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'Eruption', my lockdown scape

Hi all,
Just wanted to ensure a consistant solution and not sure if any of the elements would sink to the bottom and be dosed first and then the solution would not be that accurate in the later weeks.

I'm really not sure, intuitively stirring seems a good idea, because salty water is denser etc.

cheers Darrel
 
After much deliberation, I'm about to pick up an Aquael 1500, but in my search I did find the 2000 model for only £10 more (£170 including delivery) from amazon normally this size sells for around £200. I was very tempted to pick up the bigger model, but having done a quick calculation the 2000 model would provide far too much flow in my 60p even acounting for filter media and tubling reducers, but if any one was looking for the 2000 model they could pick up it for a little cheaper right now.
 
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After much deliberation, I'm about to pick up an Aquael 1500, but in my search I did find the 2000 model for only £10 more (£170 including delivery) from amazon normal this size sells for around £200. I was very tempted to pick up the bigger model, but having done a quick calculation the 2000 model would provide far too much flow in my 60p even acounting for filter media and tubling reducers, but if any one was looking for the 2000 model they could pick up it for a little cheaper right now.

got the 2000 for my 80p for 160€ shipped on amazon too. Can’t beat this price IMO:)
 
Hiya cookies, wow your price is even better and here I thought i found it quite cheap 😅.

Btw thank you and everyone's input in helping me choosing a filter, ultimately it came down to cost, and flow rate as an Oase 350 didn't give quite as much while still costing alittle bit more.
 
My replacement Aquael 1500 filter arrived yesterday :), and is now installed, well what can I say, this filter is really quiet! I am sat next to filter while writing this and had to check that filter is turned on :D, exactly what I was hoping for. I've had used some Eheim hose reducers but flow seems still seems be to sufficient that I feel confident enough remove the small pump I had in the tank.

Its not quite as beautiful as my previous stainless steel ADA filter, but the black finish isn't to bad, but certainly runs alot more quiter thou, which is one of the main reasons I replaced my filter. Hopefully the prefilter will be as easy to use as has been suggested. Changing the filter also meant I've been able to remove the step-down transformer that was needed for the ADA filter, which sometimes had an annoying buzzing noise 🙂.

2020-07-26 - Pump.jpg


Since I'm here's a quick update picture of the tank, the Rotala seems to be recovering from the trim last week, and it wont be long before it's UG turn to gets a trims too. Other than the shrimp still no other liverstock, as not had time to pop over to my local aquarium store (The Abyss in Stockport).

2020-07-26.jpg


Unfortunately however I've had 2 set backs this week, I'd been away since Tuesday night and came back Sunday morning to find that my C02 had ran out while I'd been away. I also noticed that my twinstar M7 reactor was no longer working :arghh:, so got replacement reactor on order too.

I've notice that i now have a few strands of blue green algae :arghh:. Lack of C02, my twinstar no longer working and no nitrate dosing has probably all contributed on the onset of BGA.

The saving grace is I'd recently replaced my lights and when I did I'd also installed a dimmer unit which allows me to ramp up lighting levels throughout the day, so I've only have 100% of lights on for 2 hours of the day, when I'd previous had lights levels set to 100% all through light cycle.

Big water change and sucked up as much of the visible algae as possible, and reduced light level significantly, until i get my C02 back up an running hopefully as soon as possible. I actually have a secondary standby C02 canister (fire extinguisher type), but unfortunately my c02 regulator doesn't seem to be able regulate the pressure from the fire extinguisher.

I wasn't aware if this when I purchased it, that will teach me for buying a cheap C02 regulator off amazon :banghead:.

Pretty sure Excel not going to help deal with BGA, so may have to do a 3 day black out to get rid of it all, but will see how it goes.

Thanks for looking.
 
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I don’t know about Excel (or similar) and UG, but I’d likely not experiment

Note that Green Aqua have recently removed the Twinstar reactors from their tanks, as they felt it was affecting the moss longterm

 
Note that Green Aqua have recently removed the Twinstar reactors from their tanks, as they felt it was affecting the moss longterm
Hiya Altro, I'd also seen the same Greenaqua video 😄, and was surprised that the twinstar sterilizer were effecting moss longterm, not something I'd read before 🤔.

I don't have much moss in the scape, only weeping has been left visible on index wood fingers 😅, as the moss didn't seem to take initially I covered most of it with HC.

The twinstar sterilizer inject alot of micro air bubbles, which I've read would have helped reduce the likelihoodly of BGA, and I also use it as a buffer to allow me to inject more C02 without harming the shrimp or any future livestock I may introduce.
 
Nice to hear that your experience with the aquael is very good so far. :)
Tank is looking very nice ;)
 
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Note that Green Aqua have recently removed the Twinstar reactors from their tanks, as they felt it was affecting the moss longterm
Interesting, did they cover this in more detail in any video? Wonder what long term effect that was having?
 
Looking great! see that you're dosing through a auto doser, but i do not see any outlets anywhere at the top of your tank.
Are you injecting them inline? or how are you currently making it look so sleek and keeping the tank with as little distractions as possible?
 
Not really, all that was mentioned was they noticed long term issues with moss using the twinstars sterilizer, so they have stopped using them 🤔.
They did eventually reply to one of my comments on FB, saying that it was turning the moss brown, so not sure about that ;)
 
Hello qingwen,

Thanks, there is a hose clamp but I didn't take any recent pictures, but I did add a few pictures of my dosing set up on my other post.

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/my-experience-using-a-jaboa-3-4-doser.61717/

I have a new pipe clamp on order which should hopefully be a little more discreet.

Scape not looking the best at the mo, as I trimmed the UG, it was getting quite thick, but after trimming its not looking as great, lots of white patches, so not sure if it will recover :(.

Its a slow grower so if dose recover it will take abit if time, unlike other plants I've found when you trim UG it doesn't recourage new grow as quickly.

Thou the Bruce's recently flowered which was nice.

20200804_164509.jpg
 
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Hello All,

It been awhile since i last posted, so though i uploaded an an update picture of progress of scape.

2020-08-25.jpg


Sadly still no fish, just not had time to visit my local aquarium shop.

Everything is growing nicely, the picture was taken just after the the UG was trimmed again so looking a little pale in places but hopefully should recover, it pretty much fully carpeted.
Ive read that if allowed too get thick UG can float, so in addition to trimming I am also using T pins to hopefully help hold the carpet down onto substrate.

The Rotala in the back was also recently trimmed again, although it is growing well, it doesn't seem turning the lovely red i was hoping to achieve, even thou i am not dosing any Nitrate KN03. Perhaps the twinstar 600S are just not bright enough.

The HC is also taking a lot of maintenance/trimming to keep in check.

Those eagle eye will notice the rouge shrimp to the right, this is not a crystal red, I have recently noticed a few blue shrimp that i used to have in the tank, thought i had caught them all and moved them over to my other tank, but i guess a few manage to evade capture. Going to have spend a bit of time trying to the catch them before they breed with my crystal reds, thou i suspect that it already to late. I had hoped the only shrimp i would have in this scape would be crystal reds :(.
 
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Hi all,
and was surprised that the twinstar sterilizer were effecting moss long term, not something I'd read before
saying that it was turning the moss brown, so not sure about that
I think it would be the oxidising effect of the <"nano-bubbles">, you can get a similar effect when polluted water is <"super-saturated with oxygen">, or when you add a strong oxidising agent like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

Most of the literature involving <"Gas-bubble Disease"> talks about fish gills etc, but similar effects will occur in mosses, which don't have a cuticle or epidermis to protect their photosynthetic tissue.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all,I think it would be the oxidising effect of the <"nano-bubbles">, you can get a similar effect when polluted water is <"super-saturated with oxygen">, or when you add a strong oxidising agent like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

Most of the literature involving <"Gas-bubble Disease"> talks about fish gills etc, but similar effects will occur in mosses, which don't have a cuticle or epidermis to protect their photosynthetic tissue.

Interesting, not something I read about, there's always something to learn with this hobby.

Thanks for your insight Darrel.
 
Hello All,

It been awhile since i last posted, so though i uploaded an an update picture of progress of scape.

View attachment 153373

Sadly still no fish, just not had time to visit my local aquarium shop.

Everything is growing nicely, the picture was taken just after the the UG was trimmed again so looking a little pale in places but hopefully should recover, it pretty much fully carpeted.
Ive read that if allowed too get thick UG can float, so in addition to trimming I am also using T pins to hopefully help hold the carpet down onto substrate.

The Rotala in the back was also recently trimmed again, although it is growing well, it doesn't seem turning the lovely red i was hoping to achieve, even thou i am not dosing any Nitrate KN03. Perhaps the twinstar 600S are just not bright enough.

The HC is also taking a lot of maintenance/trimming to keep in check.

Those eagle eye will notice the rouge shrimp to the right, this is not a crystal red, I have recently noticed a few blue shrimp that i used to have in the tank, thought i had caught them all and moved them over to my other tank, but i guess a few manage to evade capture. Going to have spend a bit of time trying to the catch them before they breed with my crystal reds, thou i suspect that it already to late. I had hoped the only shrimp i would have in this scape would be crystal reds :(.
Looks great
 
Hi all,
Interesting, not something I read about, there's always something to learn with this hobby.
Aquariums are potentially a great teaching tool, there are just so many different processes and interactions going on.

Organisms actually spend a lot of resources protecting their cellular processes from the effects of too much oxygen, it is <"Goldilocks principle">, oxygen levels have to be "just right".

If you think about ozone (O3), or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), they are both effective sterilizers.

cheers Darrel
 
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