Going Dutch by the book - tank sponsored by Tropica

[Pedro Rosa]

How do you get growth like that?

You gotta have green thumbs my friend.... [ looks at his own thumbs and realises that they are not green ]

They're Tropica plants so just put them underwater 😀
Joking apart, I think i have good lighting, good soil and i'm not saving on fertilization. Now i'm doing two large water changes weekly but hoping to make only one. I still have cloudy water... the first time since have aquariums. It's a filter issue... probably the last time i'll use this Eheim 2073 on this aquarium size 🙁 It'll probably be on the 60P next time, where i have Ecco Pro 3030 that is also weak for 60l with lots of hardscape.
I was asked before about water changes: I'm now using Equo Diamante conditioner for water changer.

Pedro.

 

[LondonDragon]

They're Tropica plants so just put them underwater 😀

Does give you an advantage, when I first started my local store sold Tropica and I didn't even know anything about it and always had good success, but at the end of the day you need to keep on top of maintenance and get the balance right with the CO2, flow and dosing.

 

[Antoni]

Hi Pedro, lovely Dutch! Could the cloudy water be due to a green water issue or a bacterial bloom?

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[Pedro Rosa]

Hi Pedro, lovely Dutch! Could the cloudy water be due to a green water issue or a bacterial bloom?

Antoni, I can only explain this with a bacterial bloom of Heterotrophic Bacteria. The reason i really don't know and can only be explained by filter issues or some set of issues.
Like i said before my filter is not as strong/big as it should be, but never had any problems after being cycled. However, the entering of fish some one or two weeks before and the long maintenance i made on the day i arrived (for trimming) probably affected the filter. It was stopped for 2 or 3 hours. Maybe i should have emptied all the water but it was not the first time i made such a long maintenance!
The lack of maintenance to the aquarium is not a reason for the bloom (there are no dead fish, no overfeeding nor excessive dead leafs).

The word for aquariums is patience 🙂 And every thing is growing very good and fish are healthy and zero death.
Yesterday night i took a glass of water for testing but had many tests from my students to correct and never did it 🙁 Must do it!

I have an air pump at night for 6 hours since the entering of the fish. I've been doing night aeration for 2 or 3 setups with excellent results for fish healthy and top of the water film.

Pedro.

 

[rebel]

Pedro do you mean an 'air pump' rather than water pump? I have heard of people doing that.

 

[Pedro Rosa]

Pedro do you mean an 'air pump' rather than water pump? I have heard of people doing that.

Thanks Rebel 🙂 Of course... I corrected the message.
ADA Gallery makes this every night by lifting all Lilly Pipes. At home lifting Lilly Pipes from two aquariums should be a really nice way to keep everyone awake 😀

 

[Clint Hewitt]

Antoni, I can only explain this with a bacterial bloom of Heterotrophic Bacteria. The reason i really don't know and can only be explained by filter issues or some set of issues.
Like i said before my filter is not as strong/big as it should be, but never had any problems after being cycled. However, the entering of fish some one or two weeks before and the long maintenance i made on the day i arrived (for trimming) probably affected the filter. It was stopped for 2 or 3 hours. Maybe i should have emptied all the water but it was not the first time i made such a long maintenance!
The lack of maintenance to the aquarium is not a reason for the bloom (there are no dead fish, no overfeeding nor excessive dead leafs).

The word for aquariums is patience 🙂 And every thing is growing very good and fish are healthy and zero death.
Yesterday night i took a glass of water for testing but had many tests from my students to correct and never did it 🙁 Must do it!

I have an air pump at night for 6 hours since the entering of the fish. I've been doing night aeration for 2 or 3 setups with excellent results for fish healthy and top of the water film.

Pedro.

I wonder if a weak to mild dose of H2O2 would help....Tank is looking fantastic.

 

[Pedro Rosa]

I wonder if a weak to mild dose of H2O2 would help....Tank is looking fantastic.

It's not algae... and i have some doubts about H2O2 in tanks! If on hardscape to clean some BBA, etc, ok, but in water... it can be dangerous.

Pedro.

 

[LondonDragon]

etc, ok, but in water... it can be dangerous.

This fish will not appreciate it and even worse for the inverts 😉

 

[fleetEWD]

very clean lines

 

[Antoni]

Yep..could be many reasons combined that brought the bacterial bloom...Hopefully with regular maintenance and patience (or UV) the problem will be solved. H2O2 - I wouldn't recommend it. Happened that I killed some fish and shrimps with it in the past... 🙁

 

[Pedro Rosa]

Arrive at home and it seems to be clearing...

 

[rebel]

The best treatment for cloudy water is to just wait it out.... 😉

 

[flygja]

First 40 fish arrived. Blame it on Flygja avatar for the choice 😀 : Tetras Congo.
Still very white but they'll be much better on the next months. Lets see how they will grow.

For those that don't know the fish, here it is a photo from wikipedia and a video from Flygja post here on UKAPS (hope you don't mind). Mines are much smaller.

Not a problem. I really love congo tetras. I had a few jump from my open-topped 120cm tank though, so be careful of that. Here's the larger sized pic of my avatar and an extra one. Hope you don't mind.





Tank is looking great! Still a lot of shaping to go, right now all the "streets" of plants are looking a bit too artificial but you will be able to trim them out. From what I understand of dutch-style tanks, there should be streets, columns, round balls, etc.

 

[Robert H. Tavera]

really beautiful fish, congratulations !!

 

[Pedro Rosa]

Tank is looking great! Still a lot of shaping to go, right now all the "streets" of plants are looking a bit too artificial but you will be able to trim them out. From what I understand of dutch-style tanks, there should be streets, columns, round balls, etc.

About the fish, yes i fond 3 or 4 on the floor on the last month. They're still very different from those beautiful photos but colors are starting to show.
It's my first Dutch so I believe that it'll not be a "work of art" 🙂 I will try to make something good!

 

[Pedro Rosa]

Time for some updates…

DAY 39

Last time i updated (a few weeks ago) i was having an issue with the water. That was fixed by its own in one and a half week and water came back to the usual crystal clear.
These two first shots are still from that time.



DAY 41



DAY 49

With nice water i was able to get some good pictures of the plant colors. Still letting plants grow and trimming 2x a week.



I’m very glad with the Rotana Macandra color and growth rate. Lovely plant! Trimming it low and replanting gives very good results.









DAY 56

Seven days later (and no trim at the middle of the week) and it was almost a dutch-jungle-type 🙂



A good view of the Macandra (again).



Good colors for the Ludwigia Palustris.



Great plant - Limnophila hippuridoides



The “not so used outside the dutch type” Lobelia Cardinalis, now with nice light green.



Bacopa is also getting very good tops/colors.


After the initial melt, Cryptocoryne is getting lovely.



The first pictures of “Congo Tetras”. They were very young when they came and with no colors. The body shape and the orange and blue colors are starting to appear in some of them. I hope they continue to grow like this. I’m giving them bloodworms two times a week.






DAY 57

The next day the jungle had gone. This picture looks very symmetric - same high for all plants and plant groups are not still to be better shaped but i think it’s better then before.



A couple more shots of Congo Tetras.

 

[a.aurel]

the most beautiful Dutch setup I ever seen. Those plants seem drawn from a painting!

 

[LondonDragon]

Stunning Predo, belo trabalho 🙂

This is turning out to be a great Ducth aquascape 🙂 my kind of tank!

 

[aaron.c]

Attachments are not working for day 49 onwards 🙁

IGNORE: working now 🙂

Stunning



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