Juwel Rekord 120 tank

[ghostsword]

Hi,

I have started the rescape of my tank, took all plants out and started again, leaving only the Java Fern and Anubias.

There are also two plants left emmersed, Staurogyne and Hydrocolyte. Staurogyne is adapting to emmersed form, some leaves are drying, while new ones apearing. Hydro is well adapted already.

Pic's below:

Emmersed Staurogyne:

Emmersed Hydrocolyte:

Filing up with water:

Two days after, with all the plants on the tank

On the anunias you can see algae trying to get a hold, three days on a pot with the tank water was enough for green algae to start. But CO2, more Easycarbo should take care of it.

The red hooks holding the led tubes are temporary, I have purchased acrylic rods, they will go in to support the aquafx tubes above the Rotalas and Amazons.

This is the area in front, will put Riccia, Staurogyne, Pogo or HC

My Anubia garden

Floating Riccia and Staurogyne starting to emmerse

Floating Riccia, Staurogyne's, MU and Crypts at the back

Emmersed Hydrocolyte and Hygrophila Corymbosa at the back

Floating island composed of Hydrocolyte, Rotalas and MU's

Alterantheras mini and some grass

Aponogeton and lily

Tank pictures, middle has the amazons, with space for them to grow and fill up. The Juwel box will be covered with MU and Rotala, once I get them to emmerse.

 

[LondonDragon]

Looking much better Luis, big improvement from previous incarnation Looks like all the reading is paying off
Lots of potential specially with the new lighting keep us posted

 

[Nelson]

great start luis.looks grown in already .

 

[ghostsword]

I already had the plants, they are in pots behind the juwel terraces, just had to place them properly and thin them out, to allow the red amazon's room to grow.

I had Indian Ferns, but had to give them away, they just grow too fast for my tank.

 

[BAE]

since joining this forum ive seen the semi submerged plants and love the great work

 

[ghostsword]

Many thanks..

The semi submerged plants are indeed good, as most plants are actually meant to be like that.

 

[ghostsword]

Ok, about a month with the new lights, and close to two months with EI, and the results are visible..

Photos were taken with a point and shoot, so nothing much..

Check more photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostsword/

 

[nayr88]

Great tank luis! Its grown in really well you must be very pleased.
What is that overhead light your using?

Regards Ryan.

 

[ghostsword]

Hi Ryan,

I placed a towel on top to stop the glare, but I bought the luminaire on ebay, for about £140, too much light for my tank, but if I get a deeper tank then it will be perfect.

It has 4 x 39W T5's.

 

[ghostsword]

Hi..

I have now placed the Seiryu stones on the tank, and performed a heavy trim on the Rotala Rotundifolia and MU, cut over 75%. If they grow back then I really got green fingers.

Also placed the plants that arrived today from Planted tanks, the L. Aromatica on the tank, took a stem or two and made tea as well.

The plants received, for about £5 including delivery I got this

L. Aromatic in

You can see that the R. Rotundifolia has been seriously hacked

Anubia and Java Fern corner, with floating island on top to provide some shade

The Crypt corner, you can see the state of the MU and RR, they were seriously cut down, allowing the Crypt W. Brown to be seen

Full shot of the tank

 

[ghostsword]

Ok.. Now all my work is paying off.. My amazon sword that not long ago were being munched by the ancistrus with care, love, CO2 and iron have rewarded me a thousand fold, by giving a lovely white flower above water level.

My camera is bad, or I need to play with the settings, but you can see the flower below:

 

[ghostsword]

Today I got a scare on my tank, for the first time all my fish were on top gasping for air.

I setup the solenoid to stop CO2 at 2200 and start it again at 0530. It must have dosed too much CO2 into the tank, as at 0700 they were all gasping for air.

I turned the air pump on and lit the lights, so that the CO2 drops during the day, and will check it again at night to see if I can get to a balance.

Some fish I do not mind loosing, such as as the platies, but I really like my dwarf neons. Should be ok, but I was not expecting it with the solenoid. I was expecting some sort of lack of CO2, as it was stopped at night, not this.

 

[chump54]

Luis, is the co2 tank running low? it might be dumping the last bit into the tank...

water changes are a help in such emergencies.

Chris

 

[ghostsword]

The CO2 tank still has a lot on it.

The error was mine. When I replaced the valve for the valve and solenoid, the pressure knob was turned too much. As it was almost 2200, when the solenoid shuts off, I didn't noticed how much it was coming out. So when it started again, at 0530, the amount being pumped into the tank was too much. I noticed it two hours after, at 0730, when the fish were gasping for air.

I did not do a water change, not enough time in the morning with the kids needing to go to school and me off to work, however I turned my lamps to the max, turned the air pump on and decreased the CO2 output.

The tank will have 190w of light on the 22g all day long, should be enough to eat up all the CO2. Will do a massive water change tonight when I get home.

 

[George Farmer]

The tank will have 190w of light on the 22g all day long, should be enough to eat up all the CO2.

It's too late now but a better solution would have been to leave your lights off and adjust your filter outlet to agitate the surface to provide more O2.

This would drive also off a lot more CO2 than by relying on having excess light to use up CO2.

By using so much light (190w over 22 gal. is extreme!) with poor CO2 you will likely induce an algae bloom. Hopefully your water changes later may prevent such an occurance.

Good luck! I fear you'll need it...

 

[ghostsword]

Thanks George,

I do a water change and see what happens. The tank is heavily planted, and it has two Koralias plus the air pump, the worst that can happen is for the co2 to be driven out of the tank and I will see the drop checker blue when I get home.

Will algae appear in under 12 hours?

 

[LondonDragon]

Will algae appear in under 12 hours?

It can surely kick it off, and if you didn't turn off your CO2 you might go home to a tank full of dead fish!

 

[ghostsword]

My tank in June, after a massive trim of plants..

The amazons are gone, half the carpet was given to a guy at ADC, and the stems trimmed and placed on the trash.

 

[ghostsword]

I decided on a rescape, test my skills by getting rid of some of the bigger plants and have a more open layout.

Did not worked out, yet!

I couldnt't get rid of the plants.. :'( Felt sorry for them. Thrown a lot away, but still kept some.

The tank is now a mess, but the journal is warts and all..

It looks like this:
Left hand side, composed of floating raft of mosses and hydrocotyle verticillata, above a cave composed of two big rocks and with a ceiling of java fern.
Some staurogyne on the bottom to form a carpet.
Staurogyne, Lileaopsis and Marsilea Hirsuta on wood.

Middle is composed of Anubia on wood (large), matt of riccia and willow moss, with some staurogyne. Liliaopsis loosely planted to allow carpet forming.
At the back got the two amazon's, red and ozelot (behind the anubia), and Rotala rotundifolia, Micranthemum Umbrosum and some stems of L. Aromatica next to the Java fern.

Right side is composed of some more staurogyne, a large pot of cryptocoryne red, small pot of hydrocotyle verticillata, and a small pot or crypto parva. Two sticks with moss are on the sides.
Lilieaopsis is also sparingly planted to see if I get a carpet.

I very much doubt that I will get a carpet of Lilieopsis so soon, as only 5 or 6 strands are planted, but let's see if I can manage it.

The large pot of crypto is this, water murky after I moved it, the roots were deep:

Anubia on wood:

My floating islands, with the removed carpet on top:

 

[ghostsword]

The tank looks like this now, 1 day into the rescape:

Floating island above java fern and anubia: