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The Nymph's Spring (EA900)

+1 for Tapo plugs! They're so easy and reliable. If you have an iPhone you can control it with Siri which I also do; "Hey Siri, turn on the lights".

Also if you don't want to mess around with glue, I use large size command strips. It uses residue free adhesive and velcro which is strong as they're designed to hold up artwork and things like that. I've used them literally all over my house.
This is awesome, just realised I can ue one of these plugs on my waterchange pump so I can turn it off from downstairs when refilling!! Sooooo useful omg.

Thakn you for the command strip tip too, just went and got myself some. Really appreciate yours and everyone's advice on pimping the cabinet!

Hi @shangman, slight thread highjack, PM me if you prefer: how have you got on with the nymphaea lotus? Do you find it grows really fast, and what do you think moving it is going it be like?
I’m thinking about starting one off in a small cube before moving eventually to my new 60 litre in a couple of months, but worried it will get massive too soon.

PS I’m all about icecream tubs for storage
Don't worry I love highjackings, really love how active this thread is and that so many people have input!

I find the lotus totally fine, it does grow vigorously sometimes, but it responds very well to being trimmed. At first it grew lots of lovely tightly-packed underwater leaves, then started growing floating leaves which were nice at first, but no light was getting through. By pruning them off regularly I got it to grow nice underwater leaves again. It's one of the fastests lowtech plants I've grown, but I think it depends on how nutritious the soil is, so you could add less ferts to get it to grow slowly, or add some root tabs to get it to grow really well on you. After 10 months mine grew a tiny baby plant, that currently only has very small leaves which I really like, though they're slowly getting bigger which each one. I remember reading from @zozo that lotus/waterlily growth depends a lot on the root stock it comes with - if it's small then it will take a lot longer to grow big luscious leaves, and sometimes the smaller variety is preferable! I am dreading moving it a bit because I've read that the roots get everywhere, I'm thinking I'll try to pull it, but if the whole sandbed moves, I'll leave it until all the fish and other plants have gone in first before disturbing it.

I think your plan is a good one, though it does grow fast enough that if you waited that would be fine too. I have it in a 60L and even though it's my feature plant, it's never got too big, even before pruning it.
 
I think your plan is a good one, though it does grow fast enough that if you waited that would be fine too. I have it in a 60L and even though it's my feature plant, it's never got too big, even before pruning it.
Brill, thanks! I’m just getting really impatient for my new tank, but have to wait ‘til we have taken down and replaced a ceiling… Being a grown up is rubbish sometimes.
 
It’s awful isn’t it! I try and fight it at every opportunity, much to my wife’s dismay! :D
"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." CS Lewis


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Something so wonderful and magical is happening right now... I have FIVE kuhli loaches eating together in the front. I tried to take a photograph, but they were not fans of the phone so left them to it. I haven't seen so many since I first added them last summer! I think it's because of the cardinals acting as dither fish so they feel safe? Or maybe because the apistos are currently absent (though they disappeared long before I added any apistos). Either way, it's so lovely to see them all again! Even before this I'd decided I will keep them and put them in the new scape with a few extra buddies, this just makes me more happy about that :) The otos seem to be coming out a little more too, now they're back to a group of 6.
 
I've been searching on this forum for a while, and I'm certain there must be a topic about it but I can't find it... What is the optimum placement of 2 filters with 2 lily pipes? I've just set the second one up and finally worked out how to get it to be quiet with no air, so want to solve the next problem! Incidentally the fish seem to really love the extra flow, which is even stronger as I replaced the Oase pipes with lilies which seems to have massive increased the flow vs the pipes it came with.

At the moment I have it like this, purely because of where the side holes are on the cabinet. I don't mind drilling new holes for better placement, I wondered if it's better to have them both on the same side, but honestly IDK. The filter on the bottom right is the "main" filter (Oase Biomaster 600) with filter media + skimmer inlet, the one on the top left is the secondary empty filter, just for flow (Eheim Pro4+). Excuse the terrible drawing my tablet is broken :( Red is for inlet, blue is for lily outlet.

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Also, should I go for inline CO2 rather than a diffuser? If so, which filter should it go in? Assuming the one with media, but not 100% sure.
 
That's probably the best, and most typical layout to create a good circular flow, as long as you don't mind the equipment being visible in the front corner.

I like to hide mine all away, so I'd likely go sub-optimum, and have the second filter in the rear corner, but with the outlet pointing towards the front to still try and create the circular flow, but that's just me. (Actually I wouldn't have a second filter, I'd have a stream pump there - which is exactly what I have got thinking about it lol).

You might want to have the Oase at the rear, and the empty Eheim at the front - it depend on your scape layout, but more detritus tends to collect at the rear if you have stems there etc, so its on that filter inlet that I'd want the pre-filter to trap that detritus.
 
That's probably the best, and most typical layout to create a good circular flow, as long as you don't mind the equipment being visible in the front corner.

I like to hide mine all away, so I'd likely go sub-optimum, and have the second filter in the rear corner, but with the outlet pointing towards the front to still try and create the circular flow, but that's just me. (Actually I wouldn't have a second filter, I'd have a stream pump there - which is exactly what I have got thinking about it lol).

You might want to have the Oase at the rear, and the empty Eheim at the front - it depend on your scape layout, but more detritus tends to collect at the rear if you have stems there etc, so its on that filter inlet that I'd want the pre-filter to trap that detritus.
Ahh ok yes you have had the same thoughts as me then, I was wondering whether both on one side in each corner was a better idea. TBH I got the second filter so it would be like a prettier powerhead, and also less likely to shred unsuspecting fish. I want great flow to avoid some of the CO2 problems at the jump, and maybe to get some higher flow fish later on!

V interesting the idea to swap them over I think I'll try that, that's also a good idea cos the skimmer is on the Oase at the front atm, and tbh it is an eyesore, and of course I'll def have some stems in the back so hopefully this will help!

Thank you for the advice!!! 😍
 
I took a few short videos today of the tank as I'm taking the babies to the shop on Friday and I want to record their magic a bit better, posted one below. Quality is complete rubbish, but you can see how lovely they are anyway! Ignore the spiro, will be doing a big blackout after this to control it again :) The aggressive one in the bottom corner coming out of the seedpod is motherfish, she's good to go but nobody is interested.

 
Some amazing colours on those - and they've bulked up so quick!
Thank you!! They are lovely and fat, that's what happens when you feed them 2 frozen cubes a day! 😂 Plus weekly live foods of course, for nutrition (and extra sport).


Took some photos cos I realised that video is rather dodgy, so you can really see the colours!! This phone is rly annoying though, it keeps taking short videos instead of photos even on the camera-only setting so the photos end up not quite crisp. Very annoying, at some point I really want to learn + get the equipment to take proper nice photos. The less colourful little fish is a female, you can tell from the fins which are rounded rather than pointy, and that she is less colourful. The last image is motherfish in her seedpod, very colourful and ready to breed again, fingers crossed it doesn't happen before the new scape is set up!

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Thank you!! They are lovely and fat, that's what happens when you feed them 2 frozen cubes a day! 😂 Plus weekly live foods of course, for nutrition (and extra sport).


Took some photos cos I realised that video is rather dodgy, so you can really see the colours!! This phone is rly annoying though, it keeps taking short videos instead of photos even on the camera-only setting so the photos end up not quite crisp. Very annoying, at some point I really want to learn + get the equipment to take proper nice photos. The less colourful little fish is a female, you can tell from the fins which are rounded rather than pointy, and that she is less colourful. The last image is motherfish in her seedpod, very colourful and ready to breed again, fingers crossed it doesn't happen before the new scape is set up!

Beautiful fish!

PS - If it's an iPhone, you need to turn off the 'Live' function.
 
Lovely fish, you’ve done a great job with them. Doing better than people that have been doing this years, very impressive!
 
Hey @shangman, thought I’d join in with some pics of my cabinet to see if they’ll help you with a few ideas!

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These trays are stick on bathroom organisers from Amazon, knife rack 2 quid on eBay

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Kitchen roll holder a couple of quid on eBay, comes in super handy every WC

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This sections a bit messy but the little tray is from Wilkos I think

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This is the Kasa extension lead I was telling you about, so easy to use on the app from my phone. This controls the co2 and the 2 stock EA tubes

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And that’s my QT tank that I’m slowly trying to use as a grow out tank for plants but it needs work!
 
Thats too much pressure 😂
Don't worry, it's more like a Council of Elrond Advisers really. 😂 In this group there's always someone knows, it's kinda amazing.

Lovely fish, you’ve done a great job with them. Doing better than people that have been doing this years, very impressive!
Thank you that's so kind ☺️❤️ I just do whatever I think will make them happy cos they're so cute I'm compelled to 😂

Wow, stunning! 😍
Thanks! :)

Hey @shangman, thought I’d join in with some pics of my cabinet to see if they’ll help you with a few ideas!

View attachment 168721

These trays are stick on bathroom organisers from Amazon, knife rack 2 quid on eBay

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Kitchen roll holder a couple of quid on eBay, comes in super handy every WC

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This sections a bit messy but the little tray is from Wilkos I think

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This is the Kasa extension lead I was telling you about, so easy to use on the app from my phone. This controls the co2 and the 2 stock EA tubes

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And that’s my QT tank that I’m slowly trying to use as a grow out tank for plants but it needs work!
Omggg I totally forgot about that extension lead! It's reasonably priced, hooray!! That's perfect for the filters + CO2, thank you. After seeing all these kitchen roll holders I'm gonna have to take the plunge on that too, have been keeping one next to my computer and this way it'll look much less weird 😂 I love that you've managed to squeeze in a QT tank in there, that's genius


Absolutely loving all these cabinet photos, thank you all! I ended up getting a magnetic knife strip from Wilkos for £2.50 which was fabulous, still need to get the other stuff, but still working out what the actual configuration of everything will be with the filters (need to swap over after Wookii's advice), and get the second filter properly working because IT KEEPS GETTING FILLED WITH AIR ARGHHHHHH. Will work it out eventually lol, I do have a spare rubber ring thing for it to try next.

Babies are being sent off tomorrow :( Is a relief but I wish they were a small schooling fish so I could keep them all lol
 
Gave away the babies yesterday. Was a rather unromantic affair as the shop was super busy, but I explained to them which were males and which were females. They actually were exactly the right size, the same size as all the other apistos they had in the shop. My dad thought they were bigger and I had just been greedily hoarding them lol, MAYBE SO.

My 180L got turned upside down to catch them all, now it's having a blackout to get rid of the algae, and then the dark start begins!! OMG Can't believe this chapter is over and the new scape is in sight!!

In the end, I had 36 - gave away 8, kept 2 and then the shop got 26, which was a good mix of males and females. When Mr Apister died I actually cried, I loved that beautiful intelligent gentle fish, so when the fry appeared 2 days after it felt a bit like fate and that I must look after them in honour of him, though I thought I'd end up with only a handful. I've learnt so much from this experience, I loved looking after them, especially over the winter lockdown which was pretty grim otherwise, and thank you guys for all your advice and support too, which also made it all much more fun, I really love this community! Mr Apister truly lives on in the tanks of UKAPS members across Britain :) I kept one of the loviliest males left, and a little female, who are doing well in my jungley 60L.

Here they are in their bags at the shop, ready to get in their new home. Good luck, little babies!!

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Yesterday I ordered the last of the CO2 equipment and soil that I need!! So I'm getting reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal close to it all now, once the soil arrives I'll start the "dark start", and then we're just 3-4 weeks away from SCAPETIME.

So I have a question... what cheap material should I use to build up banks/height in the tank? I think I want to get some good height in some areas, and although I'll have 39litres of soil, I'm not sure that it will be enough to get height in all the right areas. I've seen different videos with different options, but would love to get your opinions on it! Ideally I want something that allows me to rescape the tank in the future with the same soil, so nothing that mixes in.
 
Lava rock is probably the best material you could use to create raised banks as it'll end up housing a lot of bacteria within it too in the long run.

I have some spare if you like. You may need to smash up the rocks so they're smaller and can be put into filter bags which can be more malleable if that makes life easier for you, but I've got some sat around doing nothing.

What I have might not be enough for what you want, but I have a few kgs of the stuff you could put to use.

Hammer and chisel will easily break up the rocks.
 
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