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9 3/4 platform journey

So... Today I've received some more pieces of equipment and stuff to help the the husbandry/maintenance of the aquarium! An air pump, glass curved tubes (for the EI fertilizers dosage) buckets and a garden storage where I will keep the RO and the water barrel... Tomorrow should receive some more stuff (Seneye)! :p

Also started to soak the wood... Boiled it in water with a bit of salt for about 40 minutes and then cold freshwater bucket until doesn't float! :rolleyes:

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Getting there and looking forward to the next Saturday!!!

Cheers, ;)
Jose.
 
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Finally yesterday, after having a side mirror ripped off from my car by a HGV that just decided to come to my lane while I was on the way to get the remaining pieces of the equipment, I got everything, well everything aside of the lights stand that I've arranged to build a custom made one... in acrylic (ADA Style) for my Raidons.

So, after this interesting trip, I got home around 21h00 and put my hands to the task of puting everything together and in the end around 3h00 am I quite enjoyed the end result on the hardscape...

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Hope you enjoy as much as I did! :)

Cheers,
Jose.
 
Hey Jose, have you used substrate dividers? I did not and slowly but surely it all levelling out. I do like your layout of the rocks and wood, is this going to be the final layout?
Jim
 
banthaman.jm said:
Hey Jose, have you used substrate dividers? I did not and slowly but surely it all levelling out. I do like your layout of the rocks and wood, is this going to be the final layout?
Jim
Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

Yes I did used substrate dividers... In regards to the left side yes, I believe it will be definitive... The right side with the water started to mix with the sand unfortunately, thus I have put the Aqua soil up to the front of the aquarium...

Cheers,
Jose.
 
Looking good Jose, all coming together fella.

I think it would be worth removing a lot of the sand, you dont want much more than a cm or 2 as the deeper it is the quicker it will discolour and it will level out in a week. To keep it white you need to really stir it around each water change.
Spend a good amount of time adding substrate supports or the amazonia will level out also, which it still will to a degree but they help a lot. Would be advisable to add some more rock on the right to divide the substrates, you want to try to dam up any gaps between amazonia and sand, picking out the black balls every day gets old real quick let me tell you!!
This pic gives you an idea of how many substrate supports you need and even then it will level out over time as fish shrimp move it around...
14481455126_990bc65469_z.jpgLW14 by iain sutherland, on Flickr

Will be interested to see how you get on with the radions, i just picked one up and they sure have a lot of power, go easy at the start :thumbup:
 
Iain Sutherland said:
Looking good Jose, all coming together fella.

I think it would be worth removing a lot of the sand, you dont want much more than a cm or 2 as the deeper it is the quicker it will discolour and it will level out in a week. To keep it white you need to really stir it around each water change.
Spend a good amount of time adding substrate supports or the amazonia will level out also, which it still will to a degree but they help a lot. Would be advisable to add some more rock on the right to divide the substrates, you want to try to dam up any gaps between amazonia and sand, picking out the black balls every day gets old real quick let me tell you!!
This pic gives you an idea of how many substrate supports you need and even then it will level out over time as fish shrimp move it around...
14481455126_990bc65469_z.jpgLW14 by iain sutherland, on Flickr

Will be interested to see how you get on with the radions, i just picked one up and they sure have a lot of power, go easy at the start :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Hi Iain,

Thanks for the advice... I've "loaded" the substrate with supports, especially in between the rocks... The Aqua Soil Powder is very good looking but I can see it giving me headaches during maintenance! :(

Yes, I'm thinking on adding more rocks on the right towards the back while raising the substrate, as in the front I've replaced the sand by the aqua soil.

In term of the height of the sand, I've already removed some cm's, but probably will remove some more!


The Radions despite not having installed them on the aquarium, I've already played with them a bit, and basically what you can do with them is amazing! I will use the acclimatisation feature as it will probably do what the aquarium needs! :)

BTW - the aquarium in your pictures is awesome... :clap:

Cheers,
Jose.
 
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It has been more than a week since I last posted here... Mainly because I've been outside of the country and spent the weekend diving in Plymouth... :)

However, yesterday I went to The Aquatic Design Centre in London to pick up the rest of the equipment and... plants! :)

So, I've did a water change and planted all the plants, also changed part of the sand for a bit whiter one!

Here it is the final result...

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The Radions are now in an acclimatisation mode where the maximum intensity is 20%... Nevertheless, I'm quite astonished with these lights, couldn't say better from its features, from sun rise and sun set simulation to storm simulation, these lights do it all - top!

CO2 is turning on 4 hours before "sun rise" and off 1 hour before "sun set".

Despite the aquarium being with water maturing for more than a week, this week I will perform 50% water changes every day.

The initial hardscape, as you may have noticed, has changed a bit (on the right side), also I was expecting to have an acrylic stand for the lights and unfortunately had to stay with the original Eco tech ones...

Nevertheless, hope you like the outcome and I will keep you posted!

Cheers,
Jose.
 
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Would love to see an update on this and how it is progressing. Is there anything you would do differently next time?
 
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Hi all,

After quite some time without updating the thread because of the lack of time to do it.... here is an update.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to sell the aqua as I'm moving and won't be able to take it with me...

Cheers!
 
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Looks healthy! Would you set up another at your new destination?
 
rebel said:
Looks healthy! Would you set up another at your new destination?
Click to expand...

Hello rebel,

It is, I even have crazy reproduction rates on the shrimps and guppies. Also had some rasboras reproducing...

I will make another one, but not immediately thus me willing to sell it as a whole, or on the other hand only the livestock...

My main concern is to get things sorted that I can provide good conditions for the fish, shrimps, plants, etc...

Cheers,
Jose
 
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