# TLH's Tank



## TLH (19 Feb 2009)

About time I showed you all my new set-up isn't it. Collected the tank last Wednesday when there was still ice on the road and path outside our house. It was a bit nerve jingling watching it being carried over that but all went well. Spent the next two days clearing out and moving the one remaining 2' tank from my stand and getting ready to start. Finally got the new tank on the stand late Friday afternoon.

It's 48" x 15" x 18" high and it's a Clearseal. I was going to get one a year ago and it was still the same price now. 8) Just a pity that all the silicon bead isn't the same along the bottom. Still, it holds water.  

The stand is homemade out of odds and ends of ply and mdf for the doors then stained with ronseal or something similar to waterproof it.


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## Mark Green (19 Feb 2009)

tank looks nice and big

What scape ideas do you have?

looking forward to its developments


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## JohnC (19 Feb 2009)

Hi,

Did you make the stand yourself? if so, damn good DIY job.

Look forward to your painting.

Best Regards,

John


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## TLH (19 Feb 2009)

Mark Green said:
			
		

> tank looks nice and big
> 
> What scape ideas do you have?
> 
> looking forward to its developments



I haven't thought that much about it yet. I have bought some wood off ebay of which the 4 bits I will almost definitely use are in the bath right now having a soak. Those are the 3 bits on the left bag and the 1 in the top left corner of the right bag. Nice branchy bits but I want to give them a good clean before they see the tank. I'll stick 'em in and play around a bit to find a pleasing design after they've had a scrub and a dose of boiling water.






I currently have alot of Java Fern and quite a few Anubias nana along with some green and brown Crypt Wendtii. a1matt swapped a couple of Echinodorus for some of my Wendtii Greens and threw in a bit of Taiwan Moss also.

I only just got the filter running tonight and I still need to top off. Filter is an Eheim 2128, found it on ebay for Â£63+Â£6 postage(score  ) because it had a broken lever on the aquastop. Got a new one of those for Â£4.63 and it's as good as new.

Lights are a D&D deltec Razor unit which came with Aquablue bulbs fitted. I have a Midday and a Aquaflora to experiment with. This is also an ebay steal at Â£50 delivered. It may not be unused but it still had the plastic tape on the reflectors so it hasn't seen much action. I just have to make some stands for it to fit on the tank ends. Thinking of using some 6mm smoked perspex I have for those.


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## TLH (19 Feb 2009)

hijac said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> Did you make the stand yourself? if so, damn good DIY job.
> 
> ...



Yep, all my own work albeit with a little help from the old man and the use of my carpenter mates workshop. Always helps to have decent kit to work with and someone to help.  Here's a slightly better pic of it before we redecorated and with the old tanks still on it. I have some pics of the construction somewhere but I can't find them now.


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## a1Matt (19 Feb 2009)

Looks like a good start...
Â£50 for a 4ft D&D unit, is a great buy.
The cabinet looks better than a lot of the pre manufactured ones.

Take your time with the wood placement and enjoy the new tank


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## beeky (19 Feb 2009)

I can't see any pics?


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## TLH (19 Feb 2009)

Anyone else not see the pics? I can see them all but they're in my cache from yesterday.

Here is one of the new bulbs I bought, a Midday and an Aquaflora. Much softer and more pleasing to the eye than the harsh Aquablues that were in the unit before.


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## YzemaN (19 Feb 2009)

No problems seing the pictures. A really nice size tank there. Id like to get a similar sized when I've gotten rid of my current one.


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## StevenA (19 Feb 2009)

Love the size of that new tank  8)  Bet you can't wait to get it planted. Look forward to seeing how it develops


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## LondonDragon (19 Feb 2009)

Photos showing fine, like the size of the tank too, just not sure about the amount of gravel used!! Seems deep to me.


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## TLH (19 Feb 2009)

How deep is too deep? It's only a couple of inches at the front sloping to 3 inches or so at the back. I could still shift it around a bit. I used all the plain gravel I had in the 2  24"x12" tanks and bunged in 2 bags of Eco and some Laterite I had hanging about. 

I have some sand for the old tank which I will now use as a quarantine facility.


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## Thomas McMillan (20 Feb 2009)

TLH said:
			
		

> How deep is too deep? It's only a couple of inches at the front sloping to 3 inches or so at the back. I could still shift it around a bit. I used all the plain gravel I had in the 2  24"x12" tanks and bunged in 2 bags of Eco and some Laterite I had hanging about.
> 
> I have some sand for the old tank which I will now use as a quarantine facility.



A bit too deep at the front, definately take some out, even if it's just a bit and shift the rest about.

Nice start though


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## TLH (24 Feb 2009)

I've made some bits for the light to stand on last Friday, ust got around to finishing them today and gluing them together. Haven't actually done alot since I last posted here as we've had my sister, bro in law and the new baby to stay over the weekend.

Made out of some old grey smoked perspex I had lying around. one for either end.





Goes together something like this, these sit on the tank ends then the light can just rest on the top of them. I'm just siliconing it together now.





Does anyone have a clue what sort of wood I got just by looking at it (see earlier pic) as it's taking quite a while to soak and sink. It's quite hard although not like iron and mediumly heavy and is red when I break a bit off.


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## TLH (26 Feb 2009)

Wood positioning advice please. Which do you like the look of best?

Positioning isn't final yet and please ignore the rock, the wood doesn't want to sink yet.

This...




or this...


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## Tony Swinney (26 Feb 2009)

Hi
Its tricky without seeing it in relation to the rest of the tank space, but for me I prefer the second one - I can see that working with some tall stems behind it on the left, so that it doesnt split the tank up too much.  The first position leads your eye up to the spray bar and out of the tank too much.  Thats just me though   

Tony


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## StevenA (26 Feb 2009)

Definately prefer the second one, although I don't think there is enough wood there. Will you be using any more, seeing as it's a 4 foot tank?


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## a1Matt (26 Feb 2009)

Second one looks best to me.

I like the first one too, but can't visualise it with plants behind it.


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## TLH (26 Feb 2009)

I kinda like the first but like said it does lead your eye out of the tank. I do have more wood but I've only cleaned down these 2 bits so far, not been terribly active on the tank this week.  

Hows this anyway...I was thinking about having the righthand one behind the left and another bit of wood I have on the right but I don't now think I want to crowd it that much. If I do add it I think I'll have to cut a piece off it to make it fit anyway as it's rather large. It'll all be so much simpler when this stuff sinks.


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## StevenA (26 Feb 2009)

That's a much better picture, we can now see the wood in context with the rest of the tank


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## a1Matt (27 Feb 2009)

at the moment the two 'branchy ends' of the wood are pointing inwards.
How about putting the two bits close (or even overlapping) in the middle of the tank with the branch bits pointing outwards.  That might turn it into a mound composition.

Hope that makes sense!


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## JohnC (27 Feb 2009)

it took me about 3 months to work out the best way of putting my branches...

Good luck.   

I think its best thou to address these questions with more of a overall plan in your head. Are you say imagining this tank as a more jungle or open scape or a bit of a mix? 

My first impression seeing just the way you have them in the wider tank shot at each end reminded me alot of those tanks you see with the more open area in the middle with branches coming from each end "reaching out" into the gap. An overall shallow U shape to the plant line from side to side. Obviously without the gap dead centre, using the golden ratio for balance of the sides. This would make me stick the wood in with the branches reaching across into the center.

As mention above you could go mound (which is what i've just done on my corner tank) and stick all the wood together.

Basically, what is in your head?  8) 

Best Regards,

John


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## TLH (27 Feb 2009)

I'm not really that sure what I want currently, I'm still experimenting a tad here as I've never had a tank this big before. It will be more of a jungle for now I think.

While the wood is still floaty I'm just going to leave it where it is. It's a pain trying to reposition the stuff in the right place and weight it down while its so buoyant. I will be growing some mosses on it though. I have Java moss and some Taiwan moss that a1matt sent me. One for each branch I guess to save getting them mixed up too much.

Currently I'm just sticking all the plants in where I fancy without much of a plan. It was high time they got their roots in the gravel as they've been floating around for a week and a half. Most had formed into a big ball that was doing the tumbleweed thing around the tank.  Took a while to detangle them. I've stuck most of the Crypt Wendtii Green and all the Wendtii Brown I have in now and am just sitting back having a cuppa trying to decide where to put the Swords. I'm thinking a third in from the left for the Marbled Queen and infront of the intake for the other.
The couple of stems of Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' are going at the back somewhere. They have been floating since I got them and have shoots all over from every leaf intersection now. I'm tempted to bury it horizontally so all the little shoots are pointing upward. A couple of patches of HM at the front of the wood then and I'm about there for now. I'll worry about the Java Fern another day as I have alot of it.

The fish are all in the old 24" tank. I will leave them in there for a while till the plants settle in and get established. I don't have any fish that would uproot them really but while I'm playing with positioning etc they are better off there. I'll move them all over at once when ready but I'll possibly leave the loaches as one of them has a bit of a lump around it's bum. It's not inflamed or red but when its stuffed itself it looks rather odd. I'm not sure whether it's just constipated or what. Have a look and see what you think.


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## TLH (28 Feb 2009)

Got some Blyxa Japonica this morning from Nelson (cheers dude  ) so a quick pic. Thank the lord I just got myself some tweezers and scissors recently as planting this with fingers would have been a real pain. The Ambulia in the background is just there till it gets going again, it got in a pretty grotty state while it was rolling around the tank.





Full tank shot...still a few things to go in yet. I'm just going to wait for the crypts to stand up a bit as they look a mess right now. I may get around to rigging up the COâ‚‚ tomorrow with any luck.


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## TLH (15 Mar 2009)

I'm starting to see some hair algae now, especially on the wood, which still hasn't gotten fully waterlogged yet  . Diatoms have also been around. Everything is pearling away nicely but I think I could do with more fast growing plants right now.

I also have one little patch of BGA   that has reared its ugly head. I was thinking about adding a koralia to up the flow a bit. Flow seems very good on the left side where the spraybar is and the patch of BGA is just behind the top of the inlet bar on the right. So how big of a pump is best or should I have a small one in each back corner maybe? Would a Koralia 1 be too much?


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## StevenA (16 Mar 2009)

A Koralia 2 might be better, or going on the size of you're tank maybe a Koralia 1 on each end. I've got a Koralia 2 on the right hand side of my 260L which seems to work fine for me, but you're tank is longer than mine.


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## TLH (16 Mar 2009)

Mine only holds around 180L of water. The 2128 turns over 1050L. I may swap the spraybar to the back at some point and combine that with something in each corner. 2 nano's @ 900L each would give me 2850L turnover total. Shouldn't that be enough? I'm just a little afraid that with anything bigger than nano's I'd be turning my tank into a whirlpool.

I presume koralias output at full flow if you just plug them in and they're not adjustable unless you have the wavemaker yes?


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## StevenA (16 Mar 2009)

Nano's should be cool, and yes you just plug in the Koralia's and away they go


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## TLH (23 Mar 2009)

Turns out the algae I have is Rhizoclonium, albeit mixed with a little BGA. I've upped my CO2 and I added the top of an old Fluval 2 to move a little more water around till I get the Koralia heads in there. I've been looking for the best price around and found them for Â£18.95 each, new, on ebay so I'll probably order a couple this week sometime. Cheapest online shop was Â£21.

My LFS has some Oto's in at the minute and they are saving me some if I want them. I've read that they can be difficult to acclimatise. Some stuff says not to add them to new tanks but reading between the lines it seems to be more about keeping them well fed than anything else. Is there anything to really stop me having them as my first fish in here? Do you think they'd make a meal of the rhizo?


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## vauxhallmark (23 Mar 2009)

TLH said:
			
		

> I'm just going to wait for the crypts to stand up a bit as they look a mess right now.



For a comparatively slow growing plant, it's amazing how quickly crypts can turn themselves into a twisted upside down mess!

Have patience, they'll sort themselves out in the end - even if they look a state while they're doing it!

Mark


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## aaronnorth (23 Mar 2009)

TLH said:
			
		

> Turns out the algae I have is Rhizoclonium, albeit mixed with a little BGA. I've upped my CO2 and I added the top of an old Fluval 2 to move a little more water around till I get the Koralia heads in there. I've been looking for the best price around and found them for Â£18.95 each, new, on ebay so I'll probably order a couple this week sometime. Cheapest online shop was Â£21.
> 
> My LFS has some Oto's in at the minute and they are saving me some if I want them. I've read that they can be difficult to acclimatise. Some stuff says not to add them to new tanks but reading between the lines it seems to be more about keeping them well fed than anything else. Is there anything to really stop me having them as my first fish in here? Do you think they'd make a meal of the rhizo?



what koralia model are you getting? Wouldnt it be better to get 1 large one?


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## TLH (23 Mar 2009)

vauxhallmark said:
			
		

> TLH said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Actually they are looking alot better under this lighting than the old tank they were in. The new leaves are that mottled red/green colour and the stems are alot shorter now they have a bit f room to spread out. They were never thinned out in the old tank whatsoever.



			
				aaronnorth said:
			
		

> TLH said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



My thinking is that it's a fairly long narrow tank so it'd be better to have a bit of movement at each end rather than alot at one end. If it was more square shaped then I'd just get one bigger one for a corner and be happy. That's my thinking anyway, I'd rather have a more gentle waft all over than a hurricane one end and nothing at the other.


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## TDI-line (23 Mar 2009)

Nice scape TLH.


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## a1Matt (24 Mar 2009)

Can not help on the Koralia choice, but I have heard that it is worth taking your time to get the placement right so that you do not end up cancelling the flow out between them and your filter. Something to bear in mind even more if you end up with more than one.

Otos... they feed on the brown diatoms mainly. never touched green algae in my tank.  but take some green veg eagerly.  and yes they starve very easily when new to a tank.  even if you put food they like in they sometimes just go on hunger strike when new.  Check if they have sunken bellies in the LFS if they have I wouldn't buy them regardless of the age\condition of your tank.

The Wendtii I got from you finally straighted up last week.   I think it was about a month ago we did the swap   A fair bit of melt, but followed by new leaves, so it is all good.  I love 'em, they have a vividness to the green I have not seen before.
How are the two swords doing?


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## TLH (26 Mar 2009)

They're still alive.   I am having a little battle again with bga which I'm hoping the extra flow and keeping nitrate dosing up will sort out. The Marbled Queen has put on a few new leaves but they are quite small as yet. The other sword hasn't actually done much at all, I may move it later on I think, it's in the corner by the filter intake and I don't think it likes it there much but it does have one new leaf.

My Crypts stood up about a fortnight ago and have gone from strength to strength. I got a couple of yellowing leaves but the crowns that have developed in the bigger motherplants are ace. The new leaves have stayed alot lower with shorter stems and they have a nice browny red veiny middle now, they look very nice. The Wendtii Brown has started to grow better too, I think it likes the extra co2 and the nitrate I'm dosing. 

I have to get more nitrate soon as I seem to be going through loads of it. I've only got just over half the bottle left. Its Kent Botanica liquid now but will go dry powders when this runs out. Can someone tell me how long 250g of that will last?

I ordered a couple of nano's today. I will play with their positioning for a while before I get it right no doubt but that's all part of the fun ain't it. I may well leave the spray bar at the end for now and have one koralia blowing along the front and the other along the back and see how that goes for now.

I'm off to see the Oto's this afternoon. I told the fella I'd be down on Tuesday or Wednesday but I was coughing a lung up yesterday so couldn't go get them. I feel better today though so I hope they are in good condition when I get there. The last ones I saw there looked ok, not fat but not skinny. I'll have a good chat with the bloke about them anyway. I wonder what species he got, not that I'm that bothered.


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## a1Matt (26 Mar 2009)

Glad they are still alive  I found the same with the marbled queen mother plant, it was healthy but just small leaves. Then one day I guess it just decided it was well established (took a couple of months) and started sending out huge leaves and lots of them.  

Good luck with the Otos's


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## TLH (27 Mar 2009)

Oto's sure are fun little characters. I got 3 in the end as I thought I'd see how I get on with them first. They are quite small at barely an inch in length but they seem happy in my tank so far. I have seen them cleaning leaves and the glass and they were eating in the tank in the shop although I haven't seen any bulging tummies yet.  

They don't look skinny do they?


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## a1Matt (27 Mar 2009)

TLH said:
			
		

> They don't look skinny do they?



I can't see, can you ask them to turn the other way so their bellies are exposed   

If you have seen them eating already then I reckon they are going to do well


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## Steve Smith (27 Mar 2009)

Gorgeous 

They look like Affinis' to me.


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## TLH (2 Apr 2009)

Well the Oto's are still alive and kicking. I'm surprised how fast they move around the tank for such little fish. They are happily munching on the glass though, which I have purposedly haven't scrapped much apart from to remove the BGA.

I'm really not liking the BGA. I'm thinking of nuking it with Erythromycin as I have some handy. So I have a couple of questions really, 1) what dose to use for how long and 2) do you think the Oto's would be ok with it? 
I could do another blackout but I'm thinking this came over from the gravel I used which was in the old tank. I did a blackout in that tank so I thought I'd gotten rid of it but here it is again.

Another thing I don't understand is where all the nitrate I'm dosing is going. I'm not exactly stacked out with plants but I seem to be plowing through the stuff like theres no tomorrow. What sort of nitrate uptake do you guys have in your tanks? I'm assuming that it's partly because I still don't have a big fish load in there. I was thinking about getting a shoal soon so should I get some fish sooner rather than when I combat the BGA?

I have a bottle of Flourish which I want to use up before I order dry ferts ideally but should I order dry and use them to top up certain levels of other things while I use it? I always seem to be low on nitrate. Phospate is 1ppm with my test kit and I don't know what potassium is at although I've been adding just less than nitrate, say a ratio of 12 to 8.

Sorry for the amount of questions in one post but needs must and all that.


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## Ejack (2 Apr 2009)

Loving how the tank is coming along TLH, can't waitg to see so some more photos once its grown in a little. Should look great 
With regards to dosing, it's probably best to go read Ceg's wonderful thread on EI dosing in the tutorials section EI DOSING USING DRY SALTS 
It's a great read, but may take you a few reads before you get your head round it. The post has a section where it tells you the mixture for a 20 gallon tank. You just need to change the mixture accordingly to your tank size. Further in the thread there's a link to a handy utilty called Nutricalc  which when you enter your tank details into it, it will work out the dosing for you


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## TLH (18 Apr 2009)

Blackouts done and the tank is clean, well cleaner anyway. I removed as much crap as I could see and get to. Unfortunately I lost one of the Oto's as I can only see two anywhere now. They both look healthy though and they are the two bigger ones out of the three I had.

I'm getting some hozelock stuff for a waterchanger. I got some hose here that I plan to use, it's Draper garden hose, brand new. Is it ok for the fish if it says "not for potable water" on it or is that just them covering their butts against human consumption from it? Do you use garden hose in your changers?

On dry ferts I'm trying to work out the calculator thingy. In the boxes for 'Source' I take it you put the values of your tap water. Is that right? Also is it mg/l thats parts per million or ug/l? My water report says 1030 ug/l for phosphorus so how much phospate is that?

Edit; can't speel for toffee


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## Superman (18 Apr 2009)

I use standard B&Q garden hose for water changes and thats fine.
I think the warning is more like so people don't plumb their house with it!


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## TLH (18 Apr 2009)

Does this look about right for dosing?

This is my water report... http://commercial.geodesys.com/waterqua ... h_RW07.pdf


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## TLH (19 Apr 2009)

Can someone check the above pic and dosing specs for me please? I just need a confirmation I've filled in the source correctly and everything looks ok.

Thanks.


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## ceg4048 (19 Apr 2009)

Hmm, I think it's a really bad idea to fill in the "Source ppm" boxes. Have you gotten those numbers from a water report, or a test kit reading? I'd leave them blank and let the program give you real dosing numbers. After observing growth for many weeks, only then would I think about adjusting down if necessary.

Cheers,


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## TLH (19 Apr 2009)

Numbers are from the water report I posted the link to. I thought that was what the source box was for? Atleast that is what the program itself seems to say. Maybe as were doing a 50% water change every week those numbers should be cut in half perhaps? 

Surely the tap water contains some of what we need to dose though. I accept that the report is for 2007/2008 and the actual readings may be different now but it's the closest I'm going to get and probably won't be that far off.


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## ceg4048 (19 Apr 2009)

When it comes to macro-nutrients I don't trust any water report. It's up to you, but the algae section of this forum is littered with stories of the results when tanks were dosed with the assumption that tap was high in nutrients. As discussed many times before, having higher levels than you need is never a problem but having less than you need is always a problem. Water changes are not related to controlling nutrient levels, they are related to cleanliness.

Cheers,


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## TLH (19 Apr 2009)

Good point about having more is never a problem. I'll see how I go and adjust as necessary. I was just asking to get an idea of how much I'd need to order of each.

Thanks.


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## TLH (1 May 2009)

Ok, quick question. What's your photo period length. I cut mine down to 7.5hrs after the BGA outbreak. Now that everything is growing well again what's the best period to go for? Is 10 hours too much?


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## JohnC (2 May 2009)

Hi,

I've only really bothered about the level of phosphates in my tap water as they are very high in Edinburgh. I got the results for the last year from the local water board and was interested to see the ppm ranging from 5 to 9 throughout the year.

What i'm getting at is that the levels of the base water of nutrients are not going to be constant throughout the year in all water boards so it is probably best not to rely to it in your initial dosing calculations too much.

Best Regards,

John


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## TLH (2 May 2009)

Is 9 hours a good lighting period?


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## zerosimon (2 May 2009)

more is better


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## aaronnorth (2 May 2009)

8-10hrs is fine. Any longer and you can get algae issues. Plus it isnt necassary.


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## ceg4048 (2 May 2009)

zerosimon said:
			
		

> more is better


More is definitely NOT better. More lighting creates a higher demand for nutrients and CO2. If these demands are not met, algae is a natural consequence. I'd be more concerned about the light intensity than the photoperiod, although, as Aaron points out, plants only use 8-10 hours of light anyway and they start to shut down after that period. The proposed 9 hour photoperiod is fine.

Cheers,


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## TLH (2 May 2009)

Great, thanks for that confirmation chaps. I was on just 7.5hrs and I've just upped it to 8.25hrs. It's a 2x54w T5ho fixture


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## TLH (6 May 2009)

I should hopefully be getting some cherry shrimp this weekend for free. Just have to collect them is all, she's going to do the trapping and collection. Anything I need to know or do I just treat them like my Amano's and let them get on with it?


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## a1Matt (6 May 2009)

Full grown cherries can be treated like amanos.  Any small shrimplets risk getting sucked into the filter.  Many people report that they can survive once in the filter, but that is not something I'd like to test for myself. 

So I covered my inlet strainer in foam to prevent this.  It does slow the filters flow a touch.  If you go this route, just remember to clean it regularly or your flow can be crippled.


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## SKP1995 (6 May 2009)

They can survive inside the filter, only last week I opened mine up for cleaning and there must've been at least 30 odd of the little critters living in there.


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## TLH (6 May 2009)

I do have a sponge I can use but I think they will all be about 20mm anyway. That won't stop any new babies getting sucked up though. I'm going to put some in my old 2 foot tank and have the best coloured ones in the big tank.

One of my amanos lived inside the fluval 104 for a few days so I know they should be ok. It must have got down the top of the surface skimmer I had. When I popped open the fluval and pulled the sponges out it was off across the carpet like the clappers, I had to act pretty fast just to catch it. They can jump pretty well.


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## TLH (8 Jun 2009)

It's been a month so it's about time I made an update. The shrimp seem to have settled in really nicely. When I got them there was only one red one which was one of the originals that Tina-Jane bought. In the end they all went in the big tank. I have spotted a few that have coloured up now that are still quite small although the majority are still looking like miniature Amanos. I didn't do anything to the filter inlet and only found 6 in there when I cleaned it out so not too bad.

I actually went out and bought fish last Friday which are starting to settle in now. They still freak when the light comes on and goes off but not as bad now and they are coming out and swimming around now, which is always a good thing.  They have voracious appetites.

Here they are, 6 Scissortails, Rasbora Trilineata.






They are nice and little right now, biggest is only about 40mm, but they will get to 80mm or thereabouts eventually. The one Oto I have left is doing great. I just wish the other had survived.

I think I identified those suttings I posted about. Pretty sure they are Ludwigia Brevipes now. Nice plant as it turns out. Really narrow stems and leaves but it's turned a really nice shade of red where it gets good light. bit of a slow grower as yet.

Couple of tank shots now to show how it's filled in.

22 May




Today




I had to take the Blyxa out in the end. It just didn't want to grow. I think it was because I didn't start COâ‚‚ when I first got it maybe. It was still alive but adn't done anything positive in a month so I binned it and finally planted the Creeping Jenny that had been floating in the pot since I got it  . 
I do still want to get rid of more Crypts from that forest of wendtii green and I may get rid of the wood behind it also in time as you can't even see most of it and it's just taking up floor space. 
I have some cutting and replanting to do tomorrow with the Ludwigia Palustra green. It started out a bit weedy but has thickened up enough now on top to cut it and replant. The upper stems are twice as thick as below and there are some nice side shoots starting to come also.
The only thing that haven't taken off yet are the Echinodorus that a1matt sent me. They are putting on new leaves but I thought they'd grow a bit faster. I think they've had plenty of time to settle. Maybe I'll try adding more phosphate like matt mentioned. Any other ideas?


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## aaronnorth (8 Jun 2009)

very nice,
slow/ stunted growth is usually an indicator of lack of CO2.


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## a1Matt (8 Jun 2009)

First off, the tank is looking nice (plants and fish wise)   

What species swords was it I sent you again? I remember one was a marbled queen plantlet, but I've forgotten what the other one was...

anyways, I found extra phosphate (and also calcium since stopping water changes) have made a big difference in my tank. I dose nitratehosphate at a ration of 2:1 any less and I get spot algae on swords and their growth slows down.

If the CO2 is low they tell you straight away in that new leaves will be transparent\glassy and\or crinkled a little bit.

To give an idea of growth, when happy (the plant that is, not me   ) I expected one new leaf every week with 1.5wpg and good CO2.

Now I have 1wpg and no CO2 I get one new leaf every 10 days or so, which comes out crinkled and then straightens up over a couple of weeks, and the final height is less)

Hope that helps.


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## a1Matt (8 Jun 2009)

hey TLH... If you search google UK for "Ludwigia Palustra green" your tank journal (on pFK, not UKAPS   ) comes up as first results. Nice one!


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## aaronnorth (8 Jun 2009)

a1Matt said:
			
		

> hey TLH... If you search google UK for "Ludwigia Palustra green" your tank journal (on pFK, not UKAPS   ) comes up as first results. Nice one!



probably because it's spelt wrong


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## a1Matt (8 Jun 2009)

aaronnorth said:
			
		

> a1Matt said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



priceless


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## TLH (8 Jun 2009)

lol. Didn't realise the spelling.  

I think the other is just a bog standard normal cordifolius. I have that one near my intake and it is growing better although the new leaves come without much colour at first. The marbled queen has new leaves but the whole thing is staying quite compact, no long stems. It did get shadowed by the Hygro but I've ripped that out today and sent it to Aaron so there is much more light now. I have some Kent phos+ so I'll start adding a jot of that ontop of EI and see what happens. COâ‚‚ is fine I think. I only put the checker back in today though so I need to check to make sure later.


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## TLH (8 Jun 2009)

a1Matt said:
			
		

> hey TLH... If you search google UK for "Ludwigia Palustra green" your tank journal (on pFK, not UKAPS   ) comes up as first results. Nice one!



I did always mean to update this here just never got around to it. It just doesn't feel right to just copy'n'paste from one journal to the other though. I do spend time on PFK. It feels like I'm the teacher there and I can help whereas I'm still the student here.


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## aaronnorth (9 Jun 2009)

recieved the plants today, i didnt relaise there was that much! I didnt even use half of it lol.
Thanks.


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## TLH (9 Jun 2009)

Well I said chuck what you didn't use. It cost the same to send as less and it would have only gone in the bin here anyways. I still have more than I'll know what to do with shortly.


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## TLH (23 Jun 2009)

A quick pic of my shrimp. I got these for nowt from a nice lady off PFK was was creeped out by them. There are a couple of redder ones than in this pic but I'm not sure these are Cherry shrimp. Anyone know for sure what they are?


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## a1Matt (23 Jun 2009)

They look like Amano shrimp to me, that is far from a positive ID though!


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## JamesM (23 Jun 2009)

Not Amano, more like wild Cherries which tend to be more brown than red.


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## TLH (23 Jun 2009)

Yeah I thought wild ones (Neocaridina Heteropoda) but wasn't sure if they would colour up later on into reds. They are breading like crazy and I have loads of little miniatures already. I haven't been able to get a decent pic of the redder ones that are in there but there is quite a difference although they aren't pillar box red by any means.

I would have liked Amano's and I was having them originally. That fella from Boss aquariums on ebay was selling 15 for Â£17.50 + postage. He's no longer a member of ebay though.   I was going to have Rasbora Espei off him too, haven't seen those around here.


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## TDI-line (23 Jun 2009)

Nice tank TLH, it's filling in well.


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## TLH (23 Jun 2009)

Has a big hole now where all the crypts were but I have a few to put back in. Just deciding whether to put them back in or do something else.


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## samc (23 Jun 2009)

nice shrimp they are growing on me and im going to try a breed some crs 

id say yours are bamboo shrimp  i wouldnt count on it though


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## gratts (23 Jun 2009)

I'd agree with Neocaridina Heteropoda.
They won't colour up much - will stay a drab brown. The 'cherry shrimp' you see have been selectively bred over a period to produce a much more intense red. Still nice though


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## TLH (30 Jul 2009)

Hey chaps. A quick pic of the first ever plant to grow out of the water. Wonder if it'll flower?


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## Themuleous (30 Jul 2009)

Nice pic, now its above the water line it may well flower.

Sam


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## vauxhallmark (30 Jul 2009)

If it's not convenient to leave it in the tank just cut it off and plant it in a pot with compost. Keep some water in the saucer it stands in and put it somewhere it'll get some sun. Might be worth putting it in a plastic bag for a week till it hardens off.

You should get flowers from it then. Post a pic if you do!

Mark


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## TLH (30 Jul 2009)

I'm quite happy leaving it for a couple of weeks to see what happens. I can't be arsed going to the hassle of snipping and potting it.   If it does flower I'll definitely take photos.


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## Gill (1 Aug 2009)

Stunning Tank


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## TLH (6 Aug 2009)

I must be doing something right. My Ech. Marbled Queen has a flower spike. I'll get some pics once the batteries have recharged. I knew it had settled in because the leaves have really gotten big over te last few weeks but I didn't expect a flower yet. Took me by surprise aswell as I didn't spot it before and it's almost out of the water already, how fast do these things grow?

I'm doubtful that the L.Aromatica is going to do anything. It just keeps growing and sending out side shoots now. I'll leave it for a while longer I think just on the off chance.


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## TLH (7 Aug 2009)

These spath things grow flippin quick don't they !!!

This is it yesterday in the one pic I got before the batteries gave out. It's not in great focus.






and this is it today roughly 24 hours later out of the water. I make that about 1.5 inches of growth, maybe a bit more. Fast.


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## a1Matt (7 Aug 2009)

TLH said:
			
		

> These spath things grow flippin quick don't they !!!



yep!  Inside one month I went from nothing to a 3 foot long shoot with 3 x 2" plantlets on it.  No flowers for me, but that is because it could not get out of the water.  Did loops of the tank instead.  You got one of those plantlets, it is great to see the cycle continue   

Enjoy watching it grow like  I know I did. Had to let it go though    when it was touching 3 panes of glass at the same time in my 160l


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## TLH (8 Aug 2009)

Yeah it seems to have done all the growing in the last month. Before that the leaves were quite small but it had grown new ones. It'll soon be as big as I want it. Not sure what I'll do yet if it gets too big.

The other sword you gave me hasn't really done alot. I put it in the back corner by the filter intake. It doesn't seem to want to take off like the Queen. I think it'll come out to allow more room for the glandulosa to spread. I'm also pretty sure now I'm gonna remove the wood on the right side also, you can't really see any of it behind the Crypts anyway. I really need to rip some more of those up aswell as the one patch in the middle that I haven't touched yet is getting too big and unruly.


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## daniel19831123 (10 Aug 2009)

I'm so envy of your tank! I can grow limnophila aromatica just fine but I can never get it to turn red like that. :?  Mine is always a light shade of green and only turn pinkish red at the bottom of the leaves.


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## TLH (17 Aug 2009)

I got the first flower out today on the Ech. Marbled Queen. Lovely white 3 petaled thing with yellow stamens. There are another 5 to go too. Unfortunately they will be the only ones I get on it though as it grew into the light fitting and before I realised the end of the spike had dried out and shrivelled up and gone brown.

Also, yesterday I noticed a very small, thin stalk coming from the internode of a leaf on my L. Aromatica. It had only a very small bud on the end then but this morning the bud had doubled in size and when I looked an hour later it had opened and has a nice little violet coloured flower. There is another one coming on too. I think I lost a couple before I noticed this as there was a couple of the stalks broken off or possibly fell off because they dried out too much, I'm not sure.

I have pics of everything but they are still on the camera. I've been taking them each day to get a bit of a timelapse effect. I'll stick some up in a day or two.

These are the first plants I've had flower ever. I'm quite chuffed.


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## TLH (18 Sep 2009)

Couple of days turned into a month, sorry.   I've been meaning to resize these pics and put them on for a while now. I finally chopped down most of the plants yesterday and had a tidy up in preparation for some new fish at the weekend.

The original flower spike from the Ech.Cordifolius 'Marbled Queen' grew so fast it got into the light fitting before I noticed it and got shrivelled. I wasn't quite prepared for how fast this brute grows now it's settled in. I could really do with a bigger tank for it to be honest so it may go at some point.





Not to worry though because it has put out another 3 spikes since this one although none of the others has got to flowering yet. The flowers are quite nice although short lived. You get about 6 on a plantlet but they only flower one at once. 

From left to right flowers day 1, 2 and 3.





And finally a small plantlet.


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## TLH (25 Sep 2009)

TDI-Line's Rummies...

Picked 'em up last Saturday along with 10 Oto's. Tested for ammonia daily but not a trace detectable. Kinda surprised me as I was expecting a blip if not a spike with adding so many fish at once, added 44 fish to this tank which only had 6 in before. Fish settled in within a couple of hours of release and coloured up nicely. I had to equalise the water for a few hours as Dans Ph was quite a bit more acidic than mine. There was no colour on them at all while in the bags.

Haven't gotten a good pic of the Cory's yet as they won't stay still for long. They've spent most of the time following eachother around the tank and going up and down the glass. I would like to get a few more at some point to make it upto half a dozen or so.


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