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Congratulations Jordi, your tank is great, it looks very healthy!!! Well done!!

Thank you very much to all of you for your kind comments, I much appreciate them. Jose

Hi! as I told you I have been working on the tank trying to fit the Dutch style rules. The result has been really good, and the tank has been awarded with the first place in the 2014 AGA Aquascaping Contest (Dutch Category). Here you have the link to the entry...

Hi Ian, looking at the leaf-like gills on abdominal segments I would say that your bugs are Ephemeroptera larvae (Mayflies). They usually feed on algae and detritus, only few species are predatory. But let's wait for other members comments. Cheers, Jose

Hi, just to share with you a close up of the Bacopa caroliniana group and some from the invertebrates inhabiting the tank hope you like them cheers Jose

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Thanks Jordi for sharing this picture. Here in Mallorca it is not difficult to find wild specimens from a couple of Papaver somniferum subspecies, they are not as big as the ones in your picture, but they are also beautiful. Cheers

Hi, I have recently added some more CRSs to the tank. Here you have a fresh picture of three of them having fun at lunch time. Plants are growing fine in the tank, and algae haven't found my home yet :doctor: Hope you like them! Cheers Jose

Hi, I have done a DIY trap, its very effective and you will get mostly all the snails in a single night while you are sleeping. Just put some veggies or fish food inside and have a good night. You can get the clear plastic part from a CD box. The other components are just cable ties and a...

Very clever AverageWhiteBloke, I like it!

Hi Jordi, yes, it has been very fast, but let's wait until we see the shrimplets ... still 3-4 long weeks left ... Fontinalis antipyretica is doing well since the first day in the tank. I have to trim it every 2-3 weeks, fast growing plant taking into account that this is a non-CO2 tank. I'm...

Hi friends, today is a great day for the tank! I have just found a berried CBS. Hope everything will go fine ... I would like to share with you a picture of that shrimp and some others that I have taken in the way. Hope you like them. Cheers, Jose

Very nice video Jordi, your tank is a great piece of work!! Congratulations

I have added four CRS to the tank. They are very active and seem to be happy in there. Here you have a quick shot. Cheers, Jose

Hi, just a quick photo of the Sagittaria subulata in bloom Cheers, Jose

Hi, today I have found a little Sakura shrimp! Could be more but with such a planted tank finding them is not that easy. Here you have a couple of shots. The first one is the little Sakura (not in focus, sorry) and the later is from a (beautiful) molting. Hope you like them. All the best, Jose

I'm glad to know you like them trhee-fingers! Now one the Sakura females is carrying eggs, hopefully the male in the second picture is the father! The willow moss was collected here in Majorca island in a seasonal stream, to date is thriving in the tank but I'm worried about what will happen...

Just a quick update with some pictures of the Sakura shrimps and the general appearance of the tank. Cheers, Jose

The picture is confusing due to the angle and the existence of overlapping stems ... could be that it has leaves in whorls of 3?

Hi Karen, I think that the floating one is Limnobium laevigatum and the stem one is Limnophila sessiliflora

Thank you Alastair, I agree with you. Shrimps also like it a lot.

Yesterday I cooked some home-made food sticks for the shrimps and they really liked them. Here you have the ingredient list just in case you would like to give it a try broccoli zucchini spinach green peas carrots green pepper red pepper strawberries apple garlic dill paprika shrimp food fish...

Hi, just some pictures to keep the journal alive. The tank is very healthy and growing fine. I'm re-escaping it in order to participate in AGA 2014 contest under the new Dutch category. I have to say that I'm working hard on it, but enjoying a lot at the same time. Sorry for low quality...

Hi, I have just added some Red Sakura shrimps to the tank, and I would like to share a picture with you. Hope you like it. Cheers, Jose

Hi, CBS are molting, growing and getting nice colours. Ten specimens were introduced in the tank two weeks ago, and unfortunately one of them died two days ago :( Yesterday they were enjoying lunch time, and I couldn't resist to take a picture, hope you like it! Cheers, Jose

Hi, just to show you some pictures of my emersed project. It is just a plastic box to keep some plant species alive in order to use them for future submersed setups. The botton is filled with 10 cm of water from my dutch tank. Substrate is a mix of old substrate from old tanks, including...

I think that it depends on the height difference between your tank and the water container, as well on how far they are from each other and how much flow you want to get. If they are close to each other a normal 300l/h pump would be enough. In my case the water container is bigger than yours...

Hi Chris, as bridgey_c says, I don't understand why you need to replace them if all is looking good with the plants. Regarding T5 styles, I use normal 865 bulbs with excellent results. Moreover, they are among the cheaper ones! Here you have my favourite one Cheers, Jose

Hi Rasbora, it is easy. Just fill the pipette with salt, and then wrap it using aluminium foil. Now you can put it over a candle's flame and start bending it carefully until getting your desired shape. I now it is not a very professional approach at all ..., but in two minutes you will have it...

Hi timme278, yes I do. In any lab there is a lot of staff like this that everyday goes to to trash, and as you can see it is great to made DIY projects for our tanks!

Thanks three-fingers, I strongly recommend you to get some CBS, they are lovely. Regarding their grade, they are supposed to be S or SS, but there are some A grade as well. This is my first experience with them so I don't really care about the grade, for me it's enough if I can keep them alive...

Hi, just a few shots showing the DIY overflow device working. I have done some calculations (mainly differential equations) in order to estimate the amount of water I have to add to the tank using the continuous dropping water change system and I have found that to perform a 25% tank water...

Thank you bogwood for your reply. I will follow Allan Angus and you, and I will keep my tank well planted. Shrimps have been recently added and they seem to be very happy. Thank you very much again. Cheers, Jose

Hi, just a quick update. Yesterday I got 10 CBS and here you have some pictures from their first day at home. They are not high grade shrimps, but this is my first experience so perhaps it is better like this. As far as I know the higher the grade the more difficult to keep. Hope you like...

Thanks Allan for your reply. One more question, do you usually add fertilizers to your tank? This will raise TDS levels and everywhere you can read that this don't like to the CRSs ... Surely it is a very basic question but I still have no experience with them ... Thanks again! Jose

Hi friends, I'm just setting up my first CRS tank and I would like to know what do you think is better, to introduce some plants (ferns, anubias, mosses, etc) creating a more diverse and complex environment, or to keep the substrate clearer in order to be able to control any possible dead...

Hi BigDaddy, it is very likely that your substrate is lowering the KH

Hi Robbie, thank you very much for your interesting comments and video. The DIY lamp is really easy to rig up, just get some bowl like this one (there are four different sizes) and drill a hole in the bottom to introduce the electric line+bulb. I did three more holes laterally in order to...

Hi friends, I'm starting this journal to share with you my first CRS tank setup. To date, my experience is quite restricted to planted tanks housing Neocaridina shrimps, but I have never tried before with CRS & CBS Caridina shrimps. Tank: Blau Cubic 38L Sustrate: H.E.L.P Shrimp Advanced Soil...

my Dutch tank is similar in size (300L) and is working really fine with 6x50W T5s tubes. Four of them are 9 hours on, and the other 2 work only for 3h at noon. Your tank should be fine in a range from 3 to 5 tubes. At the start I only would use 2 or 3 tubes. Cheers

Hi JohnKoncz, your tank looks great and the lighting is perfect for a Dutch style planted tank. You will enjoy a lot with it. I'm wondering if the forniture you are using is strong enough to resist the weigth of your tank when fillled up. Please keep us informed with the evolution of your...

Hi Jordi, congratulations for your beautiful tank. After Limnophila, Rotala, Ludwigia and Proserpinaca are grown it will be even more stunning, I like your plant choice. Regarding Riccia I agree with you, its colour is very nice but its maintenance is highly demanding. I also would try to...

Hi Ferdinand, I like your tank, congratulations. You are right, the bubbles are too big, but this happens to me when I feed the diffuser with more CO2 than the right flow. Try to adjust this, perhaps what is not working properly is your needle valve. Also try to soak the diffuser in water+bleach...

Hi Ferdinand! I cannot access your youtube video, I'm getting "this video is private" message. The bubbles coming out from my inline diffuser are really tiny, they travel together with the water current through the tank creating the famous mist. Mine is working at 2 bars pressure, but I don't...

Thanks Robert for your kind comments. I have four glowlight tetras in this tank and they also love frozen food, particularly frozen daphnia. Perhaps you could try to do the same with yours. Your are right, having only flakes as food should be horrible :woot: All the best, Jose

I agree with you Phil, is not that easy to keep the gap between plant groups. This is one of the trickiest parts of the Dutch style, you have to plan everything like a gardener :) But it is an attractive challenge as well. I think that a nice strategy would be to start with few plant species...

Hi Robert, I love platies, and my favourite is the "Sunset" variety you can see in the pictures. To date I have been very lucky and I have never seen algae in the tank, perhaps it is because the platies are eating them :) Well, people say they do. I can say that they like veggies a lot, I feed...

Thanks for your comments Alexander. The plant you are talking about is Ludwigia glandulosa from Tropica. Regarding the number of species in the Dutch style tanks, I thought that the rule is one plant species per 10cm aquarium lenght, I haven't read Kasselman's book (and I really would like)...

I like the setup. I just would do a couple of changes. As it is now you can see the two substrate layers through the glass, and perhaps it would look nicer if you only could see the white sand layer. The other change would be to hide or to replace the filter in and out pipes, tank size is...

Thank you very much for your positive feed back Phil. Yes I would like to reduce even more the number of plant species. The "Dutch style guidelines" say that no more than one plant species for every 10cm of tank length. That one is 120cm so I will try to leave only 12 species. To leave a gap...

Hi, just some picts updating the tank. Not many things to report, everything is going fine. I'm planning to rescape the aquarium by reducing the number of species and creating the famous Dutch streets in order to get the classical Dutch style look. I find it a challenge but at the same time it...

If they are Cyclops they feed feed on small fragments of plant material, animals or carrion. If what you have are ostracods they have a wide range of diets depending on the species (carnivores, herbivores, scavengers and filter feeders). If you have algae problems in your tank ..., I don't...

Hi MikeJojo, I can't see the little creatures in your picture but your description could match with Cyclops, little & white copepod crustaceans moving fast in the tank. I this is what you have, don't worry about them. Try to use a magnifying glass and check if they are like the one in this...

Hi Jordi, I would go for option two, or even for a third option that consists in doing no changes in your tank. I have several Amano shimps, hundreds of Red Cherries and a couple of Ottos with high CO2 injection regime and they all are OK. I also had a shimp tank with DIY CO2 where DC was...

Amazing set up Jordi! Very beautiful, will follow its evolution!

Hi Jordi, have a look to this thread Wave CO2 Regulator & Solenoid help? | UK Aquatic Plant Society working pressure seems to be fixed, but in post #15 UKAPS member tovtm describes how to adjust it. Hope this is useful for you. Cheers, Jose

Sorry Jordi, here you have the link, it is from a shop in your city. NAscapers Acuarios Naturales - MANOREDUCTOR WAVE CO2 Cheers, Jose

Hi all, I'm dosing DIY quelated iron with nice results. Just in case it would be useful for you here you have my recipe. Reactives are: Ferrous Sulphate Heptahydrate (FeSO4.7H2O) and Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt dihydrate (EDTA 2Na 2H2O) The recipe adjusted for a 100L...

Hi Jordi, I bought that one, it is also a "cheap" one, but working fine. Local friends also purchased the same model one year ago and to date we all are happy with them. Cheers, Jose

Hi Jordi, I have noticed the same kind of flow fluctuation when the cylinder is about to run out of CO2. Anyway, the fluctuating range you are talking about is not very wide, so I would not worry about it. As you say, I guess it is due to a combination of factors including cylinder temperature...

Thanks Paulo, I'm really looking forward to see that Dutch- jungle set up! Keep us informed! Cheers Enviado desde mi ST25i usando Tapatalk 2

Thank you guys, I'm glad to know that you also like it. Yes, I cut every week, otherwise the plants would fill the tank. Tiago you are right, many of them will survive hidden in the plants and there is no need to use the bottle. I do it because the first weeks I'm feeding them with baby...

Hi, not many things to report, just a couple of shots to keep the thread alive. The pictures are from before and after trimming quickly some of the plant groups. Sorry for the ugly bottle in the upper right corner, I'm growing there some Xiphophorus maculatus juveniles in order to increase the...

Hi Jordi, I haven't paid for the cylinder, just for the gas charge. The price per Kg is more or less the same you are talking about, so your choice is very good as well. I have to say that I'm not a great beer drinker, the bar owner that is providing me the gas is the friend of a friend of a...

Hi Jordi, here in our country (Spain) you can easily get a 8Kg or 12Kg if you have a friend that owns a restaurant, pub, bar, etc. Just tell him/her to order an extra gas bottle for the pressurized beer system. Currently I have an 8 Kg one working with an inline atomizer and provides enough...

Hi Jordi, Yes there is a system to estimate the amount of CO2 produced by both systems. We just have to go back to our chemistry lessons at the hight school. For the Soda + citric acid reaction the balanced equation is: 3 NaHCO3 (soda) + C6H8O7 (citric acid) ==> 3 CO2 (our favourite gas) +...

DNA barcoding would be the best approach in this case, but it is still quite expensive ... ;)

Thank you very much Yo-han for your detailed explanation!

Hi flygia, T5s are great, I'm sure your plants will be fine with them. I'm using this model with very good results. Try to install enough fluorescent lamps to get 1 wat /litre proximately. What I do is to program them to star at different times, so you get an effect somehow similar to the...

Hi Yo-han, your set up is great! In your plant species list you say that there are two forms of Limnophila aromatica, I really like this plant but I did not know that different forms can be found. Of course if you find the time to do so, would you mind to upload some pictures showing the main...

I like your tanks and the way you have connected them Tiago. The tank on the left is only 30L but it looks much bigger in the picture! Would you mind to share some pictures of your DIY LED lighting system? Only if it is possible, of course. Cheers, Jose

Hi flygja, thank you for your comments. I don't know exactly why these plants turn red, surely other members do. But I can give you some info from my experience. When planting stems from the same plant in two different tanks that follow the same dosing approach, one working with SMD cool white...

Hi Yo-han, thank you very much for your taxonomic help. You are right, it is Hydrocotyle leucocephala, I have read that H. vulgaris stems usually grow completely horizontal with only the leaf stems growing vertical, while H. leucocephala stems grow vertically, exactly as mine does. Regarding...

Hi tmiravent, yes, the light are the same for the emersed part of the tank. I couldn't say that there is dense humidity over the tank, as I have two PC fans working non-stop, and I never see condensation drops even at night. I agree with I fully agree with Yo-han when he says that Anubias need...

Hi Jordi, yes, both are Hydrocotyle. The bigger one is H. vulgaris, and the most abundant is what some people name H. sp "japan", but I suspect that is not the right name. In the photo you can see also some Elaeocharis vivipara shots and some portions of Riccia fluitans. H. vulgaris surprised...

Hi tmiravent, actually I have done nothing, plants just started growing by themselves over the moss wall. It is really beautiful but I have to be trimming them quite often. Here is a (low quality, sorry) picture of what I have to remove every month. The big leaved one is Hydrocotyle vulgaris...

Hi Kirk, you don't have to worry at all. I asked some native English speakers about your sentence and all of them agreed that it probably was just a typing mistake. Thank you very much for your kind comments. Cheers, Jose

Hello, just a quick photo reporting the "emersed garden" that grows on top of the moss wall. I find it beautiful and wanted to share with you. Length is 120 cm, but is not easy to appreciate the scale in the picture. Cheers, Jose

Hi Jordi, I'm sorry, I replied you without having done some research on that issue ..., thank you very much for all the information in post #3. Now I have seen a video of the glass diffuser you are talking about. I fully agree with Ben C, is not easy to get 100% diffusion with any system and...

Hi Jordi, I haven't tried that system, but the main PRO I can see is that you will get your CO2 almost fully dissolved into your tank water compared with the standard ceramic diffuser. But I see also some CONS in that model. The main one is related with the direct injection of CO2 into the...

Hi Martin, I'm glad to see that you like it. This one was running only for 3 months, it was a very promising project but I went out home for some weeks and that was the end :( I will try something new in the same jar, it's tiny but funny! Cheers, Jose

Hi Jordi, yes the DIY CO2 was the classical mix of water, sugar and yeast. In such a tiny space you don't really need CO2 but I noticed that plants were more "happy" with it, specially HC. Cheers

I cut them at the substrate level and they regrow again quickly. Here a pict after removing some Sagittaria subulata for controlling their abundance. They can be trimmed in the same way. Jose

Hi, I would like to share with you some pictures from a tiny set up that i had until a couple of months ago. Now it does not exist any more, but i would like to tray another set up in the same tank, or should i say jar? :) It is only 1.5L and i designed a rudimentary DIY nano filter that...

Hi scrud, you wont need any special device to control these leds, they work with a 12V power source. I'm using one from a PC, thats all you need. These LED panels never heat up, you can hold them with your fingers while they are on, you only will notice that they are warm, but not much warm...

Hi Michael, you are right and I fully agree with you, we don't know how important the role of allelopathy is in our tanks. It would be great to get a device for monitoring allelochemical levels in the tanks, or even better, to get the allelochemicals themselves and dose them in the tanks in...

Hi Jaap, the device you are talking about is very interesting as it (is supposed to) fully dissolves all CO2 bubbles in the tank water. So you will save CO2.The bad side is that you have to introduce a big (and ugly IMO) device in your tank. Ceramic diffusers are great but a lot of the...

Hi Michael, i found you comments very interesting. Available evidence tells us that there is conclusive solid data about Allelopathy, just search for high impact factor research papers in Scholar Google using the words "allelopathy" "aquatic" "plants" "algae". You had a point when talking...

It is widely known that plants compete with algae for resources, so as the plant mass increases algae find less growing opportunities. But I think that a key point is alellopathy, that is, inhibition of algae growth due to specific plant-produced allelochemicals (e.g., phenolic compounds...

Hi tmiravent, the model is: UP aqua Inline CO2 Atomizer 16/22mm and when working at 2bars pressure you can easily see the bubble cloud. thanks for your comments Cheers, Jose

Good choice Mitchell. In my case the air pump starts working exactly when the lights are switched off and stops 30 minutes before they are turned on again.

HC is a highly demanding plant in therms of light, but your tank is shallow ... just try your two tubes and in few days you will notice if more light is needed

Thanks Johan, I agree with you, the plants should be arranged in a better way, this is something I would like to do in the future. Regarding competitions, I think that this is not my cup of tea. Enjoying the tank at home is by far the best prize one can win. Regards, Jose

Hi Reuben, yes I do it in this tank: 300L pseudo-Dutch style Planted Tank | UK Aquatic Plant Society while lights are switched off an air pup is sending bubbles to the aquarium through a diffuser stone. I do it because this overnight aeration removes all CO2 molecules from the water...

Hi, I'm opening this thread to show you my DIY aquarium lighting hood. It is designed for a 300L aquarium 120cm(length) x 60cm(height) x 40cm(depth). Wood is the same they use in exposed surfaces in boats and is 8mm thick. It is supposed to resist high humidity levels. these are the wood...

I would go at least for 150W for your 300L tank, but it depends of course on how densely planted and which species are you planning to include. You always can start with your current 80W T8 lighting system and then add more fluorescents if you notice that light if not enough. I had T8 as well...

Hi Jordi, between the moss wall and the rear glass there is no organic matter. They have a narrow separation of about 5mm that is a great refugia for shrimps, snails and fish juveniles. Any dead leaf that could enter there would be quickly processed by the shrimps and snails. It is also a...

Hi Harry, thank you for your positive feedback, your comments also inspire me as much as a beautiful aquarium picture. Cheers, Jose

Hi Martin, I'm glad to see that you like it. As you have seen it is really easy to made and the result is very beautiful and a paradise for shrimps and young fishes. Thanks for your comments. Jose

Hi Sacha, CO2 is working when lights are on. I'm using a pressurized bottle (one of these that are used for beer in the pubs and restaurants) and an inline atomizer that split the gas into very tiny bubbles. I think that it is a nice system as you save money in CO2. The bad side is that the...