tel
Member
Re: My first Layout
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My first Layout "Two Tribes" updated 29/4
- Thread starter tel
- Start date
tel
Member
Re: My first Layout
Hey Everyone,
I have been debating for a while about when to do an update on this and was going to wait for a little longer, but then that would be really defeating the purpose of a journal so here we go.
Hey Everyone,
I have been debating for a while about when to do an update on this and was going to wait for a little longer, but then that would be really defeating the purpose of a journal so here we go.
tel
Member
Re: My first Layout
Ok, well I have had a bit of a torrid time of it all really. Most of my fish died, plants, not to mention the layout.
To take it back to where it last was (February), things were going ok. I had added some fish, 4 Pearl Gouramis, 3 Ottos, 4 SA algae eaters, 10 neon tetras and 12 Harlequin Rasboras. So it was all going quite swimmingly.
Next came the move to Co2, so with some intense internet searching, and with the help of Paul ( Flyfisherman) I had begun putting together a Co2 system.
In and around this I was also delving into he wonderful world of EI dosing and trying to get my head around that. Being a glutton for punishment I also decided some new fish were in order. So out went the tetras and harlequins and in came 18 threadfin rainbows. Around then (March-ish) it all went pear shaped
I had things kind of running to a timeline, and I placed and order for some plants which would coincide with final bits of the Co2 system. Then whilst doing a little bit of maintenance the entire back left caved which pushed about 6-7 kgs of fine sand to the front of the tank.
This single event then created an immense amount of problems. I couldn't just empty the tank and fix it as it was stocked with fish. So a rethink and I decided to rescape.
So out the door and up the road back in an hour with a 36 x 14 x18 tank, filter, heater aka the hospital tank.
I then rehoused all the fish a couple of days later and then began stripping the tank.
So we start anew 27/3/2010..... tel
Ok, well I have had a bit of a torrid time of it all really. Most of my fish died, plants, not to mention the layout.
To take it back to where it last was (February), things were going ok. I had added some fish, 4 Pearl Gouramis, 3 Ottos, 4 SA algae eaters, 10 neon tetras and 12 Harlequin Rasboras. So it was all going quite swimmingly.
Next came the move to Co2, so with some intense internet searching, and with the help of Paul ( Flyfisherman) I had begun putting together a Co2 system.
In and around this I was also delving into he wonderful world of EI dosing and trying to get my head around that. Being a glutton for punishment I also decided some new fish were in order. So out went the tetras and harlequins and in came 18 threadfin rainbows. Around then (March-ish) it all went pear shaped
I had things kind of running to a timeline, and I placed and order for some plants which would coincide with final bits of the Co2 system. Then whilst doing a little bit of maintenance the entire back left caved which pushed about 6-7 kgs of fine sand to the front of the tank.
This single event then created an immense amount of problems. I couldn't just empty the tank and fix it as it was stocked with fish. So a rethink and I decided to rescape.
So out the door and up the road back in an hour with a 36 x 14 x18 tank, filter, heater aka the hospital tank.
I then rehoused all the fish a couple of days later and then began stripping the tank.
So we start anew 27/3/2010..... tel
tel
Member
Re: My first Layout
One of the biggest issues I had with the first layout was height. I knew essentially I would be facing the same problem, so I looked to find a way around it.
Research informed me of "egg crate", more research informed me there was sweet bugger all chance of finding any locally. I then looked for alternatives and came up with plumbers pipe.
So I mocked up my layout and roughly worked out the heights I need for each rock. I ended up doing 3inch, 2inch and some 1inch pieces for various points of the scape. These were then just glued together
As the first substrate failed as predicted( JamesM 😉 ) a new one was in order.
yeah, they would be 9ltr bags.
Then followed several hours work putting the new layout together, I neglected to do any photos.
With the tank filled Co2 plumbed (see tidy cupboards thread) so begins the new scape 28/3/2010
that little green blob front left was my Amazon sword that had not faired very well, E. tenellus on the right and those scraggly things at the back was Staurogenye (r.i.p).
tel
One of the biggest issues I had with the first layout was height. I knew essentially I would be facing the same problem, so I looked to find a way around it.
Research informed me of "egg crate", more research informed me there was sweet bugger all chance of finding any locally. I then looked for alternatives and came up with plumbers pipe.
So I mocked up my layout and roughly worked out the heights I need for each rock. I ended up doing 3inch, 2inch and some 1inch pieces for various points of the scape. These were then just glued together
As the first substrate failed as predicted( JamesM 😉 ) a new one was in order.
yeah, they would be 9ltr bags.
Then followed several hours work putting the new layout together, I neglected to do any photos.
With the tank filled Co2 plumbed (see tidy cupboards thread) so begins the new scape 28/3/2010
that little green blob front left was my Amazon sword that had not faired very well, E. tenellus on the right and those scraggly things at the back was Staurogenye (r.i.p).
tel
tel
Member
Re: My first Layout
4/4/2010
Amazon Sword bravely fighting back, Staurogenye barely almost on its last gasp
I had been dosing fairly lean and so upped my dosing to,
KNO3 44.19 ppm per week
PO4 15.09 ppm per week
MG 3.31 ppm per week
Chelated mix 1/2 teaspoon x 3 times per week
Chelated iron 1/2 teaspoon x 3 times per week.
Lighting was running 2 x 4 hour shifts of 54w t5HO.
At this point no livestock so Co2 was just being slammed in, note the missing DC on the right, that was because it broke after a couple of days.
With the Co2 going in at a rate of knots it soon ran out around the 7th. The 9th saw a new bottle connected along with a new Cal Aqua DC.
The 10th I tried my hand with Elatine Gratioloides (local harvest) for the left hand side.
In also went the livestock, or what was left of them. Everything in the "hospital tank" was just dying at a rate of one or two a day. It was very distressing as I could not work out why, yes I get the new filter syndrome, but I would not expect toxic levels to rise that much and that quickly. After every loss I would do a 70% water change but it did not help. So I was pretty gutted.
Not being sure how to plant the Elatine Gratioloides it was planted in clumps with hopes for the best.
Amazon Sword resounding comeback, Staurogenye,. . . eerr what Staurogenye?
tel
4/4/2010
Amazon Sword bravely fighting back, Staurogenye barely almost on its last gasp
I had been dosing fairly lean and so upped my dosing to,
KNO3 44.19 ppm per week
PO4 15.09 ppm per week
MG 3.31 ppm per week
Chelated mix 1/2 teaspoon x 3 times per week
Chelated iron 1/2 teaspoon x 3 times per week.
Lighting was running 2 x 4 hour shifts of 54w t5HO.
At this point no livestock so Co2 was just being slammed in, note the missing DC on the right, that was because it broke after a couple of days.
With the Co2 going in at a rate of knots it soon ran out around the 7th. The 9th saw a new bottle connected along with a new Cal Aqua DC.
The 10th I tried my hand with Elatine Gratioloides (local harvest) for the left hand side.
In also went the livestock, or what was left of them. Everything in the "hospital tank" was just dying at a rate of one or two a day. It was very distressing as I could not work out why, yes I get the new filter syndrome, but I would not expect toxic levels to rise that much and that quickly. After every loss I would do a 70% water change but it did not help. So I was pretty gutted.
Not being sure how to plant the Elatine Gratioloides it was planted in clumps with hopes for the best.
Amazon Sword resounding comeback, Staurogenye,. . . eerr what Staurogenye?
tel
tel
Member
Re: My first Layout
Through discussion with Clive in the recommended ppm thread I upped my dosing of micros. I did go against Clive's suggestion
with regards to dumping the Chelated iron altogether, but, only because my Amazon was showing yellowing in the leaves 🙂
14/4/2010
Chelated Mix to 1 teaspoon x 3 times a week
Chelated Iron 1/2 teaspoon x 3 times a week
Macros remained the same.
Lighting changed to one 8 hr shift of 4 x 54w t5 HO
Whilst this was happening filtration and flow were alos on my mind so on the 15/4/2010 a second filter was added. Not necessarily my first choice but my LFS gave them a good word and showed me several tanks which they were being run on.
So a Aqua pro CFD 2600 was installed. The filter is great and I am very happy with the flow, but the tubing and spraybars etc are just so damn awful.
(I have found a way around it though so in a few weeks it will be all good 😉)
The Elatine Gratioloides didn't fair to well so what was left came out and I went and procured some more. This time I painstakingly cut each stem and planted them all individually, hoping for a third time lucky
I changed to running spraybars along the back after reading the "water flow in the planted aquarium" thread, in particular Clive's view on larger tanks. I must say that I am impressed with the flow and the distribution of Co2 as a result
So third time lucky? nope
In the end they just growing up and not out as I had hoped, I did read somewhere that they would grow out :?
So on the 20/4/2010 I surrendered, waved the white flag, then promptly pulled the little B@*$!@^ds out
tel
Through discussion with Clive in the recommended ppm thread I upped my dosing of micros. I did go against Clive's suggestion
with regards to dumping the Chelated iron altogether, but, only because my Amazon was showing yellowing in the leaves 🙂 14/4/2010
Chelated Mix to 1 teaspoon x 3 times a week
Chelated Iron 1/2 teaspoon x 3 times a week
Macros remained the same.
Lighting changed to one 8 hr shift of 4 x 54w t5 HO
Whilst this was happening filtration and flow were alos on my mind so on the 15/4/2010 a second filter was added. Not necessarily my first choice but my LFS gave them a good word and showed me several tanks which they were being run on.
So a Aqua pro CFD 2600 was installed. The filter is great and I am very happy with the flow, but the tubing and spraybars etc are just so damn awful.
(I have found a way around it though so in a few weeks it will be all good 😉)
The Elatine Gratioloides didn't fair to well so what was left came out and I went and procured some more. This time I painstakingly cut each stem and planted them all individually, hoping for a third time lucky
I changed to running spraybars along the back after reading the "water flow in the planted aquarium" thread, in particular Clive's view on larger tanks. I must say that I am impressed with the flow and the distribution of Co2 as a result
So third time lucky? nope
In the end they just growing up and not out as I had hoped, I did read somewhere that they would grow out :?
So on the 20/4/2010 I surrendered, waved the white flag, then promptly pulled the little B@*$!@^ds out
tel
tel
Member
Re: My first Layout
20/4/2010
Headed off for some plants and to increase/replace my fish stocks.
Another 4 x Pearl Gouramis, 4 xOttos, 4 X SA Algae Eaters were added
Plants
Cryptocoryne Parva
Cryptocoryne Balansae
Cryptocoryne Walkeri
Echinodorus Ozelot
Echinodorus Osiris
I was still struggling with the left hand side so on the 25/4/2010 in went 11 pots of eleocharis parvula. This day I gave a bump to the lighting and now run 10hrs and Co2 adjusted accordingly
So that brings us up to date with everything, today I added 4 Blue Rams, a very pretty fish indeed.
Two Tribes
cheers, tel
20/4/2010
Headed off for some plants and to increase/replace my fish stocks.
Another 4 x Pearl Gouramis, 4 xOttos, 4 X SA Algae Eaters were added
Plants
Cryptocoryne Parva
Cryptocoryne Balansae
Cryptocoryne Walkeri
Echinodorus Ozelot
Echinodorus Osiris
I was still struggling with the left hand side so on the 25/4/2010 in went 11 pots of eleocharis parvula. This day I gave a bump to the lighting and now run 10hrs and Co2 adjusted accordingly
So that brings us up to date with everything, today I added 4 Blue Rams, a very pretty fish indeed.
Two Tribes
cheers, tel
tel
Member
Cheers thanks matenelson said:
Still not convinced I am running correct Co2 levels so will be looking into that next week sometime. Couple of odd runners here and there beginning to show with the hairgrass, so that is a positive.
tel
tel
Member
Just some photography practice, which I wanted to share
Had a go a some close stuff,
Tried a lighting setup on the tank, still battling a little with reflections
cheers, tel
Had a go a some close stuff,
Tried a lighting setup on the tank, still battling a little with reflections
cheers, tel
tel
Member
One of my Pearls, awesome fish and loads of character.
cheers,tel
cheers,tel
ghostsword
Member
I really like the layout.. 😀
it looks so cool, the two mountains against each other.
it looks so cool, the two mountains against each other.
tel
Member
ghostsword said:
Cheers Luis, thanks for the kind comment
cheers, tel
tel
Member
🙁 Co2 dumped on me yesterday (Friday), fine thing to come home from work to. Quite a few fatalities as a consequence. It is very disheartening, makes me feel I am really getting nowhere with this.
What is extremely annoying is that I did a check on the cylinder the day before, thinking it was empty. My Flow hadn't been good over the last couple of days. The gauge was still showing over 50 though, in the end I figured it may have been the diffuser needing a clean.
Today being Saturday is water change so was intending to do a thorough check on everything, now it is all gone to s***.
Reading suggests it is the needle valve that is the cause of Co2 dumps, I thought mine was going to be good as it didn't dump on the previous bottle.
. . . work beckons...
