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Jim's TMC Signature

Good Morning All :wave:

Time for an update..

After my initial panic things have settled down, patience weed hopper 😀

Unfortunately I did lose the Limnophila Hippuridoides and has since been replaced with Ludwigia palustris red. This is growing like a weed and hit the surface within a few days of planting. Not sure i'll keep this but it's certainly a confidence boost 🙂

Also lost 80% of my helferi although a few are still holding on. Bought some more from the LFS which appear to be doing much better, only time will tell.

Everything else is showing good signs of growth except the rineckii, but from what I have read it will take some time to settle :nailbiting:

It also appears I was getting my plants mixed up :crazy: Somehow I managed to confuse Hygrophila Siamensis 53B with Heteranthera zosterifolia, told you plants were not my strong point :lol: Have edited the above posts to reflect the right names.

:snaphappy:

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Now I'm happy with the way things are running the next phase of the project is to remove as much equipment from the tank as possible..

Inline heater. Hydor or maybe a DIY project.

A reactor or inline diffuser for the CO2. Have read pros and cons for both of these, Hydors sticking, noisy reactors and diffusers leaking. I'm not 100% convinced just yet.

Lily pipes. May include a surface skimmer, may not.

As always, thanks for reading :thumbup:
 
Scape looks great, and plants healthy too! Looking forward to seeing this in a couple of months! Best of luck with re-jigging hardware. I use a 200w Hydor external heater and its fantastic, flow reduction isn't terrible either.

Joe
 
Thanks guys :thumbup:

That's the thing with the Hydor Joe, from the reviews I've read, people either love it or hate it. A bit like marmite 😀
 
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Morning Guys :wave:

Sorry for the lack of updates..

Still struggling with the helferi, it starts to grow new leaves then slowly melts away 😕 All other plants are growing well, regular pruning is required to keep things in check 🙂

Going through a slight algae bloom at the moment, so have added some dwarf catfish and shrimp to help.

Couple of phone pics pre bloom :snaphappy: These were taken on the 7th December, Day 25th. Will get some more recent shots asap, thanks for looking :thumbup:

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Jim.. said:
Morning Guys :wave:



Still struggling with the helferi, it starts to grow new leaves then slowly melts away 😕 All other plants are growing well, regular pruning is required to keep things in check 🙂
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Do you have a par meter? I'd be tempted to check how much light is making it to the helfrei providing your Co2 and flow is all good in that area? What percentage are you running the Kessil at?
 
No unfortunately not. Kessil is running at 100%, Helferi is just off centre, 50cm from light. Flow could be an issue, I get some movement but not much, the diffuser spreads the water quite high. Too much for higher plants at the back, not enough for the lower front imo. Not sure about co2, drop checker always turns green. Running 6hrs, 2hrs before lights on/off, roughly 5/6 bps. Distribution seems ok from using the dc, I move it to different locations.

Any advice would be appreciated :thumbup:
 
Being that they're shaded by a large rock you might have trouble getting flow to them. I think you'd have better distribution if you had a spray bar across the back of the tank.
 
I will try to adjust the flow. Unfortunately the way I cut the return I can no longer add the spray bar.

Thanks 🙂

Edit.. Just checked my return flow and it feels pretty poor. Gonna give the filter a clean and remove the fine floss, hopefully that will create more flow.
 
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Jim.. said:
I will try to adjust the flow. Unfortunately the way I cut the return I can no longer add the spray bar.

Thanks 🙂

Edit.. Just checked my return flow and it feels pretty poor. Gonna give the filter a clean and remove the fine floss, hopefully that will create more flow.
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Dropping the floss will help significantly with the flow. If you want to continue to polish the water then a small bag of Purigen may help.
 
Ok, I cleaned the filter and removed the fine floss. Unfortunately it didn't make a huge difference, but every little helps..

As part of the ongoing plan the feed and return have been moved to the left side of the tank and the stock parts are being replaced with lily pipes. The heater has been removed and replaced with Hydor inline. In place of the heater I have fitted a powerhead to aid with the water circulation and distribution of the co2.

Tank is looking much cleaner 🙂 It's a shame about the powerhead but I believe the benefits outweigh the aesthetic.

I'll pop some pics up when my lights are on, hopefully later this evening
 
I've change my mind, the powerhead looks ugly 😀 Oh well...

Took these shortly after adding the outflow. Had to remove a fair amount of substrate so the water is very cloudy 🙄

Also removed the skimmer, it was sucking in livestock quicker than I could fish them out. Lost 1 catfish and 1 shrimp 🙁, lesson learnt.

Anyways.. :snaphappy:

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Glass thermometer to replace the built in one on the Fluval heater.
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New layout. A bit of a mess but looks great with the door closed 😀
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Still battling the algae but it's part of the course I guess. Will have a trim tomorrow, last major maintenance before the holidays.

Hope everybody has a great Christmas and New Year :thumbup:
 

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A couple more phone pics after things settled down. Re-installed the skimmer to help with the debris and surface scum, not sure I can live without it! Hate to contradict myself already 😀.

Adjusted the powerhead and tidied up the cables. Attention is in the detail 🙄

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Thanks for looking :thumbup:
 
Hi Jim,
Tank looks really nice.Love the open area with the sand and how u made the transition with the stones. Very natural and pleasing to the eye colour combination too.
Regarding the flow is the filter outlet and skimer flow not in conflict with the one from the circulation pump.Why not try to put the pump on the shot side and point it towards the outlet pipe (sightly down along the back ).With the skimmer you don't need to have any surface agitation from the pump as it will only outgas the Co2 being right underneath it.This in my opinion will improve the flow pattern and CO2 distribution.
Keep up the good work.
Regards Konsa
 
Greenfinger2 said:
Hi Jim, Looking really cool :thumbup:
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Hi Greenfinger, thank you 🙂

Konsa said:
Hi Jim,
Tank looks really nice.Love the open area with the sand and how u made the transition with the stones. Very natural and pleasing to the eye colour combination too.
Regarding the flow is the filter outlet and skimer flow not in conflict with the one from the circulation pump.Why not try to put the pump on the shot side and point it towards the outlet pipe (sightly down along the back ).With the skimmer you don't need to have any surface agitation from the pump as it will only outgas the Co2 being right underneath it.This in my opinion will improve the flow pattern and CO2 distribution.
Keep up the good work.
Regards Konsa
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Hi Konsa, thank you for the kind words 🙂

Good point with the powerhead. Was also getting a lot of evaporation using it like this. Have changed as suggested, thank you for the advice :thumbup:
 
Hi jim,

Could please share the links where you got all the stuff needed for the co2 setup? I have no clue on what to get. I just have the co2 tank like the one you have. Cheers
 
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