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Edge of the Jungle

Beautiful as this tank is, I wouldn't add any cichlids. Chances are any female would get chased around, as there's not a lot of hiding places.

I'd suggest some Corydoras hastatus and perhaps Hyphessobrycon amandae. They can handle lower temperatures. P. simulans appear throughout middle and upper Rio Negro, where temperatures are higher.

You could also try Dario dario. They're neat little gems. They usually do well in aquascaping tanks. Might want to chip in a group of Celestichthys margaritatus too.
 
Stuck in technology :p

Grab a magnifying glass and do a pencil sketch, then back to tech for the picture of said sketch :lol:
Haha I don’t even know how I forgot about the magnifying glass. Will give it a shot !
 
12 small Amano shrimp added. Some melting present on few pinatifida leaves which could be normal while they transition...same with parts of the Monte Carlo . They weren’t in super great shape to begin with so a little melting is expected.
Upped the co2 a little more . Both Tropica ferts are dosed daily in a ratio of 1:2.
One part Specialized to two parts Premium...This is in accordance to James Findlay’s from the former TGM dosing regime of the TNC and TNC+ which yielded great results with amazing growth and coloration.
Still at 6 hour photoperiod and 3 times a week water changes.
We shall see...
 
Water left out overnight and water tested an hour after lights on. Probably not the most accurate but reassuring nonetheless.
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Snatched up a new Hydor Aqamai KPS controllable powerhead from ebay for under 90$. It’s an egg sized powerhead that I’m gonna place under the floating rock to aid with flow, especially when everything grows in.
Variable flow from around 350gph to over 1000gph.
Pretty powerful “egg” lol.
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The KPS wavemaker is in and I couldn’t be happier.
What a nice little piece of gear ; I like it more than my previous Vortech MP10...no kidding .
Set up was a little hard with merging KPS WiFi with my home WiFi but all good now.

Tucked away where you can’t even see it from 2 ft in front of the tank programmed on Wave mode going 10%-100% speed in 2 second intervals.

Plants sway nicely in the current back and fort and I get a nice ripple on the surface every couple seconds.
Just awesome...
My Eheim pumps are struggling at 6ft head and they’re enough to circulate water through the system but this wavemaker was a welcomed addition.
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Took the 2217 canister offline.. A bit of a nuisance to run a canister along a sump...like double work.
So I had a little time and had a hmm moment...
An old reef salt 3.5 gallon bucket and a small half a gallon bucket.
Drilled holes in the bottom of them. The big one holds all the biological media and the small one just a sponge for now. I’ll add more...
The big bucket fit like a glove on the rim of the sump!
The drain dumps in the small bucket then over the big bucket with the bio media and finally in the sump.
There’s a 2-3” gap between bottom of the bucket and sump bottom .
Pretty much a canister in reverse but washing/cleaning sponges /media is done 5 times faster; at least...
Shrimps are easier to catch as well in that small bucket...I find them all the time in the sump.
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Stopped by the LFS today, and noticed they were selling these big 7” 200 micron filter socks.
I always hated the 4” ones cuz fish and shrimp death was almost guaranteed since my hand doesn’t fit inside one of them.
But this one will work just fine with the large mouth and will polish the water like no other. Almost perfect fit in the small bucket as well.
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Added 10 more Amano shrimp for a total of 22.
And while looking around the house for other stuff, stumbled upon some leftover aromatic cedar plank from another project.
Out the compressor came with the brad nailer and went to town.
The “fish closet” was sort of a disaster waiting to happen with all the cables and extensions down by the sump.
Got a little creative and went from this:
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To this:
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Monte Carlo started to thicken and grow downwards...exactly what I was envisioning.

Hygro needle leaf also growing strong.

All pinnatifida stalks that I had no or little hope for have started putting out new leaves.

Little dirt by the sand line that shall be removed tomorrow but other than that the tank is clean.

Photoperiod increased to 7 hours. Will be 8 in another 2 weeks.
Everyone is out of the pinnatifida uk. AFA went out of stock with my order and never got them anymore.

Found only one pot in the whole US. Really need like 7 pots at this moment to glue to all the wood and rock.
Also thinking to enter the IALPC this year...
End of May is the deadline so there’s hope I can fill this up and shape it by then.
Not expecting anything great, but it would be fun to participate for the first time.

Here’s a quick shot from tonight:
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I am building a 4ft x 5 inch shelf above the sump to put all the fish stuff I currently have no space for like dosing liquids, fish food, scissors etc...maybe at 4.5ft height from the ground with a set of 3 spot LED pucks mounted underneath that I have laying around to see what I’m doing when light on the tank is off.

I was contemplating adding some Cyperus Alternifolius in my sump to better filtrate the water.
Am I just giving myself extra work or could this turn into something useful? This is the plant:
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I can put the LED pucks on the timer with the main light just to grow this plant.
I have plenty of vertical space in the sump/closet that’s why I’m choosing this plant based on Darrel’s recommendation to another member .
@dw1305 could you offer some insight if this would be only a cool experiment or really be worth it?
Not planning to put this in any dirt; just straight in the water.
I’m all ears...
 
And these are the LED’s I have.
https://enbrightenme.com/ge-enbrighten-led-puck-lights-white-3-pack
Not sure if they’re enough power at 650 lumens but I’m willing to give them a shot.
3000k is pretty yellow but hey, it’s in the sump no one sees it:)

On another note, the filter sock is doing its job very well and the water is crystal clear. Look at that waste only after 3 days and there’s no fish in there yet.:eek:

Only half of it sits in the water because of the bucket height but that’s good enough for DIY. A custom wet/dry or sump would have allowed water to flow across the whole sock.

I have to order an 8 pack to have on hand extras while others are getting washed.
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Hi all,
I was contemplating adding some Cyperus alternifolius in my sump to better filtrate the water.....Am I just giving myself extra work or could this turn into something useful?
Not planning to put this in any dirt; just straight in the water.
Yes, it should be fine. It is a good plant for this sort of thing, and grows well hydroponically.

cheers Darrel
 
15 green neon tetras on drip acclimation..
Couple more pots of Hygro pinnatifida uk going in.
Also MC.
Upped the ferts to crazy levels.-10x the Tropica recommendation.
Upped the co2 and flow. Solid yellow DC ; Otto gills still not telling me they’ve had enough; amanos still go about like nothing happened; I put that on the highly oxygenated water from the overflow/sump.

Mad pearling; pics to follow...

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