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Hi mate, no real updates its still ticking along with very little maintenance, just top up the water weekly, it is due (well overdue) for a filter clean and generally clean up, will take some photos when I get around to that.

Well this tank is a distant memory... but today I received a few copies of Aquarium Hobbyist Magazine with my article published!

Short video I filmed yesterday, feeding time! Had just put some micro worms in the tank and a sinking pellet

Cheers, the stream tank was my fav, maybe I will try again some day but not keep the hillstream loaches as its to hot in Australia for them (specially in my hot apartment) As for photos, I also use my DSLR so with mobile I prob wont be much help, if you can try get a tripod and see if you can...

Cheers, they have stayed put! No jumpers (only the odd shrimp) Perhaps the black kuhli loaches are less prone to escaping? Thte stay at the bottom of the tank generally and usually hide under the wood unless I put food in the tank then they go frantic and really love live food and sinking...

Hope everyone is doing well, here is a photo I took today of this tank, very slow going / growing, which is good, basically no maintenance, I have only changed the water once since filling it up!

What causes fish to "surf" up and down the glass, I have noticed fish doing it at some stage in pretty much every fish tank I have had, the boraras in my 5ft are going crazy down at the "filter" end of my tank, they have been at it all day, occasionally a kulhi loach will join in, while about...

Thanks Mort, there are also red cherry shrimp in the tank, I may just try go the natural route and bate the nails with food, first I will tackle cleaning up the overgrown right side of the tank this weekend

Quick update, the tank is well overdue for some love, I told myself last time cleaned the filter / tank that I would keep on top of maintenance, well I have have not, last water change was when I did the filter clean in October 2019... still going strong. I would like to eliminate the small...

Thank you, the Kuhli loaches where a impulse buy... they suit the tank parameters apart from no soft sand or soil... I may add some behind the wood... or I will add a heap of leaf litter and let it break down

Today I added 20 Dwarf Rasbora (Boraras maculatus) and 4 kuhli loaches, the loaches where probably a bad idea considering everything I read says they will try escape from a open top tank... time will tell, they look cool like little eels! Recorded a quick video this evening, really like the...

Finally removed the rocks to stop the wood floating, one bit still floats a bit but is being held down by the other bits of wood, added about 50 cherry shrimp they going good, getting diatoms / dust algae on the glass, saying that I have not even changed the water since filling it up for the...

Cool idea, do you get much of a small coming from the mud pot? I grow some emersed moss in one of my tanks, it gets a bit stinky and BGA growing as it becomes very stagnant

Thanks I want to keep things simple with this scape / setup so minimal pipe/plumbing, also where the tank is positioned and style of stand its hard to have have the inlets / outlets at opposite sides. Saying that looking at the flow of water within the tank there is movement at the far end, I...

Thanks Mort, I love shallow tanks, these days I just have a 3ft bookshelf and this 5ft bookshelf tank, being so shallow they are pretty easy to maintain / tend to plants etc, barely get you hands wet! The previous fast flowing river style tank was my favourite but I fried it with may to much...

I could not figure it out, it previously worked fine on an older verison of osx with wine / pled. I ended up finding a windows machine at work... problem solved.

Some photos I took awhile ago IMG_4990.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_4986.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_4984.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_4991.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_4988.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

Well I got my hands wet and did my best to reconstruct the scape, its not exactly the same as the dry layout but close enough, the wood is still floating and from what I read will float for awhile, I have no idea what kind of wood i have here, it all seems different so may need the rocks in...

Bump... been awhile since I have tried to use pled on my mac... I can still get pled running via wine, but now I too can not get pled to detect the tc420... did anyone have any luck here?

Personally I just run my co2 24/7 at a slow steady rate, I only grow slow growing easy plants, that probably dont need co2 but I find it just helps keep everything stable, I also dont use any nutrients these days and the tank is fairly algae free untitled-2366.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

ive had a few assassins for the past year, sometimes i will go months without seeing them... they dont see like very active snails to me, i think they spends most of the time buried, in the first tank I had them in without co2 they where more active, I moved them to a tank with co2 and hardly...

So today after looking at the empty tank for months (and kind of enjoying looking at it empty) I filled it up... was a fail, the wood floated so I have put some rocks on top of the wood to let them soak and will try reconstruct the scape in a few days, the left hand side has kind of collapsed...

Quick video of my usual test subject when I want to test out a new lens / video process... this time I didn't overexpose and it shows how dark this tank really is, I guess the low light has helped because I have not done a water change since I last cleaned the filter about 6 months ago :P Due to...

Thanks Keith, I will keep an eye on the flow, I do have a second filter (same brand etc) I can add, I may just do that from the start, I did want to avoid running tube up the back of the stand as it is a pain to get out when I want to do water changes. Thank you, leaf litter is a good idea, I...

Thanks Keith, at this stage yes both the inlet and outlet will be at the same end (to minimize tube / keep things simple), I could put the inlet / outlet at opposite ends nothing has been hooked up yet, I also have a second filter I could run to have an inlet and outlet at either end, but I...

Thanks Gill, I havent allowed for any stem plants or any plants actually planted in the soil, the plan is for just Anubis and a bit of buce attached to the wood, pretty minimal planting

Thanks for the comments all. Glad you like the hardscape, was tricky balancing all the wood and naturally locking it all in place, I dont like using glue or anything, hopefully it holds together :P They should be ok, I am only using 1 filter, my previous scape in this tank used two filters...

They are fun fish, I am thinking just pigmy corys, tho probably some otos also, also some red cherry shrimp

Thanks! I am thinking Pygmy corydoras, I have a soft spot for those little guys and have a few in my 12g blackwater tank and they seem to like it in there, I am thinking a nice big school will be interesting to watch

Tank - Fire Aqua 1500 x 210 x 240, 10mm low iron glass. 20G / 75 ltr Stand - Ikea Kallax bookshelf's as stand, with extra soild wood top. Filter - 1 x 1400lph canister filters (eheim copy) Light - MML LED Tube on a Cade hanging kit Hardscape - Bog wood / random wood Substrate - Gravel Plants -...

Shot a very quick video tonight testing out some new software, all hand held (stabilised in post) with the tiny old canon eos m, running magic lantern shooting 1080p raw video... all I can say is wow so cool for a $200 camera and $100 lens! This fishtank is going strong, I have not done a...

As Alto said just take some care with the kallax cubes and you should be ok, dont let them get wet, go high gloss and brace the back with thin board, this stops sideways movement, never had a issue with my 20g tank on these shelfs, was also loaded up with heavy heavy rocks.

New FTS, finally cleaned the filter after a plantra (spelling?) outbreak, man that filter was full of gunk. untitled-2366.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

As my photos never capture any fish... and I am surprised how well these boraras have thrived in this tank I decided to take a video, these boraras have been in this tank for about 3 years or more back when this tank was a iguwami, also a few cory catfish, a few otos (not seen), a bunch of...

As in inhabitants help to reduce algae? The main purpose of this tank was to keep hillstream loaches and they really need tank with abundant green / surface algae / diatoms which helps grow / feed Aufwuchs, the loaches then feed on the aufwuches (microorganisms). So basically no, the loaches...

Keep the light very low and you will be ok, I was blasting my light at near full power for more than 12hrs a day

Photo from today, I swear there are fish in the tank, I spooked them when taking the photo Bookshelf Blackwater Aquascape by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

It was a great tank while it lasted, the algae i guess was caused by too much light, over feeding when I first got the loaches, low plant mass and bad maintenance from myself. Was not the sewelias which bred, the sewelias (had 2 of them) actually died after a few months, unsure of the breed of...

Sorry guys I have shut this tank down BBA got out of control, I am in the process of setting this tank up as a blackwater "stream" tank, will create a new journal when its underway

Still kicking along with little to no maintenance, never trimmed any of the plants in the tank.

Not sure if they are ramshorn but I do have alot of snails, I dont think they touch the BBA but do clean up green algae. The style of my tank is a double edge sword, on one hand I want green algae etc for the loaches so run high light, but high light (and bad maintenance) can cause BBA, also...

No new photos as I have let maintenance slip and the tank is even more over run with BBA, but good news the loaches have been breeding, I have about 6 or so juvie loaches getting about which is exciting to see! I had planned on pulling the tank down and rescaping but I think I will give it a...

No the tank probably doesn't need co2 at all, tho I have been running co2 24/7 since day one (about 1 bps) and all seems fine, the fish seem very happy, even the pigmy corys I added from my old jungle cube, all my ottos are doing well and I havent lots a fish in over a year (that I know off)

Gday, the board on top is not glue on, just sits on top of the two kallax stands to provide a flat surface, the weight of the tank holds it in place. Note I did brace the back of the kallax stands with 4mm flat board to prevent sideways movement.

Kind of cleaned the glass the other week, couldn't be bothered removing pipes to do the side glass, I tired spot dosing the biggest rock with h2o2 to kill BBA and ended up spot dosing a loach who died about 2 days later... So for now I will live with the BBA until I do a rescape or pull out the...

Cheers, the buce never really took off in this tank but I think they have settled, havent noticed any leaves dropped in awhile, tho they dont thrive like they did in my old jungle cube scape. Cheers, I am not sure what the stand is called, I purchased from hinterfeld ages ago, seems hinterfeld...

I got a bit to lazy and neglected cleaning the filter for too long, BBA was starting to become a bit to abundant, probably due to lack of water changes also. Today I cleaned the filter and man was it full of brown gunk / poop / stinky stuff! Took the chance to fit my stainless pipes, will see...

Anyone have a sure fire way to kill BBA, its getting out of control in this tank (green algae is also out of control but I dont mind that as the loaches feed on it) Only on the hardscape is effected by BBA, plants are algae free, I dont want to remove the hardscape because the rock are heavy and...

Almost 2 years on and still yet to trim or remove a plant (apart from frogbit), a comparison from day one and today. IMG_0891 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_8308.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

Quick update, tank is chugging along, with minimal maintenance, green algae is going hard, I havent bother cleaning the black glass for ages... as you can see, I occasionally clean the front glass but that is a bit green in this photo, the fish seem to like it, tho all the loaches where hiding...

Thanks, I had added some assassin snails, tho I do see many empty snail shells now I still have a heap of pest snails. I dont do much to control the algae, I do dose "Brightwell Aquatics SPONGEXCEL - SILICA SOLUTION"...

Quick snap with a new lens (purchased for astrophotography 12mm f2 Samyang) love that I can fit the whole tank in very easily with this wide angle lens, and going down to f2 is great for hand held low light, such as the photo below, the light would be ramping down to about 5% or less this time...

The time lapse I shot yesterday was in a weird white balance so today i shot a new sequence of images, I think it looks better, much more natural to how the tank actually looks, again in 4k if you want wnat to see the details / algae :P I like that you can see tiny shrimp or maybe snails...

Recorded this 4K time lapse today, works much better than recording the fading light... It is about 1 hour compressed down to 40 seconds, watch in 4k on youtube for extra detail. One of the loaches just gets onto the glass at the end of the video, would be cool to see what they do when on the...

Ikea expedit cube shelfs can also work but also recommend reinforcing with some cross bracing. I think using the drawers tho is asking for trouble!

Here is a short video I shot this afternoon, the fish and loaches are gathering around an algae wafer, this kind of wafer seem to be the loaches favourite food (Tropical 3-Algae) @dw1305 cheers for the description, sounds like Vallisneria flowers to me!

Final photo looks so good! What lens did you use looks very deep, im guessing with the aid of a wide angle lens.

Interesting, could be Vallisneria, I didn't realise they also put out flowers!

Tried to capture a timelapse of the last hour or so of my light cycle, didnt really turn out how I wanted... probably better of just capturing a few hours when the light is more powered... will give the timelapse another go soon.

Added two single fans to either end of the tank as the weather is heating up in Perth, hopefully they help. Cleared out most of the frogbit, amazing how much brighter the tank looks, gotta try keep on top of clearing it out. The flowers from the Cyperus helferi now pretty much stretch the...

Tested Nitrates, they where high, maybe 50ppm or so, hard to say with the basic test kit, still way higher than I would want, explains why the frogbit is growing like crazy, to many fish perhaps and to much food? Need to increase water changes and give the filter a good clean i think.

Thats true, I do use ferts, not much but a few squirts of a weak all in one mix each week. So far I have to agree the assassins dont do much, I watched a pest nail crawl right across one while it was half buried in the sand :p Still the Assassin snails do look nice. I need to start picking out...

Cheers, doesn't look like its available locally in Australia but seems like I could buy it via ebay and have it shipped in, could be worth a go, but I am always hesitant to use chemicals in a fish tank. Snails in moderation dont really bother me, but I think i overfed the tank when I first added...

I added 3 assassin snails to try control the snails in this tank, when I first put them in I watched them eat / kill a few snails but since they just seem to have buried themselves... 3 snails v's 100s of pond snails... Im probably going to need more... Also I noticed a bunch of snails on...

As with above, I found the qanvee atmoizers to be very effective, only require about 1 bps to get a green / yellow checker as appose to 2 or more via in tank diffuser. Perhaps double check for a leak (have used 4 of these qanvee atomizers all without any leaks), or make sure the pressure from...

From what I have read about the Australian Desert Gobys they dont actually need brackish water, so I dont think I will worry about that, probably better for any plants, tho I think Lilaeopsis does ok in brackish water.

Good idea... what makes me said is I got rid of a bunch of Utricularia graminifolia when i tore down the previous scape in this tank, didnt think I had a use of it. The very top of the big log doesn't stay wet, tho i could just increase the water level... now to find more UG or something similar

Thanks, I had not actually thought about growing something on top of the wood, I am hoping to keep the Lilaeopsis localised behind the wood, I guess it could try creep up the wood but wont be able to take root. Maybe I can try some kind of terrestrial moss

Hi guys, thought I would start a journal for my latest tank for a few Australian Desert Goby's, would love any advice from anyone with experience with these fish. The plan is to have the tank slightly brackish if needed, which I know nothing about at the moment! I enjoy researching and...

I have found purigen works well, but i guess its depends on the amount of wood / all wood is going to leech to different extremes

Some photos of the new loaches, not the best photos taken in the day light with a flash, the new loaches hang out in the open all day, as opposed to the original loaches hide during the day and come out at night... I can see one is missing a chunk near its head, poor guy, the young guy trying...

Added 4 more loaches, where just labeled "Borneo Suckers" not to sure what they are, Pseudo gastro's I am pretty sure, will try some macro shots during the week. Here is a FTS, the new loaches seem to have interested the existing loaches, much more activity today. IMG_3000-Edit.jpg by Colm...

Few new photos IMG_3003.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_3005.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_3006.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr IMG_3012.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

Frogbit is taking over, this photo was shot with the MML LED Tube at 2%, I ramp the light down to 2 and then 1% for the last few hours, this is the most interesting time to watch the tank. The photo looks much lighter than it really is. IMG_2942.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

Cheers Darrel, good information, I agree frogbit does a good job of many things, actually have it in all my tanks, I did look into Red Root Floaters when I first saw them online, I do like the look of that plant. I think I have seen Water Lettuce for sale in Western Australia but never kept any...

Yah not the best, but i picked up both lenses cheap second hand, I cant really complain... but I will :P Many tutorials / posts on line with people complaining about the focus ring calibration, seems to be a easy enough fix. Unfortunately in Australia we are pretty limited with the species of...

Got another new lens this week, thought I would test it out with a photo of this tank, have to say I am not that impressed with the sharpness of the lens, its a Samyang 14mm f2.8, I purchased because I want to try my hand at some astrophotography, mainly just want a photo of the milky way...

I kept them in a 30cm cube, probably way to small really, even tho they are tiny fish I am sure they would have preferred more room, I started with 10 fish about 2 years ago, I think they are now all gone, I never noticed a dead fish but for the life I me I cant see any in the tank anymore. My...

I use the canon 100mm f2.8, can be had for about the same price as the 60mm, I even find the 100mm doesn't really get close enough, going to try out some extension tubes some day.

Looks cool, I love tiny corys, would have thought the corys would prefer some sand to dig into, have read hard substrates (even if they are smooth) can wear away the barbels on the cory cats

Yes, there is no reason you cant bunch together many small rhizomes and tie them to a rock or some wood, I have done this before, you may find the rhizomes become all tangled together when they start to grow but this doesn't really matter.

Got a new camera lens today, probably not so useful for taking photos of fish / tanks.... 8mm fisheye! IMG_2460 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Qanvee-CO2-Diffuser-Atomizer-System-Extenrnal-Diffuser-for-Plant-Aquarium-Tank-CO2-Atomizer-System-Diffuser-Reactor/32858617351.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.150f7a75TvnrHQ&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_5724111_10065_10068_10130_5724211_10547_5723811_105...

looking great, plants dont look to bad at all, when i feel my plants may be suffering i just increase all ferts by 25% or so and see if the improve, with the increase I also try to make sure I do a 50% WC weekly

wow lovely scape, kind of restraint and then on the other hand just epic with detail, love it, nice balance

Nice work mate, cant wait to see how it turned out!

Personally I have never noticed my boraras breed, I have about 15 B.maculatus and 15 B.Urophthalmoides in my 12g blackwater tank, I have had the fish for a few years now and still have about 30, have not lost any of the boraras in a long long time, perhaps they have bred but I not that I have...

Usual slow growing plants would suit, Java Fern, Anubias, Buce, Crypts, Vals, some moss, floating plants etc, most of the tank in my signature all use slow growing plants as I got sick of trimming faster growing plants.

Plop and drop, usually float a bag for about 15 minutes then open bag drain fish / shrimp into a net, disposing of water and put the fish/shrimp in the tank. Have not had issues since i started doing this method, I use to drip but it takes to long and probably stresses the fish more.

What are your water parameters? I keep boraras with standard cherry shrimp in a blackwater tank, so fairly low PH, KH and GH and they do fine, I feel they are pretty hardy fish so you shouldnt have any issues.

Wow great work, has to be one of the highest rankings a 60p tank has ever got! Cant wait to see the final photo!

Cool idea! will be watching it evolve!

Food grade co2 has less impurities, I think the gas used in fire extinguishers etc is 99% pure and then the food grade stuff is 99.9 or something, food grade is used in beer brewing etc, you can use either for the planted tank.

850psi is probably pretty much full so shouldn't be a low bottle. Dont think the temp would effect it that much, I run a co2 on my outside aquariums and it drops down to 3 degrees some nights (in australia that isnt that common) but the bubble counter keeps on ticking at about 1bps, i know if...

The co2 bottle could be starting to run low, what is the bottle pressure gauge showing?

Good idea! I have been meaning to culture some grindal worms, seems easy enough just need to find a starter culture in my area! Will have to track some down soon.

I do feed live mirco worms a few times a week, I didnt mean I dont see the cory's if I sit in front of the tank, I meant in the photo it will be hard to see any of the fish thru all the java fern! The pigmy corys are actually the most active fish in the tank (few CPDS and Ember Tetras in here)...

Took a few photos of the more illusive loaches with the lights out but flash on the camera, worked pretty well surprisingly. The big sewellia only comes out when the light is below 5%, interestingly the small sewellia is out and about pretty much all day. IMG_2318 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr...

Added two more otos today, have 4 now along with the 20-30 boraras, all in all not much has changed with this tank since I set it up, very slow growing, which is what I wanted, fair bit of BBA on the wood but i hit it with h2o2 every now and then to keep it in check, plants are fairly algae...

Added two more pigmy corys today, a local fish store had a few they looked so sad in the holding tank they had them in so I decided to rescue them, i may go back for the rest of them, i forgot how tiny young pigmy corys are, the existing pigmys I have are almost double the size, think I have 6...