• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Andyh's 190l Lounge tank (update 20-09-11)

Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 14

Nice vids Andy. You can tell your a guy who likes his fish, the only thing I couldnt see was a sail fin pleco,lol. Kidding. Theres plenty of movement in there which is nice.

What water are you using, or what are you doing to your tap water to make the fish settle in? Anything special needed?

Cheers.
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 14

john starkey said:
Hi Andy,just read through the journal and i love it mate,you have set yourself some high class standards with your previous scapes so this one has to be good,the scape it self has lots of promise,your rock work looks good and your choice of plants suit the scape very well,the new plant from tropica is very fern like isnt it,one of the best things is your chair placement spot on mate :lol: ,
good luck with it,
regards,
john.

John, Thanks for your kind words, i am really happy with the way the tank is maturing even though i am running a 60cm light above a 90cm tank. The chair is wicked! I have lost many hours watching the fish, although Bex is now fighting me for it! o_O
saintly said:
andyh said:
The Rams are stunning, photos don't even come close to the real thing! I got these from TGM, they are by far the best specimens I have ever seen.
I saw some @ maidenhead aquatics today. They were stunning, but @ £12.00 each, a bit pricey :( I'd of had some too.
tank looks sweet mate
Yes Mark, they aint cheap but they are stunning and once settled into the tank look even better than they do in the shops. :geek:
Graeme Edwards said:
Nice vids Andy. You can tell your a guy who likes his fish, the only thing I couldnt see was a sail fin pleco,lol. Kidding. Theres plenty of movement in there which is nice.
What water are you using, or what are you doing to your tap water to make the fish settle in? Anything special needed?
Cheers.
Thanks dude, i do love my fish and as you have quite rightly spotted this is an "old school" collection of fish (still v.cool though :D ), this tank is in my lounge so i decided to go for some of the old favourites and yes i know cardinals have been used to death over the years, but i wanted to get something that had visual impact straight away, especially as my main sofa in the lounge is some 4-5m from the tank. The Rams and the Dwarf Chain Loach (botia's) are my two favourites by far. The botias never stop really :crazy:
With ref to the water i am using good old Derbyshire tap water (ph bang on 7 always), and with the large amounts of ADA Amazonia and wood in the tank the ph typically drops to mid six's. I always use a good quality de-chlorinator and i am regular as clockwork with 50% water changes. Plus a good mixed diet for the fish (frozen and different dry foods)
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 14

Hello

33 Days - Bit of update:

Started getting some green algae spots on the glass and hardscape (suspected GSA). I checked all my parameters and concluded it was due to a shortage of Phosphate, as my light levels are failry low, and i have good CO2/flow etc.

I looked at my dosing which was daily, Brighty K and Step 1, i had some Easylife Fosfo which i started to add on a daily basis. Which proved challenging as it was v.dilute and to get the Phospate up to a desirable level involved dosing lots target was 30ppm. I have some ADA green brighty special lights, which contains Phosphate, so that started to help. The results speak for themselves as the rocks and the glass have started to clear and its no longer appearing.

I have been exploring the options when it comes to dosing as i fancy a change, and the larger tank is proving more costly to run. So with the help of Clive (ceg) i have taken the plunge into EI.

I ordered all the bits and used the follwing guide kindly put togther for me by Clive:
No worries at all mate. One needs to be confident that the path being traveled is the right one.

It worth reviewing the article a few times because there is a lot of data there. Too much to swallow in one sitting.

Rule #1 is not to adjust for actual volume. If you have a 50G tank then lets just call it a 40G tank and that way we can use the 2X the values of the reference 20G. I've already doubled the numbers for you. Check this out:

Sunday – 50% or more Water Change then dose [3/8 teaspoon KNO3] + [1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4] + [1 teaspoon MgSO4]
Monday – 1/8 teaspoon trace
Tuesday - [3/8 teaspoon KNO3] + [1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4] + [1 teaspoon MgSO4]
Wednesday - 1/8 teaspoon trace
Thursday - [3/8 teaspoon KNO3] + [1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4] + [1 teaspoon MgSO4]
Friday – Rest
Saturday - Rest

These weird fractions are the only reason that making a batch is convenient, but that's just because of the tank size. If you already have fractional teaspoons in the kitchen then so much the better.

I have made a months worth of doses and bought some Tropica style dosing bottles from Aquaessentials, and i have completed a 50% water change and started dosing today, so fingers crossed this hocus pocus works!

Will post some pics of the tank later when i get chance.

Cheers

Andyh
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Nice work, Andy! :D

I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with EI. It's certainly much cheaper and I'm sure it will work well for you, especially as you look after your tanks so well.

Keep up the great work!
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

George Farmer said:
especially as you look after your tanks so well.

I'd agree their to.

You should be fine Andy with EI, which ever dosing strategy you go with.
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

George Farmer said:
Nice work, Andy! :D
I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with EI. It's certainly much cheaper and I'm sure it will work well for you, especially as you look after your tanks so well.
Keep up the great work!
Your not the only one George, never thought i would cave into the old EI hocus pocus. I kind of realised that the way i manage my tank suits EI and should save me a small fortune, which i can spend on my other hobbies! I will keep everyone posted success or complete failure :D
Mark Evans said:
George Farmer said:
especially as you look after your tanks so well.
I'd agree their to.
You should be fine Andy with EI, which ever dosing strategy you go with.
Cheers Mark, fingers crossed! Have you changed your name? no longer a Saint? ;) :lol:
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Day 33 Pictures

So to allow you to see the transition:

Day One
web.jpg

Day 33
web.jpg


So as can be see from the difference in pictures there has been some good growth even though the light is a temporary fix and far to short and underpowered. (60cm light over a 90cm tank) I notice at the edges of the tank the growth is very slow.

The tank has had two major prunes, the hair grass has been cut back harshly once, a couple of weeks ago. I have also removed all the older leaves from the narrow leaf java (just the front lower piece) as test/comparison.

The Hygrophila pinnatifida is growing a little leggy and i will be giving it a prune shortly the lower light levels dont help. Still looks lovely though!
web.jpg


The Staurogyne is going really well, as can be seen there is almost a complete carpet as planned, just pruning out the tall stems as and when required.
web.jpg


My main observation is that compared to my previous tanks the lower light wpg has really reduced that plant growth.
My new/proper light should arrive in the next few weeks and i hope that does the job.

Might not be back on for a while as our baby is due anytime now!

Thanks for looking
Andyh :thumbup:
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Looking great Andy, its been 33 days already?? time flies!! Lower light is not always a bad thing, I have reduce my tank from 6x24w to 2x24w and it still pearls ;)
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Filling out nicely bro. That H.pinnatifidia is in need of some real light. Whens your solar I due? That will get it creeping in no time. It can look like that even under strong light at first, then with a little time, it will branch out. Its a hard plant in some ways, as it like very strong like, but its growth is slow.

I think you need more plants in the middle back of the tank. Is that Pogostemon Erectus? Its uber slow, so you will be waiting some time to get that filled in. Perhaps mix it with a myriophyllum sp. ?

Cheers big ears.

Graeme.
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Hi Andy,

Looking good mate, and as Graeme says above it's filling out nicely, I have H.pinnatifidia in my scape and it is creeping awesomely,mine has attached it's self to some dragon stone which has created a great look creeping up the face of the stone! Look out once that light arrives....... the trimming scissors will be out all the time!
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Sorry Guys not been ignoring you, my pregnant wife went into labour last weekend and i now have a daughter called "Esme" and to be honest i haven't looked at my fishtanks or UKAPS since! :D :D :D I suspect that she is going to keep me entertained for years to come! She is just amazing! ;)

Anyway, back to the journal :geek:
LondonDragon said:
Looking great Andy, its been 33 days already?? time flies!! Lower light is not always a bad thing, I have reduce my tank from 6x24w to 2x24w and it still pearls ;)
Cheers Paulo, I know lower light aint a bad thing but i cant wait for the arrival of my MH. Some of plants around the edge of the tank are suffering and aren't getting enough light.

Graeme Edwards said:
Filling out nicely bro. That H.pinnatifidia is in need of some real light. Whens your solar I due? That will get it creeping in no time. It can look like that even under strong light at first, then with a little time, it will branch out. Its a hard plant in some ways, as it like very strong like, but its growth is slow.
I think you need more plants in the middle back of the tank. Is that Pogostemon Erectus? Its uber slow, so you will be waiting some time to get that filled in. Perhaps mix it with a myriophyllum sp. ?
Cheers big ears.
Graeme.
Alright Big nose!
Tell me about it! the H,pinnatifidia desp needs light so does the Echinodorus 'Vesuvius, hopefully the new light should cure that one. The Pogostemom Erectus is actually filling out nicely at lower level and shortly should look a lot better, i have been thinking of adding another stem to compliment it, i will have a look at what you suggested.
B7fec said:
Hi Andy,
Looking good mate, and as Graeme says above it's filling out nicely, I have H.pinnatifidia in my scape and it is creeping awesomely,mine has attached it's self to some dragon stone which has created a great look creeping up the face of the stone! Look out once that light arrives....... the trimming scissors will be out all the time!
Cheers Dude, i have pruned to HP this evening and that should help, it has done some creeping at low level but not enough, as suggested by others the light intensity needs to be increased to stop it reaching for the sky.
JamesM said:
Hey Andy, that's looking great mate! Starting to fill in very nice indeed :)
Cheers James!

So i have dosed EI for one week now and so far so good, Seems simple enough. No real obvious results yet but the plants all look healthy.

Here is my EI equipment i have purchased: (found the dosing spoons in the back of the kitchen draw, they have now been stolen for fish related things, just don't tell the wife! :shh: :) )
web.jpg


The dosing bottle really make it so easy and as you can see i have written on the bottles what i am dosing etc.
I will keep you updated with my progress on this :geek:

thanks for looking
Andyh :thumbup:
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Congratulations on the daughter! I went to say well done but that didn't sound right. haha.

How odd that you seem to be struggling with light, you'd think with just 20cm change the difference wouldn't be so marked.
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Garuf said:
Congratulations on the daughter! I went to say well done but that didn't sound right. haha.

How odd that you seem to be struggling with light, you'd think with just 20cm change the difference wouldn't be so marked.

Cheers Dude!

What do you mean by 20cm i am confused? The light is a 60cm wide over a 90cm tank, it just doesn't give enought light at the edges also the tank is 45cm/18" deep, so that doesnt help either. o_O

Andyh
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

typo, was meant to say 30. :oops:

I just imagined the drop of to be much less with it suspended over the tank. I do see your point though, the change in light levels with regards depth seems to change so quickly, it makes me wonder with leds if you can't customise the par levels to ensure you get 40 or so par throughout the whole water column. Hmmm.
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

Congrats on the birth of your daughter Andy :thumbup: That will sure keep your hands full.
andyh said:
(found the dosing spoons in the back of the kitchen draw, they have now been stolen for fish related things, just don't tell the wife! )
I wonder how many wives/girlfriends are looking for bits and pieces in their kitchen that have been borrowed for tank related tasks :lol:
I have 'borrowed' 4 tupperware boxes with the snap on lids for my ferts, measuring spoons from the kitchen drawer (like yourself), a turkey baster for picking off pesky snails, a small bottle brush (great for cleaning hoses). The list goes on :lol:
On a serious note, the tank is looking awesome. Another winner by andyh :thumbup:
 
Re: Andyh's 190l Lounge tank. Day 33

congratulations Andy,now you are bottom of the pile :lol: ,love the name you have chosen,

regards ,
john.
 
Back
Top