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100cm optiwhite - the learning curve

grathod

Member
Joined
16 Jan 2009
Messages
101
Location
Preston, Lancashire
Hi Guys

Having admired and ogled all the scapes here, thought I'd be brave enough to post my own...

The scape has been running for the past 3 years and specs as follows:

Equipment
Tank - optiwhite 100x40x40cm
Light - Arcadia series 4, 150w MH + 2x24w T5 (timed at 8hrs with peak noon setup)
Filter - tetratec ex1200
Heater - inline Hydor 300w set at 23'C
Co2 - 3kg with JBL solenoid, inline up aqua diffusor @ 3 bubbles/sec

Flora
Marsilea hirsuta
Fissidens fontanus
Eleocharis parvula

Hardscape
Redmoor root
Seiryu stone

Fauna
Danish White Cloud Mountain minnows
Sakura red shrimps
Malaysian trumpet snails

This has been my pride & joy and will be winding it up now ready for a house move... Gutted.

The fish have reverted to their wild ways and hunt the shrimp each evening. Some may say cruel but when you have an explosion of these shrimp, this seems to me the most natural means of controls. The fish form up into an arrow formation and then the lead spotter will flush a prey and they all close in. Serengeti in my tank, lo!

Comments welcome.

Cheers

N528hgA.jpg
 
Looks great! More photos and a video of your helicopter attack squad please...

looks great:)

Thanks guys, unfortunately I never took a video of the regular hunts but they were a joy to watch... Would often see the shrimp jump out of the tank followed by the fish. I'd then pick them off the floor and put them back & they would all carry on like nothing ever happened till the next evening - absolutely hilarious. Will post more pics of the tank soon as in the process of emptying it. Thanks for your kind comments
 
Loving all of the moss in this tank. Shrimp heaven! :lol:

absolutely, must've had at least a few hundred shrimp in there, were a nightmare to fish out leading to the winding up. all flora and fauna were quickly adopted by other keen aquarist as you can imagine... lucky buggers. Can't wait to get started again once the renovation and the house move is done and monies permitting.
 
just one question are you using a combination of ro water or just conditioned tap water ?

just out of curiosity:)
 
just one question are you using a combination of ro water or just conditioned tap water ?

just out of curiosity:)

Absolutely agree - its with much sadness that I've had to wind this one down. I was using just normal tap water up in Lancashire, relatively soft water no additives except using EI powder fertilisers dissolved before dosing and CO2, with weekly water changes. One thing I found with algae control was quite simply when the shrimp numbers ran into 100's, there was virtually no algae hence the whole nature thing going on with the fish hunting etc as a measure of control. Every now and again when I'd take a few bags full of shrimp to my LFS, I would get a little algae creeping back but it had to be done to keep the Sakura red's bloodline as versatile as possible. Also only ever fed the shrimp twice a week on crab cuisine. I know some people swear by RO water but Ive kept discus before in a similar but larger planted setup, same parameters being practised and lo behold, they couldn't stop breeding! got a bit much.

one valuable lesson i learnt and so would a lot of enthusiasts here was that using different water temperatures, i emulated nature's season. what i mean by this is that for 3mths of the year i would match the same temp of the tank with the new water, then increase the temp of new water by 3' C during the water changes and adjust the heater accordingly for the next 3mths to depict the warmer season and reduce the feeding to emulate drought. this followed by anything from 3-5'C cooler for the following 3mths to depict spring, increase feeding to depict a time of plenty and then back to a stable 23-24'C for 3mths to complete the cycle. Now I'm prepared to be shot down on this by die harders who will disagree with this, but it bl,?!y works. This principle can be adopted successfully for whatever species you keep but using common sense of the temperature variance of their natural environment is invaluable so you know what tolerances to work to.

Hope this helps...
 
Emulating seasonal temperature fluctuations sounds like a good idea to me; I know a discus breeder who does similar. He's also wishing for a set of programmable LEDs in order to replicate lunar cycles.

I also have a gut feeling that a lot of aquarium fish are generally kept at too high a temperature.
 
As promised here are more pics from early days of set up with dimmed lighting to just before I wound down the tank.

Also ended up adding glosso, hydrocoytle and riccia to the org plant list
ilpyKgR.jpg


geM0HEt.jpg


hwxopi1.jpg


92vdeTt.jpg

Side view
 
Hi
Nice tank mate !! You must be a bit sad to put down this scape ! But I am sure that you will be very happy to set up a new scape, and even happier to sit and watch a new landscape !!!

Can we have more picture with different angle please.

Cheers
Zanguli
 
Emulating seasonal temperature fluctuations sounds like a good idea to me; I know a discus breeder who does similar. He's also wishing for a set of programmable LEDs in order to replicate lunar cycles.

I also have a gut feeling that a lot of aquarium fish are generally kept at too high a temperature.

I'm glad you agree. It's how it happens in the wild and all creatures should be allowed to return to their natural behaviours as it was intended - funny this as it reminds me of the movie Salmon fishing in the Yemen with Ewan McGregor. Not much of a movie but nature's message was quite clear when fish were moved from a different country altogether... What can I say aside I have a strong affectation for the natural world all be it in my glass tank... Free your mind fish, from the captive breeding, Lol!
 
I thought I'd share this with you guys in Lancashire... I've been using Aqualife on southport road pr26 8lq, for the last 10years for fish etc. Steve, the owner is a rather humble chap and very ethical when it comes to livestock. Can get seiryu stone, dragon stone etc for a fraction of the big players cost, for those like me who are budget conscious and buying in bulk, it's worth having a chat...
 
Hi, the last 4 photo's are fantastic.It's always a sad day when something that's taken so long to get to this stage has to be stripped down :(
Hopefully wont be too long before you're up and running again
Good luck with the move
Cheers
Martin
 
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