First big tank 90cm

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

I have really enjoyed and have been very inspired by lot’s of journals on here, so I thought that I would start my own.

First stop, kit:
Aquascaper 900
Oase bio therm 600
Twinstar III 900s
CO2 art regulator with inline diffuser
Ferts - TNC complete
Manzanita wood
Seiryu Stone
La plata sand
Amazonia v2
Rio Xingo detail stones

I recently picked up the tank, filter, light and co2 regulator plus some other bits 2nd hand from this forum. I am very happy with the purchase.

Bit of background now. I have had a small 40x25x25 cm tank for about a year and a half now, I wanted to start small to see if I liked this hobby and to see if I can keep fish et al alive and well. I am a keen gardener and during the first lock down I discovered terrariums. Terrariums are fine but there is no movements, so when I stumbled on to the world of aquascaping, through James Wong (regular reader of his articles) and his links with Aquarium Gardens, I became deeply fascinated. So the adventure started.

My first tank:

Learnt lots with this tank and have really enjoyed keeping fish and aquarium plants.

I will post again shortly with the hardscape build.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

Hardscape
As part of the tank purchase, the manzanita wood and seiryu stone were included, which is fantastic as I know how much this stuff can cost.

But before I get into the build, I thought I would detail the inspiration for this set up. The first inspiration is from fellow UKAPS member, @Earlscapes and his drop off tank ffound here. I enjoy the built up area on the left and how the wall is used as a platform to show off epiphyte plants, also the low sand section, this creates quite a lot of drama. Love it. Second inspiration is from Green Aqua and one of their freshwater reef tank builds, again with built up stone presenting epiphytes with the retaining wall housing stems at the top. Love it.

You can probably sense the theme I am going for.

Using well washed alpine grit as my base layer, I came up with this for the rock structure:

Then started to play with the manzanita wood and came up with this:

But I was not totally happy, so I continued to play around and change a few bits here and there.

I like this as it is going with less is more by removing wood from the island. I think that once the stems in the island grow in, then any wood in that area would not really be seen.

Adding in the la plata sand and rio xingo detail stones, and we have this:

The tank is planted up now, but if I were to do this again, the area behind the island underneath the filter inlet, I would have used aqua soil and used that space for more stems. I will still do this but will have to use root tabs instead of aquasoil. Top down shot:

I am still not sure about the location of the filter inlet and outlet, or about how best to use the neo flow outlet (advice welcomed). I have removed the end for now while cycling the tank as it seemed to reduce the flow quite a bit and it creates two flow directions which I am not too sure how to utilise to the max. Again any advice or opinions welcome.

I will post about the planting and flooding the tank soon.

Thanks all.

 

[Lauris]

I like the theme. stone + wood and the sand combination is probably my favorite.

looking forward to see it growing in

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

Planting
The tank was planted up 7 days ago, a bit stressful as I was doing it in amongst other things going on in my world, house contributions, cooking, children etc, but managed to get through most of it in that one session.

Started off getting the moss onto the wood using glue, decided against using thread as time was ticking. Next time I plant up a tank I will make sure it is my only task so that I can spend more time on things like wrapping moss with thread. Then it was time to add the epiphytes in the cracks in the wall and dotted about. My wife was concerned that the top of the wall was very flat and thought that I should have made it more irregular. I tried it before planting, but felt that the java and trident ferns I planned for that area, would break up the uniformed look of the top of wall.

I also added some lilaeopsis brasiliensis around the lower parts of the tank. It was now time to flood the tank before adding the taller plants. The wet paper towel was to help stop the moss drying out while planting and filling.

I thought that I had a photo straight after I finished getting all of the plants in, but I do not.

Plant List
From first tank:
Salvinia
Limnophilia sessi
Crypt spirialis red and balanse (from @GHNelson )
Mixed buce starter pack (from @GHNelson )
Java and trident ferns
Anubias nana petite

Bought new:
Anubias barteri nana
Anubias barteri Petite
Buce sintang
Buce kedegang
Buce sp. Red
Crypt x willisii - I ordered parva, but received this. Will look to get a couple of pots of pava soon and will add at a later date.
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Blyxa Japonica
Hygrphilia pinnatifada
Versicularia ferriel ‘weeping moss’
Fissidens fontanus (from @Roland)
Crypt Flamingo (from @Roland) - This completely melted away when put into storage tank with only the roots remaining, we will see if it comes back in the new tank.
Phyllanthus fluitans ‘Red root floaters’ - that is what the label says, but was completely green in the pot. Is this going to red up over time with good light? I have not had this plant before so could someone let me know?

Stems:
Hygrophilia Siamensis 53b
Limnophilia hippuridoides
Lobelia cardinalis
Hygrophilia polysperma ‘Rosanervig’
Rotala macrandra
Echinodorus radicans

Please ignore any spelling mistakes!

I will post again soon with current full tank shots and details about set up.

As always, comments and opinions welcome.

Thanks all

 

[Roland]

Good job, good luck!

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

Cycling Tank
For the first seven days since flooding the tank, I have not turned on the heater and let things exist at room temp, between 17-19 degrees. But have now turned on the heater and have set it to 21 degrees. I will turn it up to 23 degrees 3 days before I add the clean up crew in a few weeks time.

I have one of the Chinese timers for the Twinstar light and had that set for the first 5 days to the below:

After 7 days I have increased the lights to the below:

And I plan on increasing the 16.00 and 21.30 light intensity again after another 7 days.

The CO2 is going and the drop checker changes to quite a good green, see picture below, but am waiting for a replacement ph pen as the one I bought couldn’t take 3 consistent readings from the same glass of tap. We were talking about differences of 2-2.5 ph points between the readings. That is what you get for buying cheap from Amazon, I have one on order from Aquarium Gardens.

Drop checker looks good, but as it has been detailed in another journal, quite subjective as to what the colour actually is. But a nice easy visual, for quick checking.

I am dosing 15ml TNC complete everyday, although the package states only after water changes. I have read a number of times her, that dosing everyday with this fert is fine, but would really appreciate it if someone could confirm or suggest differently.

Starting to get new tank stuff appearing on wood, I think that it is the start of diatoms which is a good thing.

And I have just spotted one of the stems with some weird white stuff on it too:

Questions
Inlet outlet positions, should I consider different locations?
Neo flow, any experiences/ advice of how best to use?
Ferts, is 15ml daily dosing too much, too little or just right?
Are these normal startup diatoms or something more sinister?
Lastly, should I keep the CO2 on until 21.30?

All opinions and advice welcome.

Thanks all

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

Tank shots after 7 days:

The view from the sofa:

Some close ups:

Thanks all

 

[ichigoDoux]

Wow Ehcosbie, that is one beautiful piece of art!

 

[Ehcosbie]

Wow Ehcosbie, that is one beautiful piece of art!

Thank you.

I am really excited to see the stems fill out especially the rotala macrandra which was from an invitro pot and is absolutely tiny at the moment.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

Day 14 update

I have been doing 50/60% water changes every other day for the second week, and will be moving to every third day for this week. I have bought a pump and tubing to make water changes a lot easier, this is because the sink I drain to is the same height as the tank. Well worth the money as it makes water changes a breeze compared to using buckets.

Diatoms are now happily forming and I am seeing this as a good thing. I will try to manually remove as much as I can at the weekend, but know that this is all just part of the process.

Lights are currently set to 35% intensity with a 30 min ramp up and down. I think that I will keep it like this for another few weeks until I have got the diatoms under control.

I have just completed some water checks and I believe that there is still a small amount of ammonia present, no Nitrite and about 30ppm Nitrate.

I have added some temporary extra stems of Limnophilia sessifolia as a floating plant and as a bundle in the back corner, with aerial roots to help with the water quality (As per GHNelson’s excellent tutorial).

Not long now and I will safely be able to add some clean up crew. I think it was a Guiness ad that said “Patience is a virtue”?

Thanks all.

 

[John q]

I am dosing 15ml TNC complete everyday, although the package states only after water changes. I have read a number of times her, that dosing everyday with this fert is fine, but would really appreciate it if someone could confirm

Dosing the ferts daily is fine mate and considering your water change schedule atm I think the 15ml daily dose is also fine.

I think your tank is 186L? If that’s the case each daily 15ml dose will be adding around.

5.34 N03
0.48 P04
4 K
0.065 FE

Once you get to weekly water changes dosing 15ml daily for 6 days would get you at or near full ei on the above nutrients (FE's a teeny bit low but don't worry about that).

So for now just see how the plants respond.

Just caught one of your other questions about C02. You can switch the gas off a good hour before the lights go out.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Dosing the ferts daily is fine mate and considering your water change schedule atm I think the 15ml daily dose is also fine.

I think your tank is 186L? If that’s the case each daily 15ml dose will be adding around.

5.34 N03
0.48 P04
4 K
0.065 FE

Once you get to weekly water changes dosing 15ml daily for 6 days would get you at or near full ei on the above nutrients (FE's a teeny bit low but don't worry about that).

So for now just see how the plants respond.

Just caught one of your other questions about C02. You can switch the gas off a good hour before the lights go out.

That is great to hear, thanks for clarifying that. Looks like I need to read up on EI dosing, though as my understanding of it has some serious room for improvement.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

I did some bits on the tank today, but before I started I tested the water, still have ammonia but getting less and less.

The first thing I did was to build up the area at the back behind the low island, with gravel sand and decor stone, I also added some TNC root plugs to this area too.

Also, since reading another recent post, I have learnt that the weeping moss I have glued onto the wood does not self attach to the wood over time. The glue has been slowly failing. So I spent some time attaching some more layers of weeping moss to the wood with thread. While I quite enjoyed the process, it would have been much easier and less fiddly to have done it before the wood was in the tank. We live and we learn. But overall, happy with the outcome.

Thanks all.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Finally got my hands on some crypt parva and also a pot of hydrocotyle verticillata. 2 plants that I am very happy to be adding to the lower sandy part of the tank (there are root tabs dotted about in the sand).

The tank is in full on ugly stage (please excuse the diatoms in the below pics), I can’t wait to get the clean up crew in, hopefully at the weekend.

Thanks all.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

In light of finding out that weeping moss doesn’t self attach to surfaces, I have continued tying it on with thread, this time onto pebbles and small stones that I dot around the tank. Much easier doing this sitting down than over the tank.

Thanks all.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Hi all,

Tank is beginning to settle down quite well now. I added some clean up crew and they all devoured through the diatoms and there are now only minor problems with the tank. I have moved the inhabitants from my last, smaller tank into this one and they all seem very happy. My last tank is now temporarily acting as a quarantine tank for the next round of additions - CPDs, Emerald Dwarf Rasboras and some pygmy corys.

Tank currently contains:
10 chilli/mosquito rasboras
12 Amano Shrimp
6Cherry Shrimp
4 horned nerites
5 ottos
2 Panda Corys
1 Endler Guppy (last survivor of my children's fish)

The trident ferns are producing lots of baby plants, which I seem to remember from someone else’s recent thread, is a sign that the plant isn’t happy. Any advice on how to make it happier would be welcomed.

The rotala macrandra from an in vitro pot has barely grown. This is a shame as I think the tank would really benefit from some red flashes of plant her and there, to break up the green a bit. I will give it another 4 weeks to see if it takes off, otherwise I will likely replace with some sort of red Ludwigia.

Other than that everything else seems to be settling in and growing away quite happily.

Latest Tank shots to follow.

Thanks all.

 

[Ehcosbie]

Day 1:

Day 42:

 

[Ehcosbie]

View from the sofa:

 

[Ehcosbie]