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'Back in the Saddle' 90cm - 1 year on!

Assasin snails ???work great in my 160 l tank after 2m all snails gone only 4 assasins left :D
 
Hi, as you have no fauna in the tank but the snails...........blast the CO2 and all snails will come out of the water. Then collect them and make them soup :) :p can do that on your day off or something cause need to control the process......may have to repeat the process as tey are tough little creatures.;)
 
Hi, as you have no fauna in the tank but the snails...........blast the CO2 and all snails will come out of the water. Then collect them and make them soup :) :p can do that on your day off or something cause need to control the process......may have to repeat the process as tey are tough little creatures.;)
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, clones suggestion was very effective and it seemed that the high co2 drove them to the surface and I just plucked them out, no sign of any today but I will have my tweezers at the ready :)
 
Hey guys, there has been more chat than pictures lately so I thought I would do another picture upload, as I am using a basic digital camera I thought I would attempt to edit them with Photoshop Lightroom to give a truer impression, I will be borrowing my brothers SLR and tripod soon for some better quality pictures :)

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I have noticed that 3 of the planted HC bunches leaves have started to melt, I am not sure what the cause might be so I thought I would test some of the water parameters today and this is my results:
PH 6.5
KH 40ppm
GH 180ppm

I don't know how accurate these test kits are but maybe it might reveal why a few bits of HC might be melting, I am aerating the tank at night by lifting the outlet above the surface. Possibly my TTEX1200 filter might not be powerful enough for this tank, what do you guys think?
My other concern is the size of the bubble coming from the diffuser, I am temped to go back to my UP-Atomizer but I don't know yet as I am concerned it will restrict the filter flow even further.
I have reintroduced the two additional bulbs to come on for an hour mid photo period since yesterday as the plant mass has increased, and I haven't had any signs of algae that I cannot deal with.
Thanks for looking :)
 
nice tank vito, increased lighting will increase the plants demand for co2 and ferts so if you haven't increased these with the lights could explain the melt, a power head could help flow issues :)
Thanks for the advice Tim, the melting began days before the light increase, would there be too much light in there already with just the 2x 36w hence the melting..,?
 
Hi Vito,
Looks to be filling in nicely :)
I doubt that there will be too much light already, I seem to remember your unit is 12" above the water level, however now, especially with the increased lighting period, the melt could be highlighting a distribution or co2 concentration issue....you could try upping your injection rate.
I don't know much about the filter, but if you think it may be on the edge of being underpowered I'd maybe consider placing the co2 diffuser under the inlet. This way the larger bubbles which your concerned about will be 'mashed' up within the filter, and you won't have to add your inline diffuser which as you say may reduce flow further. I doubt in your minimalist, clean cut set up your going to want to add extra power heads, so it may be worth saving for an uprated filter if the issues persist...you can also sell the current one afterwards to recoup some funds :)
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
The filter will be very under powered for this tank, you could always add a powerhead but you will loose the clean look of the tank, but the HC will benefit from it ;)
 
Hi Vito,
Looks to be filling in nicely :)
I doubt that there will be too much light already, I seem to remember your unit is 12" above the water level, however now, especially with the increased lighting period, the melt could be highlighting a distribution or co2 concentration issue....you could try upping your injection rate.
I don't know much about the filter, but if you think it may be on the edge of being underpowered I'd maybe consider placing the co2 diffuser under the inlet. This way the larger bubbles which your concerned about will be 'mashed' up within the filter, and you won't have to add your inline diffuser which as you say may reduce flow further. I doubt in your minimalist, clean cut set up your going to want to add extra power heads, so it may be worth saving for an uprated filter if the issues persist...you can also sell the current one afterwards to recoup some funds :)
Cheerio,
Ady.
The filter will be very under powered for this tank, you could always add a powerhead but you will loose the clean look of the tank, but the HC will benefit from it ;)
Thanks for the tips guys, I do have an eheim 2028 spare but when I originally installed it the bleeding thing leaked, I think it needs a new o'ring for the lid and when I tried taking the pipes off I snapped the fixture, looks like I'm going to have to order up some spares :)
Cheers
 
Do you come to Central London much? I have a couple of Koralias you could borrow to try out?
Thanks mate, I already have one but as Ady already mentioned I don't want to ruin the minimalist look so it looks like I will have to fork out around £30 for some spares.
 
I believe flow is a bit overvalued in UK forums. Good results may be well achieved with much less flow than people tend to take as a necessity. Especially MR. LD haha ;) :jimlad: Look at amano tanks, he never uses anything but one filter.
With such minimal plant mass the filter must be well enough. The reason should be elsewhere. Do plants pearl?
Anyways if its minor melt I would not probably be worried to much especially if you can see new healthy growth, do you?
 
I believe flow is a bit overvalued in UK forums. Good results may be well achieved with much less flow than people tend to take as a necessity. Especially MR. LD haha ;) :jimlad: Look at amano tanks, he never uses anything but one filter.
With such minimal plant mass the filter must be well enough. The reason should be elsewhere. Do plants pearl?
Anyways if its minor melt I would not probably be worried to much especially if you can see new healthy growth, do you?
i totally agree with this, amano seems to use minimal flow and c02 for that matter, but he also has decades of experience. I reckon he probably does a 100% water change every day with carbonated water :lol: Hell, look at James Marshalls nano and pico tanks, they run without filters sometimes, therefore there is no flow at all :) just extra water changes, maintenance etc, and most likely precise dosing regimes.
To minimise risk in our larger (less easily manageable) high tech tanks its always best in my opinion to cover the bases, that way distribution will be less likely the cause. I look at tanks all the time and wonder how they achieve such incredible results with seemingly inferior flow patterns and low c02......the freshwatershrimp tanks at aquatics live were stunning and a picture of health yet c02 injection seemed low, and especially in the larger tank, circulation had many obstacles. Im sure its all about experience, finding a perfect balance of lighting, co2, tank maintenance and dosing regimes.....just takes a while to learn.....in the meantime we have to do all we can to ensure success :) Even now i (secretly :shh: ) question and blame my tap water, thinking there must be an issue with it, even though i know there cant be, simply because i dont get the results i really want.....but i still have many other things to improve on and try out. I know my distribution could be improved so ill have a go at that and see if i can get better results. I may even try two 50% water changes a week too for a while. If Vito suspects a distribution issue, then most likely there is one i think, but it could be coupled with c02 diffusion also, especially given the slightly increased lighting levels currently used. For me if there's melt, there's a problem somewhere which will only get worse if not addressed. The more light we add the harder it gets to find the balance and then there is even less margin for error.....everything then needs tweaking to compensate.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Great looking set up. Do you have any shots of the setup to include the light and fitting ? I would be interested to see how it all looks.
How is the melt, developing ?
 
Brilliant answer ady, melt is usually caused by lack of flow or not enough co2 to light ratio I am no expert but reading here its usually one of them at fault, were iz the melt at ? Back I set filter outlet etc ?

Great tank by the way hope u get sorted

Dean
 
Looks good Vito, HC can be a pain to get going, particullarly for CO2/flow reasons. Your UP inline may reduce flow, but if you try it, the visible microbubbles may reveal if the one lily pipe outlet is doing 'enough' low down over the substrate...
 
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