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5ft Bookshelf Aquarium - River Scape

Got a new camera lens today, probably not so useful for taking photos of fish / tanks.... 8mm fisheye!

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IMG_2460 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr
 
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... apparently the samyang lenses are not focus collaborated from the factory, so I will go at it with a tiny screwdriver and see if I can improve the focus / sharpness. The 8mm Samyang I got last week also isn't the best with foucsing, they are both fully manual and cheap, i guess you get what you pay for, the Canon 24mm f/2.8 pancake lens I usual use for FTS is way way way (way) sharper and retails for half the price of the samyang lenses...

Anyways this isnt a photography forum but I know some of you have an interest in photography... here is the photo of the tank.

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IMG_2916-Edit.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

Some updates regarding the tank. I lost my first loach last week, the smallest sewellia, which was really sad, it was my favourite loach and the most active of them all. It I found the dead loach maybe 5 or so hours after i hit some BBA with H2o2, I use the strong 50% stuff, I think perhaps the loach got hit with some of the h2o2 directly, it was a fresh bottle and i guess too strong, thats the only thing I can think off, all the other fish where fine. Poor sewellia :(

As you can see I have let the frogbit go a bit crazy, it grows super fast in this tank, it kind of ugly and shadows half the tank but the white cloud minnows seem to like the cover, I think they have coloured up more with the extra cover, snails have also gone crazy in this tank, probably from over feeding but I can live with that.

I cant find any more sewellia loaches anywhere in Perth, so I think I may add a few more Pseudo gastro's which are easier to find in Perth / Australia.
 
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Sorry for your loss :(

You could try one of the other floating species, see if there is one you like the look of better. I think salvina or red root floaters (if you don't mind the pink/red colour) are neater looking.
 
Edvet said:
Not the best name in photography sadly:(
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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.

tam said:
Sorry for your loss :(

You could try one of the other floating species, see if there is one you like the look of better. I think salvina or red root floaters (if you don't mind the pink/red colour) are neater looking.
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Unfortunately in Australia we are pretty limited with the species of plants we can get, basically nothing can be imported, Amazonian frogbit is actually outlawed in most states of Australia as it is a invasive species. Pretty sure we dont have salvina or red root floaters over here.
 
Hi all,
doylecolmdoyle said:
As you can see I have let the frogbit go a bit crazy, it grows super fast in this tank, it kind of ugly and shadows half the tank but the white cloud minnows seem to like the cover, I think they have coloured up more with the extra cover, snails have also gone crazy in this tank, probably from over feeding but I can live with that.
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It is doing a good job, personally I'd be willing to put up with a lack of aesthetics, for me it is always "function over form" where high water quality is required.

Also I don't think you have any other floating options, with the exception of the native Azolla spp. (A. pinnata & A. filiculoides).
tam said:
I think salvina or red root floaters (if you don't mind the pink/red colour) are neater looking.
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Red root floater (Phyllanthus fluitans) definitely doesn't enjoy high flow. Salvinia auriculata group would be an option, but is on the <"banned list in Australia"> as @doylecolmdoyle suspected.

Water Lettuce Pistia stratiotes would be an option, it does the same job (and it has recently been found that it is native to Northern Territory and N. Queensland), but it is named as an <"invasive alien in the 2014 act">.

cheers Darrel
 
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. Someone once told me to add some frogbit when I was having algae issues with my very first aquarium, it was good advice.
 
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.

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IMG_2942.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr
 
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.

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IMG_3000-Edit.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr
 
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 to catch the loaches in the store had some issues, was trying to use his fingers to get it off the glass, I told him to use a credit card and gave him one of my cards and he was able to slide the loach of the glass, I am guessing the damage happened when the guy was trying to pick the loach of the glass with his fingers, do you guys think it will recover? You can see the damage in the first loach photo.

EDIT Stuffed my flickr up by updating photos via lightroom, had to remove the photos from this post....
 
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Good work!

I have a love/hate relationship with floaters like salvinia, but I think its just a case of keeping it in check and you can enjoy the best of both worlds, the aesthetics and the function they provide
 
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 something the other day, a dead loach, I am pretty sure it was the loach that had the injury pictured earlier... poor guy. Thats 2 loaches I have lost in the past month or so, hopefully no more.

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IMG_3749.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3755.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3760.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3748.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3754.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3753.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3758.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3746.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

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IMG_3743.jpg by Colm Doyle, on Flickr
 
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Andrew Butler said:
Have you considered Esha Gastropex? I got it to treat my hydra problem but it's primary role is killing snails.
Dose it then you are just left with the empty shells to suck up.
http://www.eshalabs.eu/europe/products/esha-gastropex.html
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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 the hillstream loaches thinking they where not eating and the snails got a bit out of control
 
doylecolmdoyle said:
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 the hillstream loaches thinking they where not eating and the snails got a bit out of control
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I know @Tim Harrison uses Gastropex for snail eradication and he seems to know his stuff.
Do you not use fertilisers in your tank; these are all chemicals. :eek:
You could always just pick them out, I didn't find assassin snails that helpful either.
 
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