# Tom's 110 Ltr Opti-White - New Journal



## Westyggx (8 May 2011)

Hi Tom, have you a link to the ebay shop where you got the lilly pipes from?

Cheers


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## greenink (8 May 2011)

Will be interested to see how you get on, as you're starting roughly the same time as me!


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## Alastair (8 May 2011)

shame about the glassware, i use that same supplier and hes great with any problems..


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## nayr88 (12 May 2011)

nice sketch up mate  haha i think itll look good for sure

maybe rid or move the far left rock, and a nice tall plant in the back corner like c.helferi or a type of vallis? moss inbetween the rocks java fern amongst the wood and maybe p.heferi or staury(cant think of full name) just after the rocks.

that cabinet looks really smart too, 

cheers


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## Morgan Freeman (12 May 2011)

I second removing the rock on the left.


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## Piece-of-fish (12 May 2011)

Looking good. Your rocks are nice as well.
Regarding wood, redmoor would be nice i think or Manzi if you can find some. Have a look on ebay, there was some redmoor available a while ago. TGM have some but they are well overpriced 
Some adjustments with the rock when you scape inside the tank and it will be perfect. Dont forget to create a slope


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## Piece-of-fish (12 May 2011)

It empties your pocket   
controversial staff. If you are just starting you wont notice any difference with or without it. And it is marketed for long time scapes, more than one year which I believe is not your case?


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## AndersH (24 May 2011)

I honestly think it'll look awesome. I've been think of a scape with the same basic ideas of yours.

Maybe add a bit of room bestween the root and the rocks, so you get some sort of plateau. You could add some moss or other lowgrowing thing, and maybe with Hydrocotyle mixed in. Seen hydrocotyle put in like that with great results before, as it adds a very authetic look.

Maybe you need a bit more difference in hights? So you have a bit steeper slope. I think that'll add abit more longevity (can you say that?) to the scape as the wood won't be hidden so fast, in crypts and staurogynes.

Just a few ideas .

I'm looking forward to seeing this planted.

Ps. Forgot to mention I really like the idea with the staurogynes and the glosso around the rocks.


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## Zerocon (15 Jun 2011)

Looks really good! I love the java fern!
Where are the rocks D: please tell me your putting them in, they are beautiful!


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## BigTom (17 Jul 2011)

Those are a lot of images to be dumping in at full size - any chance you could resize them to 800 across or something?

Will comment further once they've all loaded


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## Sonnyarba (17 Jul 2011)

I like the scape very much, it's just beautiful aquarium! I wish you all the best in progress!

When you mentioned lily pipes, 2 weeks ago I ordered those on the picture below, and I hope they will not affect the flow    I have already prepared inline diffuser and Hydor external heater :? 






"New" inlet - what do you think, will it affect the flow?


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## Piece-of-fish (18 Jul 2011)

Hei congrats on new opti 
Dont worry about the white staff. It will go away by itself in few weeks. New redmoor always gets it. 
Without lifestock indeed get co2 as high as you want. Good experience to run it unlimited.
Amazonia would have loads of ferts initially so you can start dosing in a week or so.
Most of the plants anyway need some time to adjust and you dont have too much of fast growers.
Water changes as much as you can are your friend now


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## greenink (20 Jul 2011)

Looks good, and love the layout, but hard to tell with the camera moving about a lot. A straight on, two minute shot with a tripod (or pile of books, or chair or whatever!) would make it easier to tell.


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## Piece-of-fish (20 Jul 2011)

It is not that geavily planted and you chose a good pipe placement so I would say flow should be good.
With an island setup i am running single filter on 90x45x45 without issues.
Vid looking great, good luck


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## Tom (25 Jul 2011)

Nice looking tank  The rockwork looks very natural to me, the way it's sitting. 

Tom


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## JamesD (26 Jul 2011)

Looking good so far


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## collins (27 Jul 2011)

+ 1 the above


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## Westyggx (27 Jul 2011)

Assassin Snails


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## Westyggx (27 Jul 2011)

skeletonw00t said:
			
		

> I thought that, how effective are these beasts? I'll have a look at some fish shops on the weekend though!
> 
> I think my java fern is in a bad spot in my tank - its under the outflow pipe & by the intake. It seems a bit of a dead spot flow wise & there seems to be detritus collecting on the leaves. I really don't want to add a powerhead to the tank due to aesthetic reasons :/



I had an infestation of snails and received 2 from a member here, they were all gone within a week. Sadly the assassin snails also died because i guess they got hungry...

check on Aquarist Classifed as i know people sell them on there all the time.


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## Gary Nelson (4 Aug 2011)

I would say that looks very good for just 3 weeks old, well done.  If mine was like that after that amount of time I'd be very happy


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## Fred Dulley (6 Aug 2011)

Wow. I love it


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## greenink (7 Aug 2011)

skeletonw00t said:
			
		

> When taking photo's of tanks do you guys use your flash? I am rubbish at Photography but these shots are taken using a DSLR (Nikon D70s) so i am sure I can get better quality photo's than I am currently getting with my cam. My photo's just seem almost grainy and not smooth or of good quality.



Assume you're using manual settings? If so, depends on your camera, but don't use an ISO of more than 400 unless it's a very good DSLR. I don't know Nikons, but a Canon 60D can go a bit faster than this.

Are you using a tripod? Essential! If you don't have one, just balance the camera on a chair or pile of something, and use a timer - so you don't get camera shake.

Turn off the filter pump: moving plants will blur a little more. 

I know other people use remote flashes above the tank to get even higher light. This seems pretty essential for sharp pictures of fish.... Especially tetras and anything quick. 

Play about with aperture settings. You want the widest aperture (lowest number) that still gives you a clear depth of field across the tank depth. 

Are you using a good lens? If you're using a telephoto it will be cutting out a lot of light unless it's very good. Maybe try using a 50 without a zoom to get more light in.

Love the scale though! Some really good pictures would be great. Also - you don't need to load them up on the site at such high resolution - they take ages to load. Just export them at 720px wide and 72 dpi resolution from your image software. If it's a mac I'd use Aperture - not sure about pcs!


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## greenink (7 Aug 2011)

.


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## greenink (10 Aug 2011)

Think you can get even better shots - your camera is a good one. It's still looking a bit blurry.  Look at Mark Evan's journal for the clarity of shot you're aiming for. (Or mine shows the difference between a decent slr and a crappy camera). 

Try turning off all lights in the room apart from the tank, and using a makeshift tripod. That way you'll avoid reflections. Also force your camera to auto bracket (taking three photos at a time, with one underexposed and one overexposed). Also try narrowing the metering to a small spot, as your background is quite bright and you'll be losing detail. Slightly underexposed shots are easier to bring detail up than overexposed ones. 

When you look at the histogram for the photo, you're aiming for there to be no 'spikes' that go off the chart - this is where you're losing detail. If you have a good photo editing programme, also look at hot and cold areas - which will tell you whether you've got the exposure right.


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## greenink (15 Aug 2011)

skeletonw00t said:
			
		

> Also, sorry Mike - what do you mean by narrowing the metering to a small spot?
> Thanks



You should have different metering settings - one that takes the whole viewfinder into account, and one that just calculates exposure based on a smaller area: a 'spot'.


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## Tom.Verey (18 Aug 2011)

nice tank dude, this will look amaizing once grown out even more


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## greenink (19 Aug 2011)

skeletonw00t said:
			
		

> Apologies i don't think the link works correctly doing this on my phone :/
> 
> http://img690.imageshack.us/i/imagepul.jpg/



You could push it a bit more if you wanted - you want it as high as you can get without your fish gulping or looking distressed.


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## greenink (1 Sep 2011)

Sounds like you don't have enough flow - are there holes in the leaves of plants at the end where it's green?


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## greenink (1 Sep 2011)

Sounds like it's all peachy then!


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## NeilW (14 Sep 2011)

skeletonw00t said:
			
		

> Does anyone know a useful tool to clean the front of the substrate down by the glass? It's annoying how the sand goes all green


Slide an old credit card down there mate


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## Ian Holdich (18 Oct 2011)

I love this tank, i hope mine will look this good once it grows in. Well done mate!


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## greenink (4 Nov 2011)

Looks great but would definitely make some clear plastic intakes / outages...


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## schraptor (4 Nov 2011)

Looking good, especially like the one which shows how this fits into the room.


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## Alastair (5 Nov 2011)

I want that clint Eastwood canvas lol. Tank looks great mate


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## Rabb.D (5 Nov 2011)

great tank! i just read through the whole thread, the cardinals in the video look so calm and relaxed, my experience i had with my old two feet and tetras had them dashing around like really irritating insects... not peaceful to look at...  
yours is nice though...


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