Natures Sloth

[Tankless]

Soo.. I bought a ADA 90p with the garden stand and solar RGB. It was on sale in this forum.

Normally I wouldn't post until I've planted. I need some input. The main challenge is the solar RGB which can't be dimmed.

Details:

• Tanks size: 90 x 45 x 45 cm
• Co2 injected, I will be trying a co2 reactor for the first time. Have been using inline for the last few years
• Light: ADA Solar RGB, suspended 51cm above the tank (can take it higher by a few more cm)
• Substrate: ADA colorada sand with little bits of ADA Malaya behind the wood
• Lightning time: Will be 6 hours (3pm to 9pm). It's a dark room so ambient light will be minimal.

Anways, the challenge is managing the solar RGB. I've raised it high above the tank but my goals are as follows:

• No carpeting plants or stem plants/mosses that have to be trimmed frequently. I now have carpal tunnel in my hands hence why I'll be avoiding stems, carpeting plants and most mosses this time round.
• Emmersed growth, I've never had this but will have the water line slightly lower to allow for growth

The plant list is as follows:

• Hydrocotyle Lucocephala (to be wrapped near the water line on the lhs wood. AG grow it emmersed)
• Red root floaters (from my existing tank to cover the top and reduce light intensity going into the water)
• Salvinia Natans (to cover the top and reduce light intensity going into the water)
• Cryptocoryne Flamingo (RHS of the tank near the back. I have it my current tank and will move it over when I take that one down)
• Cryptocoryne Balansea (Somewhere in the back)
• Echniodorus Parviflorus (Insde the wood on LHS to have it grow to the top and out of the water just like Aquarium Gardens)
• Anubias Gracilias (LHS, flat palm part of wood)
• Riccardia chamedryfolia (higher parts of the wood as I find it grows better in higher light)
• Fissiden Fonantus (if i find it in stock)
• Lots of different Bucephalandras
• Anubias nana bonsai
• Bolbitis Difformis (by the water line)
• Peace lily (to be taken from the existing tank)
• 2 x Tiger lotus (from existing tank, this time I'll let it grow to the surface)
• Eriocaulon Vietnam (just behind the centre point of both sides)
• Anubias Pinto
• Cryptocoryne Wenditi Sindoor (I'll add it later)

Any other plants that I should consider or measures I should take to control the lighting intensity?

Unfinished scape as I'm waiting for the ADA Malaya and more Colorado Sand to be delivered tomorrow.

View from my desk:


Other images:

 

[Tankless]

The tank has had water in it since last Friday. I did not order enough plants. The initial plant selection mainly consisted of plants that I haven't used before. I will tidy it up after a month or two of growing in. It's my weakest aspect (appropriate plant selection and placement).

I had issues with co2 for a few days, ended up switching to my normal regulator after giving up on the fzone system that came with the tank. It now means that my existing tank no longer has co2.

I forgot to buy filter media for the superjet so that only arrived yesterday and has been put in.

Plans going forward:
1. Add Balansea to the left hand side of the tank
2. Remove the Hydrocotyle as it looks messy but will give it a chance to grow in before I get rid of it
3. Add monte carlo into the sand
4. Add detail stones
5. Remove the rocks that are preventing the wood from floating
6. Find a smaller heater
7. Learn how to take pictures as the Solar RGB creates reflections
8. Add more small anubias and Buce
9. Attach Riccardia to the flat palm on the left hand side
10. Purchase Fissiden Fonantus and stick it everywhere on the lower side
11. Decide on fish at the end of the month
12. Add Echinodorus Hadi Red / Aflame / Purpea on to the right hand side
13. Remove the floating plants overtime

Pictures

 

[Tankless]

I've been away from the tank. Managed to visit one of Amano's works. The tanks/tank were amazing especially due to the scale of everything.

 

[Connswater]

I suspect you are as knowledgeable as I am and I have never used such a top the range set of equipment. I am slightly envious.
But my observations are, not advice, that intense lighting is not, certainly in my experience normally the issue for an algae bloom, rather it is over long duration, lack of plants, lack of floating plants, excess nutrients (or later in the development of the tank inadequate nutrients) and a lack of CO2 to match intense lighting.
I also feel water changes or perhaps more accurately, water quality maintenance in the first two or three months is absolutely crucial to success.
I have 'blown' it in the first few weeks at least twice, once in a heat wave in an office tank set up mid-summer, not enough plants, far too hot, not enough CO2 and a lack of maintenance in terms of water changes and early intervention, everything covered in green algae within a few weeks.
I agree you need more plants, I would use far more floating plants for the first few weeks if not months and let the RBG light punch through to the floating plants, that is to your collection of epiphytes and rooted plants.
I have a four foot and use 260 watts of lighting for 8 hours a day but boost the lighting to achieve intense pearling with an extra 50 watts for a few hours mid-photo period. Most of the lighting is set a bit raised, I think that helps reduce elongation in stem plants, which I note you are not using. You might want some for the first few months, once the Tiger Lily gets going you won't need them.
I am looking forward to following this. Best wishes.

 

[Tankless]

I've got my lighting period on for 7 hours which is what I usually stick to. The floaters probably cover 60 to 70% of the tank now and should cover the top completely within the next two weeks. I'll keep it like that until the lotus's reach close to the surface. To compensate, I have been doing four 50% water changes a week on average which I will reduce to three from next week. This is my first tank without using stem plants, if things do take a turn for the worst then I will add in rotala.

 

[Tankless]

The tanks ticking along. I've added I'm Echniodorus Aflame and Fissiden Lhaha Forest in that time. I was also gifted snails by @Ibz10 with the Buce that he gave me 🙁

I've been chucking them out everytime I find one in the tank.

I also added a few blue shrimp from the existing tank, amanos and I purchased some racoon tiger shrimp.

I'm currently undecided of what schooling fish I should get next month. Considering Green Neons, Silver Tip Tetras or CPDs. My bottom dwellers will be more Parotocinclus Spilosoma if I can find more.

For the first week I was accidentally only dosing Potassium (thought it was the micro bottle lol). Now I'm dosing 1 pump of Tropica Specialised Nutrition after my 3 x weekly water change. The recommended amount of ADA Green Brighty Mineral which came with the tank. Once the ADA finishes, I have left over Tropica Premium Nutrition to take its place. Substrate still has root tabs which I will start to replenish around the 2 month mark.

I've had diatoms since day 1 and it's still ongoing. The wood is leaching tannins. Should I decrease the light height from 51cm (light to top of aquarium glass) to 40cm? Not sure if enough light is getting through the floaters which have covered the top.

Bolbitis Difformis isn't doing well in my emmersed section and will probably need to be replaced. Might add a terrestial moss in its place. The Hydrocotyle Lucocephala is doing really well and I'm starting to like it.

Some pictures:

 

[Tankless]

We're 6 weeks in now and I've been removing the floaters to keep coverage at 50% as at 100% coverage, the growth below became very slow. I also broke the pokey part of the glass out of the ADA outflow pipe. £110 for a new P4 lily pipe 🙁
I've ordered a Chihiros version for now but will buy some ADA stuff when I'm in Japan later in the year.

Diatoms have passed their peak as I can see a little bit of green algae on the glass. From a picture perspective not much has changed. I did lower the light to 47cm from light to the top of the tank glass to reduce the glare within the room. I don't like the Echniodorus Parviflorus as it ruins the scale but let's see how it looks after it grows emmersed. The backup plan is to replace it with Balansea.

I've moved in my 2 black phantom Tetras, 4 espei rasboras and 1 parotocinclus spilosoma. There'll 30 Tucano Tetras arriving next Friday. Later in the year, I will add more Parotocinclus to the one that I was gifted.

 

[Tankless]

My replacement Chihiros pipe came. The glass is thinner than the ADA outflow pipe:



My HC is dying, didn't expect it to survive but it was worth an experiment. Could be due to floaters completely covering the top for a period of time or the leaner dosing or having no soil under the sand. I'm leaning towards the lack of light as I've got newer and healthy growth on the area above the outflow which normally remains uncovered. Fastest growing plants are the echinodorus and Balansea (this one I'm suprised by as it hasn't grown like that for me before).

Now for the big update, my 30 Tucano Tetras arrived today. They've been in the tank for a few hours.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Now for the big update, my 30 Tucano Tetras arrived today. They've been in the tank for a few hours.

They look nice.

You need to keep an eye on their gill colour if it really is red? The red coloration maybe from elevated ammonia or CO2 levels in transit, but if they stay that red? You probably have too much CO2 entering the tank.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tankless]

They had the red Gill colour in the bag. I'll keep an eye on them but I did a water change in the morning to prep the tank.

 

[Connswater]

broke the pokey part of the glass

Bad luck, expensive, but I can guarantee to break fragile glass, I like, positively seek out, plastic fiddly things, though I can break plastic as well with time. Anyway, the Tucano tetras look spectacular, I really like small fish in medium sized tanks, they are meant to be red around the gills, but I'm not really sure how red.

Think you are right about the light, I would increase the intensity and reduce the floating plants down to covering only 20% of the surface, and don't let them get to as much as 50%, i.e. aim to keep around 70% of the surface clear. But as an experiment just to see. Having said that, if I take my eye off the game, my tank hits 100% in no time, doesn't do any damage really so long as I don't let it stay like that for more than a few days. I suspect the CO2 levels rise with more floating plants - slowed down photosynthesis from rooted plants and perhaps less surface exchange.

Love your tank, really good. Though personally, I have no beef with snails, I only have the common pond snail, the small one, the 'bladder snail', and Malaysian trumpets, no lovely bright Red Ramshorns, which I always had as a kid. I had some very spectacular Nerites a while back but sadly they didn't last much longer than a year, partly because they liked to escape.

 

[dw1305]

.. Anyway, the Tucano tetras look spectacular, I really like small fish in medium sized tanks, they are meant to be red around the gills, but I'm not really sure how red.

That maybe it, I think they do have more obvious red gills than most.

Cheers Darrel

 

[Tankless]

Bad luck, expensive, but I can guarantee to break fragile glass, I like, positively seek out, plastic fiddly things, though I can break plastic as well with time. Anyway, the Tucano tetras look spectacular, I really like small fish in medium sized tanks, they are meant to be red around the gills, but I'm not really sure how red.

Think you are right about the light, I would increase the intensity and reduce the floating plants down to covering only 20% of the surface, and don't let them get to as much as 50%, i.e. aim to keep around 70% of the surface clear. But as an experiment just to see. Having said that, if I take my eye off the game, my tank hits 100% in no time, doesn't do any damage really so long as I don't let it stay like that for more than a few days. I suspect the CO2 levels rise with more floating plants - slowed down photosynthesis from rooted plants and perhaps less surface exchange.

Love your tank, really good. Though personally, I have no beef with snails, I only have the common pond snail, the small one, the 'bladder snail', and Malaysian trumpets, no lovely bright Red Ramshorns, which I always had as a kid. I had some very spectacular Nerites a while back but sadly they didn't last much longer than a year, partly because they liked to escape.

I'm going to see if I can find an acrylic set to keep as spare. I like have smaller fish in larger tanks. I find that the behavior of the fish is more interesting when they're in larger numbers. If I had a bigger tank, then I would love to have Angelfish in future.

I'll make a note of that and keep the floaters to less than 50%. They seem to double in growth within a few days time. I haven't had them grow this fast previously.

I've accepted that the snails will be a part of the tank. As long as they don't end up on my hand whilst I'm cleaning the tank lol.

That maybe it, I think they do have more obvious red gills than most.

Cheers Darrel

All the Tucanos are fine. I wasnt home yesterday to observe but they're still in the tank today. Very interactive with me which I like. It might be due to the school of 30 but they're already growing into one of my favourite fish just 2 days in.

 

[Connswater]

I would love to have Angelfish in future

Thanks for the lovely post, much appreciated.
I have kept Angels over the years but only felt they had a fitting home when I had a 5 foot 6 inch, built-in tank, it wasn't very deep in terms of front to back, about 15 inches, but it was nearly two feet in height, and the length allowed the group of 6 or 8 (I can't quite recall) to sort out their disputes without damage or obvious distress. Even in a four foot I find the bullying amongst Angels intolerable.
A shoal of small tetras creates a magnificent display in medium to largish tanks, I fancy a 7 foot tank with rummy noses, but the building work involved in trying to create the space is beyond my stamina levels, and I'd like to stay married.

 

[Tankless]

It's been a month since my last update. In that time I've got cyno at the front which I presume is from either low flow or organic waste. I hadn't hoovered the substrate properly in the time I set up the tank. I did it for the first time this week and there was a huge build of detritus. I'll be more mindful going forward.

There have been no changes to my fauna and plants have been growing significantly better since removing the floaters.

In terms of livestock, I've mode over 50 blue velvets from the old tank and added 10 otos. I will adding 6 Parotocinclus Haroldoi in the next month which should near enough finish my stocking.

Thus tank has been the best I've grown Balansea and Riccardia. The buces are finally bouncing back as well from initial melt and holes in the leaves.

Emmersed Riccardia:

Submersed

I don't like the Echniodorus, it's struggling with the emmersed growth. I think it'll be fine in the warmer months but I'm not after a season plant. What would be the best way to remove with minimal substrate disruption? I've ordered 3 pots of Cryptocoryne Sivadansani to replace it with.

Echniodorus that I want to remove:


Also, what's the best way to clean the silicone?

Time for my image dump:


This is definitely a slow burner in terms of growth. It's great from a maintenance perspective.

 

[Connswater]

what's the best way to clean the silicone?

Your tank is looking good. Some lovely plants and fish and the emerged plant feature is beautifully soft and natural.

I've myself also found Amazon swords too big and too fast growing for modest tanks. The mix of shade loving plants and carpeting plants in your tank, would challenge me, and though stem plants can be a pain, as I am sure you know, the trimming can be irritating, they do soak up excess nutrients and they might help with the modest amount of blue green algae and they usefully 'hide' or 'soften' bits of kit.

Sadly, as for cleaning silicone, I have found it beyond me, that is, beyond the first few months when a less harsh pot scrubber will remove most of the early dust algae, the toothbrush does not in my hands work for older more stubborn algae on silicone, and, I am always a bit anxious about damaging the seal, stripping a tank down and using bleach works, but I like to run a tank for a decade at least.

Anyway, I personally think your tank is coming along very nicely.

 

[Tankless]

Two updates in less than 7 days. I removed the Echniodorus (which was huge) and feel the tank looks much better. It was replaced with Cryptocoryne Sivadansani. My first time buying ADA plants:



The plants on the left hand side haven't grown as well probably due to being shaded. Hopefully this will increase the growth rate and provide a more uniform look. My goal is to keep this scape running until I eventually move homes in 2 years. Anyways, I think I could run this and a larger 120cm or 150cm if maintenance was like this on both lol. It's the most I've enjoyed fish keeping / aquascaping in a long time. Usually I start to get bored around the 3 month mark. I need to figure what to do with the space on the left hand side where the pinatafida is. I'll wait a month before making any changes.

Picture dump:


I will be going away this weekend. I currently dose using the following routine:
Monday: 1 Pump Tropica Premium
Tuesday: 1 Pump Tropica Premium and Specialised
Wednesday: 1 Pump Tropica Premium
Thursday: 1 Pump Tropica Premium and Specialised
Friday: 1 Pump Tropica Premium
Saturday: 1 Pump Tropica Premium and Specialised
Sunday: 1 Pump Tropica Premium

Should I dose the Saturday and Sunday pumps on Friday as I will not be home on both days?

 

[bazz]

Should I dose the Saturday and Sunday pumps on Friday as I will not be home on both days?

Personally and being slightly pedantic I would split the difference, and dose Saturday's pump on the Friday and forget about Sunday. Your tank is around 3 months old now, and as they mature they become more forgiving. As such, I don't think it will make a whole lot of difference whatever you do or don't do for 2 days.