From Tranquility Island to A Dutch Touch [200L]

[alex08]

Hey there, my name is Alex, i'm from Romania and for the past year i toyed with a colorful "island scape".
But first, a few words about the tank :

Size :
-lenght : 100 cm
-width : 55 cm
-hight : 45 cm
Equipment :
-lighting : 3xGiesmann Aquaflora [39w], 3xGiesmann Midday [39w]
-external filters : 2
-heater : 1 AquaEl ComfortZone 300w
CO2 :
-pressurised, 2 bubbles per second with DIY reactor
Fertilizers :
-DIY plus some Easy Life Easy Carbo
Fauna :
-20 Ember tetras, 3 Glass bloodfin tetras and 1 Siamese algae eater

Here are some clips of Tranquility Island :
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And the last pics of the Island setup :

Up next i'll show you the 2 week old scape, with a dutch touch.

 

[alex08]

Here is the new setup, a lot of work still needs to be done, but here we go:

In the first set of pics you won't see the changes i've made to the middle (E. parvula had a "wall" look).

Some ember tetras :

Some shrimp pics :

And the middle, with the small trail of H. cuba i've made:

 

[parotet]

Wow! Congratulations, very nice scapes... and pictures!

 

[foxfish]

Fantastic!
You seem to have found the right formula for success, you imply that you are not using much C02? or are they very big bps?

 

[Plunket]

Awesome tank and vids there
By the way, what's the soundtrack on the first couple of videos? Very beautiful....

 

[alex08]

Alternanthera sessilis red

high resolution

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parotet, i just love to take photos. Guilty as charged!

foxfish, this seems to work fine for me. I can't say very big bps, i have a JBL Bubble counter, if you know what i mean.
PH is around 6,9-7, KH is around 8.

Plunket, i guess the soundtrack is Leo Baroso - Bohemia. Not quite sure.

Glad you all like my tank.

 

[foxfish]

Thanks, can you say what the PH drop is when the C02 is on ... great pictures by the way.

 

[Deano3]

beautiful pics and stunning colours water is very clear and sure everyone is glad you love taking pics, what's your maintenance schedule if you don't mind me asking

Thanks dean

 

[alex08]

Rotala sp. butterfly

foxfish, not quite sure what you mean with the drop because i'm not that much of a tester. I think 6,9 is the lowest my PH goes. PH in my tap water is around 7,5.

Dean, i do a 40% water change every week (adding JBL Biotopol), daily fertilizing with Trace Mix Plus, PPS-Pro and Easy Life Easy Carbo.
Beside those, the weekends are for trimming or replanting if needed.

 

[foxfish]

That is what I did mean, a lot of us test the PH to find the lows & highs during the day...so you only get .6 drop & just look at your healthy plants!!!

Every now and again we see tanks like yours... full of vibrant plants, no real algae issues & you are hardly using any C02!!
If only we could all manage that!!!!!!!!!
Whatever your methods they seem to work far better than most of ours

 

[alex08]

foxfish, over the years i had to deal with a lot algae problems due to experiments with overdose fertilizing and too much lighting.

 

[Edvet]

He's adding carbo too, Fox
Alex, great tank to look at, good to see a dutch!

 

[alex08]

Thanks, Edvet.

About the Easy Life E.C., i dose it for a heavily planted aquarium, 8-10ml daily.

 

[foxfish]

OK that explains it a little more but... if I am right you have 6 x 39 w T5s?
Everything looks great
can you show a picture of your reactor?

 

[alex08]

fox, i had to go with 2 lamps (4x39w + 2x39w) because at that time i couldn't find a lamp to provide enough light for my 55cm width. Both lamps are Hailea, cheap ones.
Lighting works only 7 hours a day and the lamps are at 20 cm above the aquarium.

DIY reactor pics coming soon, still working on the aesthetic side of it.

 

[alex08]

high resolution

 

[alex08]

O2

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[alex08]

 

[richard powell]

This is absolutely beautiful this a master piece

 

[alex08]

Thanks a lot, Richard.

I did some trimming today, new pics coming soon.