Colin's 60-P

[Colinlp]

Well I thought I'd better get something of a thread up as no doubt I'm going to need a lot of help soon!

This is what is in it so far:
Tank ADA 60P and under mat
Light ADA Aquasky 602 LED
Filter Eheim Pro 3 250T
CO2Art Reg/solenoid and needle valve
CO2 diffuser, bubble counter, check valve and drop checker
CO2Art violet lily pipes (I'm not sure if this is what they have sent though, I have contacted them)
ADA Power sand
ADA Amazonia power soil and power sand
ADA Penac W

The cabinet is home made, or should I say CNC cut, foiled in grey and assembled at home

The rocks were collected from near Holyhead mountain

The plants are:
Eleocharis parvula
Rotala 'Bonsai
Penthorum sedoides
Limnophila hippuridoides
Pogostemon erectus
Myriophyllum matogrossense but this is coming out and Rotala green going in instead

It was planted a week ago and growth so far looks OK, well I hope it is, ferts are by EI

Forgive the pics, iphone

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Colinip, Looking good

Neat set up too

 

[Colinlp]

Cheers, it's my first attempt in a long time, the smallest tank in a long time too!

It's been wet for two weeks now and planted for one. The ADA substrate doesn't half throw out some ammonia, two weeks in and it'd down to 2ppm from 4 and nitrite risen to 0.5ppm, hopefully a week or two should see it fully cycled then shrimp and start thinking about fish but I haven't got a clue there! I had initially wanted harlequin rasboras but apparently they are jumpers, my missus likes rummy nose tetras but I sort of fancy cardinals, any suggestions?

 

[Colinlp]

Myriophyllum matogrossense has been replaced with Rotala green and trimmed last night for the first time, had a bit of bother with it uprooting for the first week so I took it easy in this cut. Everything seems to be doing OK, a bit of GSA so I think I need to up my phosphate and a bit of hair algae which is either dying back or the shrimps are starting to get the better of it, the lighting period is 7 hours with just one strip of the lights working.

 

[The_Iceman]

Nice little tank you have there Colin!

I like the stone arrangement and the selection of plants!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Colinlp]

Thanks Chris, if it ever looks a tenth as good as yours I'll be very happy

 

[The_Iceman]

Give it some time... after some trimming, enough ferts and light it will look very lush

 

[Colinlp]

Update time, got to keep on top of them you know!!

Well this was the closing shot of that last scape, the missus wanted a Betta but it ate the shrimp so green rocks, bought a new tank for it now but it's still cycling, maybe another week before it's ready

Anyway, that was the closing shot. The killer was an infestation of Bladderwort which became a royal pain and killed any enjoyment of the tank. So off to TGM we went a few weeks ago and came up with this

Bit of a rubbish pic but it's what I got

So ADA power sand, ADA Power soil and ADA Power soil powder in and ordered the following in 12-Grow pots
5 x Hemianthus callitrichoides
1 x Rotala macrandra
2 x Rotala 'Bonsai'
1 x Staurogyne repens
1 x Pogostemon erectus
1 x Didiplis diandra

I wanted the 12-Grow pots as I really wanted to avoid another Bladderwort type outbreak as unlikely as it would be. I did sterilise all the equipment after the breakdown.

Day 1 Wednesday 27th Jan

Today

I think it's coming on well so far but I've never grown HC before so nothing to compare it with

Fert wise I've changed from EI and am giving the ADA ferts a go, why? Well why not, I'll never know unless I try. I didn't have any issues with EI but I read here a post from George Farmer saying ADA ferts worked well with ADA substrate. So far it's only been Brighty K and Green Bacter.

I've chucked a Chirihos Twinstar in there too, cheap enough at £40 so why not

 

[alto]

giving the ADA ferts a go

tank is certainly looking well - excellent growth & no signs of melt ... you can sort of "push" (down) at the HC to help it establish before trimming commences - there's a brief discussion of this in one of Mark Evan's journals (though if you've sharp enough scissors & a steady hand, trimming should not interfere with rooting)

Betta but it ate the shrimp

Lucky Betta not to be waiting in a bowl until his tank is ready - do we get pictures of that tank as well?
Bettas are such funny creatures, I have one boy that is completely shrimp safe yet he hassled the goby every time it dared venture out .- Bettas can actually move FAST when they want to - of course streamlined goby is much quicker so it was quite funny to watch ... that Betta moved to alternate tank & new Betta inhabitant did a few half-hearted rushes at the green neons & completely ignore goby & oto's

I don't mean to actually keep Bettas but eventually get suckered by fishes in tiny cups ... & then it seems selfish not to place one in each tank ... & set up extra tanks ... & ...
present resolution is No Going into shops that keep Bettas in cups!

 

[Colinlp]

This ids the progress as of today 3 1/2 weeks after planting

A little bit of Rhizocolunium growing so I've cut back on the light and put some more fish in to raise the nutrients up a little as it was understocked. I put 6 CRS in too but goodness knows where they're hiding. Whatever though the algae is receding so something is having an affect.

Sadly the Betta developed some swim bladder type problem and wasn't well so I had to put it out of it's misery today

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Colinip, Great growth Sorry to hear about the betta.

 

[Colinlp]

Hi Colinip, Great growth Sorry to hear about the betta.

Me too, I was genuinely gutted, he was quite a character

 

[Colinlp]

The Rhizocolunium has either died off or the shrimp have eaten it so pretty much algae free at the moment.

Dosing 3 pumps of Brighty K daily and 3 pumps of Step 1 3 times a week.

The only algae I have at the moment is ironically on the Chirihos Twinstar. I'm going to remove the front edge of Didiplis diandra from under it and let the HC spread in its place to reinforce the Rotala Bonsai which is looking a bit insignificant as it is

 

[Andy D]

Looking good.

 

[Colinlp]

Looking good.

Thanks.

Shame my photography skills are so bad though, seeing the brilliant photographs of some peoples tanks makes me wish I could but try as I may I can't seem to generate enough interest to warrant a decent camera

 

[Andy D]

Thanks.

Shame my photography skills are so bad though

Tell me about it! (Not saying yours are bad! )

I have at least invested in a really cheap tripod that helps but I am still limited by only having access to the camera on my phone.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

The only algae I have at the moment is ironically on the Chirihos Twinstar.

We've been down <"this route before">.



cheers Darrel

 

[Colinlp]

Well if the algae stays on the twinstar thing and out of the rest of the tank then we'll call it a raging success. The fish seem to like it, they all go head first into the bubbles when it goes off. I suspect the algae guild up is due to it being a bit of a dead spot flow wise, it should improve next week when I clear the Didiplis diandra from around it hopefully

 

[Colinlp]

I cleared the Didiplis diandra from the front and it look a lot better to me, a couple of stray bits of HC were shoved in the gap to give the fill a head start

Unfortunately I scared the fish away from the bubbles in my rush to get this shot but it shows the new clear patch

This is my latest absolutely essential buy from Aquasabi along with a AP feeding glass which to be fair is a very nice gadget

 

[alto]

absolutely essential buy from Aquasabi

Tank is looking grand, shame about Mr Betta
- perhaps look for an HMPK type (Half Moon Plakat) next time around as they seem a little sturdier: the HM breeding makes for a nicer, kinder version of the PK; Crown/Comb tail, Rose tail seem to be among the more sensitive, avoid the cheapest "long fin"as these seem to be poorly bred/cared for (?) - at any rate, they seem to be much less active when they ship in, higher mortality rates while awaiting sale etc
(Rose tail leads to high mortality rates in offspring as it's one of those sorts of mutations, it does produce a very nice tail but some breeders avoid it re the accompanying physical problems, if you do choose a Rose tail, make sure that fish has a nicely developed body etc In general expect to pay rather more for quality bettas)