fandango
Member
- Joined
- 20 Jul 2008
- Messages
- 108
Hi everyone,
This is my first post on this forum.
I've have learned so much from people here and on The Planted Tank Forum and Aquatic Plant Central. After all that reading and learning I thought I needed to share my experience with the community 8)
I had my tank now for about 8 years. Around 2 years ago when I first started reading planted aquarium forums it looked like this:
http://[URL=http://s526.photobucket.com/user/quadriglia/media/270806008_zps3e52dc34.jpg.html][ATTACH=full]96995[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]96995[/ATTACH]
This is how it looks today:
[ATTACH=full]96996[/ATTACH]
And this is how it looks in the evenings with three 20w halogen spotlights on (silicone-glued inside the lid):
[ATTACH=full]96997[/ATTACH]
The changes were achieved by:
1) Adding two additional T5 lights- GE Starcoat T5 54w/865 [URL]http://www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs-Tubes/860-and-865-Daylight_14[/URL] to my existing three 40W T8 Power-Glo lamps, all together giving up to about 2.8 WPG. The photoperiod is 9 hours, before and after which I have the 3 halogen spotlights on (see the 3rd photo) which creates a really nice look for the evening.
2) By adding pressurised CO2 system (CO2 fire extinguisher, solenoid valve and pollen glass diffuser- all on ebay)- 3 b/s, comes on and off together with the big lights.
When it comes to fertilization it gets a bit approximate... the reason for that- I work a lot abroad- one month to up to three months at a time. The thing is- the tank looks as good if not better after I come back.. So, when I'm here I add
15ml Seachem Flourish on fairly irregular basis :oops: . No other fertilizers are added.
I use RO water. I used to add a mineral formula to it, but since about three years ago when I decided to add an additional bag of a black gravel (GEOsystem extra fine black river gravel) to my almost white one to improve the look, I noticed that the GH and KH climbed up to about 3dH and 2dH in between my weekly 50% water changes. So I now use the RO water only. When I’m away, I DON'T change the water and all the measurements (NO3, KH, GH, PH) stay more or less the same :rolleyes: .
I have two filters- Fluval 304 (8 years old!- only replaced the impeller once) and Eheim Professional II 2026. The Eheim is proving to be an excellent incubator for my cherry shrimps as the female ram is very successful at hunting their babies :twisted: . Each time I clean the Eheim (once about every 3 months), there are a lot of (around 30) shrimps of various sizes, in a good condition living under the bottom container of the filter media. They do not surivive in the Fluval.
The plants are: ferns, anubias, tenellus, crypts and moss. The moss, togehter with some crypt. parva, grows between the tenellus, which creates the effect of a real grass lawn with some weeds in it :) .
[URL=http://s526.photobucket.com/user/quadriglia/media/mytank070808025_zps78621d12.jpg.html][ATTACH=full]96998[/ATTACH][/URL]
The fish are narrow-wedge harlequins [I]Trigonostigma hengeli[/I] (60+), cardinals (20?), pair of rams, bristle nose and 6 corydora sterbai. I used to have a large number of cardinals but then decided to change to harlequins. The surviving few cardinals must be at least 3 years old. I also have a large number of cherry shrimps and about 20 Amano shrimps.
The tank gives me a lot of pleasure and I really like the fact that it is a living organism and I try and not interfere too much. The fish and shrimp seem to be very happy and healthy. The rams and sterbai breed often (one of them survived being eaten and grew up :D ) Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, they do get fed Tetra Prima by Eheim auto-feeder when I'm away ;).
Please do ask questions. I will try and answer them as well as I can :D and I would really appreciate for you to suggest things :idea:
This is my first post on this forum.
I've have learned so much from people here and on The Planted Tank Forum and Aquatic Plant Central. After all that reading and learning I thought I needed to share my experience with the community 8)
I had my tank now for about 8 years. Around 2 years ago when I first started reading planted aquarium forums it looked like this:
http://[URL=http://s526.photobucket.com/user/quadriglia/media/270806008_zps3e52dc34.jpg.html][ATTACH=full]96995[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]96995[/ATTACH]
This is how it looks today:
[ATTACH=full]96996[/ATTACH]
And this is how it looks in the evenings with three 20w halogen spotlights on (silicone-glued inside the lid):
[ATTACH=full]96997[/ATTACH]
The changes were achieved by:
1) Adding two additional T5 lights- GE Starcoat T5 54w/865 [URL]http://www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs-Tubes/860-and-865-Daylight_14[/URL] to my existing three 40W T8 Power-Glo lamps, all together giving up to about 2.8 WPG. The photoperiod is 9 hours, before and after which I have the 3 halogen spotlights on (see the 3rd photo) which creates a really nice look for the evening.
2) By adding pressurised CO2 system (CO2 fire extinguisher, solenoid valve and pollen glass diffuser- all on ebay)- 3 b/s, comes on and off together with the big lights.
When it comes to fertilization it gets a bit approximate... the reason for that- I work a lot abroad- one month to up to three months at a time. The thing is- the tank looks as good if not better after I come back.. So, when I'm here I add
15ml Seachem Flourish on fairly irregular basis :oops: . No other fertilizers are added.
I use RO water. I used to add a mineral formula to it, but since about three years ago when I decided to add an additional bag of a black gravel (GEOsystem extra fine black river gravel) to my almost white one to improve the look, I noticed that the GH and KH climbed up to about 3dH and 2dH in between my weekly 50% water changes. So I now use the RO water only. When I’m away, I DON'T change the water and all the measurements (NO3, KH, GH, PH) stay more or less the same :rolleyes: .
I have two filters- Fluval 304 (8 years old!- only replaced the impeller once) and Eheim Professional II 2026. The Eheim is proving to be an excellent incubator for my cherry shrimps as the female ram is very successful at hunting their babies :twisted: . Each time I clean the Eheim (once about every 3 months), there are a lot of (around 30) shrimps of various sizes, in a good condition living under the bottom container of the filter media. They do not surivive in the Fluval.
The plants are: ferns, anubias, tenellus, crypts and moss. The moss, togehter with some crypt. parva, grows between the tenellus, which creates the effect of a real grass lawn with some weeds in it :) .
[URL=http://s526.photobucket.com/user/quadriglia/media/mytank070808025_zps78621d12.jpg.html][ATTACH=full]96998[/ATTACH][/URL]
The fish are narrow-wedge harlequins [I]Trigonostigma hengeli[/I] (60+), cardinals (20?), pair of rams, bristle nose and 6 corydora sterbai. I used to have a large number of cardinals but then decided to change to harlequins. The surviving few cardinals must be at least 3 years old. I also have a large number of cherry shrimps and about 20 Amano shrimps.
The tank gives me a lot of pleasure and I really like the fact that it is a living organism and I try and not interfere too much. The fish and shrimp seem to be very happy and healthy. The rams and sterbai breed often (one of them survived being eaten and grew up :D ) Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, they do get fed Tetra Prima by Eheim auto-feeder when I'm away ;).
Please do ask questions. I will try and answer them as well as I can :D and I would really appreciate for you to suggest things :idea:
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