Kinabalu (60 x 40 x 40)

[Guest]

It'll give you a rough ball park figure, either way I think it's pretty safe to say you have something of an ammonia spike 😱
It's about the only time I use a test kit too. But, I don't introduce critters for several weeks so I'm fairly confident the tank has cycled enough anyway 😉

 

[Deano3]

Looks great @Wookii love the rock work and the planting, very heavily planted and you have obviously took a great amount of time and effort that has payed off.

And wow that is a lot of ammonia

Looking forward to seeing updates
Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

and thought I’d do an ammonia test purely for academic purposes to see if the Tropica soil powder was leaching much. ..........and just call it “a lot”

"Lots", definitely not much doubt about that.

cheers Darrel

 

[Wookii]

It'll give you a rough ball park figure, either way I think it's pretty safe to say you have something of an ammonia spike 😱
It's about the only time I use a test kit too. But, I don't introduce critters for several weeks so I'm fairly confident the tank has cycled enough anyway 😉

Yeah, I have my critters housed in a temporary storage box with a HOB filter and the hardscape and crypts from the old tank.




It’s not ideal so I’m keen to get them moved to the new tank ASAP, but won’t consider it until the ammonia is gone.

The new tank does have a mature filter (9 months old) on it, but it presumably just can’t cope with the sudden inrush of ammonia from the soil.

 

[Wookii]

Looks great @Wookii love the rock work and the planting, very heavily planted and you have obviously took a great amount of time and effort that has payed off.

And wow that is a lot of ammonia

Looking forward to seeing updates
Dean

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

Thanks for kind words Dean, much appreciated.

 

[Wookii]

Hi all, "Lots" definitely not much doubt about that.

cheers Darrel

I’m hoping the only reason the levels were so high was because it was the soils first contact with water Darrel. I don’t know how the stuff is made - do they soak it in ammonia and other nutrients before drying it?

I’ve got no live stock in there currently, but I assume ammonia at those levels could melt some of the plants?

I’ll see what the levels look like before tonight’s water change.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I don’t know how the stuff is made - do they soak it in ammonia and other nutrients before drying it?

That would be my guess, but I don't know.

The clay based substrate will have a cation exchange capacity (CEC), but <"Ion Exchange isn't entirely straightforward">, because it depends on both the valency of the ions (that are both bound and in solution) and <"their concentration">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Ady34]

Great journal so far, love how densely you planted and your style of write up made me chuckle in more than one occasion 🙂
Any more updates?
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Wookii]

Great journal so far, love how densely you planted and your style of write up made me chuckle in more than one occasion 🙂
Any more updates?
Cheerio,
Ady.

Thanks for the kind words Ady - much appreciated. I am overdue some updates - I’ve just been so busy with work etc. The first few weeks went well, this is the tank after a week - the pinnatifida has done really well, I’ve never kept this plant before and it really is beautiful!:

Kids eye view!:



Close up of the Pinna:



I also added some floaters to aid the transition (courtesy of @dw1305), they look good though instantly remind me of the tripods from War Of The Worlds:

 

[Wookii]

I also bought a very extravagant early Christmas present . . . . from me . . . to me! 😆



. . . and I finally got around to installing the RO unit I’d already bought to service the 1500mm tank:



Gotta love push fit water pipework- not a leaking solder joint in sight! 😅

 

[Nick potts]

Looking very nice indeed, and some nice gadgets 🙂

I really loved the look of the overgrown low tech setup.

 

[Wookii]

After setting up this scape, I still had masses of plants still left over, and so decided to set my sons tank back up as a low tech. I managed to use up every last bit of remaining plant, including all the left over anubias, buce and crypts. I won’t set up a separate journal for it, but will include some pics here (please excuse the image quality - this old tank glass is so reflective):

 

[Wookii]

Looking very nice indeed, and some nice gadgets 🙂

I really loved the look of the overgrown low tech setup.

Thanks Nick - the old 'Roots' tank was actually a high tech, I think that's why everything had grown so much - even the slow growing epiphytes. CO2 is like steroids for aquatic plants.

 

[hypnogogia]

I also bought a very extravagant early Christmas present . . . . from me . . . to me!

That's one cool dosing pump!

 

[Wookii]

That's one cool dosing pump!

It is a great bit of kit. I would probably have been fine with another Jebao unit, but the convenience of the web app and ease of programming, the accuracy of the unit (to fractions of a ml) and the industrial build which means they're strong and reliable enough to be used for large volume automated water changes, all persuaded me.

Along with the TP-link Tapo plugs I use, I can now control almost everything on the tank from my phone.

 

[Wookii]

Great journal so far, love how densely you planted and your style of write up made me chuckle in more than one occasion 🙂
Any more updates?
Cheerio,
Ady.

Here’s an up to date FTS Ady, taken last night. It’s a ‘warts and all’ shot as the mini snail babies are running amok and there’s also some algae in places mainly because I’ve been yo-going around with the CO2 after it took the livestock some time to acquire a taste for it, and they spent some time supping at the surface.

I also managed to mess up my fert calculations and ended up with 10x the KH2PO4 and KNO3 in my dosing solutions - a classic case of doing too much at once and doing none of them well!

Thankfully @Zeus. came to the rescue with his magic calculator so I’ve now redone all three dosing fluids with the correct proportions of ferts

Long and short of it I’ve not seen much growth in the last couple of weeks, and had some algae appear as a result. The last few days though everything has settled, so I think I’m back on track.



A couple of close ups of some of the inhabitants, I was determine to get some of these cute little guys right from the start. They stay on the deck like proper Cory’s, not like the pretender Pymgies that like to play “impersonate the tetra” in mid-water, that I had previously (and now reside in the sons low tech, where they are much happier in the gloom):



Whilst in the LFS I also couldn’t resist getting some of these - the colours are stunning, with the neon green and the blue iridescence along their back. Their behaviour is great too:

 

[lilirose]

What are those lovely iridescent fish?

 

[Wookii]

What are those lovely iridescent fish?

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/microdevario-kubotai/

I’ve not even started them on the BBS yet - hatching some now - they should colour up even more then!

 

[SRP3006]

Really like this scape, love the microdevario, I've thought about stocking my tank with a large shoal, however the price is a little off putting.

 

[Wookii]

Really like this scape, love the microdevario, I've thought about stocking my tank with a large shoal, however the price is a little off putting.

To be fair they in my LFS, which is a Maidenhead Aquatics, they were priced the same the same as the general tetra species.

They don’t tend to shoal up particularly, and hang in a much looser formation than the tetras and Chilli’s. There seem to be a few dominant males in my group, that chase off some of the others, and also chase some of the Embers - presumably trying to establish territory - nothing super aggressive, just a bit of muscle flexing like a youth in a nightclub!