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Dave's Aquascape - Update & pics 24th June

Ive got clearseal 24x12x15 and removed the braces they do hold water but you do get a imo huge bow in the glass that worried me so I stopped using it. this might sound daft but once filled with water even 2 inch below the top of the tank you can feel just how fragile it is. I would 100% not risk it
Mark
 
Hey dave, nice to see the rotala bouncing back mate, you could have your powerhead on a timer so it's on for the co2/ lights period and off at lights out give the fish a bit of downtime.
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Thanks I might do this just to give the fish a break! I don't suppose anyone knows a way of slowing down an all pond solutions powerhead!?


With Regards to all the posts of the bracing strip... I will definitely not be removing this. By the sounds of it, its a very important piece of glass!

but why not use it as an excuse to save up for a nice optiwhite replacement? 😀
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I think that's a great idea! 😀


I'm tempted to replace the current rotala with some new rotala as the lower stems are really poor. There's loads of circulations down there now (hardly any before) but I'm not sure if they will recover.
 
Here with an update. Took a few more pictures this evening. I'm afraid to say I uprooted the old Rotala. The lower stems and roots were knackered due to the early stages of the aquascape and the poor circulation, as far as I can gather. The new wavemaker that's in there should sort things out.

I have purchased some Rotala in it's submersed state, therefore it will not need to go through the transition stage from emersed to submersed. The leaves are already thin and look very healthy. I've planted quite a thick bunch of it. Once it grows to the surface I will trim and replant if necessary. Anyone have any suggestions on how far I should trim on the first trimming session?

The rest of the tank is doing quite well. At the moment I am only dosing Profito (micro nutrients) as I want to keep the Nitrate down. I will be purchasing some phosphate soon I don't want to starve the plants from this. However I heard keeping nitrates on the low side helps the Rotala go red/pink. Co2 is still at 1bsp and the drop checker is a medium green. Tank lights are on for 7 Hours a day now. I came to the conclusion they need no more than this in this set-up.

Thanks for looking, and thanks for all your help so far.


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Sunset 19th April 2013 by DavePierce2013, on Flickr

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Sunset by Dave Pierce by DavePierce2013, on Flickr

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Sunset by Dave Pierce by DavePierce2013, on Flickr
 
Dave, that's looking cracking.Puts my Clearseal to shame.
If it were me, when the Rotala has grown in, i'd be tempted to cut back quite hard, the stems that are hidded by the wood to get that area bushy.
But leave the stems to the right of the wood, that are more visible, as single stems.Try and layer it, in a bottom right, flowing to top left direction, following the line of the wood.
Just a thought.
 
stu_ said:
Dave, that's looking cracking.Puts my Clearseal to shame. If it were me, when the Rotala has grown in, i'd be tempted to cut back quite hard, the stems that are hidded by the wood to get that area bushy. But leave the stems to the right of the wood, that are more visible, as single stems.Try and layer it, in a bottom right, flowing to top left direction, following the line of the wood. Just a thought.
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Hi stu, Thanks for the advise. I think I will try and get it as bushy as possible in the corner. That's if my rotala is successful this time. Hopefully lower nitrates and more circulations around the back of that wood should do the trick.


faizal said:
Hi Dave, the tank's looking very nice indeed. I like what you've done with the backlight. Looking forward to seeing this progress.
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Thanks very much Faizal, I'm happy with the back lighting too, it was kind of accidental and didn't plan it like that originally but I think it suits the scape quite well.


I will post some more pictures once the Rotala has reached the surface. 🙂
 
Hi, after some advise here as I'm still having algae problems on the glass. Mainly brown algae that comes back on the glass and on some leaves every week. It's not major but enough that it's bothering me. I am trying to find a reason behind this and the reasons I can think to blame it on are one or more of this:

1) To much light - I have 54Watts on for 7 hours a day. Could be too much? Although I didn't think 7 hours was very much. I know Roatala needs lots of light, the new stuff is doing really well by the way.
2) Not enough Co2 - I injecting 1.5bps and my drop checker is Lime green. So I would probably rule this out as being the reason for the algae.
3) Not enough nutrients. I dose strictly in the morning, 5ml of APF +. This is what's recommended on the bottle but is this enough? I give the tank a 1 day rest the day before my 50% water change. I personally think this could be the culprit but I'm scared of over dosing.
4) Too much circulation. I have recently purchased a 2000LPh wavemaker. Tank size is 60L so combined with the filter the tank circulation is around 30x more then the tank size. Can't see why this would be a problem but would like to know your thoughts/experiences.

Heres a reminder/update on tank specs:

Tank: Clearseal 60L - length 60cm
Lighting: All Pond Solutions Tropical T5 24w Tank Lights x2. 7 hours per day
Heater: 50w 25 Degrees Celsius
Filter: Fluval 205, Lily pipes (from eBay), 2000LPH All Pond Solutions wavemaker
Co2: Injected Co2 1.5bps, drop checker lime green
Substrate: Eco-Complete
Plants: Rotala Rotundifolia, Hemianthus Callitrichoides cuba, Pogostemon Helferi, Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis
Fertz: APF liquid complete fertilizer 5ml Daily
Fish: Lemon Tetras x10, Amano Shrimp x4

Any help with this would be much appreciated as I have been trying to tackle this for the entire life of the aquarium.

Cheers

Dave

P.s. Will get some pics on here of the glass algae soon.
 
Hi dave, looks like diatoms to me, can be wiped of the glass rubbed of plant leaves etc follow with a water change IME probably too high intensity lighting for the tank t5s are surprisingly strong that close to the tank and will increase the need of the plants for co2/ nutrients you could up co2 a little as long as it won't affect your livestock and double the dose of your fertiliser may improve things.
 
It may help mate, you may have to dial down your co2 a little then, the plants growth will slow down so less need for co2, suspending the light would be a better option if possible, you can then adjust the height of the light to give you plant growth rate your happy with algae free, diatoms do often occur in new setups and disappear as the tank matures.
 
Only reason I don't want to is because the plants in my tank are high light and with only one tube theoretically is not enough. Not sure how I would suspend the lighting? The all pond solutions has to legs which rest on the sides of the tank but cannot be raised. Any ideas?
 
Hi dave, I think most people would consider the plants you have as high co2 demanding rather than high light in fact rotala will happily grow low tech so cutting out a bulb would just slow growth. As for suspending the light you can diy a frame use shelf brackets etc keep hassling the algae and changing water and it should go.
 
ok thanks tim. Anywhere i can get information on exacltly how to make a frame?

i have disconnected a bulb and see what difference that makes. Will reduce co3 down to 1bps.
 
Hi Dave, I've got the same light unit as you and suffered the exact same problem as you are. Having both tubes on (48w) is too much light too close to the surface. The std brackets that come with the light don't allow for you to raise it up at all so I made my own DIY lighting rig.

One clothes rail from B&Q @ £8.99, 2 x packs of garage door fixing kits @ £5.58 each and a about 10 mins of bodging and the result is one, albeit not very aestheticly pleasing light rig. End result is all 48w can be used and you can now adjust the height too. Mine is pictured at 20cm above the tank as I'm just experimenting at the mo and don't know how low I can go and still avoid algae issues.

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