Banff Mountain Springs

[Richard Dowling]

Hi All,

Im Finally here! Ready start my first journal of what should be my first ever respectable effort at an Aquascape.

I made my decision of which tank to buy after seeing Ed Gercog’s tank at Aquatics Live. I swiftly went with a TMC Signature 60x45x30. With Lighting I took Inspiration from George Farmer and went with a TMC Tile. Whilst I wanted to hang from the ceiling I went with the more practical option for me which was using TMC’s Brackets.

My first stumbling block was the TMC Signature Cabinets lack of filtration holes on the sides of the cabinet. As I wanted my tubes on the sides not the back I had to cut holes in the cabinet. I used a jigsaw to cut the hole, then grey desk cable grommets to insert into the wood…



When it came to the scape I went with a minimal Iwagumi of five Seiryu Stones with Aquagro Nutrasoil as my substrate. I have lacked in my Journal Skills here by not taking photos at vital points but below is roughly what I went with.



I decided to plant the tank with HC at the foreground and E Acicularis at the back. Four pots of each, perhaps 6 of each would have been better!

I used one of Oliver Knott's tips, using plastic window film on the back so that have a slightly opaque background (mine sucks and needs resticking but It looks good when done well) Thanks Oliver!

I plan to do 50% water changes daily for the first week. Its been running for 2 days now. I can already see signs of slight melt and thread algae so I have dropped the light to 75% (from 80%), added some more dry ferts and upped the CO2 slightly. We shall see how it goes




Aquarium Specifications (Updated 13/01/14)

Aquarium 60x45x30cm TMC Signature Optiwhite
Lighting TMC GroBeam 1000ND with controller, 40% Intensity for 7.00 hours (2 of which are ramp up/down)
Filtration Tetratec EX1200, Hydor Inline Heater
CO2 2Kg FE with reg and solenoid
Fertilisation Dry Salts Daily, Easy Carbo when needed
Decor Seiryu Stone
Substrate Aquagro nutraSoil
Plants Eleocharis Acicularis, Hemianthus Micranthemoides (by mistake)
Fish 29x Red Cherry Shrimp, 14 Cardinal Tetra, 3 Otocinclus

 

[darren636]

Which filter are you using, and which tile? The stone looks purple- really nice

 

[Richard Dowling]

Sorry my bad...Ive edited my post, I forgot the tank spec 🙂

 

[tim]

Looks like a good start, you could maybe knock an hour or two off the photoperiod to keep the melt in check, most advise a 6 hour photoperiod on startup increasing as the plants settle.

 

[steveno]

Looking good 🙂 ... i used a similar frosted backing but despite my best efforts i couldn't remove all the bubbles🙁 , i assumed it would smooth out over time but never did so ended up removing, perhaps i didn't give it enough time, hope you have better luck.

 

[Lindy]

Why is it called Banff mountain?

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[Richard Dowling]

Just a beautiful place, a source of Inspiration 😉

 

[Lindy]

I spent 8 days in banff one january -20 to -40 degrees brrrrrr!

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[Richard Dowling]

Ok seem to have controlled the hair algae growth by knocking an hour off of the photoperiod. Its now 5 full hours, and two hours on top of that which are ramp up and ramp down.

I also realised I dosed a little bit too much Iron on one of the early days (which apparently can cause hair algae too)

Carbon Dioxide has stabilised after my early issues with bubble count fluctuation.

Everything going pretty well, HC clearly growing but E Acicularis doing absolutely nothing

 

[stu_]

Hi
nice start.Hope the hairgrass works out for you.
If you ever fancy a change, this shorter inlet works well, with no noticeable drop in flow.
I have a similar set up

 

[Richard Dowling]

Hi
nice start.Hope the hairgrass works out for you.
If you ever fancy a change, this shorter inlet works well, with no noticeable drop in flow.
I have a similar set up

Had I seen this before hand this is what I'd have used. At least that would keep the shrimp out!

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[Richard Dowling]

Fish suggestions for this tank anyone?? I need some inspiration.

I really like Glolight Rasboras but Im thinking it may need more of an injection of colour from perhaps some Cardinal Tetras 🙄

With shrimp I'll get some Cherries.

 

[aliclarke86]

Cardinal's are always a good choice, such nice little fish 🙂

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[Richard Dowling]

Update, Tank has been running 13 Days and growth seems to be glacial! HC growing upwards and not outwards despite trimming down. And Hairgrass again has done absolutly nothing. A majority of the HC increase has been painstakingly replanting cuttings. Seems to be the only way to thicken the carpet at the moment.

Ive just been away from home for three days so unfortunately couldnt keep up my constant water changes, Ive come back to the slightest drops of brown algae on the rocks which ive now brushed off. Other than that, nothing much to report.

I have the lights turning on at 16.00, ramping up until 17.00, from then on the light is running at 83%. It then ramps down at 22.15 for an hour, all off at 23.15. CO2 comes on an hour and half before lights on and off half an hour after lights off.

To prune or not to prune, the hairgrass, shall I cut it low constantly despite it's slow growth or shall I let it grow and leave it?

 

[NatureBoy]

Should be a nice carpet pretty soon enough. If you want to avoid the background having the trapped air effect you can just turn it the other way round...it won't attach by static effect, you can tape it on with selotape very discretely. You still get the blurred / frosted out background, but looks more like the pic 2.

 

[Richard Dowling]

I will be replacing the plastic with a new piece but need to drain the tank so I can move it give me working room. They're a pain!

If that fails I'll give your sellotape a go.

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[aliclarke86]

By the looks of your drop checker you have some room to pump in a bit more co2. IME leggy hc is usually due to poor co2 distribution. It is looking nice and healthy though so keep it up 🙂

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[Richard Dowling]

By the looks of your drop checker you have some room to pump in a bit more co2. IME leggy hc is usually due to poor co2 distribution. It is looking nice and healthy though so keep it up 🙂

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Hmm, that's annoying, because it's running at a good 2bps which should be ok for 80 litres shouldn't it?

It does take a good 2-3 hours to go from a dark green to light green, I also have tended to do water changes in mid photoperiod which can't help.

Does my inlet/outlet, diffuser positioning look sensible?

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[NatureBoy]

I will be replacing the plastic with a new piece but need to drain the tank so I can move it give me working room. They're a pain!

If that fails I'll give your sellotape a go.

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Sorry if I've added to any woes! If you can get to it and peel it away you won't need to drain. You just flip it around and slide it back down...

 

[aliclarke86]

Yeah positioning looks fine (i have same tank btw) that's exactly how I had mine when I used glass ( I have moved back to a spray bar as I much prefer them ) bps is tricky business as there is no standard for counters. I have bubble counters that have such small bubbles I can't even count the bubbles but if I change it then I can count easy. I would suggest getting the drop checker a nice lime green before the lights come on.

As you don't currently have any livestock this is prime time for experimenting with your co2 you can then adjust it if you find that your fish are struggling when you add them.

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