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Amy's New Journal (No name yet lol)

amy4342

Member
Joined
22 May 2008
Messages
338
Hi all

I've had this scaped for a while now, been meaning to post it on UKaps for ages, but with an 8 - 8 job and two Level 3 Open University courses, it just hasn't happened. I was wanting to do a week by week update, but it's been set up now for 12 weeks now, so I guess that's out the window :rolleyes:.

I was going for a hi-tech setup here, but fairly low-maintenance - my last scape was great, I loved it, but loathed the weekly trimming lol.

Anyways, specs:-

30" x 15" x 18" Seashell tank
Oliver Knott Fine Black Naturesoil
ADA Forest Sand Xingu
Dragon Stone
Manzanita Wood (from Tom Barr - thanks dude!)
Eheim 2126 with Inline Cal Aqua Diffuser
Koralia 1

Ok, pics,

Here's with the gravel in, seperated, and some sort of wood structure ( you wouldn't believe the number of times I went up and down the ladder to tweak stuff! :lol:)

IMG_1059.jpg


Then the dragon stone went in to seperate the substrates. I had a few absolutely massive pieces, so cutting them down to size was fun!

IMG_1074.jpg


Half filled (I had taken out the wood previously to soak)

IMG_1094.jpg


These are the plants I ordered - all from Planted Tanks, although the Hygrophila pinnatifida came from Aquajardin.

IMG_1092.jpg


Then came the planting! I meant to take pics along the way, but that didn't quite go to plan either :D. So you can see the Cyperus Helferi in the background with the Crypts mid and the Lilaeopsis at the front. I didn't plant the Hygrophila pinnatifida at that time - too tired after climbing up and down the ladder! I also had two bunches of Lilaeopsis left over which you can see hogging the foreground.

6ThApril.jpg


By the 13th of May, most of the Crypts had died off and were making a comeback but everything looked a bit dull, so had a bit of a fiddle with the co2 and actually connected it up to the inline diffuser.

13thMay.jpg


So here are the latest pics - on the 20th May. Everything's started to make a comeback - new Lilaeopsis shoots and new growth from Cryptocorynes. The Lillies definately need a prune!

20thMay.jpg


20thMay2.jpg


20thMay3.jpg


At the moment, co2 is waaaay up, blasting around the tank at about too fast to count bubbles per second, drop checker is greeny/yellow in various places and I'm dosing EI. Haven't seen a peep of algae yet so I'm really really pleased! I thought my initially low biomass may have had the algae coming out in force.

All in all, I'm really happy with how it's progressing. I'm really glad I went for low maintenance - I reckon I can just let this grow and grow and I'll be happy even if it turns more jungle-like. In fact, I quite like the idea of wild growth behind the dragon stone.

Going to keep the Co2 up until the Lilaeopsis has a firm hold on the Naturesoil, and then I'm going to think about fauna. My massive Synodontis Eupterus is coming back to this tank (rehomed in one of my other tanks for the time-being), along with a large shoal of Corydoras, and possibly four or five small Discus, with an eye to growing them on in my larger tank once they outgrow this one. Also, a shoal of dither fish, probably Hemmigramus Armstrongi (gold tetras) if I can get any.

I've left this tank now for a week, but going home on Thursday so I'll see if I can borrow the DSLR for some good pics!

Comments and opinions welcome!
Thanks for looking.
 
Looking nice Amy, definitely agree with letting it grow and grow. Should look really good :0)

Thanks! Yea, I'm hoping it'll start filling out a bit more soon, especially the crypts - the Lilaesopsis is overshadowing them at the moment.

I dig this! Very nice.

Thanks very much. I can see your new journal has similar elements, with the path and the two seperate planting areas - it looks very nice!

I went home to see it yesterday and it's looking good, no algae (yet!), new growth is slow though considering the co2 is so high and achieving good distribution according to my drop checker, which I've tried in loads of different places. I haven't done a water change in about 3 weeks :oops:, so I'm wondering if that's the case. I'll be doing one Sunday anyhow so will see if that speeds things along.
 
Looks really nice, Amy. I like the fact it's not another NA-style clone.

What lighting do you have?

Thanks! Yea, I wanted something totally different, and more low-maintenance that NA-style.

I'm using 2 x 18W lamps from an Arcadia Ballast, I've got reflectors on there aswell. So looking at it, I guess I've got roughly 1.4WPG, although I know this doesn't really apply to T5's. The photoperiod is only 4 hours at the moment, guess that may have something to do with growth also. I think I'll increase that to 6 hours on Sunday and keep a close eye for any algae. Any other suggestions?

Great to see you active on UKAPS again too, even though you're obviously incredibly busy.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks dude, it's good to be back!
 
You can safely up your photoperiod to 8hrs, as you have plenty of biomass and good CO2 etc.

Oh, fab, in that case, I'll up it straight to 8 hours on Sunday.

Just keep up the water changes...

:D, I'll try my best!!! :lol:
 
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