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By far the fastest hands in aquascaping, and a truly passionate individual. I had the pleasure of helping set up a couple of his workshops at Ecoarium and share some Francesinhas as well, he will be missed.

Like all Oase biomaster filters, it's generally well built (good plastics) but it suffers from issues caused by its complexity. The pre filter sponges are too dense and will clog easily, flow is weak for its class, the trays have a stupid shape because of the pre filter so there's some bypass...

La Plata is so bland tbh, I was very disappointed the first time I used it. By far the best yellow/natural sand I've used is the Zolux Aquasand Rio but it might not be easy to find in the UK.

Those Eheim canisters are overpriced crap, just get a JBL E1502 and call it a day.

Cyperus Helferi, Cryptocoryne Wendtii green and brown, Bolbitis Heudelotti, Microsorum Trident or Needle Leaf, Blyxa Japonica, Monte Carlo and Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis or Nova Zealandae will do the trick. The photo is very low quality so I can't say for sure those are the exact plants used but...

Twinstar power adapters are very low quality and fail often. I have two 900E on my tank and I've replaced both adapters already, and then the new ones failed again. I solved the problem by wiring a computer power supply to them, by using the 12V lines.

You really shouldn't, the acrylic sheet (diffuser) is not flush to the sides and will let moisture in.

They are very high quality and efficient (good par with low power consumption) but 60cm might be just too much. Skylight hyperspot seems to be the "to go" light for tall tanks these days.

Considering Eheim quality seems to be plummeting, I'd go for the 2180.

After a couple months it looks like this, freshly trimmed and cleaned. There's some BBA on the anubias and bucephalandras near the water surface but that is slowly getting sorted out.

Amazon.es cancelled my order, guess I won't be getting it after all. The cost to order from the UK will be excessive (35 pounds plus customs etc).

If you feel like starting over, start over. Nothing a big ikea storage box won't fix. You can keep your fish in there for days as long as your filter and heater are running. Take your time, clean everything and rescape. It feels hopeless sometimes but I've always managed to turn it back around...

I don't think it will be too much, my tank is just a bit bigger than an Aquascaper 900 (60cm deep instead of 50) and I'm using a Hydor Professional 600 plus an Eheim Pro4 250. To be honest though, even though I disliked them in the past, Jbl filters are extremely affordable and work wonders...

I'd dim the lights to about 60% and do a 5 hour photoperiod, the Twinstar 600S is pretty powerful and you don't need all that light when you're having those issues. Once the plants are healthy you can set it to full again. The filter isn't bad as long as it's not crammed with media but you could...

Two JBL E1502 would provide excellent turn over and be cheaper to buy than some of the big filters out there.

Thanks, they are my pride and joy, here's a shot from the previous tank

You should have a permanent drop checker in the tank, if you don't like the common ones because they get in the way you could also buy a hang on type, its reaction is a bit delayed compared to the in tank ones but it works fine if you keep that in mind. Look into the lighting thing too, I've...

The pictures are supposed to be judged without a name attached to keep things fair, if that's actually how it goes...I have no idea.

What are your co2 levels? 2 bubbles per second seems like too little for that size tank. Also I know you said you'd like to not change the lighting but I've never had much sucess with ramping lights up and down, I'd stick to 6 or 7 hours at full power.

They will probably eat a few once they get a taste for it but there are enough hiding places so that most of the population can survive. Then again this is something that happens in almost all tanks that have both fish and shrimp.

New inhabitants, I wanted a sort of unusual shoaling fish and these caught my eye - Melanotaenia Praecox

I've had a layout that got completely overwhelmed by this type of algae to the point it felt disgusting to reach in and pull out what seemed like an impossibly large amount of crap. I kept up my water changes and removed all that I could with a toothbrush and after a couple weeks it just stopped...

It's the end of the second week, everything running smoothly, plants are healthy and the first signs of algae are appearing, there's a very light coating of green on the top of some of the rocks, I'll be brushing them often and plan on introducing a few more Clithon Corona snails. I've also...

No, this fixture is made for standard 90cm tanks with 10mm glass, so the light itself is shorter by a couple millimeter because the acrylic legs on both ends have to sit on the tank and sort of overhang on the inside.

I usually say skimmers are like the printers of the aquarium world, so much technology but they always suck. The lily pipe skimmers are my favorite ones but it took me a while to figure them out. There's a few things everyone should know - 1 - not all pipes are the same, even from the same...

Thank you everyone for the comments, I'm truly happy with this layout, and while I am planning on a few touches here and there, mostly in the rock and gravel work up front, I think it's a strong layout. As for the wood, there's the giant piece of wood on the left, which weighs around 20kg, it...

It won't sit properly if the glass thickness is under 10mm. I've had the same issue with my previous tank and solved it by installing rubber washers between the fixture and the acrylic legs, thus making the whole unit a big longer.

Most I've seen are 70cm tall but I find 80cm to be much better for a medium size tank (90p pe), If the tank is smaller I would make the stand a bit taller, like 90cm tall for a 60p. Keep in mind if it's too tall maintenance becomes a burden, you should be able to reach the bottom of the tank...

I got mine a week ago and I'll let you know how it goes :D

I've had my 90x45x45cm tank for about two years now, it was purchased used at a very low price and it made for a good oportunity for a budget scape. Of course things never go that way with me and I found myself buying better light fixtures than I anticipated so the only things I saved money on...

Tropica soil does leech ammonia, although not as much as ADA aquasoil. Just keep up with your water changes, plant heavily and you will be fine.

A single Chihiros A series will not provide enough coverage for a 50cm deep tank, while the alternatives will be much more costly, it's a case of buy cheap, buy twice. I'd suggest a Twinstar 1200S, version III is just release and is a bit cheaper than version II. It's an investment but very much...

You can plant everything and do a dry start, almost all plants that you buy were grown in an emersed state so they will do just fine as long as the humidity is right.

Considering it's a black water setup, light won't reach plants that well to begin with, and since the Twinstar E series is not that powerful, I would set it to 40-50% and see how it goes.

Keep it and rescape it, that is a dream setup there's no point replacing it :D

No problem. As for the future, even if it stops working with your phone (current or new). It should be very easy to find an older android phone for very cheap that can run it.

Hi, My friend Luis has two Lupyled fixtures at his store (Ecoarium), so I've asked him for the app, and here you go, apk for Android, let me know if it works. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1a8hvh1j3kujibz/LUPYLED%201.0.3.apk?dl=0

You're not supposed to vaccum aquasoil, what most people do is gently waving their hands just over the substrate to lift up any waste that will then be sucked out through a water change.

Even though I much prefer the classic NA style, I'm not against Diorama layouts entering and winning, I'm against artificial items in the layout and of course, against fraudulent editing.

I agree, I just meant that we have very high ranking tanks that use artificial items, like Steven Chong's tank, and somehow I don't think that would fly if Mr. Amano were still among us.

If a "nature aquarium" with mirrors inside will not be disqualified, I don't see why a photoshopped image should.....both should be out tbh

Looking at the EXIF data, it's an Olympus PL5

I would wait a couple weeks for version III, which is coming out now. It's really hard to tell the different to be honest but there's usually different power consumption stats so you can look at the box to make sure and compare it to the twinstar website.

Funny how everyone says it's easy but I found it much more demanding than other types of Microsorum, and then I see both George Farmer and you in agreement with this. Maybe it's time plant distributors stop calling it an easy category plant?

I like how those stands look, I'm actually getting a very similar one custom made by ILA Europa because my new tank is 90x60x45, so the ADA stand is too small. I just think your setup would look more minimalistic without that twinstar reactor and with a different light, the normal ONF flat one...

JBL Proscape tweezers and scissors are excellent. I don't even like the JBL brand that much but those are the tools I pick every time.

If you want something that produces bubbles that are just as fine, has more functionality, is cheaper and you don't mind that it looks ugly, get a Tropica diffuser, I've owned several and would vouch for them as the best in tank diffuser out there.

By then you need to reduce N and P to slow everything down and keep trimming always at the same spot. As for the substrate height, it's obviously not shallow in the back but it's not as high as I normally like it. 1/2 of the height of the tank is usually good enough for stems even with a light...

The reason for your problem with the stems is probably a combination of that light fixture and the low substrate height at the back. The 900E isn't that powerful and stems only really start to grow nicely when they reach the top third of the tank. You need to keep trimming them at around 1/3...

The Violet style of inflow usually allows for more water flow.

Seems kind of underpowered for something that large....

I highly doubt most of the criteria they claim to use are actually used for all layouts. Then again, considering they dont publicly show the exact scores for each category and will not discuss grading, we'll never know. It does not bother me that much, but no matter how interesting it looks, I...

A friend told me that trick is done by using epoxy resin, not mirrors. I guess it does look interesting on the photo (I'm talking about Steven Chong's tank) but it would look pretty stupid live. Then again most of those diorama tanks would look much worse live than they do on the photos. As far...

I'd go for the 600S instead.

The problem with that is that small fish or shrimp will be able to go into the outflow of the skimmer and get crushed by the impelled when it starts up again.....

Not really, I would consider a powerful filter a jbl E1502 and up, more towards the Eheim 2080 side of things.

You trim it pretty much wherever you want and it will grow from there, like any other stem plant, but from my experience it takes a long time to recover from a trim and it'll be a couple weeks until you start seeing new growth. When I have just a few stems I tend to cut right above a node, just...

By broad I assume you're referring to the violet inflows, those usually allow for a higher volume of water to flow through at a given time compared to regular inflows. It's not really necessary unless you have a very powerful filter.

Most skimmers are death traps but the worst I've seen is the eheim skim 350.....ridiculous considering it's pretty expensive. I'd recommend a skimmer that can be found by looking up JY-01, it's very cheap and comes with a guard. It won't keep shrimp out but most fish will be safe.

There's no warranty on Chihiros products from Aliexpress, you should find your local distributor.

Intake skimmers dont do so well with high powered filters, it's not that the Oase 600 is very powerful but it's borderline excessive for cheap pipes with limited openings on the bottom part, causing too much water to go in from the top, pulling air with, this was a nightmare for a while with my...

Twinstar 600CC-RGB should be around that much.

Looks pretty nice, these lights look decent for any tanks that are not too deep, maybe up to 30cm.

For most power adapters you don't even need a converter. If your AC cable detaches from the adapter brick you can just head to a store that sells computer related stuff and get a new cable with the right socket.

I'd just give up and return it. It's a pain in the ass any time I have to change anything in my wrgb settings and I've had three different controllers. I'll be sticking to twinstar with a plain old timer.

Just do more frequent water changes during the first couple weeks after you add more soil. You can also use seachem prime (or any other equivalent product) to neutralize the ammonia.

You can use it under the inlet, no problem, but I'd suggest getting a cheap inline diffuser as soon as you can, Qanvee diffusers are dirt cheap on ebay.

You need to install it on the inflow of the filter, not the outflow. Some argue this is not safe for the bacteria colony in it but since you'll be doing it on a secondary filter that will not be a problem. If you intall the diffuser on the inflow the co2 bubbles will have plenty of time to...

You could just run an inline diffuser on the intake of that filter.

Spring scissors are nice for small details but not essential, I don't own a pair.

Get the JBL set, it's truly good quality for the price, which is something I can't say about any other product they make... To begin with you pretty much only need the straight tweezers (30cm), straight scissors and maybe wave scissors if you're planning on having a carpet. You can get these...

My eheim pro 4 is by far my worst filter. The only redeeming quality about it is the hose release system, which is much better than Hydor's, other than that, Hydor professionals are better in every single aspect.

It's an older light, only white leds I think but the build quality is good and worth the price in my opinion.

You can find them easily on ebay.

Flow doesn't seem bad but it could be better, maybe you packed that matrix a bit too much? Also I'd do more frequent and bigger water changes, along with manual removal of algae. I usually do 50% three times a week when I get a rough start to a setup and then switch to 50% once a week when...

What is your maintenance routine?

To be honest, just like the 24/7 light timers and other similar devices, it's a gimmick. A planted tank does not need all this BS and even things like the co2 control through a ph probe will not improve anything at all, I'm speaking from experience after trying a very expensive JBL set.... I...

It is indeed ugly and only works on the right side, but it's cheap and it works extremely well, the bubble size is finer than the neo diffusers in my experience.

It will slowly break down but it lasts longer than others since each grain is tougher or harder than other substrates I've used, if that makes sense to you.

Looks like you can still suck out the substrate separately with a hose since there are layers. As for the plants you just set them aside, keep them moist, and replant them as soon as you get your soil sorted out.

I'd recommend using a gravel with a bigger grain size to make the transition from substrate to sand, that sand looks way too fine to stay on top of the substrate. I'd take it apart and fix it, you'll never enjoy it knowing it didnt go as planned.

I could grow plants with the WRGB90 but I always felt like something was wrong, then I switched two tanks from chihiros lights to TS E series and saw great improvements, in both absense of algae growth and healthier plant growth. I considered the fact that the E series is indeed less powerful...

Nah, it's just crap. I've used many different settings, from 30% to 100% and could never get satisfactory results, I've used that light for over a year and I'm done struggling with it. Now it has been moved to my wife's terrarium where its lack of quality shouldn't matter. Keep in mind I'm...

I'd take any of the Twinstars over the Chihiros any day, I know this will be controversial but the only thing chihiros wrgb grow well is algae...No matter which intensity I used I could never get healthy growth like with the twinstar. As for the price difference, I'd save money and get the old one.

Aquael Leddy 2 Plant

It's the opposite problem of what happened to me. I got a 900E II for my 90x45x45 tank, but it doesn't fit probably because the glass thickness is 8mm and not 10mm. Nothing a little adjustment to the screws won't fix, but the fit isnt tight at all.

There will be an event soon, part of the Aquaflora tour, I'll try to capture some footage of that as well!

A video of my local store, which I helped produce, with inspiration from George Farmer's videos :D

No, those lights work straight off of 220/240V AC power, dimmers need to be installed right after an AC/DC converter.

Take a look at this video: It's in Portuguese but the important info is on the screen, you can see the Twinstar C-RGB and E one right after the other. There's a slight difference but nothing too major. Also there's par readings ;)

It tends to create air pockets more easily when it's placed on the inlet, but if you're careful when priming the filter and tilt the heater a bit to get all the air out there's no reason you cant do it.

The frame is very thick, bulky and not elegant, definitely not something I'd expect from ADA.

How expensive are the Neo diffusers in the UK? They cost around 10e in Portugal so at least here the clones are pointless.

I do not have any pictures of this kind of setup by I know this has been done and recommended by my LFS, so you should be fine as long as you dont have demanding plants near the edges of the aquascape. And just a little curiosity, I was doing a video at my lfs testing PAR ratings for several...

I'd say it's great for that type of setup.

The VIV pipe has an even more severe downward angle. https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Dvk.JVXXXXbtXpXXq6xXFXXXO/Lily-pipe-VIV-13mm-17mm-Orchid-Violet-inflow-outflow-Glass-Pipe-same-quality-as-ADA-for.jpg I got one for sale if you're interested, shipping from Portugal to the UK shouldnt be too...

Not rare at all, look for VIV Violet pipes, I have one (16/22) and it does exactly what you need.

After one year it looks like this, this tank will be rescaped soon.

I would get two Hydor Pro 600 from Aquaristic, extremely cheap and excellent quality.

No, the connector is completely different - it has four separate channels.