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Dragonstone Forest 180L

Sirkavu

Member
Joined
15 Apr 2018
Messages
174
Location
London
Hey everyone!

POST EDITED

After almost a years I decided to re scale my 180 Juwel.

The first attempt, and first time aquascaping, I did an ok small job and this time I want to try something bigger.

It will be low tech, liquid CO2 and EI dosing. I added 6L of tropica aqua soil to the one I had and therefore will cycle for a few days before adding the shrimp and then the other fishes.

Let me know your thoughts :)

Equipment
Tank - Juwel 180L
Light - MultiLux LED100 2x23 watt | Lumen 5290 / Kelvin 9000/6500
Filter - Bioflow M 600l/h


Plants
- Weeping moss
- Ludwigia glandulosa
- montecarlo
- Staurogyne repens
- Ludwigia repens
- Limnophila sessiliflora
- Lobelia Cardinalis

Fishes
At the moment I have the following
17 Neon Tetra (get 3 more)
1 Golden Mollie (get 3 more)
11 Amano Shrimp (get 9 more)
1 Black Pleco

I would like to add some more species, to get a nice combo on colour. These are not what I will add but what I have in mind and could add one or some of these (let me know if this would be great :) )
4-6 Albino Corydoras
20 cherry shrimps
2-4 Diamond Gourami
6-8 ottos

Few nice "bigger" size fish could go well and look nice and also give depth?

See pictures below of the tank - stayed up until 2 am last night changing everything :)
 

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I haven’t done any EI yet but intend to start tomorrow.

Will I have to cycle the tank for many weeks due to the new 6L aquasoil?
 
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If your dosing at all why bother adding the ferts then removing them with wc? just a big waste.
In any scape i create personally- i always do 50% wc a week. And stick to it from day one, so the tank reaches this equilibrium better eventually.

Just my own thing.
 
Hi @DutchMuch - good points there! That will be done!

Do you think that by adding the 6L or new soil I will have to cycle the tank again? I still have the old soil there (25L) and the cycled filter.
 
No, i add substrate to my tank pretty frequently. Its like' 5" thick now lol. I gotta re do the tank one of these days.

Anyway, i dont think you'll have an issue. I know the substrate i have added is inert but i have also added Dirt before and had no issues. So yea i think you'll be fine.
 
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Day 3

I’ve been dosing Micro and Macro since Sunday. I always dose LCO2 30m before lights go on.

I put 10 Amano shrimps 10m ago, and they are all on the top on the tank, next to my pump (see picture) - does anyone know why?

Regarding the plants, my ludwigia glandulosa - some leaves are starting to go up - nice

Lobelia - some leaves seem to lose color or to get deformed (pictures attached)

Staurogyne - seems like when it gets dry

Montecarlo - they are starting to die. At least it’s how it looks like :(:(:(
 

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Hi all,
I put 10 Amano shrimps 10m ago, and they are all on the top on the tank, next to my pump (see picture) - does anyone know why?
It is a water quality issue, it may be oxygen. I'd just keep an eye on them, if they eventually begin acting more normally you should be OK. If you have any "prime" I might add some and raise the spray bar to give a strong surface ripple, if you can?
I would like to add some more species, to get a nice combo on colour. These are not what I will add but what I have in mind and could add one or some of these (let me know if this would be great :) )
4-6 Albino Corydoras
20 cherry shrimps
2-4 Diamond Gourami
6-8 ottos
I'd strongly recommend not adding any more livestock until the plants are in obvious and active growth.
Will I have to cycle the tank for many weeks due to the new 6L aquasoil?
It would have been better to have left it for a few weeks to grow in.

Cycling isn't a switch between "non-cycled" and "cycled" it is a continuum from an inability to deal with any bioload (non-cycled) to stable and resilient (plants fully grown in, with root development in the substrate, and ideally floating or emergent growth).

Ammonia is important in "cycling" because ammonia is toxic to fish at very low levels, but you don't need to add ammonia to cycle the tank and it may actually slow the process of achieving stability.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,
It is a water quality issue, it may be oxygen
What I should have said is that ammonia problems are often really oxygen issues, mainly because nitrification is an oxygen intensive process.
liquid CO2 and EI dosing.
You don't need to add as many nutrients at the moment as you have a small plant mass, and you aren't adding gaseous CO2.

I'd try 1/3 EI dosing, you can always up the amount of fertilisers as the plants grow in. Because most of your plants still have their emergent leaves (produced emersed) it will take a while for new leaves, adapted to under-water, to grow.

Have a look at <"Hi all, I need.....">, and links, for some more oxygen and cycling bits.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi @dw1305 - Thanks a lot for the advice!

I have just added prime! I wont be able to raise the spray bar but it's turned up so it creates bubbles:)

I won't add any stock, even the previous one, for at least 1/2 week until I start to see growth and plants are stable, like you said.
Cycling isn't a switch between "non-cycled" and "cycled" it is a continuum from an inability to deal with any bioload (non-cycled) to stable and resilient (plants fully grown in, with root development in the substrate, and ideally floating or emergent growth).

Very, very interesting this one!!! :D:thumbup::thumbup:

You don't need to add as many nutrients at the moment as you have a small plant mass, and you aren't adding gaseous CO2.

I'd try 1/3 EI dosing, you can always up the amount of fertilisers as the plants grow in. Because most of your plants still have their emergent leaves (produced emersed) it will take a while for new leaves, adapted to under-water, to grow.

Gotcha! I will cut my EI dosing to 5/10ml a day. Should i still put the same CO2? Maybe less as well?

Again - Thanks Darrel!!
 
@dw1305 so all my shrimps are acting normal now. Sometimes they are still for long time but then move around.

It seems the plants are settling, no melting but, my carpet is almost gone :lol::arghh:

Some small roots growing, lobelia root has algae (only found in the tank)

I think for now, all is good. Is topped the LC for now, until plants settle more, so my shrimps don’t suffer.
 

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So, it has been 1 week now and I think plants are going well.

I can see some roots and my Limnophila are blooming more - beautiful!

I did see something green (attached picture) which I can’t understand whag it is. Maybe algae?

My shrimps are all ok (even though I can’t see them all at the same time but no dead ones).

I was thinking on adding cherry shrimps now and wait another week or two so I can add my other fish (17 Neon, 1 pleco, 1 juvenil molly)

I still want to grow carpet - do you guys have any advice on how to plant carpet?

Thank you :)
 

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Hi all,It is a cyanobacteria ("Blue Green Algae").

Just syphon it out.

cheers Darrel
Is it enough to just syphon the cyanobacteria? I remember myself having a big fight with it that ended by using erythromycin . Since then its one of my biggest fears...
 
Hi all,
Is it enough to just syphon the cyanobacteria?
It is a start, we don't know what causes the development of obvious sheets of Cyanobacteria (BGA). There have been suggestions that it is low NO3 levels, mainly because BGA has the ability to fix nitrogen. Other suggestions have been <"high levels of organic compounds etc">.

Some BGA species are <"naturally found in clean water">, like the Nostoc from <"this thread">, and ny suspicion would be that every aquarium has some BGA in it, because they are pretty much universal in any water, soil etc.
I remember myself having a big fight with it that ended by using erythromycin
You can't buy "over the counter" <"antibiotics in most of N. Europe">, they are prescription only.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,It is a start, we don't know what causes the development of obvious sheets of Cyanobacteria (BGA). There have been suggestions that it is low NO3 levels, mainly because BGA has the ability to fix nitrogen. Other suggestions have been <"high levels of organic compounds etc">.

Some BGA species are <"naturally found in clean water">, like the Nostoc from <"this thread">, and ny suspicion would be that every aquarium has some BGA in it, because they are pretty much universal in any water, soil etc.
You can't buy "over the counter" <"antibiotics in most of N. Europe">, they are prescription only.

cheers Darrel
I hope this restriction will come here soon..
Correct me if i am wrong but i think bga comes because of low no3. I remember my tank having only 2 little fish and plants. I wasn't fertilizing , therefore my no3 were constantly 0. Our friend here has zero livestock so i guess it is probably the main reason.
 
Hi @Fred13 do you think I should put my livestock back?

I wanted to bring cherry shrimps and was waiting for plants to grow a bit more but I cat put some more to create hidden space maybe?
 
Hi @Fred13 do you think I should put my livestock back?

I wanted to bring cherry shrimps and was waiting for plants to grow a bit more but I cat put some more to create hidden space maybe?
Hello!
Do you dose no3? If not , start dosing and syphon the spots with bga. That should make the trick without having to put your livestock earlier than you wish.
Before you start doing that , count your no3 with a test kit to ensure this is the main cause..
 
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