fluval spec is no more

[tim]

replanted my spec after seeing some on ukaps all comments appreciated.

jbl aquabasis tesco cat litter substrate with aqua essentials mini landscape rock

plants are staurogyne sp eleocharis acicularis and hemianthus callitrichoides

 

[Kristoph91]

Re: fluval spec

Nice would love a fluval spec! Great little tanks.

Kris

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec

they are kris my local MA says hagen are revamping them so arent stocking them at the moment i'd like another next to it but wife won't allow it yet!

 

[toaster]

Re: fluval spec

Woo, another fluval spec

Hardscape looks nice, would like to see some more pictures tho.

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec

ok some more pics

two days after planting using yeast co2 and 11w clip on t5

just after water change been carried out every 2 days

i'm using easy carbo and profito daily no algae as of yet hc and hg seem to be doing well staurogyne leaves melting a little post more after weekend trim

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec

a quick update photos before and after trim

cut the hairgrass back and the staurogyne replanted staurogyne tops minus the melting leaves

things seem to be going ok so far not sure yet if i'm going to add shrimp or just grow it tear it down and start again

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec

hi folks 20 days since update and to be honest things havent gone that smoothly yeast co2 led to thread algae sorry no pics sorted co2 with excellent welding gas set up found info on forum.http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=7696
here are some latest pics everything now suffering extreme diatoms

staurogyne leaves are worst affected should i trim the plant right back or will diatoms disappear eventually i'm not sure i want to use easy carbo as tank is now inhabited by taiwan bee shrimp and i've lost a fair few shrimp in this tank not being able to get the dose right .

a lonely old taiwan blue shrimp i've had for about 18 months now

more brown than blue though and a baby cherry shrimp that hid in a bag of assorted snails my lfs gave me for my pygmy puffers.any tips for cleaning the rocks without removing them would be most appreciated.

 

[toaster]

Re: fluval spec

Looking good tim. In my spec I have been dosing easy carbo and I have kept some crystal red's for sometime now, and they are most jolly. I dose 0.3ml daily

As for cleaning the rocks, a new toothbrush.

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec

thanks for that toaster time to get a smaller syringe toothbrush didnt seem to shift diatoms.your spec very nice by the way main reason i dragged mine out of the box again .

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec shrimp death

after trimming back and 70% water change yesterday morning the spec clouded up badly lost one bee shrimp and have temporarily re housed the rest of the shrimp. plants were covered with long strands of white threads unfortunately no pics taken i was more concerned with moving shrimp and was late last night.any ideas cause of this ? testing water showed nitrites present but no detectable ammonia .

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec quick update

tank suffered from what i can only describe as a bacteria bloom which has led me to think the filter layout of the spec is inneficient only my opinion. so i removed the rather large sponge added some ceramics to the bottom of the sponge chamber and another pump which does seem to draw more water through the vents at the top also means i can diffuse the co2 through the new pump will post some pics with a little more detail this evening.

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec quick update

here are some updated pics apologies photography not my strong point

you can just see about an inch of ceramics added to filter chamber

acrylic outflow connected to secondary pump co2 diffuser sits just under this in the filter chamber anyone wanting tips on bending acrylic check out mikeapplebeys see through tank journal

i also removed plants and hardscape and have used some smaller rocks to try and leave a little space for glass cleaning and plant trimming hc and hairgrass survied the diatoms and bacteria bloom but staurogyne didn't

hc seems to be bouncing back nicely

all in all i'm thanful to ukaps for more than enough info to turn things around 6 months ago i would've just binned everything and tried again and failed again .
thanks for looking all comments welcome.

 

[pariahrob]

Re: fluval spec quick update

Great read and it's encouraging to see how you turned it round. Looking good now and that rock will lovely once the HC carpets a bit.
Are you planning on putting the shrimp back in?

 

[Kristoph91]

Re: fluval spec quick update

Looking good. Keep up the good work, when you start injecting CO2 things will pick up much faster it will look great when filled in!
Nice pipe bend too. Looks like the work of a pro

Kris

 

[tim]

Re: fluval spec quick update

thanks for the comments guys don't think the shrimp will go back in i'll probably use it to practice growing plants untill i can convince the wife to let me have a bigger shrimp tank in the kitchen may take a while may just use the tank for snails for my dwarf puffers after that

 

[tim]

collapsed this tank in the end due to various problems causing a major lack of time which led me to realise a tank which i wouldnt personally be happy housing livestock in is a little wasteful. on the bee shrimp note i lost them all in the end when i very stupidly cracked my rcs tank so had to move cherries and bees in with my dwarf puffers said puffers wiping out my whole bee colony but not touching one cherry very gutted i lost them. have just ordered a 40x 30x 40 optiwhite to house my cherries and maybe some taiwan bees again if i see them in the lfs apologies for the lacking journal will start one for the new tank if i feel i can devote the time and effort to make it a worthwhile read. thanks for reading.