During this pandemic and the lockdown my working hours have increased dramatically. So to combat the downsides of more work and to give myself and my 4 year old daughter some 'quiet' time away from all that is going on, I managed to grab myself a 55l scapers tank and went about setting it up.
I didn't have all the equipment straight away due to postal delays and other issues so went about starting a dry start.
Dry start plants were,
eleocharis acicularis mini
Helanthium tenellum and marsilea crenata.
Planted into tropica soil. 24.04.20
Left it like that for a while running a dennerle scaper's light over the top, however the light didn't seem to have the punch I was looking for during the dry start. So I took one of my kessil 160we's from the other tank, instantly noticed a difference.
After waiting for the co2 kit, diffuser, jbl e1402 and pipework to arrive I set it all up and planted it. I was very pleased how pleasant it was to work and plant in this little tank. Being able to reach in is amazing to say the least.
Plants arrived in top condition as normal from AG including the glassware.
Plants were,
Rotala Vietnam hra
Hygrophila siamensis 53b
Rotala rotundifolia
Cryptocoryne balansae
Various buce from other tank mainly green and red sp.
Frogbit to help start up. 08.06.20
First lily pipes I've owned and I do love the look, slightly concerned ill break one though to be honest.
Added a eheim skim to help circulation and to remove surface scum.
Co2 comes on 2 hours before light and goes off 30min before lights off with a very lime green drop checker throughout. Kessil set to 30% for 6 hours including 15min ramp up and ramp down each end. Dosing is EI from APFUK as I still don't fully understand ferts TBH and figured I can't go wrong with full EI. Water changes were done daily for the first week and have now dropped to every second day.
However I have noticed some very slight algae on the glass below the eleocharis, on the leaves of the buce and on the rocks so will be cleaning daily with a toothbrush and changing 80% of the water.
This is how it looks today.
Still very much a beginner in this and have a lot to learn so please just point out if there is something I can do to improve things, any help appreciated.
I am finding maintenance is a pleasure on this tank compared to the 400 litre, 25min to do a complete water change and clean, can be done after work without any stress.
At the minute there are only a few nerites and ramshorns in the tank, I want to get the co2 on point before adding anymore livestock. But the plan is to have a small shoal of Celestichthys margaritatus and some cherry shrimp.
I didn't have all the equipment straight away due to postal delays and other issues so went about starting a dry start.
Dry start plants were,
eleocharis acicularis mini
Helanthium tenellum and marsilea crenata.
Planted into tropica soil. 24.04.20
Left it like that for a while running a dennerle scaper's light over the top, however the light didn't seem to have the punch I was looking for during the dry start. So I took one of my kessil 160we's from the other tank, instantly noticed a difference.
After waiting for the co2 kit, diffuser, jbl e1402 and pipework to arrive I set it all up and planted it. I was very pleased how pleasant it was to work and plant in this little tank. Being able to reach in is amazing to say the least.
Plants arrived in top condition as normal from AG including the glassware.
Plants were,
Rotala Vietnam hra
Hygrophila siamensis 53b
Rotala rotundifolia
Cryptocoryne balansae
Various buce from other tank mainly green and red sp.
Frogbit to help start up. 08.06.20
First lily pipes I've owned and I do love the look, slightly concerned ill break one though to be honest.
Added a eheim skim to help circulation and to remove surface scum.
Co2 comes on 2 hours before light and goes off 30min before lights off with a very lime green drop checker throughout. Kessil set to 30% for 6 hours including 15min ramp up and ramp down each end. Dosing is EI from APFUK as I still don't fully understand ferts TBH and figured I can't go wrong with full EI. Water changes were done daily for the first week and have now dropped to every second day.
However I have noticed some very slight algae on the glass below the eleocharis, on the leaves of the buce and on the rocks so will be cleaning daily with a toothbrush and changing 80% of the water.
This is how it looks today.
Still very much a beginner in this and have a lot to learn so please just point out if there is something I can do to improve things, any help appreciated.
I am finding maintenance is a pleasure on this tank compared to the 400 litre, 25min to do a complete water change and clean, can be done after work without any stress.
At the minute there are only a few nerites and ramshorns in the tank, I want to get the co2 on point before adding anymore livestock. But the plan is to have a small shoal of Celestichthys margaritatus and some cherry shrimp.