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Crystal Palace

amy4342

Member
Joined
22 May 2008
Messages
338
Hi everyone.

After taking delivery of my first Opti White tank from Aquariums Ltd, I thought I'd better start my first journal too. I ordered this tank specifically to house my Crystal Red Shrimp, hence the name Crystal Palace (5* accomodation you know :lol: ). I've got approximately ten S+ to SS grade in my nano now, and they're breeding like mad, and out-competing the Cherry shrimp for space, so I thought it only fair to get them bigger quarters.

Equipment
24" x 24" x 12" Opti White tank from Aquariums Ltd - amazing company to deal with, and the tank is just stunning
Ferplast Blumodular 01 Internal Filter-I wasn't allowed another external :lol:, but it's pretty powerful, 900lph apparently
24W Hagen Glo T5 lighting system
Oliver Knott NatureSoil - 10l Black Normal grain and 5l of Black Fine grain
Wood from The Last Trading Post on eBay, which has been soaking for 2 weeks
Mini Landscape Rock from AE
DIY fermentation Co2

Plants
Taiwan Moss for a moss wall, very kindly supplied by a1Matt
Fissidens Fontanus, very kindly supplied by LondonDragon
Christmas moss, very kindly supplied by my secret santa
Bolbitis heudelotti, crypts and anubias, very kindly supplied by jolt100
Pelia, very kindly supplied by laimyzaz
Dwarf sag and crypts, very kindly supplied by Tourney
Anubias and Needle Leaf Fern, very kindly supplied by nelson
10 assorted crypt pots from Maidenhead Aquatics

I also have ordered the following plants, but they have not arrived yet
Cryptocoryne wendtii Brown
Cryptocoryne wendtii Mi Oya
Cryptocoryne beckettii
Cryptocoryne ciliata
Cryptocoryne undulata
Cryptocoryne walkeri
Cryptocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne willisii

I haven't planted the tank yet because I'm waiting on the above order to arrive, and then I'm going to sit down and plant everything in one go. I should also say that many of the crypts especially are in quite bad condition because they've been sitting in another tank since before Christmas, and I was unable to do any maintenance due to illness, and the co2 also ran out at that time. It seems to be only the pots from Maidenhead though - most of the others were already established by then, so didn't have many problems with those. I would like to say a huge thanks to all the members who supplied me with plants-they are all fantastic!

Ok, onto the pics!

Here is the tank, complete with Hagen Glo unit and filter in the back. Having a play with wood placement.

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I finally decided on this layout.

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I've never done a wood AND rock scape before, so thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do so. So, the leftover rock from a previous scape goes in. It's in a semicircular shape mostly because I wanted to use NatureSoil at the back and Unipac Coral Sand at the front.

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Unfortunately, after much heated discussion, it was decided not to use the Unipac Coral Sand, because my fiance was concerned about how much it weighed. So, I decided to use NatureSoil large grain at the back, and small grain at the front.

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With the wood in place

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And the rocks added. The green rocks have Pelia attached btw

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I added my taiwan moss wall onto the back of the tank, and added the Needle Leaf Fern onto the wood

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Now for filling! I can't believe the wood floated after two weeks of soaking! Argh!

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And now with all the plants I have chucked in - Bolbitis is tied to a stone and placed in front of the filter to hide it somewhat. You can see the various crypts and anubias floating.

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I'm pretty pleased with the hardscape. Just can't wait now to get the final order in, so I can plant it all! I'm thinking, big groups of crypts around the wood and small crypts like parva in-between the stones.

I have also setup the DIY Co2 - I've used a 1.5l coke bottle (for now), siliconed co2 piping into the lid, and attached the other end to a hole on the filter outlet meant for the venturi. It's working fantastically well! I'm getting one bubble approximately every 2 secs, and the method of dispersion is just amazing - small bubbles getting blown out of the spray bar and sent flying around the tank - fantastic! I'm going to be setting up another bottle and changing one on a weekly basis - I use this method in my goldfish tank and find that algae due to unstable co2 is not a problem. I'll also be putting a drop checker in there, probably later today, to monitor how much co2 is actually diffusing in, and if there are any dead spots. I might just buy another of the same filter if there are, since it's not too obtrusive and run it with no media. And no, before anyone asks, I have been totally banned from using an external filter in there. Although, it's normally just a matter of time before I wear him down :D, so watch this space.

Comments and suggestions welcome!
 
So, much, depth!!! That's going to be such a fun tank to scape. It's actually perfect for emergant plants to be placed on the extremties. Hell, get some echinodors and let them break the waters surface, it'd look amazing!
 
So, much, depth!!!

Yea, I have to be honest, having that amount of depth to work with was just great. It made it a lot easier to scape, and gives a lot more margin for error. I know I haven't made the depth much of a feature to be honest, but it's not something I'm too into. I'm hoping the forest of huge crypts around the wood will show off the depth of the tank.

It's actually perfect for emergant plants to be placed on the extremties. Hell, get some echinodors and let them break the waters surface, it'd look amazing!

Oooo, I like that idea! I have actually got some echinodorus latifolius ready to go in there, but they tend to stay fairly smallish. I bet a really nice coloured echinodorus would make a really nice feature. Thanks Garuf!

looking forward to see how this turns out

Thanks AdAndrews. Oooo, the pressure's on! :D
 
Ta da! I'm talking just like that, but obviously smaller.
PVD350L.jpg
 
Omg, wow! That's fantastic! I absolutely love that!

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Not sure my fiance would be too enthusiastic though :lol:

Thanks James!
 
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