Tonys 'Peacocks Crypt' - The End

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Have you considered adding some crypts around there too to mix up the texture a little? Just a thought mate - and crypts are less invasive...

Hi George - warts and all is the only way There are alot of crypt parva in the forground, which were originally surrounded by acicularis, but the tennelus has taken over somewhat and seen off the acicularis. That said I like the tennelus in the foreground, as I find the height fits better aronud the bases of the roots.

I have various crypts in the discus tank so I might poach a couple and give them a go 😀

One trick I've used to rid BBA is to drain the tank so the BBA is exposed to the air, then use a small paint brush and liquid carbon to paint directly on to the BBA. This way there's no way of overdosing and the BBA disappears over a few days.

Nice tip - I'll give that a go on the next big w/c tomorrow.

I'm sure you must have mentioned this before... have you got a linky link?

Hi Chris

I'm not sure I have mentioned it 😉 Its really simple...

I use a Hozelock garden water timer, fitted off a tee on the filter outlet pipe, and running off to waste. This is a "tap on a timer" and I have it set to open for a few minutes each night, for long enough to drain the required amount of water - in this tanks case 25L or about 12%.

The water supply from my RO filter is on a float switch, which I made an acrylic bracket for, so that it sits on the top edge of the tank and allows the RO water to refill the tank. It takes a couple of hours to refill due to the slow RO production rate.

I'll post some pics soon 😀

Cheers

Tony

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

A wee update after a fortnight of successful BBA fighting 😀

I bought an 85L storage tank so I can prepare more water, and fitted up a couple of float switches from the RO and HMA filters, with a tap on each so I can adjust the flow to get an approximate 50/50 mix. Theres a small eheim compact pump in the storage tank, so I can turn the drain on for 12 minutes to drop the water, then switch the pump back on to refill it 😀



With this I've been able to do 40% water changes every other day, and have been doing them an hour after lights on at 11am as Tom Barr suggested. Whilst the water level is low, I turn the filters and koralias off for 10 minutes and squirt Excel on all of the patches of BBA. After 2 weeks, here is the same piece of redmoor that I posted a picture of a few posts back...



I've also got the CO2 working much more consistently now, with the DC yellow at lights on, and distribution around the tank far better, due to the diffuser being directly under the koralia, and an inline diffuser in play on the other filter outlet...



Following Georges advice (thanks George - good call 🙂 )I've added some Crypt Wenditi Tropica, from John Starkey (thanks John and Steve) - these were excellent specimens, and the colour fits in really nicely with the scape, braking up all the greens, whilst linking beautifully with the now exposed redmoor...



The timing and the size of the water changes causes masses of pearling, due to the increased O2 in the fresh water. This is very pleasing to see, as I've never had pearling in this tank - it looks so healthy now 😀

Its amazing how a couple of weeks of higher maintenance, and better observations, have turned around the tank so much. Here are the rest of the pics...











The creeping moss is really struggling, but I'm going to see how it goes in this new regime. The peacock moss is flourishing so I may replace the creeping with that.

Cheers, Tony.

 

[JamesM]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Excellent news mate, glad things are working for you, tank looks much better

 

[Garuf]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Looks really, really good, Tony. Glad you're back on form! I can only imagine how miffed you must have been getting back to the algae.
Is there hairgrass in the foreground? I think that'd give you a really good transition and help the front seem more dense.
Did your tank arrive? Mine did! 😀

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

nicely recovered mate!

 

[Steve Smith]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Great stuff Tony! Glad it's starting to come good again 🙂 A testament to what a strict regime can achieve when needed!

 

[George Farmer]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Great recovery mate and brilliant that you have shared the experience with us all.

Crypts look super too! 😀

 

[andyh]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Hey Tonser,

Just thought i would say that i think its great that you have show us the bad through to the good, makes reading the journal so much more interesting and seeing what works based on advice from other members.

Also as always excellent photos!

Andyh

 

[LondonDragon]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Tank is looking better than ever Tony, congrats on winning the battle and posting how you did it 🙂
Looking forward to seeing the mature a little more and possibly seeing it in the flesh soon 🙂

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Thanks guys, I quite like to show what goes wrong as well as what goes right - I'll look back at it one day and remember how I dealt with it (probably when the next algae outbreak occurs )

Is there hairgrass in the foreground? I think that'd give you a really good transition and help the front seem more dense. Did your tank arrive? Mine did!

There is hairgrass all along the front, but its been taken over by the rampant E Tennelus. The tank is coming on Thursday Garuf 😀 Pleased you got yours.

A testament to what a strict regime can achieve when needed!

Indeed Steve. To be honest just spending a few more minutes a few times a day watching and observing what was going on in the tank really helped.

Also as always excellent photos!

Thanks Andy 😀

Looking forward to seeing the mature a little more and possibly seeing it in the flesh soon

Indeed Paulo, hopefully it will be better by the time you guys come down.

The stems are suddenly growing at a rate now at the back, so I need to work out what is going to stay where, and then trim them in to shape.

Happy days with this one, just starting to go through the same process with the discus tank now 😀

Tony

 

[ceg4048]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Yeah, good show mate. Superb pics, superb scape, and algae given a swift kick in the groin. Well done mate!

Cheers,

 

[Ben M]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

hi, the moss looks really cool on the wood.

cheers 😀

 

[alexandre]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Nice scap, much better with the cryps 😀

 

[G H Nelson]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Hi
Can anyone tell me where Tonser got his fossilised wood from.
Cheers
hoggie

 

[Garuf]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Probably TGM, you can get it from next to anywhere that sells Unipac products.

 

[G H Nelson]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Thanks for that
I liked the colour of it,and it was quite smooth also.
Cheers
hoggie

 

[Tony Swinney]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

Thanks garuf, it is TGM's fossilised wood Hogan, and it's mch nicer than he unipac petrified wood which is alot redder and can be broken up into smaller pieces. The TGM stuff is true fossilised wood, and has a metal-like 'ring' to it when you knock 2 pieces together !

Tony

 

[Steve Smith]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

It even sparks if you hit it with a hammer (I've smashed some up recently!) Smells like flint 🙂

 

[Stu Worrall]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

sounds the same as seiryu as I smashed up a big piece in holland to go in my nano which stank of burning. Nearly deafened me mind as it took a lot of crakcing! the dutch guy I was talking to thought it was sacriledge to be smashing up seiryu but it came out in much better pieces!

 

[George Farmer]

Re: Tonsers 200L Optiwhite

One of the highlights of my fishkeeping 'career' so far; sitting outside TGM with Oliver Knott both of us smashing up petrfied wood for his display/demo tank! Priceless.

Any update photos, please Tony?