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AL's Planted Re-Scape

Little-AL

Member
Joined
29 Apr 2010
Messages
191
Location
Birmingham
So I set up my Maidenhead Aquatics / Aqua Manta 'Eco 80' back in June as a 'Jungle' style tank:

AL's 130ltr Jungle | UK Aquatic Plant Society

I wanted a pretty low maintenance tank as I spend 5.5 days a week away from home currently. Suffice to say it has worked pretty well - i've changed and upgraded a few bits (much bigger external filter, better CO2 components etc) but on the whole haven't had to do a while lot other than add fish and occasionally trim some growth out! Lately though it has started to bug me that the tank looked so full - there weren't really any true open spaces for the fish to swim and whilst it looked pleasant, it just wasn't right for me.I think the moss was part of the issue as it grew like a weed, got everywhere and held a lot of detritus...
How it looked 21/12:

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Tonnes of growth recently - putting the improvements in growth and colour down to the Tropica fertilisers I started using!

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I purchased a new piece of wood recently - not the most stunning piece but was nice and chunky so I felt would look good with my various Ferns and Anubias hanging off it...

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Unfortunately despite several months soaking in the MA pond system and a few weeks in a tub at home it wouldn't sink when I came to stick it in the tank!

Ready to start the strip down:

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Wood removed:

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After finding that my new piece of wood wouldn't sink I decided to re-use one of my existing pieces. I re-attached the ferns and anubias to this piece, added some rock and trimmed down the crypts before they went back in. Have also re-added the vallis around the back of the tank following a trim.

Bit cloudy in there following the disturbance but you can get an idea of how much more open it is!

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Once it had settled down tomorrow I will carry out regular filter maintenance and replace the floss etc as I suspect that will be pretty minging by now! My only other plan is to remove the male Gold Ram and look to add additional female Apistogramma Cacatuoides to join my males.

Thanks for reading - better pics later/tomorrow when the water has cleared :)
 
i really like the before pic (not that i don't like the after :))
Some of those are Crypts are immense.
Have you ever considered an inline heater ? My Hydor is the best bit of kit i bought all year.
 
Thanks for the comments guys :)

Have you ever considered an inline heater ? My Hydor is the best bit of kit i bought all year.

Funnily enough, I bought one today! 300w beast so I can do away with the two that have been in the tank :)

A little cloudy still tonight as had my hands in there earlier - swapped spraybar for nozzles, re-installed JBL Surfaceskim and installed Hydor external heater... Plus some proper reflectors on the T5's which has visually boosted the light in the tank!

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Fish are out and about a lot more now! The Cardinals keep shoaling along the front of the tank again which is cool :)

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Only other news is that my male Gold Ram went back in to MA today - here he is meeting his new friends:

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Only other change i'm considering is the addition of some supplemental LED lights - possibly a single strip of Arcadia Eco Aqua's mounted on the front lid to give a bit more colour rendition :) I'll also add a group of female Apistogramma Cacatuoides when they come in to stock :)
 
Another day on and the water has cleared more or less completely... I've drank cloudier Vodka tbh :) Glad I carried out filter maintenance yesterday - fresh floss, coarse pads thoroughly cleaned and I added a small bag of purigen alongside my carbon...

View from the end of the tank:

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From the front looking up - see how clear the surface is...! Glad I put my JBL Surfaceskim back in!

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And a general frontal shot:

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Pretty pleased with how that looks!
 
Picked up an Arcadia Eco Aqua LED tube for reasonable money... Disappointed with the quality and its not very bright at all. It does work nicely as a supplementary morning/evening light though so I think I will stick it on a timer either side of my T5's.
Brings out the blues of my Cardinals really well with the T5's off (ignore the state of the hairgrass):

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FTS with just LED's on - its the equivalent of a 15w T8 tube - hence using it as a night light!

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FTS with everything on:

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Have ordered some TMC flexi LED strips in blue to use as a dedicated night light and also added a few more fish - 3 x Corydora Julli, 6 x Ember Tetra to go with my existing group and 5 x Otto's.
Following another water test my nitrates are still ONE. Chuffed with that :)
 
looks great and healthy i would love to do a jungle style aquarium one day.get first one up and running first lol

dean
 
Popped down to Sweet Knowle Aquatics today with the aim of buying a few additional plants - picked up some Stauro which i'm hoping will spread out on the right hand side of the tank around the rocks :)
Didn't intend to buy any fish but spotted this gorgeous Apisto so had to bring him home! Picture does him no justice - his colouration is very red in the flesh - bargain at £11.95 too!!

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The one thing I was looking out for other than plants was a new piece of wood - never really liked the other piece that I purchased that was going to be used with the original re-scape - wanted something that resembled a tree stump and I think i've found it. Pic below shows roughly how it will be positioned in the tank - I will attach my Anubias and Ferns again, place my Crypts around the 'stump' and aim to build up a slope on the right hand side which I will probably plant out with Stauro.

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Annoyingly i'm now having the itch for a bigger tank! Keep looking at the bigger brother of my tank - 120cm long rather than 80cm - capacity approx 240 litres! Maybe in a few months time!
 
Been having a few issues with my filter, decided to buy a bigger one... Anyone know what this means? :)

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Yes thats right... I bought one of the most badass filters available...

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Its so big that it doesn't even come close to fitting in the cabinet! On full whack it creates some ridiculous turbulence in the tank! The only thing I don't like is the pipework... The filter inlet in the tank looks horrendous so will need to devise a way of hiding it! The pipework is also way too big for my external heater so i've had to stick my Fluval E Series back in the tank until i can figure something out with rubber hose and some joiners!

Don't think i'll ever need to upgrade my filter!
 
Awesome filters mate. I ran two on my 450l. I found the best method was to ditch the twin outlet and buy an outlet kit for the tetra tec ex2400 and just use the l bend along with the spray bar, just drill the holes a little bigger so flow isn't as forceful :)



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Figured it was time for a few new pics!

From the end looking along...

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Close up on the left - excuse the few bits of hair/BB algae in there... Need to get some Easy Carbo I think! Crypts are growing well again!

FTS shortly after feeding time. Really need to find some alternate pipework to the fluval stuff - its vile!

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Only change has been a trim on a few bits of vallis and my TMC blue LED's are now in the rear lid for a bit of night light action :)
 
Couple of pics from tonight... How it stood when I got home (been away for 2 weeks nearly);

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Gave it a quick trim - will do w/c tomorrow or Sat :)

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Time for a long overdue update! The good news is that i'm finally back from Kent for good! Bad news is i've been in Leeds with the missus every weekend so not really touched the tank bar water changes!
The algae issues have mostly disappeared! There are some small bits of BBA left but they appear to be receeding with regular easy carbo doses :) Had a decent bit of growth, particularly the Stauro with is growing out nicely on the right front :)
As it stood before a trim today;

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Then after a trim tonight... Have taken back the crypts on the left, trimmed the ferns and lost some dodgy leaves off the anubias :)

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Quick snaps tonight... Cant see a bit of algae left on some of the Anubias but the fern is looking great again, the wood has cleared up and my Momm has started to grow back despite me thinking I had removed it all!

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And of course an FTS...

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Not here's a funny story... I've been thinking more and more about the FX5 on my tank. I know its a ridiculous level of overkill but has kept the tank spotless from day one! I even run it at full power now and the tank is thriving tbh. However I only really purchased it because;
a) My existing filter kept taking in air so wasn't functioning properly. As I was working away from home all week I was concerned it would stop working whilst I wasn't around.
b) It was a decent price.
c) I'm a bit daft.

And as i'm in the process of looking to move out in the not too distant future i've already been considering downsizing to a smaller tank (TMC Signature 60x45x30 with a black cab and a single tile most likely...) I thought it best that I get a slightly more sensible filter. So I took a trip down to Aqua Jardin in Gloucester today for a look around - as usual the display tanks were phenomenal and the staff helpful as ever. I very nearly purchased some hilariously expensive glassware but instead settled for an Eheim Ecco 300 and some other sundries (new scissors and some more Tropica ferts).
Now for the funny part... I didn't think to open the box and check the contents before leaving - so imagine my suprise when i'd driven an hour home and found that the canister part of my canister filter was missing!! Lesson learnt I guess.. however a three minute phonecall to Aqua Jardin and they'd arranged to courier a new canister to my work address for Tuesday AM. Can't moan at that!

So a big thank you to Aqua Jardin (particularly Becky) for their customer service - couldn't ask for more really!

More soon :)
 
Started up a little side project in my garden too... One of the old pieces of wood from this tank has been sat in my garden in a tub since before Christmas - it had a load of Java Moss on it but has been under a table with just a bit of rain water to top it up. Now considering we have about 9" of snow in my back garden for 2 weeks in January I was quite suprised to find that multiple bits of the moss had survived and in fact appeared to be growing!

So i've put them in a different tub with a bit of tap water, added a squirt of Tropica ferts and left it on my table to see what happens! There are a few bits in there that have died off or are nearly dead but i'm intrigued to see how well it grows...

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