• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

150l Gurami - Somewhat Asian Themed

Raptorendame

Member
Joined
12 Nov 2016
Messages
45
Location
Germany
Hello!

I think it's time for a new journal, as I will get my new tank tomorrow (well,I have to go get it. Nice 5 hour drive.. ^^ The things you do ...)

Here's what I got so far:

Custom made tank (61x48x60) - about 150l
Lighting: Kessil A160W Tuna Sun (delivery somewhat next week, had to import it from UK)
Filtration: Eheim eXperience 250
Heating: Tetra HT 100
Co2: I have no idea yet, haven't had one before and am still figuring out what I need

Plants: I want to stick to plants that come from asia/southeast asia
I also want to plant some plants in emersed planting thingies I saw in other tanks on this site. They are normally used for bathrooms ^^'
I am still looking for suggestions here, so far I decided that I want:
Pogostemon Erectus (emersed)
Bucephalandra (of some sort)
probably Ultricularia graminifolia
(Suggestions very welcome)

Stocking:
A pair of Honey Guramis
A school of Boraras brigittae
Kuhli Loaches(?)
(Any suggestions on the stocking are very welcome!)

I want to use the Ada Malaysa Soil/Sand/Powder Combo.

So far for my plans, I'll follow up with pictures tomorrow once I get the tank :D
 
Sounds good.
You could do a riparium style tank with mainly emersed plants.Then wood/roots and leaf litter/botanicals.
Some great stuff here, https://tanninaquatics.com/collections/aquatic-botanicals .
Don't forget Cryptocoryne's.
Ultricularia graminifolia can be very hard to grow.Though you could try it emersed and let it grow down into the water.
Honey gourami's are from India,still Asia though.
Some great video's for inspiration, https://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveryPlanetuk/videos .
Good luck ;).
 
Sounds good.
You could do a riparium style tank with mainly emersed plants.Then wood/roots and leaf litter/botanicals.
Some great stuff here, https://tanninaquatics.com/collections/aquatic-botanicals .
Don't forget Cryptocoryne's.
Ultricularia graminifolia can be very hard to grow.Though you could try it emersed and let it grow down into the water.
Honey gourami's are from India,still Asia though.
Some great video's for inspiration, https://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveryPlanetuk/videos .
Good luck ;).

Thanks for your input! I've been thinking about going for something a bite more like a riparium, i'll think about it.

And I've been looking for a channel on youtube like this, thank you :)
 
It's there!

6 hour drive yesterday, this morning a kind neighbor helped me put it in place ^^ It's so new, it still smells of silicone.

View attachment 101366

Now I need some good hardscape materials. Phew...
I'd like to create some sort of "trunk" in the left corner, with a slight slope and some stones.

EDIT: I'll need a small ladder to scape this thing. I'm only 1,58. Didn't think this through ...
 
Bad news - my Kessil A160W arrived today, and after letting it acclimate I turned it on for testing and it is very loud. I could here the "Wrrrrrrr" across the room. Actually sounds like the fan is imbalanced or smth like that. I already contacted Kessil and my reseller in UK (there are no german resellers, so I hadto import it) and hope it will be exchanged :(

Has anyone here any experience with this lamp and can tell me if it's really that loud? I read that it is dead silent, but I am worried now that I am betting on the wrong horse (so to speak)
 
So.. the Kessil's been in for repair and according to the german RMA company they couldn't find anything. I'll test it once again and let it run in some more, but if it stays this loud I'll not get Husband approval. I can't imagine that it's normal for a lamp to have it'S fan round on 100% all of the time. :/

In other news: I ordered ADA Malaysa Soil, Powder and Bacter 100. The only thing's missing now is a Co2 system and plants, as well as hardscape. This will have to wait for next month though. We're slowly getting thee, I hope to be able to plant end of month.

If anyone has anything to share about the Kessil A160W I'd be very happy if someone could share there experience :(
 
Getting a new Kessil - today I will check my filter and my lights and so on.

I just phoned the local .. peat factory? I live in a moor and my husbands says I'd be stupid to buy expensive hardscape and should ask at the local factory - Io and Behold, the owner knew what I was looking for, said they have a mountain of wood lying around and I can just come by on monday and pick up what suits my desires :D I'll take lots of pictures.
 
Never had one myself, but I've gathered that Kessils are notoriously noisy. There are various remedies around the net for fixing this if you're handy (note it will most likely void your warranty), either changing the fan or forcing it to run slower. On this forum, I think Big Tom did some modification on a Kessil in his Bucket of Mud thread...

Amazing that a light in this priceclass has such a design flaw...

Edit: https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/toms-bucket-o-mud-the-end.14521/page-21#post-278154

Here's the post from Big Tom.
 
Last edited:
Never had one myself, but I've gathered that Kessils are notoriously noisy. There are various remedies around the net for fixing this if you're handy (note it will most likely void your warranty), either changing the fan or forcing it to run slower. On this forum, I think Big Tom did some modification on a Kessil in his Bucket of Mud thread...

Amazing that a light in this priceclass has such a design flaw...

Thanks for your feedback. I read through the Bucket o' mud thread, but probably forgot what he wrote about the Kessil. I'll have another look and will probably fix it myself.. Can't give the light back now and spent 260 bucks on it ... this sucks.

And yes - I've had LEDs from a german manufacturer before for my reef tank setup and they were dead silent. The new tank's in the living room and the husband acceptance factor of the Kessil is very very low .. not to say non-existent. /o\
 
I was at the local peat facility today!
It was aquascapers heaven ;) Have a look:

C5sDOLGXEAETgsa.jpg


Huge Pile! I got a few pieces I found suitable:

C5sIDcKWAAAf4Em.jpg


Proper bogwood. I already cleaned some peat off, tomorrow I'll clean it with a brush and then will put it into some waterbuckets until I can get so scape the tank :)
 
Never had one myself, but I've gathered that Kessils are notoriously noisy.
I have three & would state that Kessils are notoriously silent ;)

I do have one A160 with an audible hum IF my head is right next to the light & house is silent ...

As long as there have been LED's, there have been oddly noisy individuals (one company had numerous units that emitted a high pitched whine, sorted with the next generation) - if you happen to receive a noisy LED, return it & don't accept anything less than a new replacement :cool:

Proper bogwood.
awesome :)
 
I have three & would state that Kessils are notoriously silent ;)

I do have one A160 with an audible hum IF my head is right next to the light & house is silent ...

As long as there have been LED's, there have been oddly noisy individuals (one company had numerous units that emitted a high pitched whine, sorted with the next generation) - if you happen to receive a noisy LED, return it & don't accept anything less than a new replacement :cool:

thanks for the feedback! Mine had a high pitched noise. I hoped it would be more silent, due to it being the new generation (it's a Tuna Sun, no Amazon Sun, which is supposed to be silent). You're giving me back my hope :)

Wood and tank are now waiting for the light ... it should be shipped by now.
 
All that bogwood. wow. Its so hard for us in the UK to find even two piece of good bogwood!
I can only imagine!
I took a full big swedish-furniture-shop-bag with me home :) on the downside, there is no shop which sells fish within the next 40km ... :/

My lamp has still not arrived. Meh.
 
Long time no see...

Much has happened very suddenly last year and I happened to buy a house, which immediately halted all tank related activity. Due to prolonged renovation efforts, everything took it's time.
Last weekend I finally had the time to fill the tank, I am waiting for plants to arrive today :)
The gloves are filled with sand, I had to improvise at a point *ahem*

Pictures with plants will follow in the next few days :)
Here's the status as of today:

DVbW3aPXUAA5wTa.jpg
 
Welcome back :)

Just a warning note that ADA Malaya is very soft & prone to mudding, so performs best with an aquascape that is set up once (rather than change, change, change ...) & then maintained with minor alterations in hardscape/plant design

I suggest draining the tank for planting - just spray/mist plants with water to prevent any drying

If tank is very cloudy after planting, I just do several water changes (immediately) to remove the fine dust - you can also just wait for the filter to clear the water & then change out (or rinse) the fine filter pad
You don't want a (very) fine dust coating on the plant leaf surfaces

Congratulations on the house purchase :D


Hopefully the new Kessil was better
 
I have three & would state that Kessils are notoriously silent ;)

I do have one A160 with an audible hum IF my head is right next to the light & house is silent ...

As long as there have been LED's, there have been oddly noisy individuals (one company had numerous units that emitted a high pitched whine, sorted with the next generation) - if you happen to receive a noisy LED, return it & don't accept anything less than a new replacement

I have one, just over a year old. It is extremely silent, not a beep out of it. I had read both reviews, noisy and silent...I got a silent one :p

thanks for the feedback! Mine had a high pitched noise. I hoped it would be more silent, due to it being the new generation (it's a Tuna Sun, no Amazon Sun, which is supposed to be silent). You're giving me back my hope :)

Wood and tank are now waiting for the light ... it should be shipped by now.

Mine is Kessil a360we tuna sun. Quiet. Maybe I got lucky :)
 
Since nobody else has mentioned it, I'm totally down for you putting a bunch a kuhli loach in there and crypts gotta have them.
 
Hi everyone! I planted, although I read the bit from @alto a bit late. I look rather ridiculous... ahem.

Here's the whole thing planted, I don't plan on changing the scape. :)

DVrp0m8W0AAo-nw.jpg

In the middle where there's the "empty" spot sits a Nymphaea lotus. I hope it'll start to sprout soon :D

@Smells Fishy Stocking plan is: 5x Kuhli Loaches, 4 Honey guramis and a number of Boaras brigittae (I want a swarm as big as possible. Hehe)

Despite the noise I'm in love with the Kessil. The light is just beautiful.
 
Wel.. Time for an update.
Everything was running smoothly. Note the past tense here.

I dosed bacteria, added some food, a few snails had sneaked in and started doing whatever it is snails do all day long. Plants were growing, the Ceratophyllum is slowly creeping out and trying to take over the house.
So, this week was a bad one (for other reasons), my params were all pretty pretty and I had the chance to get my hands on some beautiful cheap taiwan shrimps, so I decided on a whim to get them (never a good decision in aquaristics)

First, everything seemed fine:
DWMBUjlXcAUfXAX.jpg


Sadly, two shrimps were dead this morning. Since the rest didn't look healthy too, I started doing water changes. The shrimps seem healthier now but... Dunno.

Since my usual water params are all okay, I assume it's the plants. I didn't plant in vitro this time and didn't think about possible fertilizers and copper ... :/ That's a stupid mistake that shouldn't have happened. I don't know... I feel pretty bummed out right now and hope I didn't crash the tank totally. Especially since PH was at a beautiful 6, just where I wanted it. We'll see...

I'll postpone adding fish for two weeks now.
 
Absolutely beautiful shrimp (garnelenhaus sale?)

Go back to the seller & ask after conditions shrimp were kept at, then compare with your own ... some shrimp are much more sensitive to change, also depending on source, these parameter changes can be considerable

Shrimp that are well established seem to have very good tolerance, shrimp that have travelled from breeder to wholesaler to shop, are often very fragile regardless of breeding
Like fish, shrimp can have a variety of disease, just much harder to spot

I'm not sure how you might crash the tank through water changes :confused:

Do add a good amount of high grade activated carbon to your filter - best media for removing pesticide residue from plants (look for marine grade carbon rather than freshwater, again Seachem is decent)
Also add in Seachem Cuprisorb if you think copper may be an issue
 
Back
Top