# Discus Dan's disastrous endeavours in decorative delight



## discusdan (11 Jan 2013)

I say disastrous as this is my first planted tank and something is bound to go wrong in a huge way.

A little back ground, I used to keep fish around 4 years ago but had to brake the tank down, ever since I've wanted to get it up and running again and finally the time has come.

After 4 years I've forgotten a lot of the things I learnt the first time round so am slowly gathering information before jumping in and starting the tank.

So far I've got the tank into position and added a sand substrate, so commence the first disaster, rushing in and buying sand as a substrate before knowing that its not ideal for a planted aquarium.
looking into it, it seems I can use root tabs to try and get some nutrients to the plant roots and using ferts will help as well which I was going to do any way.
any other suggestions?


I found a nice bit of bog wood (not sure what type it is?) that I'm currently soaking in the tank as I have no where else to soak it.
Its been soaking for two weeks now and shows no signs of sinking so I'm going to have to find a way to hold it down.
This piece will stand upright on the left side of the tank and i'm going to get another similar bit for the right hand side then plant around them.

So that's how far I've go at the moment, I'll update this thread on my progress as and when it happens. any help is much apprecaited.
cheers.

progress so far.


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## discusdan (12 Jan 2013)

So today I've been fiddling about with the tank. I was up late last night reading about substrates and came across the use of kitty litter, I've heard it mentioned before but never really looked into it. Seems some people love it while others not so much.
I decided to give it a go as I wanted to start moving the tank along and its easily available and at only £3 a bad its a bargain.

So I got up early, went to Tesco and bought some, got it home and started the messy process of washing it out. Man is this stuff dusty. I use a fine sieve and wash a small amount at a time until the water ran clear, people recommend to was it several times But I'm going to cap it with the sand already in my tank so just did it once.

It took a long time to wash all of it but got there in the end. Next was the even messier task of getting it into the tank. I completely drained the tank and moved all of the sand onto one side then I put a layer of kitty littler down and covered it over with the sand. I repeated this for the other side. I always knew I was going to get some of the litter come through the sand but I actually don't mind it, the red of the litter looks pretty cool on top of the black sand.

Once all that was done I moved my attention to the bit of bog wood, I put it roughly in place and marked how much needed cutting off. I took it into the garage and hacked it up.
As i mentioned earlier the wood was still buoyant so I had to find a way of hold it down. I didn't want to use stones to hold it down as I Buried it into the substrate and there is nothing to tie it off to. In the end I used a bit of stick wedged at the top of the tank to hold it in place, fingers crossed it will stay there until the wood has water logged.

Next I sorted out the air stone, It's only dropped in the tank at the moment as i'm not sure of the final position.

this is how it looks.






Filling the tank





and with the tank full and air pump on.






While the tank was filling I sorted out the filters, I have a fluval 205 and a fluval 405. running biomax rings in both and some clearmec in the 405 and carbon in the 205 to help with the tannins from the wood, also got a load of filter floss in both.

Now comes a problem. the 205 is working fine but the 405 is playing up. It seems to be working ok pumping water but every few seconds it makes a weird gushing noise and loads of tiny bubbles come out of the output flow tube, its very loud and i've had to turn it off. Any one know whats causing this and how to over come it?

Next I moved onto the lights.
I've got some new bulbs on order and I'm going to try and bring the reflectors back to life. There just plastic white reflectors that came with the tank, they have discoloured and gone a bit mouldy. I've got some aluminium tape its basically thick tin foil with a sticky back.

I dry the reflectors off and start at one end applying the tape from top to bottom. I did try to go length ways with the tape at first but it was greasing the tape and getting lots of air bubbles. going from top to bottom was much easier to control and I was getting a better finish.





working downwards





First one done.....loads to go!





only 4 in and i'm bored.





Finally got them both done.





I tried them straight away and they seem to work. the tank definitely feels brighter.

So that's the progress of today, I'm really hoping I can get the 405 sorted. and i'm on the look out for another bit of wood for the right hand side of the tank.

I'll update when i do some more.
cheers.


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## krazypara3165 (12 Jan 2013)

looking good, for future reference sand can be used to great effect if your dosing ferts (theres pictures in my journal on signature) also do you plan on keeping discus? i   picked up my first discus three weeks ago and im obsessed now!


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## Ady34 (12 Jan 2013)

Hi there, 
Filter most likely has an air lock....if you leave it running it will pump it out eventually. You could also pump the auto syphon plunger a few times to help with this whils its running. failing that i used to lean them over a little and rock them slightly to rid air, but not the safest solution!! The noise is just the air going through the impeller, and the tiny bubbles the result of it being 'chopped' up.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Lindy (12 Jan 2013)

I recon the kitty litter will end up on top of the sand, its so light.


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## discusdan (12 Jan 2013)

hey guys, I knew i put disaster in the title for a reason, on further inspection I think there is a split in the intake hose! I could hear a faint sucking noise coming from some where, i located it to the hose and dropped a bit of water onto the suspected area and sure enough the noise went away for a second untill the water had been sucked through the split......groan 

I've disconnected the filter and drained it all and taken the hose out, i was just about to order some fluval hoses when I remembered I had a load of green hose, I know i got it from a fish shop but not sure if its suitable to use as filter hose?

All it says on the hose is JBL 16/22.
I took some pictures of it. Do you think it would be ok to use this on the filter, it would save me a load of money if I could as the fluval hose is quite expensive.


Green hose next to the fluval 






And the view from the end, looks a slightly thicker gauge?





let me know what you think, thanks guys really appreciate the help.


oh and yeah hoping to get some discus once its fully planted up and also some angles as well but will see how it goes. the local aquarium shops ain't great and they only get discus in every 3-6 months.


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## kirk (12 Jan 2013)

Hi interesting read, I'd go with the green I use the green/see through. It's nice to see what's going on ie furring air trapped. You could always use some fishing line and a few lead weights to hold the floating wood down,then snipp off the line and remove weights in a few weeks.you can just bury the leads. You probably already know about heating the pipe end in a cup of hot water from kettle to get onto fittings if the diameter is less than the fluval pipe..


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## discusdan (12 Jan 2013)

thanks for the info i'll remember that for the future. 

I've got the green hose all hooked up but i'm having a nightmare trying to get the intake and out let to stay in position as the green hose isn't flexible at all. 
is there any way to soften it up a bit?


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## kirk (12 Jan 2013)

Warming it up with warm water is how do it, or infront of my log burner. Soon as its back in the tank it will  be less maneuverable so you need to work fast. I use eheim pipe and fittings. (other makes are available)Have you got the clips and suckers inside your tank to hold the inlet/outlets where you want them?


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## discusdan (13 Jan 2013)

Right, got up early to have another go and I think I'm going to have to knock it on the head. the green hose just isn't flexible enough to get round tight curves, it just kinks and flattens. 
I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get some fluval hose.

cheers for all the help guys I appreciate it.


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## krazypara3165 (13 Jan 2013)

I dont know if im allowed to say this but if your planning on getting discus theres a BIDKA forum id suggest you take a look at, many members have quality fish for sale and theres a lot of breeders on there. Lfs are not known for quality discus. I picked up mine from steve punchard in blackburn. Couldnt be happier!


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## discusdan (13 Jan 2013)

nice one thanks for the info, I'll check it out.
finding quality discus locally isn't going to happen.


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## discusdan (14 Jan 2013)

Managed to get hold of some fluval hose from my local shop and set the filter up last night, thankfully its working like a charm now.

So today I've been messing around with a yeast reactor. I know a lot of people don't recommend them due to their inconsistency and upkeep but they sound like fun to make and are cheap to run.
I'll probably move to an FE set up or some kind in the future but In the mean time i'll see how the reactor goes.

So first I got hold of some 2l food containers. A lot of people use old drinks bottles But I didn't want the fuss of unscrewing the tops all the time and getting tangled up in the air line. The food container lids just clip on and off so hopefully it will be a lot easier and they weren't expensive.

First I drilled a hole in the lids which was a tight fit on the air line.





Once that was done I found an old glass bottle and Drilled two holes in the cap, this will be for a bubble check.





Next I connected up air line to the two containers and fitted a Y connector.





I filled the bubble check and inserted the air line and check valve.





Lastly I applied silicon around the air line connections to be 100% sure its all air tight.





All I have to do now is wait for the silicone to dry and I can hook up the diffuser. 

One of the major draw backs to this system is the inability to turn it off and on so I plan to run an air stone during the night to dissipate some of the co2.
I also need to get hold of a c02 drop checker.

I'm going to use brewers yeast as I've read you get a longer reaction time from it and its cheaper to buy in bulk online.

I'll have to experiment which changing times but I've read that a 2L container should last two weeks but I plan to alternate containers every week to keep it fresh, i'll have to see how it goes though.

I'll update again when there's more progress. Gonna need masses of help choosing plants.


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## LondonDragon (14 Jan 2013)

I very much doubt those containers can keep the pressure of the CO2, you would be better off purchasing a couple of Nutrafin CO2 kits, you can try it but it might get very messy when those explode!!


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## krazypara3165 (14 Jan 2013)

discusdan said:


> nice one thanks for the info, I'll check it out.
> finding quality discus locally isn't going to happen.


where abouts are you located and ill have a quick look for you. surprisingly enough there are great breeders across the country at the moment


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## discusdan (15 Jan 2013)

hmm didn't think the pressure would be that great. I'll test one and see what happens, maybe in the garage would be a good idea 

Cheers Krazypara, I'm located in west sussex.


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## LondonDragon (15 Jan 2013)

discusdan said:


> hmm didn't think the pressure would be that great.


You will probably find you just lose all the CO2 with the pressure and that's it, so a wasteful exercise, hence the reason people use bottle tops as they are screwed in tight


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## discusdan (15 Jan 2013)

I  see, oh well live and learn.
I'll still test one and see what happens, like I say they weren't expensive and I made it in an even when I had nothing better to do so no real loss.


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## flygja (16 Jan 2013)

Why did you fill up the bubble counter with red liquid? Does it make it easier to read or is it a special liquid which "slows down" bubbles so its easier to count?


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## discusdan (19 Jan 2013)

Only reason is it makes it a little easier to read.

No real progress to note I've been busy with other things. Still trying to find another piece of wood similar to what I have already for the right hand side of the tank. 
Does any one know A good place to order wood from on the net?

Did a bit of maintenance today, 35% water change, Hid the air stone line, fitted the c02 diffuser and had a general clean. Also fitted the plug timers which I'm having great fun with, their turning on and off at random times to what I've set them too, going to take a bit of trial and error I think 

Other news I finally got the cabinet doors finished and swung  them today. Just got the drawers to finish off and the cabinet will be done.





pattern detail.


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## discusdan (27 Jan 2013)

So I mixed up a batch of jelly fuel to test one of the containers just in the off chance they would work, sadly they didn't and disapointingly no explosions either just an unpleasant yeast smell for a few days.






So I binned that system and started again, this time with some two liter bottles and some proper co2 line, same set up as before and every thing is siliconed in place.





Still no real progress with the tank though, I'm still trying to find a decent bit of wood for the left hand side, I wanted this in and soaked befor I started adding the plants.

I'm not 100% sure but is the piece of wood I have already Mopani wood? I'd like to try and get the same wood If i can but having no luck finding a large enough piece.

Also the bit of wood I have in the tank already is starting to form algae, i'm not sure of the type, its a bright white colour and looks like really fine hair. Its grown quite long in some places but I can't get a decent picture of it.
I can't see any other signs of algae in the tank only on the wood.
Does any one know what type of algae it is and the best course of action to remove it. It cleans off easily enough but starts to come back after a few days.

Lastly I've made a few choices on plants I'm going to order, I want to go with things that are quite hardy and easy-ish to grow.
Because I want to keep discus my water temps are up at 27-29c with the lights on, Do you think these plants will be ok at these temps?

*Hemianthus callitrichoides*

*Eleocharis acicularis*

*Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping' *

*Chladoflora (Moss Ball)*



*Echinodorus argentinensis*

*Echinodorus hormanii*

*Echinodorus rose*

*Echinodorus uruguayensis*


*Cyperus helferi*

*Echinodorus cordifolius*

*Micromanthemum umbrosum*

*Sagittaria platyphylla*

*Aponogeton Madagascariensis Bulb*


*Hydrophila compacta (mini)*


Not going to be using all of these it was just a selection of the ones I liked.


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## Iain Sutherland (27 Jan 2013)

Hey, the algae on the wood will likely just be mould as the wood leaches nutrients and tanins into the water.  Normally you can add shrimp and ottos to eat it, its worth giving the wood a good scrub from time to time with the filters off and a water change to help clear it up if arent ready for livestock yet.  I have heard it can get out of control if not managed...
Wood looks like mopani, have you tried TGM for another piece.
Couldnt advise on the plants with discus and high temps but again TGM have a discus plant section that would be worth looking over.  I would suggest HC would be an issue, mainly because it likes CO2 and DIY likely wont provide enough, tennelus might be a better option with discus and DIY...??


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## discusdan (27 Jan 2013)

cheers for the reply, I'll have a look on the green machine website.

I was going to add some bumble bee shrimp once things where up and running.

I was considering using riccia fluitans instead of cuba but it seemed a lot more work to use it as a carpet. Do you think it would be a better choice than cuba?

I'll have a look into tennelus.

Also the yeast reactor is mainly for fun and untill I can get hold of an fe or co2 cylinder to upgrade the co2 input.

thanks.


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## Iain Sutherland (27 Jan 2013)

Hey, crystal red or black shrimp will become expensive food for your discus once you get them in.  Amano shrimp would be your best bet as long as they manage with high temps.
Riccia carpets are great but their also high maintenance and messy. Unfortunately i dont know enough about discus to really advise but think they tend to rip up and/or eat smaller delicate plants??  which was why i suggest tennelus but maybe they will tear that up too??  Stauro is seen quite a lot in discus tanks as it is a heavy rooter and once established its pretty hardy.


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## discusdan (27 Jan 2013)

cheers for the info.
I like the look of staurogyne repens and tennelus so i'll look into them.
the discus are a long way off yet, i'm hoping to get all the plants in and well established before I add any of the larger fish.


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## discusdan (27 Jan 2013)

quick up date,

I mixed up some more jelly fuel to try out the new system and hurrah! it seems to be working.






Its pushing out bubbles at quite a steady rate






I've got the diffuser underneath the 405 outlet as I read its a good way to spread the co2 across the tank, though I might have to change this slightly as the hole tank is now full of tiny bubbles!

I've just got one 2 liter bottle on the go at the moment as I want to test how long a yeast batch will last befor it starts to drop off. I'm hoping for at least two weeks but I plan to change one bottle every weekend to keep the co2 as consistant as possible.

one think i've noticed is the diffuser is making quite a loud hissing noise, I can hear it above the filters. Is that normal?

for any one interested the jelly fuel mix is as follows

half a pack of jelly cubes dissolved in 100ml of hot water
250g of caster sugar dissolved into the jelly mix, this will give roughly 1 pint.
put it in the fridge to set. You dont want the jelly to go stiff you want it as a thick goo but still runny, a couple of hours in the fridge should be enough.

add half a tea spoon of baking powder to the 2l bottle (baking powder is best as it contains starch which should make the yeast last a bit longer)

next pour in the gooie jelly mix then fill the bottle with warm water, leave about 2 inches free space at the top.

give the bottle a shake, you dont need to go mad a quick shake will do.

now the important part, get a small glass and add 1 inch of warm water, 1 tea spoon of sugar and half a tea spoon of yeast. Mix thoroughly for a minute untill the sugar is dissolved then leave to stand for 10 minutes.

the mix should froth up to the top of the glass, after 10 mins pour the yeast mix into the 2l bottle and connect it to your system.

for good results you have to active the yeast, if you just pour the yeast into the 2l bottle straight away it will kill some of the yeast and not be so effective.

Doing a quick sum if I keep to this recipe and change one bottle a week it will cost about £20 a year.


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## jack-rythm (27 Jan 2013)

What is this jelly fuel you speak of? Some sort of DIY co2 mix?

Cheers! Jack


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## Iain Sutherland (27 Jan 2013)

Hey glad to hear you got it set up and its working.  Never heard of jelly mix before so will be interesting to see how it goes.



discusdan said:


> though I might have to change this slightly as the hole tank is now full of tiny bubbles!


Thats the idea, bubbles should be reaching ever corner of the tank.


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## discusdan (28 Jan 2013)

The jelly fuel was something I stumbled upon on this site.

Apparently the jelly acts as another food source for the yeast and helps to give a more consistent co2 supply as well as making the batch last longer.
Not sure if its true or not but day 2 and its still bubbling away like mad and as jelly is so cheap I thought I'd give it a go.

I read jelly fuel can last up to 6 weeks! though like I say i'm planning to change one bottle out every weekend to keep the co2 input as consistent as possible, I suspect that after 3 weeks the co2 really starts to drop off.

diffuser is still really noisy though?

I Might have to make a larger bubble check as well. At the moment its filled right to the top with bubbles and I dont want to chance any liquid getting through to the diffuser.

other than that it seems to be working well, might soon be time for plants


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## discusdan (31 Jan 2013)

So I don't know if its a good idea or not but before blowing a load of money on the plants I want I thought I'd try a starter pack of stem plants.

for a fiver Its mainly for experimenting and trying my hand at planting, and just to see if they will grow in my tank or probably in my case die and cause problems.

It was lucky dip with what plants you get, I have no idea what any of them are but I do like a few of them, so if any one can help me ID them that would be great.

When I start buying the plants I intended then I suspect a lot of these will come out but for the time being I'll see how they grow and what I can learn from them.

so this is what I got.





planted around the mopani wood. 





A few along the back, I suspect these will get blow out of the substrate when the air stone turns on. I'll find out in the morning.





I planted these two in the open area as I wasn't to keen on them, I suspect they will be the first to come out.





And this is how things look at the moment.






Just trying to find out what I've got now 


I also fitted a bigger bubble count to my co2 system. I found that the smaller one was filling up with bubbles on the surface and liquid was getting through to the defuser.





This larger one seems much better.
I also found that with the jelly fuel it really froths up in the bottle and liquid forces its way into the air line which probably wasn't helping with the smaller bubble count over filling.

So now I've left a good 3" of space at the top of the bottle and also plugged the top of the bottle with some filter floss, this seems to help keep the froth from entering the air line.

Its been 4 days and I'm still getting a steady 1 drip per second on the bubble counter, i'll see how much longer it lasts before changing it out.


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## discusdan (2 Feb 2013)

So finally after weeks I've found another piece of mopani wood I liked that goes well with the bit I already have.

Spent a few hours today putting it in position and doing a bit of a clean up and move around.

Now I can start buying the plants I intended and get things moving 
seems a lot of the ones i'm after are out of stock, is it a seasonal thing?

Also be doing a bit of reading about EI ferts so probably going to order a starter kit tonight. 

also pulled out the proper camera and took a few shots. 





Does any one know what this plant is called? cant seem to find it any where.


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## discusdan (9 Feb 2013)

I got hold of a HMA filter and went about fitting it today.

I have hot and cold water pipes running through my room which I was initially going to hook the filter up to But after some thought I decided against that idea as I was going to be using a self piercing clamp and having never used one before I wasn't 100% confident in its success.





So I opted instead to run the tubing through into the bath room and under the sink

This means I could fit the self piercing clamp above a shut off valve and if it leaked I could easily shut the water off and replace the copper pipe.





Thankfully the self piercing clamp seems to have worked a treat and II can control the flow of water to the HMA filter with the blue tap.

This means I can have the filter in my room which should make water changes so much easier. I've just got to keep my eye out for leaks but fingers crossed it will be ok.





The holes in the wall get covered up by a box to neaten things up.

No real progress with the tank.
The jelly fuel has been running for two weeks now and is still showing 1 drip a second on the bubble count though it seems there are slightly less bubbles in the tank, I think 3 weeks max is what i'll get out of one bottle. On a smaller tank you would probably be able to run it a lot longer.
I'm going to change 1 bottle a week to keep the co2 as consistent as possible.

Also got hold of a EI ferts starter pack which i'll start using next week, just got to calculate the dosage for my tank.

ordered some new bulbs as well but they've not come yet. There to replace an original bulb that came with the tank and a marine blue???

Going to be ordering some plants next week as well and get things moving, short list so far is

Echinodorus tenellus​ 
Eleocharis acicularis​ 
Alternanthera rosaefolia​ 
Echinodorus argentinensi​ 
s

Cyperus helferi​ 
Echinodorus cordifolius​ 
Sagittaria platyphylla​ 
 Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping​ 
think I like swords 

Also Because I'm running a DIY yeast set up for the co2 I'm running an air stone during the day while the lights are off to try and disperse as much co2 as possible to make sure the fish are happy "when I get some"

I was planning on running it during the night as well but its just to loud, is there any thing I can use in the tank to get surface agitation thats quiet?

I don't want to move the filter out lets as they are pushing the co2 about nicely and I want something that I can put on a timer.

Can any one recommend something?

Also one last thing, Is it ok to uproot and replant stem plants frequently? I find it a lot easier to remove the plant from the tank to clean and prune etc, also as I have sand they sometimes go adrift by themselves, Is it damaging the plant to keep doing this?

cheers.


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## Ady34 (9 Feb 2013)

Hi Dan,


discusdan said:


> Also Because I'm running a DIY yeast set up for the co2 I'm running an air stone during the day while the lights are off to try and disperse as much co2 as possible to make sure the fish are happy "when I get some"
> 
> I was planning on running it during the night as well but its just to loud, is there any thing I can use in the tank to get surface agitation thats quiet?
> 
> ...


Koralia nano in tank circulation pumps are silent and can be positioned to aid overall circulation and create good surface agitation.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## discusdan (9 Feb 2013)

excellent, that looks like the kind of thing I'm after. thanks for the reply.


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## discusdan (20 Feb 2013)

Right Finally got some plants ordered! Here's the list


Echinodorus parviflorus 
Echinodorus red devil
Eleocharis acicularis
Echinodorus reni
Cyperus helferi
Echinodorus radicans
Alternanthera rosaefolia
Tropica Vesicularia ferriei
Echinodourus Tenellus
and i got a free portion of Riccia Fluitans just to try out.

This is what it all looked like out the box.






This this what the tank looked like before planting with just a few stem plants I bought previously.





and this is how it looks now.





This set up with probably change slighty at the weekend when I attach the weeping moss to the mopani wood. The moss is in the blue pots at the moment as I didnt have time to attach it to the wood and I wanted to get the rest of the plants in.

Whats the best method of fixing the weeping moss to the wood? For the riccia I used some fishing line which worked ok but was a right pain to do.

I've read people use super glue to attach moss to slate/wood. Has any one done this and did it work, also did you notice any negative effects to the tank with the super glue?

Also whats the best procedure for pruning the cyperus helferi? there's a few broken and yellowing stems that I want to remove and promote new growth.


cheers.


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## discusdan (20 Feb 2013)

took a few more pics with the slr


























And this is for a little project I'm testing. I'll update about this later if it works, If i never mention it again you know it failed


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## discusdan (25 Feb 2013)

Went to the LFS at the weekend and saw that they had some new Amano shrimp in so had to have some.

I've never kept shrimp before but have to say their the most entertaining things to watch. Mind you the girlfriend went a bit squeamish when the guy tried to get them into the bag and they started jumping about all over the place, she soon hid behind me 






















While I was on a roll I went to another fish shop which has just opened and they had some siamese flying fox, I'd read about how good they where at keeping algae in check so I had to get some, though I didn't realize until I had got home that in my haste I had confused them with SAE's (siamese algae eaters)
Still there a great looking fish and should help to keep the bottom clean.
One thing I noticed was a bit of strange behaviour between two of them, at first I thought they where nipping at each other but as i watched more it was like they where dancing, swimming round and round in circles with each other and rubbing bodies. I caught it on camera so i'll upload it at some point.













Watching them tonight some beautiful colours are starting to come through.


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## Ady34 (25 Feb 2013)

Hi Dan,
Wow, some great photos there!
They look like crossochelius siamensis (Siamese flying fox), as you say and are good algae eaters. Mainly beneficial at preventing bba.....after good tank husbandry, good co2 and excellent distribution of course!! 
The tank is coming along really nicely. I'd be inclined to tie the moss with cotton/fishing line as you have already done. Its a pita to do in situ but easier than superglue for me at least. In my experience superglue in an already running system is difficult to do neatly and effectively as everything is wet and also difficult to physically get to properly......unless you were planning on removing your wood to do it in which case its much easier.
Cheerio,
Ady.


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## discusdan (25 Feb 2013)

hey Ady, thanks for the reply I really appreciate it.

At last I'm starting to see some progress with the tank. I've ordered a few more plants and that will be it for a while. Going to concentrate on what i've got and hopefully get them nicely established.

Then it will be slowly adding the majority of fish.

Planning on getting a few juvenile discus, and a nice largish shoal of dwarf neon rainbows, then once they have settled in possibly adding a pair of juvenile angles and a funky fighter but will see how it goes.

I tied the moss down at the weekend, in the end I removed the bits of wood and used a fabric mesh and fishing line. not sure how well its going to show though, I could have done with a lot more moss but its quite expensive 

cheers.


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## Pedro Rosa (26 Feb 2013)

Those photos from Amanos are ... something really beautiful ... thank you very much


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## discusdan (27 Feb 2013)

No worries, Glad you like them.
Lots more to come


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## discusdan (4 Mar 2013)

Made this short video showing the current yeast co2 set up in action. Touch wood every thing seems to be doing pretty well at the moment, though I'm still thinking of upgrading to a FE, just need to find a local source to re fill them.


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## discusdan (9 Mar 2013)

Added a few more fish today, 6 dwarf neon rainbows, another 4 Amano shrimp and a lovely betta.

Didn't managed to get any decent shots of the rainbows, there speedy buggers.


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## discusdan (14 Apr 2013)

about time for an update!

Tanks coming along nicely. Pretty much fully stocked now.

just finished fitting my co2 fire extinguisher and reg. got fed up of changing the yeast bottle every 3 days!





and here's the tank now.


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## discusdan (27 Apr 2013)

thought I'd do a quick recap of the progress so far from start to nearly finished. Sorry for poor pictures they where all taken on my phone.

200l tank with black sand substrate covering kitty litter and soaking a bit of mopani wood.
Custom built fish tank stand. filtration is a fluval 205 and 405.





Next added a few stem plants and diy yeast co2.






Then came another bit of mopani wood. Also got the doors and drawers made for the stand.





after that I ordered a few plants.





and set about planting them. Also added the drawer fronts, just handles to go 





Then it stayed like this for a couple of months before I added an FE co2 set up,





and this is the tank now. From start to now is around 4 months.






Also added a diy spray bar last week which is working great.









Next I want to add a nice leopard ozelot to the center of the tank and get a couple more angel fish and it will be pretty much done. hopefully then i can sit back and watch it grow.


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## Kogre (28 Apr 2013)

Looking amazing. Good effort and an inspiration for when I get my own tank.

Well done!


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## pariahrob (30 Apr 2013)

Looking good. When that carpet is covering more it's going to look really serene. I'm in the process of changing my tank over to a discus tank right now. Thanks for the inspiration!


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## Kogre (30 Apr 2013)

That's two of us you've inspired at least.


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