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DD 900 Aquascape Christmas Build

M

Mcchopper

New Member
Joined
16 Dec 2022
Messages
15
Location
Stowmarket
Started aquascaping about 6 months ago and first attempt has lead me to build another and hopefully correct the mistakes from the first attempt.
First aquarium was a Jewel Lido 120, Biomaster 350 Thermo (this has been upgraded to the 850 thermo), HSL light and Controller and CO2 thrown in for good luck. Had poor advice from the pond and aquarium shop, not far from where I live.
As much as I loved the build and the overall look of the tank, I think I should have gone to a specialist Aquascape shop...
Decided that I wanted a larger setup, and having visited Riverwood Aquatics near Sudbury on several occasions for plants, I always envied the larger tanks on display, and always received excellent advice.
I came across Aquarium Gardens just over an hour from me. Their videos are great, and their stock is vast.
So I bit the bullet for a Christmas build...and ordered...
DD Aqua Pro 900 Aquascaper and stand to be delivered before Christmas.
Dave took a lot of time with me and spent ages in the sandpit playing with hardscape, I had an idea to use Dragon Stone to build a V-Shape scape with valley running to right rear, with the stone laid on a low angle and pointing slightly forward (it's in my mind, sorry).
Then decided to go for the same build but using dragon wood and grey stone towards the front.
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Left side
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Right side
Substrate next Tropica (4 bags) and ADA soil to bulk up the rear.
Lighting.. Looked at the Twinstar which was the first light I thought of, then I saw the Life Aqua Prime Pro 900, bit pricy, but thought I would push the boat out. However, I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it and settled for Pendant kit (more on that later).
Already have CO2 (2kg bottle) and JBL CO2 controller.
The good news is the tank arrived on the 21 Dec from D-D via pallet delivery.. thank you Bartrums who delivered in a very large lorry, too big to navigate the gravel driveway, thank heavens for battery pallet trolly.
Next was to move the Lido 120 1.5 meters to the right to make room for new tank. Used furniture castors from Amazon one under each corner half emptied the aquarium and steadily moved to the right.
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So we are now at the start of the new build... Although you might notice that there is no rubber base under the tank, and there should be. Contacted Aquarium Gardens just to check if one should be in place, and sure enough it was missing. Dave at AG spoke with DD and next morning two very nice young ladies came and stuck the rubber base in place... with apologies from DD
Also received the plants ordered from AG..
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Incredibly well packed, they just have to stay in the bags for another 24 hours while I play with hardscape.
 
Nice start 👍

I see some similarities with my tank (looks very like AquaSys230 90x53x55 +pinewood cabinet) 🤩 I started my build just few weeks ago, but due to the light arriving late, can't move on with the plants yet.

Keep the photos coming 👍
 
Continuing with my creation on the 24 Dec 22. I had ordered a ADA Background light from Horizon aquatics so that just had to be put in place, the graduated panel proved a nightmare to apply without bubbles tiny bits of dust becoming trapped. I tried the ADA method, i.e. no water, applied using the electrostatic properties of the plastic, appeared to work at first, however, there were areas that had not statically attached properly. Removed and reapplied with the YouTube method and standard method of applying backgrounds with deionised water mist, this was better but still could not remove all the bubbles. However, once the light is on it was difficult to see the bubbles.... just admit it does look great though... very pleased.
DD900 was on the stand and started with the substrate, ADA Power Sand to bulk out the rear of the aquarium, and then 4 bags of Tropica Aquarium Soil (only used 3.5). Then started to recreate the hardscape from my visit AQ.
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Once all the substrate was in place time to look at arranging the Dragon Wood. This was not as easy as I thought it would be, just didn't look as good as it did in Aquarium Gardens and needed more rocks, both to weigh down the wood and to attache the wood to.
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There was so little contact area between each piece of dragon wood and the rocks and I was using the recommended JBL black goo ... mistake number one even after 24 hours it had not set with any strength. Tried some DD Aquascape Construction epoxy. This was better but the small contact areas did not help, Cigarette filters and superglue were much better... need some coffee now...
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That did the tricko_O.. I did not like the the scape as it was and needed to change for something other than just the Dragon Wood, So went for some Frodo Stone from Riverwood aquatics. also had issues with the light from AQ Life Aqua Pro 900 EX, which was their recommended next best light after the Twister. The issue was 2.4 Ghz WiFi. I have BT Complete WiFi which does transmit on both 2.4 and 5 Ghz, however, cannot change the SSID to split out 2.4Ghz. Bearing in mind that AQ are closed until Jan 3rd 23, I was kind if stuck with the light on or off. I did try to contact them via their website.. but no response as yet. I did email the manufactures in Taiwan, and to my surprise they were straight back to me on Christmas Day with support, which did not work either. Then on Boxing Day I was WhatsApp'd by Thomas from Aqua Life in Taiwan and we were able to make it kind of work, the bottom line was despite my router being 10 meters away the signal was to weak.. Now with background light and light above and some of the dragon wood gone.. I had this...
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Which I am very please with.. Will just add a few smaller Frodo stones under the dragon wood on the right front. I have left some planting space to move the plants from the old tank.
So the cycling begins. I relocated the filter from the original tank Oase 850 Thermo hoping to shorten the cycling period.. I have been changing 50% water every 2 days now for the last 8 days or so and the NH3 remain too high.
I have also be playing with the the water chemistry. We have very hard water in Suffolk (KH of 18 and GH around 10), I have settled on using 50% RO and 50% tap on each water change which leaves KH of around 8 and GH 5. Using Seachem Stability every day and fertiliser (JBL FERROPOL 24), with CO2 from 6kg fire extinguisher. Plants are looking good and growing even the ones from the pots of jelly.
 
03/01/23… Finally a move in NH3 from the original 10ppm, now at 1ppm, NO2 at 0 ppm and NO3 at 2.5 ppm. Hopefully tomorrow I will start transferring fish from old tank to new. I will probably keep using the Stability until the bottle is empty, and now using Prime to capture any nasties for the next week or so. Looking forward to taking down the old tank and moving that on… need the space to keep her in doors happy.
 
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