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The Nymph's Spring (EA900)

Hufsa said:
GreenAqua had a calculator, which I cannot find at the moment, but they do list this formula:

"How much General Plant Substrate should I buy?
It is relatively easy to calculate how much General Plant substrate will fit in your aquarium. Multiply the bottom area (width and depth - not height - centimeters) of the aquarium with the substrate height (a minimum of 4-5 centimeters), and divide it by one thousand. The result will show you how many liters of substrate you will need. Here is the formula:

Amount needed in liters = Width (cm) * Depth (cm) * Desired Substrate Height (cm) / 1000 (Excel calculator - download)
Example: a 60 x 35 cm base aquarium will need a minimum of 60*35*4/1000=8.4 liters of substrate, so you will buy one of the 9 liter bags."

This is for a flat substrate, while most scaped tanks bank/slope up the substrate towards the back to some degree.
I would recommend this, it gives you more surface area of the substrate for planting and makes the tank look deeper.
You can fill the bottom back with some cheaper material like pebbles or lava rock and just cover the top of the slope with soil, that will be easier on the budget and seems quite common unless the aquascaper is sponsored (getting the soil for free). Then they seem to pile it in like its sold at the dollar store 😉
Just make sure you account for a deep enough layer of soil, I would go for no less than 5 cm to plant in personally but you can check what others use.
Not sure if youre planning on sand in front but the front of the substrate doesnt need to be very deep unless you are planning to plant heavily there, and then still you might get away with 3 cm or so.

Dont bash soil, I dont think it likes it and it may cause it to break down faster, this is just my theory though. Powder is best for top dressing because of the smaller grain size, it holds down small plants easier. You could do something like 3-4 cm of normal soil and then 1-2 cm of powder soil on top maybe?
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Wow thank you so much @Hufsa ! That's absolutely perfect, just what I wanted.
90 x 50 x 8 / 1000 = 36 ... so with 25kg already, I need at least one more bag, with two being ideal (let's be honest, I need more than this and probably 2 bags, any extra can go in the next tank). I do really like the highbank look, so will do what you said and get some lava rock or something to fill up space! I am planning on using nice millenium rocks as well to get some drama with the height, I'm planning no having a very low sand area covering about 1/4 of the bottom (still planted a bit), with the rest all being planted with 1 very steep slow, and one more gradual but still high sloop. Aw man I need all the soil! This is what happens when you want stuff like the professionals who get everything for free!! I suppose they are doing their job well at getting me to buy this soil.

Potentially crazy question... does anyone ever use organic topsoil (as I've used in my 60L) underneath aquasoil? It could go in a net bag so doesn't interact too much but roots could still get in.

Courtneybst said:
I love this tank so much, it feels so naturak.

+1 to what @Hufsa said. I would defo top with powder. You might be ok with the regular but it really helps. I didn't go with a powder top in my nano and I regret it big time. I could add some but that's a faff.
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Thank you!! I think it might look a little too "natural" right now, but since I'm having to overstock it with fish for the new scape, having it be jungly is very useful to keep them all happy. I do quite like just dropping a few leaves at the surface, before they sink it looks particularly real somehow, the leaves just give it that slightly abandoned natural look.

Of course you want me to get the one that's £20 more per bag! 😂 I will trust in your experience with it tho. Is it cos it's harder to plant small plants?
 
That's a really impressive deal you managed to get. I'm pretty excited to see what you come up with!

How big are the babies you have? I watched about three babies get eaten when they ventured too far from their mother by other apisto's. -_- That tank looks nice and densely planted though so they'll have plenty of hiding places.
 
Kogre said:
That's a really impressive deal you managed to get. I'm pretty excited to see what you come up with!

How big are the babies you have? I watched about three babies get eaten when they ventured too far from their mother by other apisto's. -_- That tank looks nice and densely planted though so they'll have plenty of hiding places.
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Thanks! Fingers crossed it will be good, I think with every new page of this journal the stakes go up. Better not be rubbish! 😂

The "babies" are between 2 and 4cm, there's quite a big range between subadult big colourful males, and tiny little females, I had 36 before I started giving them away. My tank didn't have any predators except for the motherfish though, so no tasty treats for others. The male died 2 days before they came out, so she very possibly killed him for trying to eat some! The babies live in my 180L tank now, and their mother lives in the 60L, which they were born and grew up in, but when the biggest got to about 2.5cm I moved them because Motherfish was chasing them constantly and clearly wanted them gone.

I know it sucks when they get eaten 🙁 Especially the first ones which are so easy to get attached to cos they're so cute and it's such a precious moment. I purposefully am keeping some fish that will eat babies now though, it's better that only a few grow up and can do so in the tank without lots and lots of effort on your part. I spent way to long raising this brood lol. And if you ever want to breed them properly, you can just get a spare breeding tank for it 🙂

I think the way you keep them in a community is really interesting - when I've kept single apistos alone they always seem a bit bored to me. I know people consider them a fish for a pair or single, but I think a community like yours is probably more natural and stimulating for them, they are such intelligent curious fish they need to be kept on their toes lol. Keeping also the "babies" in the 180L together has been really fascinating to see how they interact, group together, and have little spats, I know it's partly because they haven't got their own big territories to lord over, but it seems like they enjoy each others company.
 
I wholeheartedly agree, these fish are intelligent and almost immediately have social structures and pecking orders like other intelligent animals.

Ultimately, I think I might be overstocked on males. Realistically 1-3 should have been enough. 1 for the harem and the other for a bit of aggression release, with maybe another for diffusion of said aggression. I have five, with one of them being a juvenile so still a ways to go before that one decides to dole out some revenge. If you do end up doing something similar, I'd keep the males limited in number to roughly 1 to every 30-50cm of tank space, and break up lines of sight better than I have done. I find them so fascinating to watch, I've found myself lose 30 minutes at a time just because something in the tank caught my attention...
 
Kogre said:
I find them so fascinating to watch, I've found myself lose 30 minutes at a time just because something in the tank caught my attention...
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That's how you know you've got a fabulous tank!! Apistos are basically the best fish for all the reasons you said, and you have the perfect tank community for them! Maybe add some more lines of sight though! Dried leaves! Leaves are like fish magic.

I gave one person 2 males for his large tank, and he found that the bigger one was always having a go at the other one and it was so harrassed I took the second one back (this fish maybe the one I pick for my tank, he's lovely). I think at least 3 to balance the aggression around is definitely a good idea, although in this tank it was only the 2 males, and there were no females, so perhaps having 2 females per male would do it! The problem for you I guess is.. if you have less, which to give away? A very hard decision!! I remember you said the smallest was your favourite lol. And they are simply so beautiful. How many females do you have compared to males?

I would love to keep 2 males and 4 females, but I think I may be asking the trouble. The difficulty is I've got nowhere to put them before they go in the big scape - whoever I keep has to go in the 60L while the big scale matures. If it were only juveniles it would be fine, but the 60L is Motherfish's territory and she does not like other fish!! The other option I have is to keep the young fish I want in the big tank for a week or two longer (while I buy hardscape and soil), and also put motherfish in there with them to get used to them and break her territorial aggression, and then they all back together in the 60L. Although she is a pain, and she is beige most of the time, she has so much personality and a great fry raiser so I try to do things that she's happy with. The intelligence of them is enough that it's so easy to get attached!
 
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Just decided to try putting motherfish in with the babies cos I noticed some fin damage on the cardinals, and in not sure if they can't like that or not.

It's like putting the cats amoungst the pigeons!!! Seems like she's the Queen of any tank she goes in, after watching all her sons present themselves to her and her kinda interested but rejecting them, I shall name her... Cleopatra

Some of these babies are almost as big as she is (with a bit of puffing up)! And amazing colours starting to come through, this male is much more colourful irl with lots of baby blue iridescent highlights. Will post more pics later, they all started following her around in fascination.

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Good morning!

Today I'm sorting out everything I bought last week, which involves 2 new filters - one is an Oase Biomaster 600, the other an Eheim Professional 4 600. My 180l currently has a single Oase Biomaster 600 on it, and as it will be a high-tech I want to add one of the filters I bought to it with no media in, to add even better flow. From all the threads I read here it seems like this can really help to get good co2 and nutrient distribution to avoid problems.
The other filter will go on my future lowtech 120l pond tank. Any idea which is best for which? My instinct is saying use the eheim on this tank for flow, but I'm not completely sure.

I'm thinking of using inline co2 - does it matter which filter it goes on? The one with media or without?

I'm also wondering what the best placement is for the inlets/outlets now there are 2 filters, I'm sure there's a diagram somewhere but I've been searching and can't find anything. Not sure if they should both be on the same side at different corners, or on opposite sides and corners.

Ok... One last question - how have you guys pimped your cabinets to fit all this stuff? I feel like I need some drawers and hooks and things to get everything in and neat!

Later will post some more photos of the babies with motherfish, got some funny ones. Will also clean the tank well this weekend and get my boyfriend's cameras it to try to take some nice pics before they go next week.
 
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The powder recommendation is more about the roots but this is only really an issue for fine rooted plants like Monte Carlo and to some extent Hydrocotyle species. The other plants have been fine and none have floated up so it's just a matter of what plants you intend to use.

For the cabinet I haven't quite finished pimping it out haha but I use a magnetic knife rack to keep the tools and nets out of the way. Some hooks on the doors to keep microfibre cloths/towels. My middle section has a shelf but I'm thinking to get some plastic open containers (similar to what they sell at Muji) and fastening them to the walls so I have mini shelving for small bottles and food etc. I've also attached an 8 way extender onto the back wall of the cabinet which everything is plugged into, that massively saved on space. But honestly, there's never enough space lol.
 
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Courtneybst said:
The powder recommendation is more about the roots but this is only really an issue for fine rooted plants like Monte Carlo and to some extent Hydrocotyle species. The other plants have been fine and none have floated up so it's just a matter of what plants you intend to use.

For the cabinet I haven't quite finished pimping it out haha but I use a magnetic knife rack to keep the tools and nets out of the way. Some hooks on the doors to keep microfibre cloths/towels. My middle section has a shelf but I'm thinking to get some plastic open containers (similar to what they still at Muji) and fastening them to the walls so I have mini shelving for small bottles and food etc. I've also attached an 8 way extender onto the back wall of the cabinet which everything is plugged into, that massively saved on space. But honestly, there's never enough space lol.
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I think I might get the 3L bag of powder for the front then, I know 100% what you mean.. hydrocotyle vert is SO ANNOYING the way it just floats constantly. Even in my lowtech where the plants are big and extensive, any gravel vaccing near them pulls them up. Was thinking of trying some monte carlo/cuba/tiny leafed things mixed in with grasses so I think will make life easier! I basically intend to use all the plants lmao, getting it down is so hard!

Aha! Muji of course!! They have great cabinet-y little things, the ADA of mini storage lol. Was looking at ikea but their stuff doesn't quite have the right dimensions. And a magnetic knife rack... very fancy, will def try that too. There def isn't enough space!! I will I'll have to find an empty drawer somewhere for the less-used kit. Seem to have ended up with all sorts of stuff I don't use that much, but is occasionally very useful 😕
 
In my cabinet i purchased a load of tubs from b&m or anywhere really so have all ferts etc in one and all EI powders in one and tools etc makes much easier. Also stand filter in one incase any spillage.

Also purchased a stick on kitchen roll holder what is great from ebay

d052bb45cf67657c504034dec28a5c88.jpg21c1a3716cf2351eae9f9be40d706afd.jpg

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
 
Deano3 said:
In my cabinet i purchased a load of tubs from b&m or anywhere really so have all ferts etc in one and all EI powders in one and tools etc makes much easier. Also stand filter in one incase any spillage.

Also purchased a stick on kitchen roll holder what is great from ebay //emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji16.png

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210508/d052bb45cf67657c504034dec28a5c88.jpg//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210508/21c1a3716cf2351eae9f9be40d706afd.jpg

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
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That kitchen roll holder is PURE GENIUS 🤣
Magnetic tools on the left, kitchen roll on the right! Definitely doing it


Wookii said:
Same mag strip for me, but I cut it in half. Only have 60cm width to play with so space is at a premium!

View attachment 168395

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Damn, look at that! Perfectly packed. Am now ALSO stealing this spice/bathroom rack, that's absolutely perfect!

Are the bits mounted inside dosing stuff? That's the bit in really not sure how to fit perfectly inside the cabinet.

_______

Got the double filters going now. First I put lily pipes in the Oase for the first time and the flow as seemed to become a lot stronger! Is that normal? Before it just had the default attachment. Then set up the eheim which was A MASSIVE PAIN without double taps. Then I fed the fish and it got massively blown all over the place and then sucked straight into the other filter, I think I'm truly experiencing 10x flow!
 
shangman said:
Damn, look at that! Perfectly packed. Am now ALSO stealing this spice/bathroom rack, that's absolutely perfect!
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It’s an OCD thing! 😂

It was difficult to find a rack just wide enough to be able to take the larger Seachem bottles, but no bigger, and narrow enough to fit on the small door. This is the only I got:

Amazon product ASIN B0053XBWQU

shangman said:
Are the bits mounted inside dosing stuff? That's the bit in really not sure how to fit perfectly inside the cabinet.
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Yeah, dosers up at the top, power points and Tapo switches bottom right, 20” CO2 reactor back left. My Versa dosers attach vertically so they’re easy, but the flat Jebao style dosers need a little shelf.

shangman said:
Got the double filters going now. First I put lily pipes in the Oase for the first time and the flow as seemed to become a lot stronger! Is that normal? Before it just had the default attachment. Then set up the eheim which was A MASSIVE PAIN without double taps. Then I fed the fish and it got massively blown all over the place and then sucked straight into the other filter, I think I'm truly experiencing 10x flow!
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I always turn the filters off when I feed. That’s where the Tapo plugs come in - you can turn them off from your phone, and set them on a timer to come back on automatically in 15-30 minutes or whatever.
 
Wookii said:
It’s an OCD thing! 😂

It was difficult to find a rack just wide enough to be able to take the larger Seachem bottles, but no bigger, and narrow enough to fit on the small door. This is the only I got:

Amazon product ASIN B0053XBWQU



Yeah, dosers up at the top, power points and Tapo switches bottom right, 20” CO2 reactor back left. My Versa dosers attach vertically so they’re easy, but the flat Jebao style dosers need a little shelf.



I always turn the filters off when I feed. That’s where the Tapo plugs come in - you can turn them off from your phone, and set them on a timer to come back on automatically in 15-30 minutes or whatever.
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Omg there's so many good ideas in this comment 🥲. Thank you for the link I'm having that!

Those tapo plugs look amazing, will have to save up for some of them too, great for the filters especially!!

How are you mounting things on the cabinet wall? I've never lived anywhere where I can attach stuff to walls so have no experience with it, is it hooks? Or was thinking of maybe using wide Velcro and proper glue cos I can get some good stuff from my friend at my studio, but that's probably not the best way lol.
 
+1 for Tapo plugs! They're so easy and reliable. If you have an iPhone you can control it with Siri which I also do; "Hey Siri, turn on the lights".

Also if you don't want to mess around with glue, I use large size command strips. It uses residue free adhesive and velcro which is strong as they're designed to hold up artwork and things like that. I've used them literally all over my house.
 
Hi @shangman, slight thread highjack, PM me if you prefer: how have you got on with the nymphaea lotus? Do you find it grows really fast, and what do you think moving it is going it be like?
I’m thinking about starting one off in a small cube before moving eventually to my new 60 litre in a couple of months, but worried it will get massive too soon.

PS I’m all about icecream tubs for storage
 
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