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120cm. Green Neons Fly

Re: 120cm. Nearly given up.

Westyggx said:
Keep at it Jay i like this tank looks really nice will keep an eye on it.

Thanks very much, and yes I plan to keep this one for a very long time. Really happy with the hardscape. Just need to het my plant growing back on track. :oops:

Piece-of-fish said:
Nope, i have heard that 24/7 is even better. Have tried once and it was one of the cleanest tanks i had. Might be due to other reasons though.
P.S. Twice actually. But both times without fish for the most of the tanks life. Fish when added was fine. Just for the record.
My fish have never had a problem with it either. Except for a malfunctioning regulator which gassed all my fish two years ago. Anyway, not entirely sure about the spraybar on the left side panel. Thinking I may change it to single outlet circulating it the same direction as the pump. It seems to be preventing the flow from circulating right around across the back of the tank and back to the inlet.
 
Ok. So I've got a 7 hour photoperiod with 2 x 54W T5's at just over a foot off the water surface. Co2 at about 3-4 bubbles per second 24/7 with minimal surface agitation. Dozing about 15-20ml easy carbo and 30ml TPN+ every day. Half a tank of water is removed every 3 days.... Still no sign of pearling and I'm also spotting some algae re-appear.
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I like this central area here.
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You wont probably get pearling with this lighting unless you lower it all way down which i would advice to do only when things stabilise.
Saying i would dose about 50ml of easycarbo i meant for a short period of time only (4-7days). This is a very nasty chemical and I try to avoid using it too often. I would start with something as 25ml and increase the dose until i see all algae such as bba staghorn etc. die. Some would spotdose only but me too lazy :oops: I have one spot which has the same dimensions as the tank :D
Keep this routine for 3-4 weeks and you will notice significant improvement :thumbup:
Its not a rocket science.
 
Yeah I figured the lighting wasn't close enough for the pearling. But I'd rather keep it where it is an get steady growth than have it lower and have less margin for any errors in co2 or dosing. Going to spot dose a couple of areas tonight after a WC I think. I have seen the HC Cuba starting to creep already and the myrophilliam(sp?) is shooting up. As long as it's growing, I can live without the pearls. :D
Also, I've noticed the algae is really easy to brush off now. Before, it was a real pain. Now I just run the tweezers over it and it falls off. Guessing the easy carbo is doing something.

Thanks.
 
Well, less than 2 weeks in and it's still fairly pretty. Wish I had time to set up my camera for some proper shots but I'm a super busy boy nowadays. I'm having to do everything via my iPhone. Anyway... This is how it looks as of tonight.
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gradually lowering my light as I'm a sucker for good pearling. I'm still getting little spots of brush algae with my last flow configuration so I'm going back to one that saw me well a few years back.
 
Not too bad mate. But not spotless unfortunately. I was hoping to keep it as just the two stems I have now, but I think I'm gonna have to just throw an absolute ton in there and let them soak up a load of nutrients to help balance it all out. Then I can 'scape how I want it. Got a little bit of everything in terms of algae. Bit of light green hair on the moss. Moss just doesn't want to grow!!
 
I noticed that your filter's outflow and position of the Koralia are conflicting each other. The filter's outflow will shoot water across the front glass and round the back, but the Koralia is directing water towards the front glass in the opposite direction. Is there a reason that they are positioned like this?
 
flygja said:
I noticed that your filter's outflow and position of the Koralia are conflicting each other. The filter's outflow will shoot water across the front glass and round the back, but the Koralia is directing water towards the front glass in the opposite direction. Is there a reason that they are positioned like this?

It only looks like that. The filter outflow is actually aimed at the back glass flowing to the Koralia. So there is constant left to right flow. I did have a spraybar and Koralia all aimed at one end of the tank but Co2 wasn't getting to all of the tank. I've had this configuration in a prvious 'scape and had great results.
 
Hi all,
I was hoping to keep it as just the two stems I have now, but I think I'm gonna have to just throw an absolute ton in there and let them soak up a load of nutrients to help balance it all out.
I would, I'd add some fast growing stems and then slowly reduce them as the permanent plants grow.

cheers Darrel
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,
I was hoping to keep it as just the two stems I have now, but I think I'm gonna have to just throw an absolute ton in there and let them soak up a load of nutrients to help balance it all out.
I would, I'd add some fast growing stems and then slowly reduce them as the permanent plants grow.

cheers Darrel
Well that's what I've done today. Plant list that i planted half hour ago...

2 x bacopa Australis for the dark corners
2 x rotala sp. Green
Polygonum sp.
Pogostemon erectus
And something else I just can't remember. :(
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Been a busy boy today. Got 20mm outer diameter clear acrylic tubing, a heat gun, pipe bender and sand. Created this after plugging the end and blowing.
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20mm pipe is bigger than the hose to my filter so I heated the end and stretch it over.
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So here it is. Not the greatest of lily pipes, but its creating great flow and is seriously inconspicuous in the tank.
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Love it. LOVE IT!! :D
Next up, the intake.
 
Thanks very much Alastair. Appreciated. Done the intake also. Just crimped the end together and willsand it down later. Then sawed some slices up the tube. Looks ok and does the job!! Really can't get over how nice it makes the whole tank with no horrible green tubes in there. Just broke down my 80cm tank so have a spare Fluval 405 external that I'm going to put on this tank. Lucky I brought extra acrylic tubing. Extra set of "lily" pipes for that :) then I can remove the Koralia.
 
Yeah I did love that. Still got all that wood so may go back to that at a later date. Really feeling that style more than the landscaped look lately.
 
Been a little while since my last update. This is how it looks as of tonight.
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More sand, less light. Got rid of the moss all over the wood as it was just gathering algae. Added some crypts around the vase of the wood and a few moss stones. The stems are growing, but seem to die whenever I trim them down. 10ml daily tpn+ dosing.
 
Also throwing in half a teaspoon of KPo4 and TRACE. 50% water change twice a week.
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Not happy with the Unipac Maui sand. Far too bright for this layout I think. May suck it out am stump up for some ADA stuff. What you guys think?
 
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