# Novice Trigon 190 from absolute blank canvas...



## LancsRick (20 Apr 2012)

Right, so I'm going to try and do a slightly different journal to the offerings that I've seen thus far on the site (although if it's been done before please let me know!). Rather than this being a finished picture of "my first tank", or a new setup with an experienced user, I'm hoping to do a journal from pre-tank right through to established product (hopefully a successful one!).

*So, what have I got to work with to start with?*
-	Trigon 190 tank, with standard pump, filter, heater, T8 lighting
-	Soft/Very Soft water (need to check exact hardness)
-	The vague memories of keeping tropical fish as a youngster
-	Time (one week of holiday!!)

*And what do I want to achieve with this?*
-	Minimal maintenance
-	No adding of CO2 if possible (cost and maintenance)
-	Habitat for fish/inverts
-	Aesthetically pleasing (lounge feature)

*Step One: Starting the learning and the planning*
Once I started looking at planted tanks I realised I had failed just grasp just how much I didn’t know. All the different styles that were available, all the different techniques, I didn’t even know they existed, let alone the pros and cons of each. I also realised that although the corner tank perfectly suited by room requirements, they appeared to have a reputation for being difficult to aquascape – nothing like starting at the deep end!

Of all the research I did for inspiration, the most useful one I found was a thread on UKAPS by JohnC who has re-scaped his corner tank multiple times, and some of his work I loved.

Really like the short grass at the front in this picture (JohnC's tank) http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj30 ... G_3122.jpg . _[EDIT - blyxa japonica]_

There's a long stemmed small flat leafed green plant in the front left foreground by the driftwood – no idea what it is, but I like it! http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj30 ... CF2388.jpg (JohnC's tank) In the same picture, the vivid red long leafed plant which is central in the picture.

Really like the look of weeping moss for use on some driftwood.

The tall green plant in the back right could be a good background… http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj30 ... g21sep.jpg

I also did a fair bit of reading on substrates and tutorials on planted tanks, some of which answered questions, some of which just generated more. It gave me ideas to pull together an initial proposal though to post in this journal and then get some critique on (have I mentioned this is going to be a bit of an interactive journal log?!).
*
Step Two: Proposal Mark One…*
Substrate choice was probably the easiest one to narrow down at this point, and the result is Tesco Lightweight Low Dust Cat Litter (aka Moller clay). I’m going to need about 40 litres of this, and it will need thoroughly rinsing before I put it in the tank to remove the perfume. It’ll give me a nice terracotta colour to work against, so I want to keep the plants in the foreground quite vivid to give a contrast. This will be around 2 inches at the front, moving to 3inches+ at the rear of the tank.
I’m very keen on some of the plants from JohnC’s tank, so I’m going to look to ID those. I’m also going to put some Java Moss in the foreground to ease the “grass” (ID tbc) transition into the substrate, and there will be an area of bare substrate at the front to give some openness.
I’m going to include some driftwood as the focal point (golden rule positioned), with plants around it and moss on it to soften its presence. 
Now to ID those plants and see if they’re suitable for no added CO2 and my water hardness…


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## pariahrob (20 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

Looks like you've put in the groundwork with research and planning. Be sure to post lots of photos of your progress.


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## LancsRick (20 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

Will do! Any help with ID'ing those other plants I liked the look of so I can check their suitability would be hugely appreciated!

I'm an abysmal gardener on dry land, so I'm hoping I might be more successful underwater


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## awtong (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

The large green plant at the back n the right is a lovely Echinodorus but I am not sure which one.


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## awtong (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

Good places to lok up plants are the Tropica website and Aquaessentials as they list the Aquafleur plants.  They often have pics and descriptions etc.

Hope it helps,

Andy


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## Iain Sutherland (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

Hi, looks like youve done some homework which is always a good start mate.  From what ive read about corner tanks the issue isnt so much the scaping but acheiving good flow throughout the tank which is critical for plant health and algae bashing.
As for substrate, ive never used cat litter but people seem to like it.  Another possibility for you would be akadama bonsai soil, also moler clay but no perfumes to consider.  http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/akadama.htm
Personally im using akadama ATM but too early to draw any opinions on it.  Personally i wouldnt want it as bare substrate at the front (simarlarly cat litter), i find the terracotta colour doesnt contrast very well with the plants, you could look into sand/gravel at the front but has a tendancy to mix with substrate over time so you might want to also look at something black or at a soil substrate topped with sand or gravel? http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11579

Plants -  
Blyxa Japonica is co2 hungry, im unsure if it can be successful in low tech tanks.
Green forground plant - if im looking at the right plant then i think it is anubias barteri, all anubias are in there element in low tech tanks.
Green background plant is Echinodorus amazonicus, common name amazon sword.  This grows big and is a heavy root feeder.

Some homework for you, not complete but a good starting point   
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... tanks.html

Personally ive very jealous of people with soft water


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## LancsRick (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

I'm so glad that I've found this site. Huge thanks for all the comments and advice there, although I'm really saddened to find that the japonica is CO2 hungry - time to do some reading and find out what looks similar but will survive in low tech!

Off to collect the tank later


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## mvasingh (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

Hi
Have a look at this link it has a lot of usefull information on low tech setups.

http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=18943

Mike


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## LancsRick (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

I'm so glad that I've found this site. Huge thanks for all the comments and advice there, although I'm really saddened to find that the japonica is CO2 hungry - time to do some reading and find out what looks similar but will survive in low tech!

Off to collect the tank later  

So having done that reading, some googling, and a bit more reading, I think I'm going to get a selection of the following and play around in the tank to get a feel for what does and doesn't work.

*Foreground*
E. tennelus
Monosolenium tenerum

*Mid / Around wood or rock*
Anubias nana
Monosolenium tenerum
Crypt Wendtii 
Anubias barteri v. 'glabra'
*
Background*
Echinodorus amazonicus


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## Iain Sutherland (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

that list looks good, id would advise to try not to make too much of a scape to start with.  Hardscape will invariably interfere with your flow which is your challenge, keep it simple, figure out which plants work for you then build from that.  Its a mistake i and many others make/made by trying intricate hardscaping before we understood what makes plants tick and how to acheive that while avoiding algae.

There seems to be a lot of movement towards lower tech tanks at the moment following the success of a few talented aquarists.  Have a look at 'Toms Bucket of mud' for all the low tech inspiration you could want.
http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14521.

Also the vallis species is a good low tech plant in taller tanks and looks good with swords which also has the benefit of diffusing light nicely, although can need to be beaten back from time to time.

You will takes some knocks along the way but you'll have a blast learning.  Just expect everyone around you to look at you like your crazy just because you have made a plant grow


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## mvasingh (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

E. tennelus is a good choice for your foreground.


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## LancsRick (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

Well I'm going to need a mod to change this thread title to "Trigon 190" rather than "350" - it was clearly the smaller of the two when I went to collect, with T8 lighting rather than T5! Long story short though, I've come away with a LOT of additional material, probably £30 of filter media, sack of gravel, chemical tests, treatments and other sundry items, so it all came good in the end. I paid £250, feel that's a fairly good price.

Also paid my LFS a visit - quickly realised they aren't clued up on plants at all really, although they had a pretty broad marine stock which surprised me. Either way, I think I'm going to be getting my plants from online, so the card is at the ready!

I suspect I should probably start tidying up my lounge now...

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/ ... -00139.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/ ... -00140.jpg


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## awtong (21 Apr 2012)

*Re: Novice Trigon 350 from absolute blank canvas...*

I would like to try Tennelus in my low tech tank so will see how you get on with it.  As some further low tech forground plants for you to consider I use Cryptocoryne Parva.  Its a lovely hardy little crypt that spreads by putting out runners.  You can buy it in pots and seperate out the individual plantlets.


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## LancsRick (22 Apr 2012)

The tank is clearing, and I've managed to dig out a load of my substrate when I filled the tank, so I'll have to rearrange that in a bit. My water tests show that my pH is around 7-7.5, and I've got a water hardness of <1dH, so very definitely soft (as expected). 

Now to read up on what that means in terms of fert requirements etc...


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## LancsRick (22 Apr 2012)

Well what a good day today turned out to be!

Having been disappointed with my LFS the other day, I trotted off to a slightly less local LFS, and was delighted with the service I got. The icing on the cake though was that upon testing my ammonia, nitrites and nitrates at the shop, it would appear that my endeavours with quickly setting up the tank a few hours after stripping, and re-using the old gravel and few litres of water from the old tank have paid off, as all parameters were spot on!

So I've now added some reflectors to the T8s, which has made a massive difference, and I've also put in a small number of plants and a small shoal of cardinal tetras to gradually start building the tank up (I was all set to wait for 4 weeks whilst the tank cycled, so I'm more than a little chuffed!).

So, the pictures are at the bottom of this post, but what have I put in exactly?

- Java Moss onto the bogwood, with some cotton thread for the time being
- Anubius barteri var nana at the left of the bogwood
- Anubius barteri var caladiifolia to the right of the bogwood (this wasn't on my list, but looked stunning in the shop)
- Microsorum pteropus at the rear
- Hygrophila corymbosa at the rear

I really struggled to keep the substrate below the gravel, but I'm not going to worry too much at this stage - i can always skim the gravel off later and re-lay it.

The fish shop also gave me a spare copy of the Tropica catalogue, which is a veritable plant bible in my eyes, not to mention an attractive publication. I was much more comfortable with their level of knowledge and advice since they had several planted tanks established and running in the shop for display, rather than just "holding" tanks for sale items.

I will add more plants and fish, but I'm going to do it bit by bit so I don't crash the tank - another couple of plants and couple of fish in 2 weeks or so I reckon at the earliest. Since they're a Tropica supplier they can easily get in the E. Tennelus I was after which will be good.

Oh, and the cat loves this hobby. Little blighter stole one of my plants whilst I was planting and hid it at the other side of the house!!

P.S. I'm running my tank at 22C as that's what I always previously ran my tropical tanks at. Any reason to vary from this in a planted tank? I haven't been able to find any definitive statements on it with my reading. Thanks.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/ ... -00147.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/ ... -00143.jpg


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## LancsRick (23 Apr 2012)

It's cleared! Starting to look like a fishtank...

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/ ... 010022.jpg

As you can probably figure out, I'm going to use the wood as the focal point, and tall plants to screen the pump at the rear. The front right is going to have some grass planted, blending into moss, blending into bare gravel.


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## Ian Holdich (23 Apr 2012)

hey Rick, Trigons are very difficult to aquascape, this is a given due to there shapes. Saying that they aren't impossible. I started off with a Trigon and enjoyed trying new things with it. The hardest this to crack was the flow issues, as trying to push water around every angle in a trigon it quite difficult. It's also worth investing £80 in a T5 unit for the Trigon as it's quite deep.

I have a few journals on here with the trigon, going from complete beginner, to some kind of nearly proper aquascape. In these journals i struggle and overcome the flow issues.
this was my first proper attempt at a scape
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=12149

heres a couple of vids of what became of the trigon.





ps i'll remove the vids from you thread if wanted.


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## LancsRick (23 Apr 2012)

Thanks for those! Fantastic piece of bogwood in the second one, really nice.

At the moment I've got a couple of extra bits of tubing on the pump output so that it goes along the left hand wall and "just" breaks the surface, enough to give a small number of bubbles. My thinking is that this should set up a circulation around the perimeter of the tank, with a possible deadspot in the front right corner, which is where I'm NOT intending to plant anyways.

No doubt I'll get things wrong, and hopefully I'll learn along the way! I'm trying to decide what fert regime to do now - I've started off with nice healthy plants, it'd be good to keep them that way!


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## Ian Holdich (23 Apr 2012)

they are great tanks to learn on as you have things stacked against you from the beginning (ie flow and distribution). If you can win in a Trigon, you'll win in any tank.

I'll be keeping tabs on this thread.


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## dean (27 Apr 2012)

hows it going?
looking on with added interest as ive got a trigon 350 that i want to do something nice with


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## LancsRick (2 May 2012)

Right, few additions so I thought I'd post up.

So far my 9 (was 10, who knows where the body went...) Cardinals have been incredibly timid, spending 90% of their time hiding in the java fern and hygrophilia at the back. Last night I added another 10 Cardinals, 8 (very) juvenile Corys, 3 small crypts, 1 tiger lotus, and another red plant that I forget the name of.

The change in Cardinal behaviour is massive, they're now happily shoalling around the tank and seem much happier, so I'm viewing that as a great success. The Cory's are brilliant, doing their manic little "dances" up and down the tank every now and again. I gave them some bloodworm later, and whilst a lot has been eaten, the remainder seems to have been all "swept up" into a few little mounds by the Cory's, which they are hoarding!!

I need to pull up the Crypts and trim the "thread" roots back, but wanted to check what I was best doing first.

The heater in my tank won't adjust, so I'm going to replace it I think - it's keeping it at 23C at present but I think most things appreciate being a bit warmer, so was going to slap something new in there at some point.

Anyways, updated picture!


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## dean (2 May 2012)

Good to meet you last night at PDAS 
Think you need to get more cardinals, and at that price I'm sure you will 
Nice plants you got too
I got two different species of crypts (8 good size plants) for £2
And a good bunch of Lindernia rotundifolia for £1
But best off all I got a trio of apistogramma hongsloi for £3  
I'm away for the next one but will see you at the show
More pics of your tank please


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## LancsRick (5 May 2012)

Hi Dean,

The cardinals are much happier now that they're in a bigger shoal, but they're still abject cowards and spend most of their time hiding at the back of the tank in the hygrophilia!!!

The Corys are definitely good additions to the tank, and the schwartzi's have loads of energy, definitely the star fish in there at present!

I'm having real problems with the java moss I have picking up all manner of crud - I think it's partly because of where it's position, a lot of flakes get pushed onto it by the pump, so I might have to rethink my tank flow.

Today saw a bit of tank maintenance and the addition of some lilea brasiliensis.

Anyways, pictures!!!


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## LancsRick (23 May 2012)

Well on the positive side, the tank is starting to look good, although I'm going through the diatom stage at present, so plenty of grubby brown looking leaves. Apologies for the "snow" in the picture, if I'd been thinking then I'd have fed the fish AFTER trying to take the pictures!!





On a more quizzical note, I have two anubias in my tank, a calidifloria and a nana var barteri. They are both happy, so much so that the nana has just throw out another new leaf, but on one of the nana's old leaves, there is a "hole". It almost looks like something has burnt through, with a very fine "membrane" remaining where the leaf veins once were. Any ideas?






Thanks!


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## JohnC (25 May 2012)

ianho said:
			
		

> they are great tanks to learn on as you have things stacked against you from the beginning (ie flow and distribution). If you can win in a Trigon, you'll win in any tank.
> 
> I'll be keeping tabs on this thread.




I'll second that with my experience with my corner tank.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops. 

Best Regards,
John


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## LancsRick (25 Jun 2012)

Rescape is in progress as we speak. Taken most of the afternoon to get the silicon off the glass, but I'm committed to getting to done today as the fish are in a 30l tub at the moment!


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## LancsRick (25 Jun 2012)

Ok, well it's done! Fish (somewhat stressed, poor buggers) are in, and scape is set up. I only snapped a quick picture on my phone, so I'll take some proper ones tomorrow since these don't show the swords/rotundfolia/hygrophila I've planted behind the wood.

I've had to lump some stones/weights on top of the wood temporarily, since it refused to stay sunk (only got it yesterday).

So, picture!


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## LancsRick (26 Jun 2012)

Updated with shots from my decent camera, really need to source some black card to back this with though.


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## Ian Holdich (26 Jun 2012)

Hey Rick, Trigon are really difficult to scape, it took me ages to actually sus out how to get 'it'. I have old journals on here that are total tripe! My first one is on here somewhere and it's really badly aquascaped. You are doing a hell of a lot better than i did!

It looks good, have you thought about a carpet of some sort in the front, i think that will make it an even better scape, personally i'd carpet it. You have a tiger lotus in the front as well, just be aware that that will get quite big. But keep it up mate!


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## LancsRick (26 Jun 2012)

Thanks ian, really appreciate your input . I'd love to try carpetting, just not sure what would work best bearing in mind I've only got 2 T8s over 190l that's 2ft deep. If you had a learning curve that's only human, love some of your later scapes though!


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## Ian Holdich (26 Jun 2012)

no probs mate, you could always try a moss capet, moss carpets look good when settled in.


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## LancsRick (26 Jun 2012)

The issue I have with moss is that more than anything else in the tank it captures crud, and is a nightmare to clean. I've got some java moss on bogwood and it's the least appealling thing in the tank! Is there a secret I'm missing?


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## Ian Holdich (26 Jun 2012)

you could in effect try any carpet plant...i wouldn't go mad and get 10 pots of whatever. I would get a pot of glosso or Hc or whatever and plant it and see what happens. If the glosso takes and starts to grow, they you can get started with a carpet. It's worth trying.


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## awtong (27 Jun 2012)

What about some nice hair grass?

Tank is coming along lovely.

Andy


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## LancsRick (27 Jun 2012)

Thanks awtong . I'm loads happier with the rescape, I know it's not a work of art, but I definitely feel like I'm learning!

My worry with hairgrass was that from what I've read it can be a bit like moss in that it traps a lot of dirt and requires a fair bit of cleaning? I'm trying to stay low tech to avoid high maintenance burdens, so anything that requires a lot of cleaning would defeat that.

That said, I really like the idea of getting a carpet plat in there, so will be doing my research .


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## awtong (27 Jun 2012)

I am low tech and I have been using crypt parva as a kind of carpet.  Its a lovely little crypt and I am crypto-holic.  You will see it in some of my terrible journal pics.  I believe AE and tropica have pics on their websites too.  It spreads via little white root runners under my sand substrate.  My later pics have some lilaeopsis brasiliensis mixed in but this isn't doing so well at the moment.

Hope this helps you with some ideas.

Andy


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## LancsRick (30 Jun 2012)

Thanks, I'm going to check out various carpet options and have a think. I've got to say, purigen does a cracking job of keeping the water crystal clear


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## Piece-of-fish (30 Jun 2012)

If you like plants it's only matter of time until you get co2. So don't waste the Ti
E. Get plugged in... The sooner the better for you. You will die of boredom waiting for a low tech carpet.
Don't be put of by maintenance. You are fiddling with the tank 10 times more than high tech setup requires after you get some experience.
If you still want low tech the only option would be moss carpet. All the rest will be impossible or ridiculously slow.


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## LancsRick (1 Jul 2012)

It's more a case that I can't guarantee to be around all the time to maintain it, and I have read about what happens if CO2 isn't kept constant! The other aspect is of course the initial outlay.

I'm not ruling CO2 out at all, but more saying that at this point in time I'm not looking at it. But things can change with time...


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## LancsRick (17 Nov 2012)

Well I thought I'd post a couple of pictures on how this has grown in over time, - it's a bit of a jungle now!










The tank is really stable and very low effort. I do a 25-30% water change maybe once a month or even less frequently, and clean the filters the same. The only real issues I have is with a "green spot" sort of algae on some of the anubias, and a bit of hair algae in some places. I tend to deal with that by hand with a toothbrush.

I'd like to style the tank a bit more but I'm really not sure what to do with it to be honest. I'm slowly trimming the stauro at the front and using the cuttings to expand the carpet, but that will be a slow process.

Comments and suggestions welcome on this!!

Cheers.


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## LancsRick (17 Nov 2012)

Just had a go at rescaping the tank, namely moving away from the large log I had at the rear, and changing for a couple of smaller pieces. Staying with a jungle theme. I've only half done it, caused a fair amount of disturbance so I'll let the fish calm down and any spikes subside. Thoughts would be welcomed! I need to reshape the java moss to its new home, and the vallis will be moved further down the right hand side I think.


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## LancsRick (2 Dec 2012)

Quick picture update a couple of weeks on from the shot above.






I've planted a load of sagi. sublata at the front now to grow into a carpet. It seems to be doing well, and the hair algae it came with is reducing.

The malaysian trumpet snails that have hitchhiked from wherever are doing well and multiplying, which is nice to see.

I've got some dark green "spots" as algae on some of the anubia leaves, which I'll post closeups of another time to try and identify what it is and how to address.


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## LancsRick (26 Dec 2012)

3 picture update this time. The first two are just the usual tank status ones - things seem to be going well - I've double the amount of potassium phosphate that I'm dosing as of this week, so hopefully as time goes on that will combat the green spot algae on the anubia leaves.  The tiger lotus won't stop growing, I keep having to cut lillypads off it, it's like a rocket.

The interesting update though is that I appear to have managed to find a happy medium for setting up flow in a Trigon. I've only done it this evening, so time will tell, but I appear to have avoided any deadspots whilst also avoiding having really uneven flow that batters some plants. I've got two Eheim 2217's outputting to spraybars in the picture below, with one spraybar covering the rear "point" of the tank, angled at the surface, whilst the other is extended right to the front of the tank and down. I've blocked off the first 3 sections of the spraybar, so it's forced to jet out at the front of the tank (hopefully that makes sense). This second spraybar is angled down much more markedly than the short one.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2793861/2012-12-26%2022.14.52.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2793861/2012-12-26%2022.15.58.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2793861/2012-12-26%2022.15.48.jpg


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## LancsRick (24 Jul 2013)

I'm loving how low maintenance this tank is, it's absolutely great. All livestock are doing well too, and my MTS population seems steady and happy which is nice. Picture below!


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## Ady34 (25 Jul 2013)

Looking very nice Rick 
Would have thought the cardinals and white clouds preferred different temperatures though? Suppose in this summer heat it makes no odds!
Cheerio,
Ady


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## LancsRick (25 Jul 2013)

Tank is at about 26C (23C if you believe the comical temperature setting on the Eheim heater!!!).  That's about nominal for the tetras,and at the upper end of acceptable for the white clouds, and also the upper end for CPD's.

I keep wondering about dropping everything a couple of degrees, but to be honest I usually forget soon after since everything seems very happy! All fish are really vividly coloured and active, so I'm presuming they're all happy and healthy.


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