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60cm play tank

George Farmer

Founder
UKAPS Team
Joined
30 Jun 2007
Messages
7,098
Location
Cambridgeshire
It's been a while since I posted a full tank shot, so here we go...

60cm-jan25.jpg



This has been growing in quite nicely for a couple of months now. No heater or CO2, so growth is nice and manageable. There's some issues with my Nesea but thanks to JamesC it seems to be doing ok.

The layout isn't finalised, as it's an experimental tank where I will implement new ideas on a regular basis.

The flame tetras seem to prefer the cooler (21-22C) water and are constantly dancing and flaring their fins.

I dose a combo of Easy Life and Tropica products.
Light is 2 x 24w T5 for 7 hours.
Filter is a Superfish Pro 4 (1550lph) with 12mm glassware (16-12mm reducers at glassware end).
Substrate is Unipac black 1-2mm with Tropica stuff underneath.

Once this has been 'complete' in a couple of months or so I will be setting a new layout using the full ADA substrate and ferts system. It's something I've wanted to do for ages and I look forward to noting any differences in plant growth, health, algae etc.

Thanks to -

Mark (saintly) for the E. tennelus,
Paulo (LondonDragon) for the Glosso,
Dan (TDI-Line) for the B. japonica and L. aromatica
James (JamesC) for the advice

Cheers!
 
Very nice, though from a scaping point of view that right hand side isn't sitting right for me. Maybe it's the angle?
I like it though, especially the understated sand foreground, something I had all but gone off till now.
 
Haha, I couldn't resist, It's nicer than mine and I needed to say something about it. :lol:
Will you be entering it into anything or are you not happy with it?
What were the tips with the nessea? I think that could be useful to everyone. How are you trimming your rotalla too?
 
Garuf said:
Haha, I couldn't resist, It's nicer than mine and I needed to say something about it. :lol:
Will you be entering it into anything or are you not happy with it?
What were the tips with the nessea? I think that could be useful to everyone. How are you trimming your rotalla too?
I understand. ;)

Nesea needed more K and possibly more Mg.

I trim the Rotala with scissors... :D
 
haha, I meant are you trimming them back so they're an inch or so high and letting them grow or are you just thinning as and when?
 
George Farmer said:
There's some issues with my Nesea but thanks to JamesC it seems to be doing ok.

Cheers!

Is it Nesaea pedicellata George? I found it a bit too robust to use as a stem bush in my 60cm, but if it is the orange accent in the centre in the tank then koudos on its use. That little accent compliments the fish a treat.

I love Rotala sp backdrops, too. :D

Dave.
 
i just realised my wood my 60 is the same as yours :oops: i didnt copy...honest.

well for me the amazing bit is no co2. thats brilliant.some people cant do that WITH co2.

A typical GF scape. you really can spot them a mile off ;)

nicely done mate

mark
 
Looks fantastic as we've all come to expect George but as with Mark - I'm amazed it's all done with no CO2.
Are there any plants that are / have struggled and how does the growth of the individual plants compare to a full-on hi-tech tank?
 
It's so true, this is a typical Farmer scape.

This has to be one of my favourites. I love the foresty feel to it.
 
This is a lovely scape George, very natural and your photography skills are very professional too.

It is amazing that there is no pressurized co2 present or heater, so basically the tank temperature is getting the ambient room temperature and being boosted by the lights, is that coorect?
 
Thanks, guys.

Dave Spencer said:
Is it Nesaea pedicellata George?
Yes mate. But the red plant you can see is L. aromatica - just for fun really, as it's too big for longer term. The Nesea is on the centre right. New growth was highly deformed and not turning red at all.

saintly said:
well for me the amazing bit is no co2. thats brilliant.some people cant do that WITH co2.

A typical GF scape. you really can spot them a mile off
Thanks, Mark. It's nice to have my own recognisable style.

The non-CO2 bit is pretty interesting. I did a blog on it here -

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... blogid=234

After interviewing Slobodan Lazaverich for PFK I though I'd give it a try, as he doesn't use CO2 in any of his smaller tanks.

It makes perfect sense - slower growth, less risk of algae (assuming appropriate lighting) and less macro/micronutrient requirement.

Easycarbo is good value in smaller aquaria too. I dose 2ml per day, so a 1000ml bottle will last almost 18 months. That's 20 quid for 18 months worth of carbon!

Compare that to the cost of a typical pressurized CO2 kit and re-fills... And there's less equipment in the tank/to maintain.

altaaffe said:
Looks fantastic as we've all come to expect George but as with Mark - I'm amazed it's all done with no CO2.
Are there any plants that are / have struggled and how does the growth of the individual plants compare to a full-on hi-tech tank?
Thanks!

Some plants don't look as 'lush' I'd say but I'm still fine tuning a dosing regime. I suspect once I've figured out a proper nutrient dosing practice, the plant health will be almost identical to a CO2-enriched set up.

For me in this tank, growth is around 3-4x slower than a CO2 enriched set up. The cooler temperatures will also slow things down.

Thomas McMillan said:
It's so true, this is a typical Farmer scape.

This has to be one of my favourites. I love the foresty feel to it.
Thanks, Thomas. I really like this layout with the variety of fine textures. It should improve over time too.

TDI-line said:
This is a lovely scape George, very natural and your photography skills are very professional too.

It is amazing that there is no pressurized co2 present or heater, so basically the tank temperature is getting the ambient room temperature and being boosted by the lights, is that coorect?
Thanks mate. Nothing special about the photo here. Handheld with my 10D, tank lights, f/8, 1/100th sec, ISO 800.

The water is dependent on ambient temp, yes. We have central heating so it's a stable 21C or so in the tank. Doing my bit for saving energy and CO2 consumption! lol (Don't mention my 370 litre!)

james3200 said:
Nice start and mix of plants to play with
Thanks, James.
 
George Farmer said:
Dave Spencer said:
Is it Nesaea pedicellata George?
Yes mate. But the red plant you can see is L. aromatica - just for fun really, as it's too big for longer term. The Nesea is on the centre right. New growth was highly deformed and not turning red at all.

I see it now. It looks a bit different to mine (Tropica). Like most Tropica `red` plants, I tend to find it is the stem that goes red. The look yours has compliments the smaller Rotala behind.

Funnily enough, while carrying out a water change on the 120cm just now, I found two stems of the Nesaea which must have hidden in the green Rotala that I used from an old scape. At least I won`t have to buy any now.

Dave.
 
New growth was highly deformed and not turning red at all.
I had the deformity problem with my nesaea crassicaulis (although not the red problem). I've got rid of it now, as it just looked horrible and it also ended up infested with hair algae. It's interesting to hear you say yours was deformed too, because you are GOOD at growing plants, so that makes me feel better :)

I found my deformed leaves got slightly better when I changed my CO2 diffusion method to a tiny internal filter, that chops up the bubbles with it's impellor. I was using the JBL spiral diffuser. It makes me wonder if yours is deformed because you're not using CO2?

Tank looks great, as always!
 
Tank looks great George, wanted to rescape my shrimp tank and dose ony EasyCarbo too, problem is light, only have 2x15W and due to the Juwel design hardly any light at the back :( look forward to your comparisson with Aquasoil
 
George, that tank looks stunning.

I feed C02, TPN+ and Easy Carbo into my tank and it doesn't look as nice as what you have got here.

Wish I knew your secret.

Very nice work though :)
 
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