages are too many to count between Sept-April.
So you can see how this can get annoying fast..recipe for disaster if I’m out of town for days and this happens...Light will stay on 24/7 or until the next power outage haha; at least algae will love it...


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## Wookii (18 Dec 2020)

Andrew T said:


> Being surrounded by tall trees in the woods in the PNW, power outages are too many to count between Sept-April.
> So you can see how this can get annoying fast..recipe for disaster if I’m out of town for days and this happens...Light will stay on 24/7 or until the next power outage haha; at least algae will love it...



You could try replacing the battery, but I imagine it won't make any difference. I suspect (unproven) the blu-tooth controller operates based on actioning the next available individual time setting you add to the schedule. So after a power outage, it will come back on at full power until it next reaches a scheduled change. For example, say you have a 1 hour ramp up from midday to 1pm, but you get a power outage at 9am. It will come back on at full power until hit the 0%/0%/0% (R/G/B) setting for the start of the ramp up occurs.

If my suspicion is correct, you could edit your schedule to include a 0%/0%/0% setting for every 15 minutes or so of your lights off period - laborious to enter on the Chihiros app I know.

Thats assuming the battery is good and keeping the correct time. if not, you could have your timer turn off and on at midnight every night, and then set a scheduled 0%/0%/0% setting at 1 minute past midnight.

Neither is ideal though to be honest, and if I were in your position with the risk of regular outages, I'd have already invested in a decent sized UPS I think.


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## Karmicnull (18 Dec 2020)

Wookii said:


> if I were in your position with the risk of regular outages, I'd have already invested in a decent sized UPS I think.


We get regular sub-1-minute outages on a pretty much weekly basis, and all our computer kit runs off UPSs.  Now I have a tank with timers etc. another UPS went on the Christmas list!  Still doesn't help for the big ones (other than to give you time to shut everything down cleanly), but deals with 90% of the cases.


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## Andrew T (18 Dec 2020)

Wookii said:


> Neither is ideal though to be honest, and if I were in your position with the risk of regular outages, I'd have already invested in a decent sized UPS I think.


A backup bank is great and I used to have one with my reef tank...the only thing plugged into it was my Vortech powerhead; it was a life and death situation with the corals; if there’s no water movement the mucus build up chokes them up and die. That Costco UPS was running the powerhead for about 6 hours.
Now with the planted tank it’s not much of an issue, however if the light stays on and the filter and co2 is off, you can see where algae issues could arise from unstable co2 levels , super long photoperiods etc
So the hunt is on for a big enough UPS to run the filter, co2 solenoid and the light.
I have a feeling it’s not gonna be cheap.


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## Andrew T (24 Dec 2020)

Lovely crypts !


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## Andrew T (28 Dec 2020)

New growth on my Anubias nana turning transparent...
I’m wondering if the Excel is to blame. Maybe I should cut it back a little ...
Ideas?


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