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Hi Iain,...:) Just went through the entire journal. Wow,...to say the least. The equipments are top notch & your scaping talent is amazing. I love contrast that you've created between the snow white sandy foreground & the deep greens of the moss. They look so healthy. I can never make my moss look half as good as yours. Looking forward to see more pics.
 
Yes, a bit better :bookworm: :lol:
haha i'll keep reading then :p

Hi Iain,...:) Just went through the entire journal. Wow,...to say the least. The equipments are top notch & your scaping talent is amazing. I love contrast that you've created between the snow white sandy foreground & the deep greens of the moss. They look so healthy. I can never make my moss look half as good as yours. Looking forward to see more pics.
thanks a lot faizal, it means a lot to get such feedback. Dont worry i cant grow moss either, so figured theres only one way to learn and ive got plenty of time to balls it up yet :D


I popped to my local MA to grab a couple more denisonii's but they didnt have any but i got talked into the loaches at a very good price. They are going in the holding tank for now and shall be added in a week or so unless i get inpatient.

Another 50% WC today and added the JBL 1501E filter to remove the powerhead, this also means that i need to talk to Ed to sort another steel inlet as i nearly broke the new gush g17 pipe as soon as i took it out of the box.... stupid glass.
Im also a little puzzled by the 2080, i always felt it favoured one inlet over the other so removed the inline heater and put it on the 1501, yet still it took ages to get the water flowing through both inlets even with one pinched closed. Has anyone else experience this with the 2080 series filter??
Otherwise all still seems well aside from the broken TMC controller.... its losing 2 hours a day and waiting for a replacement. Very annoying as it seems to lose the 2 hours at the point it turns on, lights should go out at 9.30 but last night still on at 11pm!! Danger...
 
Nice photos. i bet its hard to get 2 in focus at once
Are you lucky enough to have females in your group.
Mine chase each other into higher water when they spar. there supposed to be more active in larger numbers so you may still get some higher level activity
pretty sure i have 2 females and one male and think i will add to the group to see more natural behavior as you say.
 
Hey Iain,

Long time! I have been following this thread and must say your tank is looking REALLY good.

I am experiencing exactly the same problem with my 2080 also. In fact, the same thing happened with the new filter I recently installed, as with the old one it replaced. The other day, after I had been away for a couple of days, I even noticed that the flow in one of the intakes (the one with the CO2 UP atomiser :mad:) had completely stopped. With both filters, it concerned the intake pipe on the right. One intake pipe is about 40cm longer than the other - not sure if this could be the reason why, with the flow choosing the path of least resistance?? Do the lengths of the intake pipes vary on your filter?

Regards,

Andre
 
Hi Iain, with regards the timer issue, could you not temporarily run the TMC one 24/7 and then add a seperate timer to turn it on/off to reduce risk? Or is that not possible?
 
Hey Iain,


Long time! I have been following this thread and must say your tank is looking REALLY good.


I am experiencing exactly the same problem with my 2080 also. In fact, the same thing happened with the new filter I recently installed, as with the old one it replaced. The other day, after I had been away for a couple of days, I even noticed that the flow in one of the intakes (the one with the CO2 UP atomiser :mad:) had completely stopped. With both filters, it concerned the intake pipe on the right. One intake pipe is about 40cm longer than the other - not sure if this could be the reason why, with the flow choosing the path of least resistance?? Do the lengths of the intake pipes vary on your filter?


Regards,

Andre

Andre, has been too long, hope your well. Thanks for the interest in the journal, its coming along slowly but surely aside the aubertii :confused:

hmm, odd about the filter especially as youve had it twice, my thinking was along the same lines, path of least resistance.... before adding the other filter they were similar lengths but one running the heater had this issue now the same one is much shorter with no heater and still didnt want to prime so to speak? The favourable inlet runs along the roof of the cabinet rather than hanging lower so maybe that effects the syphon effect?? I also considered that maybe as the outlet runs a reactor and flow is reduced that it simply doesnt need the second inlet to feed the turnover so doesnt pull the water through??? its a puzzle. Also mine is the left inlet that has issues... i know alastair is running a 2080 so maybe he will chime in...

Hows your tank/s going? See you have been buying more plants....

Hi Iain, with regards the timer issue, could you not temporarily run the TMC one 24/7 and then add a seperate timer to turn it on/off to reduce risk? Or is that not possible?
stupidly i hadnt even considered that!! Dont know if it will work but certainly worth a try. Thanks Ady.
 
Hi Iain, I run my TMC controller with an additional timer (I like the 1% moonlight setting after the photo period is over but not for the whole night). All seems OK over the past month and it keeps all the settings over the 8 hour shut-off - just powers back up to its minimum channel setting after a few seconds. Always thought it was a pity they didn't add multiple settings during a 24hr period on the units as standard.

Also, absolutely lovely tank. Barb Island was a real inspiration to me and I can't wait to see another masterclass unfold from the start.
 
If i was to do over Teapot i think i would look at other options for a controller, its pretty limited for whats the best part of a £200 controller! Again i also hadnt considered using it in conjunction with a manual timer.... everydays a school day :)

Thanks, i miss barb island and still have another scape in my head for those dimensions. Maybe ill revisit a tank with those dimensions another day.
 
Hi mate
Regarding the flow problems on the inlets ive had it a couple of times with the various 2080s I've had but not all of them.
I had it with my current one but was mainly down to one hose being longer as the filter was on the right under the tank. I changed the hose to equal lengths and when primed one didnt go at first until I pinched the filling one but noticed flow was a little less on the one now closest to the filter due to there being a loop so I drained the filter and re primed once the filter was repositioned so there was no loops etc.

On my previous 2080 one seemed to not pull in as much despite equal length hose so I just emptied and when I re primed I held closed the one that worked better whilst the other filled then allowed the pinched one to flow and they evened out.

Not sure if that helps


Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2
 
Hey al, sorry for the late reply, must have missed it.
Really dont know what causes this in the 2080 range, a chink in the Eheim armor? However i guess the fact it doesnt effect performance really makes it irrelevant.Well, all the pipes are getting equally as dirty as each other so guess they are all working :)

Ive been a bit slack updating this journal so will add what info i can for anyone interested in the minor changes and some pics later.

Over the last few weeks ive still been increasing co2 in way that would absolutely be impossible with my previous needle valves. Its also very reassuring to know i can give the co2 a quarter turn with no risk of gassing the fish, i used to only adjust co2 when i knew id be home most of the period. I still dont feel im anywhere near the max level as even with continued tweaking up the fauna are massively active. (I only say this to know where the max is to then wind back from, before anyone jumps on me :) ) Along with this ive been increasing light levels and now at 100% power for 6 hours running from a mechanical timer, thanks Ady!, while still at a good height from the surface. When i have more time to spend with the tank and time to monitor progress i will reduce the height until growth is as i would like.

Blyxa Aubertii is a non starter, it just wont grow. Following a chat with george i dont think i will ever find out why... ph, gh, kh, tds??? who knows, i just cant grow it. So will remove this on thursday ready for cyperus helferi to arrive from ed shortly after. I tossed around a few ideas of replacing with asian stems but didnt feel any would really give the look i was after.... if you have any other ideas id love to hear them.
Rest of the plants are doing well, bolbitus is now putting out new leaf from the rhizomes, japonica going well, pinna should look great in a few more weeks and moss will need a trim soon.
Still dosing 50% dose of micros 4 days a week and 50% all in one 2 days a week which is likely unnecessary judging by the massive amount of shrimp poo providing NPK.
Am now running with 75% RO with 25% being hot water to bring up to temp and then remineralize to 180TDS. Although many would say this isnt needed i wanted to try an RO tank and also that the stocking choices ideally like softer water than my liquid rock tap.

A new addition was the Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki, got 6 for now and will likely add to the group later. They sure are 'munki's' as within a day they had rooted out every gap between the rocks and started to pull the black substrate onto the sand!! Vacuumed all that out and blocked any holes with pebbles that will be covered by moss as it grows in which has solved the issue....touch wood. Quality fish though, non stop action as they scout the sand and swim mid water but think they will benefit from some other fish in the tank as the Denisonii's arent too keen on their continued attention and always wanting to touch. What i hadnt expected was there constant chatting especially when food goes in the tank or i walk up to it. i like to think they're telling me how happy they are lol click click :)

Feeding is an issue, pretty much just live food for now because any other food gets decimated by the Amano army before anything else even gets a look it. Im hoping once more fish are in along with more plant mass this will become less of a problem. Will also start adding some peas and spinach soon as the barbs go crazy for it and read the monkeys are equally as keen.

Got an email today saying my other barbs have arrived and should be delivered this week :D Then will be asking some opinions for the last stocking option once these are all settled.

Anyway ive got all the camera gear out to try and grab some images after dark that ill post later tonight.
 
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I continued reading the dummies guide to my camera and its made it worse:banghead:
So come to the conclusion that unless i have a LOT more free time to spend taking photos it may be a losing battle. The main problem is glare from the sand and dull colours behind? that and the fact the fish wont stay still!
As you can see the monkeys have found another hole to pull substrate from too...

IMG_5324_zps7f1e10ba.jpg
IMG_5339_zps3708ec13.jpg
 
Nice fish, I have always fancied some of these. Nice pics btw, have you had a go at changing the white balance?
 
Cheers Ian, they are by far the most personable fish ive kept to date. They like nothing more than chasing my finger around the glass then sitting in a line staring when i stop. Of course as soon as the camera comes out they dont sit still!!
White balance..... erm not really, i have a day off friday sitting in waiting for a delivery so plan to spend some time with DPP and photoshop, but to be honest its a bit daunting so i keep putting it off.....:oops:
 
nice fish mate they suit this set up really well. have you got both filters running on it now or still using the eheim and powerhead

all the pipes are getting equally as dirty as each other so guess they are all working

:lol: same here mate. just ordered the jbl cleany to do a monthly pipe clean.
 
Was only joking about pictures, they look beautiful as well as new loaches :)
I think the problem with the lights is NA setup is not accepting anything else than NA lights haha :lol: Always hate to say that phrase but... I told you so.
 
nice fish mate they suit this set up really well. have you got both filters running on it now or still using the eheim and powerhead

:lol: same here mate. just ordered the jbl cleany to do a monthly pipe clean.

Got both filter running now but not full flow. The reactor was blowing out a lot of small bubbles at full power so turned it down a little and all good.
Its a rubbish job and think mine get dirty even quicker if i leave the cabinet light on while making a cuppa!

Was only joking about pictures, they look beautiful as well as new loaches :)
I think the problem with the lights is NA setup is not accepting anything else than NA lights haha :lol: Always hate to say that phrase but... I told you so.

haha, you want the shirt off my back too? :p only thing wrong with the LED's is the controller! Retailer has now dropped off the radar too so will have to contact TMC direct this week.
 
Got both filter running now but not full flow. The reactor was blowing out a lot of small bubbles at full power so turned it down a little and all good.
Its a rubbish job and think mine get dirty even quicker if i leave the cabinet light on while making a cuppa!



haha, you want the shirt off my back too? :p only thing wrong with the LED's is the controller! Retailer has now dropped off the radar too so will have to contact TMC direct this week.
Its just the beginning, controller I mean :lol:. I just want your tank to look great :angelic:
 
I know mate, they may yet get changed but not for the moment. I actually really like the colour they give but know it may be an issue if I want red plants down the line...

The retailer of the controller rang me today (spooky!) and a new unit was sent today to replace the wonky one. Back on track :)
 
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