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60x60x40h first hi-tech?

mantozhke

Member
Joined
4 Nov 2017
Messages
35
Location
Lithuania, Vilnius
Hey there.

I was pretty much grown in a home, full of aquariums until my mom told my dad to get rid of them, hence my memories from that time were based only on pictures and stories. So at being around 30 y.o. I've decided, that I should have a micro-pond inside my house. At first, started with an old 63ltr low-tech setup just to see how it goes etc (will add pics in a separate post of my journey). After around a year of having a test-polygon I've decided it's time to have my first planted-aquascaped-mid/high-tech aquarium.

So about 4 months ago I've decided to have a 60x60x40h cm OW cube, that would be sitting in the corner of the room.

TL;TR, so I'll make it short as much as it is possible.

Glass: 60x60x40h cm OW 8mm thick cube;
Soil: a full system from Cal Aqua Labs;
Light: two Chihiros Aquasky laps that I've got from a lovely lady and aquascaper Jurga;
Filter: Oase Biomaster Thermo 350 with glass lily-pipe outlet and glass inlet w/ skimmer;
CO2: going through in-line reactor of SERA;
Ferts: my aquariums were always powered by VIMI ferts, made in Lithuania.

At first got the aquarium:
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Place was prepared for it :)
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Getting the glass prepared
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After two days - first fitting:
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Got some stuff for getting it done:
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Since I already had a running aquarium, my fish had a place to stay, untill new house was going through two-weeks DSM. So this is a first sneak-peak pic I've shared with Lithuanian aquascapers ;)
sneak-peak.jpg
 
Flora:
Eleocharis acicularis
Eleocharis pusilla
Cryptocoryne lutea Hobbit
Cryptocoryne Lutea
Cryptocoryne walkeri "Legroi"
Cryptocoryne wendtii kompakt
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
Cryptocoryne that I do not know exactly :)
Juncus Repens
Staurogyne Repens
Proserpinaca palustris ‘Cuba’
Lagenandra meeboldii rot
Ludwigia brevipes
Hemianthus glomeratus
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Microsorum pteropus ‘Mini Coral’
Microsorum pteropus ‘Small Leaf’
Anubias two or three different sp.
Bucephalandra 6/8 or maybe more different sp.
Phyllanthus Fluitans;
Limnobium laevigatum (Amazonia frogbit)
Salvinia minima
Flame moss
Pogostemon erectus
Rotala rotundifolia I think, just got it and forgot to ask for the exact name.

Fauna:
Otocinclus affinis 4/5
Black mollies 4
Protomyzon pachychilus m (aka. Panda loach) 4
Trichopsis pumila 5 maybe
Hyphessobrycon amandae ~50
Corydoras pygmaeus ~10/15
Caridina multidentata 4/5
Neocaridina shrimps
Ramshorn Snail - A LOT.

And two most-recent pictures I had on my phone before first Eleocharis "hair-cut" :D Really need to make a few more up-to-date pics and update the journal.
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This is the first pic I took, when I poured some water on the Eleocharis:
first-water.jpg
These are some not-that-old pictures of my under water jungle:
IMG_0784.JPG IMG_0785.JPG IMG_0786.JPG IMG_0788.JPG IMG_0789.JPG IMG_0791.JPG IMG_0796.JPG IMG_0797.JPG Juncus.jpg Palustris.jpg Palustris-2.jpg
My amber tetra crew, mixed with black mollies:
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First eleocharis hair-cut:
eleocharis-first-cut.jpg

My favs - panda loaches while trimming eleocharis (sorry, was hard to make proper pic with wet hands):
panda-loaches.jpg
 
My wife got a new phone, hence I can now make better quality pictures. Also, made a water change, cleaned all the hoses, trimmed some plants (except for Eleocharis, need full day for that) and did some really needed under-hood updates in the cabinet :D Sharing some pics I've made:
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And not the most beautiful part - my all pinnatifidas end like this after a while. Have no idea, what else do they need, to keep growing nice and in good condition, so any suggestions would be much appreciated ;)
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Looks like forum does not understand flickr and shows images in the wrong direction for some reason - sorry.
 
I guess time to update, also show current progress, if it can be called progress.
I've realised, that all the fast growing stem plants are not for me - I simply do not have enough time to trim them properly, so I got rid of those.
Another thing - eleocharis. Seems to be quite hard plant to make friends. After three trimmings it does not look good/green anymore, some places look meeeh.
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2018-09-04-2 by Mantas Virkutis, on Flickr
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2018-09-04-1 by Mantas Virkutis, on Flickr
 
It's been a while. And now I've got a jungle in my tank. Got tired of glassware inlet/outlet filter stuff, hence those got sold and I've put back OEM Oase inlet/outlet thingies; also got a few more tech stuff in the aquarium: Chihiros lights controllers and Chihiros Doctor. Does the doctor work? I don't know, but I like the mist it creates :D Also relocated CO2 diffuser, so now I can see some flora pearling at the end of the day. I sort of have grown some material inside the tank, and I guess maybe it's time to do some changes, but then I don't know if I should do that just because...

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Lovely photos of some lovely critters. Plants look awesome too :thumbup:
 
It's been a while. And now I've got a jungle in my tank. Got tired of glassware inlet/outlet filter stuff, hence those got sold and I've put back OEM Oase inlet/outlet thingies; also got a few more tech stuff in the aquarium: Chihiros lights controllers and Chihiros Doctor. Does the doctor work? I don't know, but I like the mist it creates :D Also relocated CO2 diffuser, so now I can see some flora pearling at the end of the day. I sort of have grown some material inside the tank, and I guess maybe it's time to do some changes, but then I don't know if I should do that just because...

32160865857_16426846dc_h.jpg

47102704961_6a090a9d95_h.jpg
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Hi , I like the wild look of your tank! What is the name of the tiger stripted crypt in the third pic? I think I have the exact same!
 
Hi , I like the wild look of your tank! What is the name of the tiger stripted crypt in the third pic? I think I have the exact same!
Hey. That would be Crypt Nurii Pink :) I've got maybe 3 or 4 small plants and now I've got big bush of it. Keeps blooming constantly.
 
So I'm looking into moving my tank closer to the water source in/out place. And I thought why not to make my life easier by coming up with something like an automatic water change. Now I don't want to drill any holes in the glass. I've seen some Chinese stuff like overflow boxes, that you hand on a side. But none of those look neat.
Something like this:
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Does anyone have anything like that? Any tips/hints? :)
I'm thinking about automatic refill from RO water source and tap water (it's good for going straight into the tank, the only drawback it's a bit too "hard" for some plants) and automatic drainage straight to the sewer. I'd still keep my Oase 350 running I think but maybe a sump would be a better solution.
 
The big issue with this style of overflow is air bubbles building up in the overflow tubing. People mod the tubing with a hole at the top of the curve so they can suck out the air bubble.
I used this style of over flow 35 years ago. Now days I just drill my tanks much easier to care for long term and looks cleaner than the old hang on the back style.
 
Over flows can and do work however they require constant maintenance mate
more often than not you will have either a blockage/ restriction of flow or some sort of air lock, be it a pump flow fault or an electricity cut and water flow fail to due to no auto start.
 
So a few days ago I got a bit tired of the old scape, plus some plants were added and some removed. I am not ready for a full re-scape just yet :D
Pictures below are after the re-scape.

Before maintenance:
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After maintenance (a few days with some direct sunlight and I get a green spot algae on the glass):
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Lovely looking tank buddy!

What’s this crypt?


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Thanks



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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