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70G High Tech Jungle Aquarium

Re: 70G High Tech Dutch Aquarium

I have taken the dutch tag off this tank. I'm not sure how to classify it now. I think more jungle but really not much of a traditional style. I've done some major trimming and replanting on the right side of the tank. All the species in there couldn't survive long term and be healthy. I have scaled back to growing only a Nasea 'Tropica' species, Limnophilia Aromatica, Ludwigia vent. 'Cuba', HM and Rotala Walichii. I've also expanded the Blyxa Japonica towards the front and moved the Red Rubin Sword more towards the back where a plant of its size belongs. Here's the tank the afternoon after the trim.

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I've also moved the rocks around a bit as they were getting lost in the plants. I realized they cannot be anywhere near the back and contribute anything to the tank. Midground is about right for the sizes I have. I seem to have won the war with the algae in this tank. The final corrective action that balanced things out was moving the light up about 3" from the original height above the tank. It is now about 6-8" above the tank. I haven't seen any BBA or hair algae in weeks. There has been some GDA on the glass but it is pretty minor and is receding. The dry ferts have been great so far. Tons of pearling on the plants and some great colourations and no algae. The fish seem to be doing very well too. Active and eating lots. The raspboras are starting to get to a decent enough size that they should be able to hold up against the discus they eventually will be hanging out with. I'm hoping the right side should be back grown in and should be more sustainable long term within 2 weeks. I need to hide that ugly equipment somehow. I'm still working out the camera settings that take the best pics so stay tuned for more pics as I try the new camera out.
 
Re: 70G High Tech Dutch Aquarium - Pic Update Sept 9

Since the big hacking and rescaping I haven't had much to do with this tank other than re-planting the stems that have unrooted and floated to the surface. I did another trim the other day. Even the slow growers are starting to grow at pretty good rates now. I have noticed that 1 of the Red Rubin leaves has some holes in it. Potassium deficiency in dosing maybe? I've been using Fertilator on APC forum to calculate ferts and have kept the N and K dosing to the lower end of the range. I've been slowly increasing the K dosing with the new dry ferts but don't think I'm quite there yet.

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The blyxa japonica has been taking off since being put directly under the light, towards the front of the tank. It's getting pretty red as well. The crypt balansae on the right side are well over 18" now. I can't see any runners of small balansae yet though. Anyone have any experience with balansae reproducing in there tanks they can share?
Right now I am thinking I am going to trade the rotalla wallichi in the front right for the didiplis diandra in the 10G tank. It just doesn't fit with this tank. I'm going to let it grow to the surface before I decide but right now it is overwhelmed in this tank....I think anyways.
It seems like the green algae on the front glass pane has been expanding its presence of late. Any thoughts on working this algae out of the mix? I'm thinking it is low water flow to the front of the tank that is causing this. I haven't been keeping up on cleaning the filter intake screens to make sure the flow in the tank is optimum. Am I on the right track here, or just hoping?
I would have to say, as a nylon carpet fibre spinning process engineer by profession, I love the troubleshooting process of algae in an aquarium. About 15 variables maximum (if you include the obscure stuff), and usually only dealing with 1-2 variables at a time. In my job I deal with hundreds of process variables and hundreds of human interactions and get paid to optimize them all. Working in aquariums is a simple and rewarding as testing gets. I really appreciated some of the commentary by Tom Barr on the recent The Planted Aquarium Podcast on testing in tanks and using your current situation as your control. Spot on comments and some great synopsis of the danger of trusting the forums. The forums are some of the best sources of information on the net, actually, the best, but as Tom stated, you will always have someone who replies to your post saying it won't work. His ultimate point is perfect; if you have a theory, just test it and see what happens. See the results and then refine/rethink your hypothesis and move on to the next test. These aquariums we run are complex systems but there are limited variables that influence the outcomes we are looking for. Test the variables, note the results and learn. That is how to approach the hobby and your own setups. Eventually you will get things dialed in precisely....and then you will change it all.
 
Re: 70G High Tech Dutch Aquarium

sounds familiar! :0)

i thought i had a k deficiency for a while. i was adding additional potassium sulphate to my EI mix too
CO2/FLOW was the culprit!

also GSA,i was fine for first few months then once it started on the glass it got steadily worse. i never had scraped the inside of the glass tho, now i find a quick scrap every couple of weeks during the W/C and i've not seen it again.
the flow in my tank is all directed at the front glass so low flow was not the issue in my case. increasing phosphates is supposed to help fight this off, but i found just better tank maintenance solved this for me.
 
Re: 70G High Tech Dutch Aquarium

GSA is the official diagnosis after reading that link. I believe low flow to the front pane is the #1 culprit. Low flow = low CO2 and nutrients which are all the corrective actions. Maybe another powerhead for this tank or a redesign of the current spray bar to a higher velocity output.
 
Re: 70G High Tech Dutch Aquarium

These guys are my favourite fish in the tank. I think they are a type of pygmy or miniature cory. At feeding time these guys are really active. Most of the time they are foraging through the plants for food. The blyxa japonica seems to be a favourite hang out in the tank right now. I’ve got a few shots but nothing super close up. They move too fast to get them focused for a good closeup.

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4 Pandas with a Bronze Cory

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Diggin' for food

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Pandas sucking on some worms
 
I've added a bunch of new rummynose tetras to this tank again. The total is up to 13 now, but I have yet to count 13 in sight at once so one or two others may have died as well. I'm normally not a big fan of silver based fish but these guys are quite nice. Very active and the larger ones have some pretty distinct red faces and striped tails.

When I introduced the new batch of rummy nose there was an outbreak of ick on them after 2 days in the tank. Some ick guard and leaving the drip system going for a few days seems to have cleared it up. This has been an issue before from a certain LFS.

Here's a full tank shot. Soon all the riccia floaters will be gone and you will be able to see the left side better.

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Hi Consig - lovely tank. Re. scraping. Oliver Knott at TGM at the weekend advised one should scrape glass BEFORE you have a problem, rather than wait for an outbreak. I think he was suggesting a quick preventative scrape every few days. Cheers!
 
Thanks for the thoughts. As an interesting note, I took the floaters out of the tank last night and noticed that the left side of the tank has much less algae on the glass compared to the right side. I'm thinking there is still a bit too much light in the tank to minimize the growth of the algae on the glass since the main difference between the left and right side was the light reaching the tank. To avoid continual scraping I'm going to try and raise the lights a bit more off the tank surface.
 
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