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One Tree Hills
- Thread starter kadoxu
- Start date
I followed Andys HC propagator step by step. He uses a Sankey Growarm 100 Propagator with no extra lights during the Summer... I'm using my Chihiros A-Series as an extra source of light now that we don't have that much sunlight here in the UK.
Propagator update
Japanese Cress, Staurogyne repens, Lindernia rotundifolia variegated, Unkown plan (probably Rotala rotundifolia), Ludwigia palustris, Eleocharis parvula.
Micranthemum Monte Carlo
The secret area with some mini Java Moss (usually shaded) and an unknown plant (probably some kind of moss?)
Japanese Cress, Staurogyne repens, Lindernia rotundifolia variegated, Unkown plan (probably Rotala rotundifolia), Ludwigia palustris, Eleocharis parvula.
Micranthemum Monte Carlo
The secret area with some mini Java Moss (usually shaded) and an unknown plant (probably some kind of moss?)
Greenfinger2
Member
Hi Kadoxu, Great progress and wonderful growth 🙄🙄
Thanks Roy!
It's been a while! 🙂
Have been so busy getting ready for the baby boy, that I haven't started the tank yet... it actually ave me some time to deal with a couple of setbacks on the propagator and to rethink the rocks positioning.
After re-watching my inspiration video, I realised that I was trying to leave no spaces between the rocks, and that's not how it was done in the video.
About the propagator(s) (yes, I got a new one), I bought another, but it arrived in pretty bad shape... I got my money back and glued the pieces together... All the plants were doing fine after I moved to the new place and placed the propagators in the conservatory, until the really cold days started to do some damage... that and a bit of negligence due to the lack of time...
So here they are
The Java Moss suffered a lot with the cold weather, but it's now pickin up again
The second batch of MC is doing OK
The MC on the right propagator suffered a bit from lack of water in the propagator (hence the yellow color), but will hopefully recover in the next few days/weeks
The other container had some plants that I used to replant my nano tank and I put a bit more Mini Java Fern in there as well. I don't have any plans for the Java Fern, so if someone wants it, I can sell it for a good price
I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I'll try the Dry Start Method for this tank. Actually, I'm currently searching for a good way to heat the tank during that period, so if anyone has any ideas, I'll gladly hear them.
I also bought some Black Bar Endlers. They are currently living in my nano tank, but I'll probably move them and some shrimp into this new tank.
Have been so busy getting ready for the baby boy, that I haven't started the tank yet... it actually ave me some time to deal with a couple of setbacks on the propagator and to rethink the rocks positioning.
After re-watching my inspiration video, I realised that I was trying to leave no spaces between the rocks, and that's not how it was done in the video.
About the propagator(s) (yes, I got a new one), I bought another, but it arrived in pretty bad shape... I got my money back and glued the pieces together... All the plants were doing fine after I moved to the new place and placed the propagators in the conservatory, until the really cold days started to do some damage... that and a bit of negligence due to the lack of time...
So here they are
The Java Moss suffered a lot with the cold weather, but it's now pickin up again
The second batch of MC is doing OK
The MC on the right propagator suffered a bit from lack of water in the propagator (hence the yellow color), but will hopefully recover in the next few days/weeks
The other container had some plants that I used to replant my nano tank and I put a bit more Mini Java Fern in there as well. I don't have any plans for the Java Fern, so if someone wants it, I can sell it for a good price
I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I'll try the Dry Start Method for this tank. Actually, I'm currently searching for a good way to heat the tank during that period, so if anyone has any ideas, I'll gladly hear them.
I also bought some Black Bar Endlers. They are currently living in my nano tank, but I'll probably move them and some shrimp into this new tank.
A little update... more like a warning...
For anyone out there thinking about using Moss on a Dry Start... do your research first!
Java Moss needs really high levels of humidity (and high levels of light won't help either). Mine is turning yellow and kinda drying out... so I'm trying to compensate by misting at least 2 or 3 times a day, but I'm afraid it won't be enough.
For anyone out there thinking about using Moss on a Dry Start... do your research first!
Java Moss needs really high levels of humidity (and high levels of light won't help either). Mine is turning yellow and kinda drying out... so I'm trying to compensate by misting at least 2 or 3 times a day, but I'm afraid it won't be enough.
The Java Moss was dying away in this Dry Start, so a few days ago (last Friday) I added a few bits of Flame and Xmas Moss to the tree and flooded the tank in order to try to recover the Java Moss a bit.
In the meantime, I am dealing with Green Water and a bit of foam at water surface. This is probably due to the amount of Ammonia leaking from the substrate and the lack of time to perform water changes every single day. I added some Dwarf Water Lettuce to the tank to help me a bit with it for the moment.
Hopefully I'll be able to take a few pics later today.
In the meantime, I am dealing with Green Water and a bit of foam at water surface. This is probably due to the amount of Ammonia leaking from the substrate and the lack of time to perform water changes every single day. I added some Dwarf Water Lettuce to the tank to help me a bit with it for the moment.
Hopefully I'll be able to take a few pics later today.
Well, the tank has now cycled, I've been doing water changes every other day, the Monte Carlo has had a huge melt (and I think water temperature on the water changes had a lot to do with this) and finally...
And to make things more interesting, I found a couple of what seems to be ramshorn snails in the tank... probably from eggs in the extra mosses I got from ebay 😡
This means I'll probably have to get some assassins... Assassin snails or Dwarf puffers come to mind...
And to make things more interesting, I found a couple of what seems to be ramshorn snails in the tank... probably from eggs in the extra mosses I got from ebay 😡
This means I'll probably have to get some assassins... Assassin snails or Dwarf puffers come to mind...
Week 4 Update
A few bits of moss detached, so I need to let it grow to make it bushier.
Most o the MC on the right side melted, probably due to my stupidity of not checking water temps during water changes.
Water is a bit green and a bit of soil is falling to the sand, but Sunday is cleanup day! 😉
The good news are:
A few bits of moss detached, so I need to let it grow to make it bushier.
Most o the MC on the right side melted, probably due to my stupidity of not checking water temps during water changes.
Water is a bit green and a bit of soil is falling to the sand, but Sunday is cleanup day! 😉
The good news are:
- I transferred the fish from my nano to this tank (the 9 Endlers I got a few months ago are now more than 30!😱)
- I bought some more Red Cherry Shrimps and have about 40 in the tank now.
- I have a lot o MC in my propagators to replant the tank!
Week 6 - Trimmed & topped up sand
Last week I trimmed the hairgrass and the moss(es) a little bit. I tied the trimmed parts of the moss(es) and attached them to a tree branch. I'll keep doing this until I get the tree as filled with moss as I can.
I also planted a few more bits of MC on the right side.
Top View
Last week I trimmed the hairgrass and the moss(es) a little bit. I tied the trimmed parts of the moss(es) and attached them to a tree branch. I'll keep doing this until I get the tree as filled with moss as I can.
I also planted a few more bits of MC on the right side.
Top View
DanM621
Member
Looks brilliant! I like the dwarf lettuce 😀
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk
gareth777
Member
Looking good! Best way to keep reattaching moss with cuttings will soon fill out !I found trim it often too only by a few mill each week soon thickens up especially the top of the tree being so close to light source. 🙂
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
Tank details
Well, I have some time in my hands, so I thought it would be nice to do a special post just like the 'Pros' do with more details on what they have running and on their daily routines. This will hopefully help someone, or allow someone to help me by pointing out something I may be missing or doing wrong. So here goes...
The Fish
To cycle the tank a bit quicker, I put a dirty filter pad from another tank in the filter. The Nitrogen Cycle was complete after about 2 weeks. After that I just waited for another week to add fish, just to be sure.
I feed these guys twice a day, with a fasting day when I do water changes.
Just an update on a few things I changed:
Added some bits of Flame moss and Christmas moss to the tree.
I am still looking for a plant that would do well with low light and that stays relatively short to plant under the tree.
The Fertz
I'm using @Nuno M. 's EI recipe with UREA (see his post here, it's a great featured journal) adapted to my needs. Basically I need less NO3, since my tap water comes with at least 20ppm. This is my recipe:
I used PMDD's calculator to get to these numbers.
Green is for MACRO solution, Orange is for MICRO solution, and K2SO4 was split in half and used in both of them.
Dosing MACRO and MICRO daily and doing a 50-60% water change weekly with half RO - half tap water mix. I started with 2ml of each per day and have recently increased it to 4ml. Before changing the amount of fertz, I do water tests before the water change to check if the plants are consuming all/most of it during the week.
The Water Tests
Started a Log where I (try to) record every change I make to the tank and also to record water test results. This will allow me to check what changes I made, when I made it, and hopefully what effects they may have in water parameters.
The 3 most important water tests I have recorded so far were these:
n/a - not tested
The first test was to check if the cycle had started 4 days after flooding the tank. Then I just tested for Ammonia and Nitrites a few more times until I got a few zero results in a row (not recorded on the table).
The second one was a couple of days after adding the fish. Since I added a lot of bio-load in one go (all the current fish), I wanted to make sure that the bacteria and the plants were keeping up with it. After this I don't do water tests so often, unless I see stressed fish.
The third one was after the first week of fertilization, to check if I could raise the amount of fertilizers, which I did.
Well, I have some time in my hands, so I thought it would be nice to do a special post just like the 'Pros' do with more details on what they have running and on their daily routines. This will hopefully help someone, or allow someone to help me by pointing out something I may be missing or doing wrong. So here goes...
The Fish
To cycle the tank a bit quicker, I put a dirty filter pad from another tank in the filter. The Nitrogen Cycle was complete after about 2 weeks. After that I just waited for another week to add fish, just to be sure.
- 40 - Red Cherry Shrimps
- 30 - Endlers
- 1 - Zebra Nerite Snail
- ? - Ramshorn snails
- Comming soon:
- 8 Neon Tetras
- 8 Harlequin Rasboras
- 8 Pygmy Cories
I feed these guys twice a day, with a fasting day when I do water changes.
- New Life Spectrum Thera +A Small Fish Formula pellets
- Daily
- Hikary Tropical First Bytes - For fry
- Daily
- Crushed Omega One Veggie Flakes
- Every other day - to vary food type
- Freeze Dried Cyclops / Frozen Daphnia / Frozen Brine Shrimp
- Once a week - to vary food type
Just an update on a few things I changed:
- Filter
- The skimmer was replaced with a regular glass inflow with pre-filter foam to protect the fry
- The outflow was replaced by a glass lily pipe
- CO2 System
- The inline atomizer was replaced by a bazooka atomizer
- Light
- Chihiros light is on the strongest setting, but in a higher stand.
- Added a LED light on the side of the tank to give some more light to the plants under the tree.
- Others
- I have an air pump on a timer running a few times throughout the day for half an hour at a time
Added some bits of Flame moss and Christmas moss to the tree.
I am still looking for a plant that would do well with low light and that stays relatively short to plant under the tree.
The Fertz
I'm using @Nuno M. 's EI recipe with UREA (see his post here, it's a great featured journal) adapted to my needs. Basically I need less NO3, since my tap water comes with at least 20ppm. This is my recipe:
I used PMDD's calculator to get to these numbers.
Green is for MACRO solution, Orange is for MICRO solution, and K2SO4 was split in half and used in both of them.
Dosing MACRO and MICRO daily and doing a 50-60% water change weekly with half RO - half tap water mix. I started with 2ml of each per day and have recently increased it to 4ml. Before changing the amount of fertz, I do water tests before the water change to check if the plants are consuming all/most of it during the week.
The Water Tests
Started a Log where I (try to) record every change I make to the tank and also to record water test results. This will allow me to check what changes I made, when I made it, and hopefully what effects they may have in water parameters.
The 3 most important water tests I have recorded so far were these:
n/a - not tested
The first test was to check if the cycle had started 4 days after flooding the tank. Then I just tested for Ammonia and Nitrites a few more times until I got a few zero results in a row (not recorded on the table).
The second one was a couple of days after adding the fish. Since I added a lot of bio-load in one go (all the current fish), I wanted to make sure that the bacteria and the plants were keeping up with it. After this I don't do water tests so often, unless I see stressed fish.
The third one was after the first week of fertilization, to check if I could raise the amount of fertilizers, which I did.
Looking good. But why have air pump on during day/photo period as it will just decrease the waters [CO2] with the increased surface agitation. During the non photo period I have mine on most of night to keep [O2] good for plant growth, plus from what I've read helps reduced surface biofilm. If you don't have it on during photoperiod sorry for misinterpreting your post.
No Amanos !
Was thinking of adding snails to mine but ended up with ramshorns when I got some plants, added some assassins to sort them out as even in the early stages of my tank they didn't look good, but each to their own OFC
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No Amanos !
Was thinking of adding snails to mine but ended up with ramshorns when I got some plants, added some assassins to sort them out as even in the early stages of my tank they didn't look good, but each to their own OFC
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Thanks! No problem, I should have clarified that the air pump doesn't work during the photo-period. I said it works during the day, because the lights go on at 6PM. Since the tank is in my poorly lit living room, I use the tank light as ambient light as well to save some energy. 😉 As for the bio film, I can confirm it helps a lot. I got almost rid of it in another tank just by adding an air pump.
Tropica made some tests on algae eaters that says Cherry Shrimps are the next best thing right after Amanos, specially if considering their weight/size (and for me also more cost effective).
I also got some Ramshorn snails with some mosses I bought from Ebay... I was absolutely pissed at the time, but now I actually want them to breed, as I have a Dwarf puffer coming for my other tank. 🙂
