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Island Shore - 60 x 30 x 45 Rock, grass and hopefully class!

Bout time for an update!

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New lighting! I've no got a pair of Giesemann Pulzar HO LED bars and Tezla BT controller. I've reviewed them here http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/giesemann-pulzar-ho-and-bt-interface-review.36800/#post-396287

It's been a long wait for them but I'm very happy with the result and the control the BT interface gives is brilliant. The plants are happy with everything growing strongly.

Below is the light cycle I'm using now which has the tank at least partially illuminated for much more of the day than before but hopefully without nuking the plants or creating an algae farm...

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Algae wise my only issue is green slime cyanobacteria which has been in decline for sometime but still not fully eradicated but a 2-3 times weekly air hose vacuum session is slowly removing it along with upping the KNO3 a bit. Over the years this has been my most frequent issue due largely to slack filter maintenance and under fertilisation I reckon. I thought I was really on top of this tank though maintenance and fert wise but it has certainly given me a schooling these last 6 months..
Anyway filter wise I have gradually replaced the Eheim and ADA porous media with KI micro media meaning the filter now has just coarse foam and KI micro which is easy to clean and to my mind less prone to clogging or dead areas leeching pollutants back into the tank. There's also an occasional tuft of BBA on the rocks but nothing rampant. Oh and the add more FE suggestion from BBogdan was good advice because I did and things definitely perked up in spite of the EI macro dose supposedly having that covered..

Now that spring is in the air the tank gets a ½ hour or so spell of dawn sunshine on a good day but this does't seem to be causing a problem.

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So in short I feel I've made it well through my earlier struggles and now just have to craft what's here into something presentable for the 2015 IAPLC...

I have further mods underway mind you, including a overflow and sump filter that I've built and a special fixture for the new lights...busy times in the workshop!

Now if anyone reading here wants to buy my Aquasky 602 unit (and dimmers if wanted) then send me a message quick otherwise I'll be putting then in the For Sale section sometime soon..

Cheers
Chris
 
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I've beaten bga (cyanobacteria) with a product called ChemiClean. You might want to look into it.

Excellent looking scape btw! I love the fuller look.
 
I've beaten bga (cyanobacteria) with a product called ChemiClean. You might want to look into it.

Thanks, yes I've heard of that and I'm sure it's good but I'm a bit stubborn in my purist refusal to use chemicals to clear algae excesses. I want to address the underlying cause(s) and learn what the algae is telling me is out of balance and get on top of it that way.

In this tank there has been the problem of all the die back from the earlier algae troubles, particularly in hard to access areas behind the stones at the back. The hair grasses are very prone to catching debris and the down flow of water to the front of the tank sends everything into the chain swords that then filter it out like a comb. Added to that there is also a lot of natural light hitting the front of the tank and the soil line so things can quickly gunge up along there. I've always found that BGA develops first in slow flow dead spots where there is an accumulation of organic waste and that it is not quite as simple as just a lack of nitrates as some may say.

Next issue is that in the process of syphoning it up small bits then end up getting trapped in other plants and can easily develop there. I've cleared a few outbreaks of this before in other tanks by steady removal and improved maintenance but it isn't an instant fix. I'm pretty confident I'm winning here now though as it is really getting pretty minimal...
 
Great looking tank you have and I love the light.
I had a demonstration of it, by my lfs from Giesemann, and I was very impressed of all it's features built in. I'm thinking off buying one in the future, there for my question about it. You are using two of them, is that because the depth of you tank or something else? I mean they are producing a lot of lumens the single one or are they dimmed? I'm looking for it to use on a 60x30x36 cm.

Patrick
 
Hi Patrck,

i'm using 2 simply because my old Aquasky was a 2 light unit and i want the ability to have loads of light if I want ( can be good for photography) and two give a more even spread.
if you look above at the program curve i'm currently using (above) you'll see that they're on full power for only about three hours in a 12 hour cycle just now. I'm pretty sure a single would be fine for most purposes as well. It has to be said everything has perked up in the tank since I got these.
 
Looks awesome Chris! Just wondering what the light program tells you about colour temperature... Have you chosen a particular kelvin value? Are all the colour channels switched on in the pictures above?

P
 
Morning P,

Well now the colour temperature control is a bit of a disappointment. 3 different colour channels can be independently adjusted with the Colour Mixer option but they are named according to the marine version of the light unit as White, Royal Blue and Marine Blue but apparently a new version of the software is in development where these channels can be re-named.

As is, White controls all the bright white led's as far as I can tell.

Royal Blue controls a mix of green white and blue.

Marine Blue controls a mix red and white.

I've had quite a fiddle and frankly I prefer it at the standard mix / temperature it really is very natural looking. I was hoping there might be a single blending kelvin slider control but there isn't. Maybe in the updated software....
 
Yo, a couple of progress shots before tomorrows trim and clean.

I'm quite liking the more grown in look to some degree (The Phantom tetras like it as well and are much more chilled out) but the whole tank has become a bit of a mish mash and lacks cohesion in my opinion. I'm getting ever more diverted by thoughts of a tear down and re-scape. Very good growth from the new lights though and the Wallichi is looking increasingly healthy, but not very pink as yet, and really seems to want lots of iron. I backed off on Fe a bit for a week and just used trace mix and there was a noticeable decline with it and the Alternantheras. As for the Myriophyllum matogrossense, well I can almost see it grow and I trim a bit out pretty much daily.

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I removed one of the Riccia "slugs" a few weeks back and this remaining one is now making a bid for the surface...

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A little update....

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Finally I have found time to install my trickle/sump. It's been sat in my workshop for well over a month getting cycled and fed on fish food.

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First chamber is a coarse foam pre-filter over a trickle plate and a basket of K1 micro media which leads in the the main chamber made up of coarse (black), medium (blue), Japanese matting (blue/white) and then coarse again. Working with acrylic is new for me but wasn't too difficult at all. The pieces were cut with a compact Japanese pull saw, temporally held together with masking tape and then glue welded virtually instantly with Plastic Weld (eBay). The overflow was more difficult due to its compact size and the bending of the plastic with a heat gun. The comb was bought off eBay and cut to fit. After 3 days running the water has become as clear as if I'd put new activated carbon in the old canister filter. As far as CO2 consumption is concerned I have had to turn the flow up a little to not extreme 4bps ish but everything seems very happy and the Phantoms seem blacker. With just the Iwaki pump running now flow is somewhat less than before but I'm going to watch and see how things go with lower flow because I'm still not entirely convinced that we truly need the flow levels that are so widely promoted on this forum. Why change to a sump filter? Well looking at the bigger ADA scapes they are all run on sump filters and everything about a wet/dry filter suggests higher performance so surely this can only benefit a smaller tank as well? Then there is the major attraction of far easier access and maintenance with the bonus of having all equipment such as ph probe and heater outside the tank.

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Well done!
though I'm curious how it might've scored at the grasses/rock stage from page 3 (that was my favorite "period" ;))
 
It's nice and colorful tank, it looks more like Dutch style. I like it.

(I think if I were you I'd send something around 7-14 October 2014 to the contest. That was more Japanese in style, IMO. Just a thought)

Anyway, let's keep scaping, I'm watching your new project with big interest!
 
Hi Alexander Yes the earlier version of the scape was more original and Japanese-esque for sure but as I never got it to how I'd originally envisioned it I didn't feel inclined.

Thanks Greenfinger2, I'm not so impressed with a 1305 but I think that is a more than fair result for the scape.

I entered once before in 2006 and got a 299th which I was rather pleased with so that's the target to beat and I knew for sure that this wouldn't better that. I learnt loads with this journal though which is good.
 
Chris, I think I understand what you said about the vision. My work this year wasn't great either, I think I sent it just for statistics, because I can, not because I think it's ready for contest.
Well, I'd like to think we made our tanks and wanted them to be as much good as we want, and not because we ought to make something for contests. Well, at least we can not be obsessed with those numbers.

I think I want to say something positive, but I lack a bit of English words, sorry for this.
 
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