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Dave's Aquascape - Update & pics 24th June

Dave Pierce

Dave Pierce

Member
Joined
14 Jan 2013
Messages
195
Location
England
Hi, a few pictures of the progress on my 60L from Day 1 to day 45. I havn't thought of a name for it yet...I think I was meant to think of a name before setting it up! Any suggestions?

Tank information:

Tank: Clearseal 60L - length 60cm
Lighting: All Pond Solutions Tropical T5 24w Tank Lights x2 (one bulb currentley running)
Heater: 50w 25 Degrees Celsius
Filter: Fluval 205, Lily pipes (from eBay)
Co2: JBL 500g, tmc reg 1bps
Substrate: Eco-Complete, Sand
Plants: Rotala Rotundifolia, Hemianthus Callitrichoides cuba, Pogostemon Helferi, Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis
Fertz: APF liquid complete fertilizer 5ml Daily
Fish: Lemon Tetras, Amano Shrimp, Neon Tetras

Day 1 - plants from aqua essentials. At this point I was not using pressurized Co2. Just an aerosol co2 and easycarbo.


Day 22 - I added some stem plants in the corner around day 10 to help combat algae whilst it matures. Plants were growing well.



Day 45 - I started using pressurized co2 at around day 30 - such a difference in growth! It had a trim on day 40. I took out the stem plant in the right corner and replaced it with some Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis. Fish and shrimp were added on day 38. Amano shrimp sorted out ALL the algae problems.


Latest (around 3 months old):
8707561697_935744569a_b.jpg


I NEED a better camera...anyone got any suggestions for cameras on a budget? I am only using my iPad/phone for pictures so sorry about poor quality.

Anyone know how get rid of the reflection on the back of the tank!?
 

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Hi

Your tank is growing in nicely.

When taking photos of your tank, make sure all the lights are off in the room and take the photos at night (in my opinion this is the easiest way to remove the reflection) The only lights that should be on are the tank lights, No flash. I use a Nikon D40 for my photos, you can pick them up for about £150 off eBay, but I am no expert on cameras so I will leave that for someone else to recommend.

2 suggestion I would give is,
1: Remove the Thermometer you have in there and get something like this: gUSH Glass 'J' Thermometer
2: Replace the internal heater with a Hydor inline heater, you would have to replace all the hose as well for your fluval filter but would be worth it.
 
Hi Justin, Thanks for your suggestions. I am saving for a external heater and I believe you can get them for use with my tubing 🙂 I'm thinking aout buying this one http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/hydor-eth-external-heater-200w-16mm-p-5791.html.

Thanks for the link to the gush thermometer. I shall definitely buy one of these.

I will try taking some better pictures at night with the lights off. I will post my results!

Your tanks are very nice too by the way 🙂
 
Just had a go at sharpening my pictures with photoshop and took the picture with the room lights out. Still some reflection but looking better when I take the picture at night with room lights out.

photo1sfp.jpg
 
Looking good mate. It's just screaming out for some height at the back corners.

Onto a winner for sure thou. Just needs some more time to mature.
 
Once those back stems start ferrying height you're onto a real winner. Nice one.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 
thanks fellas. I know I realy want to add some height to the corners. Do you think its ok to uproot the plants in the corners and add some more ecocomplete to create some height back there? I have been thinking about doing this but not sure if it's safe to do. Anyone help or done this before?
 
Dave Pierce said:
thanks fellas. I know I realy want to add some height to the corners. Do you think its ok to uproot the plants in the corners and add some more ecocomplete to create some height back there? I have been thinking about doing this but not sure if it's safe to do. Anyone help or done this before?
Click to expand...
I think the thought process is good Mate, by raising the back it well no doubt appear to be a deeper tank and would look much better overall. But I would do it at you're next water change, only this time take out 100 percent of the water keeping 50 percent in a bucket to fill it again. I wouldn't recommend adding any soil when there is water still in it. It well turn into a nightmare lol.

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Thanks for the advise. I had an idea of getting a plastic funnel and funneling the eco complete into the corners. to minimise the mess. also eco complete does not leach any tannin or dirt. I want avoid taking the fisk out the tank. I might take out 40% of the water to aid the process. sound ok? going to be tricky either way I suppose!
 
Dave Pierce said:
I wanted to avoid taking the fish out the tank.
Click to expand...
My thoughts too. Any soil u put in whilst the tank is full will cause complete chaos but if your not comfortable with just keeping your fish in a large bucket for 15 mins then I guess your left with no choice pal. Try and take out as much as u can would be my advice 🙂

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Dave Pierce said:
your probably right it will be better for the tank by taking the fish out and draining. Thanks 🙂 i just needed convincing lol. are shrimp hard to catch?
Click to expand...
Never needed to catch any sorry! Try and let us know lol

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Here with an update. Re scaped the tank and it's looking more how I wanted it to. By banking up the substrate in the back corners it has really helped with the layout and overall look.

I took the fish and shrimp out the tank (shrimp not that hard to catch if your quick fortunately!). Put them in a bucket for a hour with heater and air stone and they were fine. I emptied the tank of water and uprooted all plants except 2/3 of the HC. Added more ec complete to the corners, replanted and refilled with 50% old water and 50% new.

Time to pack in the Co2 and watch it grow. 😀 Learning a lot and enjoying it 🙂

 
Glad your enjoying it, it looks great. Did you separate the white sand path with the soil with anything? Like a plastic border between the two for instance? The back stems are already getting height! 🙂

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