Floresta Amazônica

[ghostsword]

Hi, my tank has been now fully scaped and it is now ready to grow.



The specs are:
- Rekord 120

- 4 x 39W t5's running for 8 hours a day, the lights are 60cm above the tank

- 20W of leds, that run from 12 hours

- 3bps of CO2, using an Atomic Atomiser and needle valve, connected to a Dupla Solenoid and Regulator

- EI dosing daily, with two 50% WC per week

- Substrate is a mix of Dupla and Dennerle nano gravel, over Tropica susbtrate

- Rocks are Seiryu stone and wood is Manzanita

- Plants are:
. Java fern
. Cyperus Helferi
. Java moss
. Lileaopsis Brasiliensis
. Polygonum sp
. Ludwigia Arcuata
. Staurogyne sp.
. Needle leaf Java fern
. Windelow Java Fern
. Hydrocotyle Verticillata growing in between the fern on wood

- Fish are:
. Neon Cardinals
. Cory's
. Ember tetras
. Black otto's

- The shrimp are Cherries and Amanos, and got about 6 nerites

Thankfully I got only green spot algae on the glass, as the light intensity has increased, but the nerites and otto's eat it often.

The emersed plant pots at the back have mostly bog plants, purchased from Planted Tanks, and are covered with moss. They also have mangroves, which are growing very healthily.

For higher res pics go to my flickr page.

See the pics below:

Fern hill

Nerite eating algae:

 

[John Starkey]

Hi Luis,it looks very nice,i like the layout with the island look on the left,and the open lower side on the right ,personally i would do 2 water changes a week,buy hey ho thats a personal choice,

john.

 

[ghostsword]

Thanks John,

I do two WC per week.. about 50% each, or you meant that you would not do so many water changes?

 

[John Starkey]

Thanks John,

I do two WC per week.. about 50% each, or you meant that you would not do so many water changes?

I do two per week,first one 25%,second one 50% after a good clean all round,plant trim and so on,

john.

 

[ghostsword]

Ok, makes sense.

I need to get on top of the cleaning, as I now see some green spot algae on my glass, the nerites and ottos eat it, but I will do a scrape before WC just to take it out as well.

What I am struggling at the moment is with Cypherus and Koralias, they are a bad mix, the long leaves sometimes get sucked into the koralias and are shred.

 

[Nelson]

your best scape yet .will look great when grown in.
nice one Luis .

 

[ghostsword]

Thanks Neil,

I am learning bit by bit, with the journals on this forum and many others. I just need to now keep on top of my tendency to collect plants. Otherwise it will be another jungle, which is something I do not want.

Also, at the back there is an acrylic sheet, black, this is inside the tank, so I can change the background as needed. Black gives a good contrast with the green and red of the plants, but a opal/frosted sheet is not out of the question.

 

[LondonDragon]

Have to agree with Neil, best one yet you are in the right path, I had a tendency of collecting plants also to try them all lol this is going to be specially difficult in my next scape where I will be using only 2-3 species lol

 

[ghostsword]

Yep, collecting is a major thing for me, I like them all. Also I need to not so much attached to the fish, for example, the cory's will give me a hard time with the carpet, but they are so cool , my favourite fish.

I need to get another 100L for them, but for now they are ok.

Will keep no more than 12 species of plants, still thinking about the cyperus helferi, not sure if it fits the scape. Got Rotala Rotundifolia coming in, and also want to get some MM.

Ludwigia Arcuata is looking good, as it adds some red to the off centre on the tank, as the java fern ends.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[ghostsword]

Some more photos:

DSC_1905 by GHOSTSWORD, on Flickr

The carpet is coming from the back, and if it does not fill in time for IAPLC then I will just use Java moss.


DSC_1909 by GHOSTSWORD, on Flickr


DSC_1906 by GHOSTSWORD, on Flickr

 

[flyingfish]

lovely looking tank very inspiering!

 

[ghostsword]

Thanks, need to take better pictures of it, these were quick shots..

 

[LondonDragon]

Thanks, need to take better pictures of it, these were quick shots..

Also take it when its dark so you don't get any reflections
Tank is coming a long nicely congrats